Arianne slipped into the room hours later, holding her emerald necklace tightly in her palm. She climbed into her bed, hearing a shift from the opposite side of the room.
"Sorry... did I wake you?" She asked quietly.
"It's fine." Lyn replied sleepily, wiping gunk from her eyes.
"No, you should go back to sleep..."
"Ari, it's fine. I wanted to talk to you about something anyway." The strawberry-blonde's eyes were watching her figure in the inky blackness, even if only the outline of darker colour that represented the other girl could be seen. "We can't tell anyone. We'll have to go as soon as we possibly can, before the demons catch up." The brunette knew what she was talking about; her eyebrow creased.
"Because... they will find us eventually..." Arianne replied, hugging a pillow to her chest.
Lyn continued. "Yes. It's unfortunate that our team died—"
Arianne blinked, cutting her off, voice sharp, even hushed. "Lyn! Your boyfriend was on this mission! Stop pretending to be so cold." She snapped quietly, obviously a little set off.
Lyn went frigid, not replying for a long few empty seconds. Arianne, through her highly trained senses, listened Lyn take a slightly deeper breath, steadying herself. "Remember what I said. Goodnight." She said curtly, shuffling away from the girl pointedly. Arianne sighed, getting into the covers of her own bed, lip coming out a bit in a pout.
"Goodnight, Lyn..." Her voice was softer. "...Sorry for snapping..." For a few seconds, Arianne could picture the silent, mental argument in Lyn's head debating if she would ignore her parabatai by pretending to be asleep or not.
"I apologize also... Goodnight, Ari."
Not again...
She was hiding in the closet. It always started here.
The little brunette was stashed away at the back of the closet, a knife held in her hand. It wasn't an ordinary knife though, it was transparent, and shone lightly, like glass. The wielder, a little girl barely aged five years old, with wide, terrified chocolate-coloured eyes and wearing a simple pink t-shirt and comfortable, loose jeans, was shaking, orbs filling up with tears as she choked back sobs.
Downstairs, she could hear shrieking, shouting, and lots of crashing and banging. She got a mere glimpse of the creature as she was ushered upstairs, told to hide, wherever she could. Her parents remained downstairs, just as the beast crashed through the door, spraying wood splinters all over the living room.
All the little girl got of it was a black, sinewy cat, like a panther, but with a large scorpion-like tail and goat hooves as its back legs. The creature's eyes were bright yellow, shining in the darkness, slit horizontally.
"Grandpa said if there was ever trouble, take this." Her father had said, thrusting in her hands the knife. She didn't know how it would protect her, she was five, sure, but she wasn't dumb; a glass blade wouldn't be able to do anything against something as scary as that...
Grandpa was always senile, old, he was always telling her stories about demons and angels, creatures from other worlds that wanted to save or destroy humans, the ever-ending war between them. Her parent's always tried to drive her away from the fantasies, but the little brunette always found them fascinating. Grandpa passed away not long ago... even if he was crazy, the little brunette had never cried so hard.
Through the cracks in the closet, she could see his favourite painting, hanging over her parents bed. It used to be his favourite thing, a large painted canvas with an angel, Grandpa always called him Raziel, holding out a cup and a sword, snowy-white wings spread out from his back, body shining like he was covered in the stuff in glo-sticks. Grandpa gave her a real funny look when she'd pointed that out.
There was the sound of screaming, a female, and the girl flinched, pulling away from the doors jerkily. That sounded like her mother. Tears splashed down her cheeks as her ears caught her father shouting, heavy footsteps thudding the ground before a sickening crunch and silence. Slowly, the girl heard a pleased rumble.
She covered her mouth with her hands, fighting back sobs. She knew something horrible had happened to her parents, her mind couldn't grasp it; terror filled her and she couldn't help a little whimper escape her.
The purring stopped, and the girl froze. Slowly, the sound of padded footsteps echoed through the house. She heard it creeping through the lower floor, before padding up the creaky, old stairs father had always said he would fix, but she guessed it would be too late now— She grasped the hilt of the knife unknowingly, her limbs shaking from the pure terror that seemed to consume her.
The sound creeped closer, the little girl hiding in the closet closed her eyes, in her head singing a lullaby her mother always sang her to sleep with, even if it was barely comforting. Despite making no more noise, her small limbs trembled horribly, counting down as the sound came ever closer—
"There it is!" She heard heavy boots thudding against the door, someone feminine shout, and another pair of footsteps. The creature snarled, the sound loud but it went away, leaping down the stairs and landing with a loud thud, roaring. The sound bellowed through the house, making the girl's ears ring. She opened her eyes hesitantly, hearing more shouts, yells, and snarls, before everything went quiet again.
For a good few seconds, she heard nothing. She was so afraid that purring would be the first thing she heard, but voices finally spoke up.
"It got them." A man stated, voice unrecognizable to the girl. The tone was flat but held a bit of concern.
"Yeah... We were too late..."
The dream shattered into a million fragments as there was a knock on Lyn and Arianne's door. Arianne bolted upright, mouth opened to scream before realizing where she was. She panted for a good few seconds, clutching her sheets like her life depended on it, pillows and blankets strewn around the bed on the floor.
The knock sounded again, and the girl got up shakily, limbs like jello. She tried to stop her trembling, but her legs and arms wouldn't allow it. The brunette opened the door, chocolate eyes tired. Isabelle stood there, dressed in her combat outfit, arms crossed across her large chest. A flash of electrum wire twinkled in her sleeves, the whip coiled around her wrist.
"We thought because there was two new shadowhunters here, you'd help us out a bit. There's some demons—" Arianne waved her off, too shaken to really focus or think of the consequences of slightly insulting the black-haired girl. She turned around, walking over to Lyn's bed.
The brunette gently rocked the girl."Lyn... Lyn! Wake up." She groaned before blinking, bolting upright with a blade in her hand. Arianne raised her forearm to block it easily, seemingly accustomed to the unnatural act of bringing a knife into bed from Lyn. The strawberry-blonde blinked, rubbing sleep from her eyes and looking at the clock beside her.
"... I swear to god, Ari, if you want someone to make you breakfast at six o'clock in the morning, I am going to—" her grumpy early-morning threat was cut off by the girl, who waved it aside.
"Demons. They want us to help." The brunette gestured to Isabelle, still waiting in the doorway. Lyn understood then, stretching her good arm and legs for a moment, and slipping out of bed, shaky on her feet before steadying herself.
"Hurry up!" Izzy replied hastily, tapping her foot.
The girls quickly changed into their dark combat outfits, replaced by Alec who was kind enough to leave a set almost perfectly sized to their bodies, luckily for them. Lyn changed in the bathroom, for some 'odd reason' that Arianne nor Isabelle inquired about. Soon, both girls were ready, following Izzy down the hallways to the entrance, where Jace, Clary, and Alec were waiting.
"There's two groups tonight." Alec explained immediately. "Two groups for two separate demon sightings. The plan was Jace, Clary, and Lyn, then Isabelle, myself, and Arianne." The girls, Lyn attaching her belt to her waist and Arianne twirling her chakram, upon hearing this, frowned.
"... Is it possible for us to be in a group together?"
"Aw, come'on, Lyn! Don't you want to watch me kick ass without your parabatai drooling over me?" The fair-haired Jace grinned, while Arianne, with a red face, shouted in protest, hitting him over the head with the flat edge of her weapon. He hardly even flinched.
Izzy began dragging Arianne out of the Institute, shouting "come on, slowpokes! We'll mark you in the taxi" with Alec tagging along. Arianne blinked and looked at the older parabatai; she inclined her head in the slightest, sighing. Clary noted Lyn bite her lip hard, whether to stop herself from talking or irritation, she didn't know, but how attached Lyn and Arianne were was... different.
Once the three were far enough on their way, Clary turned to the taller girl, who was staring at the place you could have last seen them before disappearing around the corner. "Hey, are you okay with your arm?" She asked, the early morning sun painting her fiery red hair alight.
"Fine." Lyn replied stiffly. "We better head our own way." Clary shrugged, noticing Jace starting to walk to Main Street, casting a long shadow on the pavement. The strawberry blonde followed behind, hands in her pockets ignoring the two.
"So what's the demon this time?" Clary asked Jace, holding his hand.
"Remember about two weeks ago when we got a call from the Consul, saying Demons were beginning to group around this side of the continent?" She nodded, not noticing Lyn listening behind them. "And we got that package for those giant powerful Sensors? We dug them into the ground and the Institute has been getting messages ever since."
The fair-haired boy blinked, looking behind him at the strawberry-haired girl. "But the Consul never mentioned you two, I just realized. ... wouldn't they have told us you two were coming on that phone call?"
Lyn dismissed it. "It was 11 days ago we got assigned to this post in call for the recent demon flocking. After the phone call. I'm sure it'll come eventually."
"Nice of them to tell us after you guys get here." Jace replied. "Not that we don't mind guests, of course." Lyn's eyes flashed.
"No matter the circumstance, you're supposed to be prepared for unexpected guests." The taller girl replied smartly. Jace waved for a taxi.
"Well, I'm sure you two will fit right in... once you stop talking formally, again." He reminded, turning back to the conversation. She scowled.
"You're absolutely held up on this..."
"Yep. You remind me of the Inquisitor, she was... interesting."
"Seeing as you chose the adjective used to describe your grandmother carefully and I know what went on between you two, you're still unsure of your perception of her?" Lyn's voice was stony.
Jace scratched the back of his head. "... You could say that. I mean, she wasn't nice when she thought I was with Valentine—"
"No one would be."
"Yes, but..." he sighed. "Particularly nasty, to me. Then after, she jumped in front of a demon to protect me after... Women are difficult." He let out a breath again, running a hand through his hair. Clary, looking out to the early-morning traffic but still listening, hit Jace's arm lightly, scolding him.
Lyn snorted. "Don't expect me to save your ass by jumping in front of you, Jace Lightwood. And besides that, I am not the Inquisitor. Don't even compare me to her, if you would."
Clary looked beside her. "Why?"
She paused, before laughing without mirth, bitterness settling into her tone. "The replacement for Inquisitor Herondale is my mother. Inquisitor Stormthrush."
"Oh... really?" Clary enquired. Lyn nodded, eyes watching the busy Manhattan traffic, looking away from the two ShadowHunters. Her arms were crossed against her chest, figure rigid.
"You don't like your mom?" Jace asked.
"No."
The redhead looked over, opening her mouth to speak. "But she raised you, didn't she? Or is it something mor—?"
"Beautiful day out, am I correct?" Lyn cut her words off like a knife cutting butter, blue eyes steely, not even trying to change the subject discreetly. Clary shut up.
HERRO! How are you all! Finally posted this new chapter, once again my email account was giving me trouble and espiecially since it's the last week before exams this happens. SORRY for the late chapter, and here's your replies!
Mackeroni- Personally, I think Lyn is a lot more cold and calculated, and it's fun writing her and her sarcastic answers. YAY SARCASM! :D But of course, Ari is fun as a bubbly character too. They made an odd but complimenting partnership, don't they? (Well, most of the time!)
Wow coolio- Here you go! One brand-new chappy RIGHT out of the oven!
Kitty Katt- Personally, I wrote Lyn as a character who doesn't like human interaction that much, and it's SO fun writing her bare-tolerance of others. TEEHEE! Author's guilty pleasures. ;)
Hey, I just met you, and this is crazy, but here's my fanfic, so review maybe?
