AN: Holy shit, I really don´t know how long I´ll be able to keep up this update pace. I currently have a whole week free, but then the hot phase before finals starts, so enjoy it as long as it lasts :D

Present

Raphael woke up and he remembered Simon.

He remembered Simon on his first day of school and how he had chosen him over Brittany, even going so far as insulting her straight to her face. Raphael smiled when he remembered her face, jaw dropped at the other boy´s audacity. It was exactly like Simon to go against anyone, no matter their power or pedigree, the moment there was some injustice.

Simon had been the first one, outside his family and close friend who had made him feel like he was someone special. Even though he just remembered this first day Raphael already knew that. Simon had chosen Raphael again and again, even though everyone around them hadn't want him to.

It made a warmth curse through Raphael´s body that he couldn't describe.

Yet, there was still the fact that Simon was in the past. Coming from experience, Raphael could probably assume that Magnus was at least partly at fault. He picked up his mobile from the nightstand and called Magnus number (it was the only one saved in his phone; the Warlock´s and Simon`s. Raphael didn't do friends.).

"Hey, Raph," Magnus' much too cheerful voice rang through the phone. "As punctual as the sunset." Raphael glowered, even though Magnus would not see it. But an over the top cheerful Magnus always meant something had gone awry and he wanted to distract you.

"Why is Simon in the past?" he asked in even voice. "In my past?" He knew that his tone would convey the seriousness of the situation well enough, at least to Magnus, because Raphael never spoke calmly. He sneered, hissed, taunted, but he didn't speak calmly.

"He´s not only in yours," Magnus pouted. "He lives with past!me after all." Raphael hissed and his fangs dropped.

"Woah, woah, calm down," Magnus spoke. "We – that means me and our pet Shadowhunters –" there was some distant voice of protest in the background "– were going through some stuff the Clave confiscated from Circle members and he touched some magical object that apparently transported him to 1953."

"You let him touch something you didn't know if it was dangerous?" Raphael exclaimed enraged. Magnus should know that you should give to Simon only things that you made sure weren´t dangerous. That boy would probably manage to strangle himself with a napkin if you left him alone with one long enough.

"Everything else was harmless!" Magnus protested weakly. "Hell, we found several candlesticks! Who has so many candlesticks? You don´t need anyone, by chance, do you? They´re in pretty good shape, considering how they were treated…" Raphael rubbed his temples even though as vampire he couldn't even get headaches. But if there was any person who would manage it would definitely be either Magnus or Simon. Before the Warlock and Simon met, Magnus never used to ramble and now he was doing it constantly.

"I don't need any candlesticks!" Raphael hissed. He could stab Camille with one, though. He banished that thought into the back of his mind. "What are we gonna do to get Simon back?"

"Nothing," Magnus replied and apparently sensing Raphael´s wrath erupting even through the phone connection he hastened to continue his explanation. "I know that I´ll soon know what it was that transported Simon back, temporal mechanics at work, y´know, and until then we can do nothing but assimilating the new memories and continue to prepare against Valentine."

Raphael sighed. His heart told him that he should head out and try to get Simon back on his own, because leaving him in the past on his own? That could only spell total disaster. But his mind told him that Magnus' logic was sound and that he couldn't do anything anyway. Magic had never been his forte and Magnus probably already had tried every avenue Raphael could come up with.

"You´ll tell me as soon as you know something new?" Raphael asked, this time his voice softer.

"Of course," Magnus assured him. "But right now, I must go back and go through all this boring stuff." The Warlock sighed. "At least I have hot company."

"I didn't need to know that," Raphael replied drily and then ended the call. With a loud 'huff' he let himself fall back into his coffin.

Just five more minutes before he had to go outside and face the world.

Standing up, Clary stretched her legs and arms, relishing the satisfying popping sound that elicited from her bones. After having been forced to lay in bed for nearly three days she could finally get up again without the help of Jace. She still blushed when the memory of him carrying her back into her bed came to the forefront of her mind.

"Finally ready for freedom again?" came a voice from the hospital wing´s entrance. Clary spun around only to see the familiar figure of Jace leaning against the door frame, arms folded and trademark smirk on his face.

"I feel like a new human," Clary replied. But then she remembered why she had even bothered and the smile vanished from her face.

"What´s the matter?" Jace asked with a frown on his face.

"What´s the matter?" Clary repeated incredulously. "My mom´s been abducted and I´ve been lying here, doing nothing for three days while she suffered through God knows what!" Her voice´s volume increased the further she spoke until she was nearly hysteric. "I don´t even know who has her!"

"The Circle," Jace answered.

"What exactly is a Circle and why did the kidnap my mother?" Clary demanded to know. She needed to get up-to-speed with this new world as soon as possible. She couldn't be so dependent on people she didn't really know if she wanted to save her mother.

"All we know is," Jace started, "a long time ago the Circle led a revolt. A lot of Shadowhunters got killed, including my father." A pang of sadness shot through Clary´s heart. "And since the revolt we´ve been forbidden to even hear about the Circle."

"But how is that even possible?" Clary exclaimed aghast. "It´s your history."

"Says the girl who didn't know she was a Shadowhunter," Jace scoffed.

"Yeah," Clary conceded. "You´re right. And now the only person who knows the truth is missing, so I don't care about your rules or what´s forbidden. There´s got to be someone out there who can tell us why they´ve taken my mother."

"There is," Jace remarked. He turned around and made his way to the door. Halfway he turned around and asked with raised eyebrow: "You´re coming?" Clary hurried to go after him. With determination in every step the blonde led her through the hallways and corridors of the Institute. It was a true mace and Clary was sure that she would have gotten lost somewhere along the way if she had tried to find the exit on her own.

Finally, they reached a wide and open room, which ground was covered in runes. Right in the middle of it a man in training gear was furiously beating up a dummy with a long stick.

"That´s Hodge Starkweather, our weapons trainer," Jace spoke, barely above a whisper. "And, more important for us, a former Circle member." It was only now that Clary noticed the angry-red circle on the man´s neck. "After the Uprising, Hodge repented and he was sent to live and work here to make amends, but he´s forbidden to ever leave the Institute." It was in this moment that the man noticed them. One short gaze and the man´s eyes widened upon seeing Clary, his weapon falling to the ground with loud clatter.

"Jocelyn?" he spoke, hesitance but also hope in his voice.

"Uh, I´m Clary," Clary introduced herself and because Hodge wouldn't stop staring at her as if he had seen a ghost, she added: "Uh, Jocelyn Fray is my mother."

"Well," Hodge said. "She was Jocelyn Fairchild when I knew her. She was one of my best friends." He let out a wistful sigh. Clary didn't have time to swap stories with a former companion of her mother. Inwardly she was reeling at the revelation that her mother had, indeed, kept so much secret from her. She hadn't even known her mother´s real name until now! But there wasn't any time for that now. Clary had a mission to accomplish.

"She´s been kidnapped," Clary told Hodge whose eyes widened in surprise. "By someone named Valentine and his men."

"By the Circle, Hodge," Jace added, speaking up for the first time.

"But that´s impossible," Hodge protested vehemently. "Valentine´s dead and the Circle died with him." Suddenly the man was choking, the circle rune on his neck hissing and burning up.

"What´s happening?" Clary wanted to know, terrified.

"I swore a vow to never speak of what we did," Hodge explained. "This is the Clave´s way of making sure I keep that vow." Clary was aghast. How could any government body inflict this upon the people it was leading, even if they committed a crime? That was more in line with some middle age regime than an enlightened government.

"We can´t torture him, Jace," she hissed at the blonde who was standing next to her motionlessly. "Is there anyone else we can ask?"

"If the Circle really is back and they´ve taken Jocelyn…" Hodge continued even though it surely must hurt him. "Our leader…our leader of the Circle was Valentine Morgenstern –" he winced as the rune continued to burn up. "We thought he wanted to protect humanity, like all Shadowhunters. But we never realized the lengths which Valentine was willing to go. The people he was willing to sacrifice." The smell of burning flesh creeped into Clary´s nose and she had to gather every bit of her self-composure in order to not get sick right on the spot. "Most of humanity would die of we carried out Valentine´s plan."

"I still don't understand," Clary spoke confused. "How does my mother relate to any of this?"

"Jocelyn was a member of the Circle as well."

Breath in. Breath out. That was the only thing that Clary was aware. This…this couldn't be. So many things she had always thought as certain had already been destroyed – shattered – even her very blood wasn´t what she always thought it was and she just couldn't take that her mother was supposed to be in a Nazi-like terror group. Not her mother, who treated everyone equal and had made her apologize to a dog once when she had stepped on his tale. Not the woman who would always carry a little bit of coins in her pocket to give to the homeless around their bloc.

"No," Clary retorted. "I can´t believe it. My mother, she…"

"The important thing is that Jocelyn left the Circle," Hodge replied with understanding in his voice. But then his expression distorted all of a sudden as the circle run hissed again.

"Hodge, Hodge." Jace shook his mentor by his shoulders.

"I´m sorry, but we can´t ask him to do this," Clary interceded.

"Clary, we don't have a choice," Jace replied and for a moment she hated him for how in control and how unfazed he sounded. "You understand that, Hodge, right?"

"Jace is right," Hodge wheezed. "Valentine nearly destroyed the Shadow World and humanity along with it. If he´d gotten the Cup…"

"Wait a minute," Clary interrupted him. "The demon that attacked me at home thought my mother had some cup and that I knew where it was."

"Clary, the Mortal Cup is the most important object in the Shadow World," Jace said and there was a new intensity in his gaze as he looked at her. "Whoever possesses it can create more Shadowhunters. And it the wrong hands…control demons."

"If Jocelyn hid the Cup from Valentine, then she´s in more danger than you can possibly imagine." This time the run seared so hot that Hodge couldn't supress a scream.

"I hate to make you suffer like this," Clary said, a clump in her throat. "I´m so sorry."

"Your mother was only trying to protect you," Hodge assuaged her. "And now you must protect her. Stop Valentine, before he destroys you all." Clary wanted to say something more – apologizing for making the man suffer on her behalf – but Jace was already leading her out of the room into the empty hallway.

"Clary, look, will you just calm down," Jace murmured to her.

"Calm down?" Clary repeated incredulously. "Really, calm down?" She tore her arm out of Jace´s grip and turned around to face him. "Okay, Jace, you might be some kind of emotionless G.I. Joe, but…"

"What´s a G.I. Joe?" Jace interrupted her in confusion and Clary felt enraged on behalf of half of the world´s population, especially Simon.

"A soldier who doesn't understand human emotions, who doesn't know what it´s like to lose someone, to lose your own mother," she said.

"You´re right," Jace replied emotionlessly. "I never knew my mother." Instantly, Clary regretted her choice of words, guilt and bad consciousness meshing in her mind.

"I didn't know," she stammered.

"That´s precisely my point," Jace retorted. "You don't know anything about this. You don't know about me, you don't know about my life, but in the Shadow World, no training and no plan gets you killed." Clary sighed. He was right.

"Okay, so we know that Valentine is back and he wants the Cup, and for some reason he thinks my mother has it," she summarised what they knew by now.

"Could she?" Jace asked. "Have the Cup?"

"I don't know," Clary replied.

"Look, Clary," Jace started, "you know about runes. You´ve drawn them. You know something. Think, please."

"I´ve tried, Jace, okay?" Clary exclaimed. "It´s just empty blackness." She couldn't even say how often she had thought about runes and how she could have drawn them only to face this impenetrable wall of darkness in her own mind. It made her feel weak and violated, realizing that there was this foreign body in her own head that wouldn't release the memories she was sure it held.

"Your memory´s been wiped," Jace said.

"That´s not possible," Clary protested weakly. "Is it?"

"It is," Jace replied.

"Then how do I get my memories back?" Clary demanded to know.

"There´s one sure way to get them back," Jace said carefully and it looked like just mentioning it pained him greatly. "The Silent Brothers."

"Who are the Silent Brothers?" Clary asked.

"They´re Shadowhunters with superior powers," Jace explained. "Who possess the ability to recover memories." He paused for a moment. "A process that can also kill you, so there´s that."

"Your bedside manner is abysmal," Clary retorted. "But this is the only way?" Jace nodded.

"Alec and Izzy are busy getting your friend back," he said and a flash of hurt shot through Clary as she thought about her best friend who was still missing. "There´s not much I can do to help them. But I can help you."

"Then let´s not waste any time," Clary replied. "Let´s go."

1953

"So, what is it with girls and this garish pink around here?" Simon asked as he sat down beside Raphael in the cafeteria. Raphael gazed around; some people were more or less openly staring at Simon and Brittany was furiously whispering to her friends, pointing at them every now and then.

"What are you doing here?" Raphael asked. They had separated after geography, having different subjects. And now Simon was here again, sitting down at his table at which he had always sat alone, because no one wanted to sit with the poor Hispanic kid. Raphael had thought that Simon sitting with him in geography and generally being nice to him was just because Raphael was the only familiar face around here and that he would move on to some better (whiter) group the moment he had the chance, but again he was here, right next to Raphael.

"How does it look like?" Simon replied while eying the food that was stacked on his tablet with a mixture between fascination and disgust. "I sit with the only nice person I know around here. With whom should I sit otherwise? Brittany?" He snorted. "Nah, you´re stuck with me now and forever."

He may have intended this as a kind of threat, but the only thing it did was making warmth spread through Raphael´s body. He had long given up on ever finding any friends here, resigned to ridicule and hidden scorn, but apparently he could have only fooled himself up until Simon came because hearing this declaration lifted a weight from him that he hadn't noticed until now.

Raphael had never realized that it was possible to feel so light, so carefree like he usually only felt with his family or his friends here in school. Not until Simon came around.

"Your funeral," Raphael mumbled and Simon beamed at him. "And I think it´s because of some new dress Marilyn wore the other day. My sisters saw it one of the TVs in the shop-windows at Hawcort and wouldn't shut up the whole day." For one moment Simon looked really star struck, but then the expression vanished as fast as it had appeared and he smiled at Raphael again.

"Do you think it lives?" he asked with trepidation as he stirred in his food. "Will it kill me from within? Devour my entrails while I writhe on the ground, screaming in pain?" He seemed to have realized what he was saying, for he was suddenly shutting up and turning bright red.

"Please, ignore what I´ve just said," he stammered. "I´m a normal, well-adjusted human being and my thoughts are not violent in any kind or form." Raphael looked at him doubtfully.

"I like Hitchcock as well," he just said. "And yes, that –" he pointed at Simon´s food "- will probably kill you. Every now and then a student goes missing around here." He whispered conspiratorially. Simon´s eyes widened in mock-shock.

Maybe, Raphael, things were really looking up for him.

School day had finally ended. Never had relief been so palpable to Simon as in the moment when he walked down the marble steps of the school building besides Raphael. Simon was pretty sure that he had managed to make the other boy believe that he really wanted to be his friend and was not, in fact, waiting for some better social opportunities to present themselves.

Once Raphael let his guard down a little bit around him the familiar snark, humour and sarcasm Simon knew from his Raphael came out in full force. No one ever paid attention to Raphael and so he heard and saw things that the rest of the High School populace wasn't even aware of and he gleefully shared these with Simon, both boys engaging in some god old schadenfreude. Apparently, chastity wasn´t such a high valued good amongst both girls and boys around here as they liked to assure.

"Hey!" Simon kept walking. "Hey!"

"I think he means you," Raphael whispered to him. Annoyed, Simon turned around. Leaning against the small fence that was encircling the school building were a group of boys, all wearing the same college jacket, jeans and their hair gelled back.

Simon let out a long suffering sigh.

"You´re the new one," the boy in the middle, apparently their ring leader, stated. "The one who insulted my Brittany."

Oh my God, Simon thought, can this get any more cliché? Will he throw me in a trash can? Pour a slushy over my head? He was so done with the 50ies. And he had been here for barely two days already.

"I didn't know she was yours," Simon replied. "If I had I´d insulted you instead."

"Simon," Raphael said, tugging at his shirt. "Let´s just go, okay?"

"Yeah," another boy taunted. "Listen to bean boy." At this insult, Raphael´s expression shut down completely. Simon wanted to hit the other boy in his stupid, white face, but he was still rational enough to know that he had no chance against the gang of boys in front of him. So, instead, he had another go at their leader.

"Poor Brittany," Simon tooted. "She must have been pretty confused when she went out with you. How else could she have mistaken you for a real man? Can you even offer her anything but infinite stupidity and the promise of anonymity in averageness?" The boy´s face distorted into a scowl and his friends that up until now had been leaning against the fence were now advancing on them. Without thinking Simon turned around, snatched Raphael by the arm and started running.

There were shouts after them, but Simon didn't pay them any heed. He let Raphael take the lead and followed the other boy as they winded their way through the streets, not even knowing if they were being followed or not. It was exhilarating and somehow Simon felt light and free, because he had to think about nothing but setting one feet in front of the other and making sure that he didn't run into a wall or something.

Simon didn't know how long they had run – or how far – but finally Raphael stopped in some side street, leaning against the wall and breathing heavily.

"You," he wheezed, "are completely, utterly, totally crazy!"

"I am," Simon shot back. They looked at each other and then they burst out laughing which – considering the fact that they just ran what felt like a marathon – made Simon feel like he was suffocating. Dying from laughter was some way to go, he thought.

"Shit!" Raphael cursed when they had stopped laughing. "My mom´s gonna kill me if I´m too late." He turned to Simon. "Can you find your way home by yourself if I show you to the next main road?"

"Yeah, yeah," Simon replied. He stood up and together they made their way out of the side street they had found themselves in.

"That was fun," Simon proclaimed. "We should do it again sometimes." Raphael looked at him with an incredulous expression.

"Just kidding," Simon assuaged him.

"I had fun, though," Raphael admitted. "See you tomorrow." And then he was already walking down the street, leaving Simon standing there, staring after him.

Who knew that you could have so much fun in the 50ies?

"Where have you been?" were the words with which Raphael was greeted by his mother. "I was so worried." She embraced Raphael and he awkwardly patted her back because he had never seen his mother this distressed. "I´m so glad that you´re alright." She let go of him and Raphael noticed that there were some dried tears on her face.

"Mamá, what´s going on?" he asked in trepidation.

"You haven't heard?" his mother asked and Raphael shook his head.

"Oh, Raphael, it´s so terrible!" she wailed. "They found Ricky. He´s been murdered!"

Simon did find his way back to Magnus' lair, but he had underestimated the distances involved and so the sun was already sinking when he let the door fall back into its lock and marched straight up to his room, ready to just fall into his bed and sleep after this day.

Yet again, though, his hope of finally finding some rest would not come true. Opening the door to his room Simon found Magnus already sitting on his bed.

"Finally back, aren´t we?" Magnus asked.

"Well, there was some running from bullies involved, so there´s that," Simon replied, unsure what to say to the Warlock. Time travel did, indeed, complicate any kind of relationship.

"Your first day and you´re already involved in fights?" Magnus remarked with raised eyebrow. Simon shuffled on his feet.

"Well," he muttered. "This time period is just horrible and I seem unable to keep my opinion to myself?" He ended the statement as question, because he was not sure what Magnus actually wanted to hear.

"You should have seen the 30ies," Magnus commented idly. "But it doesn't surprise me that your mouth´s already gotten you into trouble." A sound of protest made it past Simon´s lips, even though Magnus' assessment was pretty much spot on. "But that´s not why I´m here. A friend of mine has finally answered to a request of mine concerning your situation. We´re going to pay her a little visit."

"Right now?" Simon wanted to know.

"Do you want to get back to your time or not?" Magnus asked.

"Of course," Simon replied. "Who´re we gonna meet."

"Her name is Thessa Gray."

AN 2: So, Clary and Jace still go to the Silent Brothers even though there´s a certified Warlock amongst them (who also has Clary´s memories). But they don´t know that...at least I hope they don´t, because if they did that would mean that I wrote somethig different in the chapters before and have to scrap this chapter. Maybe I should start making a bullet point list with all the important things happening in my story?