Letters from the Shadow World (Mortal Instruments)

Clary

Clary's POV
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I watch in disbelief as he walks soundlessly out of the room.
"Bastard!"
I go to follow him, and when I step out into the corridor I am met with cold glares, relieved smiles, and nervous tapping.
I shake my head looking at the faces standing in the hallway. I see my mom, and then I turn from her. I remember her holding me down while Luke applied the heart break rune to my arm.
I see Jace's retreating gold head, and go after him.
As he takes the stairs I here Simon call out, "Clary! Thank God you're alright!"
I hear a hard step on the stairs as I turn around, and Simon picks me up in a crushing hug.
I gasp, and he sets me down. Then, he looks over his shoulder at the others.
"Look, we need to talk. I don't know how many of your memories are the real ones or the fake ones, but I know we need to talk..." Simon tells me.
I nod and he continues, "I'm not going to lie to you, I'm just going to give it to you strait. We are not engaged, we aren't even dating. Izzy and I are dating. You aren't engaged to me, but you are eng-"
"She doesn't need to here anymore of this. You should be able to tell she's about to snap under the strain of holding herself like she is now. Leave her alone. If you don't leave now, and you hurt her anymore you will have to deal with me." Jace says cutting him off coldly.
I break. I start to fall when I hear him say, "Clary!"
I feel arms go around me, and I'm being carried.
"Jace! Get back here!" I hear Simon yell from behind me.
I open my eyes to see Jace carrying me. I lean my head against him for what seems like five minutes before I hear him say, "I have to set you down for a minute, Clary. Hold on."
I do my best at a nod, but I think the best I did was to let my head fall to the side. I hear a soft click. Then, Jace picks me up and carries me through a doorway. I hear another click as Jace lays me down on a soft bed.
Unlike the infirmary beds, this bed is soft, thick, and warm. It has white sheets on it, and a matching comforter.
It feels familiar, and my body moves without me thinking. Going off muscle memory. I roll over onto my side, and pull my jacket off. I hear the shower turn on, and start wondering why Jace was getting in the shower when I was lying in his bed. Then, Jace picks me up, and carries me into the bathroom.
He sits me on the counter, and pulls my boots and socks off. I laugh harshly and say, "I don't have any clothes here."
"Almost all your clothes are here, Clary. At least your clothes that you wore when you lived with me. Your mom took all your other clothes." Jace tells me as he takes the hem of the faded gamers-t in his hands.
My hands fly to his, stopping him. He doesn't try to force my shirt over my head, only says, "Clary, you need to get in the shower. There is demon ichor covering your jeans and t-shirt. If it gets on your skin it will burn you. I'm sure it has already burned your arms. You are not in the position to be able to move enough to take a shower. I won't touch you unless you want me to, I promise... I love you, Clary."
I let go of his hands, and he gently pulls the t-shirt over my head. His hands move to the buttons of my pants. I think for a moment that I see his hands shake a little as he unbuttons my jeans and slides them off, but with the always confident, never worried Jace, that's an impossibility.
His hands slip behind me to undo my bra, and as he undos the first hook there is a fast sharp knock at the door.
Jace starts to say something, but then decides against it and just kisses me on the forehead. He walks out the bathroom door pulling it shut behind him, leaving it just cracked enough to make it so that I can hear him in the other room.
I hear a door open, and Isabelle asks, "Can Simon just check on Clary? He's worried about her, and frankly so am I. She literally fell to the ground like a tree, Jace. The only reason she wasn't hurt was because you caught her."
"First off, no Simon can not check on Clary, she is fine. Second, I think that you would break too if your life was shattered to be replaced by one you didn't even know you had evere lived, and to be told that your fiancé isn't even your boyfriend. That you are engaged to someone you don't even know." Jace tells her.
"She knows you, Jace. If she doesn't know that you are the someone she is engaged to you need to tell her." Isabelle tells him oblivious to how obvious that is.
"I plan on it." Jace tells her.
I hear a door close then Jace walks back in.
"I'm guessing you heard most, or all, of that conversation... didn't you?" Jace asks me as he finishes unfastening the hooks on my bra.
I nod my head as he slips my light blue cotton panties off.
Jace helps me in to the shower. Then, quickly undresses himself.
I lean against the wall of the shower stall just barely getting sprayed with a fine mist of warm water.
Jace steps in to the shower, and he gently pulls me into the water with him. He holds me in his arms as I lean into him, and let the warm water run down my back. He lets me go as he starts to reach behind me for something, but I stop him.
I pull his face down to me, and I kiss him. He pulls me closer, and I am suddenly aware of every tiny place we touch.
It's short lived as he lets go of me and says huskily, "We need to get you washed off first. You smell like demon ichor."
I laugh and tell him in reply, "Well I'm not supposed to smell like roses and daisies."
He rolls his eyes, and then reaches behind me for the shampoo.
He helps me wash the demon ichor out of my hair. Then, washes my body. He massages my back for a good thirty minutes before rinsing my back off.
We get out, and he gives me clean pajamas and underwear. We lie in bed for thirty minutes talking about the life that I had suddenly been plunged in to until I drift off to sleep...

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Jace's POV
---

Clary falls asleep after about half an hour of us talking. We had held hands the entire time, but she never moved closer to me than that.
She had small burn marks on her arms, back, and stomach. I had rubbed her back for a good half hour before I finally rinsed her back off and we had gotten out of the shower.
Now, Clary was mumbling in her sleep, like she usually did when she was happy or excited or nervous.
I slowly get out of bed, and walk out in to the corridor. I start to head towards Alec's room when I hear a door open. I spin around to see the flick of a gold whip as my bedroom door closes.
I run down the corridor back to my bedroom, and put my ear to the door. I hear muffled whispers, but neither is Clary's.
I slip inside without Simon or Isabelle noticing. All the lights are off the only light coming from the witchlight rune stone in Isabelle's hand.
I stay close to the wall, and come up behind Isabelle. I put a hand over her mouth, and douse the witchlight.
"Izzy, the witchlight. I can't see her." Simon whispers as I quickly whisper in Isabelle's ear, "Make a single noise when I let go of you, or you make a wrong move and I will snap Simon's arm like a twig."
She slowly nods as Simon turns around, and asks, "Isabelle, where'd you go?"
I come up behind him and put one hand over his mouth, and with my other hand I pin both his arms behind his back.
I pull him back, and tell Isabelle, "Open the door, so we can get outside."
She quickly opens the door, and I pull Simon out. Isabelle follows obviously mad that they'd been caught.
"What were you two doing in our room?" I ask them fixing Simon with a cold glare.
He swallows then explains, "You wouldn't let me see Clary, so Isabelle and I figured we'd just wait till you went to talk to Alec about the seraph blade shipment we are supposed to get tomorrow. Then, after you had left we would slip in, and I would check on Clary. I would make sure she was alright, and didn't need anything. Then, we were going to leave. In fact, I had just gotten to Clary when the witchlight was doused."
"You should realize that she is in my bed of her own accord, and that if she were not alright I would not have left her. Now, Isabelle take Simon here to his room. Then, send Alec to my room." I tell them as I start to go inside my room.
"Got it..." Isabelle says to me as I pull the door closed...