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beclynn-herondale · 4 years ago

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In Another Universe: Chapter 9 - The Greenhouse part 1

He wasn't sure if he had screamed, if he had it would have been again for the hundredth time tonight. The motorcycle was flying, it felt like a rollercoaster almost, it also caused that weird feeling you get in your stomach when you ride one. He looked back at the roof and saw the vampires and werewolves. And looked away honestly if he ever saw that place again it would be way too soon. Jayce was screaming in delight. Clar tightened his arms around her. "My mother told me that if I ever rode a motorcycle with someone, she'd kill me." he called over the sound of the the wind and bike. "Not if she knew me," she called back with confidence. "I am excellent at driving." Clar remembered something suddenly. "Hey, I thought Alec said only some of these could fly?" "Only some can!" "So how did you know this one could?". "I had no idea if it could!" she shouted happily, she did something that the bike ride in the air.

"Look down!" she shouted. "It's so amazing!" Curiousity making him want to, even though he was still terrified, he looked down. They were a lot higher than he had originally thought. They were flying over the city, it was beautiful, in a terrifying way. Jayce tunred the bike towards the brooklyn bridge. "You okay?" she shouted. He didn't say anything, held on more tightly. He felt nauseous all of a sudden and was reminded of how high they were and how they could fall so far down, he shut his eyes. "Clar?" she yelled again. "Are you ok, Clar? He shook his head. Something scratched at him, he ignored it until it scratched again. He opened his eyes slightly, and saw it was Simone, her head out of Clar's jacket, tugging at it. "It's okay, Simone." he said, not wanting to look down. "It was just the bridge—" But she scratched him again, pointing her paw towards the waterfront, rising up on their left. Still dizzy he looked up and saw sunrise. "Yes, it's very pretty," he said, shutting his eyes again. "It's a beautiful sunrise.' Jayce went rigid. "Sunrise?" she yelled, and jerked the bike towards the waterline. Clar leaned as closely as he could without squashing Simone. "What's wrong with the sunrise?" "I told you back on the roof! These bikes run on demon energies!"

She pulled the bike on level with the river. Water splashed them. "When the sun comes up— The bike started to sputter. Jayce said a colorful amount of swear words, and slammed her hand into the accelerator. It lunged forward, jerked under them. Jayce was still swearing, one time in what sounded like french. Clar saw every rock and pebble that was under them as they cleared past the river and over the narrow bank. Below them was the highway, full of early morning traffic.

They barely cleared it, beyond was a parking lot. "Hold on tight, Clar, don't let—" The bike struck the asphalt of the parking lot, the front wheel hitting first. Then it struck a concrete barrier with a terrible force that it lifted him off the bike and threw him sideways, his grip breaking from Jayce. He curled up into a protective ball, hoping Simone wouldn't be crushed. He hit the ground hard, pain shooting up his arm. He flipped over onto his back, the wind knocked out of him. He reached for his pocket, but it was empty. He tried to call for Simone but the his breath was knocked out of him, He wheezed.

His entire body hurt, he rolled over. Dawn had come, he saw the remains of the bike turning into ash as the suns rays shined on it. And there was Jayce, getting to her feet painfully, she hurried to him, and slowed down a little when she got closer. Her jacket sleeve was torn and she had a long graze her arm that was bleeding. Her face was pale under her golden curls, that were now dirty from the events of last night. He wondered why she looked so pale and shocked. Was his leg was torn off, lying across the parking lot with a pool of blood?

He started to get up when there was a hand in his shoulder. "Clar?". "Simone!" She was kneeling down beside him, looking a little dirty and crumpled, her glasses were gone but she appeared to be unharmed otherwise. She reached out and touched his face. "Ow!". "Are you alright? You look good," she said, with a catch to her voice. "The most amazing thing that I've—". "That's because your glasses are gone," he said weakly, but Simone didn't give a smart response back, instead she threw her arms around him, holding him tightly. She was alright he thought, she's alright. "Clar," she said. "I didn't—i didn't think you—". "Come for you? Of course I did," he said. "Of course did." he said and put his arms around her. He stroked her back reassuringly.

He glanced back at Jayce for a moment, she was turning away as if the sun hurt her eyes, he wondered why.

——————

Joan was leaning against a wall in the training room that was in this dimension place, flipping a knife back and forth, she was very good with knives now. Her father wanted to talk with her, she may be more connected with her demon blood now, but that didn't change the fact she still hated the man's guts. She thought his goals were boring and that he was your typical villian, he didn't have any ideals that surprised her. Not to mention a shitty father, and sounds like he was a shitty husband.

"Still having trouble with your anger, I have heard," said Valentine. "Still having trouble finding a Cup, I have heard" she replied. He looked furious for a moment but composed himself. She loved how she could get under his skin. "All in good time," he said. "Yeh? And how much time is that?" "Very soon." She looked at him. "Are you sure it's soon enough?" He smiled a devilish grin. "Yes." She didn't like the grin, there was something he wasn't telling her. "Jonathena," he said. "Yes?" "You have completed much if your training, faster than I had thought," he said. "Soon enough we will be in Idris, and with we'll have your mother, brother, and Jayce." He took a minute before he spoke again. "I have been thinking, if Lucian does decide to make a move, and if he does somehow succeed in getting in my way, I'll need you to play spy for me. Clar will trust you, and believe you. I don't think things will go wrong but I want a backup plan." She was slightly more intrigued now. "Whatever, not like I have a choice in the matter." He stared at her. "Things will not be so boring soon enough, my daughter."

Yeah, soon enough you'll have an angel cup and some sword and be attacking god knows what. She just wanted Clar and her mom, make sure they are safe and do whatever she needed to do to keep them safe. This Jayce did intrigue her though. Valentine seemed to speak slightly softer about her.

She went back to training with Alan, learning how to take on ten people at once. Lilith had some kind of way to strengthen her demon blood, Joan had no idea how, but with Greater Demons you never really knew, she supposed.

——————

Hodge was enraged when they got back, Alec and Isidore in the back lurking behind him. When Clar and the girls came in limping, covered in blood and filthy, he had instantly gone into a lecture that would have made Clar's mom very proud. He also didn't forget the part of how they had lied about where they had gone to—Which apparently Jayce had or the part about never trusting Jayce again. Also bits about breaking the law and being thrown out of the clave, and bringing shame onto the Wayland name. After he calmed down slightly, he looked at Jayce with a glare. "You've endangered other people people with your actions. This time I will not let you shrug it off!" "I wasn't planning on it," said Jayce. "It's kinda hard to shurg anything off at the moment. My shoulder is dislocated." "If only physical pain was actually a deterrence for you," said Hodge furious. "But you'll just spend the next few days in the infirmary with Isidore and Alec caring to your every need. And you'll probably very much enjoy it."

Hodge had been partly right. Jayce and Simone had both ended up in the infirmary, but only Isidore was running around caring for their every need when Clar — who'd gone to clean up — came back a few hours later. Hodge had tended to the bruise on his arm, and almost half an hour in the shower gotten the asphalt that was stuck in his skin out. But he still ached all over. Alec was sitting on the windowsill and looking irritated, angry, maybe almost even sad all at the same time, scowled as the door shut behind him. "Oh. It's you." He ignored Alec. "Hodge says he's on his way and hopes you two can hang onto your slowly fading life forms until he is here," or something of that variation." "I do hope he hurries," said Jayce crossly, she was sitting up in one of the infirmary beds, still in her filthy clothes, the lace top she had worn to the party torn in some places, though he assumed Shadowhunters were used to ruining clothes. "Why? Are you in pain?" he asked. "Nope. I have a very high pain tolerance. But I do get very easily bored." she narrowed her eyes at him. "Do you remember how back in the hotel you promised that if we survived, you'd dress up in a nurse's outfit and give me a sponge bath?". "I think you misheard that," said Clar. "It was Simone who promised you that." Jayce looked over involuntarily to Simone, who gave her a wide smile. "As soon as I'm back to good health, beautiful." "I knew we should have left as a rat," said Jayce.

Clar laughed as he went over to Simone, who seemed uncomfortable surrounded by the many pillows Isidore had gotten for her. He sat down on the edge of her bed. "How do you feel?" "Like someone tried to grate me into cheese," she said, wincing as she moved her legs. "I broke a foot bone. It had swelled so much, Isidore had to cut my shoe off." "Glad he's taking such good care of you," he said with a little bit of acid in his tone. Simone leaned forward. "I want to have a talk with you." Clar nodded. "I'll be in my room. Come see me once Hodge gets you all fixed up, k?" "Yup." surprising him she leaned forward and kissed his cheek. It was a butterfly kiss, but as he pulled away, he knew he had blushed, probably, standing up, because everyone was staring at them.

On his way out to the hallway he touched his cheek, a kiss on the cheek didn't mean much of anything, but it was odd for Simone. Was she trying to make a point to someone? Clar never would understand the whole making someone else jealous thing that people did. And then there was Jayce, doing her wounded princess act.

"Clar!" He turned and to his surprise, there was Alec coming down the hall after him. They both stopped once she caught up to him. "I need to speak with you." Surprised again, he asked. "About what?" She hesitated for a moment. With her pale ivory skin she looked almost as striking as her brother, but unlike Isidore she did anything she could to downplay her looks and not be seen, her frayed sweaters and her bangs and blunt cut of her hair that fell over her shoulders that looked as if she cut it herself in the dark, was only part of it, she looked seriously uncomfortable in her own skin. "I think you should go. Go home, I mean," she said. He knew that Alec didn't like him but it still felt like she had slapped him. "Alec, I can't go home, it has forsaken and demons crawling around it, believe me nobody wants to go home more than me but i—" "You must have family somewhere that could take you in?" he thought she sounded desperate. "I don't have any family, and Hodge wants me to stay here," he said shortly.

"He can't possibly actually after everything you've done—" "Everything I've done?" "You almost got Jayce killed." "I almost— what are you talking about?" "Going after your friend like that—do you even know the danger you put her in? Do you know that—" "Her? Do you mean Jayce?" he cut her off. "Just so you know it was all her idea. She asked Magna where to find the vampire. She went to that church to get weapons. If I didn't go with her, she would have gone without me.". "By the angel, you don't understand," said Alec. "You don't know her like I do. I know her. She thinks she has to save the world, and she would gladly die doing it. hell I think she wants to die, but that doesn't mean you need to help her along to do it." "I really don't understand you people," he said. "Jayce is a Shadowhunter. This is your job, you help and save people, you kill demons and put yourself in danger everyday. How is it that last night was different from any other time?"

He saw her self control break. "Because I wasn't there!" she yelled. "Usually I am there, covering her back, making sure no harm come to her, keeping her safe. But you are just a burden, a mundane." she said the word like it tasted bitter in her mouth. "No, that's where you're wrong," he said. "I am a Nephilim, just like you." Her mouth curled up. "Perhaps," she said. "But with no training whatsoever, nothing at all, you're not much use, are you? Your mother raised you mundane, raised you in a world where you didn't have to know about the evil and darkness, and that's where you belong. Not her making Jayce act like someone she isn't, like she isn't a Shadowhunter. Making her break her oath. Making her break the law and not care—"

"Here's a news flash," he snapped at her. "I don't make Jayce do anything. Jayce does what she wants. You should know that." She looked at him with disgust. "I always forget, that you mundanes are totally selfish, isn't that right? You don't care about all that she's done for you, what she has risked? This isn't just about her safety and almost getting killed. She could be kicked out of the Clave. She lost her father and mother already, do you want her to lose the only other family she has?"

Rage rose in Clar. Rage against Alec, for being a little right. rage against his mother for not telling him about what the world really was and what he really was, for not telling Joan as well, for bit preparing them for all of this, and being some angel warrior who Clar didn't know, someone she needed so desperately right now but was not there. Rage against the fact that his father had died before he was born. Against Simone for almost getting herself killed and doing dangerous things. Rage against Jayce for not caring about whether she lived it died. Against Luke for not being there.

"You're one to talk about being selfish," he hissed viciously and Alec took a step back. "You don't about anyone in this world but yourself, Alec Lightwood. No wonder you've never even killed a single demon, because you're so afraid." Alec looked stunned, as if he had slapped her. "Who— who told you that?" "Jayce did." She looked again as if she had been slapped. "She wouldn't have. She would never say that." "Well, she did. You can go on and on about honor and honestly and all that but we both know if you were really honest, you would admit this is all because you're in love with her. It doesn't actually have anything to do—" He hit hard against the wall, felt his head hit against it hard. Alec had thrown him against it, she was taller than him and had her Shadowhunter training. Alec with her face inches from his now. "Don't you dare," she whispered with rage. "Say anything like that ever again or I'll kill you. I swear I will." It hurt where she gripped his arms. She let go, pulling back quickly. She looked horrified, like she couldn't believe she had just done that. She spyn around with no words, and stumbled towards the infirmary like she was drunk. "Great, Clar" he thought now she definitely hates you.

——————

He should have gone to sleep, passed out with exhaustion, but sleep wouldn't come. So instead he pulled his sketchpad out of his backpack, he started to draw scribbles at first, he drew the hotel, empty streets with dim lampposts, a shadowy figure at the end of the lamppost. Raphaela all covered in blood. He drew Jayce on top of the roof of the hotel, ten stories high, as if the fall was more a challenge, as if she was invincible. Like in the the dreams he had, he drew her with wings like the ones on the statue on the bone city.

He drew Joan, him and Simone, as kids at Luke's farm sitting in a pile of leaves. Lastly, he tried to draw his mom. He had told Jayce that there was really no difference after he read the gray book, it was mostly true. But now when he thought back to the memories of his mom, he saw the scars that lined her shoulders like snowflakes.

It hurt knowing that it was all a lie. Everything about his childhood and mother was a lie. he slid his sketchpad under his pillow know, feeling more exhausted. A soft tap on his door knocked him out of his thoughts. "Come in." Simone came in, she was still her dirty clothes and looked rumpled. He scooted sideways, so she could be on the other side of the bed with him. Lying a bed with Simone was never odd, they grew up Sleeping over at each other's houses, building blanket forts with the help of Joan, she always helped them build it right so it wouldn't fall down on them. When she had learned how to read, she read to them to get them to sleep on those nights. When Clar and Simone were older they stayed up reading comics and manga.

"You found your glasses," he said. noticing a lens was cracked slightly. "They faired pretty well considering they were in my pocket. I'll have to write a nice not to my eye doctor." She sat down by him slowly. "So Hodge fixed you up?" She nodded. "I still feel terrible though." She looked at him very seriously, her brown eyes fixed on him. "Clar, the fact that you came to save me—that you risked all that—" He held up his hand. "No need," he said. "You'd do the same for me." "Well, of course," she said. "I just always thought that was the way with us. You know." He looked at her puzzled. "What?"

"What I mean is," she seemed surprised it wasn't obvious. "I have always needed you more than you needed me." "That isn't true," Clar said appalled. "But, it is," she said calmly, it was unnerving. "You have never really needed anyone, you've been so I independent, so. . . Contained in your own world inside your head. All you've ever really needed was your pencild, chalk, and imaginary worlds. Sometimes I would say the same thing over and over to you before you'd come back to reality and realize it. And you'd give silly smile you always did. And I knew you had forgotten about the real world, about me, but I was never upset. A little of your attention is better than anyone else's entire attention." He reached out for her hand but instead got her wrist. "In my life, I have only loved four people," he said. "My mom and Luke, Joan, and you. I have lost mom and Luke, and Joan, but not you. Don't you ever imagine that you don't mean enough to me, don't ever think that."

"My mom always says you only need three people for self-actualization," said Simone, voice light but it cracked slightly. "She says you seem pretty self-actualized." Clar smiled. "Does your mom have any other words of wisdom about me?" She gave him a crooked smile. "Yeah," she said. "But i'll never tell." "No fair.". "Life is not fair, Clarus," she said, jokingly. But there was a slight truth to that statement.

——————

Jayce was avoiding Alec and Iz cause they were both trying to pick an argument with her, and Alec would give Jayce one of her usual speeches about responsibility and caring about yourself. She wasn't really in the mood for any of that. So she went off to take a shower and finally after what felt like forever was clean, she threw on a pair of jeans and a plain grey t-shirt. Hodge had reminded her it was Clar's birthday, well almost. So she snuck food from the kitchen and decided she would bring him to the greenhouse to show him the midnight flowers, they were one of the most beautiful things Jayce has ever seen, she couldn't quite describe how beautiful they are.

She remembered the first time she had seen them, the glow of them, all the colors they radiated. How when you saw them it was like time had stopped for just a moment. Jayce loved plants and even though many people would call it cliche for a girl to love flowers so much she didn't care, Jayce loved plants for their beauty.

She came up upon Clar's door, she held the paper bag that had the food in it behind her back. She knocked gently, he opened the door. There he was in jogger pants and a t-shirt, she looked at the freckles on the pale skin of his face and arms that she secretly thought were cute. He gave her a look up and then down.

"I didn't wake you up did I?" she asked curiously. "No," he said, stepping out into the hallway. "What makes you think that." "No reason." "I layed in bed almost a day," he said. "Aren't you tired though?" "Nope," she said. "Shadowhunters are always hard at work, almost no rest." "Uh huh," he said. "So why are you here, anyway?"

"Do you mean as in at your bedroom door or why am I here on earth, in this time. Do you mean what is my purpose here and what great things will I achieve?" He gave her that usual look he did, the one that said I know you're half joking and I am slightly amused but also slightly annoyed. She knew that look well, Alec gave her similar look at times, but Clar's was different in a way, it for one of the first times since she could remember left her not able to describe it exactly, like he could see through to why she was this way. "Imma go back to bed," he said.

He reached for the doorknob but she slid in front of him. "I am here," she said. "Because Hodge reminded me it's your birthday." He gave a sigh. "It's tomorrow, actually." "Why not start celebrating early," she said, and gave him a grin. He eyed her. "You're avoiding Isidore and Alec, aren't you?" She gave him a nod. "You caught me," she said, and added in a more serious tone. "They are trying to pick fights with me, and I am simply not in the mood." "Do they both have the same reason?' "I don't know." she glanced down the hall, as if she were trying to avoid eye contact with him. "Hodge, as well. Almost everyone wants to talk to me. But not you I suppose. I bet you don't want to talk." "You're right," he said, and for a moment he thought she might walk away, but he continued. "I want food, I am hungry."

She brought up the bag from behind her. "I sneaked food when Hodge wasn't paying attention." He grinned at her. "A picnic? Isn't it late for that? Isn't central park—" "Full of faeries. Yes, yes it is." "I was going to say muggers, actually," he said. "Though I pity the fool who would try and mug you.". "Ah, very wise of you, I commend for it," she said. "But I didn't mean central park. I was thinking the greenhouse." "Won't it be dark? It's night—" She smiled at him. "Come, I'll show you."

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