This is the start of the real drama. I'm excited for what's to happen next! Please leave a review and be sure to favorite!

Jace was doing something that he probably shouldn't be. And he knew it. But who was there to stop him? And it really wasn't that bad of an act anyway. He was just looking something up. He was looking up someone's private information to be exact. One could even say he was internet stalking. Well, attempting to internet stalk. He couldn't find the damn person.

"If I just knew a middle name this might be easier," Jace murmured to himself. He rested his hand on the keyboard in front of him.

Sebastian Fairchild

Nothing. Why was nothing coming up? He had searched Clary's name and gone through all of her social media feed in order to possibly find her brother. That had been a fail.

From Clary, Jace had found their mom. So, he went through their mom's feed, not that she had much to begin with, and it was basically all about art. Another fail.

Jace had even gone back to the cemetery that Sebastian had sent them to that one day. He copied down the name that was on the tombstone and went back home and researched that name too.

Jace thought about it hard. He rolled his neck back and stretched out his legs a little. Why was this Valentine Morgenstern important to Clary anyway? And how did Sebastian know about his death? These were questions that nobody had ever bothered to explain to Jace.

Then, it hit him. Sebastian's dad had died shortly after Clary and Jace got their powers. Well, according to the tombstone, so did Valentine. This man apparently had significant value in Clary's life even though she hadn't seen him or heard from in long enough to not know he was dead.

Valentine was her dad. But then, why did he have a different surname? Divorce, duh. Jace hit himself on the head. He could be rather dense at times.

So, Jace typed in Sebastian Morgenstern. Finally, he was getting somewhere. This name was connected to Clary and Jocelyn, her mom. It was also connected to Valentine. These were the answers Jace needed. At least, that was what he thought until he discovered that there was no record of this Sebastian Morgenstern in the past 8 years. It was like he just jumped off the face of the earth.

Jace groaned loudly, ready to bang his head on the counter, when the front door opened and Isabelle and Alec walked in. Jace minimized the tab quickly. He was sitting at the kitchen island.

"Hey," Alec greeted him. "What have you been up to?" He eyed the laptop probably having noticed Jace's fast reaction.

"Nothing," Jace replied, "just watching YouTube."

Alec glanced at the time. It was almost noon. "Okay, well Magnus invited everyone over for dinner later. You want to go?"

Jace grinded his teeth, thinking. "Umm, maybe. I don't know right now. We'll see what I'm doing." Then, he stood up taking his laptop with him and headed for the door. "I'll see you guys later." Before either of the siblings could respond, he was gone.

Jace went down to Java Jones and continued his research. He knew that Clary wasn't working today because she'd informed him that she would be staying home in order to monitor the Black Angels. But Magnus was working and he periodically came over to where Jace sat making it rather hard for him to remain discreet and get any actual work done.

"Mags, don't you have work to do?" Jace questioned with a sigh.

Magnus shrugged. "Depends. Define work."

Jace shook his head and turned back to his laptop. "Listen, I'm kind of busy so if you wouldn't mind..." He trailed off expectantly only to look up and find Magnus staring at him with a lack of caring in his expression. Finally, Jace gave in. "Is there something I can do for you?"

"I want to ask Alexander a rather important question today but I feel like I should ask you first. It's not that I care about what you think, it's just that I have this stupid moral compass telling me that you should know about it before I ask him."

At this, Jace slowly closed his laptop. He raised one eyebrow and gave his attention to Magnus. "Alright, well, what is it?"

"I'm going to ask Alec to move in with me."

Jace nearly choked on air. He stuttered trying to find the right words. "Well, that's- that's great."

"You think so? Because I was worried that you wouldn't want him to move out."

"Well, I'm not going to lie, I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to pay for my apartment now, but I'll figure something out."

Magnus pursed his lips. "Actually, that's sort of how I came to think of having Alec move in with me. You see, I was having a discussion with Isabelle-"

"Oh, boy..."

"-and she was talking about how her roommate just moved out and so she was going to be needing a new one and we were just talking about this and then we came up with the idea that what if Alec moved in with me and Isabelle moved in with you." Magnus was smiling, albeit a little nervously. Jace's eyes were wide.

Move in with a girl? A girl like Isabelle? Well, that would certainly be an adventure. It's not that he hated the idea, but rather that he wasn't too sure of how Simon would feel about it. But it was only Isabelle, after all, and Jace had gotten along perfectly fine with her since they'd met. So, if she was alright with it then he supposed that he was too.

Jace shrugged. "Alright, if Alec wants to move in with you then I'm willing to partake in this strange roommate swap." He held out his hand for Magnus to shake and the other man took it happily.


The day was growing dark. It had been decided around four pm that Jace would not be going to the dinner Magnus was hosting. Sure, he would love to witness Alec's expression when his boyfriend proposed them moving in together, but there were far more important things to take care of tonight. Things such as Sebastian Verlac.

Yeah, he found him.

Now, it was nearly seven and Jace was standing in front of a ratty little house in a torn-up neighborhood that he was sure had been abandoned. But this was where the internet said Sebastian lived. So this was where Jace was.

He hesitated before going up the steps and knocking on the door. The wood of the porch beneath his feet creaked and for a moment he worried that it would break beneath him. He waited for a minute, then another. He was growing impatient and just as he was about to leave, the door opened. Before him stood a tall man with platinum blonde hair that completely contradicted the pitch black of Black Angel's. His eyes were so brown they were black and his skin was porcelain white. He looked nothing like Clary.

The moment Sebastian's eyes landed on Jace, he stumbled a little backward. Jace took a step towards him, his hands outstretched to show that he held no weapons and meant no harm.

"I just want to talk," said Jace.

Sebastian's eyes were wild and wide. Before he spoke, one of his eyelids twitched. "How did you-"

"The internet's a pretty great place," Jace answered before the question could be finished. He took another slow step toward Sebastian. "So, let's talk."

Inside, the place was full of equipment that Jace couldn't even pretend to know what it was or what it did. He glanced around at the old wallpaper and the stained floors as they walked deeper and deeper into the house. Suddenly, Jace got the feeling that this was a bad idea and he should've brought a weapon along.

He focused on the back of Sebastian's head trying to read what he was thinking but he couldn't get a single word. There was something blocking his powers here. Yeah, this was a bad idea.

Soon enough, Sebastian was motioning for Jace to take a seat at a table. They sat opposite one another and there was silence for a few moments, neither knowing exactly how to start. It was only when the clock rang signaling the new hour that Jace was snapped back to reality and realized he was the one who had come here in search of answers. Ergo, he should probably start talking.

"So, what should I call you?" Jace started with and Sebastian cocked his head. "Black Angel or Sebastian?"

"Sebastian is fine."

"Okay." Jace nodded his head. He was fiddling with his own fingers, his nerves taking over his body. "I came here because I wanted to speak with you. I wanted to talk outside of a battle zone or anything. I just want to talk. I want to come to some sort of peaceful solution here. I don't want anyone else getting hurt."

"Where is my sister?" Sebastian questioned instead of acknowledging any of what Jace had said.

"She doesn't know I'm here," Jace answered honestly.

Sebastian was silent for a second, then he rested his hands on the table. "I'll offer you a 'solution,' as you put it, to our battles. In this offer, only one more person needs to potentially be hurt."

Jace bit his lower lip, already feeling like he knew what was coming next. "Alright, shoot."


"You're telling me," Clary said, "that you're going to be moving in with Jace?" She raised her eyebrows at Isabelle, surprised by this.

The two were sitting at the kitchen table while Magnus and Alec were sitting on the couch. Simon was in the bathroom. They'd just finished eating dinner and were now lounging about. Magnus hadn't actually asked Alec to move in with him yet, but Isabelle had filled in Clary on all the details.

The brunette nodded. "Mags said he spoke to Jace earlier today and now all that needs to happen is Alec has to say yes."

"Which he will."

"Oh, of course." Isabelle smiled glancing over at her brother. "I'm really happy for him."

"Me too," said Clary, "for them both. I couldn't imagine a more perfect couple."

"Maybe you and Jace?" Isabelle suggested turning back to her friend. The smile on her face was evil.

Clary rolled her eyes. "Why are you so obsessed with the notion of me dating Jace?"

"Because you two would be amazing together! And I'm just saying, if I move in with Jace then you can come over to visit me as much as you want." She not-so-conspicuously coughed putting the slightest of smiles on Clary's face.

"Jace and I would be..." Clary trailed off, searching for the right word. "Too complicated."

"What makes you say that?"

She opened her mouth but promptly closed it. If she could just tell Isabelle that they were a superhero duo then that would make this explanation a whole lot easier. But she couldn't, so she had to settle for cryptic. "We just would be."

Isabelle groaned and stood from her chair. "Whatever you say Ms. Downer, but you know deep down that I'm right." She walked away and joined Alec and Magnus on the couch.

Before Clary got up to join them, she whispered to herself. "No, I know on the surface that you're right."


"It sounds like a pretty fair deal, wouldn't you say?" Sebastian cocked his head at Jace whose face was a little pale but otherwise gave no sign of bother.

"I'd say so." Jace gulped hard and, when Sebastian stood, so did he. "Say we make it a week?"

He considered this. "Five days."

"Six."

"Deal."

Jace nodded. He started to head towards the door but paused in the middle of the hallway. "And I just want to know, Sebastian, why attack all of New York instead of just going after Clary and myself?"

"My father went to hospitals all over the state in search of medical treatment over the course of two years. Nearly all of the places he sought treatment in didn't believe his symptoms or said that he wasn't as ill as he claimed. It was only when the cancer had reached an incurable level that he was given any attention at all." Sebastian's face was hard. Jace was going to take this answer and leave when the boy spoke again. This time, his voice was softer and his head hung low. "And they took us away from him."

"'Us?'"

"Clarissa and myself. We were barely kids, only toddlers. Our parents had been divorced and in the ruling, the state didn't allow either of us to see him at all."

"That's not the fault of the civilians in New York," Jace said keeping his voice low. "They're just innocent people."

"Nobody is innocent." Sebastian sneered looking up. "They all deserve to pay one way or another."

"But you agree that you'll stop attacking them with this deal?" Jace questioned, worried that by bringing all this up Sebastian would go back on his word.

"Yes," he said, "I'll stop. But until the deal is seen through, the copies stay where they are."

Jace wanted to ask why, but he felt it was a bad idea. Instead, he nodded his head and left.