Lacie: I am determined to make these intros shorter. They are way too barking long and it is intolerable that you guys let me keep it this long for so such a long time.

Clary: No one was complaining about it

Chris: I honestly don't care either way

Lacie: Well it's bothering me! You guys should have warned me about it!

Clary: What were we supposed to do? Cut you off while you were midsentence?

Chris: Can I be the one to do that? Cutting something seems like something I should be in charge of

Lacie: I don't care what you guys do! DO NOT let me let this thing get carried away. I don't care if I'm saying anything important, if any of us are saying anything important, just stop and start with the chapter! *leans back into her chair with her arms crossed, a determined glint in her eye*

Clary: Well then. OMG YOU GUYS. Less than two months for our last book is out!

Chris: well well well, someone's been keeping up our series.

Clary: I can't believe it! After this, we're done. That's it! No more, that's just it! D:

Lacie: *sits back up in her chair, holding back tears* NO! I DON'T WANT THAT

Chris: You two are being such babies

Clary: But, you don't understand, yeah Cassandra Clare will be writing the Dark Artifacts, but that's set five years after the Mortal Instruments! I'll be 21! D;

Lacie: *wipes tears that are running from face* Yeah, and-

Chris: That's enough. I'm cutting it. Hello everyone, sorry about the waterworks over here *glances at Clary and Lacie* but I guess they just had to say it, anyway, I guess I better point out that Lacie does not own the Mortal Instruments, nor Black Artifacts. She doesn't own me either

Lacie: YES I DO I OWN CHRIS

Enjoy!

Chris POV

Chris felt insignificant.

His mind swam with thoughts, but they were so watery, so inconsistent, so quick to run across his comprehension that he might as well not have been thinking at all.

Everything was a white haze. He was drifting, bobbing up and down in a senseless pattern, feeling unanchored, like he was floating away from everything, like he was steadily moving away.

Like a shipwrecked person losing sight of the shore.

Something was carrying him along the lone draft that he was being towed along on, an invisible force that was pushing him away, causing this swaying, bobbing, floating motion.

He didn't know where he was, he didn't who he was. He was nothing, he was everything, he was something. He had the fleeting image of a miniscule star amidst an entire pacific ocean of sky, surrounded by a vast explosion of dots obscuring the one star. He was that one star amidst the ocean. He felt strangely scared of being so small, so meaningless, but the thought and feeling left as soon as it came, and soon, he was back to his murky, unknowing, uncomprehending state.

All he truly understood was that he was going somewhere, and he felt small in that large void in which he was moving in.

Clary POV

Clary shifted somewhat uncomfortably, making sure not to lean too much on her back. Even though she drawn one of her own iratzes, her back did not favor stress upon it too kindly.

Settling back, she focused back onto the talk that was going on. Jordan was speaking dynamically, his hands making gestures as he told, "And then, out of nowhere, about two hundred, no three hundred Demon Shadowhunters just appeared out of nowhere! They were cocky looking dudes, thinking that just because they had demons strength and were a lot faster and tougher to beat they'd beat us. But I turned all werewolf on them, and I turned to nearest one and threw him into his buddy, and then I was surrounded by fifty of them-" he yelped in pain as Maia pulled non-too gently on his dark curly hair. Maia had an annoyed face that looked like she was struggling between wanting to laugh at him or reprimand him. She settled for telling him with a smirk on her face.

"You keep those lies up and your nose will be all the way across the room." She tapped said nose.

Jordan smiled sheepishly, like a little kid whose hand got caught in the cookie jar, "I was just retelling things for Clary, you know, we are telling her our side of the story."

The short red head spoke from her spot on the couch, "Jordan, I was there, and unless they were invisible and you were the only able to see them, I sure don't think there were three hundred D.S fighting in the Parthenon."

Everyone who was sitting around the living room broke into chuckles as Jordan swore, claiming that he'd forgotten that Clary had been there, but pretty soon what should have been an outbreak of laughter died out. Clary suppressed a sigh.

They'd been sitting in the living room for nearly an hour, everyone taking turns telling each other accounts of what went on from the day that Clary went off with Chris, who was then Sebastian. She'd been making sure to refer to him as Sebastian, though the name sounded foreign coming from her now, like she was referring to a grandfather who died long before she was born, or some evil villain from a story. Sebastian no longer matched the face of her brother to her.

Nevertheless, even though they'd been together for an hour, Clary could feel a mounting sense of tension in the room. Though they talked as if nothing had happened in between the last few months, as if this were just another day, there was still this sense that something was different now, and that stopped them from actually conversing the way they used to. She found it that she could only form an actual real smile when she was looking at Simon, because she knew that he would accept her no matter what. Everyone else, she wasn't so sure.

Everyone was just about don telling everyone else their little own part of the story, her friends popping in every few sentences to interpolate their own views and additions to every scene. Everyone except Jace that is, he'd been uncharacteristically quiet the whole time, sitting in the corner with his arms crossed, nodding along to everything that everyone would say. Clary couldn't help but get the feeling that he was waiting for a chance to talk to her, and though she didn't know what on Earth she would say, she knew it would have to happen, there were just some things that had to be said soon, before it tore at her from the inside.

On the other hand, as discomforting as the awkward silences sometimes were, Clary found herself putting in her own statements, going along with their story as they spelled out exactly what happened from the very beginning. She said things like, "Yeah, we were in Saudi Arabia at the time, but we were only there for about a day. These really weird Shadowhunters and warlocks chased us, but it wasn't bad or anything."

"Hey, I was wondering," Simon had asked once in the middle of their retelling of events, "Were you ever in Japan? Jace and I saw Sebastian for a second before he disappeared on us, but we never knew if you were there."

Answering his question that she had been there, only that she must have been inside already, Clary had been discomfited by the fact that Chris never told her that he had seen Simon and Jace in Japan, but then remembered the events that happened during their time there, the hot springs, the walk in the gardens, and decided it was best that he hadn't told her. She would've been so stressed out as to whether or not they'd seen her and Chris, well, kiss.

Clary had told everyone most of what had happened to her, from when Sebastian took her away, from how exactly she received her rune, ("Look, I even turned into you," she showed Isabelle the rune that she could summon upon her wrist, making Isabelle beam) right up to when she was captured by the Clave and put into chains. She internally cringed at their expressions of hatred when she told them Sebastian's ultimatum to her, when she was to either come with him or her family would suffer. In her mind, that decision wasn't as bad as it had been then, so when they all cursed her brother avidly, it was like they were twisted a hot knife amidst Clary's guilt ridden heart.

Afraid of how they'd all react, Clary hadn't told anything about exactly how intimate she and her brother had gotten (no one need to know that, that stays between her and Chris) She made it seem as if he had only wanted her company, because he was lonely, and that she honestly didn't mind at all very much. That they had gotten along surprisingly well, and that they had even continued her Shadowhunter training (which was no lie).

She could feel Simon's eyes on her, trying to read her. He'd visited her in her cell in Alicante, and had already known somewhat that her feelings for Chris had changed, but just exactly how much, he didn't know. She could feel him trying to understand to just what sense her mood towards her brother changed, and it made her feel like she was being x-rayed while he did so.

He wasn't the only one holding her under close scrutiny. It was hard to shake the look in Izzy and Alec's eyes as she tried to convince them that he had seriously done no wrong while they'd been together. Clary hadn't forgotten what Sebastian had done to Max, she'd never forget, but that was Sebastian, and Sebastian was no longer Chris. Sebastian now only existed in the rune that lay on her wrist.

Her belief wasn't enough to erase their doubts though, and the more she tried to calmly persuade them, the more something became apparent.

At one point, when Alec had asked her for the third time whether or not she was sure Sebastian hadn't done anything to her during the time between when he first took her from the Institute and the first time she woke up in the house, hadn't drawn any runes she didn't know of with his stele, she almost growled at him, coming this close to telling him where he could stick his own stele in.

Instead, she took a bad tempered breath and repeated what she had said twice before, "No Alec, I'm positive that he didn't do anything to me."

He had stared his blue eyes into her angry emerald ones, saying "Okay," but the feeling he left her with said the complete opposite.

They still think that Chris put a spell on me just like he had done to Jace… she thought grimly, But I'm not.

Clary was not going to play the Sebastian-put-me-under-a-rune card. Even if he had asked her to do so long ago, there was no way she was doing that.

But the thing was, she wanted to get Chris out of hell, that much is obvious by now, but how was she possibly going to explain that to them? How could she explain that she loved her brother now, and that even though he was not at the top of their 'favorite person in the world' list, she was still going to try?

Clary's mind was brimming with these contradicting emotions: she wanted Chris, but she didn't want to tell her friends the exact reason as to why she wanted him back. She didn't even know why she wanted him back; just that the gaping hole in her second heart couldn't seem to function without knowing that he was there…

She had been so submerged in her own thought, so sucked in by the laughing sounds of everyone around her exchanging exaggerated version of their tales that it was only because of instinct that she heard it. The voice carried through the talking so that she heard it clearly as if he had spoken it right in front of her.

"So why did you need that book?" she looked up to see the honey gold eyes set on her. He was directly asking her a question, and her moment's pause and revelation that he was talking to her was enough for everyone to notice and pay attention to them.

Even though he had spoken softly, everyone had been centered on Jace, but now rounded on Clary for her answer.

"Yeah, I've been meaning to ask that," Maia interloped, "But I thought it'd be best if we catch up on things first."

The book in question was currently on top of a pile of old newspapers on the coffee table in front of Clary, and she shifted so that she was crossed legged and slightly leaning against the sofa. This was what she was waiting for, for the point in which she could no longer hide her true antics.

Are you ready for interrogation, Clary? she thought to herself.

Everyone's eyes were on her, and she could feel their anticipation for her response. Even Jordan had stopped playfully teasing Maia on the other end of the sofa to look at her. Izzy and Simon were perched on the end of the coffee table, and Alec was sitting on a stool that he had dragged from the kitchen.

It's now or never

She took in a great big breath, steeling herself for their judgment and carefully picking her words.

"For the past three months, I've been holed up in here, in this house. I've been gathering information from all over the place, finding contacts who I thought could help me, books, runes, incantations, anything that could help me find what I was looking for."

"What were you looking for?" Alec questioned, a quizzical look in his eye.

Oh, out with it Clarissa, "For a way to bring Sebastian back from hell."

In that moment she made eye contact with every single one of them, including Jace, daring them to question her, to mock her, to deem her insane and unaware of what she was doing.

It worked, for about twenty seconds that is. After everyone's initial shock cleared, the room exploded with a cacophony of voices.

"The hell!"

"Someone feel her forehead and make sure she's not suffering from fever-

"Alec, call Magnus! We need to check on her-"

"Maybe she's joking-

"Magnus can't get here, he doesn't know where here is-

"Are you sure she has no fever?-

"PLEASE TELL ME SHE'S JOKING."

They reacted just as Clary predicted they would, albeit they weren't angry like she thought they'd be. Even so, she felt a throb go off in her temple. They still believed she was under some sort of spell. They just couldn't believe her. A small part of Clary's brain, the reasonable one, told her that had she been in their position, she'd act the same exact way. However, she wasn't up for listening to reason.

For now, she placed all of her sudden anger and emotion into her loudest, most ear piercing New York hail-a-taxi whistle, her fingers in her mouth which was emitting the sharp sound across the house until everyone fell silent.

She stood up, her injured back throbbing and tearing a bit so that she could feel a bit of blood dribbling don her back but she ignored it. "I'm not possessed." She shot them all a cold look, "Sebastian didn't do anything to my mind, I'm not saying this because I'm under some weird spell that makes me think he's my master and that everything he says and does is right. These are my own thoughts, I'm saying this on my own accord, I'm not kidding."

She looked at Jace, forgetting their rocky relationship at the moment and looked him in the eye, daring him to listen to her, "When you were under the rune Sebastian put you in, I could tell. I could see it in your eyes, I saw that something wasn't right, because I knew you; I knew you weren't like that. So look at me." This time she addressed the rest of them, "All of you, look me in the eye and tell me I'm insane."

She could feel herself giving off the coldest and most authoritative of auras, and she knew that she was probably upsetting them, but she didn't care. If she had to yell at them until they understood, then fine, so be it.

Jordan was the first to speak, albeit his voice was a bit quiet, as worried she'd lash out at him. "But why do you want to get him out. You know what he's like."

"I know what he's like a lot better than you think," she remarked, then she tried another approach, one with a less angry tone, "I know what you guys are thinking, 'He's half demon, he's crazy, he's the reason for the war in Alicante,' well he's not because I think we can all agree that this is all Valentine's fault."

"Clary," Isabelle said gently, "He's half Greater Demon, he's not something we can control, and he could hurt you and everyone else. It's what the Clave decided."

"And since when do you appreciate what the Clave does! And if he was going to hurt me, why didn't he do it during the two weeks we were together? Because he didn't, he never hurt me, he trained me, taught me more things about being a Shadowhunter, about being a Nephilim. And you know why he didn't hurt anyone else? Because he knew I wouldn't want that, he left you guys alone because of me. Don't you see? He may be a demon, but he needs people just like we do, and I was the only person he had! The only person he thought would accept him for who he was, and I did!" she raised her voice on the last part, aware that they had made their distance, that they were all on their feet, but she didn't care. "I did accept him, because he can't help who he is. Simon-" she looked to her vampire friend,"-You're a bloodsucking monster, yet I don't care, I still hang out with you, I couldn't care less whether or not you could suck me dry, because I just accepted that that's who you are."

"Clary, but you've known Simon for much longer-" Alec intervened, but Clary cut him off.

"Doesn't matter how long I've known him, I gave him a chance, and I'll risk that chance. He grew up being raised like a monster. Valentine made him into what you all think he is, but he's not. I don't know how, but when he was with me, he didn't act like the demon you all think he is, he didn't act like that at all. I could feel him changing, feel him become more human." Her voice got dark, "But the Clave sent him to hell before he could prove him humanness. He didn't deserve that."

"He killed my brother!" Isabelle spat, "You expect me to forgive him for that?"

"No! No I don't," Clary retorted, "I don't expect any of you to forgive him. Izzy, I know what he did, I'm not blind, trust me, I know that he's done wrong. But that doesn't mean I'm giving up on him. I'm not asking any of you to help me."

There was a stinging silence in the air, her words stinging away the joyful bubble they had made up earlier, extinguishing it, leaving only the scarred truth that Clary left out in the open. For months, she'd pictured how it would have been when she finally had to tell everyone her opinion on her brother, how she'd have to fight her way in.

Well, does it look like you've won?

Everyone except for Simon was exchanging glances with one another, Jace and Isabelle were in particular making expressions that suggested they were discussing.

Clary looked to Simon, waiting to see his reaction. The moment their eyes met, he gave her a dry smile. You set off a huge bomb, Fray he seemed to say.

I had to do it, or else you guys wouldn't take me seriously. She responded.

He shrugged, I wouldn't expect anything less from you. I got your back, remember? No matter how many enemies you've got trying to stab it.

And with that, her anger uncoiled a bit. What would I do without you?

She looked up just in time to see Isabelle and Jace slip off to speak in hushed voices in the kitchen, making prominent hand gestures.

Clary sat back down. She was getting the feeling that she was running as fast as she could, but wasn't moving at all. The book was gone, now what? Her only other option would be to force Magnus to pull Chris out of hell, and she doubted that the warlock would relent to her demand. In fact, the only reason she'd avoided talking to him was to avoid coming into contact with any of the Shadowhunters and her other friends.

As if that matters anymore, they're inside my house, eating my food, okay maybe not my food, but still…

She sunk into a stupor of hopelessness, now what was she supposed to do? There had to be another way, but what was it? Without thinking, she switched on her Sebastian powers. At first it was only to bring the illusion of him being with her, to calm herself, but then her heightened sense of sound allowed her to hear over the whispered conversation going on in the kitchen.

Her head in her hands, ignoring the conversation going on by Alec, Simon, Maia and Jordan, she focused in Izzy and Jace's words.

Isabelle's voice insistent voice sounded as clear as if she were right next to her, "I'm telling you, we should probably take her to the Silent Brothers. I'm not ready to believe her yet, Jace. I can't believe her."

"Because of her newfound love for her big brother Sebastian," Jace's voice was quiet, devoid of emotion. Almost too devoid.

"That's exactly why! She's acting just like you were when you were under the spell. You would deny that Sebastian was insane, you would say that he's changed. Clary told us all of this!" Izzy's voice slowed down, "But now I think she' under it too."

There was a silence in which Clary could practically feel Jace turn to look at her from her kitchen, to see what she was doing. She however, was still holding her head in her hands on the couch. After few seconds, Jace spoke again.

"I think you're wrong Isabelle."

Clary's ears perked up even more, just as Izzy feverishly whispered, "What! But Jace, you have to agree with me that something about Clary has changed, she's not herself-"

"She's exactly herself, that's something you're not seeing." Jace sounded as if he turned towards her again, his deep rich voice sounding wise beyond his years, "When she was talking about how when she would look into my eyes while I was possessed, it's true. The whole time I was controlled by him I could feel like I was under a veil, someone else moving for me. Clary could see that, because she knew me. I acted like someone I wasn't, but when I looked at Clary while she was talking about Sebastian, she-" Jace's voice dropped even lower, sounding almost in awe "-she looked like she meant business. The green of her eyes sparkled clearly, not faded and like something was concealed, like mine's were. Clary would be like this, doing everything she could to protect who she thought needed it. Even if it was her bastard of a brother."

Clary could take no more. She stood up, and looked directly at the pair of siblings in her kitchen. Both of the them abruptly stopped talking, Izzy looking like she got caught with her hand in the cookie jar, quickly smoothing out her features, but Jace looking stonily calm. The conversation behind her done by the others hushed immediately, as if waiting for Clary to start shouting again.

The newest Shadowhunter didn't though.

Instead, with the look of prisoner begging for their last meal, Clary looked at nothing in particular, but spoke calmly.

"I was not put under any spell, and this is the last time I'll try to explain it to you." She could feel that Isabelle was about to protest so she rushed on, "A new rune was put on me, but I think I already told you guys I put it there myself. I drew the rune, not by force, not because Sebastian forced me to, but because it's one of my runes." She pulled up the sleeve in which her runes were, and exposed all three of them to their eyes. "The rune allows you to take up the characteristics of any person you think of, and depending on what exactly you want to use from them. For Sebastian, I need his strength to fight off the demon I told you about in Chicago. That gave me simple features, his white hair, and his black eyes. For Izzy, well I wasn't really going for anything of yours in particular, so I just pictured how you looked, and I ended up getting black hair, several inches taller, and your personality for twelve days. Depending on whom you picture, and you picture of them, you'll get it."

"So what I'm trying to say is," she pressed on, "You can't take me back to the Clave, or to the Silent Brothers, because there's nothing on me that they can 'fix,' I'm perfectly fine."

Izzy spoke urgently, "Clary, listen to me—-"

"No Isabelle, you listen to me," the red head looked up, concealing her runes again, "I'm fine. The Silent Brothers won't be able to find anything if you take me to them. You're not taking me back, you can't take me away."

Before Izzy could create another opening, a sharp ringing pierced the air, making everyone jump.

"Sorry guys," Alec said hurriedly, pulling his cellphone out of his pocket. "It's Magnus!" he answered before allowing them to say anything else. "Magnus, what's going on?"

Magnus's voice came so quickly and incoherently that even Clary had a hard time interpreting what he was saying. He sounded frustrated and other noises going on in the background told her that he was moving around rather quickly.

"Magnus, Magnus hold up," Alec said, removing the phone from his ear, putting it on speaker so that everyone else could hear, and said, "Say that again."

Magnus sighed histrionically, and sounded like he had sat down, "If I have to. Well to put it in the fastest way possible, the Clave's after all of us, including me, because remember the vampire mansion that you had to break into? Well they contacted the Clave, saying that several Shadowhunters, two werewolves, and a certain Daylighter, broke into their home, stole their property, broke their belongings, and harmed many of their vampires."

"How do they know it's us?" Jordan asked. "Could be anyone."

"How many other Daylighters do you know hang around with Shadowhunters and werewolves?" Magnus retorted, "It was obvious, considering the Clave knows who Saul's friends are. Plus once they described some of you to the Clave authorities, and all of you are pretty well known."

"Who's Saul?" Jordan whispered to Maia, but she shot him a look that said shut up.

"Wait, Magnus, why are they after them? They don't know why they were there," Clary spoke towards the phone.

"Ah, Clarissa," Clary cringed at the all-too peppy voice of Magnus. It was obvious he still didn't forgive her for swinging a chain at him. "You're precisely why they're after us. The vampires saw you too. And not only did you also break into the house, but you disappeared along with Alec and the others, so now the Clave—"

"Think you guys are working with me," Clary finished his sentence for him. Oh no.

Could her timing have been any worse!

"And we can't tell them we were chasing you," Simon was pacing up and down the living room, "They already know we're close friends, not to mention that they'd probably ask us how we'd know you were there, which,-" he paused to look at her, "—we didn't know. It's no used, there's no lie we can tell them that'll be believable enough."

"I can tell them I kidnapped you all." Clary suggested suddenly, making everyone look up. Izzy was chewing her fingernails, which was very uncharacteristically of her to do, Jace was sitting in a stool with his arms crossed, lost in thought, Jordan and Maia looked like they wanted to be worried, but really weren't. Neither of them really cared for the Clave, but Jordan was part of the Praetor Lupis, so would this affect him? Only Alec remained completely still. He hadn't spoken at all, and his face was ghostly white. He looked mortified.

Poor thing's probably never been in this much trouble before, she thought pityingly. Oh gosh, what would Maryse think?

"I don't think that would work, red." Magnus directed, "The vampires saw you there. I don't think you were in the exact state to kidnap anyone."

At last Alec gulped, "We can't go back. They already were convinced that we were helping Clary before, with this they'll have no doubt. They'll put us in the Silent City the first chance they get."

"Hell no!" both Isabelle and Jace exclaimed.

"Magnus why are they after you?" Maia asked.

"How else did you guys get there? They know I'm close to the Lightwood family, and that mansion can only be Portaled into. I'm the obvious reason as to how you all got there." Magnus boasted.

"What are you going to do Mags?" Alec said the nickname without realizing what he said. He was too in shock to care about much, Clary guessed.

"I'll keep in contact with you guys, but it's best if I don't tell you all where I'm going. Sorry Alec darling, but more importantly, where are you all now?"

"We don't know," Alec turned towards Clary, but by that time Clary had already gotten up and walked towards the wall where the front door would be. Placing her palm onto the space, which now activated to her touch as well as Chris's, she ignored the gasps coming from everyone as she flung the door open. A great, sweltering wall of humid heat hit her in the face as she gazed out of the house into large trees and the bank of a dirty swiveling river. Birdcalls entered her ears and the vast amount of green foliage was all her eyes could see.

Closing the door, she turned to see everyone on their feet, looking at where the door had disappeared.

"I'm no tour guide," she disrupted the silence, "But I think we're in the Amazon jungle."

Everyone was still looking to where the door had gone, and she spoke again by telling Alec, "Alec you look like you could use a good coffee, you're so white you're almost transparent."

The blue eyed boy looked down at his hands as if to confirm that was he still solid, and then looked to the phone still in his hands, where the warlock made his leave, "Well then I'll call you all later to see how you're holding up, in the meantime, I've got to go into incognito. Later fellow fugitives." And he hung up.

"Black please," Alec said after a few moment's silence, in which Clary proceeded towards the kitchen, but she was stopped by Simon.

"Clary, you're looking a bit pale too, maybe you should sit down." He grabbed her shoulders and she allowed him as he steered her back towards the couch.

"Simon this is my natural skin color, I'm always this pale." She responded.

"And you're bleeding." He said blatantly. The trickle of blood down her back from earlier felt a lot more noticeable now. "Stop moving while your back is trying to heal."

She was about to ask him how he knew she was bleeding when she mentally slapped herself. He was a vampire, he smells it. Not only that, but as she sat back down, gingerly moved her hand backwards and touched her back, feeling the soaked material of her shirt. She sighed, then muttered, "Where's my stele?"

She patted around her pants pockets until she found it wasn't there.

"Here use my mine," Izzy gave up her long stele long enough for Clary to draw a few more of her own iratzes.

"Thanks," she said, handing back her stele, "I must have dropped mine back at the mansion."

"So," Izzy addressed the room, walking to stand next to Simon, "Now what? What do we do? The Clave's after us—" she shivered a bit, "—man that felt weird to say."

"Why is that?" Simon asked, his arm around her shoulder.

"Well you wouldn't understand, considering you didn't grow up with them, but to us, the Clave's always been some sort of huge order, the people we worked under. As long as you did what you were supposed to do, then you were fine, but you never wanted to betray or mistreat the Clave. The Law is hard, but it is the Law. I never thought I'd be the one they were after." Izzy explained, "It feels so weird being on the other side, I almost can't believe it."

"I can." Clary said without thinking, but they all ignored her. Being searched for by the Clave was obviously not new in Clary's case.

Jace was looking at her like she was a whole new person and he was trying to figure out how to feel about it. Clary would've liked to know what he was thinking, but then again, did she?

She didn't know what she was feeling herself.

"What are you gonna do Clary?" Jordan asks her out of the blue.

"Me?" she hugged her legs to her chest, getting comfortable, "I'm going to finish what I started, my plans haven't changed." She looked down for a moment, before adding, "I don't know what you guys are going to do, or how you're going to react with the Clave on you, but my motives are the same. I'm going to get Sebastian back from hell, and if you guys don't like it, then too bad. You can't stop me. And don't—" she said to Izzy, whose mouth was open to argue, "—try to persuade me otherwise. Let me remind me that you're in the same boat as I am with the Clave now."

Maia protested from her part of the room now, "But why do you want your brother back? I know you think he's, um, okay and all, but, why?"

Clary looked into Maia's big brown eyes. "I don't know if you were there or not, but when we were in the courthouse, Sebastian and I, the Clave initially wanted the same faith for both of us: They were going to send the two of us to hell. They were ready to ship us off to hell just because they thought I was under his command, that I was his puppet and that he was going to use me to destroy them. It was only because my rune ended at that precise time that they thought that my supposed 'connection' to him was over, that I was no longer under any spell."

"What I'm trying to say is that if the Clave was ready to send me to hell, even though I didn't do anything worth being sent there, then they would have willingly sent anyone who was in my position, and that makes them monsters. I'm going to save someone who was victim to a monster's trial." Without realizing what she was saying, she added, "And if you guys can either leave now and figure out what you're gonna do for now on, or help me. I'll give you all three days to decide what you're gonna do, but when that time comes, it's either one or the other."

Without waiting for any sort of response, she stood up, her feet already on their way towards the stairs for her room. She'd leave them be, give them a roof for a while just so that she wouldn't be a horrible person, but by the end of the three days, she could already predict that she'd be alone in the house again.

They weren't going to stay. Why would they? If all she was planning on doing was to bring back the one guy they all worked hard to get rid of….

But before her foot had landed on the fourth step up, Clary froze as someone spoke in a clear, smooth and deep voice.

"I'm staying."

She didn't move, didn't breathe. She was rooted to the spot, one hand on the wall to support herself, the other limp by her side.

"I'll stay and help you, I don't care about the Clave really, I'll stay here with you and help you get Sebastian, or rather," the voice faltered, "Chris, as you called him."

Slowly, ever so slowly, Clary turned, her feet on the third step, to look at the figure that had walked towards the stairs, making her eye level with him.

Golden eyes looked into emerald green. A cold shiver that Clary couldn't place settled over her, but she suppressed it. It wasn't even cold in the room, but the words hadn't caused it either.

"I wanted to find you, and now I'm not just going to leave." Jace's features were set into a stubborn look, and Clary felt a bubble bloom in her first heart, the one that Jace originally took over.

Well then…this is a change of circumstances now isn't it?

Chris POV

I can't see, I can't hear, what is this….

He felt like he was a victim of high fever, coming in and out of consciousness, where his only moments awake were hazy, fevered minutes of heated wastelands and rivers and dead souls.

He flung around, at first worried that whatever was safely conveying him around would collapse, but when it held he kept flinging himself around, trying to shake off this sense of stupor. He couldn't get up, couldn't figure out where he was.

He clenched and unclenched his fists, trying to feel something, and as he did, he felt something hard beneath his palm.

A flash of green pale green went across his vision as he attempted to bring whatever was in his palm to his face. His arm felt heavy though, along with the rest of his body. It was like he was heavily sedated on drugs.

Just as his arm was about to fall limp across his face though, he felt the hard thing in his palm fall against his eye.

The shard, he was barely able to think before he was looking at someplace that should be impossible for him to see.

He saw his house, the one where he and Clary spent those two glorious weeks, and just as he was wondering where she was, the image spun around towards her.

His second of joy was quickly extinguished by the sight and sound of the golden boy in front of her.

I'll stay and help you, the golden boy said, and Chris's inner demon snarled.

I wanted to find you, and now I'm not just going to leave, Jace was in front of Clary, looking at her back with such an expression that Chris wished he had a dagger to slice it off. But he didn't need to take it off for him, because he wiped his face of emotion when Clary turned around.

Her eyes were surprised, as if she hadn't expected him to say that.

She was happy he'd said that.

No, why is he there! Chris cried out, trying to reach Clary, trying to tell her to stay away from him.

Clary looked unsettled for a second, almost as if she heard him, but then she focused back on the golden boy.

No. The image faded, bringing back the hazy fever in which he had been enduring, and this time, he let it engulf him. Let it take his mind away from any thought at all.

Lacie: there's no action, I feel bad for this one

Clary: Are you building up to another climax?

Lacie: yep, and hopefully the last. I want to finish the fanfic before summer starts

Chris: Guys, we're live

Lacie: Oh! Hey guys, sorry for yet another short chapter, really it's just a filler, but these sort of things are necessary.

Clary: CHRIS GIVE ME BACK MY MANGA

Chris: Why do you read these things? You're supposed to read things with words, that way you can get smarter.

Clary: My intelligence is just fine! Now give it back! You're going to ruin the pages DX

Chris: Are you suggesting that I can't take care of things?

Clary: That's exactly what I'm saying! Have you seen your room? All of your stuff is either broken, chipped, or dented!

Chris: what have you been doing in my room? O.o

Clary:…I needed, um, a new environment, you know, my artist mind can sometimes get artist block and I need a new environment for inspiration. And stuff.

Chris: Were you looking at my stuff!?

Clary: Only looking!

Lacie: *plucks manga out of Chris's hands and starts to read without any of them noticing* oooh Pandora Hearts

Chris: what did you touch?

Clary: nothing!

Chris: Those are lies!

Clary: I really didn't!

Chris: Clary…

Clary: Honest!

Chris: I'm this close to burning your sketchpads…

Clary: OKAY! I TOUCHED STUFF BUT ONLY THE COOL STUFF

Lacie: Ooo that was a good manga *puts finished manga on the table because she's a boss at reading like that* Okay both of you shut up! This ending is getting too long again! Hello Lacie's special wonderlovely readers! Whatcha think? Was the chapter YAY or MEH? Also, please don't forget to leave a review down below. And please when you do review, give me the name of ANY place in the world. I need an interesting place for the house to end up at, and if I can use one of your ideas that would be great!

Clary: Chris stop touching my sketchpads! DX

Chris: REVENGE

Lacie: Review ;D