What?!?! An update?!?! Yeah… I could have conceived and HAD A BABY in the time between this update and my last one. Of course I didn't, but still, that amount of time is ridiculous.

BTW Mortal Instruments actually doesn't belong to me. It belongs to Cassandra Clare. And Harry Potter belongs to JK Rowling and NOT Cassandra Clare ;) btw, how many of you guys knew she had a FanFiction page and wrote about HP but got kicked off for plagiarism? Cause that was certainly news to me! Haha.

Chapter Seven: Solving the Insoluble

Deep breaths. Deep breaths. Deep breaths.

Wasn't breathing supposed to be a reflex? Clary wondered why the hell she had to tell herself to breath in order to stay alive. It was as ridiculous as telling her hear to beat.

"Clary, breath," Jace reminded her gently.

"UGH!" Clary exclaimed, irritated at her body. Well, her respiratory system, that is. Stupid lungs.

"Calm down, Clary. You're just panicking," Jace said.

"I kind of have a right to be," Clary huffed, annoyed by Jace's calm demeanor.

"Just close your eyes, think of the runes, and draw. You've done it plenty of times before."

"But which ones?" Clary asked frantically. "What goes first? Which go together? What ones go where?!"

"Don't think about it so hard. Just do it," Jace instructed a little harshly. He was getting impatient, and he wasn't even in a good mood to start with. After Clary had denied him sex that morning, he started to get in a foul mood. She was still sore, he could get over it. At least she thought he could.

"Fine," Clary said, turning to face him. She yanked his arm out and drew the first three runes on him.

"Thank you," Jace said in an exasperated tone. With Jace, Clary learned to expect the unexpected, but seriously, who would thank someone after they drew an unknown rune on them? He didn't seem the least bit worried they would fail. He was confident in them. In Clary.

"You're welcome…" Clary said confusedly. The runes, she thought, were supposed to make Jace disappear. Soundless, Sightless, and Scentless.

"What's wrong?" Jace asked, looking between her and his arm, finally showing a tiny hint of nervousness.

"I can hear you. And see you," Clary leaned forward a bit. "And you smell like yourself, too.

"Nullus sanus, visum, scaena," Jace nodded. An older rune. Only works on Downworlders."

"Demons…" Clary said.

"Says the best friend of a vampire," Jace mumbled.

"Whatever," Clary said, snapping out of her trans. "Mark me."

Jace picked up the stele carefully, drawing the figures on Clary's arm. Clary smirked as he inconspicuously lifted his arm a bit to look the runes Clary had drawn. Clary decided she wouldn't call him out on it though.

It stung a bit, but no more than the typical rune. It felt normal. The stinging turned into a tingling, and Clary hoped more than anything that they worked.

"Time for the last rune," Jace said.

Clary took a deep breath and took a few steps down into the poorly lit basement. She grasped Jace's hand as she went down. "Do you have a witchlight?"

Clary heard a click and suddenly the room was illuminated. "I have a witchlight, but you have a light bulb."

Clary looked up at the bright, single bulb hanging from the ceiling. "Oh."

The room looked like any old basement. Until you looked closely. The boxes were filled with mythical books and artifacts. There were various weapons were on shelves used for killing various creatures. And there was a near empty back wall, perfect for Clary's last rune. The one that scared her the most.

She confidently walked over to the wall, closed her eyes, placed the tip of her stele on the smooth cement, and started drawing. She opened her eyes and took in the rune with horror. It was… indescribable. Having drawn it in person was even more horrifying than in her dreams. It was like a portal, but so, so wrong.

"Clary…?" Jace asked. "What exactly is that?"

"I don't know," Clary said, gasping, "but it's moving."

The rune was crawling across the wall, slithering and unwinding in every direction, like a poisonous, squirming snake. A horrible stench was emitting from the growing hole in the center. Clary gulped, finally realizing what it was.

Clary had just drawn a portal to the demon world.

"What… the fuck did you just draw?" Jace asked, looking incredulously at the gaping hole in the wall. The hole that lead to a dimension no human, let alone Shadowhunter, has ever been to.

"So… you wanna go in first?" Clary asked. She wanted to close the portal, ban the runes, and forget that this ever happened. But she couldn't. No way in hell could Jace pretend like this never happened.

"Let's… close it up for right now. Gear up, and come back to it when we're good and prepared," Jace said calmly.

Clary quickly closed the portal, eager to get rid of it. Jace led her up to her bedroom and started stripping down immediately. She knew she should close her eyes or turn away, but she couldn't help but to gawk and stare like some kind of stalker. Her eyes hungrily roamed his body, lingering on his defined abs and broad chest.

She forced her eye away from his chest only to see his full lips turned upwards into a cocky smirk. A smirk she met with one of her own, because she, too had something to be cocky about.

I tapped that.

Maybe that's why girls had sex. For the feeling of achievement and pride. Well, maybe not pride.

Of course guys got the feeling of accomplishment and it felt good. Lucky bastards.

"Like what you see, Clary?" Jace asked, his smirk still in place.

"Not as much as you do," she replied with a wink, pulling off her shirt. Normally, Clary wouldn't have been so brave. At most a blush or maybe a small 'yes,' would have been her reply. Maybe it was the sex. Yeah… that was it.

Jace and Clary continued their little teasing game until Jace was growing significantly in his boxers and Clary's underwear was embarrassingly wet.

Jace smirked at Clary once more, his thumbs in the waist of his tented boxers.

"I'm uh… gonna go finish changing in the bathroom," Clary mumbled, her bravery suddenly vanishing.

Jace smirk fell as Clary turned her back to him, scurrying into her bathroom.

Clary sighed as she closed the door shut behind her. She leaned against it and groaned in frustration. She obviously wanted Jace. Her underwear could attest to that. But why would her body crave something so… uncomfortable and unpleasant? It was an enigma to Clary, and one she would have to worry about at a much more convenient time. She quickly changed and met Jace in her living room where they were prepared to face their possible demise.

She chastised herself for thinking like that, but she knew it was true.

Jace grasped her hand and led her down to the basement. His good mood from the bedroom was gone, but she didn't think he was mad at her.

Clary reopened the portal and redrew the runes on Jace and her. It was a little less stressful than before, now that she knew what she was up against and what the runes did, but it was still hard nonetheless.

"You ready?" Jace asked.

"As ready as I'll ever be… can't we call Isabelle and Alec? Maybe even Simon and Magnus?" Clary pleaded.

"No. If they came you know we wouldn't go. Alec would want to get information to Idris before we do anything, and if they found out, you know they would use you and keep you there. With the power to draw a rune like that," Jace said, nodding towards the horrific portal, "you'd be kept under their control for the rest of your life. You'd be considered too dangerous. Especially considering who your father is and what he did. And even if we could convince him not to tell just yet, you know Simon wouldn't let you or Isabelle go. And Magnus wouldn't let Alec go. And neither of them could go since they're Downworlders and the runes wouldn't work on them."

"I… guess you're right. But shouldn't we at least leave a note or something incase we don't come back?"

"Clary, you listen to me," Jace said, grasping Clary's shoulders and making intense eye contact,. "We will come back."

All Clary could do was nod as she turned her head back to the portal.

"Count of three?" Jace suggested.

Again, Clary nodded and listened as Jace slowly counted.

"One…"

"Two…"

Clary sucked in a breath of air, not knowing what kind of polluted air she'd have to breath once she reached wherever it was her portal was taking them.

"Three."

Clary and Jace stepped in, and in no time Clary felt the familiar yet sickening falling sensation. Only it was about thirty million times worse than usual.

It took everything Clary had not to scream. But she did lock Jace's hand in a death grip. That much she couldn't control.

As they descended, the putrid smell got stronger. Clary felt her eyes water and her throat burn. She gagged on the rancid air.

She and Jace tumbled to the ground as they reached their destination.

Clary looked around and had only one intelligible thought running through her head.

That damn portal is nothing compared to this hellish place.

Hell. That was pretty much the only way to describe where she had just taken Jace and herself. The innermost circle of Hell. And that's exactly what it was.

Clary couldn't even make out her surroundings entirely with her watering eyes, but she knew it was bad.

She rubbed at her eyes and regretted it the moment she did.

She and Jace had landed in the middle of demon rush hour.

They surrounded the Shadowhunters, but not one of them notices she or Jace.

Jace wasted no time carefully and swiftly pulling Clary out of the midst of the demons and to a less populated area. Only a demon or two skittering near them occasionally.

Clary was still too shocked to speak. She looked around her with a clearer head and wanted to cry and scream at the same time.

Tall creepy figures swaying in the wind Clary soon recognized as trees. Trees that looked as if they were made of long, pointy finger bone, ready to grab you and swallow you whole. The sky was a daunting red color with no stars or clouds or sun, just endless dark red. Although, Clary could see some smoke rising up from the distance, thick, black smoke. There were a couple broken slabs of stones with vines made up of hideously long thorns growing in and on it. Clary assumed they used to be buildings, which seemed odd. The grass, if you could call it that, was sparse and looked burned. The ground was made up of reds and blacks and had scattered bones of various demons.

Wait.

Bones of demons.

Meaning if demons were killed here, there was no coming back for them.

She stole a glance at Jace, and it looked as if he figured out the same thing.

"I think," Clary choked out, managing to get Jace's attention immediately, "there's a reason we're here."

Jace nodded, putting his arm around her. "If we kill them here…"

"We've killed them for good," Clary whispered , finishing his thought.

They sat quietly for a while longer, taking in their macabre surroundings. Clary spoke up again

"Jace, we're going to have to tell someone about this," Clary sighed.

"No," Jace said firmly. "We are NOT telling the Council."

"Okay, maybe not the Council… yet. We can start with maybe my mom and Luke. They'd know what to do. But we will have to tell the Council, and soon. We can't keep this to ourselves and you know that. If there's a way to really kill demons, they need to know about it. Even if it means I have to live in Idris for the rest of my life and the Council keeps a close eye on me."

"You're right," Jace sighed. "You're right and I hate it. Even with this New Council or some shit, I still don't fully trust them. I definitely don't trust them with you. I don't want your life sucked away by those bastards as they exploit your gift and they keep you an--"

"That's not going to happen. And besides, we can worry about that later. Maybe when we're not surrounded by these things," Clary said, nodding towards a particularly grotesque demon passing them. The demons were even more horrible than Clary's imagination could have conjured. Clary had seen countless demons, but there were even more monstrous things here than she'd ever seen.

That, and Clary usually wasn't able to observe them up close without the distraction of trying to slaughter them before they slaughtered her.

"Hey, Clary…" Jace said lightly. "Since demons can't really be killed in our world, but they can kill us, do you think the same thing applies here? Do you think the same thing would apply for us? If we get killed here, we'd merely be transported back to our dimension?"

"I don't really feel like testing that theory, but interesting thought," Clary said. "Now that we know what's here and why we came, what do you say about heading home? I really don't like Hell."

Jace chuckled a little before answering. "I don't really like it here either. But something tells me we're probably going to be back."

"I don't even want to think about that right now."

They made their way to a more secluded place, where there was a huge slab of rock Clary could probably draw her portal on.

Clary took out her stele and began to draw the portal, but instead of opening up and letting them through, her rune withered and died away. Clary tried again, but the same thing happened. She began to hyperventilate at the thought of being stuck here.

"Try the other one," Jace said in a too calm voice. "The one that got us here."

Clary tried that, and it worked. The portal opened up and they stepped though, thinking about home.

The sickening feeling was back and they finally landed.

In the same spot they landed in the first time. They were still in Hell.

"Jace," Clary said in a panicked voice. "What the hell do we do?"

"We could test my theory…," Jace said humorously... Humorous to him at least.

"Seriously, Jace. How do we get home?" Clary asked as they made their way back to their original spot.

"I don't know," Jace said, letting out a breath of air. "But we'll find a way."

Clary looked around, almost looking for some kind of clue that could lead her home. But what she saw only made her want to go home even more.

Clary gulped. "Please tell me I'm not just seeing that." Clary's breathing increased. "Actually, please tell me I am."

Jace didn't respond, he just stared at what Clary had found.

"I knew we should have written a freaking note," Clary groaned, her eyes turning towards Jace.

So… what'd you think? I don't have my profanity filter on, so feel free to curse me out for taking so long without having to use those annoying asterisks. Haha (:

What'd you think they saw? How do you think they're gonna get back home? Who saw this coming? How long do you think I'll take till the next chapter??? Haha hopefully not long enough to have another baby ;) I'll update as soon as I can! (I actually have a bit of the next chapter written!) ILY, readers, ILY!!! :D

Oh, and does anyone want lemons? I'll gladly write them, but if no one wants them I'll just skip them. And if you do want them feel free to be specific! Nothing will surprise me! Even if you wrote "I'd like there to be a lemony scene in which Clary and Jace have a threesome with a demon while Clary shouts Valentine's name and Jace whips himself. That particular scene would be just dandy."

I can't say I'd actually write a lemon like that… although that WOULD be rather interesting. Enough with my ramblings, thanks for reading!