In a completely unexpected development, it did, in fact, get worse.
"Jace. Jace. Hey, Jace. Hey. Are you awake?"
"Shut up Simon."
"Oh good. You're awake."
"Go to sleep."
"I'm not tired."
"I am."
"No, you're not."
"Piss off and go talk to your little rat friend."
"Neville is sleeping."
"So am I."
"No, you're not, you're talking to me."
"I would have been asleep if you hadn't talked to me."
"But you're awake now."
Jace rolled over so he was facing Simon. They were lying in the dirt outside their tent, which was currently being occupied by Neville. Whilst the others were sleeping comfortably in the protection of their own tents, Jace and Simon were at the mercy of the elements.
"Alright then, Simon. What was so important that you thought it necessary to wake me up for?"
"Do you want to play truth or dare?"
Jace didn't know whether it was because they were lying in the dirt, forced out of their tent by a rat whilst being lost in the wilderness and Simon had suggested they play truth or dare, or if it was because Simon actually sounded sincere, but he couldn't help but let out a mirthless laugh.
"Are you fucking kidding me?"
The eagerness dropped from Simon's face. "I just thought it would be a good… bonding experience."
"I would say something witty, but I'm too tired," Jace said, rolling back over. "No. It's a stupid idea."
"Come on, Jace. We may as well."
"No."
"I'm not taking no for an answer."
"Then you're a piece of shit, aren't you?"
"Please?"
Maybe it was because at that moment, he heard Izzy and Clary giggle, obviously talking about something secretive. Maybe it was because at that same moment, somebody moved in Alec and Magnus' tent, enough for the tent to move as well. Maybe it was because Jace didn't want to spend his second night in the woods as miserably as his first one. Or perhaps it was that deep down, he did want to play truth or dare with Simon.
Regardless of why he said it, it shocked Simon when Jace sat up, shook his head, and said "yes."
"Okay. I have another one. Han Solo - "
"Clary, don't you dare make me - "
" - Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa."
"How could you?"
Clary laughed. "You have to choose!"
Izzy pushed her playfully. "You're evil. Okay. Fine. I say I'd marry Leia, because she is just… perfect. You know?"
Clary nodded. "And plus - Carrie Fisher."
Isabelle smiled, happy that her decision was supported. "Maybe kill Luke, just because. I mean… he's pretty cool and everything, but I could never live with killing Han Solo."
Clary went to say something, but Isabelle silenced her with a warning glance that clearly said 'too soon'.
"So that leaves Han Solo then," she continued, "and to be honest, I'm not that mad about it."
Clary giggled loudly, but Isabelle shushed her. "Jace and Simon are right outside. I don't want them to hear me saying I'd bang Han Solo."
"Honestly? I think Simon would too."
They laughed again, before Isabelle composed herself, and said, "okay. My turn. F, M, K… ooh, I have a tough one. Jace, Simon, Alec."
"No."
"You made me choose between Luke, Leia and Han. You deserve it."
"Fine. Okay. Oh, God. I have to say marry Jace, right? He's my boyfriend."
Isabelle kept her expression blank. "Go on."
"Wait… or do I marry Simon? He's my best friend. I'm not killing him, and… well, I'm not doing anything else with him either. It wouldn't even be marriage. It'd be… like the inverse of friends with benefits. Spouses with disadvantages."
"You'd marry my boyfriend?"
"Look, regardless of who I marry, I'm killing your brother and getting somewhat intimate with your boyfriend, so yes, I'd marry your boyfriend. You're welcome."
"You'd kill Alec?"
"Come on, Iz. He and Magnus are too perfect together. I couldn't come between them."
"Plus he's gay."
"That too."
"So that's settled then? F… Jace, M Simon, K Alec?"
Clary nodded solemnly, before bursting into another fit of giggles. "Okay. Okay. Same for you, but Magnus instead of Alec. Don't worry - you're not going to do anything to your brother."
"That makes one of us."
"Hey!"
"Okay, okay. Um. I'd marry Simon - who wouldn't? - and… to hell with it, I'd screw Magnus. Alec wouldn't take it personally. He'd understand."
"You'd kill Jace?"
"Is that wrong? I'm not marrying him, and I'm definitely not sleeping with him. He's like a brother to me."
"Okay then. Kill Alec's parabatai and screw his boyfriend. Why not set him on fire while you're at it?"
"Very funny. I'll have you know Alec and I are on good terms now, so I don't want to hurt him, but you forced me to. So now… as payback…"
"God, Izzy, please take it easy on me."
Isabelle smirked. "Luke, Jocelyn, and Magnus."
Clary's gasp of indignation was loud enough for Magnus to hear. He didn't know what the girls were discussing, and frankly, he didn't care. He focussed his hearing on something he did care about - Alec's heartbeat. With his head pressed against Alec's chest, he could hear the steady thumping. He could feel Alec's fingers gently tousling his hair, his other hand's fingers entwined in Magnus'. They lay, Magnus on top of Alec, silent enough for Alec's heartbeat to be all he could hear.
Thu-thump. Thu-thump. Thu-thump.
"You still awake?"
"Yeah."
"How close to sleep are you?"
"Why? Is there something you wanted to do?"
"Oh - no. I mean… no, I just… it's not that I don't want to, it's just that I meant… I don't even know what I meant. I just wanted to know."
"Oh."
"But… uh… if you wanted to… do something… I…"
"You're adorable when you're flustered, Alexander," Magnus said, smiling as he heard Alec's heart beat faster.
Thu-thump, thu-thump, thu-thump.
"So… uh…"
"Not just yet. I'm too comfortable in this position."
"Okay." Alec leant into Magnus, until he could feel his cheek pressed against his scalp. "Hey, Magnus?"
"Mm?"
"Thanks for helping me with the whole Izzy thing. I mean… you didn't actually end up helping me apologise. Or do what I had wanted to do. But the fact that you were willing to help was really… sweet. And it made me more confident, so I guess you may have helped a little bit."
"It's just a shame it didn't get to play out. I would have liked to see her face when you started singing."
"And I spent all that time learning those dance moves for nothing," he whispered, lowering his voice.
"I had the torch ready for the strobe lighting and everything," Magnus said, dropping his voice to the same volume as Alec. "But all my hard work and choreography was wasted."
"Yeah," Alec said, though Magnus could tell he didn't agree. They weren't talking about the apology anymore. They were filling in time, not to say anything, but to hear each other speak. Magnus would never tire of Alec's voice. It was soft, so soft that some thought it not worth listening to, but Magnus loved it. He would never admit it, especially not to Alec, but the thought of marriage, of tying himself down to a mortal, didn't scare him as much if it meant he got to hear Alec first thing every morning.
"Magnus?" Alec's voice was still low, meant only for Magnus. He almost didn't respond - he had heard Alec's heartbeat quicken again.
Thu-thump thu-thump thu-thump.
"Yes, Alexander?"
"I just… thank you. Really. For… for letting me get so close to you."
Silence descended upon them, Magnus, for the first time in his life, lost for words.
"By the Angel, that came out awkwardly. I meant…"
"I understand."
Something in Alec swelled with happiness. "I mean it, though. You said before that you didn't trust easily, and I don't think I do either. But… you make me really, really happy. I'd trust you with my life. And I want to thank you for trusting me back."
Magnus' head was buzzing, and he couldn't string together the right words, so instead, he said, "and how do you know I trust you?"
"I have a seraph blade in my pocket. You're defenceless. I could kill you right now, and you know that. But you're not afraid of me. You know I'd never hurt you."
"You know what, Alexander? That's just about the most violent confirmation of love that I have ever heard." He tilted his head up to Alec's, kissing his jawline softly. Alec tilted his head downwards, too, meeting his lips halfway. Magnus couldn't help but smile.
"Looks like it's not just a seraph blade in your pocket, then."
"So help me, Magnus - "
And then Magnus kissed him again, because Alec was right. He did trust him, completely, utterly, foolishly. He would trust his own infinite life in the hands of this very shadowhunter.
"Truth."
"Okay," Simon said, jokingly stroking his chin. "Out of all of the guys here, who do you think is the most attractive?"
"Me."
"Apart from you."
"I still say me. I don't know if you've noticed, Simon, but I'm one fine piece of ass."
Simon rolled his eyes. "If you say so. But seriously - out of Alec, Magnus and I, who do you think is the most attractive?"
Jace thought for a second. "Actually, I think Alec."
"Really?"
"Definitely. I mean, look at his eyes. And he's got great abs."
Simon laughed. "If you weren't dating Clary, I'd say you were gay for Alec."
"Please, aren't we all a little gay for Alec?"
Simon shrugged. "I guess so."
"Wait - seriously?"
"Were you joking?"
Jace laughed, throwing his head back. "Wait until Izzy hears her boyfriend is a little gay for her brother!"
"You wouldn't," Simon whispered surreptitiously, alarm clear in his voice.
"Fine. Your turn. Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
"Ugh. Not again. You've chosen truth ever since the game began and you're officially the least interesting person to ever grace my presence. I'm officially reneging the options and forcing you to choose dare."
"And if I don't?"
"I'll tell Izzy you think her brother's cute."
"God damn it. Fine. What do I have to do?"
Jace thought for a second. "Take Neville and put him in one of the others' tents. Your choice."
"No. No way."
"Come on. You said."
"No! I'm not risking Neville like that."
"I'll tell Izzy."
"Fine."
Jace raised an eyebrow. "Okay then. I'll tell Alec."
Simon gasped. "Don't you dare! Do you know how awkward that would be?"
"It would be awkward, wouldn't it?"
"You monster, Jace!"
"Are you going to do it?"
"No!"
"Then I'm telling Alec. Right now."
"Fine! I don't care anymore. Tell him I think he's cute. Tell him whatever you want. Hell, tell him I want to have his blue-eyed babies. I don't give a damn."
"Huh. Okay. Well, I've made another executive decision. If you don't do this, I won't tell Alec. I'll do it myself but I'll say you dared me to."
"Why are you like this?"
Jace shrugged. "Are you doing this, or am I?"
"Fine. But I'm putting him in Alec and Magnus' tent."
"You think the girls will be too afraid around good old Neville?" Jace asked mockingly.
"No. I think that they'd slit both of our throats before we could so much as apologise. They're freaking terrifying."
"Fair point. Alec and Magnus it is."
Simon scowled and went into the tent to get Neville. There was some mild scuffling before Simon emerged, hands clasped around the feral bundle of hair.
"I can't believe you're making me do this."
"Don't worry. They're probably just sleeping."
Simon, still frowning, walked over, and stopped less than a metre short of the tent's entrance. He paused for a second, before spinning around and speed-walking back to Jace, shaking his head as his cheeks blossomed red.
"Not sleeping. Not sleeping. Not sleeping."
"Oh. My bad."
"I'm not doing this, Jace."
"Fine. I will."
"And which tent will you choose? Would you rather get killed for interrupting the girls talking, or for interrupting the guys having sex?"
Jace paused. He didn't want to admit to Simon that he made a good point, so instead, he smiled deviously again.
"Okay then. I'm changing the dare again."
"You can't keep doing this."
"I dare you to go and join Izzy and Clary. Right now. Go into their tent and just join whatever conversation they're having without any explanation."
"That's still a death sentence."
"Do it, or I let Neville go."
"If I leave him here and go join them, do you promise not to touch him?"
Jace shrugged amusedly. "Sure."
Simon, keeping a watchful eye on Jace, bent down and let Neville back into the tent. Keeping his eyes trained on Jace, he backed towards the girls' tent.
"If I die - "
"I'll tell them you died bravely."
And with that, Simon disappeared into the tent.
"Wait, are you sure? Because that leaves Gandalf."
"Hell yeah, I'm sure."
"You'd screw Gandalf?"
"Sure."
Simon froze. "Wait, what?"
Clary and Izzy turned around, catching his apologetic grin.
"Simon? What the hell are you doing?"
"I think the question is, what the hell are you doing? Or should I say, who the hell are you doing? Why would you bang Gandalf?"
Izzy shrugged, looking at Clary uncertainly as if to say 'who does this guy think he is?'.
"He was the last option."
"In what?"
"FMK. You're given three people. You choose one person to sleep with, one to marry, one to kill," Clary explained.
"Who were your options?"
"Frodo, Saruman, Gandalf."
Simon laughed. "Easy. Kill Saruman, because he's an asshole, marry Gandalf, because he's magical and would be quite useful to have around, and sleep with Frodo."
"You'd sleep with Frodo? Really? I'd marry him," Izzy shrugged.
"And I thought I was too short for you," Simon said, feigning shock. Izzy laughed warmly, and Clary took that as a sign that Simon had been welcomed into their tent, no further questions asked.
Jace kicked at the floor. Maybe sending Simon off wasn't such a great idea. He had thought he would have been back by now, albeit a bit battered up, but it seemed that the girls weren't as lethal as he thought. Or at least, rather unexpectedly, his best friend and girlfriend hadn't decided to kill him on sight. Who would have thought?
His thoughts, as per usual, wandered back to Clary. She was tense, for obvious reasons, but Jace couldn't relate. He, somehow, wasn't concerned about their current condition. He had expected to be feeling stressed or worried by now - not quite as much as Simon, but anxious nonetheless - and yet he was not. If anything, he was excited. There was something he enjoyed about being reckless, something thrilling about disobeying instruction. Yes, Alec was his parabatai, but part of him had jumped over that ledge not for him or for Izzy, but for the adventure that would unfold. Did that make him a bad person? Enjoying a potentially perilous, potentially stress-inducing situation? Did it make him naïve, or stupid? Was he oblivious to the imminent danger, or was there really nothing to be worried about? Or did it make him apathetic? He closed his eyes, thinking. They had enough food. They had water. They could get fresh water with the portable filter Luke had wanted to bring (to give them the 'true camping experience'. How ironic.) There weren't any animals, apart from Neville, but he hardly counted as a threat, unless it was to Jace's sanity. All things considered, it was pretty good.
Why, then, was Clary so stressed? He hated how selfish it made him sound, that if he was unfazed, then she should be too. But at the same time, it was truly how he felt. He had always been able to understand Alec's inhibitions and refute them with his own logic - why, then, was it so hard to understand Clary?
Simon gasped loudly from inside the tent.
"You wouldn't!"
Clary laughed. "I would! One hundred percent!"
"I will never understand you, Clary Fray."
Huh. It seemed him and Simon had more in common than he thought.
Alec closed his eyes. There was not much point to keeping them open. The tent was dark enough. Magnus was asleep, having returned to lying on him, just with fewer clothes this time. Alec breathed softly through his nose, almost afraid that if his breaths were too deep, he would disturb Magnus. As it was, he could feel his hair tickling his face as it was gently rearranged by his breath.
He began to rethink the day's events - from Izzy getting mad at him, to making up with him, to Jace saving his shoulder from the intense pain it had been in, to Magnus. God. Magnus. What had he done to deserve Magnus?
He could feel him breathing against his neck, and could feel the gentle pulse of his heart against his chest. Magnus, the High Warlock of Brooklyn, was here, in his arms, with nothing between them at all. Magnus, the most powerful magic user he knew, was asleep, vulnerable and most incredibly of all, he was his. Magnus, Magnus, Magnus.
His Magnus.
And in that moment, he swore one thing: that he would never let Magnus' trust go to waste.
"Wake up! We have a new day ahead of us!"
Clary groaned. "I don't wanna wake up."
"Me neither," Izzy said, rolling over.
"Ditto," Simon said, sitting up. Clary blinked, slowly letting Simon's presence sink in.
"Uh, Simon? Did… did you sleep in our tent?"
"Yeah."
Izzy sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What? Why?"
"Well, you both fell asleep halfway through your sentences, and you were both kinda leaning on me, so I didn't want to wake you up."
Clary shared a smirk with Isabelle. "Sure."
"Honestly, I did."
"It's not like you didn't want to room with Jace or anything."
"Well, he's not exactly the most pleasant person."
"I can hear that you're awake! Get out here!" Jace's voice was still low from having just woken up, but he seemed in a bad mood already.
"Someone woke up on the from side of bed," Izzy muttered, pulling a jumper on.
"I wonder if he's a bit bitter about me getting to spend the night with two beautiful women," Simon said, winking.
"Ooft, Simon! Smooth!" Izzy laughed. "Have you been taking lessons from Magnus?"
"Speaking of," Clary said, "who wants to bet that Alec and Magnus emerge wearing each other's clothes again?"
Simon shook his head, cleaning his glasses before he put them on. "I don't think I've ever seen two people love each other more. It's adorable."
"Hey, assholes! Get a move on!"
"Yikes," Clary muttered under her breath.
It was hard to say what looked worse for wear - Jace's face, or Jace and Simon's tent. His bruise had begun to turn an unattractive blue-brown, and on top of that, he had bags under his eyes. The tent had been torn to shreds in one corner, and there was a conveniently rat-sized hole at the base.
"Wait - is Neville still there?" Simon asked, blinking blearily.
"Does it look like I give a shit?" Jace replied, running a hand through his hair and picking out the twigs that another night on the ground had thrown in there.
"Oh God. Neville!" Simon stumbled to the tent and flung it open before loudly breathing a sigh of relief. "It's all good! He's just asleep now."
"This is messed up, Simon," Izzy said, shaking her head.
"Is it? Because I can think of several things that are more messed up, most of which you said last night," Simon quipped with a hazy smile. Izzy raised her eyebrows warningly.
"Remember, Si, what happens in the tent - "
" - stays in the tent. Gotcha," he said with a cheesy finger-click.
Clary couldn't help but notice Jace's disgusted glance at the two of them. He looked pissed off. She frowned and went to say something to him, but before she could, Izzy said "And I wouldn't be so cocky about me saying messed-up things. Little Girl over here had a few… interesting opinions too, if I do say so myself."
Clary gasped in spite of herself. "One, my name is - "
" - not little girl," Simon finished without even looking up.
"And two, you just said what happened in the tent stayed in the tent. If you really want to play those cards, I could always go tell Magnus what you said about his - "
"Clary!" she laughed, pulling her hair back in a ponytail. This time, Clary missed Jace's disapproving glare. They set about distributing breakfast, Izzy claiming the last apple. Jace sat down, a sour expression on his face, and began rummaging through their bag of supplies.
"You didn't sleep well?" Izzy guessed.
"How could I have slept well? I was on the ground. In the dirt. All because Simon's stupid rat friend decided to shit all over our tent."
"Take it easy," Clary said, patting him on the back as she sat down next to him. "You didn't hear it from me, but I think that next time Simon wanders off, Neville is going to conveniently escape."
"You couldn't have done that sooner? Or what, were you too busy cozying up with Simon?"
Izzy let out a low whistle.
"Excuse me?"
"What? It's true. You, Izzy and Simon slept together last night."
"We what?" Simon asked, joining them on the floor. "I don't remember that."
"He means we shared a tent."
"Not necessarily," Jace spat.
"Woah, okay. That's disgusting," Izzy said, putting down her apple. "You really want to sink that low?"
"You're right. I'm sorry for asking," Jace replied curtly, standing up and brushing the dirt off his pants. "After all - what happens in the tent stays in the tent."
And with that, he stalked off.
The awkward silence that soon followed was broken only by Magnus tumbling out of his tent, a grin on his face.
"What a wonderful day it is today!"
Isabelle nudged Clary, smirking.
"And what is so entertaining, Isabelle?" Magnus asked, mussing up his hair further by running a hand through it.
"It's just that those pyjamas were my Christmas gift to Alec. And I have to say - that shade of navy blue suits you."
"Ah! Excellent! We shall have to get dressed in the dark more often - it seems to produce great results."
"Is Alec up?"
"Not anymore. Oh - you mean is he awake? Yes, of course. Alexander!"
"One second," Alec said from the inside of the tent.
Magnus inhaled deeply through his nose, a content smile on his face. "Yes. What a wonderful world. Now - to the imbecile who woke me up by saying, if I recall correctly, 'hey, assholes, get a move on'… where is our little ray of sunshine?"
"Jace is butthurt because he didn't get to share a bed with me," Simon said with a wry smile.
"Oh. Okay. That's a first," replied Magnus. "Now tell me - what's on the agenda for today?"
"I say we work on climbing that hill thing," Izzy said decisively.
"Excellent start," Clary said with a definitive nod. "What do you think, Simon?"
"I think we should make t-shirts that say 'Simon is more of a chick magnet than Jace Herondale'."
"Very mature. Magnus?"
He nodded slowly, considering Simon's proposition. "Yeah. I support that. I'm a medium, by the way. I'd like seven shirts - one for every day of the week."
"I meant, do you have any ideas for what to do today?"
"Please - we all know what's at the top of his to-do list," Simon said.
"Speak of the devil," Magnus said with a smile as Alec clambered out of their tent, fully dressed in his usual black ensemble.
"Wrong pyjamas."
"Oh, Alexander, life's too short not to share clothes."
"Really, Magnus? Your life's too short?"
"Good morning, Alec," Clary said, trying to distract him from Magnus. "We were just discussing what we were going to do - I mean, what we were planning to accomplish today."
"Huh. How about… we try and climb the giant hill?"
Izzy high-fived her brother. "Majority rules."
"Majority? You're two out of six."
Izzy smirked. "If you can get more than two people to agree on anything else, I'll be impressed."
Magnus shrugged, adjusting his shirt. "She's got a point. The rest of us aren't going to agree on anything. Two is a majority."
Simon shook his head. "This is just like the third Pirates of the Caribbean."
Alec looked at him questioningly. "Right. Well. Hey - where's Jace? I thought he was awake."
"He had a little… tantrum," Izzy said, lowering her voice though Jace was well out of earshot. "Simon crashed Clary and my party last night."
In the corner of Izzy's vision, Magnus fist-bumped Simon.
"Jealousy?"
"Probably."
"That makes sense. I mean, I'd be pretty jealous too if I looked like Jace and someone like Simon got to spend the night with two girls."
Izzy playfully slapped her brother. "Easy. He's my boyfriend."
"I know. I was just joking. Which direction did Jace go?"
Clary gestured vaguely after him. "He went in the direction of the river we found. He's probably there."
"Why?" Simon asked.
"Because he knows that I'd be able to find it."
"So?"
"Please. I know Jace. He wouldn't run off to someplace I couldn't find."
"You're a real asshole sometimes. You know that right?"
Jace spun around to see Alec standing a few metres behind him. He had been sitting by the river, just upstream from where he and Clary had spent most of yesterday. The rush of water made it impossible to think too hard, which was exactly what he needed.
"What?"
"Do you know how shitty you make Simon feel?"
"You're on his side now, are you?"
"He told me what happened last night. How you tried to blackmail him into doing something stupid."
"I was playing around, Alec! We do it all the time."
"And then, on top of all of that, you have a hissy fit because he's good enough friends with Clary and Izzy to seem so non-threatening that they let him into their tent last night. Are you really that petty?"
"I'm just sick of… him."
"That's not a good enough excuse, Jace."
"Really? That was a good enough excuse for you and Iz."
"This is nothing like that. That was us being mutually annoyed at each other. Here, you're just pissed off at Simon for having done nothing but cope with your angsty bullshit."
"Why are you angry at me, Alec?" Jace asked, folding his arms.
"I'm your parabatai. It's my job to tell you when to get your act together."
"No, it's your job to stick by me."
"It's my job to do what's best for you."
"So what? Is this some kind of intervention? Look, I had a shitty night's sleep, I'm not feeling great, and half of my face is swollen beyond belief. I have every right to be pissed off."
"That's not the point, Jace. The point is that you're overreacting - "
"Jace!" Clary burst through the trees, batting the stray twigs away. "Sorry to interrupt this little… bonding session… but I have something to say."
"Go ahead," Jace grumbled.
Clary sighed but straightened herself up to be as tall as she could next to him. "I don't want to infantilize you, so I won't talk about your feelings as if I understand them. Because… well, I don't. I don't know what you're feeling. But I can tell a lot of it stems from the fact that Simon got to sleep in Izzy's and my tent. I don't know if you're jealous, or simply annoyed, or perhaps you thought the situation would go differently and you're frustrated that it didn't, but this whole 'running off' thing is too much. Just talk, and I'll answer."
"Just talk? Fine. I'll talk. Simon Lewis decides to annoy Magnus so much he takes a wrong turn and gets us stuck in the wilderness. Simon Lewis decides to wander off to take a piss and he finds a rat which he sees himself in and then, for some godforsaken reason, he keeps. Simon Lewis decides to leave it in our tent that we were forced to share and as a result, I had to sleep outside, on the floor, with him. Simon Lewis bugs me until I play truth or dare with him, and then leaves me outside, in the dirt, whilst he shares a tent with my girlfriend and my sister. And then, Simon fucking Lewis decides to make a huge deal about how great your night was. I don't understand how he can repeatedly screw everything up and yet you all still side with him!"
"That's nothing like what happened, okay? I agree that Neville was a mistake, but you can't blame Simon for us being here, and you most certainly cannot claim that last night was anything other than him falling asleep after we did. And besides, I don't want to play the blame game, but it was your idea for him to join us - "
"Really? And who told you that?"
Clary froze. "Jace - "
"You can't seriously expect me to think you're being a diplomat. You cannot tell me that you're on the fence here."
"Jace, calm down. There's nothing wrong," she reassured him.
"There's everything wrong!" Jace stepped towards her, his hand coming close to her face. She didn't flinch - she knew he would never hit her, that he was just so angry that he wanted to get his anger out the way he knew best: fighting. She knew she was safe.
But Simon didn't.
And so when he saw Jace raise his hand, close enough to hurt Clary, Simon was so blinded by shock that he didn't see him clench his fist and lower it again. He didn't see the apologetic shake of the head. All he saw was Clary in danger.
So he stood up from where he was crouched, despite Isabelle tugging at his shirt to get him to sit down again, whispering "he didn't hit her, he didn't hit her!", and stepped out of the forest.
"What the hell are you doing here?"
"You tried to hit Clary."
"I would never hit Clary."
"That's bullshit. This is all bullshit." Simon blinked rapidly, suddenly realising what he was doing. He was confronting Jace Herondale, one of the best Nephilim warriors around, for almost doing something that he would never do. He was stupid - that much he knew - but he was right. It was all bullshit.
"Stop pretending you know what you're doing."
"Fine. Stop pretending I'm completely incapable of ever amounting to anything."
"I'm not pretending."
"Neither am I," Simon said, and in the stupidest move he had made so far, he aimed a punch at Jace. Alec reached out to grab Simon by the shirt and yank him backwards, but Jace got to him first, blocking the punch and striking back, hitting Simon hard in the stomach.
"What the hell? Stop it!" Izzy ran out of the forest, but her ankle, still recovering, ached with pain and she tripped over. Clary caught her, leaving Alec to try and pry the two apart.
"Stop it! Both of you! You're being ridiculous!"
But neither would, because both were hurt, and both were tired, and both were never going to give in to the other. They were both too proud to let Clary down. Little did either of them know that them hurting each other had already lost them both respect in her eyes.
Simon couldn't take it anymore; he knew it was a waste of energy. He could never beat Jace in hand-to-hand combat. So he did what he knew best - he backed out of the confrontational situation. The problem was, as he stepped backwards, he felt the cool rush of water fill his shoe. He was backing into the river.
Jace, however, showed no signs of stopping. He wasn't just angry at Simon anymore. He was angry at Clary, for not backing him up. He was angry at Izzy, for thinking that she needed to hide in a bush to keep Clary safe from him. He was angry at Alec, for not understanding. Hell, he was angry at the entire world for not understanding, only Alec had no excuse. And so he punched, and fought against Alec's restraining arms, because there was no way in Hell that he would give up. This was for the day or so they had spent lost in the woods. This was for all of the shit he had ever had to go through. This was for him, goddammit.
If he was the only one on his side, then so be it. He would fight.
No one was sure what happened next. Simon and Jace and Alec were too entangled in their efforts for the others to quite tell who slipped, or whose fault it was. Regardless, they fell into the strong current.
Clary screamed, and Izzy clapped a hand to her mouth, but it was too late.
They had been whisked away downstream.
