CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE: The Game Ends – Part Two

JACE POV

At any moment, I would've punched Valentine right in the face as he walked around taunting us. But my thoughts were too jumbled by then. All I could think of was Clary. She stood there, embracing her mother. I should have been happy for her. But she was over there.

I couldn't think straight, could only focus on one thing at a time. Clary said she wouldn't do this. She was telling me the truth. I knew she was. So why was she over there. She doesn't lie, I know that much about her. She just doesn't tell the whole truth.

But then why was she over there?

My gaze drifted to the ground, scanning the cracks on the cement floor, the surface dusted with dirt. I honestly had no plan, nothing that could get us out of here. Unless I could get everybody and jump out the window without Valentine and Jonathan even realising. But that was highly unlikely. Plus that majority of these guys would severely inure themselves.

Though it seemed I didn't need to do that.

My surroundings were becoming unclear, dissolving together. The ground beneath my feet started shimmering. This was weird. If Valentine put some sort of drugs in the air, I don't know how, but so help me I'll...

I realised the ground wasn't shimmering at all. It was disappearing, dry grass forming beneath it. My mind spun as I looked up, the others beside me looked as clear as day, thought they all seemed a little confused as well. Except for... Magnus.

For a moment I wanted to jump up and hug that warlock. He used his powers to get us out of here. Pure genius. I glanced around once more as the walls and floors slowly vanished, replaced by the late evening sky. People, I recognised them as the werewolves from earlier began to appear in front of us. The warehouse standing in the distance.

But then my heart and stomach dropped when I realised. I realised both Valentine and Clary were fading. And before I could even catch her eyes, she was gone, along with Valentine.

Then we were just standing there, Isabelle looking around, unsure of what just happened, some of the wolves a little surprised, Magnus stood with his head bent to the ground, and Jonathan. Jonathan was there. He looked shocked, his black eyes widened as his eyes searched scanned all the faces around him.

Yet there was no Clary. I couldn't pin point what I felt just then. Rage. Confusion. Hurt. Clary was gone, stuck back with her father, who she hated, who was in no way predictable. And he was alone with my girlfriend.

"What did you do?" My voice bellowed out, surprising myself, though the anger I felt overcame it. I knew it was Magnus' doing that we were here. But Jonathan was just standing two metres away.

In two strides, I had covered the distance between me and that pale demon, caught him by the neck of his cloak and stood ready to strangle him.

"What the hell did you!?"

I didn't know why I was yelling that. Magnus had done it. But all that was on my mind was that Clary was gone and her brother that tormented her for months was here instead of her. What couldn't I do? Jonathan didn't react though, didn't try to push me off him. He just stood there, shocked at the sudden events.

It wasn't until I heard Isabelle yelling, "Jace!" that I reluctantly let go.

"I didn't do anything," Jonathan finally spoke after a long period of silence. "Clary made this decision."

"What?" I heard Isabelle say quietly as I noticed her eyes glancing at the people around us, "where is she?"

I noticed Jocelyn was in Luke's arms, tears falling down her cheeks as she spluttered apologies to him. Luke didn't care though, he just held a his arms firmly around her, muttering soothing words in her ears. If only that was Clary and I. But it wasn't.

"Wait," Isabelle said, trying to make sense of the situation, "what exactly happened?"

"My sister chose to die," mumbled Jonathan. But he his voice trailed off as the ground began to vibrate. It wasn't exactly shaking, because the warehouse behind us was. Some bricks even fell from their place on the walls, smashing into the ground. Voices from the pack rose up around us, some of them even backing away from the building.

"Well, well. She is very insistent to meet her death," Jonathan spoke again. I spun around, raising my hand to his face. But it never collided with his nose because he was already falling to the ground. I looked to my left to see Isabelle, cursing whilst she shook her bruising hand.

She had punched him, actually punched him.

"You bitch!" he cursed as he got to his feet, his dark blood beginning to rush from his nose.

"Your lucky I didn't kill you," she spat back at him. She took a stride towards him, looking as if she was going to gouge his eyes out, before Alec caught her, holding her back.

I glanced back at the warehouse once again. It really was going to crumbled to the ground.

Making my way to Magnus, who stood not to far away I finally realised how tired he seemed. He hadn't said anything since he got us out here, mainly because he was exhausted. The spell had drained him. There was no possible way Magnus could help me, except...

"Make sure he doesn't go anywhere," I nodded my head in Jonathan's direction. Although it still didn't seem right calling him that and I'm not sure it ever would.

Magnus' arm stopped me from moving in the direction of the falling building. "This was her choice, Jace," he said, his weariness showing in his eyes.

"I know," I paused. "But that doesn't exactly make me content with it," I said before running towards and into the warehouse.


CLARY POV

I wanted this over. Now. But the building refused to fall sooner, it still held it's ground, my rune slowly, slowly, making it's mark. But this needed to be done faster, otherwise I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep my sanity.

Over the loud crashes from parts of the ceiling falling in, I heard laughter, deep roaring laughter. Coming straight from my father's mouth. He really was crazy. But then I realised it wasn't humour in his laugh. He was mocking me.

So he really did have another plan that I didn't know of. Of course he did. Or perhaps he was laughing at my willingness to give my life away.

"Never did I think," he said, his eyes settling on me as I pushed myself from the ground, stumbling from it's unsteadiness. He continued, "never did I think my own creation will lead to my death."

So he doesn't have a backup plan. That's good. Isn't it?

"Yeah, well," I said, trying to keep my footing. "You've always been really blind."

Since when did I just blurt out insults at my father. There was a time when I used to shudder when his name was mentioned. Now look at me, I stood tall against him. Well, I would if I wasn't so short and the floor beneath me wasn't giving away.

And yet his feet made no move to steady themselves. He didn't even stumbled once.

He knew, just like I did, the thought suddenly dawning on me, that this would be a perfect time to strike. And he did. Taking long strides, he was standing in front of me in seconds, yanking me off the ground and throwing my defenceless body across the room. Unlucky for me, I landed on the opposite side to my abandoned weapon.

My body slammed onto the concrete ground, the coldness sending shots of pain through my body. First I had fallen threw five stories of this warehouse. Now, I'm getting thrown across a room. But I'm a shadowhunter. Shawdowhunters carry more than one blade.

I'm not going to count how many times I have mentally punched myself today.

My hand shot to my thigh, feeling the ice metal of a chakram. They're not my weapon of choice, but they are a weapon nonetheless. I flung my arm backwards as I laid on my side, leaping to my feet as the chakram sliced across the skin of my father's arm. Damn.

I had to move quickly, manoeuvring around my father towards my longsword, I could see it reflecting light. But that's when something else caught my eyes. My stele. It had fumbled out of my hands as I tried to stand earlier. And now... Now it stood at the base of my father's shoe.

So my stele was no help there.

He must have noticed me looking at him because when I went to look at his face, his gaze was settle on my stele. "Ah," he said, nudging it with the toe of his boot. "All you powers useless without this," he said as he bent to pick it up.

Now.

My right leg lunged first, then my left, excess rubble crumbling beneath my feet. Just as I was able to grab for my blade that sat that helplessly, the ground shook violently beneath me, my own plan backfiring as I skidded to the ground, still reaching for the handle of the blade.

I glanced back at my father, even he had stumbled from the moving building, but he recovered easily enough, and headed for me. I focused my attention back to getting my weapon, my fingers grazed the based of the sword.

Come on, Come on.

Just as my hand grasped the handle, Valentine pulled me to my feet.

"My own daughter," he seethed through clenched teeth. He open his mouth to snarl something else, but then...

"Clary!?"

That wasn't my father. That was...

My eyes flicked to the open doorway, the one we had stepped through earlier. And standing in it's frame, was Jace. The first, and at the same time last, person I wanted to see. He shouldn't be here. He wasn't suppose to be here. This wasn't how it ends.

Jace is the one who should be safe. Jace is the one that gets to move on, live his life. He's not the one that is supposed to be stuck in a crumbling building that his girlfriend made happen. He was... He wasn't meant to be here.

None of this should've happened. I shouldn't have left my mother. Valentine should not experimented with blood in the first place. I shouldn't have met Jonathan in that church. I shouldn't have stayed at the Institute.

I shouldn't have fallen for him.

None of this is right.

Jace looked a little puffed. A little. He did just ran up from the bottom floor. But he was still a shadowhunter, so he couldn't be that tired.

"Jace?" I heard my own voice speaking, it only coming to terms with his presence now.

"How lovely," My father spat, anger laced through his words. "The boy coming back for the girl."

My eyes broke from Jace and went to my father. If only I read his thoughts. I would be able to stop him, and get Jace out of here. But before I could even do anything, my body was shoved towards the brick wall the stood, almost stood, a metre to my right.

My should collided with the hard brick, and before I had time to brace myself, so did my head. My legs gave out from under me, my head buzzing and pounding suddenly. I heard Jace call my name, or maybe that was just my imagining it. Soon after, I heard swords clashing.

No. This is not meant to happen.

My eyes squinted against their temporary blurry vision, my brain screaming at them to come alive. It was only until I heard grunts and groans of pain that I forced myself to get up. My arms ached as I pushed my body up, my vision clearing itself. I blinked repeatedly.

Finally, when I managed to stand, I saw the scene before me. Jace, stumbling because of the breaking floor and a large cut in his side, just below his ribcage, even his gear had been sliced through cleanly. If his gear wasn't so black, I was sure I would be able to see his blood dripping down his shirt. And I could see it on his face, his skin slowly becoming pale. Surely he couldn't be loosing blood so quickly.

Though Valentine seem slightly weak as well. For once he seem out of breath. But between him and Jace, I think he might just have the upper-hand.

I stumbled towards them, using the wall behind me as support. But eventually, it gave way, bricks tumbling into the corridor behind it. I forgot for a second that we were moving against a collapsing building. I grasped my sword tighter, coming close to my father. But what was I do to? Stab him? Slice his head off?

All of those were perfect ways to disarm him for good. But...

But it didn't seem right. He may not be my father anymore, but I couldn't do that. So instead, I let the hilt of my blade loosen in my grip.

Jace looked up at me, his feet no longer able to support him from where he stood. "Clary?" he frowned.

But just as Valentine turned to face me, I felt all my fear from all those years build up, turning to rage. In one quick move, I brought the hilt of the sword up, colliding it against his temple, the forced knocking him conscious, his body falling to the ground.

I let the sword slipped through my fingers, clattering to the ground as I looked at my father's unmoving body. It was done. At least, I thought it was.

"Clary," Jace spoke again, his voice dry and croaky. I watched as he faced became paler.

"Jace," I went to his side, trying to see the cut, to see the damage.

"Clary," he said again, "the building."

Remembering that we only probably have a few seconds left, I slipped my arm around his back, supporting his weight, and helped him to stand. I walked him to a nearby window, and helped him onto the window's ledge.

"Jace, jump," I told him. I knew full well that he could survive that fall, he had jumped from the Institute roof once. And I knew full well that he, alone, had to.

He shook his head as his head went weak, leaning slightly on my shoulder. "Not without you," he said quietly, all his strength vanishing from his voice.

"Jace," I almost shouted at him. This building was coming down, any second now. "This was my choice Jace," I pulled him away to look into his eyes. The bright gold in them fading. "You have to go," my voice broke.

He looked at my and let out a shallow breath. Finally, he was understanding.

"Clary," he whispered softly, burying his head into my shoulder again, his handing clasping my hair. He understood. But he had to go now.

I tired to push him away but he didn't move. If he didn't jump, we would both die, and I can't bear the thought of him, Jace, dying because of me. But when I went to push him again, he pulled me closer to his body, his voice whispering something completely different in my ear. "Hold on."

Before I could even frown, Jace caught hold my legs, lifting my off the floor. And then he jumped, the cold air rushing against us as I leaned into him.

In seconds, we landed on the grass by the building, Jace letting go of me feet so I could stand. But we were still too close.

"Jace, come on," I pulled him away from the building as I still reeled from what just happened. We moved towards the large crowd of werewolves, and shadowhunters?

Maryse must have brought the Clave. Though they wouldn't be much help now.

I heard crumbling behind me, the ground shaking in sudden outbursts as parts of the warehouse caved in. Suddenly there was a deafening crash, dust exploding from the collapsed building. I turned back to see nothing but debris. I couldn't hold the smile off my face. Now it was done. My father was gone, not coming back for certain this time. Never again will he bring terror into my life.

It was only when I felt Jace's head lean into the crook of my neck that I turned to face him. To look into those golden lion eyes. But I never did.

Jace had already fallen to the ground.


I am so sorry guys. I thought I was going to get this chapter done earlier but I had so much school stuff to do, I couldn't get around to it. And I left you one of two parts! I am sorry!

Hope you enjoyed this chapter, I felt as if he wasn't as good as I could've made it, but if I did try to make it better then it might've taken me another week to do it. So instead, I put it up now.

Thanks to all you guys, all the support you guys give is amazing.

Oh, and to readers that had read my other story, Love in Tragedies, I have deleted it. I'm sorry if you enjoyed that story. I just always thought I would get back around to it and rewrite it, but I probably will not. Sorry again.

Til next time,

Au revoir!