Hey guys! Another chapter for you!

I may have another one up by the end of the night. We'll see! :)

Clary walked the halls of the Institute, having narrowly evaded trying another of Isabelle's culinary mishaps, in search of Jace and/or Simon; whoever she found first. She had just arrived a few minutes earlier and, having checked the library already, was now heading to the training room, where at least one of them was bound to be. Simon's Ascension was tomorrow and he was surely squeezing in as much training as he could beforehand.

Clary wasn't sure how she felt about the whole thing. Sure, she wanted him to become a Shadowhunter, more than almost anything, really, but the risk of something going wrong was still there, and would continue to be until he was officially Nephilim. And she, being his best friend, was going to worry until then.

As she turned a final corner, bringing her into the hallway leading to the training room, Clary could hear voices coming from it; unmistakably the voices of her two favorite people in the world.

"Seriously?" Simon was asking.

"Yes," Jace answered resolutely.

A sigh then from Simon and a muttered "Fine."

The first thing Clary saw upon entering the room was her best friend crashing to the floor in a heap of limbs, yelling, "OW!" along with a few other expletives, while Jace stood off to the side of him, looking like he may explode from withheld laughter.

"Hey," he managed casually enough when he saw her. He was wearing his usual jeans and a black T-shirt. Clary didn't respond except to rush across the room to where Simon lay sprawled on the floor.

"Are you okay?" she asked.

"I think I broke my spleen," he muttered painfully as he sat up. He was wearing light training clothes: a T-shirt and basketball shorts.

"You can't break your spleen," Jace corrected, moving toward them.

"What happened?" Clary demanded, standing up and offering Simon a hand. He took it and she pulled him up (a feat that would have been impossible a year earlier).

"Pre-Ascension ritual," Simon grunted.

She narrowed her eyes in confusion. "What?"

"Pre-Ascension ritual," Simon repeated, sounding slightly healthier, "You know, the stand on one hand for thirty seconds ritual. To prove yourself or something?"

Clary stared at him. "What are you talking about?"

"Jace said-" He cut off abruptly and turned, comprehension dawning in his features, to look at Jace, who had been awfully quiet during this conversation. He stood a few feet away from them, looking exceptionally amused. Simon half-sighed, half-groaned. "God, I should have known," he muttered, rubbing at his neck as if it was sore. After that fall, it probably was.

"I can't believe you fell for that," Jace said laughing, "That didn't even sound realistic."

Clary gave her boyfriend a look and turned her attention back to Simon. "Neither can I," she told him honestly, unable to help herself, "Haven't you learned by now not to take anything Jace says seriously?" Despite herself, she was trying not to smile.

Her expression must have betrayed her amusement more than she realized because Simon looked at her and crossed his arms. "Yeah, go ahead, Fray. Laugh at me. Thanks."

"Sorry," she said, shaking her head and still smiling. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," he said after a pause, getting to his feet, "Fine. Where's Isabelle?"

"In the kitchen," Clary answered, "But I wouldn't go in there if I were you."

Simon had already begun walking from the room. "Don't worry. I have no intention of eating her food," he called over his shoulder and disappeared from sight.

The second he was gone, Jace's arms were around her, wrapping her from behind. He rested his chin lightly on her hair. She turned in his arms so she was facing him, looking up at his face. "You're a jerk, you know that?"

He grinned. "Yes, I do." She made a face at him and his smile widened.

"How on earth did you make that 'ritual' sound believable?"

"I have my ways," he said lightly, "And Simon is very gullible."

"You really should lighten up on him. He trusts you to train him."

"And I am. Besides, after tomorrow, I'll have fewer reasons to pick on him."

"So you're getting it all out of your system now." It wasn't a question.

Jace grinned again. "Precisely."

"Are you scared?" Isabelle asked suddenly. Simon looked over at her. He had been leaning casually enough against the counter, a few feet to her left. Isabelle stood in front of the stove, stirring something in a pot as it boiled. She had been quiet since he'd entered unannounced, and Simon had been beginning to wonder if she hadn't noticed his presence.

But Izzy was a skilled Shadowhunter and he, despite having trained incredibly hard over the past 2 weeks, was a still just a mundane- not nearly stealthy enough to sneak up on her, or any of them, yet; of course she knew. And Simon didn't have to ask to know what she meant.

He'd meant to come in here and gripe about what a lying, cheating (Insert Naughty Word Here) her brother was, but now he paused for a few seconds, thinking about it, before answering. "I don't know," he told her honestly, "Maybe." And it was true; he really didn't know. Ascension was a risky process, especially for someone as old as Simon was. Most Ascensions occurred between ten and twelve years of age, and the older one was, the more dangerous the process became. And Simon, despite having been told on numerous occasions that he was an excellent candidate, was seventeen.

Isabelle looked at him for the first time, setting the wooden spoon in her hand down. "What do you mean, 'Maybe'? It was a yes or no question, Simon."

Simon looked at her for a second before looking down at the floor with a sigh. "I don't know," he said again, "I guess I am, a little, but I still want it. I want to become a Shadowhunter." He met her eyes again, "And I want to be with you."

Isabelle still looked unsettled. "You don't have to be a Shadowhunter to be with me," she said evenly.

"I think it's fairly obvious by now that I do, Izzy. For the long term, anyway." Isabelle had looked down in the middle of his sentence. She looked back at him again after he finished, and Simon could see tears forming in her eyes, despite her obvious efforts to remain composed. Seeing her that way made his chest tighten with both guilt and a colossal desire to make her feel better. "Isabelle," he said softly, half-sighing her name. He opened his arms to her, "Come here."

She met his eyes again, looking at him. A slight defiance flashed in her eyes before disappearing quickly and she began moving toward him, apparently giving in. The distance closed between them and Simon wrapped his arms around her as she buried her face in his shoulder. "It's okay," he murmured in her ear.

"I can't lose you," she said, her voice slightly muffled by his T-shirt.

"You won't lose me."

"You don't know that," she countered, pulling away slightly to see his face. He was only slightly taller than she was, so she hardly had to crane her neck at all to accomplish it. "You don't know what will happen tomorrow." She looked away from him again, eyes landing on his collarbone and staying there.

"Hey," Simon said gently, lifting her chin with his hand, "Look at me. It'll be okay. I'll be okay. I won't let anything happen to me, okay?"

"There's nothing that great about being Nephilim," Isabelle protested.

"I have to, Izzy. You know I have to. I either take the risk and Ascend or I wait until Asmodeus finds out I remember again and comes after me. And I'd rather not wait for that if it can be avoided." Isabelle looked at him for another second before looking away again. She knew he was right. Simon knew it.

"I can't lose you too," she repeated in a whisper. Simon didn't reply, instead taking her face in his hands and kissing her gently, the only reassurance he could give her that might mean something.

"I love you," he told her softly.

"I know," she answered and allowed him to pull her close, enveloping her again in a hug.

"You okay?" He asked after a minute. She nodded. "Good," Simon said, "Because your food is burning." It was true. The pot she had left on the stove was smoking and filling the room with an odd burning smell, so much so that he was kind of surprised Isabelle hadn't noticed yet.

She pulled away from him, a curse escaping her lips as she whirled on the stove and removed the pot from the stovetop, moving it to the sink and turning the water on.

Jace appeared in the doorway then, seemingly out of thin air, with Clary next to him. He strode confidently into the room. "I'm assuming," he announced, eyes fixated on Izzy's failed attempt at lunch, "That this means I will no longer be required to eat whatever that was supposed to be?" Isabelle just shot him a look. Jace, grinning, turned to Simon. "Alec just called," he informed him, holding up his cell phone still in-hand, "Magnus wants an update on your mental status."

"Well," Simon said thoughtfully, leaning back against the counter once more, "You can tell him that as far as I can tell, no demons have been harassing me in my sleep. Though I did have a weird dream about Power Rangers the other night. I'm still not really sure what that was all about." Jace looked at him blankly while Clary, beside him, smiled amusedly.

Jace looked at her. "Should I be concerned?" he asked.

Clary, smiling wider now, shook her head. "There's not much demonic about Power Rangers," she told her boyfriend, sharing a knowing look with Simon.

Jace just looked between the two of them for a minute before looking over at Isabelle, who stood by the sink. She shrugged. He sighed dramatically and brought the phone to his ear. "I have no idea what he's talking about," he reported into it, "But that's pretty normal for him. Clary says he's fine." With that, Jace ended the call, sliding the phone into his pocket.

He gave Simon one last measured look, before grabbing Clary's hand and leading her out of the kitchen. "We're going to Taki's," he called over his shoulder, "Feel free to join us." Clary, green eyes still betraying her amusement, shot Simon one last laughing look and allowed herself to be led out.

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