𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞
━━ 𝒕𝒊𝒓𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒎𝒆

     Aria and Jace fought often, that was common knowledge. Their strong characters and stubbornness often led them to argue even over the most trivial matters but their arguments would last a few hours at its most. Soon, without previous warning, you would find them either training together or kissing each other in a corner. This time, however, it had been different.

It had already been three days since they had last spoken or even looked at each other. Therefore, it had also been three days since Jace had brought Clary to the Institute and since he had last visited her at all. Aria could not understand why, if he had been the one to bring her there, he was the only one who hadn't looked after her. Instead, she, Alec and Isabelle were being forced to stay hours at a time in a room with barely anything to do that was not reading.

It hadn't helped to their cause that they hadn't seen each other at all. Jace took care to not be in Aria's sight at any point during the day so the girl had had a lot of free time to think.

"Do you think she'll ever wake up?" Aria asked, looking at Alec and Isabelle, one of the rare times that the three of them could be there at once.

"You have to give her time. Demon poison is strong stuff and she's a mundane. She hasn't gone runes to keep her strong like we do," the boy explained.

"Mundies die awfully easy, don't they?"

"Isabelle!" Aria scolded her. "It's bad luck to talk about death in a sickroom."

The conversation then turned to the topic of the Silent Brothers. None of them said it but all of them prayed so tha they wouldn't be needed anytime soon. As much as they appreciated their job, they dreaded the feeling of darkness and gloom that came with them. However, they were cut short by Clary moving slightly. If you had not been paying attention, you probably wouldn't have realised, but the first sign of movement after three whole days of stillness was bound to catch their attention.

Alec ran out of the infirmary to go tell Hodge and Jace, while Isabelle and Aria stayed there, simply looking at the girl as she tried to sit up. She was clearly in pain, visible in how her face contorted at even the slightest movement, but they did not want to scare her further by telling her that it was better not to move.

"So, you're finally awake." Isabelle broke the silence. "Hodge will be pleased. We all thought you'd probably die in your sleep."

"Sorry to disappoint you," the red-headed girl replied, her voice hoarse from not being used. "Is this the Institute?"

"By the Angel, is there something Jace didn't tell you?" Aria's tone came out harsher that she intended to. The topic of the boy was still a sensitive one and, as much as she tried to avoid her own feelings, she could not help but feel frustrated.

 "Yes. You're in the infirmary, not that you haven't figured that out already." Clary, however, gasped and clutched her stomach instead of looking at them, making them rush to her bed in panic. "Are you okay?"

"My stomach."

"Oh, right! I almost forgot." Isabelle reached for a glass sitting in Clary's bedside table and handed it to her. "Hodge told us to give you this when you woke up. It's one of Hodge's tisanes, they always work, whatever they are."

"You haven't eaten anything in three days," Aria explained as Clary took a sip of the beverage. "That's probably why you feel sick."

"I'm Isabelle Lightwood and this is Aria Fernvale, by the way. We live here."

"I know your names. I'm Clary. Clary Fray. Did Jace bring me here?"

"Hodge was furious. You got ichor and blood all over the carpet. He would probably be grounded if any of our parents were here."

Aria shifted in the bed, trying to get herself comfortable. As if physical comfort could ease her mind. "He claims you killed a Ravener demon all by yourself," she inquired. To be honest, she did not believe a word of it. A Ravener demon was not difficult to kill, at least not if you had the proper training and weapons, which Clary clearly did not have.

 "I guess I did," she answered as she clutched the mug more tightly.

"But you're... a mundie."

"Amazing, isn't it?" Clary's tone turned boastful, clearly enjoying the fact that both girls could not believe what he had done. "Where is Jace? Is he around?"

Aria let out a sarcastic chuckle. She was familiar with the feeling of wanting to have Jace around at all times and, to be fair, she probably understood Clary better than anyone there. The thing was that she did not want Jace to see Clary. All she wanted was to go back a few days ago and stay home instead of going to Pandemonium. She, however, did not say so and instead replied that he should be around, somewhere, and that she would go looking for him if she so badly wanted him there.

I would be lying if I told you that Aria did not want to see Jace. A part of her was still furious at their argument but another part missed him like crazy. She simply needed to get Clary out of her sight, she needed it so badly that she was willing to be the one to break the silent treatment that had seem to install itself between the two of them. 

She went looking for him in his room but, seeing that he was not there, she walked to the second place Jace spent the most time in and that was not her own bedroom: the music room. The sound of the piano grew slightly louder as she approached the instance. She stood outside for some seconds, picturing what was going on inside. She could perfectly imagine his hands moving over the keys, his family ring glistening in his hand, but she shook the image away and walked inside.

"Alec? Is that you?" Jace stopped playing and turned around on the stool, just in time to see Aria step into the room.

"It's me."

"Oh, Aria," he muttered, barely looking her in the eyes.

"Yes, Aria. Clary's awake, in case you want to, you know, give her the time of day," she told him, her voice flat. She made no sign to step closer to him, even though, not too long ago, she had sat in between his legs as he taught her how to play his favourite melody.

Jace nodded and opened his mouth as if to say something, but another sound made him re-think his choice and she stood up, his signature smirk on his face again. "Our own Sleeping Beauty. Who finally kissed you awake?"

Clary was standing behind Aria, timid and ridiculous-looking in Isabelle's clothes, who were far too big for her. Isabelle was a tall girl, not much taller than Aria but tall still, and Clary was much shorter than both of them so their clothes definitely did not fit her. Not wanting to witness the flirting that was about to ensue, she turned around and walked out of the room, not sparing any of them a single glance.

She walked straight to her room, where Isabelle was already waiting for her sitting on her bed. Seeing her there, a familiat sight, made Aria release a sigh of relief. Isabelle was always there when she needed her most, she had been for over ten years and, at that time, she needed her more than ever.

"He'll get tired of her soon enough," she assured her, seeing the broken look on Aria's face. Usually, Aria was quite a happy and fierce girl, so it was hard to see her barely smile for three days. Not talking to one of the only three persons you're friends with can really take a toll on people and she was really taking it to heart.

"He's got tired of me," she whispered, "but I can't seem to get tired of him."

Isabelle sighed and stood up, reaching the girl in just two steps. Aria was standing in the middle of the room, as if she were a little girl who had got lost. Isabelle ahd never seen her so broken and so lost in herself. Ever since Jace arrived at the Institute, the two of them had become attached by the hip, the attraction between the two of them evident to whoever saw them, even from a young age. Not even when they had taken a break from their complicated relationship ahd they stopped talking to one another; they were nearly as good friends as Isabelle and Aria were, which is why Alec had told her that maybe getting involved with Jace was not a good idea. She should have listened to him, he had always known better.

Isabelle knew that that was Aria's way of confessing that she was truly in love with Jace, even if she hadn't said the words. She was acutely aware of the fact that her best friend was head over heels for the boy but that was the first time that Aria admitted her feelings were maybe a bit more deep. She had tripped for the first time when they both met and, after so many trips, she had finally fallen. The thing was that Jace wasn't there to pick her up this time because he was too busy thinking about not tripping himself.

The two girls stood there, in the middle of the room, hugging one another.

"How about we go train? We can release tensions," Isabelle suggested, taking her by the shoulders and looking at her with a smile. "We can ask Alec to come with us."

Aria nodded, knowing that a good training session and a long shower afterwards would do wonders for the rage and frustration she was feeling. Isabelle asked for her to wait a second and ran out of the room, only to come back seconds later with her fighting gear on hand and an eyeliner pencil sticking out of her pocket. Isabelle loved training with eyeliner on, claiming that she liked to be both dangerous and hot.

The two girls got ready in between laughs and Aria even let Isabelle do her eyeliner. Normally, she settled for a bold lip instead of drawing attention to her eyes, but she knew Isabelle only wanted to make her feel better. Once they were settled and her hair was in a beautiful braid that will, most likely, get destroyed as soon as they started training, they exited the room and took the elevator to the attic.

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They were only halfway through the warm-up when the elevator dinged and Alec and Jace appeared on the door, also wearing their fighting gear. Alec and Isabelle looked at each other, unsure of what to do, but Aria and Jace were too busy trying to murder each other with their looks. 

"How about we take half the room and you take the other half?" Isabelle proposed, eager to avoid the conflict that would surely ensue if they had to decide who had to leave.

"That way I can fight someone who actually stands a chance," Jace whispered under his breath, clearly referencing his previous claim that Aria was completely useless in battle. She knew she was a good fighter, she had trained hard to be after hearing his father tell her time and time again that she would better stay at home, seeing how uncoordinated she was. That is why hearing Jace call her useless made her blood boil, and it made it boil so hot that she threw one of her blades directly at the wall behind Jace, making sure that he could feel it passing him.

"Want to try me?" she asked, her eyes not leaving Jace's. The boy smirked, taking one of his blades out of his belt and handing it to Alec. Only one blade each, equal conditions. Without whispering their names, the blades were simple mundane knives, which made it all the more dangerous and easy to harm, but they did not care. They were so fixated in demonstrating that they were better than the other that they would have bled to death.

They could hear Alec and Isabelle trying to stop them from actually fighting each other but it was no use, they were determined to. Jace taunted Aria with his smirk, a smirk that made her heart flutter and her fists clench at the same time. Aria's body was already in position to attack him, knowing exactly what he would do and knowing exactly where to take the knife so as not to harm him. But Jace surprised her and attacked first.

She barely had time to react before she felt Jace's blade passing her, she could feel the coldness of the metal in her arm, but knew she was not hurt. What followed a complicated dance that involved moving fast, arms and legs coordinated so as not to give away your next movement. She felt Jace's knife a couple more times, she could feel the blood drip from a couple of cuts that she would be quick to cure later, but she also could feel how her own blade touched Jace's skin from time to time, not enough to cut him. He was quicker than her, he had always been.

Before she realised what was happening, she was pinned against the same wall that she had thrown her blade to before, her face levelled with Jace's and his blade near her throat. He would never hurt her, not intentionally, but that did not mean that she was not intimidated by those green eyes she knew so well.

Their breathings were quick after the exercise, so close against one another that they could feel it on their sking, but they never broke eye contact. At least not until Clary stepped into the room and claimed that Hodge had allowed for her to go back home, but only if Jace went with her. With his body just a couple of feet away, Aria scoffed and took the elevator down, hearing Alec warn Jace that it was not a good idea to go on their own. Of course, Jace didn't listen. He never did.

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"Fucking hell," she whispered to herself as she walked to her room. Of course Jace would pick Clary. She was not new to that feeling. He would settle with her until a new stunning girl came along and then, he just replaced her. And it had worked fine because they had both had clear that they were nothing. That Aria could go choose another boy if she wanted to as well. The problem was that she did not want to, and when Jace had agreed to them taking things a bit further (meaning not hiding to kiss), Aria had actually believed he would choose her. That is why she was so angry with herself, because she had expected something she knew was not possible.

She stepped into her room and took her stele, which was sitting on her bedside table as it always was. Drawing a quick iratze to cure the cuts that Jace had made on her arms, she warmed the water and filled the tub. When she was younger, she witnessed her mother run herself a warm bath after a long day. She used to tell her that all her worries washed away when she emptied the tub and she had taken that teaching with her for the rest of her life. 

 She undressed herself and got into the bathtub, feeling her muscles relax at the contact with the hot water. She sat there, dumbfounded for a couple of minutes before she realised she was crying. Why was she crying? She did not want to cry. She attributed it to the adrenaline leaving her body, it was very common to have a breakdown after a fight. She refused to think that it had anything to do with Clary Fray or, God forbid, Jace Wayland. 

What did it matter if he had found another girl that he liked better than her? Isabelle was not short of cute friends that would kill to spend a night with her, maybe it was time that the two of them took another trip to Pandemonium and had fun, no killing demons that time. Just being girls instead of Shadowhunters would be nice for a change.

Once she got out of the tub and took her smudged eyeliner off, she put on her pyjamas. She was never one to walk around in her pyjamas but, to be honest, she did not feel like dressing up. There was no one to impress anyway. 

Walking out of her room, she smelled Isabelle's infamous soup. And when I say infamous, it because it was because it was awful. Isabelle was convinced that it tasted nice and was healthy and refreshing but, truth be told, Alec and Aria only ate it out of politeness. Jace didn't even bother.

"How you feeling?" Isabelle asked as soon as she heard Aria step into the kitchen.

"Better," she admitted. "You were right. Training does really release the tension."

"Ari... I know you don't want to hear this, especially not right now, but I was truly worried you were going to kill one another upstairs. Was the argument really that serious? You never said."

"He told me that I shouldn't worry about him, that I definitely shouldn't have thought about going with him because I was useless and he didn't need me following him all day," Aria whispered, ashamed. Some part of her wanted to believe that that was not true, that she knew how to fight and that she wasn't as bothersome as Jace put her to be, but her more rational part was inclined to giving it to him.

"Aria... I didn't know, I'm sorry."

"You didn't know because I didn't tell you, don't be sorry about it."

"I am sorry that Jace is such a fucking..."

"Want to finish that line, Izzy?" Jace's voice startled them, making them turn around. Church, the Institute's cat, was there by Jace's feet, looking strangely proud of himself.

"You brought another mundie here?" Aria asked, looking at the boy besides Clary. He was tall and dark-haired, kind of dorky-looking in a somewhat cute way. She felt his eyes on her for a split second, but quickly brushed it away as Isabelle began yelling at Jace that Hodge was going to kill him.

"Today I saw two of the men who killed my father."

The air turned suddenly heavy, both Aria and Isabelle stiffening at the statement. Aria wanted to approach Jace, wanted to put her arms around him and caress his hair until he felt better, but she refrained from it. She took a step back, Jace's eyes settling on her before quickly turning to Isabelle.

"I don't suppose he's one of them?" she asked, her soup-stained spoon still on her hand.

"Of course not. Do you think he'd be alive by now if he were?"

The mundie's eyes moved from one girl to the other, making Clary visibly annoyed, but Aria could not care less, honestly. Isabelle, after dropping a small piece of fish for Church to eat, turned to the soup again and continued stirring it. Aria, on the other hand, kept looking at Jace. She could not imagine how he must be feeling after seeing the ones responsible for his current situation, for having grown up in the Institute surrounded by people who were not his family. Jace, however, was too focused on Clary to even care.

Both of them were bickering and whispering about things they did not care to share with the rest of them. Soon, the conversation turned to whether they should go see Hodge or not.

"Are you going to come back?" Isabelle asked. "Do you want any soup?"

"No," Jace replied.

"Do you think Hodge will?"

"No one wants any soup."

"I want some soup," the mundie boy, whose name was still unknown to them, said. Jace chuckled lightly.

"No, you don't. You just want to sleep with Isabelle. Or Aria. Or both of them."

"That is not true."

"Wow, thanks," Isabelle murmured, turning to Aria and helping her with the soup, but she could not contain a smirk.

"Oh, it so is. Go ahead and ask them. Then they can both turn you down and the rest of us can get on with our lives while you fester in miserable humiliation."

The poor boy looked away, embarrassed and unsure of what to do. Clary, clearly not happy about how Jace had treated her... friend or whatever he was, was quick to call him out, but the blond boy barely paid her any attention. Instead, he walked out, Clary following suit. The boy, who was apparently called Simon, decided to stay in the kitchen with them. Isabelle served each of them a bowl of soup and the three of them took a seat around the table.

Simon was clearly intimidated by both girls, unable to look them in the eyes or even raise his eyes from the food in front of him. The smell that emerged from the bowl was, truth be told, not too appetising and, for a moment, Aria thought about saying that she was not hungry, but her stomach