The Life of a Fangirl, Basically: The Third Book

#111 TMI Oneshot I Wrote

Look, guys! I love putting myself through torture so much I wrote this oneshot:

DO NOT READ WITHOUT READING CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE.

Clary suddenly stood very, very still. Her face in the mirror opposite had gone deathly pale, her red hair contrasting starkly with it, her eyes losing emotion and staring emptily back at her. What felt like a string in her heart-the parabatai bond-had been stretched taut once...and then snapped. What that meant was something so enormous that she could not-would not-comprehend it. She felt herself sway, once, and then her knees gave way and she would have slid to the ground had it not been for Isabelle, next to her, catching hold of her, holding her up. 'Clary-!'

In a moment, everyone was around them. Jace, Alec, Magnus, Luke, Jocelyn, Maia. They were all speaking; Jocelyn looking frantic; Luke appearing trying to calm her down, worry clear in his expression; Alec's eyebrows crinkling in confusion and anxiety as he turned to Magnus; Magnus's expression grave as he said something, shaping the word parabatai; Maia grabbing Clary's shoulders, asking her something; and, in the midst of it all, Jace, who was staring intently at her, his gaze seeming to read her very soul as it pierced into her. Immediately, he seemed to understand something, the color draining from his face, too.

Her eyes saw all this but her mind refused to take in any of it, simply stuck on one thought, one word, one name. Simon. The memory of his name was one that, it seemed, she had always carried, one that had been with her every crucial moment of her life, and, now, at this moment, she clung to it like a drowning man holding onto a board in the midst of a great, raging sea.

Finally, she could not say when, but it seemed like a long, long time later, that she slid her hand under the folds of her tank top to rest on her side. As she drew it back, she saw what she had known would be there all along. An imprint in blood was on her palm, ghastly as it seemed to mock her, mock all the beautiful memories she had from that day the rune was drawn on her.

As they saw it, too, conversation ceased abruptly. Jace's arms went around her, too, as if he thought Isabelle would not be able to keep her standing. Jocelyn's eyes filled with tears. Maia stepped back from Clary, shaking her head, repeating something that reached her even through the silence that had enveloped her. No.

And Isabelle, lovely, strong, brave, moody, blunt, wonderful Isabelle, who she now turned to face, looked back at her. And Clary thought, At least I'm not alone.

Well. SC fandom...