＊*•̩̩͙✩•̩̩͙*˚˚*•̩✩•̩̩͙*˚＊

Major Arcana

SUCESS WAS THE BEST FEELING. Arya felt it the day she was allowed to attend the institute. She felt proud of herself for getting so far without her parent's support. She was proud that she had succeeded in making them proud. She felt it the day she had remembered all of the runes off by heart, the day she successfully completed her first mission but she felt as if she hadn't had another success since. Their lives seemed to be full of evading death and barely skimming on the surface of achieving.

Arya didn't quite recall the events of the night previous once they had left Magnus'. She was completely exhausted and was surprised by how much energy Magnus had taken from her. She felt exhausted when she opened her eyes, the same feeling she would after she would fall asleep during the daytime.

She was drawn awake even more by the sound of her phone vibrating against the wood of her bedside table. She reluctantly took a look at the screen, knowing that once she did, no matter what it was, she would have to be available.

Jace: Clary's found the mortal cup. Come to the police precinct, now. Alone.

And that was the moment that she felt it. Throughout the last few weeks were all they had done was fail at finding what they were searching for, yet succeed in almost killing everyone, she had lost all of the hope she had in the beginning. But now they knew where the cup was, they had a chance. They had a chance to achieve something they could be proud of.

Had she not been so relieved that they had somehow tracked down the cup, she would have denied Jace's order—considering he was yet to apologise to her after yesterdays antics.

But never the less, she shoved on her black jeans and a tight black crop top, her heeled boots and grabbed her seraph blade without detection before slipping out of the institute without briefing anyone—not even Alec and Izzy. She knew it was a stupid thing to do, but Jace wouldn't tell her to come alone if he wasn't doing it for a reason.

✧

The only shadow hunters of the five who remained in the institute were the two lightwood siblings. Alec was stressing like usual when he realised that not only were Clary and Jace not back but Arya had now gone missing also. Izzy was trying to act more serious  to make her mother proud, but it was hard not to tease her brother when he was storming around like a child.

"Mom and Dad are about to disown me when they find out Jace and Clary's are still out doing God knows what and now Arya's missing," Alec stressed while he paced around the screens and the people on the main floor of the institute.

"I think dads used to that by now." She assured. "This is Jace your talking about. And Arya's probably just out helping them. You know what she's like." Izzy assured her brother.

"He said he'd be an hour—He's been three and she didn't even tell us she was leaving." The boy complained.

"You don't think he and Clary are...?" Isabel smirked trailing off.

"At a time like this? Not possible. And then what possible reason could Arya have for being there?" He assured and Isabel raised an eyebrow at him.

"Magnus." She playfully shrugged and Alec narrowed his eyes at the girl who shrugged in reply. "He called her yesterday asking to go out for drinks. Maybe she took him up on his offer." She giggled, watching as he became more and more agitated by the looks of his clenched jaw.

"Shut up, Isabel." He scolded.

"Your just jealous it's not you." Isabel grinned and Alec rolled his eyes, picking up the pace so he could escape her.

✧

"Just so I'm clear, he did mention something about trying to avoid attention right?" Jace was asking Clary when Arya arrived as the other two stood between the police cars with their glamours on.

"I'm here. Why do you need help?" She asked, looking at the situation which looked to be completely none dire.

"Took your time," Jace complained.

"Yeah, well I had to sneak out of the institute, avoid both our parabatiai's and Maryse, Robert and Max and Hodge. And your lucky i'm ever here considering yesterday." She listed and Jace nodded understandingly, not forgetting he needed to sort stuff out with her. "What's going on."

"Clary thinks she knows where the mortal cup is," Jace explained and the brunette nodded as he continued. "Luke has it in his desk."

"Why am I here then? That seems pretty straightforward." She shrugged.

"It was. But then Luke's been arrested by internal affairs officers. He's had his chance, now we need to take ours." He confirmed and Arya agreed. "Follow my lead." He insisted and she nodded.

She understood why Jace had decided to invite her and not Alec—after all, things had been tense between the pair recently—but she wasn't exactly happy with him either. And Izzy was his sister, she would never betray him. So, while Jace knew that Alec and Arya were getting closer and slowly becoming something, she was his only option. Plus she was one of the best fighters he had ever met. If Demons or Circle members arrived, she would be his first option.

So, the three activated their glamours and managed to sneak through the police station and through to the interrogation rooms where Luke was being held. They took their chance to sneak through when one of the officers was questioning the man about whether he wanted coffee while he got in contact with a lawyer.

Luke spotted them and saw through their glamours while the officer did not—giving the three the perfect chance to slip inside, avoiding detection. Luke didn't say anything when the door closed. He picked up a tissue from the box and placed it over his mouth to act like he was wiping his nose. "Camera." He said quickly from behind the paper and Jace walked up to the black camera in the corner and pulled the wire out.

"Luke what is going on," Clary asked while Arya hung back towards the door.

"I think I'm about to be the prime suspect in a murder investigation." He told them and it was evident that Clary started to worry while the other two shadow hunters remained neutral.

"What do we do?" She asked them all, looking back at the blonde and the brunette for help.

"Get the cards." The dark-skinned man insisted. "In my desk, bottom drawer." He explained and the three silently thanked him before turning toward the door again. "Woah, Woah, Woah." He halted them. "You can't glamour yourselves. I'm not the only downworlder on the force and we don't know who's working for valentine." He explained and they nodded. Of course, it wasn't going to be that simple. "If anybody spots you—"

"Then we'd be leading them right to the mortal cup," Jace concluded.

"Exactly. Better to assume that everybody has the sight than gamble that they don't." He explained and they all nodded at his logic. The door handle began to tremor again and to avoid detection while leaving the office the three glamoured themselves at least until they got away from there.

When the door opened the trio quickly exited and hid in a cramped storage room where nobody would find them. w.

"Really, in here?" Jace complained as he squished in after the other two girls.

"Why not?" Clary sighed, rolling up her sleeve to deactivate her glamour.

"There's got to be a better place." The blonde continued to argue and Arya groaned at his stubbornness.

"No, here's good." The redhead insisted.

"Ow!" The blonde groaned when he hit his head on the pile of boxes behind him which were labelled evidence which was when he finally gave up and de glamourised himself, along with Arya. Clary, however, had a harder time and struggled to deactivate the rune.

"You need help with that?" Jace smirked in a flirtatious kind of way and Arya cringed at his attempted way of flirting.

"If you're going to flirt this whole time, I think I'm going to let the demons get me." She grumbled and Jace glared at her.

"Your just jealous cause Alec isn't here so you have nobody to flirt with." He grinned and Clary's agreed.

"Jace, you can't even flirt so shut up." She scowled at him and he mocked offence while Clary laughed at the pair.

She felt foolish for asking whether the brunette and the blonde were a thing when they first met since now it was so obvious that the pair acted like siblings—and Arya and Alec were constantly all over each other. It was clear to see who lay where.

"She's not wrong there." Clary agreed, finally glamouring right in front of Jace's face. Arya could see the way he so obviously swallowed nervously.

The other two struggled to understand how the girl could be so oblivious to Alec or herself doing that, yet see it so clearly with them.

"The cards?" Arya clicked, distracting the pair from ogling at each other in front of her. Even if she and Alec did flirt, at least they did it subtly—or she thought they did at least .

"Right." The blonde and the redhead agreed in unison.

"How exactly are we gonna get them?" Jace asked the pair. "I doubt we can make it out of this closet without drawing attention, let alone Luke's desk and we're covered in runes." He rambled and Arya quickly shut him up.

"I've got an idea." She suggested and she shared a sorry look at Clary and then even more so at Jace for what her plan entailed. "I'm gonna apologise in advance." She smiled and the pair shared worried glances before deciding they would trust the brunette. "Just follow my lead." She grinned and walked out of the closet with Clary and Jace behind her.

The three walked inside the police station where Luke's desk was located and stopped at the door, slightly taken back by how many people were in there and looked directly at them when they walked in.

"You son of a bitch!" Arya yelled at the blonde, slapping him around the face so it looked real. Jace and Clary's looked at her highly confused before they caught on. "So your telling me that you cheated on me with her and her with me. Seriously, get some class." She yelled, pointing between Clary herself. "Stop following us!" She added and Jace grabbed the girls wrist.

"Hey, what happened to be discreet?" He whispered and Arya slapped him again.

"What did you say? There were others?" Clary chimed in, catching on to what she was doing.

"I...huh? I did not." He denied, trying to walk forwards when two officers grabbed a hold of him and Clary and Arya walked right in and over to Luke's desk.

"Leave us alone!" Arya chimed in and she and Clary smirked at each other. "I can't believe you." She added.

Clary began to pull open draws to search for the cards but they all came out empty.

"Those girls mean nothing to me. Nothing." Jace continued the facade.

"Is that the boyfriend that I heard so much about?" A woman asked when she approached the two girls.

"Nope. Not anymore." Clary denied and Jace waves at her subtly. "I'm dumping him." She assured.

"Who's this?" The woman asked, nodding toward the brunette behind Clary.

"Oh, this is Arya. Another girl he cheated on. She also happens to be my best friend." She smiled.

Arya waved awkwardly and the woman gave her a sympathetic smile.

"Guys don't know what they're missing." She shrugged and shook Arya hand kindly.

"Yeah." Clary agreed. "Where's all of Luke's stuff?" She asked, awkwardly changing the subject.

"IA took everything. What are you looking for?" She asked the redhead.

"I, uh...Lost my house key and Luke normally keeps a spare in his desk. Is there anyway I can get it?" She explained hopefully and the woman nodded understanding.

"But, not till he's cleared." The woman denied and Clary's sighed.

"Cleared? Of...of what?" Arya asked, feigning innocence.

"Oh, don't worry about it. Well, get it handled." She assured Clary mostly.

"Clary, Ari, I'm sorry. I just want you to know it only happened, like...two or...it just happened a couple of times." Jace called over to the two of them and both girls glared at him. "Come on, please. It was a mistake." He added.

"Shut up." The three girls silenced him.

"Babe, Ari. Come on." He pleaded.

"Listen, you don't get to call her "babe", okay? You don't get to call her at all. They're done with you. Do you get it? Take him out." She called over and then instructed the officers who removed Jace from the room. "Perhaps it's for the best?" She suggested and Clary nodded sadly. "Oh, matching tattoos. That's...big red flag." She sighed, noticing that the other two girls had the same tattoos as the blonde who had just been removed. Clary's felt guilty for lying to her.

"Yeah, it's nothing." She sighed, covering the mark.

"Don't worry, I get it. You always fall for the bad boys, right?" She smiled and Arya laughed quietly and Clary's frowned at her. "Oh, is that just me?" She asked the two girls awkwardly when neither said anything.

"Right." The two girls gushed in unison and the woman smiled at them sweetly. "I really need that Key." Clary insisted.

"I'm sorry, Clary, but IA has all of Luke's things in the evidence vault upstairs. Maybe, I could help you find the one you lost? Did you check your bag?" She asked and Clary's began to shake her bag.

"Oh, here it is." Arya said falsely, pulling out a key she spotted in Clary's bag having the same idea as the redhead. The pair nodded and the woman. "Thanks anyway." Arya smiled and Cary said the same before the pair exited.

✧

"You know what. I'm gonna call Alec for help next time. I don't think he's ever slapped me in the face." The blonde boy complained as the three of them waltzed out of the building after coming out with nothing, but knowing where the cards were hidden.

"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Arya shrugged while Clary laughed at the pair who even squabbled like siblings.

"Someone call for backup?" Alec called, approaching the three with an Izzy by his side. A frown on his face when he looked to Arya—although he was slightly relieved she wasn't with Magnus.

"Yeah. What took you guys so long?" Jace asked, snappy with his parabatai.

"Funny, I was gonna ask you the same thing. And Arya, thanks for briefing us." He scowled.

"Jace told me not to. He said it was urgent." She shrugged, laying all the blame on the blonde boy.

"It's complicated," Jace said simply when Alec turned to him for an answer.

"We found the cup," Clary revealed and Arya was sure that the same sense of relief and pride that ran through her when she found out was now also running through the two siblings as well.

"The cup?" Izzy asked like it was unbelievable—which it sort of was.

"Yeah, but then we lost it," Clary added and the two deflated.

"We have to sneak back into the precinct to get it," Arya explained the extent of what they had so far.

"This is a disaster," Alec concluded.

"Not so much. I got to slap Jace in the face twice. ." She shrugged and Izzy frowned at her with a small smile. "We just need a plan that's all."

"What about glamour?" Izzy suggested.

"We tried that. Anyone working with Valentine will see right through it." Jace dismissed.

"Can we ask Magnus Bane to portal us inside?" Clary suggested and Arya cringed obviously and only the lightwood siblings knew why.

"No." Alec dismissed firmly, glancing at the brunette. He was jealous, to say the least.

"That'd be awkward," Izzy commented and Arya scowled at her.

"Why?" Clary asked.

"Magnus can only portal us to places he's been before," Izzy explained and the redhead nodded.

"And then there's the real reason," Jace commented waiting for someone to tel
him the truth and Arya glared at him also. He didn't know why everyone had suddenly dismissed it and thus looked between his three siblings with a frown since they all seemed to know what was going on but him and Clary.

"He asked Arya on a date the other day and she said no." Izzy shrugged and Arya glared at her and then looked at Alec who didn't look surprised and thus concluded that she had already told her brother.

"That's not why. We helped him yesterday and it was fine. The portal things the real reason." Arya insisted and everyone was quiet for a moment which pissed off the shadow hunter.

The silence was broken when Clary stepped away to take a phone call from Simon and Jace quickly shut it down.

"Okay, I've got a plan." He announced and everyone paid all their attention to him. "Just follow my lead." He said to Clary and she nodded. "Oh, and don't worry, in my plan, nobody gets slapped." He added, glaring at Arya who smirked back at him.

✧

While Jace and Clary snuck into the evidence locker which was upstairs, Arya, Alec and Izzy were in charge of getting the key card. The trio walked through the front door and to the desk where the key card would be. A man who looked to be in his mid-twenties was sat behind it. He had fluffy brown hair, similarly styled to Alec, his eyes were a piercing blue and his lips were a pretty pink.

"Okay, I'm guessing you're the distraction?" Alec predicted, turning to his sister who was observing the desk.

"Nope. I've decided to grow up, remember?" Izzy pointed out and Arya frowned. What her mother said to her must have had an effect. "No more distracting for me. Besides, I think he's exactly Arya's type." She observed, looking at the girl who did catch herself staring at the man.

"I'll do it." She volunteered and Alec glared at his sister for not distracting him so he didn't have to watch the girl he liked ogle at the man behind the desk. Izzy smirked and nodded as they started getting her ready.

She flipped her hair forwards and fluffed it up slightly, handed her jacket to Izzy. "Turn around." She said pointedly to Alec who scoffed and turned away while she adjusted her bralette so it revealed more cleavage.

"You can turn back now," Izzy called and Alec turned around to see the girl who was stood beside him ten seconds ago looking different. She was always good looking but he didn't understand how she could change that much in the time his back was turned. She was incredible but he couldn't help but feel the surge of jealousy as he watched her walk towards the officer looking like that.

"Hi, officer...Wilson." She smiled, spotting the man's name tag. He was cute.

"H-hi." Ha greeted when he spotted the pretty girl in front of him. "What can I do for you?" He asked nervously and Arya smiled at him sweetly.

"You look nervous. Are you okay?" She observed and he nodded at her eagerly. "Well, I came to report something but when I walked in, I couldn't help but catch your eye and now I can possibly remember what i came in for." She said with a pout

"Oh, really." He nodded, most definitely not looking at her face.

"You have nice eyes." She complimented. "Are they contacts?"

"No, no they're real.