Wild Warriors: A Shadowhunters Fanfic

1. Mea Maxima Culpa

          Clary led Simon down the steps of the Institute and out into the morning with a shriek of delight. Hand in hand, the two of them ran around on the lawn together, their laughter audible from inside.
Isabelle stood next to me as we watched them out of a window. Her hand slipped into mine.
"They're adorable," she whispered. "When was the last time Simon felt the sunlight?"
"I don't know," I said. "But I doubt it ever felt this good."
Isabelle was silent for a moment before she turned to me with a delicate frown.
"Why can Simon suddenly stand the light? Is he not a Vampire anymore?"
"No, he's still a Vamp, it's impossible to reverse that transformation," I reminded her. "But you're right, it doesn't make sense. Aren't there some...irregularities, though?"

She shrugged and turned back to the window. "I don't know. But I'm sure Clary will find that out soon enough."
She was right. Clary would soon start to ask herself these same questions and she was never one to just sit idly by while there was a burning question to get to the bottom of.

My exhaustion was slowly starting to settle in. I stifled a yawn with my arm and blinked away the sleepiness I could feel growing behind my eyes. Isabelle giggled.
"We need to get you to bed. Come on."
She led me out of the Institute lobby and down the hallway towards our bedrooms. The noise of the other Shadowhunters didn't reach this part of the Institute and the peaceful silence only added to my weariness.  
Isabelle paused by my bedroom door. She leant up against the wall and smiled at me.
"Sleep for as long as you need to," she told me kindly. "You've been through a lot."
"When I wake up, you're going to tell me exactly where you've been and..." I paused, glancing down at the tremor in her wrist that was a side effect of the Yin Fen withdrawal.
"And how you've been doing," I finished.
She nodded at me and I lent forward to kiss her cheek.

"I'm glad you're back, Iz," I whispered. "I missed you."
"I missed you even more, Cara."

Isabelle shut my door behind me once I was in my room. The curtains were wide open, letting the morning sun steam in. I squinted in discomfort and went to tightly close them. I seemed to be getting the most of my sleep during the daylight hours instead of during the night, like an owl. I sighed and managed to strip my dirty clothes off of me without too much discomfort.
A glance at my phone told me it was about ten in the morning. I decided a hot shower was in order before I could fall asleep. And when I woke back up I would need something to eat. I couldn't remember when my last meal was.

My shower was peaceful and did wonders for relaxing both my body and my mind. But I cut it short for fear of falling asleep standing up. I quickly toweled myself off, threw my dirty clothes in my hamper, and pulled on one of Jace's shirts that he had left in my room a while ago.
The thought of Jace put my sleepiness temporarily on hold. I hadn't seen him in a few hours and I wondered where he was. I hoped he wasn't being too hard on himself. There was no way he could have known that he would activate the Soul Sword. Usually when he was hurting the only thing that made him feel better was either Alec or I. And he wasn't with me so that left Alec.

I finished drying my hair before I pulled on some socks and slipped out into the dark hallway. Everything was quiet save for the few odd noises I heard from the direction of the foyer. People were still awake, cleaning up the mess left behind.
Isabelle was nowhere to be seen. If she had caught me she would have promptly sent me back to bed and locked the door behind me. But she wasn't here so I got away with being up.
I had to creep past her bedroom door and then Alec's before I reached Jace's. His door was at the very end of the hallway and it was almost pitch black down there.

I knocked quietly on the door and waited a few seconds before turning the knob and gently pushing it open.
"Jace?" I whispered, not wanting to wake him if he was already sleeping. I slid inside and shut the door behind me. His room was dimly lit and perfectly neat, as always. He was nowhere to be seen but after a few second I heard the shower running in the bathroom. So he was here after all.