Jace was so angry about not being the first to find Simon that he stormed off, into his jeep, and let everyone else behind. It was only once Simon, Magnus, Alec, Izzy, Jordan, Maia and I arrived via Magnus' portal on the Institute's steps that I realized Simon couldn't come with me.

"Simon, this is a church," I tentatively explained to him. "And now that you're a vampire, and vampires are considered unholy, you can't…"

I waited hesitantly for him to understand. "I can't come in there," he finally finished for me.

I nodded, slightly cringing, waiting for Simon to call himself a monster or a beast or some other self-degrading nickname. But he didn't.

"That's okay," he said, shrugging. "I'll go back to my apartment with Jordan."

Maia growled. "Since when," she enunciated every word painfully clear. "Did you move in with that gargoyle?!"

"You do realize that you two are the same species, so by calling him a gargoyle, you're also referring to you -," Magnus started, but I stomped gravely on his toe, effectively silencing the warlock.

"Since I was cornered in an alleyway trying to get to you and was attacked by vampires. Since I crawled myself out of a shallow grave to see his face, and even Raphael. Since he's done everything he can to help me and you didn't even know," Simon snapped. It was unbelievably harsh for the situation.

"Simon, none of us knew. Jordan wasn't exactly aware of the personal connections you had," I pointed out, but Simon remained silent as way of recognition.

"Plus," I said, moving closer to Simon so it was more discreet. "You do know who that is, right?"

Simon's eyebrows furrowed; he was obviously oblivious to the current situation.

"I'll, um, tell you tomorrow," I whispered, patting his shoulder and then turning away.

"What? No way!" Simon shouted. "No fair!" I couldn't help but giggle a little.

"Wait!" Maia yelled, catching up to me. "Can I stay with you tonight? I want to…talk to you…"

"Sure!" I answered, and we linked arms like the normal, stereotypical teenage girls we both wished we could be.

0.o.O.o.0

Simon and Jordan stepped through Magnus' portal, Simon still looking very confused and hurt for being left out of the loop. Next, Magnus portaled himself back to his own apartment, leaving Maia, Alec, Izzy and I on our own.

Scratch that, Maia and I. Alec and Izzy had, at some point, already gone inside. Maia and I were mostly quiet as we made our way toward my room. Unfortunately, I was forced to make my way past Jace's room on the way. Just as we were making our way past, and it seemed like we were in the clear, Jace's door banged wide open and he stomped out, nearly running into Maia.

When I saw him, I immediately tensed. It was a shame that this had become instinct whenever I saw the towheaded giant. I assume Maia had been able to feel it through our linked arms just as I had been able to feel it when she'd seen Jordan. She gave my fingers a comforting squeeze.

Jace halted in his tracks, a grimace painted on his face. He looked the both of us up and down, muttered a single "yuck," and then walked away.

My mouth dropped open. "Did he just 'yuck' me?" I asked Maia in an astonished tone.

"I think he 'yucked' me…" Maia answered. "I'm the wolf."

"Well, then that's incredibly rude," I told her, and we started walking again to my room.

"How'd you fall in love with him?" She asked.

A tiny needle punctured my heart. "How'd you fall in love with the guy that turned you into a werewolf?" I retorted.

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Maia said quietly as a shut the door to my room.

"Falling in love with Jordan?"

"More just Jordan himself," she clarified.

"Oh," I answered, slightly confused as to what exactly she wanted to talk about. "Go on."

"I guess…since you told me your story, I wanted to tell you mine. I know I've given you the mundane details, but now…"

"Everything's changed," I finished for her. She nodded, but didn't look me in the eye.

"Okay, so I'm just gonna talk," she announced. I motioned for her to continue. "I met Jordan when I was fourteen. I pretty much fell in love with him instantly. He was this adorable, tiny little boy who just cared about – about me, it seemed. He was such a dork.

"The first time we kissed him, he got so nervous that when I handed him my earrings to put in the glove box, his hands were shaking so bad that he kept dropping them. And he wouldn't stop apologizing until I kissed him again," Her face was stuck in the memories of the past, a bittersweet smile painted on her face. I didn't want he to ever have to come out of it, but she did.

"And then he just changed. I guess I know now that that was when he was bitten. Going through the change is just excruciating. But he was terrible and possessive. He would hit me sometimes. And then…"

Tears crowned Maia's eyes; she sniffed to keep her emotions under control. "I'd told him we were over earlier in the day. And then – like an idiot – I went to a club and made a big show of dancing with someone else. I was trying to make sure he knew it was over. Of course I freaking chose the first full moon since his Change. Jordan freaked.

"I was on my way home and it was dark. I was attacked from behind and all I remember from it is just – hurt.Not necessarily just the physical pain because…I knew it was him. He only confirmed my suspicions when he whispered 'you're mine. You'll always be mine,' in my ear."

She sighed, wiping away the stray tears that had fallen as if they had betrayed her just as bad as Jordan had. "And then he just disappeared."

I pulled Maia close to me and she accepted the hug. That's when I knew how bad the situation was. Maia wasn't one for cuddling. "I'll cut all ties with him," I assured her. "I just needed him with the whole Simon situation, and all…"

"No," Maia nearly shouted, pulling away from me so quickly I was forced to move away. "I mean…it's just…ugh."

"Okay," she began again. "But I'm falling in love with him all over again."

My mouth dropped wide open.

"I just keep seeing that boy I met years ago and then that night just comes flashing back and it's a deadly cycle!" She wailed. "I mean…don't you get it? Isn't that happening with you and Jace?"

"God, no!" I shouted. I then had to remind myself to calm down and quiet down. "We've both changed."

Maia seemed to consider. Then she laughed, though it sounded just slightly forced. "Well, I've only seen that boy twice, and I'd willingly jump off a roof just to have a chance with him!"

"I don't think you'd need to go that far," I chuckled. "Jace is sort of a player."

"Really?" Maia yelped with overflowing laughter. "Well that makes him even more interesting."

0.o.O.o.0

Maia and I fell asleep on the floor of my room. We'd stayed up until at least one laughing about teenage, girly things. Even if we were mundanes, Maia and I wouldn't have been into something like this. But when you're holding in for so long, it's nice to release.

But I was exhausted. I wasn't really sure how I made it to one, maybe I didn't and I'd been dreaming the whole time. Either way, the sleep I fell into was deeper than Lake Lyn.

But it was ruined.

I started dreaming. It started out fairly normal. Until the dreams kept circling back to Jace. They got worse and worse until I was reliving that very night.

Most everything was the same. Girl falls head over heels in love with boy. Something causes boy to snap in half. Boy pushes girl off building. Except for one tiny detail…

The demons. Instead of pulsing bodies splitting the dance floors in half, causing the inevitable chaos, it was demons. Very recognizable, very vicious, very severe.

Demons caused it. Demons were the reason my life fell apart. Demons. Demons. Demons.

It wasn't real, was it?

But when I woke up panting, sweating, and screaming, I knew that something very real, very dangerous, and much worse than I had ever imagined was in play.

"Clary!" Maia shouted, voice still dragged down with remnants of sleep. "Clary, what is it? What's wrong?"

My thoughts were going around a three thousand miles an hour and I couldn't focus on anything, much less Maia.

Actually, there was one thing I could focus on.

"I have to get to Jace."

I know this was pretty short but I wanted to get it out relatively fast and let you know I've decided to rename this fic! From now on, 'Relearn Loved' will be called 'Overcoming the Overwhelming.' It's long but flows nicely. 'Till next time!

-MajorArcana2