Shadowveil

The Portal

Hi! Any suggestions for improvement would be appreciated~ 

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"Are you sure this is going to work?" Jace questioned. 

Clary gave a groan of exasperation, looking up from drawing her shiny new rune on the least moldy part of the wall she could find. She wanted to glare at the cocky Shadowhunter--now incredibly her fiance-- but couldn't tilt her head back far enough. The reason for that was because Jace was somehow balanced perfectly on one of the rafters thirty feet above her head, despite the utter lack of trampolines, ladders, and climbing ropes in the room.

She rolled her eyes and went back to her work. The Angel's own gift indeed. More like a grasshopper on steroids. 

"For the fiftieth time, no," she said, trying to manage a straight line on the rough surface. "This is all just theoretical." 

Jace backflipped off the beam, landing like a ballerina on pointed toes. He crouched beside her to study the rune and gave her an unexpected smile, showing the endearing little chip on his front tooth. "Well, I believe in you. You're a miracle," he said with a little smirk, leaning in closer. 

Clary's heart pounded as he brushed a feather-light kiss across her cheek and tucked a strand of her fiery hair back. She studied the planes of his face, the tousled curls of his hair haloed by the early afternoon sun. Newly drawn Marks showed above his collar and twined around the curves of his muscled arms. A little ache started in her chest. He was so beautiful that sometimes she still wondered what he could possibly see in her; so perfect that sometimes she doubted that she was worthy to stand beside him.  

Sometimes in her nightmares she still heard the Seelie Queen's voice, her beautiful, poisonous words murmuring that Jace could have anyone; anyone at all. Why would he pick her? But Jace was smiling at her, his golden eyes crinkled at the corners. Everything was perfect. As soon as she told him she had a new rune she wanted to try, he'd sent his parabatai packing, abandoned his beloved sledgehammer, stocked up at the armory, and then joined her. 

She went back to her rune, adding the finishing touches. "I don't actually know if it'll work. Some of the runes Ithuriel's given me can do crazy stuff. But this is way, way out there. I mean, time travel?" 

Jace shrugged. "I'll bet on it. We've seen way weirder things before; we even went to Hell multiple times together, remember?" Clary glanced at him. He actually looked excited, with that devil-may-care glint in his eyes that proceeded a sudden battle with no weapons and a much stronger opponent, a risky adventure, or in general something stupid that had a high possibility of getting him killed. 

Watching him humming and checking the ten billion daggers, chakrams, seraph blades, swords, and--was that a two-handed double-bladed axe? --that he'd somehow fit into, under, and over his gear, Clary felt a moment of doubt. If she was doing something that Jace was this excited about, surely that proved that this was a terrible idea.  

But the Angel gave her these new runes for a reason. This was her gift, her blessing, her great strength. (And, she had to admit, she was a tiny bit curious about what the future held). 

The Portal sprang to life. Instead of the serene blue ripples she was used to, this doorway was a vibrant, eye-watering shade of lemon yellow. Beside her, Jace whistled and put a finger through. "Feels normal," he said. "Where does this go?" Nervously, Clary checked the sword at her hip, and the two extra steles in her boot. "Angel Square," she said. "Right here in Idris." Satisfied with her weaponry, she stood up. "And after working with the rune, I'm pretty sure it had fourteen marks for fourteen years."

Jace glanced over. "Fourteen years into the future?" he asked, with a glint in his eye. She nodded, and he took her left hand, the one with the slim engagement band on it, their fingers twining together. 

"Well," he said softly, the portal's light playing over his golden skin, his other hand twitching towards his weapons belt. "What are we waiting for?"

With a shared smile, the two of them, hand in hand, stepped towards the rectangle of light on the wall and its unknown end. As they broke through the surface of the portal, Clary had a sudden thought. 

"Oh, damn. I should have told Magnus we were going to try this."

Then the portal closed over them. The air warped, sending the pages of Clary's abandoned sketchbook fluttering softly. All that was left was a silent, empty room, with a shaft of buttery sun warming the floor through a broken window.