This is a new story I've had in my head for a while. A good deal of it is based on the song "Midnight" by Beth Crowley, although it wasn't inspired by that. I'm just writing this down so I won't forget about it. I probably will continue with this story but A Matter of Perception will definitely be my first priority.

Also, most of this will be in Jace's PoV.

So on with the prologue...

Chapter song:

Shine by Birdy

A nine year old Jace curled up on the cold floor and did his best not to cry. His parents hadn't cried as they died, they had stayed strong until the end. He would too. He would carry the glory of the Herondale name if it killed him. He would fight back.

At least, that was the plan. He wasn't able to do much fighting in his current state.

After he had been forced to watch his parents tortured to death, the guards (he had heard them call each other Pangborn and Blackwell) had dragged him to what seemed like an enclosed courtyard. It was semi-circular, with the curved edge being taken up by marble walls and thick doors, and the flat edge dominated by a tall set of elaborate gates. He had been put in manacles to sit on the floor and quietly mourn his parent's deaths. He hadn't been given anything to eat in days, and he found himself unbelievably hungry.

Then he heard the terrifying sound of a door opening.

He jerked his head up and glanced around. One of the doors on his left was slowly being pushed open. He caught a flash of red and immediately started panicking. Was it guards sporting the crimson tunics they wore here? Something bleeding so profusely that they had turned scarlet? Or maybe even-

A red haired girl, eating an apple and surveying him through inquisitive eyes.

Jace blinked. She looked like Little Red Riding Hood, although admittedly the cloak she wore was green.

A loud crunch broke him out of his thoughts as she bit into it. She seemed slightly nervous, her right hand fiddling with a hole in her sleeve at her elbow as her left held the apple. Jace processed the food, and his attention became fixed on it.

She saw her gaze and her eyebrows furrowed. Shrugging, she walked over and handed the apple to him. He fell upon it ravenously, devouring it core and all. She looked impressed.

"I'm not supposed to be out here." She said abruptly, still looking at Jace as though she'd never seen the likes of him before. Her eyes were apple green. Yes, he was still thinking of apples. She cocked her head slightly. "Daddy says it's dangerous and that he doesn't want me hurt." She looked around very obviously, as though she couldn't see the dangers. "Jonathan disagrees, but he tells me just to keep Daddy happy. I like making Daddy happy, but I was curious." She had a fragile innocence about her, one that might not be so fragile if she were anywhere but here. "I'm Clary."

"I'm Jon-Jace." He said suddenly, not sure why he told her the nickname reserved for his friends like Alec, who he'd known for years. She beamed happily.

"Can we be friends, Jonjace?" Jace hesitated, but she seemed so happy, and he was still nine years old. He needed to correct her on his name anyway.

"Okay..."

She walked over to sit next to him. "How old are you?"

"Nine."

"I'm seven." She answered her own question. He smirked and she instantly got defensive. "I'll be eight next week!" She seemed indignant. Jace hastened to straighten his expression, but she wasn't paying attention. Her gaze had been caught by the smears of dried blood on the wall. She hesitantly ran her fingers over it.

"Jonathan says it's just red chalk." Her tone was odd, her eyes glazed over. "I don't know if I believe him."

She was snapped to attention by the sounds of running feet. A boy of about Jace's age, with a shock of white hair, a pale face, and wide green eyes emerged into the yard. Jace's first thought: if Clary was Little Red Riding Hood, this person was a White Wolf. He stopped and hissed at Clary: "Move! He's coming!" Jace assumed this was Jonathan.

Clary was out of there before he could process it.

But she came back. Everyday, as far as he could tell, she would bring an apple and just talk to him for sometimes hours on end. He'd told her early on he didn't want to talk about his parents, so she did most of the talking. She told him how her two older brothers, Jonathan and Sebastian, resembled their father, although Jon had green eyes instead of the others' black ones, whilst she looked like their mother. She told him how she was infinitely closer with her mother than her father because he was always too busy for him to truly bond with her. She told him how he also made Jon and Seb busy, but that Jon always tried to catch up and play with her in his spare time, whilst she hadn't had a proper conversation with Seb in years. She told him about her art, her tutor, how she couldn't go anywhere without being constantly watched. She told him everything.

The nickname Jonjace stuck.

One time, Jon came down without his sister. His expression had always seemed pained to Jace, who asked why he was always so sad. Jon answered that he had many burdens, and much darkness. When Jace had asked why he bore them, Jon had answered perfectly seriously.

"Because it keeps Clary light enough for the both of us."

Jace became so attached to the little carrot that when he discovered that the guards hadn't locked his manacles properly, or that he was small enough to fit through the bars in the gate, he spared a thought to how she would react in the morning, coming down to talk to her lost friend. Then he was gone.

It was years before he saw Clary again.