He sat in his usual spot on mornings like these. Clary could tell where he was even though he was no longer laying next to her; she could hear the distant music. She felt that she was no longer tired- or no longer willing to lay in her bed for much longer. The bedroom was much too bright at this point to return to sleep, and even if it weren't, she missed him too much- to the point where her eyes could not bear to continue to be shut for much longer.
She found him immediately. Really, all she had to do was follow the music. The soft sound of the piano's rhythm- it seemed to surround her. She could see the notes; see the melody. She could physically feel the music trailing its silk-like hands along her arms, down her back, raking its fingers through her hair. She closed her eyes. If Jace couldn't touch her, the music could.
Clary leaned against the doorframe and watched Jace. He did not look up from his position on the piano bench, but she knew that he was aware of her presence.
He was golden, like an angel. His light-colored hair fell in his eyes as he played, but he didn't dare stop playing in order to brush it from his face. His eyes were half-lidded, nearly closed. Clary knew that he felt the music in the same way that she did. It was something they both shared.
His lips were parted gently, his torso swayed and moved as his long fingers played the instrument in front of him; Clary was sure that he barely even noticed the way he moved. It must have been something that just happened as a result of the music.
The song that he played was one she had heard before, but only distantly. She had never heard him play the song from this close before. He liked the song- she knew. His eyebrows strained and scrunched in a way that almost made him appear to be in pain, and in a way, he was. He had told her before; the music is so beautiful and so painful at the same time.
It was not a sad song, not at all. She couldn't really describe what the song was like, but the soft rhythm brought images to appear before her eyes; endless lakes, cloudy skies, but most of all, the song made her think of Jace himself. Not because he was playing it; it was literally the tune itself that reminded her of him.
She felt tears beginning to form in her eyes. She couldn't accurately describe why; it was easy to say 'because the song is so pretty', but she knew that that wasn't quite it. The song just brought her back in the past- it made her nostalgic for something that had never happened. She could only think of one other song he played that made her feel that way, Clair de Lune, but it didn't hold as much of a personal effect as the current song Jace played did.
She knew that the song would end soon. His playing began to soften and slow down, fading into a repetitive conclusion. Clary couldn't help but let out a sad sigh; in a way, she wished that the song would never end. She never wanted to forget how that song made her feel.
Jace finally looked up once the song came to a complete stop. Clary began walking from her original place in the doorway to Jace, who remained seated. She stood so that she was behind him, facing the piano as he was. She wrapped her arms around his neck and, after leaning downward to kiss his hair, whispered, "play it again."
And he did. He started the song once more and Clary felt her heart flutter inside her chest as the familiar melody filled the room once more. Her eyes fluttered shut, and so did Jace's. She knew that he could play the song without looking.
They did not speak. They only listened as the wave of nostalgia tickled her, bringing tears to her eyes once more.