The Keepers: Earth, Iron, and Blood ~A Shadowhunters Fanfiction ~

Chapter Six

I awake to the gentle touch of someone's hand on my arm, their fingertips stroking back and forth on my skin. The room's light has faded. Shit, it's afternoon. Dammit, you fell asleep! I blink a few times as my vision becomes clear. Jace. I don't know how long he's been there, but it's nice waking up to such a beautiful sight. His eyes look like the sun as it sets over the city, his hair as golden as the rays that break the sky from night into morning. I never thought that my feelings would or could come back for him, but just knowing that he's alive has brought back so many emotions; the wants and desires that I never realized I had at such a young age. He's the only reason why I would come back to this life, why I would willingly remark my body and promise to be a Shadowhunter for life. Wherever he goes, I want to go, too. "Mm..." I stretch a bit. "Jace?" Realization hits me. "Oh, God, I fell asleep...dammit, I'm sorry." I rub my face a bit and sigh heavily. "Possible end of the world and I'm in here taking a nap."

He shakes his head, his voice surprisingly soft. "Lizzy, don't be sorry. The world can wait an hour or two."

"I don't think the world would agree." I sit up slowly, still achy. Jace pulls his hand away from my arm and I instantly miss the feel of his touch.

"The world has been wrong before," he states matter-of-factly.

I don't want to talk about the world right now. I want to hear about him. It's just a wave of curiosity. I don't know how he will respond to this question. "I know it's a sudden question, and you don't have to answer it if you don't want to...but, what have you done over the years, after your father died? All the years that we've been apart?" I watch his reaction, his expression. I'm surprised when I find that it doesn't change much.

He looks towards the floor for a moment. "I came to live with the Lightwoods, here. They raised me along with Isabelle and Alec. I did what we all do, what all Nephilims do. I just focused on our work, on becoming better at what we do every single day. I did my best to move on with my life and find something that would fill the void I had." He looks back at me. "I fought."

I frown softly. "All these years...all you've done is fight demons and downworlders?" Fighting with yourself?

He nods. "More or less, yes."

The question falls from my lips before I can stop myself. "You never fell in love with anyone?"

His eyes shoot right to mine, but his face remains the same. "Not exactly. I don't know what that kind of love is like, Lizzy. I never have. I don't know if I would want to, not unless I knew it was with the right person."

I feel my chest clinch and the emotion I see in his eyes is almost unnerving. There's something that he's not telling me, but I don't know what it is. I want to ask, but I feel like I've already invaded his life enough. "You deserve to know what that love feels like, Jace. Everyone does, especially you." I stress the last words.

"I don't deserve anything." He shakes his head. "I'm just like all the rest."

"No, no you're not." I find myself reaching for his hand and wrapping my fingers around it, his doing the same in return. "I know we've been apart from one another for a long time, but you haven't changed." I'm quick to clarify. "You just grew up. You went through horrible times, you built an exterior wall, we all do that. But the man that I see before me, underneath the runes and the leather is the same boy who continuously called me Lizzy because he knew it annoyed me. The same boy who knocked Jim William out cold because he kept calling me names. The same boy who didn't talk much but had profound knowledge for his age. The same boy who stayed quiet a lot but was full of laughter when someone would say something funny. You aren't like all the rest."