Hope y'all like this chapter, sorry it's on the short side. Be sure to leave a review!
"Hey," Clary greeted as she walked up beside Jace. They were both in their costumes standing atop a building that overlooked three Black Angel copies. Jace knew there was nothing to be worried about and yet he still felt the need to patrol about. He didn't know how Clary found him though.
"Hey," he responded in a hard tone and without looking at her.
"Where have you been? I figured you would've gone to Magnus' last night. And you never came by to watch the monitors today."
The sun was setting on Jace's first of six final days. He had to distance himself from everyone to make this easier. Even Clary.
"I was busy. I watched the monitors last night while you were at Magnus' and then I slept in late today and decided to go patrolling afterward." He held his hands behind his back. From the corner of his eye, he could see that she was turned towards him. "Is that an issue?" It wasn't so hard distancing himself. He just had to act like he used to.
"Umm, no." Clary turned away from him. "I just- no."
"Good." Jace took a step forward. "Well, I'm off to circle the neighborhood a few times." He tipped a fake hat at her without actually looking at her. Then, he leapt from the building and Clary was left alone on the roof.
"What the hell was that?" Clary wondered aloud to herself. Her eyebrows were pinched together and her lips were turned down in a tight frown.
Shaking her head, Clary headed back home. She got into her civilian clothes and joined Simon on the couch as he watched the news. He nodded to her in greeting and she half-smiled back. After a second, Simon muted the tv and turned to Clary.
"Is something wrong?"
She smirked a little. "I'll never understand how you can read me so well, Lewis."
He smiled back but then gestured with one hand. "Alright, out with it then. What's up?"
Clary shook her head. "Nothing, really. Just a bit of an off day, I guess."
Simon frowned. "Oh come on, Fairchild. I know you better than that. What happened?"
She sighed knowing he wouldn't let up until she spilled. "I went out to find Jace just now, hence why I was in costume, and he was just... off. I mean, it's not like he told me off or was a total ass or anything but he was being kind of cold and I could tell that something was wrong."
"You going to address him about it?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. Probably not. It's probably just a mood or something and it'll pass by tomorrow."
"If you say so." Simon unmuted the tv just as the reporter was announcing a ten car pile-up on the Brooklyn Bridge. He pursed his lips and turned back to Clary. "You should probably go help with that, right?"
She sighed. "Probably, yeah." And with that, she was off.
Jace didn't really speak to Clary during their little car-save. He just pulled a few people out of some burning vehicles and was on his way. When he got back to his apartment, he found that Isabelle was there moving some boxes in. Alec was probably doing the same thing but at Magnus' apartment. Jace helped Isabelle move her stuff in but started thinking as he did so. She was going to need another new roommate and he couldn't just disappear without a trace. Well, he was going to try to but who knew how that would work out.
"Hey, Iz," Jace started. She hummed in response, only half paying attention to him as she set down a large box. "I gotta talk to you about something."
"Yeah?"
"Well, it's just..." he trailed off unsure of himself. And the fact that she wasn't even looking at him didn't help much. Jace twirled the 'partners in crime' bracelet on his wrist suddenly feeling a tinge of guilt. "You're going to need to find another roommate."
At that, Isabelle whirled around. "What do you mean? Do you not want to be roommates with me? You could've just said so in the first place instead of getting my hopes up like this and all. I mean, I'm selling my apartment and I've already moved almost all my stuff over here. Alec is gonna be real mad when he finds out about this. You should've just been honest in the first place, Jace!"
"No!" Jace held up his hands stopping her. "That's not what it is. It's not that I don't want to be roommates with you. It's just-"
"It's just?" She put her hands on her hips and waited with one eyebrow raised.
Jace sighed. "If I tell you something, you've got to promise you won't tell another soul."
And her interest was peaked. Isabelle walked over to the couch and motioned for Jace to sit down beside her. When he did so, she waited in silence for him to go on. Jace took a deep breath. He couldn't believe he was doing this.
"I'm Badger."
Izzy didn't react at first. Then, slowly but surely, her eyes began to widen and her jaw completely dropped. All she did was stare at him and for a moment he thought she might be having a heart attack.
"Iz? You okay?" Jace waved a hand in front of her face and she still didn't move. "Isabelle?"
"That explains," she finally spoke, "so much." Izzy shook her head regaining her composure. She tucked her legs under herself and leaned forward towards Jace. "Wait, so you're seriously the Badger? No lie?" He nodded. "Woah, that's insane..." Then, something seemed to hit her. "OH MY GOD! I've made a complete fool of myself in front of you so many times! Agh!" She slapped him on the arm and Jace gaped.
"What was that for?"
"For not telling me sooner!" She crossed her arms over her chest. "So, does Alec know?"
Jace opened his mouth but quickly closed it and shook his head. "You're the first person I've purposefully told."
"What does that mean?"
"That means that there are two other people that know. And no, you cannot know who they are."
Isabelle scowled but didn't argue. "Alright, well why tell me? And why do you have to move out? You've been roommates with Alec for a year with no apparent problems."
"It's not that I'm going to be moving out," Jace started to explain, "it's that things have gotten complicated, and in five days I'm not going to be around anymore. And I felt like I had to tell you because you're going to need a new roommate and I haven't exactly figured out what I'm going to tell everyone else yet."
"Wait, why are you disappearing in five days? Jace, what's going on?" She reached out and took one of his hands in her own. It was comforting but it almost made him start crying. This was becoming harder than he thought it would be.
"I made a deal with Black Angel." Now that Izzy knew who he was there was no point in holding back the rest of it. "But before I tell you anything else you have to promise me that you're not going to tell anyone. Even after I'm gone. Promise?"
Her eyes were filled with worry, but Isabelle eventually nodded. Then, she took a deep breath and sat up straight. "I promise."
"Good." Jace pulled his hand back from the girl and started fiddling with the bracelet on his wrist. "Black Angel wants to remove my and Blindeye's powers. Either that or he wants to kill us. It's a little hard for him to perform the former of the two actions if we're always resisting him. So, I've promised Black Angel that I will turn myself into him for him to experiment on or kill as long as he promises to stop his attacks. He doesn't actually want to hurt Blindeye anyway. Giving myself up is a small price to pay for the safety of every single person in New York."
What an idiot, Isabelle thought and Jace heard, I can't believe he's really going to do that. What about the rest of us? What about Clary?
"Hey," Jace said trying not to smile, "so did you know that I can read minds?" He raised an eyebrow at her and her eyes went wide. "And what about Clary?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she tried.
"You do, so out with it."
"You already know what I'm going to say."
"I do, but why don't you say it anyway? Just so we can clarify that we're on the same page."
Isabelle sighed and rolled her eyes. "You like her. You're practically head over heels for her. Are you really just going to disappear without ever telling her how you feel?"
"She knows how I feel." Jace broke his gaze from Isabelle.
"What? Then why haven't-"
"Because she's Blindeye!" He looked back up to find that Isabelle's jaw was practically on the floor. She was frozen in place again. "Aw shit." He hadn't actually meant to announce that too. Jace groaned and stood up. He grabbed his phone from the table and dialed a number.
"Hey," Jace greeted when the person answered. It was a long and drawn out 'hey' that clearly said 'something is wrong.'
"Hi?" Clary greeted back. "Is everything okay? Why are you calling me?"
"Well." His voice was an octave above its usual tone. "I may have royally screwed up."
"By the Angel, what did you do?"
"So, you know how Isabelle is moving in with me?"
"Yeah..."
"So, she knows who we are."
"JACE!"
"Hey! I said I screwed up!"
"How did you-" She sighed and he could practically see her pinching the bridge of her nose. "She's there for one day and you spill. How on earth did this happen?"
"The 'how' isn't all that important. I just figured that I would let you know. Alright, I'll let you go then. Talk to you later, red. Bye!" Jace pulled the phone away from his ear. He could hear Clary beginning to protest on the other side but hung up anyway. Then, he returned to Isabelle. She was still in shock. "Great, so whenever you find that you have the ability to speak again, I need your help with making Clary hate me."
That seemed to pull her back. Isabelle blinked and furrowed her eyebrows at him. "You what?"
"I need you to help Clary hate me. If you know our secrets then you might as well be helpful."
"Why?"
Jace sighed. "Do I have to explain this all five times? I'm disappearing in less than a week. I need to make it so that Clary won't be as inclined to try and find me. Ergo, she needs to hate me."
"But-"
"I don't care if you think we're destined to be together. I'm trying to save the world and it'll be a lot easier if I make Clary hate me."
Isabelle pouted. "Fine, but I won't be happy about it."
Jace broke out into a wide smile. "No one's asking you to be."
