Sorry about this super long wait guys! Life has been crazy and I'm trying to treat it more like Clary does. Live in the moment and all that jazz. Shoutout to all of you readers who have been pushing me to finish. You inspire me with your words everyday so thank you.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Mortal Instruments or the beautiful characters within the books series, though I would love to get my hands on a Jace, all of it becomes to the Queen: Cassandra Clare.
Alright read on my lovelies.
Jace stepped out of the Lightwoods' front door early in the morning after sharing a cup of lukewarm coffee with Robert and insisting he would return. He smiled as he turned his back to the sidewalk and took one last look at the quaint home before him. He wished suddenly that this was his house; that he'd been raised in the low bungalow that the Lightwood's lived in. He was embarrassed suddenly by the thought of his large and white house. How could he have been proud of something that held no fond memories? That was nothing but riches and politics?
He had woken up by a stream of reddish light of the rising dawn coming through the cracked curtain. It reminded him instantly of Clary and the feeling of needing to see her flooded through him immediately. He could think of nothing else as he lightly removed Isabelle's head from his chest and Alec's leg from atop his own. They must have crawled into bed with him as they had used to; knowing he had needed the comfort.
He couldn't remember when he'd gotten such a nice sleep.
With Clary's face in mind he pushed himself to his feet silently and greeted Maryse in the kitchen with a soft kiss to her cheek to which she smiled widely and looked to the paper she and Robert had split. He wished he could wake up like that more; but he could never picture his parents being that kindhearted. His mother would coo over him too much and his father would be either in his office or shuffling about the room throwing disgusted looks at his wife.
Jace sighed, a cloud of water vapor surrounding his face as he zipped the jacket Robert had given him up tighter against the chill. Walking with quiet steps towards Clary's house; he took in the sights around him. The bird that sat perched upon the tree above his head jumped about, treating its yelling children to breakfast. He watched the sun rising higher in the sky and the flowers from Ms. Eileen's garden bed opened slowly with the approaching light. Each petal was slow and bright; as if they hadn't a care in the world.
Over his shoulder he could hear the distinct music of the only coffee shop in the whole community that sold hard muffins and watery mochas. The moon was still slightly visible against the brightening sky and soon it would disappear completely, knowing its job was done for the night.
He let the bitter breeze rustle his hair around his head as he walked onward.
He couldn't remember how many hours he'd wandered, his phone had been vibrating too much forcing him to turn it off. He was sure everyone was worried. He'd have been worried too.
He wanted to just focus on the world around him. The people he passed and the things that he saw.
He watched a little girl with the tumbling brown pigtails as she let out another joyful scream and bounded into the large puddle that seemed to form from the endless rain. Her face was filled with glee, her eyes shining with a nature of innocence. She gave no thought to becoming sick from the cold rain as it pelleted her cheeks and clothing leaving her in a soaked mess. Jace felt his own hair form to his head like a helmet; soft rain drops fell down his nose and over his lips.
"What is with you and not wearing a coat? Do you want to get sick?"
"It has nothing to do with sickness and everything to do with living." Clary said with an answering grin.
Jace couldn't take his eyes off the dancing child; with the smile that took up most of her face and revealed that she had her two front teeth missing. The way her arms pushed away from her body as she spun around as if they were her wings and she was preparing to fly away.
"And what does not wearing a coat have to do with living?" Jace raised an eyebrow.
"The feeling of the rain. It's funny. I never used to care for the rain really. But now I find myself getting excited just at the prospect of it. You know, they say you've never known true happiness until you've danced in the rain."
She was dying.
His sweet, innocent Clary.
She was dying and there was nothing he could do to save her. He could do nothing but watch as she wasted away into nothing the way rock eroded away against the edge of a cliff. He could do nothing as her skin became pale and her body sickly; as she became nothing more than skin and bones.
She never wore a coat not because she was asking for sickness, she was already as sick as she could possibly get. She never wore a coat because she didn't know when it would be the last time she could really feel the rain. Feel as it washed over her face and skin; feel it as it stuck her clothes to her goose-bumped flesh and her hair to her head. She would never feel the cold chill that settled in her bones or the way everything around her seemed to change entirely with the droplets of water obscurely her view. As if she were in another world; one where she was healthy and living.
Jace left his fingers slowly go to the zipper of the coat as he pulled it down; the leather slipping with the motion, down his shoulders and to his feet. The cold rain pelleted his white shirt until it became transparent; sticking to the contours of his chest like another skin. He could feel the chill and the way the water slipped down his bare arms and in that moment he felt like that little girl. Free and wild; in a world all his own.
That feeling in the pit of his stomach; that aching feeling in his chest and the heaviness of his heart all made sense at once. The realization came to him as fast as if one had pulled a rubber band; it almost knocked him off his feet as the rain continued to fall and the ache in his chest only heightened.
Jace picked up his jacket in a haste and ran; his directional sense slightly off kilter with the rain falling around him like hail. It fell hard from the sky, feeling more like ice against his skin rather than water; slamming into him as if in encouragement as he slipped down the muddy path. Puddles of dirty water washing over his legs and making his jeans sodden with rocky grime; his sneakers were drenched as he bounded up the steps and knocked on the front door of the house that seemed to hold his whole heart in its grasp.
The door opened slowly as Clary looked down; her red head dry of any water and the whole thing settled wrong in his heart. She glanced up from the book; he hadn't noticed was in her hand, and blinked her wide green eyes in surprise at him. "Jace, what are you. . .you're absolutely soaking wet!"
Jace gave no indication that he heard her as he stepped closer; his body towering over her and immersed himself in the warmth she gave so freely. She looked up at him steady; not in a challenging sort of way but an equal one. "It's funny. I never used to care for the rain really. But now I find myself getting excited just at the prospect of it."
He was dripping water on the pages of her open book making the font slightly run and the top of the pages to crinkle; but, Clary gave no notice to Jace's destruction of her novel as she gazed up at him with a far-away smile as if remembering the fantasy of that night like he did. "Is that so." She said with an enlarging smile.
Jace felt his own face brightening as he looked at her; his wet locks dripped water onto the tips of his eyelashes as he reached out to her. His large hands closed completely over her frail arms as he pulled her out onto the porch. He could hear the rain falling harshly around them and on the roof of the wrap-around deck; Clary came forward with no resistance as she continued to look up at Jace as if entranced by the sight of him. The thought made him giddy.
"You know someone once told me that you've never known true happiness until you've danced in the rain."
"Whoever said it must have been very smart." Clary said with a smirk.
Jace laughed and nodded as he pulled her out further; his steps going downward as he walked down the steps that led to the porch and under their only protection and out into the rain that fell as if the heavens were crying. It blanketed him again in the cold as it swallowed Clary too. Her hair quickly becoming smooth paint as it fell down her back wet with rain. She blinked as the rain from her lashes fell down her cheeks like tears but her eyes were happy; her expression full of glee. Just like that little girl; the one with the missing two front teeth and the brown pigtails.
"Oh, yes, she truly is." Jace spoke with a soft smile and a light voice; so light that it was almost swallowed by the sound of the falling rain around them. "But I'd like to try something else; something that would bring me true happiness."
She smiled up at him warmly as she stepped closer to him as if absentmindedly. The blue shirt she wore let nothing to the imagination as it clung to the flare of her hips and the curve of her waist greedily. Jace felt nervous and empowered all at once. "Oh yeah? And what's that, Hercules?"
"I think it'd be better if I showed you." Jace said with a smile before bending his head completely and taking Clary's lips with his own. The feeling of her soft, plump lips moving slickly with his own made him almost groan as he heard a small splash before he felt Clary's arms around his neck pulling him closer with a strength she shouldn't have possessed. He stumbled forward a moment before letting out a mingled laugh with her as he wrapped his arms around her little waist and pulled her closer until they were one person. Until he had no idea where she began and where he stopped; as the rain made a fortress around them, as Clary's book lay forgotten and soaking in the mud of her driveway, Jace kissed her.
As the world spun around them; as another day ended and a new one began. As a stranger died and a new baby took its first shrieking breath Jace Herondale kissed the only woman he knew he would ever care for this strongly.
He knew they would have to talk about the future, about the way things would play out from here. About the disease that was slowly consuming all that Clary believed in; all that Jace had ever cared for. But for now he would just pull her closer, kissing her harder and softer all at once; because their days were numbered and he had no idea when this would be his last.
Thank you for reading! Review and I'll get another chapter up as soon as possible!
Muah! I love you guys!
