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And here it begins

ARYA LIKED TRAINING. She was good at it. When she was out working missions, she would never know what was going to arise, it was unpredictable and erratic. But in the training room with the weapon, she was skilled at using she knew what was going on. She could regulate what happened around her and she preferred that.

In some ways unpredictability was a useful thing, it gave her a sensation that made her want to fight better but in other ways, it made her uneasy and threw her off. Nonetheless in the training room—with someone else or alone—was when she felt the most level-headed.

So as she continued combatting with Hodge like they did most days, she wasn't focusing on the people around her, the fact they had a new and unfamiliar shadow hunter, the fact they flunked the mission or the fact that her neck was still slightly bruised. Arya was at her best and that was precisely where she enjoyed being. Although she couldn't refute that when she would occasionally feel Alec's gaze on her, she could get mildly distracted. But right now—she was focused.

That was however until it was interrupted by Jace and Clary. She did a roundhouse kick which Hodge swerved but in the last second of thinking, she rolled around him, kicked herself up, span and placed the non-bladed replica of her stick in the centre of Hodges back—resulting in her win. He groaned and she released him, only for Jace to force a cough to get their attention. "Yes, I get it. You can have him now." She huffed thanking Hodge who chuckled happily at her before she jogged away to go and have a shower before the next mission.

✧

After her shower, Arya headed to Izzy's room where her parabatai was getting Clary ready for them to leave.

"Is this the least revealing thing you have?" The redhead complained, studying herself in the mirror. Her tank top hung a slight bit low revealing the smallest amount of cleavage, her jeans were simple black skinny ones and she had a mundane named Simons jacket on. He had appeared while Arya had been in the shower and he was now inside the institute. The girl was surprised Alec had agreed to it. But if she knew Jace—and she did—he would have put up an argument so that Alec couldn't refuse.

"What." Izzy snickered, looking at the most basic outfit in her closet on the redhead. "All the naughty bits are covered." She frowned. "A little too much in my opinion." She added, sharing a look with her parabatai who had dropped herself down on Izzy's bed, already dressed for the mission.

"Well, do you have anything less revealing?" Clary begged Arya who shook her head. "Take a guess." She smirked. Clary scanned her outfit from top to bottom. It was a black leather bralette that revealed plenty of cleavage and a pair of black leather skinny jeans which were low waisted and showed off her figure, as well as a pair of knee-high boots.

"Yeah, no." She moaned."Where's Simon?" She asked, crossing her arms in frustration. She was certainly out of her comfort zone.

"Who?" Isabel asked and Clary's face dropped to one of concern and alarm instantly. "Kidding." She giggled, allowing the colour to return to the girl's complexion. "He's in good hands with the boys." She assured but if Arya knew anything, they were probably antagonising the boy out of his sanity.

"So, um...you guys, Alec and Jace are...what, like family?" Clary asked the pair, desperate for some kind of knowledge about the group.

"Translation, you want to know if Jace is single," Arya indicated with a wide smile at how mistaken the girl was. Jace had appeared in her life once she had joined the institute. She always knew the Lightwoods which was possibly why she and Izzy came to be so close so fast and as for her and Alec...She didn't know. She did know regardless that she could never look at Jace the same way that she occasionally caught herself gazing at Alec.

"Why would I care?" Clary attempted to brush off but it was the assorted look of curiosity and the frown that made it clear to the girls.

"Because you do." Izzy agreed and Clary looked down at the floor in defeat.

"Don't worry. In every way he's like our brother," Arya said plainly. "Izzy's parents took Jace in when he was ten." She enlightened the girl. It raised interest in Clary's mind as to what must have happened to the rest of Jace's family for it to mean he had to turn to another. "We trained together. Learned to fight side by side." Isabel reminisced. "And as for Arya, we met her at the institute and her eyes shortly turned to my brother and his eyes veered to her. She didn't give Jace a second glance and she's given Alec like a million." Izzy revealed with a giggle while Arya hit her arm.

"It is so not like that." She insisted. "I became Parabatai with Izzy and then and Alec and I got close too." She brushed off, even though it ran miles deeper than that. "Yeah, whatever." Izzy chuckled, she didn't and would never believe an instant of the girl's lies.

"A few days ago, all I had to worry about was getting into art school." Clary thought back. In some ways, she wished she could go back to the simple path she had set out for herself. But then now that she learned about this whole otherworld, she didn't want to forget it all. She had discovered this whole additional side to her mother's life that she had no inkling about before and her curiosity got the better of her. She had to know more about the whole other life that had been concealed from her. She just had to."And now..." She breathed shakily.

"Is this the part where we give you the pep talk about harnessing your inner shadow hunter and accepting your true destiny?" Izzy teased.

"Was that the pep talk?" Clary asked.

"Basically."

"Clary..." Arya sighed, walking towards the girl with a smile and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear. "Remember, you were born to do this. No matter why this has happened...This is who you are." She assured her. "Not exactly feeling that." Clary sighed.

"Yet," Izzy interjected. While the pair of them had been shadow hunters for longer than Clary had, there was no question that it took them a while to advance and develop into the fighters they were now. But after time, it became instinctive —not just to defend themselves but the people they trained with—their family's. Clary had only just found this other side of the world, of course, she wasn't going to be a natural by daybreak.

"Okay, but now we just have to find Dot." Clary sighed, breezing over their next challenge but they all knew that it wasn't going to be that easy. It never was.

"And track down and kill the most dangerous, rogue shadow hunter in history before he kills us all," Izzy added. Once again, because of Clary's training—or lack thereof—she didn't understand the history of the shadow world. To her valentine had the title of the worst man in history but she didn't know how he earned it. "You know how to ruin a pep talk, don't you?" The redhead sighed with a worried frown. "Come on, let's go," Izzy announced. "Oh, and Simons kind of nerd-hot." She chuckled before walking out of the room besides Arya, leaving behind a very confused and exhausted Clary.

✧

While Clary and Simon appeared to be in a heated discussion, Arya and Isabel headed over to the weapons shelves to grab what they needed. It slid out smoothly revealing the rows of swords and additional items of defence. Izzy ran her fingertips across an especially glossy one, appreciating the coolness of the metal contrasted with the warm colour of the jewels which resided at the end.

"Woah." Simon exhaled from behind them, deflected away from his conversation with Clary. Arya had a similar response the first time she saw the weapons too. However, she had matured around all sorts of weapons. Whether it was throwing stars or chakrams, balisongs or bolas, naginata or kindjal, parasol and guisarme she had discovered it all. So she wasn't as much.

"No, Izzy." Jace snapped at the dark-haired girl, swatting her hand away from the shiny metal. Arya sighed and looked over her shoulder to see Alec approaching them. "Fifty bucks says he doesn't approve of this mission." The girl bet, dismissing Jace's warning and running the tip of her finger from one end to the other of the same sword. "I don't approve of this mission." Her brother announced promptly as he arrived resulting in a smirk emerging on Izzy's lips and a fifty-pound note being slipped into her hand by Arya who had rolled her eyes at the girl.

"I spoke with the Clave," Alec declared. "They're sending Seelie scouts to search for valentine, but they made it clear, the little girl does not leave the premises." He decreed, earning a fiery scowl from said 'little girl'. "Hey, my name is not 'Little girl', okay? I don't care what that Clave thing or you want, I'm going to find Dot." She argued, raising herself slightly taller to intimidate Alec but he was at least a foot taller than her.

"Alec, this warlock could have the answers we need," Jace affirmed and Arya felt for Alec. Nobody appreciated that he was the administrator of the institute while no other member of the Clave or his parents were at the institute. If a mission went astray or things got out of hand it would all land on his shoulder, it would all be his failure. It was fine for everyone else to break the regulations because they wouldn't receive the consequences. Alec would. But never the less, if this meant they could get the cup. It could save the shadow world. "With Valentine's people out there searching for Clary, she's not safe outside alone."

"Jace has a point." Izzy fended. She was sorry to disagree with her brother but in this circumstance, if it came down to obtaining the cup but going against the Clave, she would do it. "Et Tu, Izzy?" he sighed. "They're right, Alec. If it means we stand a possibility at getting the cup. It could be worth it." She said truthfully.

"Alright, since you have all the answers, where do you suggest we search?" The black-haired boy snapped at Clary after considering what everyone had said--specifically Arya. "We should start at Dots apartment in Green Point," She suggested "and there's this thrift store that she—" She began to explain, fiddling with the necklace around her which had begun to glow between her fingers. She ceased talking all of a sudden with a quick gasp.

"What's wrong? What is it?" Jace asked promptly. "I, um.." She exhaled in shock. "Weirdly, I think I know where Dot is." She confessed, in confusion. It was as if the necklace had taken possession of her mind for an instant.

"Great. I'll drive." Simon proposed, pulling out his keys with a dorky smile. It slipped once he saw that everyone else looked sceptical of the idea that they would be taking a mundane. "What? Unless you have, like, a shadow hunter-mobile or something."
Izzy chuckled at him and smirked at her parabatai who just rolled her eyes.

Simon shoved his keys back into his pocket and then realised as he looked down that he was stood on the training room floor. "You were kidding about the runes on the floor killing me...right?" He inquired nervously and Kyra grinned, a laugh escaping her lips as she grabbed her naginata and her style--Alec admiring her pretty smile--oblivious to nobody else but her. She just knew the boys would have been antagonising him.

The blonde and the black-haired boys shared a smirk and Arya couldn't deny that it made Alec ten times hotter. Izzy again, unfortunately, saw the way she was glancing at him, thumping her boot into the side of her parabatai's with a smirk. "Shut up, Izzy." She huffed, walking away before anything else could he mumbled. "I didn't say anything." Izzy snickered walking after her with a huge smile.

"What was that about?" Alec murmured confused, strolling after the two girls. "They seriously don't see it?" Clary implored with a frown. "Nope. Neither of them does." Jace Clarified and they both grinned, even Simon.

✧

The group of presently six, hustled after Clary as she flew down the streets of New York, veering behind alleyways and market stores, evading the main streets to forgo detection. Aryas' neck continued to ache as she ran, moving it promptly to glance around niches and up above buildings and she noticed Alec keeping a cautious eye out for her as she ran ahead.

"Clary! Clary, stop! Where are you going?" Jace shouted after her, catching up and causing her to stop too. They had been moving around the streets for what felt like hours but they had not found the woman named Dot. The thudding of their feet all concurrently on the concrete had been playing on a constant coil in Arya's head for hours and it was beginning to give her a headache. "Two men, Circle members...the same ones who came to my houses who took my mom. They have Dot. They're gonna hurt her or kill her. We have to stop them." She panicked, sprinting rapidly into the Pandemonium for the second time that night.

The lights were no longer harsh and the room was no longer compact with people. The floors were littered with rubbish and the linoleum made the heels on everyone's shoes echo off the walls. "No." Clary breathed out when she reached the back area of the club again and saw that it was deserted with no sign of Dot. "She was just trying to help me." She trembled. "Now she's gone." She ceded, clutching onto the necklace and yearning for another vision that would show her that Dot was alright.

"Clary, I'm sorry." Simon consoled. "You don't understand. Don't like my big sister." uttered sadly.

"It's not safe here." Alec conceded, thinking back to the attack from the previous night. "We have to go back to the institute right now." He urged--it was the only way to keep everyone safe.

"So what now? Valentine has my mom and Dot, and we're just gonna give up?" Clary underlined, glaring around at the group. "What about my memories? They can't just be gone?" She proposed, hoping that someone would give her an alternate solution. Before she knew about her loss of memory, she felt ordinarily complete. But now she knew they were gone, she felt like there was this boundary in her mind that she didn't realise was there until she searched for it. She was desperate.

"There is another option," Jace proposed wearily--it wasn't exactly traditional.

"Don't even--"
"Not a chance."
"Absolutely Not."

Izzy, Arya and Alex all refuted consecutively as if all thinking on the same wavelength.

"I'm not afraid of the silent brothers." Jace shrugged. But it wasn't the matter of being afraid that bothered them, it was the fact that they knew how desperate Clary was to get her memories back and reclaim her mother. They all knew that she would take the risk of going to the silent brothers, even if it brought attention to them, even if it could potentially get her killed.

"Who are the silent brothers?" She asked, instantly eager. "They're shadow hunters with superior powers," Jace clarified vaguely. "Who possesses the ability to recover memories," Izzy added--the pair of them neglecting to mention the procedure they would use to do so.

"A process that can also kill you, so there's that," Alec warned bluntly, but at least he was being truthful instead of ambling around the truth. "Your bedside manner is abysmal." Simon touched upon it with a sarcastic smile. But, while he may have mentioned it suddenly and bluntly, at least now she understood the risks. But still, something told Arya that she was going to go through with it anyway. "He's not wrong," Arya affirmed.

"We've broken at least eighteen clave rules and now you want to go to the city of bones? There's no way. I won't allow it." He decreed indefinitely.

"This isn't our choice to make," Jace argued, swerving to look at Clary, after all, she was the one who could potentially die. "This is Clary's decision." The blonde deduced and Alec clenched his jaw, extenuating his jawline and making Arya gaze up a little--even if they were in a serious situation. She hated the impacts he had on her.

"You can't ask her to do this," Izzy added, also recognising the dangers. "She doesn't know what she's facing." And it was true, everybody had failed to mention that she would experience the most severe pain conceivable and there was a likelihood it might not even work if she wasn't strong enough. Everyone evaded them like they weren't crucial details. "She's not prepared," Arya expanded.

"If anyone can tell me another way to recover my memories and still get the answers we need, I'm listening." She announced, looking at all of the expressionless faces surrounding her before turning back to Jace. "That settles it." She said ultimately.

"See? I told you she was one of us." Jace told them with a smirk, patting Alec on his chest. "Just because she agreed to go to the city of bones, doesn't mean she's one of us, Jace. Everybody failed to mention how exactly she would receive them back." Arya snapped at him. Alec and Izzy nodded and Jace dismissed her, walking away with Clary close in tow, but she didn't leave without smirking at the remaining three shadow hunters.

It was Alecs turn to roll his eyes as he followed after Arya who had huffed and stormed away from them and after Jace, realizing she had no choice. Izzy was the latter, pulling Simon to her side so she could proceed with her friendly flirtatiousness.

Izzy was observant, to say the least. She liked to know things which most would call being nosy, but she was vigilant to most things. In fights against demons, she was alert of who needed assistance, who was struggling and who was in the most danger—all so she could guarantee everyone's safety. In the institute, she was observant of the surroundings and possible threats which could arise, to defend everyone. So while she might sometimes intervene in things that people would say is none of her business—she was just a benevolent friend. Even if she teased Alec and Arya because she noticed subtle things about the two. Like the way, the girl wavered slightly when Alec was near or touched her, or how he liked to stand near to her like he was ready for anything to attack because he knew he could protect her—even if she didn't need it.

"Admiring for afar." Izzy teased her brother once she noticed the way he was watching the girl walk and how his eyes hadn't left her for what he probably assumed was a glance but what she saw to be a lengthy gaze. Alec didn't react and rather rolled his eyes at his sister playfully and proceeded walking, only sparing glances at his sister parabatai to not be seen again.

✧

The group had now trekked from the pandemonium to a much scarier location—via Simons' van. It was pitch black in the wooded area and no light was available to obstruct it. They could vaguely deduce the pathway to the city of bones due to a tiny lit fire that was at the end of the said lengthy path.

"Yeah, this place isn't creepy. Not at all." Simon murmured and Arya knew