Hey!
This chapter is kind of fluffy. Not very important. But, we are officially starting off City of Ashes...
When I read the series, I hated this book.
Mainly because I ship Clace like nobody's business.
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Cassandra Clare owns TMI, folks!
Why else would I be on FanFiction?
"Hello?" I answered my phone groggily. I didn't know the number, but who knows, it could be important. It was around one in the morning, and I had been quite effectively asleep.
"Yes, is this Rose?" A seemingly familiar voice asked, "This is Luke."
"Oh!" I gasped, and I glanced at the clock. "Wait, why are you calling me? What's wrong?"
"Nothing serious. But I have Jace here, quite wasted, and I figured he needed an escort home before he started a werewolf bar fight." I groaned at this. Jace had been more annoying than usual, trying to forget that the girl he liked was indeed his sister. Wow, it sounded even creepier in my head. Poor Jace.
"Where is he?" I grumbled, getting out of bed. I hung up with an answer, and I glanced down at my pajamas. I had on a plain black shirt and black shorts, revealing the runes that reached halfway down my legs, along my arms, and my chest, back, and shoulders. Oh well, these were werewolves.
I pulled on my black ankle boots (they were very bad-ass looking: Isabelle was proud) and a loose black cardigan. I yanked a brush through my hair, not bothering for makeup for the first time since I was eleven years old. That was how mad I was.
I slipped down the hallway, and I took my chances with the creaky elevator. Thank the Angel it decided to be quiet tonight.
Once I was out the door, I started walking in the direction Luke gave me. If someone attempted to mug me, I was going to bury them, and then I was going straight for Jace, planning to yank out a good amount of his golden hair and gag him with it.
Thankfully I was not mugged, or even approached. I reached the Downworlder bar, and I swung the door open. A good dozen werewolves looked up, and they all looked fierce the second they saw me.
"Down, doggies," I muttered, and one growled ferociously.
"Ease off," Luke ordered, and I ignored him. He pointed towards the back wordlessly. I ran into a girl leaving the bathroom, and she looked up in shock.
"Ugh, Shadowhunter. If you are here for that jackass, don't bother." She grumbled, and I glared at her with such an expression that she stepped back, stumbling.
"That jackass is my brother. If you say that again, you better hope your bite is worse than your bark, so just keep your muzzle shut."
The girl seemed not to know how to respond. I shoved past her, into the door at the end, and I gasped when something embedded itself in the wood a centimeter from my head.
"Damn, that was my last pencil, and I missed." Jace sighed. He was sitting behind a large wooden desk, and he had a few bruises and a split lip.
"How unfortunate. Now get your useless ass up, please."
He smirked. "No thank you."
I crossed my arms. "Let me rephrase. Get your useless ass up, or I will remove something important of yours that the Angel only intended to be treated nicely."
He cringed mockingly. "Ouch. You know, sister, I like the no-makeup look. It makes that horribly ugly nose ring pop." He didn't bother to call it a face weapon, even.
"I'm not your only sister."
He looked hurt, but he hid it well. "I guess I should get up now?"
"You guessed correctly."
He stood up, wobbling slightly, and I took his arm to steady him.
"You're drunk, you asshole."
"I object to that. I can hold my liquor."
"So can I. I drink a whole lot of it while dealing with you."
"I'm hurt." He pouted mockingly. "I thought you enjoyed dealing with me."
"Well you thought wrong. I don't." I dragged him out of the office, shooting a grateful smile to Luke on my way out. I felt Jace shudder, followed by a shattering noise. I turned to see a glass had been thrown at his back, and there was glass on the ground.
I turned around reluctantly, but I hid it. "Who threw that at my brother?" I asked calmly. No one said a thing, just stared.
"Let me ask again. Who. Threw. That. At. My. Brother." I pronounced each word with precision, and someone stepped forward. He was a very muscular werewolf, and to any other girl he would have been quite intimidating.
"I threw it, darling. So what are you going to do about it?" Jace had a warning look on his face, but I was tired, and yet I still wanted to fight something. I darted forward before others could react, I wrapped the werewolf's arms painfully around his back, kicked his feet out from under him, and he fell to the ground.
Everyone was silent.
"Now, you just got owned by a female Shadowhunter, darling. Remember me, alright?" I whispered in his ear, and with a dazzling smile, I took a shocked Jace and led him out the door, towards the Institute.
When we got there, I managed to get Jace to his room, and he collapsed on his bed.
"Rose," He mumbled as I helped him neatly unmake the bed, arranging pillows as his OCD mind would approve of.
"What?"
"I'm sorry. I don't deserve a sister like you."
I smiled. "You really don't."
"Say that to anyone and I'll kill you."
"You're on, Lightwood."
He looked surprised. "Lightwood?" I sighed softly.
"It's your last name," I whispered firmly, and he fell asleep, the alcohol getting to him.
I pulled the covers over him, and I walked back to my room.
The next morning, sunlight bleeding in without the curtains drawn, I opened my eyes reluctantly, and I saw a familiar face looming over me.
"Jesus!" I gasped, and he shook his head.
"No, but I've heard the resemblance is shocking," Liam smirked, and I had heard that before.
"Did Simon teach you that?" His smile fell into a grimace.
"Why?"
"He used the same joke on me a few weeks ago."
Liam sighed. "He needs new material."
"Not everyone is a badass Shadowhunter and a master of sarcastic wordplay at the same time." I reminded him.
"Sarcasm is not the only wordplay I have mastered. Want to listen?" He whispered, and I rolled my eyes.
"Get out, Casanova." I ordered, pointing towards the door.
"So might I ask, what were you up to last night?" He asked conversationally as he stood up, and I groaned.
"Escorting my intoxicated brother to his room," I explained, and he gave me a sympathetic smile. We both knew that Jace wasn't doing so well.
He left, and I took a hot shower, changing into a black lace, long-sleeve shirt and jeans. I left my straight hair loose, put on a little makeup, and some quick, simple jewelry.
I walked into the hallway, and when I reached the kitchen, Izzy, Alec, Ethan, and Liam were seated at the table. Maryse was cooking breakfast at the stove, and I smiled. Maybe they could bring some normalcy back to the Institute. But then Jace walked in, and I remembered that normalcy didn't have a snowball's chance in hell around here.
"Good morning, brother," Isabelle sang enthusiastically, and he ignored her. He looked presentable, fully clothed, but the second he sat down he put his head in his arms, groaning.
"Why is it so bright in here?" He moaned, and I bit my lip.
"Hey Jace, what did you say?" I yelled in his ear, and he hit me, none too gently.
"I will kill you, you ungrateful little-"
"Jace Lightwood! Language!"
"Sorry, Maryse." He smiled at her pleasantly, and she had an odd look on her face. Jace's smile instantly darkened, and he pushed away from the table, walking out the door. I glanced at everyone.
"I sure know how to clear a room, huh?"
Most everybody laughed, expect for Maryse. She just forced a smile to her face. I gave Ethan a questioning look. He followed my gaze, and he shrugged.
"So what did he do last night? I don't remember him coming home," Isabelle whispered in my ear, and everyone huddled around me, out of Maryse's hearing range.
"He was getting wasted and starting fights at a werewolf bar." I hissed, and Alec blinked.
"Pardon?"
"Luke called me. He was so drunk he didn't even argue when I finished off his little bar fight."
Ethan chuckled.
At that moment a plate was set down in front of me, and I glanced up in surprise. Maryse forced another fake smile to her face.
"Get it while it's hot," She announced, and I nodded.
"Oh and Rose, can you go wake up Max?" She added, and I stood, walking out the door. I turned the corner, and there was a short figure at the end of the hall, his glasses perched in his nose, reading some comic book intently. He looked up, and he instantly gave me a wide grin.
"Rosie!" He exclaimed.
"Max, my little brother!" I held my arms out, and he gave me a giant hug.
"Are there any pancakes left?" He asked, and I glanced behind me.
"We better run," I whispered, and he nodded in agreement.
We burst into the kitchen, and there was a plate with three pancakes on the counter. We sighed in relief. I put one on a plate for Max, one for me, and I watched the other one deliberately. I grabbed the plate, a fork, and I laid it aside. After we finished eating, I took a plate to Jace's room, and he was a giant lump underneath the covers, gold curls the only thing identifiable as Jace.
"Didn't your mother ever teach you it's bad manners to barge into someone's room uninvited?" He groaned, and I huffed impatiently.
"My mother was slaughtered by demons, you ungrateful ass. Now get up or I eat your breakfast." I snapped, and when he looked up, he had a sorrowful look on his face.
"I meant Maryse, Rose."
"And I didn't. Take the damn pancakes," I glared at him, but he must have noticed the pain in my eyes when we mentioned my mom, because he took the plate and fork from me, shuffling out from under pillows, blankets, and the like.
He was standing near his dresser, and I remembered something from my past.
"Hey, do you still have…" I trailed off with a gasp when he pulled out a bottle of maple syrup.
"Hell yeah, I do." He smirked, drowning the lone pancake with the sticky syrup. I thought back to when I was eleven years old, Ethan and I moving to the Institute for the first time.
"Rose, I don't want to do this." Ethan whimpered. I sighed wearily. We were standing in front of a Portal, in Idris, and I knew that what was waiting on the other side, New York, was going to be one hell of a change. My parents had only died weeks ago, and Ethan and I were barely put together enough to breathe.
"I know you're scared, so am I, but the Lightwoods are nice people. We have nowhere else to go." I whispered soothingly, and I took his hand, our suitcases in grasp, and we stepped through the Portal determinedly.
The experience was overwhelming, but we came out the other side, to find a group of people waiting for us. There was a couple, both with dark hair and blue eyes, who were smiling warmly. Four kids stood beside them. The first was a younger child, barely a toddler, the second a girl my age, but her eyes were dark, her hair tied back expertly in a French braid. I put a hand to my straight locks self-consciously. The two boys next to her looked around my age as well, one that looked just like her with blue eyes, but the other one was completely different. He had gold hair and gold eyes, and he had a cold look on his face. He must be the one who moved here not too long ago.
"Welcome, kids. I'm Maryse, this is my husband Robert, and here we have Max, Isabelle, Alec, and Jace. Welcome to the Institute." The woman, Maryse, smiled at me, and I forced a smile to my face.
"Thank you, Mrs. Lightwood. I'm Rose, this is my brother Ethan." I introduced us politely, as Ethan was hovering behind me slightly.
"If you shook any harder, you'd start a natural phenomenon." Jace commented, and Maryse sighed.
"Don't talk about my brother," I snapped coldly, and he had a look on his face that resembled… respect.
"Well, let me show you to your rooms, and we can all meet in the kitchen for breakfast." Maryse announced, and I nodded.
A while later, Ethan was sleeping in his room, and I walked to the kitchen. Everyone was there, except for Jace.
"Good morning, Rose. Where's Ethan?" Maryse asked, looking up from the stove.
"Sleeping. Oh, Maryse, I couldn't eat anything…" I started to object, but there was already a plate of pancakes in front of me.
"Then you can save it for later." She said firmly. I glanced at the table, where Alec, Max, and Isabelle were watching me curiously.
"I'm going to eat in my room." I announced, walking to the doorway.
"There's no syrup anyways," Alec muttered.
"I swear I didn't take it!" Isabelle snapped, and I wandered through the hallways aimlessly.
"Lost much?" A voice asked, and I jumped, turning to see Jace standing in the doorway to his room, a plate of pancakes also in his grasp.
"Come eat with me," He motioned towards his room, and while I positively dreaded the idea, I followed him. The room was spotlessly organized, and something gleamed from the bed.
"So you took the syrup," I murmured, and he laughed, something I hadn't heard in a while.
"The Lightwoods never play fair with pancakes, just to warn you," He added, and I smiled. He tossed the bottle to me, and I poured a little over the stack of pancakes, starving.
"I'm sorry about your brother. I didn't mean to offend you," He mentioned, and I sighed.
"Of course you did," I replied honestly, and he looked up in surprise.
"If you talk to me, lately, I'd appreciate some full out honesty from someone," I admitted, and he smiled.
"I never lie, Rosie." He promised, and ignored the nickname. I actually kind of like it, even though he was a stranger.
"So tell me about them, the Lightwoods," I asked him as I stuffed a forkful of pancakes in my mouth. We had a long conversation, and when we finished our pancakes, I smiled. He had told me about our new siblings and parents, and of the tutor Hodge, who mainly lived in the library, and I had yet to meet.
"Thanks, Jace. It's nice to have an actual conversation for the first time in weeks." I admitted, and he shrugged.
"I know the feeling," He muttered, and he glanced at the stolen bottle of maple syrup.
"How about this," He grabbed the bottle, walking to his dresser, "Whenever we need a pancake conversation, I will always have a bottle of syrup right here." He pulled open a door and dropped the bottle in it.
I grinned. "I think we are going to become great friends, Jace."
"Deep in thought, Rosie?" Jace's voice disrupted my memory, and I shrugged.
"Not really. How are you doing?" I asked him conversationally, and he grinned.
"Fantastic," He muttered, and I sat down next to him.
"You mean the sort of 'kick-you-in-the-crotch-spit-on-your-neck' fantastic, or the 'I-haven't-heard-from-Clary-and-I-hate-it' fantastic?" I asked, and he gave me an odd look.
"Um, first of all, don't say the crotch one ever again," He started, and I rolled my eyes, "Second of all, I'm lucky. Every brother pleads for time away from their little sister," I ignored the sister jab, and I crossed my arms.
"You guys can't ignore this forever. It may be difficult to adjust, but you're going to have to," I reminded him, and he sighed, groaning in frustration.
"I just… I don't understand, Rosie. This can't be right, it doesn't feel right. Will it ever get better, Rose?" I hated when he asked me questions. Because he knew I wouldn't lie to him.
"No, Jace. It won't get better. It just may get bearable," I whispered softly, and I wrapped my arms around his shoulders in a hug.
He didn't argue, and that's how I knew just how bad this was. Jace was a stubborn ass, and he most definitely wasn't a hugger.
"Thanks, Rose," He muttered, and I kissed his forehead before I walked out of his room, heading back to my own. When I opened the door, Liam was staring at the ceiling, but looked up when I walked in.
"Sure, make yourself comfortable on my bed," I grumbled, and he winked at me.
"I may just do that," He grinned, and I rolled my eyes.
"Pervert," I spat, and he shrugged.
"You know you love the attention."
"No, not the attention from your dirty mind, I don't."
"I prefer the term 'sexy imagination'."
"It doesn't matter what you call it, it's still creepy."
I joined him, lying down so that our arms were side by side, and he turned his head to look at me.
"Hey, beautiful," He whispered, and I raised an eyebrow.
"I thought we established our presence already when we argued over your sexy imagination?"
Liam groaned. "You and your big words. I'm afraid you're going to have to dumb it down for me, sweetheart."
I laughed, but I just shook my head, not replying.
"Alec left," He mentioned, and I giggled, not able to help it.
"What in the random hell?"
He ignored me. "I have a feeling that he's sneaking around, if you catch my drift."
I rolled over so I was sitting on my stomach, my head propped on top Liam's arm in curiosity. "You think my big brother has a new squeeze?"
"Yup," He grinned, "And I will give you a guess as to who I think it is."
I smiled with him in synchronization. "Magnus Bane?"
"Wow, beautiful and brilliant. Did I pick myself a keeper or what?"
I smacked his arm playfully. "Oh, shut up."
He glanced at me thoughtfully. "So how's Jace?" He whispered quietly, and I shook my head.
"I'm not exactly sure."
"Well, you can't blame him," He murmured, and I nodded in agreement.
"I just feel bad, I mean, Jace finds the first girl in ages he's serious about, and this happens?" I groaned, and Liam was looking at me curiously.
"Why do you feel guilty?"
I sighed. "I guess I don't feel like I deserve to be really happy right now when he isn't," Liam smiled slightly, knowing why I was happy.
"Well, Jace wants you to be happy."
I laughed. "I don't know about that. He's gotten into a very overprotective-big-brother mode with you lately," I reminded him, and he shivered at the thought of an overprotective Jace.
He leaned over, kissing me, and perhaps we would have been able to continue kissing for longer than 10 seconds, had Ethan not come barging into my room at that very moment. Liam and I jumped, breaking apart instantly, and Ethan made a gagging noise.
"Oh my eyes, they burn! They burn, I tell you, by the Angel-"
I didn't hear the rest, because he ran back into the hallway, and Liam started laughing. I joined in, and we stood up, walking out the door.
Ethan was rubbing his temples as if he had a migraine.
"Mind scrub, mind scrub," He mumbled to himself rapidly, and I sighed.
"Slow down, Primadonna, before you hurt yourself." I smirked, and Liam laughed again. Ethan glared at me fiercely.
"So what did you need, when you so rudely interrupted us?" I continued, and he stopped rubbing his head.
"Well, I was wondering if you guys wanted to train with me, but seeing as you were so otherwise engaged…" He trailed off, and Liam shrugged.
"We can train with you," He promised, and I smiled slightly as Ethan beamed. Those two had been getting along a lot lately, and it was nice to see.
A few minutes later, each of us dressed comfortably in training gear, we met up in the training room. I tossed Ethan a blade, and Liam watched in amusement as the two of us started going against each other. It ended with my knocking the blade out of his hand, and he groaned.
"Bull-"
"Ethan Nightlock, you watch your language."
"Of course, my lady."
I rolled my eyes, and Ethan tossed the blade to Liam.
"Here, now it's your turn to take her on."
Liam blinked in shock, and I grinned. "Be prepared to get owned, Darkstrider."
He cracked his knuckles in anticipation. "Let's do this, Nightlock."
He swung at me, and I ducked under the blade, twirling out of the way of his next move. I swung the blade out at him, and the two seraph blades met with a loud, ringing noise, and I could have sworn I saw sparks. I kicked out at Liam, who caught my ankle, amused. I twisted my ankle, knocking the seraph blade out of his hand. I proceeded to kick his feet out from under him, and he hit the ground with a thud. Ethan laughed, and I held a hand out to Liam. He took it, and pulled me to the ground as well, me gasping in surprise.
"Gotcha," Liam laughed, and he kissed my forehead.
"Alright you two nauseating creatures, break it up." Ethan grinned, and Liam stood, helping me up.
We continued training for a while, until we ate lunch, and the rest of the day was non-eventful. Later that night, Liam, Ethan, and I met up in my room, where I took off my jewelry and unzipped my boots. Ethan and Liam were lying on my bed, and I rolled my eyes.
"You two have a bad habit of making yourselves comfortable in my room," I reminded them, and they shrugged it off.
"Okay, if you two don't move in three seconds I'm just going to start undressing," I threatened, and Ethan jumped up, prepared to run away.
"Actually, that may not be so bad," Liam grinned, and Ethan growled slightly, grabbing his arm and dragging him towards the exit.
"Goodnight, beautiful!" Liam called over his shoulder, and the door slammed shut behind them. I laughed, and I took a shower, threw on my pajamas, and brushed my teeth before I collapsed on my bed, drifting off to sleep.
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- EasyIsTheDescent