Chapter Nine: Never Fight with Frays


~Clary~

She woke up to someone pounding on her door so loudly that her eardrums rattled. She sat up in her musty and dusty bed and looked around with half-lidded eyes. Light was shining through her window brightly, so she was willing to bet that it was around midday, but considering the fact that she'd pulled an all-nighter, she didn't think that she should be expected to wake up at all. She scowled at the doorway, for a moment, wondering if just her glare would be enough to make the intruder piss off.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

"Go away!" she snapped loudly, flopping back down on to the mattress. She was tired and she knew that she wasn't the nicest person in the world when she hadn't had her beauty sleep.

"Either get out here, or I'm coming in!" Will's voice sounded.

Clary frowned as she looked down. She hated sleeping in jeans, so she'd shimmied out of them before she'd gotten into bed earlier that morning, and there was no way that she was letting him see her so indecent, on the other hand there was no way that she was about to let him talk to her like that.

"Shut up, and go away, prick!" she snapped. "Go harass my sister!"

"You're a little witch in the mornings," Will shouted through the doorway, "I feel bad for Tessa!" There was silence for another moment, and then Will said, "You asked for it, Clare!"

The door slammed open and Will barged inside. Clary shrieked and toppled off the side of the bed, hopefully before he could get a good view of anything. He stood in the doorway with his arms crossed and a frown on his face as he looked at the spot where she was hidden by the mattress. She rose slightly so that she could look at him with a matching scowl. "What the hell, Herondale?" she snapped.

"Don't be so overly dramatic," Will scoffed at her, "it isn't like…" he trailed off as he saw her pants strewn on the floor where she had left them. He raised an eyebrow and a smirk slowly started to spread on his face. It was there that Clary could see the most resemblance between him and Jace and at the moment she hated it. "Well, maybe it is like that. Did Jace sneak in here some time during the night?"

Clary felt her jaw drop as she looked at him with wide, disbelieving eyes. "William Herondale!" she shrieked. "Get the hell out of here or so help me, I'm going to rip you—"

"Whatever you do, my dear Clarissa," Will said, "as long as you do it dressed like that I'm sure I'll be completely okay with it."

Clary's cheeks reddened as he snickered and backed out of the room, grabbing the knob of the door and swinging it shut behind him, making a flourishing bow before he was completely blocked from view. She pushed herself to her feet, grumbling under her breath as she walked over and grabbed her pants. Stupid Herondales. Stupid Will for disturbing her. Stupid Jace for pissing her off. She sighed, at least Will was tolerable. He meant well and his antics didn't make her feel strange like Jace's did. She could stand being around Will, even if he was the single most annoying person to ever grace the planet with his presence.

She pushed the door open and looked at Will, who was lounging on the couch with Magnus at his side. Clary scowled at this. Why couldn't Magnus have woken her up? At least she wouldn't have felt as flustered if he would have caught her in her underwear. "Don't look like that, Clary," Will said, "pink is a really good color on you."

She grabbed the closest thing to her, a picture on the wall, and chucked it at him. Magnus yelped and dove for the ground while Will flopped completely on the couch where Magnus had been half a second before so that he was laying down. The picture skidded on the floor a few feet from the couch, the glass from the frame exploding everywhere.

"Oi, Fray!" Will said indignantly as he sat back up cautiously, "That would have been my face!"

"That was the point!" Clary snapped, "I'm sure bloody glass would have been a really good color on you."

Magnus, who was still on the ground, proceeded to roll around, practically cackling at the look on Will's face. The older Herondale cousin was looking at her a surprised scowl.

"Feisty, aren't we?" Will asked, his face morphing into a grin. "I like this one, don't you, Bane?"

"Oh, yes," Magnus said as he began to take deep breaths to calm himself. "She's perfect. Tell me, Clarissa, is it because you have red hair?"

Magnus pushed himself into a sitting position and turned so that he was leaning against the couch looking at her. He was still grinning from ear to ear as he just looked at her.

"What do you mean this one?" Clary asked, ignoring Magnus' question. She crossed her arms over her chest as she turned and looked around, possibly for another picture frame to throw.

Both just looked at her, their smiles slowly fading. Will pushed himself into a sitting position as he rested his elbows on his thighs. "It's not important right now," he said quietly. "I'll tell you later, okay? Right now, you need to go down to the lobby."

"Why?" Clary asked, frowning.

"Well," Will said, "before you threatened to kill and then actually attempted to kill me, I was going to tell you that Jon and Alec were back. They just got back a few minutes ago, which is why I was the one to wake you. I told Tessa to go ahead down and see her brother and that I would get you up for her."

"Why aren't you down there," Clary asked, looking at Magnus, as she started walking to the door. Her curiosity was the only thing stopping her from all-out sprinting to lobby.

"Alec needs time with his family," Magnus replied with a small smile. "I love him, but it isn't requited, Clarissa. Don't worry about it, though. I'll see him later."

She rushed out of the room and dashed down the stairwell as quickly as she could. There were a few people going downstairs slowly, but Clary shoved past all of them impatiently, nearly tripping over a pair of men who had stopped and were holding a conversation at one of the floor levels. She narrowly dodged them and continued running, taking the stairs as quickly as her short legs would allow her.

She hit the bottom step still running and shoved the door open without breaking her stride. The lobby was mostly empty, but a group of people was crowded in the middle.

Clary stopped and caught her breath as she made out the people that were there. She saw Isabelle first, with her long black hair, then Tessa, who was practically jumping up and down with excitement as she clung on to the arm of the one person that Clary was excited to see.

Jonathan's white-blond hair was a disaster. He looked dirty, haggard and tired, but he was alive. Her brother was still alive. She let out the strangest squeal as she dashed forward, completely forgetting about her fatigue. She shoved past all the bystanders, including her own sister, as she jumped at her brother. Jonathan caught her in midair and wrapped his arms around her, clutching her tightly to him.

"Happy to see me, baby sis?" Jon asked with a weary chuckle.

Clary nodded into his neck as she wrapped her arms around him. "You're not allowed to leave me ever again," she said. "We're a family, dammit, and we're going to stick together!"

"This must be the other girl that you were talking about," a voice said to the side. Clary slowly let go of Jonathan, who let her slide to the ground. She turned and saw a large guy with black hair and dark, almost black eyes. His accent was foreign, it sounded almost French. "She is very pretty."

Clary looked back up at Jon, who was looking over at the stranger. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Don't mind him, Clare," he said, looking back down at Clary. "It's just in his nature. This is Sebastian Verlac. He saved my and Alec's asses. The car broke down maybe halfway from a town past this one and the horde was on us. If he wouldn't have come to the rescue, I would have been food for the stragglers."

"Thank you," Clary said sincerely, giving Sebastian an earnest smile. Any guy that could bring her brother back to her was a good guy in her books.

Sebastian waved his hand in a dismissive manner and said, "Your sister, Tessa said the same thing. It brought me to the presence to such fine women; I can't see why it wouldn't be completely worth the effort."

Clary gave him a small smile. "I'm being serious," she said. "I'm very grateful, Sebastian."

"Speaking of people that saved my neck," Jon said, "Alec did literally." He turned Clary away from the new guy and toward the quiet boy that was surrounded by family members. "He killed a straggler that was about a millimeter from taking a chunk out of that very body part."

Clary grinned over at Alec, who was hugging Isabelle. Jace was standing next to him, looking at Clary with his lips set into a thin line. He wasn't happy about something. Alec looked past Isabelle and over at Clary and smiled in return. He must have overheard Jon.

She moved past Jon and grabbed Alec once Isabelle released him, pulling him into a large hug. "Thank you so much!" she said with a small laugh. "I don't know what I would do without you."

"Don't worry about it," Alec said, patting her on the back. "Your brother's saved my ass before."

"Do I not get a hug?" Sebastian asked jokingly. "I saved their lives too, after all."

Clary turned around and wrapped her arms around him in a brief embrace. When she pulled away from him, she smiled at his goofy grin and said, "Thank you," as seriously as she could. She turned back around and was about to say something to Alec, when she realized that Jace was gone. She blinked confusedly and looked around, wondering if she would spot him around the room. He wasn't in the lobby at all.

"He left," Isabelle said in her ear.

Clary spun to face her, jumping slightly from surprise. Isabelle was looking at her with an almost smug expression as she crossed her arms over her chest. Clary felt heat rise to her cheeks if only because she realized that it had been that obvious that she had been looking for Jace. If she had a problem with her looking so hard for him, she didn't show it. She just smiled at Clary and said, "He didn't look too happy either. I mean, he just walked out when you were hugging that really hot new guy."

She opened her mouth to say something to Isabelle, though she didn't know what she was going to say, so the only thing that came out of her mouth was air. Isabelle smiled at her almost smugly and patted her on the shoulder, "I feel for you Clary," she said, though Clary had no idea if Isabelle was being genuine or not. She then walked past Clary and toward Sebastian. She faintly wondered how Simon was going to take this. Clary had a feeling that Isabelle wasn't shy and she knew that Sebastian wasn't.

"I'm sorry that I can't extend this reunion, little sister," Jon said, placing his hand on her shoulder, "but I have to go and get some sleep."


~Jace~

He was leaning against the wall outside, trying to keep his frustration in check. She was just so annoying! How was it fair that she could prance around and hug Alec and a complete freaking stranger with an accepting smile on her face, but she refused to even so much as look at him? What had he done to her that was so bad to her?

"Alright, Herondale," Clary's voice snapped him out of his reverie. He turned around and saw the center of all of his anger standing outside of the doorway of the hotel with her arms crossed over her chest as she glared at him. "Spit it out," she snapped at him irritably. "Go on and tell me what's wrong so we can fix it!"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Jace snarled, too angry to even consider the fact that she had come to him. "I came out here to get away from…from people. Just go back in there and talk to your friends. That's what they are right? They're your friends. I wouldn't know because I'm not allowed that privilege!"

"They're not my friends," Clary shot back defensively. "I was just grateful that they saved my brother! I'm sure you felt the same way toward Sebastian and Jon!"

"I saved your life twice!" Jace exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air angrily. "Why is it that I save your life and you hate me, but you're willing to show gratitude toward a stranger that was hitting on you in front of your brother like a complete jackass?"

"I'm not fishing for compliments," Clary said, her voice weary as all the fight seemed to drain out of it. "I don't want to hear pretty words. I just want the truth."

"I won't lie to you," Jace swore. She had piqued his interest more than just a little with the way that she was talking. "I can't promise that you'll like the truth of whatever you're looking for with a tone like that though."

"Why do you care if I'm your friend?" Clary asked. "If it's just because I rejected you, then I think we really just need to stay away from each other."

"I doubt that you'll want anything to do with me either way," Jace remarked coldly. Her question had rubbed him the wrong way, and he felt a bit of resentment settling in the pit of his stomach. "I admit that your rejections only fuel the drive I feel to get you to accept the fact that I'm going to be your friend, but that's not why. I want to be your friend because I've never met anyone half as crazy as me and my cousin before I met you." Her frown seemed to deepen as he spoke. He crossed his arms over his chest and said, "I've wanted to be your friend ever since you proved that you were insane enough to stop that straggler from getting to me. So don't insult me like that, Fray. You're stubborn as hell and apparently you have a very large cruel streak, but I can tell that somewhere deep down you don't want to be a loner."

"You don't know everything," Clary remarked coldly. "You have no idea what I want!"

"Oh," Jace challenged, "I'm pretty sure that I know pretty much everything. Tell me, Clary, does the fact that an attractive guy is chasing after you in this desolate wasteland rub you the wrong way?" he raised an eyebrow and looked at her. "Go on, Clare, you want to be the person without anyone else, so tell me this. I want to know if you really mind the fact that I'm giving you so much attention. Tell me that you don't like it and I swear that I'll stop."

She looked at him for a few seconds and Jace stared back silently. Then he walked forward and pushed past her before she could answer, afraid that he would have to hear something that he honestly didn't want to hear.


Jace decided that Clary really should get a good taste of what she was asking for, so he backed off. He didn't speak to her; he didn't look at her. Heck, he even went out of his way to make sure that they were in the same room as little as possible.

He was miserable, and he knew that she was too. She was too proud to admit to it though, so they kept this charade up. Everyone around them must have realized that something was off in the four weeks that they had been at the hotel, but no one had commented on it…to him at least.

Things came out when he and the other guys were sitting on the couch in the living room of the suite that they all shared. The girls had the suite across the hall from them, and were god knows where doing who knew what.

He was lounged against the arm of the sofa, his head resting in his hand as he fought to keep his eyes open. He'd done guard duty with Simon the night before and the pair of them had been attacked by a flock of stragglers outside of the fence. Both had come close to death quite a few times and Jace was grateful for Lewis having his back more than he would ever admit out loud.

He had just gotten in and plopped down with Simon. Neither one had been to bed yet, so Jace was gathering the willpower to actually make it to one of the rooms. He was fairly sure that Simon was doing the same thing when Will spoke up from his spot on the chair.

It was one of those office chairs that Jace hated. It creaked and groaned whenever it moved, and Will enjoyed spinning around in it like he was four years old. That was why Jace heard the loud noise that was a mixture of a cat drowning and nails being scraped against chalkboard, he immediately scowled in his cousin's direction. Will had moved from facing the wall to facing him slowly, dragging out the creaks and groans. His face was very serious as his hands clasped together in his lap.

"Jace," he said, his voice light and calm, as though he was talking to either a wounded animal or someone that he was about to commit to a psyche ward. Both thoughts puzzled Jace. Had he done something wrong again? "I think we need to talk."

"Dude," Jace said, stifling a yawn, "I'm pushing thirty-six hours without sleep. I know that I have natural good looks, but I'm pretty sure that I need at least some form of sleep to continue looking so flawless. Whatever it is that you need to talk about is going to have to wait."

"It has to be now," Will replied, his expression never wavering from that serious mask as he looked at him. "Suck it up, man."

"Suck it up?" Jace repeated incredulously. "I've been up over a whole freaking day! You've had your beauty sleep! Now shut up and—"

"I waited until you were this tired for a reason," Will said. He leaned forward, his hands still clasped in his lap. The chair creaked as his weight shifted. "It's time for an intervention and I know that you're—"

"An intervention from what?" Jace demanded. He looked away from his cousin and toward Simon, Alec, Magnus, and Jon. "Is anyone going to explain why I'm having an intervention or are you all just going to look at me like imbeciles?"

"This is why we're having an intervention," Will said calmly.

Jace's head snapped back to his cousin. He was tired, but there was a chance that he could make it to his room before he had to sit through anything. "You've been off ever since Jon and Alec got back. Not only you, Clary—"

He abruptly stood up and said, "Nope, I've heard enough. You guys can go screw yourselves, because we're not having an intervention about this! Forget it!"

"That's my sister," Jon said, his voice unnaturally serious. He stood up and looked at Jace with his arms crossed and his eyebrows knitted together in a frown. "As my friend, please sit down and let us talk to you."

"I'm your friend," Jace said. "That doesn't mean that I don't have boundaries. I am not about to sit here and talk with you or anyone else about my relationship, or lack thereof, with your sister."

"Jace," Will said. He stood up too. "This can be done the easy way or the hard way. You're going to talk to us, though, make no mistake."

"I promise you," Jace said, "that if you guys piss me off enough, I won't ever talk to any of you again, including my own cousin. Now leave it alone. I'm handling everything just fine."

"You're a mess," Will snapped. "That is not fine!"

"We live in a place that can only be described as hell," Jace snarled. "We have about fifty thousand different problems for you guys to be focusing on. Why are you looking at this one? Seriously, guys! It doesn't matter how I act; I'm doing my job and I'm not hurting anyone, so just leave me alone."

Jace turned around and didn't look back as he walked into his room and closed the door behind him. As soon as he saw his bed, he sighed and moved forward. His bed was all the company he needed right now.


He woke up to someone yelling loudly. His door slammed open and he was on his feet, reaching toward the nightstand where he'd put his knives before he'd gone to bed. By the time he had them in his hand and looked back over at the threat, all he saw was a streak red, a streak of bright yellow and a streak of black. He blinked, trying to get over some of his grogginess, but before he had the chance to make out what the hell was going on, the door slammed shut again.

"What the hell you guys?"

Jace blinked. He'd been thinking about saying that line, but it sounded a bit too real to be just his thoughts. In the dim light of his room, it was very hard to see anything, but as he got closer, he was able to make out the silhouette of a very short woman that was pounding on his door with a surprising amount of strength. Jace took a cautious step closer, afraid that he might actually know who it was.

Oh, god. They'd thrown Clary in his room.


~Tessa~

"Are you sure that all of this is absolutely necessary?" Tessa asked, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked at Will and Jon, who were pushing a huge dresser in front of Jace's door. Part of her wanted to know where the dresser had come from, but another part was still too stuck on Clary being in a room alone with Jace and Jon being not only okay with, but supportive of it.

Will stopped when the dresser was halfway over the pathway and stood up, wiping a bit of built up sweat off his brow. "Yeah," he nodded, "this is absolutely necessary. My cousin's a pigheaded idiot, and your sister is whatever nicer version of that name that you would like me to call her."

Tessa sighed and shook her head, "No, pigheaded idiot sounds about right."

Will grinned at her, as though saying, 'you now get my point' and started pushing on the dresser again. It took them a few moments of struggling to get it to the right spot, and as they were pushing, Tessa pretended to not enjoy the view she had of Will's muscles straining against the object.

"I don't know what you guys think you're doing!" Jace's voice rang through the door. The wood vibrated where Tessa imagined he'd either punched or kicked it.

"Come on, little cousin," Will said mockingly, "I'm sure you're smart enough to deduce exactly what's going on."

"And you should be smart enough to deduce that I'm going to murder you and Jon when I get out of here!" Jace snapped. The entire door shuddered, but Will only rolled his eyes, as though he wasn't worried about him breaking through.

"You know me too well to really think that there's really a chance of you getting out until I want you out," Will said.

"I hate you," Jace's voice rang through the door. It was cold, emotionless and so serious that it gave Tessa chills.

"I think he's angry," Jon muttered.

"So is Clary," Will said. "You never told me how sharp her elbows are." He rubbed his side for a moment before saying loudly toward the door, "Work everything out, you guys, because you're not getting out until you do."

There was more slamming on the door, but thanks to the dresser, nothing happened. "Come on," Tessa said, "they'll be at this for a while before they wear themselves out. We can go and relax in my suite until we have to work."

"What's the odds of this working?" Tessa asked as they walked to the door.

"Not at all!" Jace's voice rang from the room as the door banged again.

Will rolled his eyes and opened the door. "I guess you'll be in there forever, then!" he called back. He gestured for them to walk ahead of him.

Tessa walked out first, followed closely by Jon.

"Herondale and Fray, right?" a voice called. Tessa turned and saw a beautiful girl with curly blond hair running toward them.

"You know who we are Jessamine, even if you don't want to claim us," Will said, sounding almost bored. "I don't want to claim you, but I don't act like you're a stranger."

Jessamine scowled at him and snapped, "Luke wants to see you guys. Where're the other two?"

"Asleep," Will lied smoothly. "They're tired and not feeling good. Whatever Luke has to say, I'm sure that we'll be able to pass the word on."

Jessamine shrugged, as though she really didn't care either way. "Whatever. He's in his room. Go and talk to him, then."

She walked off with her head held high, an almost haughty bounce in her step. "What's her problem?" Tessa asked quietly.

"She's not originally from our group," Will explained. "Her old group was attacked by zombies and her parents were killed along with everyone but her. "I think she has the same mentality as your sister does, except I don't think she would save anyone given the chance. She's grown bitter to the world and I think that the only reason that she's still alive is because we're making her stay that way."

Tessa grimaced at the thought, but Will patted her shoulder. "It isn't your fault. You've lost just as much as she has and you're not bitter."

Tessa smiled at him. Will was a great guy; she was really starting to see that. Jon abruptly pushed on Tessa, moving her forward. "Let's go, big sister," he said hurriedly. "Luke wanted to see us, remember?"

Tessa walked forward, nodding her head. "Right," she said. "Thank you, Jon."

"Yeah," she heard Will say, though there was something that sounded a lot like annoyance in his voice. "Thank you, Jon."


~Will~

He knew that Jon could feel the daggers that he was staring into his back all the way to Luke's room, which was two floors down from theirs. What he pulled was so not cool, and Jon knew it.

Tessa knocked on Luke's door, but when there was no answer, Will shoved Jon to the side and gently moved Tessa out of the way before simply opening the door and walking inside. "William Herondale!" Tessa scolded. He felt something grab his shoulder and wrenching it back. He turned and saw her standing right behind him with her arms closed. "I'm going to teach you manners one of these days, I swear I will!"

"Calm down, Tess," Will said. "I don't think manners are very important anymore."

"I'd listen to Tessa, Will," Luke's voice came behind him. "Humanity isn't something that we should give up because the world seems to be ending."

"What did you need from us?" Jon asked. "Sorry you couldn't get all of us, but Jace and Clary are sleeping."

"It's no problem," Luke said. "I just know that Will and Jace are normally the two that go on raids, and it's time for Jon, Clary, and Tessa to learn the trade…that's if they're willing to, of course."

"Of course we are," Jon said hurriedly, a grin on his face. Will knew that he'd been going crazy because of the constant monotony around the hotel. Even if it meant risking his life, he would be willing to go. Will felt the exact same way.

He didn't know how Clary would feel about going on a raid with him and Jace…well, he had a feeling it would be the Jace part that got the best of her. With any luck, however, they would be okay with each other by the time they had to leave.

"Okay then," Luke said, with a smile. He turned and walked over to a desk that was shoved into the corner of his room and pulled out a sheet of paper. "This is a list of things that we need. Most of the objects from the hotel have been either used up or have gone bad. I'm going to have to ask you guys to head out tomorrow morning. Do me a favor and give me Jace and Clary's answers before you go to bed tonight."

"That's no problem," Tessa said. She gave Luke a polite smile and said, "Thank you for trusting me enough to put this much responsibility."

"Like I said," Luke replied, "I knew your parents very well." He smiled and said, "If you need anything else before tomorrow morning, just stop by and I'll do what I can for you."

Taking that as a dismissal, Will grabbed Tessa by the hand and pulled her toward the door. "See you later with their answer, Luke." He turned to Tessa and Jon, who had followed them out. "I've got to go and check on my baby and make sure that she's ready for use. You guys want to come with me?"

"Uh, no," Jon said. He faked a yawn and said, "I'm going to go and take a nap before I brave the suit again and pack a bag. I'll see you guys later. Tess, I'll be taking your room."

"Okay," Tessa said, she turned to Will and smiled, "I'll come with you."

Will grinned and didn't release his hold on her hand as he pulled her toward the stairwell, the opposite way as Jon. Tessa paused, though, and turned to look back at Jon, "Be careful, Jonathan!" she yelled. "Church is in my room and he doesn't like surprises!"

"Thanks for the warning!" Jon called back with a grin.


I swear…Tessa's one lucky girl. What I would do to attract the attention of something like William Herondale…sigh.

OKAY! I am anxious to know what you think of Jace and Clary's situation at the moment. Do you think that Will, who's capacity knowledge is only rivaled by his capacity to screw things up, has the right idea by locking them up, or do you think this is going to explode in his face?

The next chapter is prep for their raid and then the chapter after that, they're off, facing the perils of zombies and each other! What could possibly go wrong?