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Rise Up

ARYA WAS FRUSTRATED. She hated being out of the loop and mentally cursed herself for letting that monster get its claws on her. The girl wasn't sure whether she was imagining it or whether everyone actually was treading on eggshells around her. People were either uncommonly nice to the brunette or gave her a sympathetic glance as she walked past. She knew it couldn't possibly be because of her injury, it just didn't seem right.

While she was busy returning to her training—trying to prove to everyone and herself that she was ready to get back out into the treats if New York—Meliorn arrived, accompanied by a flat-faced guard who
appeared to be in no mood for his current task.

"Meliorn?" Isabel walked over, encasing the man in a short but sweet hug. It had been weeks since she had seen him properly—before their breakup being the last full conversation. But never the less they were friends. After all, in the world of shadow hunting emotions couldn't be present—anything from Love to Anguish was deemed as something which could interfere. "What are you doing here?" She questioned, stepping away nervously.

"The clave called me in for some kind of conference." The Seelie explained, his low hanging coat, dragging across the tempered floors ever so slightly.

"I'm so happy to see you." Isabel expressed.

"Spare me. You're fire message clearly stated you never wanted to see me again." He scoffed.

"My family—" She tried to excuse.

"Despises downworlders?" He snappily concluded. "That's common knowledge."

"That's not true." Isabel denied quickly. "And even if it were, I'm not like that." She insisted sadly but Meliorn didn't seem phased.

"I'm not here to talk about us. I believe that's your clave envoy." He spotted, brushing the conversation off as the new leader of the institute approached him—Isabel at his side.

"Isabel, please step aside." Lydia requested sternly but Isabel ignored her so the blonde woman continued with the task at hand. "Meliorn, the clave has ordered that you be placed under arrest." She told them bluntly.

"What?" Meliorn asked astonished.

"What for?" Isabel interjected.

"Soliciting state secrets from a shadowhunter on behalf of Valentine Morgenstern." She decreed, the ruckus gaining Arya's attention from off the training floor.

"Where's your proof?" The brunette asked once she approached the group, her seraph blade still in hand.

"The clave doesn't need to disclose proof." She dismissed and Arya scoffed. "Step aside. Both of you." She ordered but neither girl made an effort to move. "Guards." She beaconed and they roughly removed the man from between the two girls who could do nothing to stop the proceedings.

"Have you lost your mind?" Isabel asked bitterly.

"I was out of command for two days and you've already begun ordering people around like where your dogs." Arya glared.

"You're lucky you weren't arrested along with him." She commented towards Izzy, ignoring Arya's comment for certain reasons.

"What are you talking about now?" Arya scoffed.

"It's our understanding that Isabel's long-standing relationship with the Seelie, Meliorn, may have lead to the disclosure of state secrets." She revealed.

"What? No." Isabel denied. "Meliorn told me about Hotel DuMort so that we could save a mundane." She excused and Arya pointed to her in agreement.

"And you told him nothing in return?" She asked demeaning. Isabel didn't say anything, she just looked down at the floor.

"This is ridiculous." Arya scoffed.

"I wouldn't talk so soon, Arya, yourself and Raphael are also under investigation under the same clause." She revealed and Arya raised her eyebrows at the woman.

"Why in the hell would you think I have had anything to do with Raphael?" She snapped.

"Alec filled me in on the ins and the outs of this institute." She admitted and Arya felt the pit of anger that had been forming in her stomach, expand all the more. "Nobody is blaming either of you for the attack, Arya you fought it off. Meliorn and the seelies for likely working with Valentine all along. And the Vamps are under investigation."

"Valentine had been murdering downworlders and draining their bodies for months. He probably killed those Seelie scouts and used their blood—" Isabel started to argue.

"Do you have proof?" Lydia snapped back.

"Do you?" Arya interjected.

"I have orders. That's all. I never wanted any of this." She excused.

"Well, maybe you should start acting like that." Arya snapped, stroking away and practically throwing her seraph blade back on the training room floor with a clatter.

✧

"Alec Gideon Lightwood, I swear to christ I should be killing your right now," Arya shouted as she entered the other training room where Alec resided, away from the open training room floor.

"What's wrong—?" He started but didn't get to finish before Arya had landed a slap to his cheek.

"You are full of bullshit Alec." She argued.

"Look, I had no choice, it was best for the institute, the only way to restore some kind of order." He contradicted, glaring at her slightly.

"Best for the institute? Best for the fucking Institute. If anything, you've ruined all order that was there already." She snapped.

"I had to do it to reunite the Lightwoods with the Clave. I'm sorry Arya, but marrying Lydia is gonna do that." He told her firmly and watched how the glare dropped from her face into one of utter shock and confusion.

"You're marrying Lydia?" She questions astonished but it also made perfect sense. And it explained everyone's behaviour since she awoke.

"Is that not—I thought—Izzy and Jace—" He stammered and Arya slapped him again, him taking a menacing step towards her.

"No. Nobody told me. I was actually here because you ratted me and Raphael out to the Clave. But this has done it for me. I-I'm done. Have a nice life, Alec. Fuck you." She said unnervingly calm as she exited the training room.

"Fuck!" Alec cursed, hitting the punching bag so hard it broke off the spring on the floor.

That was the end of Alec and Arya and everyone knew it before she did it herself. And to say she was pissed off—would have been an understatement.

"Are you okay?" Jace approached her, eyeing the bandage which wrapped around her bicep.

"I'm fine, Jace." She grumbled, unwrapping the bandages that she had been using to lessen the pain from fighting from around her hands.

"I just spoke to Robert and Maryse. They're being sent back to Idris." He revealed and that was it for Arya. She was ready to hurl an entire Tv at a wall.

"What?" She growled.

"Yeah."

"Another Order from Lydia?" She snarled, her eyes flicking to Alec who was now leaving the training room with a guilt-ridden mind.

"Who's Lydia?" Jace question and thus it became clear to her that he wasn't aware of anything that had been happening. Her fury against him disappeared and he seemed to be the only person she wasn't angry at right now.

"She's in charge of the institute."

"What?" Jace snapped but not at her.

"Temporarily," Alec interjected, approaching the pair, no matter how fuming Arya was at him.

He had no doubt she would throw him across the room right now without hesitation.

"And now she's convinced the Clave that Robert and Maryse aren't doing their job right?" Arya glared at him angrily.

"Maybe they aren't?" Alec suggested. "The institute was under their control when the Forsaken got in." He added, looking at Arya's covered hash gash on her bicep which was covered by a bandage from her shoulder down to her elbow.

"What are you talking about?" Jace pleaded.

"Mom and Dad were members of the Circle." He revealed and it was becoming overwhelming at this point.

Arya had just woken up from a two-day coma—to Alec being engaged to marry the new head of the institute. Herself and Izzy were under investigation alongside Meliorn and Raphael and now the two people that raised her from the age of eleven were members of the circle, the same man that killed her parents right before her eyes.

"What? They don't have circle runes." Isabel said shocked a few steps behind them—none of them noticing her listening to the conversation.

"That's because they made a deal with the clave before the uprising." He explained and Arya scoffed. Nobody was who she thought they were—besides Jace. "In exchange for their cooperation, they were pardoned."

"You're questioning their loyalty." Isabel scowled.

"Valentine is back." The raven-haired boy argued. "This circle is rising. They're under suspicion."

"No way." Jace breathed out. "Robert and Maryse took me in—same with Arya. They raised us as one of their own. I know, We know what kind of people they are." Jace insisted.

"Are you sure? They lied to us." Alec raised his voice, stepping towards the three who were against him. "For years they've been telling us how to act. That we have to uphold the Lightwood name. Well, they're the ones who tarnished it. They're hypocrites."

"So that's why you're marrying Lydia." Arya glared bitterly.

"You're marrying Lydia?" Jace raised his voice in confusion as to what Alec was even thinking. Isabel bit her lip and looked down.

"Yeah, thanks for telling me, Parabatai. Didn't realise we were keeping secrets now." Arya glared at the raven-haired girl also.

"I can't believe this." Jace ran a hand over his face.

"Oh, no, It gets better," Arya added, looking at Alec and then turning to Jace—she knew he would be on her side about this one. "Not only is he marrying her. But he's also telling her all of our secrets," she shouted up at the raven-haired boy.

"What do you mean?" Jace growled.

"While I was unconscious for two days, he went right ahead and told Lydia about me and Raphael. So now, not only is Isabel under investigation and Meliorn has been arrested. I'm also under investigation and the vamps are being monitored." She revealed and that was the final straw for Jace.

"Are you fucking kidding me, Alec?" Jace shouted at the man opposite him. "What the fuck is wrong with you? What has changed from two days ago." He argued and Alec looked down, not meeting any of their eye lines.

"You must be Jace Wayland." A female voice, belonging to Lydia, called as she approached the group who were in the midst of a heavy argument. "Lydia Branwell." She introduced. "You're quite the legend back on Idris. You and Arya seem to make an unstoppable force." She smiled as if half the group wasn't furious at her.

"Don't believe everything you hear," Jace commented, ignoring her handshake.

"Did you tell them?" Lydia asked, looking up at the man.

"That you're engaged? Yeah, don't worry. We already got the low down." Arya and Jace glared. "I can't be here right now." Arya scoffed, storing away from the pair, alongside Izzy. Ignoring her and going straight to her room.

Her head was spinning with all the knowledge she had just absorbed. It was spinning around in her head, whistling like a tornado. She cried out in frustration and threw her back against the wall, letting out a strangled sob as she dropped to the floor, throwing the closest thing—which happened to be a glass on her bedside table—at the wall, watching as if shattered into pieces on the hardwood floors.

The door slammed open shortly after and Robert Lightwood walked in, kneeling before the girl and prying her hands away from her face as a loving father would. She was distraught. Too much was happening and her head was spinning so fast that she knew she wouldn't be able to stand if she tried. "Calm down, Arya." He told her gently.

"I can't." She said firmly. "My heads spinning, too much is happening. I'm under investigation for something that happened two years ago and it's Alec's fault, my Parabatai is lying to me, Alec is getting married, you and Maryse were in the circle and Lydia is taking over everything." She rambled out, her head falling against the wall. "You were on the side of the man who killed my parents." She tried to swallow but choked on her breathing.

Robert didn't know what to say.

"Please just leave." She muttered, her only focus was forcing oxygen into her lungs. He obeyed her and closed the door behind him before she pried herself off of the wall and to the bathroom to splash cold water on her face.

Once she was calm enough, she left her room again, back into the mayhem which surrounded her everywhere.

But when she entered the main floor of the institute she saw Meliorn being escorted out again. She headed towards the group and over to Izzy—no matter how angry she was at her.

"Where are you taking him?" Isabel snapped at Lydia and her brother who were leading the two guards keeping hold of the Seelie.

"To a holding cell. And a guard unit will transport him to the silent brothers." The new head of the institute revealed and now Arya wished she had stayed in her room. She wanted to bitch slap the woman.

"You can't do that!" Isabel insisted but Alec quickly brushed her off.

"It's log out decision, Isabel." He said sounding border which only spurred Arya's anger more. "The Clave made the order.

"That could be a death sentence to a downworlder. Arya voiced. "Are you trying to start a war with them?" She accused and Lydia slowly turned to look at her.

"Meliorns told you everything he knows."
Isabel agreed, drawing Alec to a stop also.

"You don't know that. Maybe we haven't asked the right questions." She suggested and Arya muttered a string of curse words under her breath in annoyance. "Seelies often skirt the truth." She pointed out, her comment directed to Arya forcefully since she was the one rolling her eyes. "If he has information on another terrorist attack, it is our responsibility to get it."

"Let me talk to him." Isabel tried to reason.

"That wasn't exactly helpful in the past." She pointed out and Arya scoffed.

"You're not exactly being helpful now." She argued.

"But he may not know anything." Jace voiced and the other two nodded in agreement. "Alec, this is going too far." He pointed out.

"We don't have a choice." Alec brushed off before the trio against him walked away, calling the only person who they could trust to keep the cup safe from the clave, at least until Clary arrived back and could give it to them herself.

✧

"Let me get this straight. You need Alec's stele to open the safe, and you want me to steal it from him." Magnus listed their plan unsure.

"We prefer the word "borrow"." Arya reasoned and Magnus nodded at her with a smirk.

"Without his knowledge," Izzy added and Magnus tilted his head towards her in recognition.

"No. No can do. Not happening." He denied looking apologetically at Arya who groaned as he said so.

"Magnus, ever since Alec found out Maryse and Robbert were in the circle, he's been messed up. He can't see the big picture. If the clave is willing to subject Meliorn to the silent brothers, if they're willing to go this far...what do you think will happen if they get the cup? This affects everyone. Help us get into that safe. Help us stop this. Please." Arya begged. He had an undeniable soft spot for the girl and seeing her this desperate, whether it was for someone else or not—he couldn't deny her help.

"You owe me. All of you. I'm talking fourteenth century, gold...definitely diamonds. And nobody can ever know." He sighed and they took that as his agreeing.

"That's a given..." Jace determined.

"If we're going to do this...there's no turning back." He warned and the three shared a look at one another having a silent conversation with their eyes before they all nodded in agreement.

This was going to either go well, or they would all be under investigation by the end.

✧

Magnus and the other pair completed their mission while Arya was in the infirmary getting her bandages on her arm changed. They had bled through when she was walking around the institute halls and Jace who seemed to be the only person who cared about her right now, insisted she go to the infirmary. He was protective over her, to say the least.

But after it was changed, she slipped her jacket back on and quickly rushed over to join the raven-haired girl and the blonde-haired boy as they were leaving.

Jace tossed her, her naginata and her seraph blade which she tucked into her holster and the group all left to save Meliorn.

If Alec wasn't going to look after the innocents. they would have to do it themselves—alone.

✧

Once the three of them arrived outside the hotel DuMort, they had a short chat with Raphael and told him they were there for Clary and he immediately went ahead and beckoned her down—but not before Arya discreetly told him that the vamps and herself were under investigation. He appreciated the gesture of her doing so.

Moments later Clary ran out of the back door of the building and straight into Jace's arms. Arya felt a pang of jealously for a moment. Not because she liked Jace or Clary in that way at all. But simply because it reminded her of running into Alec's arms after she had been attacked. He was all she had been thinking about getting back to. Wanting to be in his arms and on his lips again. But oh how things changed in two days. It appeared that was done for good. And Arya was hiding how she felt. Like she always did. It was a coping mechanism—a bad one at that.

"So, this is your safe hideout, huh?" Jace surveyed and Clary nodded with a smirk.

"Well, you think the Clave was gonna look here?" She asked, the girl had no idea what had been happening.

"Yes," Arya replied bluntly. "The vamps are being surveyed and I and Izzy are under inspection because of her and Meliorn and me and Rafe." She explained and Clary looked surprised.

"I know," Izzy said when she looked at her in shock. "Now, can we please focus on the matter at hand?" She declared, worried for the safety of Meliorn. "Unless no one here cares that the clave is planning on murdering Meliorn." She said explicitly.

"What?" Clary and Simon who had followed her called out simultaneously.

"As Arya said, they think Meliorn has more information on Valentine and the attack than he's saying." Jace further explained.

"They're taking him to the silent brothers," Isabel added.

"We have to stop them!" Clary declared and they all agreed.

"That's the plan," Arya assured. Meliorn was a good innocent person and she wasn't about to let him get murdered because Alec and Lydia suddenly declared it was the right thing to do.

"Rescue and Recovery," Jace added and Izzy pursed her lips in anticipation for when they would leave.

"We get him from the guards, in and