Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments series. Everything recognisable belongs to Cassandra Clare.
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Here is my beginning-of-the-Clace chapter. Hope you like it.
Clary hadn't slept well the last two nights. Her head had been aching and her mind had kept wandering back to the room. She didn't understand what it had been about that room that made her want to go back so badly, but somehow she felt the magic of it from where she was laying in her bed.
She inhaled the sweet air of her room before she pushed herself up into a sitting position.
She couldn't shake the room out of her head. She had to find out more, what kind of books were in the room? Clary moved away from the bed and tiptoed out of her bedroom.
The Institute had never felt quieter. There was not even the sound of wind pushing at the roof.
Clary walked carefully to the large oak door.
Stopping abruptly she saw the door clearly, except now it held none of the same runes she had seen the a few days ago. The door seemed smaller, the wooden material lighter. Clary placed her palm over the plain door.
She still got the same magical feeling in her fingers as it connected with the oak.
Clary let her hand grasp around the doorknob, and she twisted it. Nothing. The door didn't open.
"So that's what all those runes are for." Clary whispered.
She sighed. She had to find a way inside. She needed answers and this seemed to be the only place to get them.
xxxx
After walking back to her room she realised she would never fall asleep again. A pretty orange sun had begun to rise on the sky and Clary felt more awake now than she had in a long time.
She moved towards her wardrobe, finding something light to wear. She put on a pair of dark jeans and a tight black t-shirt.
She wished she had some sort of gear, fighting, training it didn't matter. She felt extremely uncomfortable in ordinary mundane clothes. Back in Morgenstern Manor she had always used gear, and slowly the gear had become a part of her.
Clary remembered the gear Jonathan had tried to give her. The black leather clothes lay on the floor next to her bed. He had apparently decided against her utter refusal of taking the clothes.
Clary sat back down on the bed. She picked up the soft leather, letting it drift through her fingers. Even as much as she wanted to wear something like this, she couldn't. What would her father think of her if he found out Clary had made any acceptance towards the people she hated.
She couldn't do that.
Clary smiled hopelessly, why had Maggie not told her they could get the wards down in a few days. Today even. Why did it have to be two weeks?
Clary bit her lower lip frustrated, she knew exactly what she would've done if she'd been in her manor.
Back home she had a large training room all to herself, she had all sorts of advanced training equipments. Even though Clary liked the real life experiences with demons better, she had always felt like the training room could calm her down and ease her frustration.
She sighed irritated, throwing the gear back onto the floor in a brisk movement.
When she walked out of her room for the second time that morning a childish voice rang behind her. "Clary! Clary wait up!"
Iwan smiled brightly in her direction and Clary saw the still bruised young black-haired boy walk behind him.
"What?" Clary snapped, she hadn't actually meant for it to sound as harsh as it did, but she wasn't about to apologise either.
"We… ehm, we wanted to thank you." Iwan stumbled on his words awkwardly.
"For what?" Clary already knew the answer, but after talking to Maggie she had wanted to forget all that had happened inside the Hotel, and she certainly wanted to forget what the vampire had accused her of.
"For saving our lives of course." Iwan laughed, he sounded so much like his older brother Clary had to study his young face to make sure it wasn't Jace who played a trick on her.
"I didn't save your life, I just happened to be at the right-" Iwan stopped her from finishing the sentence, "place to the right time, yeah I know, Jace told me you would say that."
"Jace told you?" Clary asked deridingly, "Since when did I become the topic of your conversations?"
"Since you happened to be at the right place at the right time." Iwan replied with a smug smile.
Clary looked at the younger boy, raising a dark eyebrow. "God, you're annoying, you know that?"
"One of my finer qualities." Iwan replied, looking at her with a beaming smile. The quieter dark haired boy looked at her with a small, shy smile as well.
"Whatever, don't make me regret saving your stupid ass." Clary snapped back walking down the stairs into the kitchen.
Inside the kitchens four walls she found herself face to face with another person, one she had avoided the past few days even more than usual. Jocelyn Fairchild stood with her back to Clary, working with something Clary couldn't see.
Mentally cursing Clary began backing out of the room, "Clarissa." Jocelyn said, turning around.
Damn, this morning just got better and better. "Fairchild." Clary replied stone-faced.
"You're up early." Jocelyn tried to make up small talk, keeping the redheaded girl from walking away.
"It's already seven." Clary replied flat.
"I know, but I just thought with what happened that you would want to rest." Jocelyn looked at her daughter, Clary hadn't lost the fiery glint in her emerald eyes, which sent a sting of pain through Jocelyn.
"Oh, how rude of me, I should probably ask you how you're feeling. Are you hungry?" Jocelyn tried, but with every word the girl just lost a bit more patience. Clary bit her lip before spitting out the vexed words, "I'm not hungry, and even if I was, I would rather starve to death than eat something you've made."
"How do I even know you've not poisoned it." Clary finished.
"I wouldn't poison your food Clary. Why would I do that?" Jocelyn would've thought the girl was joking, but her angry expression told her Clary meant every word she said.
"I don't know, why wouldn't you?" Clary asked.
"Because you are my daughter Clary." Jocelyn felt the frustration creep into her words.
"Didn't stop you before, did it?" Clary spat back at her.
Jocelyn looked confused back at her, what did she mean by that? What had made the girl so angry, why did she hate her so goddamn much?
"Clary-" "How many times do I have to tell you Fairchild, it's Clarissa!" Clary corrected her angrily.
Jocelyn blinked, hiding her angry tears. "Clarissa, I have never tried to hurt you in any kind of way." She tried to make the girl understand.
Clary sent her an infuriated smirking gaze, "If you say so." She brushed a hand through her red curly hair.
"Clary-issa," Jocelyn corrected herself before she made her daughter even angrier, "I don't want you to believe I would-" she stopped, looking at Clary's bruised neck.
Clary still had the large bite mark from the vampire's bite; it should've healed completely by now. Jocelyn took two steps toward her looking closer at the wound, "Why haven't it healed?" Jocelyn found herself asking.
Clary didn't back away when Jocelyn stepped forward, her eyes planted on her mother, but she wouldn't give her the satisfaction of backing away.
"This should've healed, we used enough healing runes on you and had the Silent Brothers check you for any damage." Jocelyn said confused, "Damage.." Clary snapped back.
"No, I.. I didn't mean damage as in, by the angel, stop twisting everything I say. I am not as horrible as you are trying to picture me Clarissa." At this Clary pushed her hair back over her bruised neck, covering up most of her cheek as well.
"Why are you saying that, we are alone Fairchild, you don't have to pretend around me." Clary lowered her voice hauntingly.
"What?" Jocelyn asked confused, she didn't understand what Clary was trying to say, but in that moment, she was more concerned about the girl's wounded neck than the angry comments she sent her.
Jocelyn reached fast toward Clary to push her red hair aside when Clary drew in a deep, sharp breath. Jocelyn looked shocked down at her daughter, Clary's eyes shone of anger, but there was something else mixed in her raging eyes as well, fear.
"Are you okay?" Jocelyn asked surprised, watching Clary back away.
"Don't touch me!" Clary yelled. The sudden change in Clary's emotions confused Jocelyn immensely. She pulled her hand back and looked at Clary with a bemused gaze.
"Okay. I won't." Jocelyn tried to calm down her daughter: the tense and frightened expression left Clary's face as fast as it had appeared. Jocelyn didn't recognise the look, Clary had looked like she had though Jocelyn was about to hit her.
"Oh god." Jocelyn whispered under her breath, why would Clary think she would hit her?
Clary sent the red-haired woman another hurtful glance and turned on her heels out of the room.
She found herself storming to the only room she would be able to get her frustration out. She didn't care about the fact she wasn't allowed inside without supervision.
Clary looked the doors of the training room closed and picked up the first weapon she could find.
A long rapier similar to the ones Clary liked to train with back home.
She didn't have any gloves, so the cold metal of the hilt sent sparks through Clary's pale skin.
She walked over to one of the walls, she didn't know exactly how this training room worked, but if it was anything like her own training grounds, there should've been a button on one of the walls activating some sort of obstacle race in front of her.
She found the button and pressed it. Immediately, she could hear the rattling sounds of machines coming to life.
The room darkened, giving away the nightly feeling, indicating demon activity. She saw three different sized towers raise up from the ground where she was standing, lifting her a few feet up in the air.
She heard the sound of something swishing through the air before she saw the dark shadow. She knew they weren't real demons; they were fragments of demonic magic trapped inside different shadowy looking shapes.
They couldn't hurt her, but Clary sure as hell could hurt them.
She felt her anger burst free as the first shadow crossed her eyes again and she swung her rapier down on the fake demon making it disappear into thin air.
Two more shapes, one larger than the other, came flying at her and Clary jumped form her tower over to the next, standing taller.
Both shadows flew at her again and Clary carelessly pierced the invisible skin on the largest dark shape. As the next demon dashed towards her, Clary felt a stinging pain in her neck.
Ignoring the pain, Clary jumped even higher. She let the fake demon bore through the air in the speed of light before she held out her rapier once again 'killing' the demonic magic.
Clary had no idea how long she continued this way, one or two shadows attacking her, and she using little strength to kill them.
She felt pearls of perspiration fall like droplets from her hairline down her forehead. A salty taste filled her dry mouth when she licked her lip.
It was complete silence in the training room. The board she was standing on a good twenty feet above the floor began shaking. The lowest tower disappeared under the floor again.
Clary let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. She couldn't see herself clearly in the darkness of the room, but she felt her fingers shake in the grip of the rapier.
Clary readied herself for the next two towers to sink to the ground as well, but that was not what happened.
Clary barely saw the two large shadows hissing through the air. Both shapes met Clary's body at the same time. Since they were not real demons, they didn't do any harm, but simply went straight through her.
Clary let out a startled hiss as the demons crashed into her, forcing her out of balance.
Clary let go of the rapier in her hand, sending it to the floor with a loud bang. She stumbled backwards, her left foot met solid ground, but when she tried to steady herself back, her right foot landed on nothing.
Clary remembered crashing through the old warehouse's floor, how immensely painful it had been. She really didn't want to feel something like that again, even if this would be a shorter distance to fall.
Clary closed her eyes. Her hair tangled around her face and she felt some of it press against her mouth as she let out a small scream.
Clary braced herself for the crash. Her whole body ached with fear.
What came surprised her. Her landing was hard, but nothing like a floor. She heard someone groan loudly. Her eyes were still shut tightly, and she breathed fiercely.
"What's up with you and always getting into trouble Ariel?" a soft, but out of breath voice muttered into her air.
Clary opened her eyes to find herself in the arms of Jace Herondale. She stiffened in surprise, finding herself unable to answer him.
Clary realised she had her hands around his neck and mentally cursed when she saw the smug smile on his lips.
She let go, forcing him to put her down on the training room's cold floor.
She sent him a piqued look and turned around. "A 'thank you for saving my life' would've been nice." Jace stated in a carefree voice.
"You should've learned by now, I'm not really nice." Clary laughed at him mockingly.
"A guy can always hope." He replied with a smirk.
"Why are you here anyway?" Clary asked, had he been standing there waiting for her to screw up or had he just happened to walk in right when she fell.
"I think I should ask you the same, considering the fact that you are not even permitted inside this room." Jace avoided her question.
"I just felt like working out. And I am, as long as I have a supervisor, but that rule is nonsensical." Clary explained, walking away from the blond boy.
"Well, consider me your supervisor then." Jace's smirk hadn't left his lips for even a second while he had been looking at Clary.
Clary rolled her eyes visibly and walked out of the training room's large door. She knew Jace had followed her by the sound of his feet tracing the steps of Clary's shoes.
"What got you into such a gloomy mood today Ariel?" Jace asked curiously.
"I'm not gloomy." Clary replied stupidly. "And my name is-" "Not Ariel. I know."
"So why do you keep calling me that?" Clary asked him with an angry tone to her voice.
"Because of the fairy tale." Jace replied with an unmistakable duh sound in his voice.
Clary raised an eyebrow in his direction, "Fairy tale?" she asked confused.
"Yeah.." Jace bit his lower lip as he realised Clary had never heard about the tale, "It's this tale about a girl, or a mermaid actually, and well, you look like her." Trying to explain his reasons, Jace sighed awkwardly.
"So.." Clary looked at him with a small smirk tugging in the corner of her lip, "I look like a fish."
Jace cracked a smile when he heard the insulted tone of her voice, "No, not the fishy part of her, she just got red hair as well."
"Oh, okay then." Clary bit the inside of her cheeks, keeping her smile hidden, "My name is still Clary, not Ariel." She shot at him with an irritated voice.
"No, don't go all dark on me again, I though saving your life would've softened you a little bit." Jace laughed, trying to keep her away from shutting herself down.
"First of all, I'm not going all dark, I already am all dark. Secondly, you didn't save my life." Clary replied with an angry tone, but Jace could detect a small smile playing on her lips as the final word left her lips.
"Ok, if you say so. I didn't save your life in theory, but I'll still be telling everyone about it." Jace smiled.
"Jace, if you do that I'll make sure you will never see sunlight again." Clary replied.
Jace smiled at her, it was the first time he had heard Clary say his first name, and not just Herondale.
"Nah, I will at least tell Alec." He joked and put his arm around her shoulder in a mocking way. As he had expected, Clary pulled back away from his arm in a swift move of her shoulder.
"So why are you stalking me?" Clary retorted.
"I'm not. I just think you need a bit of company." Jace answered in his playful tone.
"That's basically the same as stalking. You know, following a person without their consent. Stalking." Said Clary, brushing her red hair out of her eyes.
Jace just sent her another one of his winning smiles. "Why do you have a problem with people?"
"I don't have a problem people, I have a problem with you." Clary snapped back.
"No, no you have a problem with more people than just me, Jonathan, Jocelyn, Izzy, Simon, Alec, my grandmother-" "I get the point Herondale." Clary shot back at him. "And it's none of your business."
"Just give me one good reason why you hate us all so much." Jace walked beside the exasperated girl inside the large library.
"I don't know you." Clary replied, but Jace could hear from the tone of her voice only, she was lying.
"Okay, then ask me something."
"What?" Clary looked at him with a bemused expression.
"You don't know me, then ask me something." Jace smirked at her.
"No thanks." Clary snorted, "I don't think so."
"Why not?" Jace gave her a look of mischief.
"Fine. Here's a question, why are you so fucking annoying?"
Jace let out a chuckle, "Not exactly the type of question I was going for, but okay. I don't know, but I think it runs in the family."
"I've noticed." Clary retorted with a smug smile.
"Now." Jace gave her a funny look, "My turn."
Clary sat down in the couch in the middle of the library. "No. I didn't ask you a real question."
"Of course you did, a quite offensive one actually." Jace hopped over the couch to sit beside her, propping his feet on to the coffee table in front of him.
Clary sent her angry green orbs in his direction, "Oh, don't worry, I won't ask anything too personal." Jace laughed.
"Don't worry, I won't answer it anyway." Clary replied.
Jace sat with his feet stretched out on the table and a contemplating look on his face. "Do you have any animals?" Jace finally asked.
"Animals?" Clary snorted, "No."
"That explains everything." Jace gave her a cheeky grin, "The gloomy mood I mean."
"I'm not depressed, and for your information I had a horse when I was younger." Jace sent her a surprised look, "A horse?"
"Yeah, why do you sound so surprised, it's not an uncommon Shadowhunter-Animal." Clary shot back defensively.
"No, I know, but I would've guessed you to be more of a.. I don't know, not a horse person." Jace explained.
"I'm not. I said I had a horse, as in past tense." Clary responded.
"What was its name?" Jace asked, he didn't really sound that interested in the topic, neither did Clary, but she answered him anyway. "Arion."
There was a long pause. Jace leaned his back against the couch looking up in to the back coloured roof.
"There is no man that shall catch thee by the burst of speed, neither pass thee by, not though in pursuit he were driving goodly Arion, the swift horse of Adrastus, that was of heavenly stock." Jace turned his head, his golden eyes leaving the ceiling.
"Show off." Clary muttered irritated before pushing herself off the couch.
As she stood up she noticed her faerie ring tangled in the side of the pillow, ripping the thin gold chain off her neck. "Shit." Clary cursed under her breath.
Jace reached for the ring at the same time as Clary, "Hmm, cool ring." He said slowly, taking his hand off it as he saw Clary grasp it, pulling it out of his grip. "Thanks." Clary replied, revising an odd stare from Jace.
"I didn't say anything?" he replied confused.
"Huh?" Clary gave him an uncomfortable look. Fuck. The rings work separately as well.
"Sorry, I just, it was nothing." Clary tried to excuse herself.
"What kind of ring is it?" Jace asked, suddenly his voice had taken a more harsh tone.
"It's a family ring." Clary replied, closing her fingers around it so he wouldn't be able to see the golden metal.
"It doesn't have the M for Morgenstern on it though." Jace denounced.
"It can still be a family ring." Clary shot defensively at him.
"Who gave it to you?"
"Just drop it Herondale, it's absolutely none of your business." Clary said angry.
Jace's golden eyes narrowed into thin lines, "Fine." He shrugged his shoulders incautiously.
A long awkward pause followed Jace's word. Leaving the air feeling cold and uneasy. Clary turned around about to walk out of the room when she thought of something. If she could ask anyone in this Institute it would probably be Jace. She didn't trust him to keep it a secret, but in the moment that didn't really matter. She had to know.
"Herondale." She said, turning around to face him.
"Mhm?" he replied with an irritated noise.
"I was just wondering, ehhm, what is that room in the end of the residential wing." Clary spoke fast, not wanting to sound too curious.
"What room?" it wasn't the answer Clary had hoped for, but she had thought about the possibility he didn't know about it. Clary had after all just stumbled across the room after weeks of walking past it.
"Nothing." Clary shrugged, leaving him with a bemused expression on his face.
That's it. Lets see if you can be as awesome as you were last chapter, and I will come with another super fast update. I will just thank you again, in case you didn't read the author's note in the beginning, thank you so so so much for all of your wonderful reviews. See you soon.