Disclaimer:

Aden: Say it.

Me: No, how many times do I have to tell you this?

Aden: Clary won't get better unless you say it.

Me: I'm the writer. I decide what happens.

Aden: Yeah, but you aren't the writer of The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare.

Me: Why, you little….

Aden: *Smirks*

Me: Still own you though :D

Thanks to everyone who added my story on story alert and/or favorite story. Especially if you added me as favorite author and subscribed! And let's not forget the awesome people who review and help me keep writing!

Chapter 20: Burning Silver

Jace's Point of View

Sunlight poured liquid sunshine through the window, basking everything with a soft golden touch. It was still early in the morning, but I was up. I was always up.

I chewed on my cornflakes thoughtfully. How was I going to break up with Sel? She already looked like she knew something was up…maybe it won't be as bad as I am thinking it will be. More importantly, will Clary take me back?

Would I be brave enough to even tell her?

I didn't know the answers to those question, even thought I had I feeling that both of the answers to those questions was a big fat n-o when Izzy shuffled into the kitchen, her pink bunny slippers padding across the tiled floor. She rubbed her eye with her hand; she wasn't wearing any makeup, I noticed vaguely. Weird.

Izzy poured herself milk in her bowl of cereal, her eyes still squinty as if she just got up. She probably did if she was down here without makeup. "How is she?"

"She as in…" I prompted. I knew she was talking about Clary, but maybe she knew what was up with Sel and me. Maybe she knew before I even knew. That would be just like her, helping others with their relationship but having a hard time maintain her own. Well, that was true until Simon came along, even though at first they were rocky.

"Who do you think you dumb fuck?" Izzy snapped crankily.

"Someone got up on the wrong side of the bed," I commented.

"More like too early," Izzy gruffly agreed, plopping down in the chair across from me. "And don't avoid the question. Even if it's early, I'm not stupid."

"Sure," I muttered under my breath. More loudly and clearly I said, "Sel is fine." I hope she really thought that I was thinking about Sel. It wasn't a lie, I was thinking about her. But Izzy didn't need to know that I was thinking about how to break up with her.

Izzy shook her head, muttering something too low even for me to hear. She put her spoon back in her bowl, the clang of the metal loud and piercing in the quiet morning. Izzy leaned forward, smirking. "You know," she informed me, "doing that makes it worse."

"Doing what?" I asked as calmly, looking as calm I could, but I was out of control on the inside.

Izzy leaned even more across the table, so close that her hair almost swung in her cereal. She would have killed me if that happened, I thought distantly.

"If you purposely try to make me think that you were thinking about Sel," she stated simply.

"But I wasn't," I sputtered out.

"If you were friends with her," Iz told me, waggling her eyebrows up and down at the word friends, "you would have thought about Clary when I asked that. That's what a normal person would think, girlfriend or no girlfriend."

"So now what, you're an expert on guys now?" I asked, my sarcasm as thick as honey.

"No," Izzy paused, "I'm a professional.

"Yeah," I snorted, "okay." But she was right. That's exactly what I was trying to do and she saw right through it, as if what I was doing was in sight of a window, giving Izzy a perfectly clear image of what I was doing.

"And do you know what that means when you do that?" Izzy asked, smiling. I didn't want to know, so I stayed silent. But I had a feeling I knew the answer.

I waited.

Izzy's Point of View

This was too funny. All I had to do was ask Jace how she was doing after looking all sleepy – which I was, it was still early and I needed my beauty sleep – so he wouldn't think anything was and BAM! I could see worry flash across his face. He was probably wondering if I was talking about Sel or Clary. Obviously I was talking about Clary.

But I had the best plan ever. I saw the change in Jace, looking less and less into Selena day by day. Maybe he didn't realize or notice it, but I did. If he said Clary was fine, then he was obviously thinking about her and worried. If he said Selena was alright, then he obviously was trying to make me think that he was thinking about her and not Clary.

Either way, I was so going to make him admit that he liked Clary. Or at least let me see his reaction. Man, I love messing with Jace. But this was for Clary too. I could tell that she missed him, even if she didn't admit it to herself. Probably distracting herself with Aden, the same thing Jace did with Selena.

After he ended up going with Selena I smirked as Jace waited for me to answer. "That means, you still like Clary."

Jace looked at me like I was dressed in rags and smelled like a homeless person. But I could probably pull that off too. Or could I…"What?" Jace interrupted my thoughts.

"You heard me," I told him, still smiling. Poor Jace. I was going to show him reality, even if I meant forcing him to see it.

"What makes you think that?" Jace asked, no worry or anger in his voice anymore. Ah, the scary calm of his. He just made himself even more suspicious to me, wanting to hide his feelings from me.

"Hmm, I can't list everything out," I told him.

"Why?" he asked, still in his cool calm. But I could tell his eyes were tight with worry.

"The list is too long," I informed him simply.

"That's it, I'm leaving," Jace told me, slamming his palms on the table with a loud thud and the sound of his chair scraping back harshly on the tiled floor.

"If you leave, you're only proving me right," I said, a echo of a smile playing on my lips.

He turned around to face me. I thought he was going to use the old "you don't know anything" or "you don't know half of it" while hissing at me. Instead his face just looked sad, drawn. "Selena's not fine."

I narrowed my eyes at him. Was he trying to veer me away from Clary? "Why?" I asked guardedly. Even if I was trying to find out about Clary, he really did seem like he meant it. So Clary can wait a bit.

"Because…because, I don't think I like her anymore," he admitted, looking a bit surprised that he told her.

I was dying between two questions to ask. One was why not and the other was who do you like, Clary? I so badly wanted to go with the latter. But I could tell Jace was in distress and I needed to help my brother out. And who knows, maybe Clary is happy with Aden. After all, Jace and Aden are similar; he just seemed less douche baggy and less stupid than Jace. He was an idiot for breaking up with him in the first place. "Why?"

"Because," he sighed, "well, because, I don't know."

"You sure you don't know?" I asked him. This was totally about Clary, even if he didn't realize it yet. But I had a feeling he did.

"Yes," he snapped at me.

"Okay, calm down."

"No, I will not calm down." He ran his fingers through his hair a few times.

"I gotta go," was the only warning I got from Jace before he quickly left the kitchen, leaving me alone. Well, that didn't go as planned. I was hoping for more of a, "I like Clary, help me win her back" kind of thing. And of course I would help Jace win her back.

Maybe they didn't realize, but they were meant to be. Forget about how well they with Selena and Aden, they were soul mates and I normally didn't believe in all that mumbo jumbo., but for them I did. Although I had to admit, Selena and Jace balanced each other out physically. I mean whereas he was all gold, she was all silver.

Ah, whatever. There was something really weird with that girl. I swear she was almost like she was fake. Like a dream or something. Either way, she was kind of creepy. At least she could dress good, even if she did like wearing silver a lot more than she should. Plus, while Selena may balance Jace out physically, Clary balanced him out emotionally. I never saw Jace happier than I ever saw him with Clary.

The way he acted even when he first saw her at that club, it was like he never saw until that day. He was always so cranky but with Clary in his afterwards, he was so much nicer and just better to be around with. Even if they did get all lovey-dovey in front of me.

Selena may have made Jace happy for a while but what I just said a few minutes ago was proof that she wasn't the one for him.

And I'm dam right going to change that.

Jace's Point of View

Was it really that obvious that I liked Clary again? I mean, I just found that out before a few days ago. You never stopped loving her, a voice whispered in the back of my mind. You always thought about her, even with Selena.

I didn't swat away my instincts like I used to before. They were right from day one. And I was going to listening to them again. I think a visit to Clary was in order; hopefully Magnus is keeping her from getting up and about. Then she has to let me finish what I wanted to say. I still couldn't believe how stupid I was. Even if I did think I was undeserving, Clary still wanted me. So why couldn't I just be happy with that? And now that I think about it, she was happy with me. Maybe I was good enough with her.

I opened the door to the infirmary ditching my thoughts for now; the sunlight on all the white was momentarily blinding. When my eyes quickly adjusted I nearly slammed my head against the wall. Actually, that option was still open when he looked at me.

Aden was right at Clary's side. Should've known..."Aden," I nodded in greeting.

"Jace. Do you mind giving us some alone time?" he asked pleasantly but I could see the hardness in his blue eyes. It was probably how Alec's eyes would look like if he ever got mad or angry except his would be in a lighter blue. Thank the Angel that Alec wasn't as temperamental as Aden.

"Actually, I do mind. I'm sure you've been here for quite a while today as well as yesterday." I had no idea why we were talking so formally while trying to fight over who gets to stay with Clary.

"Well, Jace, I am her boyfriend right now and I think it would be the best for her if there weren't so many people around." I raised my eyebrow at 'so many people'. Psh, it's only me and him, what the hell was this kid smoking?

"Then leave," I retorted. He never said that he could never leave. I smirked.

"I don't think –"

"Jace?" a clearly feminine voice asked. A red head bobbed into view, trying to sit up.

I shot Aden a look that clearly said ha and went over to Clary, sitting right next to her bed. "Hey Clary, you look better." That was true, yesterday she looked pale from passing out and the dried blood was washed out her hair. The only thing that let me believe that she was injured at all was the silvery white mark at her neck that probably helped heal her head wound. Aden probably put it on last night after I left.

At least he took care of her.

"Hey Aden," she said, looking at him, leaving me the chance to study her. I haven't really looked looked at her, not after these past weeks, never really looking at her in the eye or even glancing at her when I didn't have to, trying to keep myself away from her.

Which made it all the more worse for me when I cracked open like a nut shell.

The more I was kept away from her, the more I ended up falling hard. Clary just wasn't one of those girls that ever left your mind. She made sure she was there and permanently lived there. I took her all of her in, her flaming red hair to her sparkling green eyes and her splash of freckles across her face.

I don't know how I ever let her go.

I was so lost in thought that I almost didn't hear what Clary told Aden next. "Can you give us some alone time?" If I was drinking water, I would have done a spit take. Aden looked as shocked as me, if not more.

"But –" he started to protest.

"Please?" she asked, using her most convincing voice with the puppy look. Even I couldn't resist those, even someone as 'heartless' as me. Well, I am heartless.

Clary has my heart.

"Fine," Aden gave in. I did a silent cheer. "Only five minutes though."

"Okay," Clary agreed, knowing that she couldn't push it. Bossy much? I thought. Then again I wouldn't want someone who hurt my current girlfriend with her alone and who was trying to steal her back. No one said anything, even a few seconds after Aden left.

"So…" I started awkwardly. Oh god, the things she can make me do, something that no other girl has made me feel. Awkward was something I usually felt firsthand.

"You wanted to talk to me." It almost sounded like a question.

"Yes," Clary said quietly, twiddling with her thumbs, not looking at me in the eye. "I wanted to ask you," she paused, trying to grasp the right words. "Did you….did you come and save me yesterday?"

I blinked. That's what she wanted to ask me? "What happened to being mad at me?" I asked sourly, unable to help myself.

She looked down, as if she was embarrassed. "I realized, with my near death experience with that guy," she started, shuddering at the last part, "that I shouldn't hold a grudge."

"No matter what," she added, when she saw my mouth opening to say something. "Anyways, I answered your question, now answer mine."

"Yes," I said, wanting to smile, knowing that my answer was going to thoroughly confuse her. My moods were changing so fast that I wondered if I was bipolar.

"Yes as in you will answer the question or yes you saved me?" she asked, a bit frustrated. As if she knew I did that on purpose.

Maybe she did.

"The latter," I confirmed. She just nodded her head, lost in thought.

After a few moments of silence, I decided that I could take it anymore. Might as well tell her what I was going to before when I had the chance. "Clary, I want to explain what I meant by –"

I was cut off by the door slamming open so hard that it hit the wall and bounced back, almost closing again. The tanned face in the doorway was all too familiar.

Aden.

"You're five minutes are up," he literally growled at me.

Clary just looked at me, mouthing the words, tell me later. I nodded my head. "You know," I informed Aden as I was getting up slowly purely for the fact that it was sure as hell going to infuriate him, "you should be nicer to the person who saved your girlfriends life." I didn't want to spit out the words 'your girlfriends life because I didn't want him to have her.

I wanted her. I needed her.

Aden just glared at me and sat next to Clary, his muscled back towards me. After a few moments of awkwardly standing there, which I knew that that's what Aden wanted, I left the room without glancing back.

I wasn't about to give that bastard the satisfaction of knowing that I was hurt while he was perfectly content spending time with Clary. I know I broke up with Clary, but I honestly believed that it was better, for her sake and only her sake. I was thinking only about her when I broke up with her. I honestly thought in my heart that it would be better for her, thinking that I would somehow cope, that it wouldn't be that bad. But when I was so busy thinking about her, I didn't think about how she felt towards me, how she was actually happy with me.

As always, another famous dead dude's saying always managed to prove to be true after all: You never know what you have until it's gone.

Clary's Point of View

After Jace the left the room without so much a backward glance or a bye I turned sharply toward Aden.

This wasn't the Aden I knew and loved. Well, the one at least I thought I loved. Instead, there was a cool Aden standing there instead, acting like a complete ass to Jace for no reason. As if a couple hours of being knocked out could make any drastic things to their friendship.

I mean, at least I thought they were friends. They were practicing their combat moves with each other behind my back for crying out loud. Aden had no right to act like that to Jace, even if he's an ass too. And I was willing to forgive the little incident. And forget it.

Despite the fact that my head still throbbed a bit – it was feeling better than last night when I suddenly woke up from the pain and Aden putting an iratze on my neck to help – I was going to give Aden a piece of my mind.

Aden's Point of View

I gritted my teeth, trying to stay calm. Jace, that ass, trying to steal Clary away from me. First, he freakin hurt her, even if I'm not sure what exactly he did to her. I always resented him for the fact purely. How could someone hurt someone so kind, so caring and loving as Clary?

It had to be someone heartless.

I tried to push down those feelings, especially when Clary and Jace got friendlier and friendlier. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought. Maybe Silver was right and that I was just being paranoid. But then the 'friendship' was coming too much from Jace's side. I could tell, especially from these last few days, that Jace had wanted her back.

"Aden," a voice hissing icily at me broke me out of my thoughts.

"Clary?" I asked, surprised that something like that could come from her.

"Don't you Clary me. What the heck was that?"

"What?" I asked, pretending not to know what she was talking about.

That only mad her even angrier. "Don't act like you don't know. Now tell me, what was that about?"

I blinked and curled my hands up in a fist before letting them be flat again. When I was sure I wasn't going to yell back or doing anything stupid that I would probably do I replied. "Well…me and Jace aren't exactly buddies." You don't even know half of it.

"Why? You guys seemed all friendly before. And he was right, he saved my life. How does that make it worse? Should you be happy?" Clary bombed me with questions as if that would relive all her anger and frustration at me.

She didn't know why? Was she really that oblivious to see that Jace liked her again? Or maybe, he never stopped liking her? "I…I don't know," I lied. Great, I was lying for that bastard. This is for you not him, a voice told me. I ignored it. "Look, I could have lost you and I don't want to miss any time with you. I can't lose you. I love you too much for that." At least I wasn't lying anymore. Hopefully, I didn't sound that corny when I said that.

"Aden…" she whispered while taking my hand. "I won't be leaving any time soon." I didn't know if she meant leaving me or like, you know, dying. I was hoping for the former.

Clary's Point of View

After a while with Aden, he left saying I needed to rest. I was sleeping for more than ten hours, I don't need rest! Try telling him that, I thought while rolling my eyes. Aden told me why they were fighting but yet, I couldn't help but to think that he was holding back on answering.

Aden and I have always been truthful to each other, so why would that be any different then now? Shaking my head, I thought to the more important question. Why was I thinking about Jace again? Even while talking to Aden?

It was pretty bad. It was almost like when we broke up and even though I tried, I couldn't get him out of my head. Only, I wasn't thinking about him as much, but it was still pretty close. It started fading when I was with Aden, but for some reason, Jace still lingered. And if I tried my best not to think about him, then it was almost like he wasn't there.

But then of course, it had to start growing stronger. Can't I love peacefully? And it was getting worse and worse each passing day, the feeling almost overpowering.

If he could move onto Selena, why can't I move onto Aden? There's a reason for everything, a voice whispered tauntingly to me. You just don't know it yet.

Damn right I don't, I thought right before sleep snuck up and me and pulled me under.

"Pst, wake up," a voice whispered. When I didn't answer, it came back louder. "Clary, wake up." Now the person was shaking my shoulder. "WAKE UP!" it hollered while ripping the blankets away from me.

I opened my glued eyes slowly, searching for the person who woke me up. Wasn't I suppose to be sleeping? I thought irritably. My eyes finally found spotted raven black hair and matching eyes. Izzy.

"What?" I asked, clearly annoyed.

"You have to get ready! You're the last one to and we don't have that much time, chop chop!"

"Ready for what?" I wondered out loud when I finally took in her appearance. She was in her black strapless dress that hugged her body and made her look curvier than ever. Not that she needed tight clothes to show it off.

That's when it clicked. "We're going to Pandemonium, remember? Now come on!" Izzy made an impatient noise, not noticing that I remembered before she told me. I quickly swung my legs over the edge of the bed and hosted myself up.

"What did the 'doctor' say about this?" I asked as we rushed to her room.

"It's okay, as long as you don't do anything crazy with you head." Izzy paused. "And that includes that you can't whip your hair."

"Aw, but that's so much fun!" I complained as I went to the bathroom and took off my clothes, landing on the floor with a soft thud.

"I don't know why you like that; your hair gets so messy!" Izzy hollered through the door.

"But it's so much fun!" I repeated back to her as I put on the lacey black and white shirt and tucked it into the black skirt. I quickly got out of the bathroom and sat down on the chair that was in front of her vanity. The conversation was dropped as Izzy tried to put on my makeup as fast as possible.

This time she went for a black smoky eye, mascara and eyeliner. "No time for the blush," she told me, as if I cared. "Not that you need it."

Jace's Point of View

I was leaning on the wall outside of Izzy's room, Aden standing not too far away. He had given me a wary expression but didn't say or do anything else after looking away. Sel went back inside to fix her makeup but I was sure that it was just an excuse.

*flashback*

After I left the infirmary a bit mad – Aden of course was the reason why – I ran into Selene, literally. I put my hands on her shoulder, steadying her. She brushed me off and starting walking away, only to look to the side a bit so I would know that she was talking to me when she said, "Come to my room. We need to talk."

My first thought was: this isn't good. However, I still trailed behind her, worrying about what she was going to say to me. It obviously wasn't good or else she wouldn't be like this.

"Sit down," Sel commanded me when I entered her room. Immediately, like an obedient puppy, I sat down on the bed. She sat down on the chair backwards, facing me and resting her arms on the head of the hair. "We need to talk."

"You already said that," I told her, a bit annoyed. Saying that again only made me feel even worse and more nervous. "Talk."

She shot me an annoyed look but spoke anyway. "I don't think…I think it's best if we didn't see each other."

I blinked. I couldn't believe I was getting off this easy. The Angel knows how hard my life has been and how nothing was done to make it any easier. "What?" I asked, making sure I heard right.

But of course I heard right. Hell, I had better hearing than any old mundane, I was Nephilim after all.

Her silver eyes were sad and looked clouded over. They weren't sparkling like how they always were, another bad sign. "Don't pretend to be….sad. I know that you still like Clary. You never stopped liking her did you?"

She didn't look bitter but she did seem monotone. "I am sad. Yes, it's true that I still like Clary; I won't lie to you about that. And I don't think I ever stopped, it was just…clouded over by what I felt at first with you. Especially after the break up…but I am sad Sel. You are a great person and I like you and all. But you're not the right one for me," I told her truthfully. She deserved to know the truth after what happened.

Selena nodded, as if happy that I didn't lie to her. "Please don't say it's not you, it's me. I will seriously stab you if you say that." She attempted a joke and lighten up the mood, trying to be as upbeat about this as possible, but it wasn't working.

"Sel…but it's true. It's not you, it's me. And I was stupid for getting involved with you like that. That day…I was just looking for a distraction, even if I felt something for you. But after I saw you the next day…I couldn't help it, I was just really happy. And I was happy with you."

"But you were happier with Clary. And you feel more for her than you do for me," she stated, not even bothering to ask. I nodded. She continued, "And that day at dinner, you were going to break up with me, weren't you?"

"Yes." She sighed after I answered, and leaned back as if she was suddenly tired and massaged her temple, closing her eyes.

With her eyes still closed she started talking again. "I guess I made it easier for you, didn't I?" Sel laughed without humor, a bitter sound for once coming out of her mouth. And I never thought that I would make this extremely – even if kind of creepy – happy person sad or sound bitter.

"You know," Sel told me, "that I always felt like you were…holding back. As if you weren't really completely yourself with me but I ignored it. And I was stupid to."

Even though Sel wasn't purposely trying to make me feel bad for her, my heart felt like it was breaking into two for her. "No, no, you're not stupid. It was my fault; I was stupid for doing this to someone like you."

Sel just shook her head. As I watched I was tears as silent as death roll down her cheeks, my heart shattered. "Sel…" I started.

She still looked down but I could hear the one word she whispered that only a Nephilim would hear. "Leave."

So…what did you think? This was originally about 3,000 words and now it's a bit more than 5,000! I did it because it was a long time since I last updated and I felt bad. And I would have gotten this done sooner but I was busy, and then we had a family argument and then I went dance and then I slept over my friends house and then the next morning we had a BBQ and yeah we are having another one for dinner (crazy parents) so I was busy. So the secret word is: lemonade! Random, I know but I love it and I made some (the real things, fresh lemons and everything) and had it. Oh, goal: 158 please? Por favor? We just made it last time so...please?

So tell me what you think.

Oh and answer these questions or tell me that you never watched it and you get a bonus one sentence teaser! So, who watches The Nine Lives of Chloe King and Pretty Little Liars?

PLL Q: Who do you think A is? Why?

TNLoCH Q: And do you think that Alek likes Chloe? Do you think that Jasmine's mom would really hurt Brian?

Even if you don't watch those shows, tell me you don't and you still get the extra teaser for the next chapter :)

Hope you enjoyed the chapter and tell me what you think :D

Also, I made Jace's Point of View for I Love You for my two-shot! Check it out! And of course, my little fanfic as a side project Just a Dream.

~Icyfirelove3

P.S. Check out the stories I beta for! All of Bookninja15's stories (too many to list out but a lot of MI ones), CoolxNerd's You Should Have Stayed and MollyGM's City of Bones Jace POV! All awesome writers :D

***Reminder: This is set AFTER City of Glass and BEFORE City of Fallen Angels. And don't forget to review please! Check out my blog too (banners and stuff)– icyfirelove3 DOT blogspot DOT com =)

Oh, and if you want to see my drawing of Lily Collins, stay tuned! I just have to add the finishing touches, take a pic and upload it. :D And one of Alex Pettyfer.