Mortal Instruments Unexpected

**First off, I'm BACK! Ugh, it feels so good to be back. I finally have time for myself and I decided to use it wisely for a story idea that had been bugging me since I had first read TMI series. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did writing it and remember to rate and review so I can continue!**

All was silent in the Institute, as if a massive vacuum had sucked all the air out. Or at least, that was how it seemed for Clary when she slammed the training room door open. The roar of her racing heart pounding in her ears drowned out the sound of the metal door hitting the concrete wall and the heat radiating off of her in furious waves could fuel the Institute for a month. Her eyes zoned in on the punching bag hanging off a chain in a corner of the room and nothing could hold her back as she charged at it.

She let out a loud cry of rage when her foot connected with the hard bag, but didn't stop there regardless of how much her leg throbbed in pain. She landed a few more kicks that were followed up with a combo of punches before she forced herself to stop to examine the damage. _A few scrapes and some blood,_ she assessed.

_"Ugh!"_ she screamed before she collapsed on the mat beside the punching bag. She dug the palms of her hands into her eyes to the point where black dots swam in her vision. But try as she might, she couldn't get rid of the image that was forever burned in her mind: Jace, in all his glory with sweat coloring his wifebeater yellow, black sweatpants and yellow wraps on his knuckles…and _her_, wearing the same exact outfit, mirroring his stance across from him with a coy smile on _her _face.

She knew it wasn't in her place to be jealous of Olivia; just looking at her family history spoke volumes about her. The Lightingales were rumored to have been completely eradicated during the Uprising, and since she had lived in hiding with a crazed warlock who kidnapped her because he supposedly was once a friend of the family, she had no means of knowing anything about her origin. But with her light brown hair that appeared red in some lighting and mysterious gray eyes, Clary was torn between running in the opposite direction of the girl and protecting everyone from her.

And though she hated to admit it, Olivia exhibited superb fighting skills for not being a trained Shadowhunter. Apparently, having a warlock as a best friend wasn't exactly a "safe" lifestyle choice and Olivia had even admitted to dapping into certain industries to make a few bucks here and there when she needed to. Which, in an ironic twist of events, led to her run-in with the Shadowhunters and her discovery about her past.

So Clary couldn't exactly "hate her", but she envied the girl with every inch of her. Olivia had had a rougher life, knew how to fight better and since she had no legal guardian to take care of her, she had full permission to stay in the Institute for as long as she pleased. Her reason of envy? The common string that tied all of those three mentioned reasons together: _Jace._ Both he and Olivia had rough upbringings that, in one way or another, led to their noticeably greater fighting skills. And the fact that she was admitted to live in the Institute full-time where _he_ lived gave her complete access to him, whereas Clary could only stay until 11-unless they were hunting-because Jocelyn wouldn't permit a "sleep over".

But what drove her completely off the edge was how Olivia and Jace clicked right from the start. Dropping her hands by her side and staring up at the high rafters of the training room, Clary vividly recalled the memory that haunted her since a week ago, when they were doing their usual rounds…

* * *

_ The club was full of them, as always. Vampires, werewolves, faeries, warlocks-the usual lot that didn't get much attention from the mundanes who were buying the drugs that they were selling. Typically drug busts weren't exactly the field that the Shadowhunters dealt with since it didn't trump demon-hunting, but Magnus had heard from a "reliable source" that the drugs that were being sold were laced with demon blood…which could have dire consequences if word ever got out._

_ Which explained why the four teenagers-Alec, Izzy, Jace and Clary-were decked out in their typical all-black Shadowhunter gear as they scanned the sea of scantily clad bodies that littered the dance floor. Their target was described to be a girl of petite build with brown hair always worn as a braid down her back and gray eyes, and though they had no idea what to expect, what they saw definitely did not match the girl they all had in mind._

_ She was petite all right, and hardly looked their age-she was maybe an inch or two shorter than Clary. But her heart shaped face that was framed by delicate curls of light brown hair and mesmerizing smoky-rimmed eyes made her stick out like a goddess. Everyone seemed to gravitate around her as if she were the sun, and when she batted her eyelashes in their direction, Clary felt her heart sink when Jace took a bold step forward._

_ She watched from her barstool as he sauntered over to the girl and felt the hydrochloric acid in her stomach break down whatever was left of her withering heart when the crowd encasing the girl parted like the Red Sea for him. When he finally reached her, Clary knocked back whatever was left of her soda and shoved an ice cube in her mouth to gnaw on while Jace started to flirt with her. Even though she knew it was a regular trap they often set to catch their target, she couldn't tame the flame that flared inside of her every time the girl blinked in his direction. She was just so…so ethereally beautiful that envy physically manifested itself in every movement Clary did._

_ It took what seemed like forever for Jace to lure her into the storage closet, and when he did, Clary clutched Izzy's hand with all her might to refrain from springing into action. Izzy grimaced as she tightened her grip, for she wasn't blind and knew seeing Jace-the only male in the group comfortable with luring female predators-seduce other "women" all the time pained her friend inside._

_ What happened next, however, was completely unexpected: when the trio managed to make it to the storage closet without being noticed, the welcoming sight of Jace pressed up against the wall with the girl holding his arm locked behind him was enough to temporarily stun them all. It only took Clary a second to defrost as she whispered "Illuriel" to summon the blade and charged forward with blade in hand. But if seeing Jace in such a position wasn't enough to stun the group, witnessing Clary as she darted forward one second and then being flung across the room the next without any visible movement on the target's part was more than enough._

_ Izzy was next on the move with Alec hot on her heels, but regardless of how many of them assaulted the girl at once, she flicked both of them away like pesky flies. From her vantage point across the room, Clary watched in horror as the girl bent down and plucked up Izzy's blade. Clary was about to cry out in terror as the girl steadied the blade and aimed for the back of Jace's head when he screamed the word in her mind instead: "STOP!"_

_ The girl quirked her head to the side, but didn't drop the blade. "And why should I?" Even her voice was heartbreakingly soft, yet menacing nonetheless, Clary realized._

_ "Because," Jace grunted when she slammed him against the wall, "we're on the same side." Clary noticed the corner of his mouth quirk up in his typical smirk and felt more confused than ever when he winked at her._

_ But she apparently wasn't the only confused one judging by the uncertainty on the girl's face that mirrored her own. However momentarily bemused she was by this statement, the girl managed to compose herself once more to reply. "What do you mean 'same side'? I work for _no one_ with––"_

_ The girl bit her lip to silence herself, and when it seemed like she wouldn't reveal anything else, Jace continued. "Look at the blade you're holding, little girl."_

_ Though no one else in the room seemed perturbed by this nickname, Clary felt it like a shock to her senses when he said those two words. That was what Jace had called her when they first met at this very spot. Which would explain the anguish that temporarily clouded her judgment, preventing her from realizing what the others did in three seconds._

_ "It's quite a piece of work, I must say," the girl purred as she brought the blade closer to her face for inspection. "Almost crystal clear…it's such a shame that I'll have to soil it with your bl––"_

"Wait!"_ Izzy shouted, effectively startling the girl. "Let _me _explain," then she added with a crestfallen expression, "Please."_

_ Whether it was because of Izzy's plea or because curiosity got the better of her, the girl complied. Grabbing a fistful of Jace's hair––and spurring a dangerous reaction within Clary––she held him before her as a human shield with the blade held steadily at the base of his throat. With one last wicked grin in their direction, she commanded: "Explain."_

_

* * *

_

After that whole ordeal, some light was shed on the girl––Olivia Lightingale––and her past with Maryse and Robert. The Uprising had killed both her parents ––Samuel and Evelin Lightingale, proud supporters of all things pertaining to the Clave––and she was found in her cradle in her manor house by a rogue warlock named Aletris Grey. He decided to take it upon himself to rear the child––for whatever reason––and had been "training" her so she could learn to fend for herself if he could no longer provide for her. Which ended up being his downfall since her "training" required her to sell illegal drugs, which got him arrested. Had her heritage not been clear to Jace since he was able to piece the fact that the blade did not burn her as it would to anyone who wasn't a Shadowhunter, she would have shared a similar fate. Which led all the Shadowhunters to speculate on how she received her first Mark if her parents were dead and she had no prior knowledge of her past before Aletris.

Clary sat up and rubbed her eyes with her fists furiously to wipe the tears away. She knew she shouldn't be jealous of the girl who clearly had it worse than her yet handled herself better than she did when she first found out about her Sight and what it meant. But she couldn't help it, and instead of trying to befriend the girl like everyone else, she made more of an effort to avoid her as much as possible.

"I guess it's all my fault," she mumbled as she stood up. "I push myself away from everyone to avoid talking about her. I set myself up for what's going on."

"Well, what's going on exactly?" a distinctly reedy female voice asked softly, which caused Clary to jump ten feet in the air. She spun around and saw Olivia by the doorway wearing a bright red robe with her hair tied back in a braid that stopped in the middle of her back. With the light illuminating her silhouette, she looked beyond beautiful, and not for the first time that night, Clary felt her heart wither inside her chest.

"N-nothing," Clary stammered as she wiped her cheek. "Nothing, really." She put on a phony smile that felt as unconvincing as it probably looked and after receiving a skeptical eyebrow from Olivia––seriously, what _couldn't_ the girl do?––she dropped the act.

Olivia sighed before she strode up to Clary and pulled her into an embrace. The act itself completely caught Clary off-guard and for a moment, she froze all over. But when Olivia muttered, "Haven't you ever been hugged before?" Clary defrosted and awkwardly wrapped her arms around the other girl.

"That's better," Olivia laughed when she pulled away. "Now are you going to tell me what's going on or are you going to keep ignoring me while I'm here? Because I don't know about you, but I'm sick of pretending to listen to Izzy. And don't even get me _started_ with Jace…"

While Olivia prattled on about her first week at the Institute as they walked to her room, Clary kept to herself for the most part. Though the other girl seemed friendly enough, Clary couldn't quell the uneasy feeling that was gnawing on her nerves that _something_ was off about her. It couldn't be a physical trait since she seemed practically flawless…but maybe that was what bothered her? She was too beautiful––just _too_ much.

"Well," Olivia exhaled after her long-winded monologue, "here's my stop. I'll see you tomorrow then?"

Clary couldn't quite trust her voice to not betray her, so she smiled politely and nodded once before heading off to the elevator. As she descended, Clary settled on allowing herself to just relax since Olivia didn't seem too interested in Jace. Though she wasn't too sure about how Jace felt about her since it wasn't him who chased after her after she had walked in on them sparring in his room instead of the clearly unoccupied training room.

**Sooo…Whaddya think? Tell me in the reviews!**


End file.

Mortal Instruments, Adventure, Drama