Mortal Instruments 1. Chapter 1

_**The Lady of Idris**_

Summary: Based on Tennyson's "The Lady of Shalott." Clarissa, a maiden with hair of fire and the voice of an angel, is forever trapped within the walls of her tower overlooking Idris. Day after day, she weaves the scenes reflected to her from beyond the confinements of the four walls in her mirror, dreaming of being free. These hopes are all in vain, for Clarissa is cursed to never leave, the threats of the curse unknown but forever looming over her head. Jonathon Christopher is a young knight with golden hair, golden eyes, and golden skin that hears the song of the Lady of Idris every night. When Clarissa tests the limits and danger strikes, will Jonathon be able to help her? AU/Mundane.

**AN: **Hello, fabulous TMI fandom! This is just a quick note for a little background on this fic. Again, it's based on "The Lady of Shalott" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson. If you haven't read this poem, I do suggest you read it before reading this fanfiction. The poem is incredible and reading it before reading this fanfiction will surely help you with your comprehension of the plot. I will be giving this story an ending different from that of Tennyson's original poem, because Clace. For most of the story, however, the fic should read true to the poem. I'm super excited for this because the fic is based on my favorite poem EVER and it's my first published story for TMI. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I do! To conclude, I will post my disclaimer: Sadly, my name is not Cassandra, therefore I do not own TMI. In addition, I was not born in 1809, so that eliminates any possibilities of me owning "The Lady of Shalott."

_Chapter One_

_On either side the river lie_

_Long fields of barley and rye, _

_That clothe the wold and meet the sky; _

_And through the field the road runs by_

_To many-towered Camelot._

A tangled mess of red ringlets rises with a start, being tugged at by soft, pale hands to reveal a round face with emerald eyes resting on a bed pushed against the wall by a large, bay window. Upon registering the soft glow that bathes the room from the golden sun outside, the eyes immediately begin to search for the source; however, this action is halted before anything too serious could happen as the owner of the eyes remembers the undefined curse that blocks her from freedom. Smothering a groan, she rises from her resting place and sets eyes on her loom.

Walking towards the only thing that occupies her hours, the maiden, Clarissa, grabs a ripe, red apple to have for breakfast. As she delicately eats the apple, she slowly savors the sweet flavors that clash against the leathery skin of the apple before she sits down at the complicated contraption to continue her threaded creations.

_There she weaves by night and day_

_A magic web with colors gay._

Her hands work mercilessly with the loom, her eyes forever cast in the direction of the mirror that displays the view through the window and her creation, allowing her a glance at life beyond the walls. Her melodic, soprano voice floats through the walls of her tower, traveling through the air to tease the free listeners wandering through the paths of Idris.

From beyond the walls a whisper can be heard that silences the cackling laughter bubbling from the children down below. "Hush now," it commands, "and listen, for it's the voice of the Lady of Idris!"

Clarissa smiles softly to herself, reveling in the idea that at least someone knows she exists, taking a moment to pause her ministrations before continuing again.

As the sky darkens, Clarissa's weaving slows before finally halting as she observes the day's work. The bright pinks of the setting sun enhance the blue threads woven together to create the sky that follows all the way down her creation until meeting the bright green of the grass that holds the image of children playing under the noon sun.

Contentedly sighing, Clarissa folds her woven design and adds it to her collection of the images from days past before grabbing another apple, this time a green apple, appreciating the sour taste that cleanses her mouth of the day. She carefully crosses her room to her wash bin cleanse her face, making sure to work off all of the sweat gathered from concentrating on her loom all day.

With one last song that combines with the sweet sound of laughter emanating from a newlywed couple as they enjoy the last of their picnic, the Lady of Idris climbs into her bed to sleep in preparation for another day of weaving, muttering something under her breath as sleep takes her.

_I am half sick of shadows_

The next morning begins just as every other morning had for Clarissa: waking up to remember a curse, selecting an apple, and beginning to weave. However, around noon Clarissa's day changes, for better or for worse, one cannot yet say.

As she stared into her mirror, easily weaving everything in sight, she hears a warm, masculine voice teasing a young boy. She sees the glint of armor peaking just through the trees visible in her mirror and pauses her weaving as she watches the scene unfold.

_His broad clear brow in sunlight glowed;_

_On burnished hooves his war horse trode; _

_From underneath his helmet glowed_

_His coal-black curls as on he rode, _

_As he rode down to Camelot. _

A dashing young knight comes into view, his armor shining under the high-noon sun. As he guides his white horse through the woods, his every feature glimmers of gold. His eyes seem to sparkle brighter than diamonds as he tugs the horse along, his smile glowing as he laughs with a young boy, no older than ten.

"Of course you'll be as good of a knight as me, Max! After all, I am your teacher," she hears the deep voice tease, his amusement lacing his words as he is admired by the young man.

"I don't know, Jonathon, I don't know. What if I don't make it? Father would never allow me back home!" The boy exclaims, his voice distressed.

"Of course you'll make it, Max. Even if you didn't, your father would love you just the same," the knight, Jonathon, assures Max. Clarissa smiles softly at the sight. "Don't worry about that, Max, think of other things. You see that tower up there?" At the boy's nod, the knight continues. "There's said to be a young maiden that lives there, for passerby's can hear her song as she stays pent up in the tower for all of her days, trapped by a curse that prevents her from ever leaving," the knight finishes, softening his tone for the end of the tale.

Suddenly, a pang of longing overwhelms Clarissa, causing her expression to falter as she realizes that if she stays pent up in the tower any longer, she may never feel the love she so desires to feel from another human being. Mustering up her confidence, the maiden hastily stands up and backs away from her loom. She splashes water against her face to feel refreshed and turns towards the window, her eyes downcast. She crosses the room in three strides before she bravely lifts her gaze to set her eyes upon the true image of Camelot. As her eyes first find the plush green grass, she hears a cracking sound from the mirror on her loom, sending her into a fright.

_Out flew the web and floated wide;_

_The mirror cracked from side to side;_

"_The curse is come upon me," cried_

_The Lady of Shalott._

With fear overtaking all of her positive emotions, Clarissa can think of only one thing: _run. _So she does. She darts down the stairwell of her dreaded tower as the mirror continues to crack, the sound of shattering glass chasing her as she runs. The shadows that trapped her all of those years grow darker as she gets closer to the only exit from the towering prison.

She becomes surrounded by darkness as her feet near the last of the steps, her hands shaking as they hold up the layers of her dress to prevent her from tripping. The effort seems pointless as she trips despite herself, barely managing to catch herself in time. She reaches the end of the stairwell and the only light it in the room is that of which leaks underneath the large, wooden door that is swollen shut, blocking her path.

Clarissa channels all of the strength she possesses to break down the door and reveal her path, but the door barely moves. She hits it again and again, realizing that her diet of two apples a day was probably not the best idea as almost all of her energy is depleted with a few shoves.

Preparing to succumb to the darkness of shadows, Clarissa steps away from the door before slowly sliding down the wall from exhaustion.

"Shadows are not easy to escape," she mutters as her eyes begin to flutter shut, quickly losing all hope. Her ears pick up on a faint rustling behind the door before it's heaved open with a grunt. Clarissa glances up, squinting against the now harsh light of the sun to see her savior, the golden knight.

He gracefully bends down, the steel of his armor clanking, as he rests a concerned gaze on Clarissa.

"Miss, are you alright?" he asks, confusion mixing in with his concern.

Clarissa tries to respond but instead of having a fluid voice as she had hoped, her voice is broken and filled with stutters. "I-um-I'm f-fine," she finally utters, feeling slightly less than fine, her exhaustion hitting full force. The knight offers her his hands to assist her with standing and she gratefully accepts them, wobbling a little bit on her feet before he extends one of his hands to steady her by her waist, sending electricity through her body.

Once she regains her balance, Clarissa feels an immediate loss of heat as the knight removes his hands from their spot on her slight waist. The maiden smiles thankfully at the knight and tentatively moves to walk through the door, the cold stone brushing her bare feet before she steps onto the plush grass of the outskirts of Idris.

As she walks further into the world, her smile grows wider and wider as the sun warms her pale skin, the knight following close behind her to catch her if need be. Eventually, Clarissa turns around and is met with the glimmering gold eyes of her rescuer.

"Allow me to introduce myself," he confidently states, "Jonathon Christopher, at your service, but you can call me Jace."

"Clarissa Fray," she responds, "It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor is all mine," he tenderly smiles.

**AN 2: **What'd you think? Stay tuned for Chapter 2, where Clarissa gets a deeper glimpse at what exactly the dreadful curse is! xoxo, chrissym453


	2. Chapter 2

_The Lady of Idris_

**AN: **I didn't forget I swear. It was school. Blame it all on school. I love you guys. Thanks for the follows/favorites. On the bright side, even with my neglect to this, I just received my first college acceptance letter! Woo! See you guys at the end!

_Previously in __The Lady of Idris__:_

"Allow me to introduce myself," he confidently states, "Jonathon Christopher, at your service, but you can call me Jace."

"Clarissa Fray," she responds, "It's an honor to meet you."

"The honor is all mine," he tenderly smiles.

_Chapter Two_

Staring into the knight's gold eyes, Clarissa finally realizes how tall he is. With no one to compare herself to her entire life, she had always assumed she was of an average height, but with seeing Jace towering over her, she realizes she's either fairly short or he's extraordinarily tall.

Once she realizes she's been staring for a little too long, Clarissa finally realizes that Jace must've asked her a question, since he's staring at her quizzically.

"Please forgive me, what was the question?" she asks, her face flushing slightly from the embarrassment of being caught openly staring at him.

"It's no problem, I was just wondering what a lovely, innocent, young girl like yourself was doing inside of a dark tower like that?" he asks, gesturing with a long, lean arm towards the mess of dark grey stones that had held Clarissa her entire life.

Shivering slightly at the memories, Clarissa responds with a soft, "I used to live there," deciding immediately that she will never be venturing back into that prison.

"You used to live there? How long ago? When you were a child or something?" Jace questions. Clarissa really wishes he would stop that, her head is starting to swim from all of the memories these questions bring up.

"Oh, until recently," she responds nonchalantly, seeing no sense in making a big deal out of something she never wants to think about ever again.

Jace's mouth opens, then closes, contemplating his next words carefully. When his mouth opens again, his words tumble out softly, like a light summer breeze that gently turns the leaves of trees upwards. "Are you… are you her? The Lady of Idris?"

_Ah, there it is, _Clarissa thought, _the question I was hoping to avoid for the rest of my life. Well, here goes nothing. _"While I do choose to refer to myself as something a bit more casual, I have heard many townspeople passing by the tower refer to me as that," Clarissa stated, her voice wavering slightly at the end of her thought.

Jace's eyes widen at this and he instantly straightens at her words. His eyes begin to skim over her entire being, almost in a daze, as he finally comprehends who he just saved. His eyes linger on her mouth, taking in the soft lips that often lulled him further and further into a trance as he passed the tower each evening. Stammering for words, he settles for the slightly awkward silence that consumes the air around them.

After seconds of Clarissa and Jace staring at each other, their eyes studying the other's face, a flash of insecurity passes through Clarissa's emerald eyes before she begins to turn away and walk towards the forest. This causes Jace to snap out of it, quickly turning to Max and telling him to take his horse home with him and that he would stop by to see him later before following after Clarissa.

"Wait, Clary," he urges, causing Clarissa to stop in her tracks at what he said. _What? Clary? What is that even? What?_

"What did you say?" she inquired, turning abruptly to face the knight.

Jace looks questioningly towards Clarissa, "um, wait," he restates, slightly confused.

"No, no I heard that, I meant what you said after that," Clarissa encourages, curiosity gleaming in the deep green of her eyes.

"Oh, I believe I called you Clary, if that's okay. It's just that, well, it's easier to say than Clarissa," Jace responded, smiling sheepishly.

The corners of Clary's mouth turned up slightly, appreciating the way Jace's new name for her rolls off of his tongue. The shortened name is simple, like herself, Clary decides.

"Is it okay?" Jace asks, explaining his question further at Clary's confusion. "The nickname, I mean. Is it okay if I call you that?"

Clary notices the hopeful look in his eyes, a look that gives him almost a boyish appearance, and knows that even if she didn't like the nickname, she would've said yes because of his eyes. "It is a perfectly wonderful name, I do believe, and I should be honored to be called by it," Clary responds, her eyes dancing with playfulness, deciding to keep up the long, complicated sentences as they give her mind something to focus on other than the dull ache that is slowly working its way into her abdomen.

Jace smiled warmly at Clary before questioning her again, "where are you going?"

Clary looked around the forest before glancing back at Jace, "I'm not sure, but I'm not going back to that tower," she said, determination evident in her voice.

"Alright, mind if I accompany you? I would never forgive myself if something happened to you and I could've done something to prevent it," Jace says, his words sincere.

"I have no objections to your companionship," Clary concedes.

With that, they walk. They walk for hours. Clary's abdominal pains grow in intensity but she refuses to let them get the better of her. The slightly worn moss of the forest floor leads Clary and Jace closer to the river, and closer to a small cabin. Seeing as it's almost dark, Jace insists they stop for the evening and seek shelter, urging Clary that if they do not seek shelter soon, they might be out after dark, leaving them susceptible to the creatures of the night.

Feeling the effects of her abdominal pains, Clary agrees and the two begin walking towards the home. Jace takes a place slightly in front of Clary, in case whatever is in the house is worse than what is outside of the house, before rapping his knuckles against the soft wood of the cabin's door.

After no more than half a minute of waiting, the door swings open to reveal a tall man with blonde hair and eyes darker than a moonless night. He stares expectantly at Jace, not even noticing the red-haired woman behind him.

Jace straightens a little bit, using his armor to make himself seem more menacing. While the stranger and Jace are matched in height and weight, Jace's armor makes him seem stronger and more intimidating. The stranger doesn't back down, though his eyes show his slight panic at seeing a knight on his doorstep.

"We have been travelling for the better part of the day and it would seem that we have misjudged the distance between our starting point and our destination. Would it be possible for us to seek refuge in your cabin for a while? Even if it's only long enough for the lady to rest her feet, she's been walking bare foot through the forest all day," Jace inquired, hoping that the stranger would be more accepting of the young woman than he would an ordinary knight.

Peering around Jace's armor, the stranger spots Clary, his pupils dilating slightly at the sight of her. He steps away from the door and ushers for them both to enter, Jace clasps Clary's hand in his own before gently tugging her into the house.

Clary stays close to Jace, not liking the way the stranger eyes her as she enters the house, but feeling too tired and sick to insist they find another place to stay.

"I'm Sebastian Verlac, at your service, mi'lady," the stranger bows to Clary while staring up at her with his dark eyes, Clary's own eyes refusing to meet his. His brow furrows slightly at this, but he doesn't push further. He offers both of his guests a seat with a fake smile stretching his features. Jace and Sebastian make small talk, though Sebastian's eyes continue to linger on Clary.

Sebastian offers the pair a drink, and at their acceptance, he stalks off towards another room to prepare some sort of beverage. It was only then that Clary realized how thirsty she truly was.

During Sebastian's absence, Jace's gaze finds Clary, observing the clammy look her skin has taken on and the tired, dark circles surrounding her eyes. He notices how cold she looks with her frail arms wrapped tightly around her midsection, her back slightly hunched. Leaning over, he asks if she's okay. Her response is a tight nod that ends just as Verlac returns to the room.

"Excuse me, Jace, could I speak with you for a moment," Sebastian asks, his eyes serious. Jace nods his consent and follows Sebastian through the door of the cabin.

Clary waits patiently, almost drifting to sleep in the few moments that Sebastian and Jace are gone. Just as her eyes begin to shut against the pain that's drifting from her stomach to her chest, the door opens once again and Sebastian walks in, Jace nowhere to be seen.

Question lingering in her eyes, Clary glances to Sebastian, not at all liking the predatory look in his eyes. _If this is what life is like outside of the tower, maybe I should've just stayed, _she thinks, before Sebastian answers her unspoken question.

"Jace is out in the forest getting some firewood, I figured things could use some…" he glances around the room, his eyes twinkling with an emotion Clary can't identify under the dim light of the setting sun, "heating up."

Clary quickly glances between Sebastian and the door, wondering if it would be at all possible for her to slip past Sebastian, feeling her insides cringe at the thought of being trapped alone with him and his dark eyes that greedily scan her body.

Before Clary has a chance to rise, Sebastian has crossed the room to be standing next to her. Feeling uncomfortable, Clary excuses herself to get some air. Just as she makes it to the door, Sebastian roughly grabs her shoulder and turns her around to face him before pushing her against the wall, her back colliding with the wood of the cabin.

With a menacing smile, Sebastian leans in towards Clary and says, "You can get some air after we have some fun, it might take a while, though, Jace won't be back anytime soon."

Clary's heart rate speeds up and just as she opens her mouth to scream, Sebastian's hand covers her mouth, muffling her screams. Hoping Jace wasn't too far away to hear her, she tries to push Sebastian off, but to no avail. His almost demonic smirk leans down and attacks her neck while her hands continue pushing at his shoulders.

Struck with an idea, Clary lifts her knee with as much force as she can muster to hit Sebastian square between his legs. His grip on her lessens, giving her just enough time to scramble away. As she tries to run through the doorway, Sebastian's hand grabs onto her ankle, causing her to fall down, screaming as she does.

Hitting the hard floor, Clary's breath is instantly knocked out of her, adding to the chest pains she was already feeling. Sebastian crouches on top of her, his knees resting just outside of her hips, and slaps her with the back of his hand, causing her face to smack into the ground, a red imprint appearing in the place his hand had landed.

Clary may have been weak, sick, and dying, but a pushover she was not. She refused to let Sebastian get the best of her. Clary searched the floor around her for something she could use. It was then that she saw it: a decent sized rock that was placed near the door, probably for propping it open on hot days. _Not today, _she thought. Today, that rock would be used to knock Sebastian into next week. She reached her arm over and got a good grip on the rock, before sending her arm through the air and making contact with Sebastian's head.

His eyes lost their focus and began to flutter as he lost consciousness. Clary pushed him back roughly so he wouldn't fall on her. As soon as she was free, she used the wall to help herself stand and left as quickly as possible.

Outside, she grew woozy, but willed herself not to lose consciousness until she found Jace. She looked towards the woods and tried to listen for him, but to no avail. Luckily, Jace, or so she hoped, had cleared a path from where he entered the woods to cut the firewood, so she followed it.

Eventually, the sounds of falling timber can be heard, so Clary quickens her pace. Nightfall is approaching quickly and she doesn't want to be caught in this unfamiliar world alone, or with Sebastian anywhere near her.

Under the glow of a setting sun that's being cast through the canopy of greenery, the light beams off of shining, silver armor and gleaming, golden hair that's surrounded by a pile of freshly chopped firewood. Upon the sight, the relief Clary feels is soon overpowered by exhaustion and pain. Her abdomen is still in turmoil and her cheek is beginning to bruise. Her once sparkling green eyes are now dulled with pain.

"Jace," she calls, her voice weak. He turns from his post of cutting wood and sees her, his brow wrinkling in worry.

Her knees go weak and she wobbles where she stands. Before she can hit the ground, Jace races to her, his armor clanking together, and catches her in his metal clad arms. Her eyes flutter shut as she succumbs to darkness.

It is now that Jace takes the time to fully examine her. Her skin is ghostly pale, except for the red-purple tint to her cheek. Realizing this shouldn't be there, he studies it further before realizing it's in the shape of a hand and is, in fact, a bruise. His eyes darken with rage, his body yearning to avenge Clary, though he knows he can't now. _Someday, _he promises. Now, he looks at the redheaded beauty and knows he must do something to help her.

He hears the babbling of a stream as it rolls over smooth stones and heads to it with the maiden in his arms, hoping water will help her regain consciousness, at least long enough to find help. He gently lies her down in what appears to be a soft bed of grass and cups his hands in the stream, filling them with water and allowing the tiniest trickle of it to fall into Clary's mouth, helping her sit up so she doesn't drown. When this doesn't work, he lays Clary on the grass once again and wets his hand before washing her face in the cool water, making sure to dampen her eyes.

Her eyes begin to flutter against the sudden coolness on her face, so Jace calls her name, hoping to pull her out of it.

"Clary," she hears, a soft cooing in her ears as her eyes flutter, her face stinging with the chill of cool water running down her cheeks. Her head pounds with ache and she considers closing her eyes once again, but the coos sound so hopeful that she can't bear to imagine it. Slowly, she pries her eyelids open and is met with the swirling gold eyes of her knight as he looks at her in worry.

"Clary, what happened?"

**AN:** So… sorry about the wait, you guys! I had a challenging summer and beginning of fall with summer classes, scholarships, and some family issues. All of that is settled now, though, and I'm back! I won't say when I'll update again, but I'm _hoping _it will be sometime before Wednesday. In the next chapter we should see the introduction of Mags.

For those of you that are wondering, no, I haven't read CoHF yet, I also haven't finished TID yet. I'm working on it, though. CoHF was checked out in the library forever

You are all wonderful and I love you. Let me know what you think of this! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up soon.

Have a wonderful *insert appropriate time of day here*!

xoxo, chrissym453


	3. Chapter 3

_The Lady of Idris_

**AN:** So…. It's been almost two years? I'll leave a longer note at the end. Love you all. You might want to go read the two chapters before this, I had to before I could write this.

_Previously in The Lady of Idris:_

Her eyes begin to flutter against the sudden coolness on her face, so Jace calls her name, hoping to pull her out of it.

"Clary," she hears, a soft cooing in her ears as her eyes flutter, her face stinging with the chill of cool water running down her cheeks. Her head pounds with ache and she considers closing her eyes once again, but the coos sound so hopeful that she can't bear to imagine it. Slowly, she pries her eyelids open and is met with the swirling gold eyes of her knight as he looks at her in worry.

"Clary, what happened?"

_Chapter Three_

Clary blinks at the blurriness around the edges of her eyes, fighting against the unconsciousness that's threatening to consume her once again. She looks around and takes in her surroundings, admiring the soft rush of the water against the rocks and the birds that, despite everything she's just been through, continue to sing, completely clueless to the troubles of the world as their voices twinkle on in the green canopy of the trees.

It's then that Clary remembers exactly what had happened in that cabin in the woods, and fear threatens to cripple her. After everything she's been through, it's difficult to believe she's only been out of the tower for a little over a day.

She moves her gaze towards the knight, whose brow is furrowed with worry, and thinks over what she should tell him. Of course she'll tell him everything that happened in the cabin, but should she mention her abdominal pains?

_It's probably just cramps, _she thought. No need to mention cramps, right?

"In the cabin, Sebastian, he…" her voice dwindled, her eyes focusing on a piece of grass by Jace's knee. "He tried to attack me," she finishes, her voice nothing more than a whisper. Hesitating, she eventually forces her gaze to meet the knight's, worried that she'll find a look of disgust there. Despite her nonexistent experience with knights prior to Jace, she had heard from conversations in passing from atop the tower the shame that should be brought to any woman who allowed herself to be attacked in such a way.

Jace looked down at the red head in his arms, swallowing hard as he tried to push away his anger towards the waste of a man that had dared to lay hands on this girl. As her eyes look up to meet his, the green standing out even more against the red handprint on her cheek and the water gathering in her eyes, he reaches a hand to stroke the side of her face, the pad of his thumb gently stroking over the mark closest to her eye.

Her beauty, despite her fear, is stunning, Jace realizes. Still unable to form words, he brushes away a lone tear before it has the chance to stain her face. Softly, he forces the words from his lips, "Are you okay?"

After all her fears are squashed by Jace's careful touch and gentle words, Clary finds his question almost laughable. A smile worked its way onto her face, "I believe I'll recover."

At the twitch of her lips, Jace's own smile lifted. He gently ushered Clary to her feet and told her to wait there.

At that, Clary frowned. "Where are you going?"

Jace looked back at her, startled by the look of confusion on her features. "To defend your honor, of course."

Clary moves forward, masking the pain the movement causes with the worry his statement had filled her with. "I must urge that you do not do that, I worry that since I fled he has woken and he may be expecting your arrival, you could be seriously injured, and I do not wish that for you, especially not as it would be on my behalf," Clary spoke, her voice steady despite the fear and pain coursing through her body.

If it weren't for the look of fear plastered to her face, Jace would have considered laughing off the suggestion. He knew, though, as long as her eyes were staring at him with such a strong emotion, knowing that it was fear for him that her gaze held, he could do no such thing. He took in her appearance, the way she was stiffly holding her body, the glimmer of her eyes and creased brow. "I assure you, milady, I would not be the one harmed by such actions, but if it causes you such distress, I will not go."

With a sigh of relief, Clary thanked the knight. Her relief was only for a moment, though, as another pain wracked her body. Her mouth opened in a soft, barely audible gasp as she attempted to conceal the pain. Her vision blurred once again, and soon she felt herself falling as Jace's voice called out to her and reached out to grab her. For the second time that day, darkness surrounded her, and this time, she didn't fight so hard against it.

Jace noticed the faraway look on her face and watched as her eyes struggled to focus. Stepping forward, he made it to her just before she fell backwards and gathered her in his arms as she lost consciousness again.

He realized she needed help as soon as possible and set off in direction of the nearest town he could he think of: Alicante.

~time skip~

Jace readjusted Clary's frail body in his arms as he walked further into Alicante, making his way towards a shopkeeper to ask for directions to the nearest doctor.

"Oh, you'll want to see Magnus. Take the road up a ways and his cottage will be on the right. You won't miss it, it's really noticeable," the shopkeeper told Jace before turning back to a customer.

He looked in the direction the shopkeeper had pointed him in and clutched Clary a bit closer to his body as townspeople went about their days without a care in the world.

He was glancing to the right after he had passed most of the shops, looking for the noticeable cottage the shopkeeper had mentioned. It was then that a bright green door caught his eye, deeply contrasting with the brown doors of the other cottages.

Approaching the door, he shifted Clary in his arms so that he could knock and let his fist rap against the green wood.

A few seconds later, after hearing a cat's meow and some shuffling, the door was drawn open.

"Hello," a man's voice, though light and bubbly, spoke. His entire face seemed to glitter from small flecks covering his face. His eyes were thin and dark, but seemed to shine with youth, and his face was lit up with a sly grin. "What is it you're needing? I was just in the middle of celebrating Chairman Meow's birthday and your interruption is putting quite the damper on things."

Resisting the urge to raise an eyebrow in question, Jace decided to go accept the mysterious man's antics in hopes that it would make him more likely to help the girl in his arms.

"Are you the doctor, Magnus?"

"Well, doctor isn't exactly right, but I am the magnificent Magnus. Why do you ask?"

"My name is Jace, and this girl is Clary. She passed out several hours ago after being attacked, but she's looked ill for most of the day. Can you help her?"

An exasperated sigh escaped Magnus' lips as he nodded his assent. "I suppose I could be bothered to help the girl. Bring her in and lie her on the bed just through that archway," Magnus gestured to a far wall and Jace entered without further question.

The cat let out a meow and swished his tail before running off. "I'm sorry, Chairman Meow, we'll celebrate later. It really is a shame that such a wonderful day was interrupted by strangers bombarding us for help."

Jace resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he deposited Clary onto the bed. She looked so small and helpless against the dark purple quilting covering the bed, her pale skin looking even paler as her hair fans out around her.

"Leave us, I will inform you when I know of her ailment," Magnus said ushering Jace back through the archway. Jace opened his mouth to protest but with a final glance towards Clary, decided against it and allowed the strange man to usher him through the archway.

As Jace paced inside the main room of the cottage, pausing occasionally as he thought of ways to exact his vengeance on Sebastian, Magnus examined Clary. An odd blue light was emitted from his hands as they hovered over her small body, trying to find the source of her unconsciousness.

With a start, Magnus retracted his hands and gasped as he realized the problem ailing the girl below him. She was beautiful, he decided, but this wasn't something that beauty could cure. No, the cure for this was far more complicated than true love's kiss, and would certainly take much longer. He decided to treat her with a bit of a basic healing spell and hope that it would help her wake up.

"Jace, I've found the problem," Magnus called into the other room. Jace hurried in and felt his own face darken at the look on Magnus' face. "She's not ill, she's been cursed. Normally I could lift it, but this magic is far too dark for me. There is only one way to cure it,"

Jace was taken aback. _Magic? _It couldn't be! There's simply no way magic existed, and even if it did, there's no way it would be used to curse someone as lovely and kind as Clary.

"To lift the curse, you'll need to find the one who cursed her and either convince them to lift the curse or kill them, in turn destroying the curse."

"Who cursed her?" Jace was already prepared to leave, deciding he would simply kill the person himself. He wouldn't bother with showing mercy on someone who could be so cruel to a girl like Clary, and he certainly wouldn't let her worry herself with such things. He would make sure that when she awoke, she was better and was under the impression that she had only come down with an illness of some sort.

"I don't know. I've put a spell on her to see if she'll wake up, but you need to know that she doesn't have much time. At most, I'd say she has three days. When she wakes, hopefully she'll be able to tell us who cursed her."

Jace nodded, albeit a tad dejected. Unfortunately, he'd have to ask Clary about the curse, and he could only hope that she wouldn't get any grand ideas about helping him with his new quest. Her escape from Sebastian proved that she was certainly a fighter, and he didn't doubt that she would put up a fight to his mission for vengeance.

Clary blinked as her eyes began to open. The pain in her abdomen had decreased noticeably, though a dull throb remained. She gasped a little as she looked at her surroundings, noticing the sultry decorations of the room she was in and the deep violet of the quilt beneath her.

"Clary? How do you feel?" At the question, she moved to sit up and Jace helped her push herself forwards.

"I'm okay, where are we?"

Jace looked at the man behind him, "this is Magnus, he helped figure out what exactly has been ailing you."

Clary looked into Jace's golden eyes. In the darkness of this room, their usual honey shade was starting to look a bit richer, taking on a shade similar to toffee. "What is it? What have I fallen ill with?"

Jace opened his mouth as if to speak, but quickly shut it, his brow furrowing as he glanced back towards Magnus.

Magnus seized the opportunity to interject, "Biscuit, you've been cursed, and the magic is far too dark for me to be able to lift it myself. Do you remember anything of who could've cursed you like this?"

Clary certainly did remember. After all, she hadn't spent most of her life in the tower for fun. She knew she was supposed to stay in the tower for the rest of her life. She knew that she should not have risked leaving it. Her current state was no one's fault but her own, she knew, as memories flooded her mind. Memories of her mother screaming for her, screaming at the man with white hair to let her go. Her father's brown hair as he laid unconscious on the ground, her brother's green eyes peering out from behind their mother's skirt as he watched her cry as she was ripped away from her family.

"I don't remember a name, but I remember what he looked like," Clary spoke softly, her voice quiet as memories still flickered behind her eyes. "His hair was white, like platinum, and I've never seen someone with eyes so dark, I-I'm sorry I don't recall anything else," Clary finished.

For Magnus and Jace, that was more than enough. Jace rubbed the back of Clary's hand in a comforting motion, and glanced towards Magnus.

"I know who it is you recall, Biscuit, but I need you to be absolutely certain of every detail. Are you sure that's what he looked like?" Magnus responded, almost pleading that she had remembered him wrong.

"Yes, I'm sure. Who is it? What do we do?"

Jace took in a breath of air, hesitating before speaking, "Valentine," his voice was not more than a whisper. He was filled with dread.

Clary had heard that name before. She had always heard the name spoken with contempt and fear, and to hear the same thing in Jace's voice, someone who she had grown to know as strong and fearless, she couldn't help the shivers that ran down her spine.

"Well, the task won't be easy," Magnus declared before looking towards Jace, "but killing the crown's darkest enemy certainly wouldn't hurt as a résumé booster, eh?"

**AN: **Well, now we have the introduction of our major villain! What do you guys think? I hope you're as excited as I am!

I'm thinking that I'm going to make Fridays be my official update day (in case I don't get this finished before I go back to school at the end of August, anyways). In the fall I'll only have one class on Friday so that should give me some time to update.

Sorry about leaving you guys hanging for so long! I had written an entire third chapter but my computer completely died and I lost everything I had written! Obviously that put me off writing for quite a while, but I am back!

Since the last chapter, I've graduated high school, started college/university at the BEST school ever (though I might be biased), and became an aunt (my nephew is seriously the cutest thing in the world)! I hope everything is going well for you guys!

My favorite song at the moment is Lost Boy by Ruth B. and my favorite TV shows are currently Jane the Virgin and Game of Thrones (but PLZ NO SPOILERS I'M NOT CAUGHT UP YET)

I also made a new Tumblr! It's basically just me reblogging memes, but if you love memes, I'm spookyinhojo!

Let me know what you thought of the chapter! Love you guys and see you (hopefully) by Friday!

xoxo, chrissym453


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