Who am I? *A Mortal Instruments Fanfic*

Sparring

Back at the Institute, the four of us head to the training room. "Since, you've never trained in a group, it's time to learn. Also you can spar and see different kinds of techniques." Jace explains. First I spar with Isabelle. I see she has no weapon. I see a flash and instinctively duck. A whip flies over me. I pull out my daggers and advance. Get in close, then it becomes useless.Ducking and weaving, I get in close and begin to attack. Izzy curls her whip up and pulls out a dagger. I use my double dagger technique I learned. Isabelle has had more training than me and her senses are more sharpened so it really was even.

Pulling off a spinning hook kick, I smack the dagger from her hand. I roll under her and come up behind, put her in a head lock, the dagger close to her chin. "Newbie, 1: Others, 0." I say. I let go and instead of seeing her angry like I suspected, she is smiling. "You're better than I thought. I was going easy at first then I saw how well you were doing and worked my tail off to beat you. And you won. Congrats." She says.

"Truthfully, I didn't think I'd win. But who's next?" Alec comes out and Isabelle steps back. He chooses a sword. I almost panic because of how long it is. Alec sees the small flash of fear, and he smiled. Now I have him cocky, he thinks this will be easy. I make my hand tremble. Alec smiles slightly wider. He swings the sword at me. I duck and roll to the side. Alec goes for my side then fakes over to my chest. Expecting that movement, I flick my wrist and move the sword.

As he regains his balance, I close in so he can't use the sword. Knowing Alec will be expecting a hook kick to disarm him, I drop my hand on his sword and it clatters to the floor. It skitters away as my boot kicks it so he can't get it. A flash of fear crosses his eyes. I give a side kick and he stumbles back and then a front kick and he sprawls on the ground. Before he can get up, I put my boot on his chest, drop on one knee, and point the dagger at his throat.

I stay there until I decide Alec knows I won. "Wow. Alec is better than me. He had a longer weapon and should have had an advantage. How did you do that? You looked scared at the beginning." Isabelle says, surprise in her voice. "That's just it. You guys believed I was scared. I meant to do that. I knew if he was cocky that he would win, by seeing my trembling hand and 'fearful expression' I now had the advantage.

"I knew Alec would be expecting similar attacks, so I had pull out some more of my tricks and use other means of disarming and taking down. I had you all fooled." I finish. "I must admit, that's very clever, but can you take me on?" Jace challenges. I see the fire in his eyes. "Sure. I can win." I say, showing how confident I am. Alec retrieves the sword and stands next to Isabelle. "Ready?" Jace challenges. I know he doesn't care if I am or not. He has a sword was well.

Instead of answering, I lunge at him. He clearly sees this coming and slices toward my chest. I do a back handspring away and land into a crouch. Jace runs up and swings. I roll to the side and try to swipe at his neck, but he ducks. This becomes a lethal dance. Swipes, strikes, parries, blocks, and acrobatics pass between the two of us, equal skill at this.

I pretend to get tired. Jace, thinking he has an advantage began pressing harder into my defense. I am searching for an opening and while he went for my stomach, I block and simultaneously drop my hand on his sword and it drops with a clank. A look of surprise passes his face, but it is brief. He tries to get to it, but I lash out and kick it away. He now uses his hands and feet and presses in where my daggers were hard to use.

He brings his elbows down on my hands and my daggers slide out of reach. Now it's a battle of hands and feet. Punches are flying everywhere, met with blocks and retaliating blows. I bring my knee up and he deflects it, then jumps up and his foot connects with my solar plexus. I ignore the pain and continue to attempt to land my blows somewhere.

Now he uses a back kick to knock me off my feet. I roll back and come up. "You know? This has lasted a lot longer than I thought." I say, hoping he takes the bait. "I'm just as surprised as you are. I thought you'd get tired and I'd have won by now." As he talks, I slowly get closer. "You were? I thought I'd have won by now, and you'd be on the ground." He doesn't know about the dagger I've hidden in my belt. "Oh, I can beat Alec and Iz, I thought it was-" His reply cut off by me rolling behind him, putting him in a back head lock, and pulling him onto the ground. I put my knee on his chest and press the dagger close to his chest.

"What was that about you winning?" I challenge. He struggles under me, but most of my body weight is on him. My eyes flash a triumphant look. He stops wiggling and goes limp. "Ok. You win." I roll off him and he stands up. "Then again, maybe not." He gives me a crooked smile. He kicks out and I roll to my feet and kick him in the stomach. He obviously didn't expect this and he doubles over. "Ha. I win now." I state. He glances up. "Yep. You definitely won." He gasps for breath.

"I'm so sorry. Are you ok?" I rush over. He nods. "Yeah, you just knocked the breath out of me. I'll be ok." He stands up as though nothing happened. "How did you do that? Without tiring? You even beat Jace. Nobody beats him." Alec breathes. They seemed to expect me to fail. "I did tire. I just kept going as if I'd just started. I was just able to think of new ways to disarm and win. I don't know how I beat Jace. He taught me everything therefore He should have won."

"I was working as hard as I could. I don't know what I did. One thing's for sure, you have some serious talent. That's incredible." Jace exclaims. The other two nod in agreement. "Ok. I have to shower. I'm sweaty." The others agree and head off to their rooms. After I finish showering, Isabelle walks in. "Illumina oculos meos." She speaks in a language I don't understand. "I don't speak whatever that was." I am confused. "Ah ha! I knew Jace forgot something." She exclaims, clearly relishing in something. "I'm sorry, you're my friend and everything, but you need to know Latin. All Shadowhunters do. I'll teach you."

For three hours, my head becomes filled with Latin phrases and words. But now I'm caught up on Latin. "Ha. I got the same look on my face when I learned it too." She laughs. I shake my head to clear the fog. "Ok, now I need that because...?" I say, annoyed Iz is making fun of me. "All Shadowhunters need Latin because most phrases we know are Latin and you need to know them. For most of us it's a second language." She says. My stomach rumbles. I clutch my stomach. "Have you eaten all day?"

"No. I couldn't. I didn't feel like it." I answer, a mildly guilty look on my face. "You lied to us! You said you ate lunch!" Isabelle doesn't look angry so much as worried. "Whatever, I'm hungry now and can we please get food?" I question. She nods and we go knock on Jace's door. "Yes?" 5:34. I couldn't bring myself to tell Jace I lied. Isabelle says it for me. "Ari hasn't eaten all day. Not lunch. She lied." She says simply, her hands on her hips. "Ari." Is all he says. That is all he needs to say. "Either way, I'm hungry so let's get food." He gives me a angry look.

We go and get Alec who gives me the same look. We head down to Taki's. The man waves us in and we slide into a booth. Kaylee is right there. "Hey guys. Welcome back." She exclaims. "Four waters." Alec states. She nods and flitters away. "Why didn't you eat?" Alec asks as soon as Kaylee was out of earshot. I cast my gaze down at the table. "The nightmare. It was always in my mind. So I couldn't eat. It just didn't occur to me." I glumly point out. Now, thankfully, the images didn't come to me. They just nod.

Drinks come quickly. I order the Chinese plate, Isabelle the salad and the boys naturally the steak. I eat the food but don't really enjoy it. Surprisingly, nobody really speaks throughout dinner. We head back to the Institute and I close my room door. I practice my runes and by the time I finish the last rune, I'm tired. I fall asleep in my gear, not bothering to worry about it.