May 28th, 2021

10

Clary's POV

Luke stands behind me, stretching my arms in uncomfortable angles, attempting to warm my arms up for me, "You got this," he tells me, yanking my left arm roughly towards the ceiling, "you just need to keep a clear head and stay focused. Don't let your opponent get under your skin and stay on your game." Luke tells me, switching arms, and I groan as my right arm gets yanked on.

"Don't tell her," I hear Alec say in a hushed whisper as he walks into the locker room, quickly followed by Jace, Magnus, and Isabelle.

"Clary! You look good." Isabelle tells me, trying to steer the conversation away from whatever Alec was whispering about just a second ago, "Don't tell me what?" I ask and Jace's face immediately looks guilty, his eyes shifting from Alec to Magnus, "What did you do?" I ask, addressing Jace, but he lifts his hands up in submission, "Nothing, it's just," he pauses, his eyebrows knitting like he really doesn't want to tell me something, "Well, your mom and brother are here." My lips clamp shut, and I swallow hard, feeling shitty all over again. I don't understand why they are here, I don't want them here, I don't want them to be a part of this, "They saw us in the crowd and ended up recognizing me so they sat down with us. They're with Seb, Simon, Maia, and Jordan."

My mind quickly shifts to a different issue, "Wait, you left Simon alone with Sebastian. He is a dick, why did you do that?"

"Come on, Simon is a big boy, he can handle himself." Jace responds, before running a hand through his hair, "Oh who am I kidding, no he can't. Maia and Jordan will make sure they play nice." He tells me, soothing my nerves on one issue.

"So," Magnus says, "do you want us to forcefully remove your mother and brother from the premises? Well, not us, I just got a manicure, Simon is weak, and Maia doesn't like confrontation, and Isabelle hates violence. So I guess that just leaves three able-bodied athletes. Anyways, I'm sure it'll get done if you want it to." I can't help but smile at Magnus, but that soon gets wiped out as Luke pops my back, releasing some of my tension.

"Boys, Isabelle," Luke says, looking over my shoulder at the group of teenagers, "Clary doesn't need any distractions, so either help me stretch her, or get out."

They inevitably make the decision to stay and help me stretch. Alec and Jace help me stay loose and attentive, as Magnus and Isabelle converse with me, trying to keep my mind clear, and it helps, but I can't help but think about my family in the stands.

I feel as if my mind is wiped though, as I walk up the stairs towards the main boxing ring. There seems to be a large crowd due to the noise radiating off the floor above us, but I am stunned when I actually reach the ring. There has to be about two hundred people flooding the seating sections. Even though that doesn't sound like much, I usually scrape by with about fifty per fight. This must be a serious one.

As the refs approach us, Isabelle, Magnus, and Jace are sent back to the stadium, while Alec and Luke stay with me in the corner of the ring. It's difficult to hear the refs opening words over the loud music and chatter, but I chalk it up to the basics: basically we can't fight dirty, no biting, no hair pulling, no choking, stuff along those lines. Luke walks off with the refs to meet the other instructor, and Alec and I remain in the corner. They seem to be doing their best to keep me away from my opponent; maybe they think we will try to kill each other before the fight.

My eyes scan the crowd, involuntarily looking for my mother and brother, and when I see them, I feel like puking. My mom is attempting to hold a conversation with Jace, who looks at her with narrowed eyes, while Jonathan engages brightly in a conversation with Sebastian. I hate that he has found a way to wiggle into my life, "Hey." Alec snaps his fingers in front of my face, pulling me out of my own thoughts.

"You ready?" Alec asks me as the music cuts off, the crowd falling quiet, as the ref waves us both into the ring, and for the first time I get a good look at my opponent. She's a tall blonde girl, with tattoos that wrap up her arm, and a sly smile to match her cat-like walk as she walks up to me.

"Shake hands," the ref glances between the two of us. I let out a sigh, before shaking her hand. She grips mine hard, and I feel the cool metal rings against her fingers press into mine. Bitch. That's definitely not legal, but I can handle it.

"Ok, remember ladies, fight clean," the ref nods to the two of us, and I nod, bouncing lightly on my toes as the ref leaves the middle of the ring, signaling the start of the fight.

o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o
o;o;o;o;o;o;o;o

I spit blood to my right; the girl's metal rings have left quite a mark on my cheeks. 'Fight clean' my ass. This is the first, and only fight I've ever made to the third round in. Seelie is definitely putting up one hell of a fight, even though she's cheating.
Seelie lands another kick to my side, but I recover fast enough to land a blow to her ribs and then the sternum. This causes the girl to gag, and stumble backwards as she attempts to regain her breath. I don't lay off, lunging towards her, bringing her to the ground, and for the first time in this fight, I feel like I have the upper hand.
My feelings quickly change as she latches her metal-wrapped fingers into my left arm, to the point that she is now drawing blood. Due to the sharp pain, I panic, jolting upwards to the right, swinging my left hand down in frenzy, missing and landing punches as the refs all blow their whistles, pointing at Seelie drawing blood from my arm, seeming like they are ready to DQ her. I didn't want to win this fight by the DQ default, but that may be the only way one of us makes it out of this alive.
Rather than letting go of my arm as I stop punching, Seelie yanks me to the ground, switching positions; she obviously wants to continue. I don't fight back, hoping that the refs will see my attempt in complying, so that they still deem me the winner. Seelie doesn't get the message, yanking my arm behind me, going beyond anything I ever thought was possible, and I let out a pained scream as I feel my shoulder pop out of its socket. My screaming is silenced as she smacks her knee against my forehead, causing the room to spin, and I can feel my body go limp.
I vaguely see Luke and Alec scrambling to my slide as I am dropped to the floor, making my pain receptors flare through my entire body, my vision turning black on the sides in an attempt to block out the pain, "Hey, Clary, you alright?" Alec asks, putting his hands on both my shoulders, trying to help me up, but in turn, he just hurts me more.
"She broke my fucking shoulder!" I scream, thrashing away from him, sliding backwards on my butt. I stumble to my feet, advancing in a blind and painful rage towards Seelie, as her coach, and a few other tall men quickly surround her. If I wasn't in the middle of such a melt down, I would have noticed her coach was the same man I accused of following me from the night before. But my anger has taken over, which makes me incapable of forming coherent thoughts.
I attempt to shove through Seelie's line of defense, but get nowhere, as any touch to my shoulder sends a pain I have never experienced before into my body, "Hey," Luke says, coming into view, "you're bleeding from the mouth." I panic again, reaching up to touch my mouth with my left hand, once again, not thinking, and I yell out again, "My shoulder," I tell him weakly and he comes up to me, putting a hand on my good shoulder, I wince, "Sit down," he gently guides me to the floor, "We called an ambulance," I hear from behind me, "What?" I screech, turning around to see my mother coming up next to me, with the rest of my friends following behind her, Jonathan is nowhere to be seen. I do not want to go to the hospital.
"Hey," Jace comes into view, squatting down in front of me, "panicking isn't going to help you out here, Red." He tells me, bringing a hand up to my face, and putting it on my cheek, "I got water." Jordan leans down in front of me, handing me a bottle of water over Jace's shoulder. The cool temperature burns the cuts on the inside of my face and I wince again, "I can't believe they just let her leave." Maia says in disbelief, shaking her head. Seelie and her crew must have slipped out in all the commotion. That lights a new flame of anger under my ass, but it is quickly replaced by a nauseous feeling of sadness as my mother looks around worriedly, "Where is Jonathan? Did he leave?" She looks to Sebastian, who shrugs in response, seeming to be more worried about me than Jonathan. My mom leaves, a look of concern plastered on her face as she presses her phone to her ear - she's probably calling my brother.
"I'm not going to the hospital," I say as I tear away from Jace's hand, wincing, "Oh, come on Clary," Magnus comes up behind me, squatting down, "now isn't the time to be a hard ass."
My friends attempt to keep me occupied as we wait for the paramedics, while Luke is off arguing loudly with the refs, seeming to be demanding some sort of repercussions for Seelie. My mother is still nowhere to be found, "Why is your face bleeding?" Isabelle finally asks as the room calms down, and there are only a few people, besides my friends and I, that are left.
"She fought with rings on," I use my good arm to reach my face, my salty fingers stinging the cuts on the cheeks, "I should've said something when she shook my hand and I felt them." I say, leaning backwards and propping my back up against the sitting figure behind me. Their hands find my back, and they work them up and down, attempting to soothe the pain shooting through my body every time I blink. I wouldn't expect a shoulder injury to hurt like this.
"I'm assuming you are who we're here for?" A paramedic leans down in front of me, her kind smile reaches her eyes; it makes it difficult for me to be guarded against her, "We are bringing the stretcher around to you now, we'll have you up in the ambulance in no time." I can't do anything but nod, "Are you freaking out?" Jace asks against my ears and I grit my teeth at the realization that I am leaning on him, "No," I lie. I am absolutely terrified that this injury has just put an end to my boxing career.
Two paramedics walk up to me with a stretcher between their hands, and hoist me to my feet once they get to me, "Alright, we are going to get you in the ambulance, and to the nearest hospital," they tell me and I sigh, "I am capable of walking." I say adamantly, putting my good arm up in front of me as a form of protection, "It's a shoulder injury, I'm not dying." I say, standing up to my feet, feeling stiff and off balance due to the heavy feeling in my arm, "We don't know the extent of your injuries, you could have other broken bones or be bleeding internally, and we wouldn't even know," A man comes next to me, lifting me up, and even against my protests, he drops me down onto the rolling cot softly. I sling out curse words as the cot bumps across the concrete gym, and they wheel me to the ambulance, "This is so not necessary." I grunt as Luke walks alongside me.
"I can't go, I need to sit back with the refs and go over all the footage to determine what happened." He tells me, "I can tell you exactly what that stupid bitch did to me." I snarl and he sighs, waving at the paramedic dragging me to stop, "I'm going to handle it." He tells me with a pointed look, and a tone of voice that tells me not to argue, "I'm sending the boys with you in the ambulance," he points at Jace, Alec, and Sebastian. I open my mouth to argue, but he silences me with a gruff, "Clary," I purse my lips shut, "I'm sure the rest of your friends will meet you at the hospital, and I'll find out what is going on with your mom and your brother. I will call Simon when I find anything out." He tells me with a nod to the boys. When he backs away from me, the paramedics pull me into the ambulance, and strap the cot to the floor so I don't roll around in the vehicle. Jace, Sebastian, and Alec hop into the back of the ambulance, and the paramedics glance at them sideways, "Really? All of you?" He asks them, "Boss' orders." Jace smiles at him, "Plus, she bites," he says winking at me. The kind paramedic jumps into the back of the ambulance, pulling the door shut behind her.
"Wow, now that's something you don't see everyday. Take a seat boys." Sebastian, Jace, and Alec do what they are told for once, and sit down while the ambulance pulls off down the road, "Alrighty." The lady with the brown eyes approaches me, placing a hand on my lower abdomen, "I'm going to feel around a bit, and you're going to tell me if it hurts." My ribs are sore, my arm is burning, my eyes are watering, and my head is pounding.
"What happened to your face?" She touches the side of my head tenderly, "The girl I was fighting had rings on," the paramedic sucks in a breath, "Ouch, and they allow that?" She asks me.
"No." Alec says, "and maybe if you would have said something from the start, we wouldn't be in this position, would we?" Alec's bright blue eyes bore into me, leaving no doubt that I've upset him. Jace kicks him quietly, causing him to shut up.
The ride isn't completely miserable. The paramedic sets me up on a heart monitor and runs a few tests on me, asking me a couple of questions, checking my coherency level. When we arrived at the hospital, they wheeled me out on a cot, bringing me to a small room in the hospital. The three boys follow me, and two nurses and a doctor greet us. The doctor sets me up to get a quick MRI and an X-ray before returning me back to the boys with the news that there's nothing he can do until my scans come back.
In the meantime, a nurse helps clean up my wounds with disinfectant wipes, and lets me know that I don't need stitches, "You're lucky." Sebastian chimes in from behind the nurse as she finishes cleaning the rest of my open wounds. I don't have many, but you can definitely see where Seelie got a few jabs in, "I don't feel very lucky." I grumble back to him as the nurse leaves the office, "You could be dead, that would be worse." Sebastian says and I snort, "Alright, don't be dramatic." I roll my eyes at him, as the door swings open with a loud thump,

"We got here as fast as we could."
Isabelle, Simon, and Magnus burst into my room, "Happy to see you are still breathing," Simon says, moving towards me to stand on my bedside, "Yeah me too."
"Is your arm alright?" Isabelle asks me, and I sigh, shutting my eyes, "No, I'm still waiting to see how my x-ray looks." I respond, and Isabelle lets out a yawn, "Ok, well, while we are waiting, I'm going to the cafeteria to grab some coffee, anybody want anything?" On that note, everyone rises from their seats - everyone but Jace, "You coming?" Alec asks Jace, and he shrugs, "I'll mind Red, make sure she doesn't make a run for it." Jace smiles at me as I settle on my right side, keeping the weight off my shoulder. The group leaves the room, leaving Jace and I alone.
"Hey, no falling asleep, if you have a concussion, you might never wake up, and then I'll never see those pretty green eyes again." He stands up, coming to sit next to me on the bed, "Yeah, yeah, whatever." His hand finds my hair, stroking it softly, and I let out a hum of contentment, "I'm scared." I admit honestly to him, "Of?" he asks.
"What if I can't box anymore, how will I provide for my mom and I?" I ask quietly, Jace hums in response, his hand still working its way through my hair, "I doubt you'd let that happen anyways, you're too damn stubborn," I let out a small laugh, which makes pain radiate from my ribs, causing me to tense up, which sends even more pain up my arm, "but, even if it did, which I doubt it will, but if it did, it's not your job anyways, it's your mom's." I scoff, "She can't; she couldn't even force herself to be here for me because she doesn't know where my god forsaken brother is right now." I bite down on the inside of my cheek, in an attempt to keep my temper in check. I huff, dropping my head back into my pillow, looking up at the ceiling of the blinding white hospital room.
"Are we interrupting something?" Isabelle rushes into the room, the whole gang coming in behind her. Jace's hand stops in my hair, and it falls down to his side, "No." Jace rises to his feet, returning to his seat on the other side of the room, and I cross my good arm over my chest, "Coffee?" Simon offers me, handing me a cup, and I accept it gratefully.
Before any questions can be asked, a doctor walks into the room, holding a few pieces of paper in his hand, and is followed in by a few nurses, "Clarissa Fray?" He greets me and I nod, "Yeah."
"So, I do have some good news for you," he starts, glancing around at the room full of teenagers, "uh- so your shoulder isn't broken," I let out a sigh of relief, "but, it is dislocated; before you leave today I will have it put back into place," he pauses, coming to me and putting his hand lightly on my shoulder, causing me to wince, "you also have two bruised ribs, and one broken one, and a pretty wicked concussion. With all that, plus the multiple lacerations, and bruises, I would say you must have been in a pretty serious fight." I chuckle, making my ribs pinch again, "I was." I responded shortly.
"So, here's the deal, I put your shoulder back in place, and I keep you overnight for observation, and if all goes well, you can go back home tomorrow." He offers me a warm smile, and I nod, "I think we can do that." I respond, "Alright then, the nurses are going to hold you down, and we are going to get this taken care of." The doctor glances at my friends, "You guys might want to leave for this. It isn't pretty." The doctor offers them, Magnus offers back a very firm no, "We are staying with her." Isabelle adds on, "Fine, but off to the side please." My friends step to the side, as the nurses step next to me. They clasp their hands down on my sides, holding me down, but they're not the only ones latching onto me - there's also fear, A LOT of fear. Without warning, the doctor grips my left arm tightly, and without warning, he slams it back into place.
Pain radiates through my body as I jump upwards into the nurse's hands, and I let out a scream, which is matched by my friends' noises of horror, "Ow!" I exclaim, settling back down against the cot cushions.
My heavy breathing calms as the pain in my shoulder begins to fade. The agonizing pain I was in moments ago is replaced by a dull throbbing, "Alright, let's get you some pain meds, and we will get you settled in for the night." The doctor gives the nurses a nod, and they release me, exiting the room. My friends and I share a few glances as I let out another sigh, pressing my head into the pillow.