Hey, everyone!

So, this chapter contains stuff that doesn't contribute to the TMI story line as much as it does Rose's, and I hope it pleases everyone's OC expectations.

Once again, I mean no disrespect to Australians.

Honestly, I love you guys, and I am super jealous of you.

Florida is boring.

Disclaimer: I don't own TMI or any of its characters, that honor has been claimed by the one and only, Cassandra Clare.

And the one and only Cassandra Clare has broken my heart on more than one occasion.

I'm afraid to read COHF, legit.

I approached the alley cautiously, Liam at my side, and I heard a clicking noise, coming from the opposite end of the alley. I had the seraph blade held out in front of me, the witchlight illuminating the path in front of me. I saw a figure at the end, and it looked… human.

"Who's there?" I hissed, and the figure disappeared in a blur. Liam cursed under his breath.

"Over here, darling," A chillingly familiar voice taunted, and I whirled around.

I couldn't breathe. How were you supposed to do that again?

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, exhale.

Inhale, damn you Nightlock! I said inhale!

"This can't be happening," I gasped, and Liam grasped my arm. I heard him say my name, but I didn't respond.

"Oh but of course it can. It's been such a long time, pretty Shadowhunter." The voice hissed, and I held out the blade in warning.

"Don't you dare come closer, or I swear on the Angel-"

"What? You're going to kill me? Because that worked so well last time," The voice mocked, "I see your pretty voice isn't pretty anymore, Nephilim. How does it feel? Being a monster? Do you like it?"

I felt like I was going to pass out, and it seemed like Liam's hand on my arm was the only thing holding me up.

"Rose? Don't let it get to you Rose, we can't see it!" Liam whispered rapidly, and I nodded weakly. Don't let it get to me, don't let it get to me…

But this was the voice that had haunted me for years. The voice that made me want to die. The voice that was so painfully ugly it had to make my voice sound just like it.

I lunged forward, only to be knocked to the ground, a pair of claws cutting into my side. I cried out, and the figure was pulled off of me by Liam, who threw it to the side.

I stood up, ignoring the sharp pain in my side and the large amount of blood I was already losing. I swung out at the demon, who missed the blade by an inch, and I twirled the hilt in my grasp expertly, making fluid motions in the air, stabbing at the demon. I hit it in the arm, and it yelled out in pain. Liam crept up behind it, and it sensed his present just in time.

It whirled around, grabbing him by the back of his neck in a blur of motion, and it threw him. He hit the wall with a sickening thud, and he fell to the ground, not moving.

"Liam!" I yelled, but he didn't respond.

"Oh, was that a friend, darling? Probably not. No one could care about a monster like you." The demon was grinning evilly.

"The only monster here is you," I spat, still glancing over at Liam. I needed to get him a healing rune.

"When are you going to face the facts, darling? You will never beat me. You will always be below the demons, little Nephilim. And that will never, ever change."

"Now that, darling, is where you are wrong." I whispered, and I had grabbed my family dagger, flinging it towards him. The dagger ran true, hitting him in the heart. Not all demons had hearts, but hopefully this one did.

And against all odds, I was right. I watched him disappear, but I didn't even feel joy. I stumbled over to Liam, and I knew I had to hurry. I was losing blood at a rapid rate. I took a stele from his belt, and I drew a sloppy but reasonable iratze on his arm. The stele slipped from my hand, and I barely managed to finish the rune before I slipped into unconsciousness.

"Rosie!" Isabelle cried, the sound slightly muffled. I heard sprinting footsteps coming from the hallway, and the door flung open, Isabelle standing there, out of breath. She continued into my room, and I smiled.

"Izzy!" I whispered, the sound hoarse and painful. I missed my old voice. I had talked as little as possible, wishing to ignore the ugly, foreign voice that would forever be my own.

"Oh Rosie, I am so sorry, Rosie!" Izzy sobbed into my shoulder as she hugged me tightly, and I wrapped my arms around her tightly.

"Why are you sorry?" I asked, and she looked up in horror at the croak-like noise, unfamiliar to her.

"I should have been there, Rose, I should have gone with you, you shouldn't be suffering!" She choked, and I shook my head.

"No, no, I love you, Iz, and there was nothing you could have done. I'm just glad it wasn't one of you guys, and I'm glad I'm alive." I answered hurriedly, as Izzy's mascara was running as she cried.

"I love you, Rosie, we love you, always remember that," She whispered.

"Even though I sound like, like…" I couldn't bring myself to say anything. I sounded like a monster, or at least a mundane with a deadly cold.

"Especially because of that. You are a fighter, Rose Nightlock. And I promise, I will not let anyone think differently of you because of that." Izzy said determinedly. I hadn't known this then, but none of my family ever looked at me the wrong way again. They all thought of me as the same person I was.

Then the memory changed. I was dancing at the party Magnus had held, Liam smiling at me.

"Liam?" I asked, surprised. Usually people you only just met were not the first people who came to mind.

He leaned in towards me, as if to tell me a secret.

"Wake up, Rose. I need you," He whispered.

"Liam!" I gasped, and I opened my eyes. It was… sunny, and I guessed it was early morning, the sun just rising. But it had been the middle of the night when I had passed out. I glanced down at my wound. There was a very large puddle of blood, but I was surprisingly alive. Another sight caught my eye. I had passed out right next to Liam, my arm draped loosely across his chest. I could barely bring myself to move, and I groaned.

"Liam, wake up, we have to go," I whispered harshly, and he groaned as well.

"Rose," He murmured, and he opened his eyes, looking up at me.

"What happened?" He asked, and I shook my head.

"We passed out for hours. But we have to get back to the Institute, now." I replied, and he looked confused.

"Did you draw a rune?" He asked, glancing at his arm, and I nodded.

"Then why did we pass out?"

"Well, I should have passed out and died from blood loss, but you, you must have just really hurt your head." His eyes widened as he noticed the cut on my side.

"Where's the demon?" He asked suddenly, and the events of last night came rushing back to me.

"I killed him," I gasped, and he sighed in relief. I looked around for a stele, Liam doing the same, coming up unsuccessful. The one I used must be lost, and I didn't feel like staying here any longer to try and find it.

"Come on, we need to get back, there may be demon blood in that wound." He said, concerned, and he started to lead me away.

"No, wait!" I objected. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as I leaned over, grabbing my family dagger. My necklace was still hidden underneath the fabric of my dress, so at least I had that.

When we finally got to the Institute, leaning on each other, we barely made it through the gate alive. Liam and I were beat.

"Rose!" An anxious voice yelled, and Isabelle came running, Jace, Alec, and Hodge right behind her.

Hodge looked relieved. "Oh thank the Angel-"

"Where the hell were you?" I blurted out, staring at Jace. I had no idea why I said it, but I suddenly felt very angry.

"Rosie, let us check out that wound-"

"I asked you a question, Jace." He looked scared, and answered hesitantly.

"Simon had been kidnapped, we had to get him back." He explained.

"Of course. You are full of the most bull-"

"It's the truth, Rose!"

"I don't give a damn! Liam and I almost died, hell it isn't physically possible that I'm not dead, lying unconscious in an alley, and you were all here doing the Angel knows what!" I yelled.

Isabelle tried to cut in. "Rose he had to save Simon-"

"Of course! He had to go fix Clary and the mundane's problems, well that explains it all! I am so sick of this! I am tired of all the damned problems that weren't ours to begin with, leaving me to continue our daily duty by myself! And during this Hodge is locked up in the Institute, Izzy and Alec are trying to solve these moronic issues, and Jace is with Clary, probably with his tongue down her throat-" I was effectively cut off by a fit of coughing, my weak vocal cords unable to yell like I wished. I pulled my hand away finally, and it was stained with blood. Jace's eyes widened.

"Rosie-" He started, and I shoved past him, rushing to my room.

Liam's POV

"What happened to her?" Isabelle muttered, though obviously concerned. Jace was leaning against the wall, his head in his hands, while Alec and Isabelle were questioning me. Hodge just looked… sympathetic.

"We had a rough night," I replied, and Jace looked up. He didn't show any emotion, just showed a face which was frighteningly calm.

"I bet she's just jealous. We got to have all the fun. What, you didn't make her night worth her while, Darkstrider?" He smirked, and I fought the urge to hit him, which was what he wanted, the jackass.

"I'm going to ask you one question, Jace," I said quietly.

"I'm waiting, Liam."

"How would you react, if, in her position, you ran into the demon who you thought had ruined you?" I asked, trying to choose my words carefully. He looked at me evenly, before his eyes widened in understanding. Alec stiffened, Hodge put a hand to his head, and Isabelle gasped. At least they were quick in their thoughts.

"What happened, Liam?" Hodge asked me.

"We found the demon, and it knew her. It started taunting her, trying to weaken her. It took me a while to put two and two together," I paused when Jace muttered something along the lines of, "Shocking," and I continued, "It injured her and I got knocked out, but she said she managed to kill it before she passed out."

"Well, Shadowhunters replenish blood faster than mundanes, so that must have saved her in the end." Hodge murmured to himself.

"Someone should talk to her," Isabelle whispered, but Alec held her back.

"I think Liam should go," He said, which surprised the whole lot of us.

"Come again?" Jace asked.

"Well, she's less likely to be mad at him."

"This is Rosie. She's likely to be mad at everyone. At least Ethan is asleep."

"No, Liam, you should go, try and sweet talk her, something." Izzy ushered me away, and I paused hesitantly at Rose's door before I knocked quietly.

Rose's POV

"Go away!" I called, tossing the nearest object towards the door, which happened to be my family dagger. I heard a muffled curse as it stuck in the door, vibrating from the impact.

"Damn it, Rose, it's just me!" Liam yelled, and I cringed. I walked up to the door, yanked the dagger from it, which was deeply embedded in the wood, and I opened it. Liam walked past me, sitting down at the edge of my bed.

"Sure, come on in," I grumbled, and he grinned.

"Thanks, I will." He replied, and I sat next to him. I had taken a short but agonizing shower and had changed into a pair of yoga pants and a tank top, which I had rolled up to keep from staining it with blood.

"Let me help," Liam murmured, and he pulled a new stele from his belt.

"I'll tell you what happened," I whispered, and he looked up.

"What happened with what?"

"When I lost my voice." He nodded in understanding.

I explained the event to him, something I hadn't said out loud in a long time. He just sat there, listening, and when I finished I saw there was a completed healing rune on my torso that had started to fade, taking the wound with it.

"So how come you never asked me? I saw that you noticed, but you never said anything. Why?" I continued as he washed the blood away from my torso with a wet towel.

"Do you want to hear a story?" He asked me randomly, and I shrugged, nodding.

"When I was young, I fought this demon. And I was the best Shadowhunter of the world, mind you," He added, and I laughed quietly.

"I stabbed this demon, with my family dagger, just like the one that you own and cherish. And the damned thing pulled it out and stabbed me with it instead," He continued, and I cringed at the thought.

"My brother defeated it, and the wound healed, but because of the demon blood, I will always have this," He pulled up his shirt (and I strictly avoided letting my eyes wander to his abs) revealing a long, ugly scar that was scarily close to his heart, "To remind me of just how idiotic I was, and forever will be."

I shook my head. "You aren't an idiot. In fact, you saved my life, something I will always be grateful for," I murmured, and he looked up at me.

"You are definitely worth it, Rosie." He whispered, and our faces were close, inches away. He leaned in towards me, and he kissed me.

I had never been in a serious relationship before, so kissing was usually not too big of a deal. But this was very, very different. I felt a spark of electricity, and that was not familiar, not to anything I had ever experienced. No one could care about a monster like you, a voice rang in my head, and I pulled away suddenly, breathless. Liam looked at me in surprise, and he looked a little hurt.

"I'm sorry, I just can't," I struggled to find something to say.

"No, I'm sorry, Rose. I shouldn't have done that." Liam apologized, and I shook my head.

"No, it was nice. I mean, it was beyond nice, but that's not the point. You should leave," I stood up, and Liam raised an eyebrow.

"Rose, what's going on?" He asked suspiciously.

"Nothing! I just I don't think… that I deserve you?" It came out as a hurried question, and he had a look that resembled Alec's face when I did this joke where I told him I was madly in love with him, despite the fact that he was secretly gay.

"Just, hear me out, okay! I mean literally, hear me out! I am obviously not normal, I have been made into something fundamentally unattractive, and perhaps it's a sign! I mean, maybe my purpose is to scare people! I don't know!" I exclaimed, and Liam started laughing, and I glared at him.

"Okay, first of all, I knew you weren't normal far before I heard your voice. Second, there is not one part of you that isn't attractive, Rosie. Third, you can say all you want, that will not change my feelings for you." Liam listed each point off on his fingers, holding up three fingers for me to see.

"And what are your feelings?" I asked cautiously.

"Well, one pretty dominant one is the feeling that I would like to continue kissing you again."

I laughed, but he leaned in to kiss me again, and I didn't object.

How was it?

Review and let me know!

I hope that satisfied anyone looking for some OCxOC action, and before you say it, this moves kind of fast, but that was kind of how I pictured it, so...

Deal.

Until next time!

- EasyIsTheDescent