𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐰𝐨

           Light streamed through the window and hit Aria directly on the face. She hid herself in the crook of Jace's neck, allowing the boy to caress her hair softly. Even though her eyes remained closed, her mind was awake and she took the time to take the moment in. She could not remember a more peaceful night of sleep, one that was not tainted by the most stupid nightmares to ever exist, usually involving a cliff or some awful creature that did not stop running after her. 

Aria put her leg over the boy's body, his hand moving there and resting on her upper thigh. His hand was cold, as it always was. When they were younger, they use to joke about them being like ice and fire, so opposite yet so intricately related, almost inseparable in some people's mind. She smiled and hugged the boy, hoping that that moment could last forever. 

"Breakfast's ready!" Isabelle burst into Jace's room, as she did every morning, but stopped herself when she realised that there were two persons in the bed and that their pyjamas were scattered around the room. "I'm sorry I didn't..."

"Get out, Izzy," Jace demanded, his voice deep from a night of sleep.

"Yep, doing that right now," she said, closing the door already.

"Good morning." Jace caressed Aria's face, who had her eyes closed still. She simply groaned and hugged Jace closer, not wanting to get up and lose the contact. "Come on, breakfast's ready. And I need to talk to Hodge."

"What for?" she inquired, sitting up, her eyes still half-closed. The moment she realised she was wearing only her underwear, she tried to cover herself with Jace's bed's sheets, which prompted a laugh from the boy.

"Nothing important, don't worry. Now come on, get dressed. It's not like I haven't seen you like this before."

"Do you realise my room is on the other side of the Institute and that these pyjamas are...? Well, they're Isabelle's."

No answer came from the boy but he instead threw her one of his white t-shirts as well as one of his old tracksuit pants while he rummaged through his closet for a suitable outfit for the day. Aria scoffed at the receiving of the clothes but thanked the boy nevertheless, as he told her that she could shower in his bathroom.

"Don't worry, I won't come in," he joked, looking at her over his shoulder. He took some seconds to really look at her. She was beautiful, even freshly woken up. That was a side of Aria that he had never seen before and he would be lying if he said he didn't like it. 

"I will literally cut both of your arms if you even think about it." Aria took Jace's clothes and walked to the bathroom, closing the door behind her. Jace's bathroom was as bare as his room; there was nothing besides a couple of towels, a comb, a bottle of shampoo and a bottle of shower gel. It then dawned on Aria that she would go the whole day smelling like Jace's gel, which she did not know how to feel about. It was such a personal and recognisable smell that left her with mixed feelings. 

She tied her hair up and got into the shower as soon as the water was warm enough, letting it flow through her body. She spent a couple of minutes there but seeing that Jace was pounding on the door because he was hungry and needed to shower as well, she quickly washed her body and stepped out, a towel hugging her body.

"You are insufferable and I would hate to have you as a flatmate," she said as soon as she stepped outside of the room, letting the steam escape.

"Good thing we live in separate rooms then." He stepped into the bathroom, leaving Aria just enough time to get dressed in his room. Once he was out, his hair damp and getting the shoulders of his shirt wet, both of them walked to the kitchen where Alec and Isabelle were nearly finishing their breakfasts.

"Took you long enough," the girl observed, eating the last bite of her home-made pancakes. Jace scrunched his nose at the sight of the food; all of them knew Isabelle was simply not the best cook. "We saved you pancakes."

"It's not my fault Aria here takes a thousand years to shower."

Jace put some pancakes in separate plates for both of them as Aria prepared both of their coffees, Jace's with just a dash of milk and one spoonful of sugar, hers with a lot of milk and no sugar. They sat down in their usual seats, Aria next to Alec who had not said a word since they had stepped into the kitchen.

"Good morning Alec," the brunette smiled his way, "did you sleep well?"

"I guess." He shrugged, his gaze still fixed on the pancakes. 

Isabelle and Aria connected gazes, but said nothing, they understood each other perfectly. The two girls had been attached by the hip ever since they had met, even more so when they decided to subject themselves to the parabatai ritual together, bounding them in life and death.

Jace gulped down his pancakes, managing to hide the fact that Isabelle had put far too much sugar in them, and drank his coffee without even stopping to breathe and, leaving his things in the sink, ran out of the kitchen claiming that he had to talk to Hodge.

"Do any of you know what that's about?" Aria asked. Jace was not usually a secretive person, at least as the Institute was concerned, which is why it struck them as strange that he would not tell them what he needed first, in case they could help. Both Isabelle and Alec shook their heads.

"You were the one sleeping with him," Alec muttered, making Aria choke on her coffee. Isabelle let out a soft laugh, giving the girl a napkin. "You're wearing his clothes, it's not detective's work."

Breakfast was probably one of the calmest moments of the day at the Institute. Seeing how they were all sleepy still, they did not talk much at first, but conversation seemed to pick up as she did the dishes (it was her turn that day, something she completely dreaded and would have happily traded for any other chore). The three of them pondered what they would do that day, since they did not have any classes programmed. They would probably go upstairs and train on the beams and with the blades for some time, maybe even try some pair fighting if Jace came back soon.

"Should we change clothes?" Isabelle asked.

"I think so. It would be great to get used to the fighting gear again..." Alec conceded, still sitting in his spot. They had never worn their fighting gear outside the Institute, because there had been no need for it, but Alec insisted wearing it from time to time to train so that they would be ready when (and if ever) the situation arose. Wearing the fighting gear was completely different to wearing their everyday clothes and, Aria had to give it to the boy, that it was a good idea to train in it. Otherwise, they would be completely unable to move during a fight.

"Should we go find Jace or...?"

"No. He'll find us later if he wants."

As soon as Aria had put all the plates and glasses away, with Isabelle's help so that they could go train as soon as possible, they walked to their rooms to get changed after agreeing to meet in front of the elevator in fifteen minutes.

Aria opened her closet and looked for the black heavy clothes inside it. Taking them out, she put them on the bed and started to slowly undress. Putting on the fighting gear was a difficult task, seeing that the leather was much stronger than the ordinary mundane leathers of their going-out jackets. Once she had her clothes on and her hair up in a tight ponytail so as to keep it out of her face, she took a look in the mirror after putting her blades in her belt and taking her stele.

Seeing herself in her fighting gear was a weird sensation, especially when she looked so much like her mother. Like the Lightwoods, they were away working for the Clave and it had been a while since she had last seen them, but she knew they would be smiling at the sight of her, especially her mother. Her father would probably say something along the lines of her not being tall, strong or simply fit enough to fight.

She got out of her room, knowing full well that Alec would be the only one at the elevator and that Isabelle would be at least ten minutes late, but she did not mind. There was no sight of Jace anywhere and the door to his room was open, as it always was whenever he was not inside, so she kept walking. As she had predicted, Alec was already there.

"Am I late?" she asked upon arriving.

"Right on time as always," he replied quietly, not even looking at her.

Aria began toying with her blade but, unable to stand the silence any longer, she decided to speak. "Is everything alright, Alec?"

"I keep thinking about that girl from yesterday," he admitted, now finally looking at her. "It's just... it's weird right? That she could see us and the demon?"

"It is. You'd think she was Nephilim but--"

"She had no Marks. No Marks, no stele or blade on sight... she didn't even know what we were talking about."

"Maybe we should tell Hodge? He'll know what to do," Aria asked, nervous. It was true that the scene had been weird but, to be honest, she didn't think Alec would be so worried about it. The fact that he was, however, signalled that it was important.

"Perhaps after training, here comes Izzy."

Isabelle was stunning in her fighting gear, maybe more than she normally was, and her golden whip was already looped to her belt, ready to be used if anything happened. After asking them whether they were ready for her to kick their butts, she called for the elevator and all of them moved up to the highest level.

Once they stepped out, the cold air hit their faces like a truck. They barely used the training room anymore, especially because there were no parents around to remind them to fulfil their duties as Nephilim in case anything happened, which is why it was always cold and full of dust. They took a few minutes to clean the dust in order not to slip and, then, they began warming up.

Isabelle and Aria followed Alec as he guided them on the warm-ups, considering that he was the oldest and the one that had had more training. When they were younger, Isabelle and Aria used to spend their time talking while Alec was the one to take the training seriously. He paid close attention to their movements, even taking his time to correct them and help them adopt the right position. If you had told the Aria from a few years ago that she would feel nothing whenever Alec Lightwood touched her, she would have laughed in your face.

When she first met the Lightwoods, Aria took an instant liking to the boy. Not only was he the only boy around but he was insanely gorgeous for his age and, of course, was older. However, when Jace had arrived a few years later, Aria felt herself completely engulfed by him, despite the fact that both of them had such strong characters that they fought more than any other thing. At least until they started kissing each other at every opportunity they got. The blond boy, however, was still nowhere in sight and, with all probabilities, wasn't even in the Institute whatsoever. He was unlikely to be reading a book while the three of them were up there training.

Once their warm up was over (Isabelle and Aria had wanted to start fighting as soon as they arrived but Alec insisted that warm-ups were necessary if they wanted to do their best), they began to fight each other in turns (of course, without actually putting arm-to-skin at any point, at least not intentionally). They tried to memorise each other's movements in an attempt to predict what to do next but, soon, they were moving all around the attic, jumping on things and trying to surprise each other, the organised attacks long forgotten. From time to time, they found themselves rolling on the floor, laughing at one another.

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After a couple of hours of training and a long shower to release all the tension and wash the sweat away, Aria stepped out of her room feeling completely refreshed. She walked to the kitchen, the smell of food guiding her, half-hoping to see Jace sitting at the table with a plate of food in front of him already. However, the only ones there were Isabelle and Alec, the latter cooking some pasta for all of them, since it was his turn. When she was younger, Aria had despised the system Hodge had implemented to get the tasks done but now she was grateful to have some kind of order in her life.

"He's still nowhere to be seen," Alec noted as soon as Aria stepped into the kitchen.

"I didn't..."

"Sure you didn't."

Some time ago, she had thought that Alec did not like her very much. Unlike Isabelle and Jace, he was always curt and succint, his face rarely adorned with a smile and with virtually no jokes coming out of her mouth. She had even asked him about why it was he did not like her, but he claimed that that was hardly the case. Although she was, just like his little sister, annoying at times, he was actually quite fond of her. He just preferred keeping to himself. With time, however, he had let himself loose and could actually be quite funny if he gave himself the opportunity. 

She took out some glasses and plates and set the table for four, just in case. Hodge would surely be eating in the library, his favourite place to be... well, every waking hour.

"God, how I needed that shower," Isabelle stepped into the room, her hair still wet and cascading down her back. "What's for-? Is Jace still not here?"

"Don't talk about that. Aria may well start ripping her skin off," Alec joked.. "He'll be outside doing whatever stupid thing came to mind this morning."

"He could've at least warned us" Aria murmured.

"You'd think that a night with you would be enough to take his mind off of anything else."

Alec stiffened for a split moment, which prompted Aria to throw Isabelle a hard look. Both of them knew Alec liked Jace, even if Alec had never said it out loud. For a long time, Aria had made sure that Alec did not find out that she and Jace were an "item", but Alec had ended up talking to Aria and assuring her that it was alright, that he already knew. Nonetheless, she tried to keep their PDA to a minimum, although Jace being utterly clueless about Alec's inclinations did not make it very easy for her.

"I'm just worried that he's being stupider than usual. He normally tells us his dumb ideas in case we want to come but... he didn't say a word this time."

"He'll be here soon enough, you'll see." Isabelle sat down in front of her, her plate ready for when Alec served the food. Truth be told, he was a far better cook than Isabelle was and they enjoyed their meal as much as they could. However, Aria's eyes kept drifting to Jace's empty space, mentally pleading that he was okay.

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The afternoon had passed slowly. Jace had given no signs of being alive and, knowing him as they did, he may well be lying somewhere, blood all over him and no way to reach him. But they couldn't help him because they did not know where he was and Hodge did not want to tell them, claiming that he was perfectly well.

However, even Hodge had begun worrying when night fell and Jace was still not at the Institute. After much pleading, he had finally told them that Jace had asked to go check on Clary, the girl from the previous night at Pandemonium, the one that could see them. And he had asked to go alone.

Aria's heart skipped a beat at the hearing of those words. Why would Jace want to go talk to that girl alone was beyond her but what worried her was that "Clary" had gotten Jace arrested somehow for what she had seen yesterday. Isabelle put an arm on her upper arm, yanking her out of her own thoughts, and looked at her softly.

"I'm sure it's nothing, okay?"

"I don't care that he's gone to check on her," she confessed. "What bugs me is that he said nothing to us. Like he didn't care we would spend the whole day worrying about him."

"Well, you know Jace. He does most things thinking about himself and himself only." Alec could not stop pacing up and down, seeing the minutes tick by and praying to hear the elevator coming up soon. Hours passed before that happened, though.

The three of them, along with Hodge, ran out of the library and put themselves in front of the doors of the elevator, ready to yell at Jace as soon as he stepped out. Things changed, nevertheless, when they saw him carrying a body. Their reflexes pricked up and they all helped him take the unconscious girl and bring her to the infirmary, where they put her on a bed and tried everything they knew to get her to wake.

"A Ravener attacked her," Jace explained, his breath still heavy from the effort.

"Why would a Ravener attack a mundane?"

"Because she is not a mundane, Alec. Can't you see that?" he spat, making Alec flinch slightly. 

As soon as Clary was settled in the infirmary, they all agreed to take turns to watch over her in case she woke up. She would probably be scared out of her senses if she woke up and she was completely alone in an unknown place. Plus, they didn't want her wandering about the Institute alone.

Aria did not know how to react. She wanted to yell. She wanted to yell at Hodge for not warning them about what Jace wanted to do, she wanted to yell at Jace for risking his life for a girl he did not know, she wanted to yell at herself for feeling so frustrated. That is why she asked to be the first to watch over Clary, so that she could calm down. She asked Alec to bring her a book and settled down on the bed next to the red-headed girl. If they hadn't known any better, they would have said that she was just sleeping, but having demon venom running through your veins was dangerous and she was surely seeing horrible things in her mind.

"Hey," a voice took her out of her thoughts. "Want some company?"

It was Jace, her favourite book on hand. He was tentative, doubtful, as if he did not know whether to enter the room or not. He was still dishevelled, clear signs of a fight on his appearance, which showed that he had gone straight to talk to her after a quick trip to the library.

"Not right now, no."

"Come on, Aria. Are you mad?"

She had tried her best not to yell at the blond boy in front of her, but those words made her blood boil. "I don't know, Jace. Should I be mad? We spend the night together for the first time, you rush me to wake up in the morning and then you disappear for the whole day. And, on top of that, you ask Hodge not to tell us where the fuck you are. Do you know how worried we were? Why don't you take our feelings into account, ever?"

"You can't say that. You know that's not true."

"Is it not? What would have happened if you needed help? If you needed someone to fight with you? You would rather die than have us help you." She had got to her feet by that point, getting closer to Jace as she spoke. At some point, she worried about waking Clary up, but she knew it would be some hours before her body processed what had happened at all. "Was it worth it for a girl you don't know?"

"That's it then. You're jealous that I went to see her. I thought you already knew how this worked." Jace was defensive, although he pretended not to be. However, there was not a sign of nervousness in his demeanour, his voice and hands perfectly steady.

"Yes, Jace. You've told me time and again, you've made