Sorry for the delay, pretty readers!

I'm really working on getting my stories updated, but I'm kind of stuck in a rut. Your loyalty is so appreciated, you have no idea!

Oh, and a bit of Clary-bashing in this chapter. Not that I don't love Clary, it's just what the mood called for, I guess.

Enjoy!

- EasyIsTheDescent

Disclaimer: I do not own TMI or its characters, Cassandra Clare does.

When the Lightwoods got back from the funeral, we were all sitting in the living room of the abandoned house we had now inhabited, including Simon and Clary.

Isabelle had locked herself upstairs.

Maryse and Robert were still at funerals for their friends, and Max was upstairs with Ethan, reading. Alec didn't want him to hear what they were saying, and I couldn't blame him.

"Actually," Clary was saying, "I think he stayed because of me."

I had been trying to ignore the details about Sebastian, but now I couldn't help but listen. "Looking to get some from the redhead, was he?"

Jace flashed me a warning look while Clary blushed. "No, he wasn't… anyways, that's not the point. When he came into the Hall, he kept trying to get me to go outside with him so we could talk. He wanted something from me. I just don't know what."

"Oh, he must have received the newsflash that every problem in our lives revolves around Clary," I snapped bitterly, "And he must have wanted to join in the festivities!"

"Rose-"

Clary looked hurt. "I'm sorry about what happened, you know that. I never meant-"

"But it doesn't matter what you mean, Clary!" I hadn't planned to say anything, but now I was and it felt pretty nice, "So many people are getting hurt, because of you! Liam almost died! Hodge is dead! I all but died, Clary! How many people need to get hurt before you realize what you're doing?"

Jace no longer looked calm. "Rose, stop-"

"Why, Jace? You obviously can't get anything processed in her mind! I'm a Shadowhunter, it is my duty to die! But I will not give my life for you, Clary!" I yelled, and no one said a word.

Did that mean they thought I was right?

…Probably not.

"Now if you excuse me," I said quietly, standing, "I am going to go join Isabelle. If you hear screaming, come running."

I ignored their comments, especially Liam's, and I ran upstairs, finding the room that Isabelle had locked herself in.

"Iz. Iz, open up." I ordered, and I heard something hit the door.

Probably a shoe.

"Go away, Rose," Isabelle pleaded, but her voice was wavering.

"Not a chance, Primadonna." I smiled, and I grabbed a few bobby pins from the pile of hair on my head.

A few seconds later the door swung open, revealing Isabelle sitting on her bed, her face red, mascara running.

"How did you get in?"

I grinned at her. "Good old bobby pins, bitch."

She rolled her eyes, but she didn't seem very humorous.

I shut the door behind me, and I sat down on the edge of the bed next to her. "What's up, chickadee?"

"Nothing, Rose."

"My mama didn't raise no fool," I warned, "Now what's wrong?"

She sighed, and a minute later she answered, "It's my fault."

"Iz, if we're talking about your cooking again, Alec willingly ate the soup. Just because he got food poisoning-"

"No, Rose, it was my fault that Sebastian…" Her voice cracked, and she trailed off.

I wrapped my arms around her, shaking my head. "No, Izzy, it was never your fault-"

"Yes it was! I should have realized that there was something off about Sebastian, and I should have been there! You could have died, Max could have died!" She sobbed, and I held onto her tightly.

"Isabelle, I would have done what I did a million times over not just for Max but for any one of you, and there was nothing you could have done about it," I told her firmly, and she didn't respond.

"I love you, Iz. You're the best sister anyone could have ever asked for."

"I love you too," She said finally.

"I feel bad, I totally just chewed out Clary," I whispered, and she giggled.

"I'm sure she understands. And if you ask me…" Isabelle whispered, "She probably deserved it."

"Isabelle, I can guarantee Amatis doesn't want you cooking," I pleaded, but it was no use.

She was going to cook pancakes.

And for the second time this week, I knew I was going to die.

"Nonsense, that's very polite of you, Isabelle." Amatis spoke up quietly, and I turned to her, wide-eyed.

"I think you've just doomed us all."

Isabelle hit me across the arm with a spatula, and I glared at her. I had left Liam and Ethan back with Alec and Max, sleeping, while Jace was still not home.

"I'll hold her down, you grab the weapon," Simon whispered, motioning towards the spatula.

"I prefer all of my teeth intact, thank you very much."

"How much damage do you think that thing could do?"

"With Isabelle as the operator, expect the unexpected."

"Good point."

We heard Clary's footsteps on the staircase, and I felt a wave of guilt wash over me. I walked into the other room, and Simon surprisingly joined me a minute later.

"Did you get booted off the island?"

He shook his head. "Clary wanted to talk to Isabelle alone."

"Uh oh. That doesn't sound good."

We stared at each other for a second. "Are we going to eavesdrop or not?"

I rolled my eyes, motioning towards the entryway to the kitchen. "You may proceed."

We stuck our heads around the corner slightly, and I caught part of their conversation.

"What do you mean, you thought he might do something like this?" Clary was asking, and the words made my blood run cold.

Jace.

"Just what I said. Ever since Sebastian disappeared, everyone's been talking about how to find him. I tore his room at the Penhallows' apart looking for anything we could use to track him-but there was nothing. I might have known that if Jace found anything that would allow him to track Sebastian, he'd be off like a shot."

"Oh no," I muttered, and Simon raised an eyebrow in question.

"Jace must be gone after Sebastian," I explained in a whisper, and Simon nodded, though he looked worried.

Simon and I kept quiet, listening intently as Isabelle yelled at Clary, until Simon finally interrupted.

"Isabelle, that's enough." He said, and I walked in sheepishly behind him, moving to stand beside Isabelle. "It's not Clary's fault."

"Stay out of this-"

"No Iz, it's true." I said quietly, and Clary looked at me in disbelief.

Isabelle looked pretty disbelieving herself. "What do you mean, Rose?"

"It's obvious that Clary loves him too," I pointed out, "And I bet you good money that Jace isn't the only one hurting right now."

"Thank you," Clary whispered, and I smiled at her.

There was a knock at the door, but we ignored it.

"It's not because of me that he left," Clary began, "When Jace and I went to the Wayland manor-when we went to find the Book of the White-"

The door banged open.

Okay, maybe we shouldn't have ignored the knocking.

Amatis was in the doorway, and she looked pale. "Clary, there's someone here to see you-"

And that someone wasn't very patient.

She pushed past Amatis, and I got a clear look at the woman before us as I grabbed a seraph blade from my belt. She was dressed in black gear, and between her red hair and her green eyes…

She looked just like Clary.

"Clary," The woman had a horrified look on her face, "Your clothes."

Clary looked frozen, so I decided it was my time to act.

I stepped between her and the stranger, holding the seraph blade out in warning. "Who are you?"

The woman had a confused look on her face, and her eyes widened when Isabelle, silently uncurling her whip, moved to stand next to me. "Jacqueline… Maryse?"

"What are you playing at?" I asked coldly at the same time Isabelle asked "How do you know my mother's name?"

"Of course. You're Jaqueline and Maryse's daughters. You just looked so much like your mothers, that's all."

"And you would know how?" I asked, the blade in my hand steady.

"I'm Jocelyn Fr-Fairchild. I'm Clary's mother."

The seraph blade threatened to slip from my grasp, and I caught it with my free right hand quickly.

"But you were in the hospital…in New York…" Isabelle stammered, confused.

"I was," Jocelyn said firmly. "But thanks to my daughter, I'm fine now. And I'd like a moment with her."

I glanced at Clary, who was still staring at us, wide-eyed. "I'm not so sure that she'd like a moment with you."

Jocelyn ignored me, reaching for Clary. "Clary-"

"How did you get here, Jocelyn?" Clary asked bitterly.

I shared a look with Isabelle, and we each took one of Simon's arms, slowly backing out of the room with Amatis on our heels.

When we walked out of the house altogether, there was someone running towards us, and I recognized him instantly.

"Ethan?"

He reached us, breathless, and he stood with his hands on his knees, trying to recover his breath. "Rose, you have to hurry-"

"Ethan, what's wrong?"

"We need to get to the Accords Hall, Liam's already there. It's the Clave, they're going to give into Valentine."

In all of my training as a Shadowhunter, I had never been as physically drained as I was right now.

Ethan, too tired to walk, climbed on my back, while Isabelle and I sprinted to the Hall of Accords.

And it was not anywhere near Luke's sister's house.

"Liam!" I called when we reached the steps to the Hall, practically throwing Ethan to the side, effectively freeing my aching back.

I spotted him standing next to Chris, and we made our way to him as Isabelle searched for the other Lightwoods.

Evelyn caught my arm, tugging me through the crowd. For such a small woman, she was quite strong. I smiled at her gratefully. "Where's Lacey?"

"She's back with other young Shadowhunters, including your brother Max," She explained, and I nodded. I walked to Liam's side, and he looked utterly drained, as did Chris.

"I don't know if we'll be able to change their minds," Chris announced, defeated. Liam wrapped an arm around me, holding me tightly.

"We better be able to," I gasped, "I think I lost a lung back there, carrying Ethan all the way here."

"At least you have two," Evelyn offered.

"Oh no, I lost the first one the second Ethan climbed on my back. That kid is the tubbiest little-"

"Hey!"

"Oh… you're still here?"

"Enough to hear you call me fat!"

"I did not call you fat, I called you tubby. Major difference."

"You two cannot stop bickering, can you?" Liam asked, amused.

"Not at all," The two of us replied simultaneously.

Liam rolled his eyes, and at that moment I recognized a head of fiery red curls making its way towards the center of the room.

Clary moved to stand on the dais, and as anyone would expect in the crowded room, nobody noticed her. I unwrapped myself from Liam's arm, and I hurried towards her, standing next to her. She moved to explain, but I knew that I didn't need to listen to know she was right.

"Everyone, listen up!" I yelled, and per usual, my cracked voice failed me.

No one in the room budged.

I took a deep breath, putting all of my Shadowhunter ferocity into my voice. "I said listen up!"

And, thank the Angel, the room fell silent.

"Now you all know me," I continued, ignoring the Consul's angry protests, "I'm not a forgettable person. So when the lady says to listen," I motioned towards Clary, "I would suggest you listen."

I gave an encouraging smile to Clary before I exited the spotlight, moving to stand next to Liam.

"I'm proud of you, Nightlock."

"Don't be proud of me yet. I won't be able to speak tomorrow."

Ethan moved to stand next to me. "Would that be so bad?"

Liam and I simultaneously smacked him over the head.

Ethan, still rubbing his head, was watching something, and I looked over his head to see Maryse, Isabelle, Alec, and Magnus standing near the doors, Simon standing with them. I wordlessly made my way over to them, Ethan and Liam on my heels.

Patrick Penhallow was handing Clary a stele, and she looked to us nervously, each of us giving her similar nods of reassurance.

She pressed the tip of the stele to her wrist, and began to draw.

Suddenly Clary wasn't standing on the dais, but someone quite familiar was standing in her place.

I turned my head cautiously. He was still here.

"Well this is new," I commented, and Liam could only stare from me to Clary in shock.

"Do you see-"

"You? You bet."

"I see you too…" Ethan said, confused.

My heart warmed. "Do you love me little brother?"

He scoffed. "What kind of question is that?"

I rolled my eyes, nudging him in the arm playfully. "Well if you do, then her rune must be working."

Suddenly Clary was back to herself again, and the people around us fell silent.

"There will be no battle against Valentine," Malachi, the Consul, was arguing, "The Clave has decided. We will agree to Valentine's terms and lay down our arms tomorrow morning."

Clary argued back, and at the slight desperation in her voice, I knew we were running out of options.

"Then he'll start in on anyone who has a Downworlder anywhere in their family. Maybe a werewolf brother"-Clary glanced at Luke's sister Amatis-"or a rebellious teenage daughter who dates the occasional faerie knight"-a pointed look at Isabelle-"or anyone who's ever so much as gone to a warlock for help." Her last glance was at me, and I nodded. It was working.

Clary finished her statement, mentioning a rune that could bind a Downworlder and a Shadowhunter, and when she finished, I turned to look at Liam.

"Do you think it will work?" He asked under his breath.

"The rune, sure," I murmured, "But convincing a hoard of thick-skulled Shadowhunters? That's a miraculous feat in itself."

I made my way through the crowd towards Clary, taking her arm and edging towards the door. "You should wait outside."

"But why-"

"Trust me Clary, you don't want to hear what they have to say," I met her eyes firmly, smirking, "And a good girl like you also wouldn't want to hear what I have to say back to them."

She smiled gratefully, and she slid out the door, Simon a step behind her.

I turned around to face the Shadowhunters before me reluctantly.

So... read and review!

I will continue to try and keep my updating where it needs to be... but it's proving to be a challenge, so wish me luck!

I love you all, hugs kisses and embraces for all of you! (Unless you don't like that sort of friendly affection... I can shake your hand, if that is in any way less uncomfortable...)

-EasyIsTheDescent