Through the Shadows

Chapter 9

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't kill you right now?" Jace told Matteo as they made their way into an office. 

"Kill me? We're being a bit dramatic now, aren't we?" Matteo responded. 

Jace gave Matteo a deadly stare as he turned to face him. "Like I said, there's a whole army here ready to protect Clary, but I will end you myself if you decide to try anything, so why don't we skip the whole deceiving tricks and you tell me where you're from?" Jace said sternly. 

"Born in Idris. Moved out. Just like any regular Shadowhunter." Matteo replied. 

"So you're finally ready to admit you're a Shadowhunter. Sorry.. a rogue Shadowhunter."

"There's nothing wrong with a little independence. Just ask Clary, for the most part she seemed to enjoy her time away from all those Shadowhunter rules... At least she did every time she was with me." Matteo said with a smirk.

Clary's happiness was something Jace wanted to ensure forever, but something about Matteo being the one to give it to her made Jace's blood boil. "She enjoyed the person you led her to believe you were. You deceived her." Jace remarked. 

"Deceived sounds a bit extreme considering I only hid my runes and the fact that I was a Shadowhunter. I just showed her who I was and well... you know how that turned out."

Jace had to contain every part in him to not lunge toward Matteo, the only thing truly stopping Jace being the fact that'd he'd already let his emotions take control of his actions one to many times in the past two days. He stared at Matteo intensely, trying to detect any body language that might indicate Matteo was lying as he asked the question that had been on his mind for a while. "How was it even possible for you to hide your runes?"

"Long sleeves tend to be very helpful in various situations. This one included." Matteo said as he raised his sleeves to show his runes.

"But-"

"How did I hide them when Clary and I were... you know..." Matteo said with a smirk that implied everything Jace feared. "I have my ways. And she was too preoccupied to notice.. "

It was then Jace couldn't contain his anger and threw a punch that landed in Matteo's jaw. Jace was pretty confident on his abilities to fight, but he had to admit that Matteo had fooled him. And someone who could fool him that easily had to have other secrets. Jace recognized that among those secrets could be Matteo's fighting abilities. If Jace had to go down putting an end to this guy, he would do it in a heartbeat, but part of him needed Clary's forgiveness, so he deemed one punch was enough for now and decided to save the fighting theatrics for another time.

"Is this the part where you kill me?" Matteo said jokingly, turning his head to face Jace again. "If you do that now, you'll never know the true reason why I got so close to Clary in the first place and how I kept you all in the darkness about it."

Jace stood in silence, once again trying to analyze every move that Matteo made. After a few seconds, all Jace said was, "Talk."

"In all seriousness, I realize now that you and I are more alike in character than we realize." said Matteo.

"That's a hilarious thought," responded Jace.

"You and I have been at each others neck ever since we met. A part of us is trying to prove to the other we are better." 

Jace stood quiet at Matteo's words. 

"Am I wrong?" asked Matteo.

"May I remind you, you're at a disadvantage at being the best with you being a rogue Shadowhunter and all. So yes you're wrong. I have nothing to prove to you. Nobody knows absolutely anything about you other than you're a Shadowhunter that appeared out of what seems thin air. And something we have very clear in mind is that the last Shadowhunter that appeared out of "thin air" was Jonathan, and we see how that turned out. So why don't you-"

"And the one before that was Clary."

"What?" Jace said to Matteo's interruption.

"For years you had no idea Clary existed and she quite literally came out of thin air for you. Valentine's daughter appearing in the midst of Valentine's plan. But we all know how that turned out.."

And with that Jace was left without words. Because he did in fact know how that had turned out. He had found the love of his life. One of the bravest and strongest people he had ever met. One of the most caring. One of the best people to ever be in his life. The one who loved him unconditionally. Had loved him unconditionally.

"My point is that, rogues aren't always bad and for the sake of Clary-"

"The sake of Clary? I'm not sure how much you can care when you put her in danger with the Angels by just being around her and you deceived her." Jace remarked. 

"Regardless of how it may seem, I truly do care about her, Jace."

Some part of a Jace wanted so badly to make a snarky comment to Matteo's claim about caring for Clary, but there was something in Matteo's tone that made him stop. Jace nodded at Matteo to continue. 

Matteo took a deep breath and in the most serious tone Jace had heard from him all night, he calmly said to Jace, "I'm going to need you to not jump into conclusions and listen up until the end to everything I'm about to tell you..."

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Part of Clary wanted to think that the reason why both Matteo and Jace kept her in the dark was for her own good. But there was another part that couldn't come to comprehend how the pain and confusion she was put through during these past years could ever be for her own good. She told them both how she felt about those years, and they both acted as if they knew nothing of the matter. 

Feeling much better, Clary decided to go for a walk and explore the place rather than drown in her own thoughts. She figured that even though she was as upset as she thought she could ever be at both Matteo and Jace, if there was any real danger they would be there, but the technology alone of the place made her feel safer than any other place she had been. 

As Clary made her way towards the main exit, she noticed two people she didn't recognize standing at the entrance. Even through all the madness, she wondered where Matteo and Jace were and if they were fine. Figuring that the people at the door wouldn't let her leave, she began to look for another way out. It didn't take long for Clary to find a secret passage out of the room. Clary began to think that it was as if she had already known it was there and she couldn't help but dwell on the fact that it was possible she indeed had already known. How much had she forgotten?

Clary found herself making her way down a long hallway when she heard two very familiar voices coming from the room ahead. She recognized them as Matteo's and Jace's voices, but couldn't make out what they were saying. 

Clary's curiosity kicked in and she made her way to the side of the open room door from where the voices came. As she made her way, now that she had calmed down a bit, she started to think that maybe she was ready for the explanation that both of them had to give. Perhaps the reason for their actions really were for her greater good. The connection she had made with Jace was real, regardless of the events that had just happened. And the love that Matteo had given her was just as real. She didn't think anyone she made a connection like that with would ever want to harm her. 

But Clary's optimism was short lived as she came to a stop at the side of the door. Any pieces of her heart that had not been already broken in the events of the past two nights or because of the absence of those two Absent Years broke at what she heard. Now being able to hear loud and clear the words that were coming out of the room, Clary's world seemed to close around her as she heard Matteo next words, "I come from a society that sent me to kill Clary."