Sorry for any mistakes. I don't think I have rights to ask for reviews, but I'm still gonna. Uploading it all, guys...I'm uploading it all.

Above, the sky seemed to shatter.

Parts of the night twisted in on themselves until they tore free, like a blanket's stitches being ripped apart.

Jace stared, frozen, both horrified and memorized, at the sight. It was beautiful in a terrible way, as he watched the shadows leech out of the sky, The distant dawn turning it a barely lighter shade.

Then the screaming started.

Figures started to appear, out of nothing, materialized in front, behind, beyond him, each cloaked in black. A few screams broke out as they landed hard, either on the earth or broken bits of stone.

Confusion overwhelmed Jace, making it feel as if he were once again in that portal, drifting, completely vulnerable.

And Jace despised feeling vulnerable.

He heard a sound of sliced air from behind, and swung around, just in time to duck beneath the swing of a figure. Jace shifted his weight and grabbed at the person, using his leverage to pin them on the ground.

He didn't even break a sweat.

"Don't," he let in as much menace and anger as he could muster, "attack someone without knowing who they are. You'd be dead if I weren't taking my own advice."

The man beneath him cursed. "I do not have my Stele. I couldn't see."

"That's no excuse to be careless," Jace replied, letting him go with a shove. He could not deal with this now, anyway. He had to get to Clary. Maybe she would know what was going on.

"What's happening?" Someone else shouted, higher, female. Jace turned his attention to a dark figure, standing a distance away, looking around herself. One by one, as the sky continued to roll and break, like a hundred tunnels emptying into nothing, voices broke out. Questions. Shouts. Swears. A cacophony of uproars. Others, though, stayed quiet. They were smart in their alertness while many others, made panicked by their vulnerability, protested.

Jace ignored them, moving forward, toward the house. Toward Clary. Toward Sebastian.

But then a single growl erupted, and like dominoes, more followed, until the cacophony of protests was silenced by the growing clamor of snarls.

Simon's fist hit nothing. Well, nothing was there, but it felt like a wall stood between him and where Isabelle had been standing, not just a few seconds ago.

He hit it. Once. Again. He lost count. "Isabelle!" Simon shouted, body meeting contact once more. But suddenly, the wall disappeared, like salt dissolving in water, and instead of hitting the barrier, his face hit the floor.

He looked back up at the empty air.

She was gone.

"No," he yelled again, feeling his teeth grow sharp. Anger burned him like fire, and it did not matter whether he was a Daylighter or not. Once stoked, these flames consumed him.

She had been there. She was just standing before him not minutes ago before she vanished and he could not reach her in time.

His entire body shook in rage. First, she lost Max, then Alec, felt guilt over the failure to save Luke, and now she was gone, too. For all Simon understood, maybe she was already dead.

He banished the thought as soon as it came, in the form of a fist cracking stone. This was Isabelle. And Isabelle never went softly.

"Simon?" Marys's voice made him- imperceptibly-cringe.

"Simon, what's going on?"

He squeezed his eyes shut, the desire to move, to look, to do something overwhelming the fire. "I don't know," he said. "But I'll find her. Where's Jocelyn?"

"Still with...Luke."

He did not let those words sink in as he turned away from the spot the barrier had been and walked downstairs, past Maryse and into the infirmary. It was the same as he had left it. A bed, a body, and blood.

But Jocelyn was not there.

"I thought you said she was in here," Simon called over his shoulder, looking everywhere in the room but at Luke's lifeless form. A beat of silence passed. "Maryse?"

Simon turned to the doorway. Empty.

He called for her again.

Nothing.

He bit out a curse before running back out, searching the Institute for somebody. Anybody.

But Simon was alone. The Institute stood silent as a grave, a cathedral devoid of anything living.

He felt those flames creeping up again, burning in fury and in fear. Everyone was gone and he had no clue as to where they could be. Or if there was even a place for them to have gone.

His entire body shook and he clenched his hands, feeling his fingers bite into his palms.

"Don't go getting your vampire in a twist," a voice rang from behind him. "The tantrums must wait."

Simon swiveled around, feeling the burning sensation die away from his chest and instead felt it start in his eyes, as they met the sharp, glittering exterior of none other than Magnus Bane.

He quirked up an eyebrow at the Vampire. "Well are you coming or not?"

"You're a coward," Clary hissed, not even bothering to try and hide the horror in her voice as she gazed out the window. "Catching them off guard so they'd be exposed. You can't win anything unless you're given every advantage."

Sebastian smiled. "What villains do you know, Clarissa, play by the rules?"

"It shows that you can't win," she snapped again. "You doubt yourself if this is the only way to your victory."

Clary made the last word sound like something revolting.

But Sebastian showed no sign of offence, just continued to stand there, smiling half amused; a man belittling a little girl.

"It is you that had faith your fellow Shadowhunters would be prepared to take me on. Well, as you can see, I'm ready for that challenge. But they evidently are not."

"That was your game plan anyway. They were not supposed to be ready."

"But if they were, you can't say it wouldn't have made this more interesting."

Clary felt the disgust expand across her chest, like her heart had become sick. "So that's it then?" She asked, turning away from the window and to him. "You're just going to watch your war play out with no intervention. Johnathan Morganstern...afraid."

That got a sliver of his attention, she saw, in the slight lowering of his lip; in the momentary blaze of his eyes. "All in due time, Clarissa. You'll understand. Just not yet."

"So does that mean you're going to kill me?"

To her bewilderment, Sebastian barked out a short, cruel, ragged laugh. "No, you're welcome to leave at any time. I won't stop you. And I certainly won't kill you."

Clary thought he had to be joking, but that look he wore made her scrutinize him, the expression like a mask, shielding a secret.

But she still shook her head.

Sebastian sighed, sounding almost irritated. "So thick. So slow to grasp the truth." A snicker. "Think about it, Clarissa. When have I tried to kill you this time? Why wouldn't I?"

She bit her lip and shook her head again, anger burning bright. "You...You said we were done. After I didnt choose you, we became enemies."

"And we are. Believe me, we are."

"So why haven't you killed me? Why have no need?"

He smiled. "Oh, I have a need. Don't for a moment assume I kept you unharmed due to any form of kindness. If you aren't dead, it obviously means I have some use for you."

Clary glanced quickly to the door. "You won't just let me walk out of here."

He ran a a hand through his hair, seemingly almost offended."You and Jace continue to assume who my Hybrids were after with the attack. Once, you thought I was after Jace and you just got in the way. Then, you wondered if perhaps I was after my sister. Partially correct. It was you and the irony is thinking that you escaped when you didn't. I've always had you where you were supposed to be and tonight, I will not be blamed for this downfall. Clarissa Fray will be. For your weakness. And for everyone else's."

"Not if you're dead."

And then he laughed again. One that would have been almost heartwarming, had it not been splintered with ice and those secrets that Clary found herself suddenly frightened of.

He looked at her. "That's exactly why. Because even without me, this will not stop. It can only cease with that of who it began with. And it began with you."