*All the characters from The Mortal Instruments belong to Cassandra Clare and her incredible mind. Nothing will ever be owned by the author of this story. ;)*

Songs:

Trying- Lifehouse

There Goes the Fear- Doves

Painting Flowers- All Time Low

Lasso- Phoenix


~Chapter Seven~

"Everything is going to be okay, sweetie." Her voice trembled slightly, almost giving the illusion that everything would be okay indeed. "Everything will be o–" She screamed. A blood curdling sound that made Jace cover his ears with his tear-damped hands. More tears surfaced while he closed his eyes, trying to block the idiocies all around him. He hated it. He hated this! It was horrible, and he couldn't think of a way to help, just sit there and watch.

He made up his mind. If he couldn't help he would at least watch. He opened his eyes, and took in everything. From the familiar ivory walls to the new incorporated blood stains in the turquoise rug. As more and more resurfaced, instead of feeling more frightened, he became angry.

Eight-year old Jace took his hands away from his ears, this time welcoming the cries of pain. He stood up from his fetal position and walked with determination to where the man he had grown to hate yelled at the woman he had loved and would always love. Her golden eyes flickered to him and widened, fear caught in the blackest pits of her irises. He looked away and instead focused his eyes on the man.

He turned his hazel gaze on young Jace. A shiver went down his spine, but he didn't break eye contact. The man's eyes filled with amusement.

"What are you doing?" He asked, leaving the woman alone for seconds and advancing on him. "Trying to look brave, aren't you? But you can't and never will. That's what happens to men like you and me. Like us." Jace shook his head, willing him to understand, but he just laughed. "You've always been determined. Doesn't surprise me." He was now kneeling to eye level. "Open your eyes, Jace. You can still make it."

Jace's eyes widened at the sight of the knife in the man's hand. He grinned malevolently, and if he wasn't mistaken, with excitement. "Come on, Jace."

"Wake up!"

"Jace! Wake up! Get your sorry lame ass of your bed, would you? It's eleven!" Jace opened his eyes to see some very angry black pits. If Jace wasn't manly enough he would have yelped back. Isabelle in the mornings was not a nice image. Well, at least it was better than having Alec wake him up.

"Finally!" She threw her hands up in the air for emphasis. She wore her long golden robe, her hair disheveled, makeup free face, and white slippers poking underneath. She probably had just woken up. Jace sat there unmoving, staring at a white corner about Isabelle's head. Isabelle noticed and her anger dissolved. "They came back." She stated.

Jace turned to her and nodded, for the first time since waking up feeling the light sheen of sweat in his body. Isabelle noticed how dilated his pupils looked. Last time she saw them like that was back in Minnesota. They would never leave him alone, where they? She started feeling sorry for Jace…

No, Isabelle–she thought. He hates sympathy.

She put a hand to her hip and rolled her eyes. "Whatever. Take a shower before going downstairs." She sniffed the air. "You need it." She turned and started walking towards the door. "Oh! Mom's making coconut pancakes." That certainly got Jace's attention as he sat up.

"Well, why didn't you say that before? I would already be out of the shower by now, you know?" His voice sounded rough, she noticed, but at least it contained the attitude she had learned to tolerate. She grinned.

"Of course! But what type of sister would that make me?" She was just exiting his room.

"Oh, I don't know. A good one!" Isabelle laughed hard, like if the idea of that actually amused her.

"Keep dreaming, darling!" For reasons not even Jace believed, he loved his sister.

o.8.o

"Remember when she did this one?" They both laughed. "She was so mad about something Jonathan had done at school. You can even see it in her strokes!" Luke exclaimed.

"Yeah! I remember Jonathan being scared of going too close to the basement door! You could hear Mom's voice from all the way in the kitchen!" Clary wiped a stray tear from her eye. "When she came up, it was like nothing had happened, if you don't count the paint covering her from head to toe!" Luke and Clary laughed some more.

It had become a tradition for them to look at Jocelyn's paintings and remembering the reason she had painted them in the first place. Jocelyn always had a reason, and her state of mind was visible in the way the painting was made. Clary understood more than Luke in that department, but Luke had also learned a few things over the years.

"I'll go get three more." He got up from the beat-up coach in his bedroom. He smiled down at her. "Then we can start making dinner. How does that sound?"

"Fantastic! Simon said he would crash later, so we should make extra."

Luke raised an eyebrow. Clary sighed internally. Eyebrows. "And what brings him to start calling now? He usually just comes in without invitation." He said while shaking his head.

"I don't know. I guess he's going through that phase were guys want to try being gentleman-y?" Luke laughed.

"Let's hope it actually works for him." And he was gone to the basement. Clary sighed. She loved Sundays. She had always, and after the tragedy, she thought she would start hating them, but no such luck.

She got up from the coach and went to go sit at the edge of Luke's bed. There was a picture in his nightstand. His favorite, he would say. It had been taken maybe two years ago. Jonathan had gotten a camera for his birthday and he was forcing everybody into a "family picture." Clary smiled at the memory.

Clary had been as mad as hell! Jocelyn was pissed because she had been working on something in the basement. Luke couldn't have cared less. He was the only one doing it voluntarily.

In the picture, Luke was smiling warmly with his arm draped over Jocelyn's paint-covered shoulders. Her arms were crossed, and even though she was trying to remain stoic, a half smile was barely visible in her dimples as her gaze was focused on Clary.

The short redhead looked pissed. She had a hand on her hip, the other lying on her side with her phone attached to it. Her gaze, locked on Jonathan, was murderous. Jonathan, on the other hand, was smiling, showing his white teeth. He was leaning his head to the side, Clary's side, just to piss her off even more.

Clary smiled as she remembered the aftermath. After the sound of the picture being taken and the flash blinding everyone momentarily, she growled and started flinging herself at Jonathan, but he was expecting it and he begin to run away from her.

Clary started laughing. Every day with Jonathan had been funny, even when they were mad at each other and wouldn't speak at all.

She heard a chuckle from behind her. Luke was looking at the picture in her hand, grinning.

"Good times, huh?" He said. Clary smiled and nodded.

"Good times definitely!" She saw the paintings Luke had under his arm. "Ready to decipher those?" She grinned as he flopped down on the mattress.

o.8.o

"So, that is supposed to be Hercules?" Clary nodded. "And that one is–Wait, don't tell me! –It's… The Big Pan!" Clary couldn't help but laugh at Simon's absurdity.

"Simon! No! That is called the Big Dipper!" She rolled on her bed and sat up. They had been watching the constellation posters on her roof.

"Well, how was I supposed to know? It looks like a frying pan, but I knew it couldn't be The Big Frying Pan! It was only two words, not three. That much I remembered." He sat as well and scratched his head.

"At least you remembered where Achilles and Andromeda this time."

"Nah. I just remembered sort of were they were from last time, point at it, and you tell me I'm corre– Ouch! What was that for?" Simon rubbed the spot in his arm where he had just been slapped.

"For cheating." She smiled in return of Simon's glare. She got up from the bed and stretched.

"Clary–" He began, but didn't know how to tell her. She turned around immediately because Simon doesn't hesitate about a lot of things in life.

"What's up, Si?" She went to sit next to him at the edge of her bed.

"Well, have you tried drawing at all since– you know…?" Clary tensed.

"No. I haven't. I don't think I could ever again." Her gaze was focused on her hands, which were playing senselessly with each other.

"Clary." Her eyes wouldn't lift to his. He grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. "Clary, I know that you want to punish yourself with all this–all this forbidding–but what you don't realize is that you are not just hurting yourself. You are hurting the people that are around you. Luke, Aline, me–even Isabelle asks me at times what ever happened to you. People notice, and even though I know you don't care about what they think, I do know you hate when people feel bad for you.

"What I'm trying to say is that drawing, singing, and playing; they all made you happy. Now, since you are restricting yourself from doing any of those–restricting yourself from being happy–you are giving everyone a reason to feel bad for you." Clary had stared onto her best friend's brown eyes all throughout his speech, unblinking.

"I know." She responded. "But it's not as easy as you think, Simon. When I do any of those things… I just can't! It just hurts too much! So many memories come to me. They overwhelm me. And I just can't!" Tears were falling down her eyes. "It hurts." Simon pulled Clary to him. He started rubbing circles on her back, letting her cry. She leaned into him, wetting all the front of his gray shirt.

But for some reason she didn't understand, she had been able to play with Jace's guitar. Charles, as he had called it. Yes, she was crying afterwards, but it wasn't because of memories, it was because of how empty she felt.

Maybe…

Maybe she couldn't play on Richard, her guitar, because it contained memories. Charles was a stranger to Clary, and when she played, it felt like she was writing a book from scratch. Maybe she could get a new guitar and then–

No. The thought of it sent a shiver of terror down her spine. Richard was hers. She couldn't just leave it behind for another guitar. She couldn't.

By the time her sobs diminished to occasional hiccups, the sun had gone down and it was dark outside. She pulled away from Simon.

"So, I think you're staying the night?" She asked, hoping that he would say yes. He seemed to hesitate.

"I still have the clothes from the last time I stayed, right?" Clary laughed.

"Fresh from the laundry, sir." He fist-bumped the air. Clary giggled.

"Well, I don't want to go to school with dirty Sunday clothes, do I?"

"Honestly, you don't." They both smiled.

"Kids! Come get your food!" Luke's yell sounded far away. Simon hesitated. Clary leaned over to whisper in his ear.

"I hear he made lasagna!" The response she got was Simon getting up inhumanly fast, pulling her along to the dinner table. Sometimes Clary wondered about Simon, but it never took her anywhere. Simon was Simon. Her Simon.

She smiled at the thought.

o.8.o

"Let's go to the movies, yeah? Jace and Alec are dragging me along with them. I don't want to be thrown to whatever movie they plan on watching." Isabelle asked as Clary, Simon, and she walked to their seventh period, English.

"Today?" Asked Clary. Isabelle nodded. "Today is Wednesday, Isabelle."

"And?"

"It's a school day?" Clary said.

"I'm not getting the point here."

"Tomorrow we have school, Isabelle."

"I see no problem in going to the movies on a school night. It's just two hours after school. We get home by six, and we have spare time to do homework and the likes." Isabelle reasoned.

Clary thought about it. She didn't have homework from any of her classes, except Calculus, and she was halfway done with that one. Maybe she could go to the movies after all.

"I would love to, of course, but my mom is dragging me to one of her mom conferences. She says it's important that she and I spend 'quality time'." Simon quoted while rolling his eyes.

"Aw, boo." Isabelle turned to Clary. "What about you? Please say yes!" Isabelle's eyes were pleading her to agree.

"Fine, Izzy." Clary smiled as she saw Isabelle grinning.

"Awesome! I'll just text Jace and tell him that–Oh, look! He is right there! I'll just tell him right now. Jace!"

A gold blob of hair in front of them turned, looking around with an annoyed expression. His gold eyes landed on Isabelle, who was grinning. Apparently, she liked bothering her brother. His glaring gaze went from Isabelle to Clary, where it softened, just enough for him to start smirking. Clary rolled her eyes. He started walking towards them.

"Oh, hey! It's Eric! I think I'll catch you two in class." Simon steered away to catch an invisible Eric.

"Well, Iz, you better have a very good reason for taking away my precious time." Isabelle snorted.

"Lay off, Jace. My time is more important than yours. Anyways, just wanted you to know that Clary is coming." Jace's eyes turned to Clary. His smile widened.

"Nice of you to accompany us, Clary. Just when you thought you couldn't get enough of me, huh?" He wriggled his eyebrows.

She laughed. "Oh, please! Don't flatter yourself, sweetie." Jace grinned.

"See you after class." And he left.

"It's a miracle he is still alive." Isabelle sighed. Clary grinned.

o.8.o

"So… what are we watching?" Alec asked breaking the excruciating silence that had settled ever since they had started driving away from school. He was driving a '99 blue Corvette.

"I don't know. I don't watch TV too much nowadays."Answered Isabelle from the backseat next to Clary.

"Well, it also depends on the rest of our party." Came Jace's reply.

"The rest of the party?" Clary thought it was just them four.

Jace turned around on his seat and grinned at her. "Yeah. Everybody else is waiting for us at the movie theatre. What fun would it have been just the four of us, huh?" He raised an eyebrow.

Clary glared. "Whatever." She wasn't about to start an argument with Mr. Know-It-All in the small car.

"Leave her alone, Jace." Isabelle shot an annoyed look at Jace. He laughed, but turned around to watch the road again.

The boys and girls made small talk with each other until they reached the movie theatre. Alec parked them close to the doors, where three teenagers were waiting, talking animatedly to each other. One guy and two girls. One of the girls looks very familiar, thought Clary as she looked at the group.

Alec and Jace got off, letting Isabelle and Clary get off the cramped car. Jace closed the door for Clary. She, out of custom, said thanks.

"My pleasure, mademoiselle." Clary looked incredulously over at Jace. He was grinning at her while shutting the door of the car. He stayed there, staring at her and since she didn't know what else to do, she just stared back. Before they could find out who was winning the stare down, Isabelle bounded next to Clary and dragged her to the front of the theatre. Before she lost sight of Jace, she saw him shaking his head.

They came closer to the group of teenagers and Clary recognized the two facing them as seniors. A very tall guy with glitter in his hair and a beautiful blonde girl with green eyes. She was one of the few that didn't paint her face like a clown at school. The other girl with her back to them had dark brown hair that came past her shoulder blades. Something about the stance in which she was standing was way too familiar for Clary.

"Look! It's Magnus and Camille! The other girl is possibly Jace's date." Isabelle waved at the tall guy, Magnus, and the blonde girl, Camille. They waved back.

Jace came out of nowhere and hugged the other girl, the one with the brown hair. She hugged him back. Jace lightly kissed her on the cheek and she giggled. Clary knew that giggle way better than she knew her own.

"Aline?"


First of all: Thank you! More than 100 Reviews? That is just awesome! I totally do not deserve all that praise, but I'll manage! Lmao! xD Anyways, sorry for the long wait guys, but school has been a pain. Literally. Oh, and the fact that Valentine's Day was this Monday as well... -.-
Did anyone else forget to do the Chapter Shadowhunt? Right now I'm reading them all together, fitting the pieces in slowly. -.- Who would have thought it would be soo frustrating! Anyways, what did you think of this crappy chapter? Sort of a filler and a bit of more info on our favorite person: Jace! :D Now, guys, you know what to do that makes me the happiest person in the world!

Review? ;D