AN: Okay, super long time since I've updated this. If you've read some of my other stories, you might have noticed that I've updated them as well. I had hoped to update this before new years, but oh well.

Enjoy!

"Do you see… do you see that? Please tell me I'm not insane?" Jace called out, gripping her shoulder and lifting her to stare at the brightened ocean. She shook her head, not knowing what he was talking about. "Look - look at the water!" He cried out, shaking her a little too much to where she had to swallow bile. The gash on her hip pressed against the raft and began to weep blood at a faster rate. "Do you know what this means?" He said in a giddy tone.

"What are you talking about?" Clary groaned. Jace was laughing, holding her tightly to him.

"Land."

.

.

"Shit," Jace whispered. "The current… it's changing. We need to get out of this thing before we're pulled away." He explained. Her eyes were wide as she looked at him. Was he insane? Had he not experienced the terror she did when the sharks nearly swallowed her whole? "Why are you staring at me like that?" Jace asked.

"Because the water is filled with predators, you idiot!" She snapped. Jace shook his head, propping her body up so that she could look into the blue see. At first, she didn't know what she was supposed to be looking at, but then she saw it. "Oh…" Clary said with realization.

"Yeah, they won't come here. It's… more of a reef. The water is clear enough that we'd be able to see them; and we don't. I think we'll be fine." Jace assured. There was one thing he wasn't considering. Besides the sharks - or any other sea predator - there was something else they had to account for. Well, something she had to account for. "Still not sure?" He questioned when she was silent for a few long moments.

"My injuries. I'm not sure if I have the strength to swim the distance to land." She noted quietly. He was, perhaps, just as silent as her after remembering this. His chance at survival was so, so much greater than hers. If he wanted to - which he probably did - he could jump out of their makeshift raft and swim his way to safety. Safer than the unforgiving ocean that they were wading in.

"I'll help you." He blurted. She stared at him with her sharp eyes, not sure if this was some sort of insanity he had acquired after drifting so long in the sea. No one in their right mind would risk drowning themselves for someone the barely knew. Let alone if they accounted their own slimming chance of survival.

"Why? You barely know me." Jace's eyes thinned. He was hurt by what she had said.

"So you'd think that I'd be heartless enough to just… leave you here?" He hissed. She stared at her sneakers; silent.

"We don't have any life jackets for me to wear. If you were to assist me, the chances of us drowning would be much, much greater. Why would you risk that?" She asked him. He touched her arm, then gripped it softly.

"I'm not leaving you. I'd rather Starve to death on this scrap of airplane than willingly set you out to die." Jace swore. Clary's eyes began to water. Was he serious? Jace probably had so much more to live for. She wasn't anything special. In fact, the only reason Clary had survived this long was because of him. Without Jace, she'd be dead. Without her, though, Jace would have a bigger supply of both energy and water. He wouldn't have to waste any on her.

"You have family to get back to." She reminded him.

"So do you." He argued back. Clary let out a sigh, wanting to smack the insanity out of him. For surely, he was out of his goddamn mind.

"Fine… how are we going to do this?" Clary grumbled, crossing her arms. Even though this proved to be painful with her injuries.

"I was thinking that you could hold onto me and I'd just swim us there. It shouldn't be that hard. I don't think you weigh more than an eight year old." He grinned. She smacked his arm - which caused her to groan afterwards. "I'm serious! Just hold onto my stomach and I'll get us there." He assured.

"And how do you know this will work? What if we encounter a bunch of waves? What if there's a predator under the water? What if…" She trailed off, shaking her head at the bravery of his plan. She wasn't brave like Jace. She just… managed. Went with the flow - literally.

Jace pulled her to him, guiding her arms to wrap around his slim torso. She could feel his lean muscles tensing under her fingertips.

"See? Simple. Just hold onto me." His words were soft. Caring. Just like his gaze as his golden eyes skimmed her wary expression. "I won't let anything happen to you Clary"

She whimpered.

"I'm glad I'm stuck with you." Jace scoffed at her words, but smiled. "Okay, that didn't sound right. What I mean is that I'm grateful that out of everyone on the plane, it's you that I'm experiencing this with." She clarified. "I'm not sure that anyone else would have dragged my sorry ass through the water."

He laughed, but his face grew serious afterwards. Clary didn't know what the look in his eyes meant. What he was feeling inside… he seemed torn. Conflicted. And… no, she was just imagining it.

"Let's do this." Jace said, scooting himself down the scrap of airplane. She followed him, watching as he dove deep into the water. A few seconds later, his head popped out of the ocean, a grin stretched across the water. "Okay, come here." He motioned with his hands.

Clary took a shaky breath. Her dive into the water was less graceful. At first, the sting of salt on her wounds made her wince in pain. Slowly, though, she overcame the burning sensation. She felt… weightless. Stronger than when she was on the raft. When a pair of arm circled around her waist, she pushed them off.

"Let me help you, dammit." Jace growled into her ear.

"I think I can do it. I think I can swim this." She argued, pushing him a few feet away from her. He swam back, taking hold of the arm that wasn't marred with bruises. Her hip was throbbing underwater, continuously reminding Clary of the previous complication with her seatbelt.

"I'm still holding onto you." Jace huffed.

"What?! No, it'll slow you down!" She exclaimed, kicking him further away from her. Jace frowned - looking similar to Jocelyn whenever Clary disobeyed her orders.

Sighing in defeat, she let him pull her along through the water. As they (he) swam, Clary began to hear soft grunts leave Jace's lips. Water glided around her legs, making her realize that the current was increasing in strength. They were nearly halfway to land when it began to push them backwards - in the opposite direction.

"Jace, you need to let me go. I can swim on my own." She insisted.

He let out a few more grunts as he fought the currents before a no rumbled out of his throat. It wasn't that he sounded threatening, but the amount of protectiveness in his voice was alarming. He was going to end up killing them both if he didn't let go of her.

"I wasn't giving you the option." Clary said before shoving him forward, diving under the water.

All those years of swimming lessons proved to be of assistance. Although, the pool at the gym wasn't even close to the powerful currents that pushed her around in the water. She opened her eyes when something collided into her right side.

Jace.

He pointed up at the surface; silently demanding that she swim up to it. Clary shook her head at him and continued to move against the water's direction. She swore he rolled his eyes before going up for air; which she joined him to. They were closer to land. Much closer.

Clary could make out palm trees, a sandy beach, and birds flying around said trees. Jace smiled, going underwater. He tugged on her feet, pulling her with him. They played around. Kicking out at one another as they continued their journey towards land.

And then the current grew stronger.

One moment, she was staring at the reef bottom as it appeared closer, and then she was tumbling about - unsure of which way was up or down.

Clary figured she must've looked like an idiot with her arms and legs flailing about. Perhaps the only thing that distracted her from this was the reason why she was wondering this. Jace. She couldn't feel him moving next to her.

Her eyes opened; head nearly turning a full three hundred and sixty degrees as she searched for him. Where was he? Small ribbons of blood were floating through the current, lacing themselves around her limbs; nearly causing her to throw up.

He was at the bottom of the shallow reef, some blood was seeping out of his head. Somehow, in the wild current, he must've collided against the surface of it and knocked himself into unconsciousness. She swam her way towards him, tugging on his arm and pulling his body along with her to grab a breath of air into her burning lungs.

"Jace!" Clary yelped, trying to shake him. His golden eyes remained hidden from view under his eyelids. "Jace!" Her voice squeaked near the end of her shout when her feet came in contact with the reef's hard surface. He was getting much harder to pull with the increasing gravity. Eventually, though, she pushed him against the sand coastline of wherever they were.

Her hands pressed against his chest once he was laying down. She brought her ear to his mouth, listening for any sound of breath - which he wasn't doing.

It was almost like instinct; the way she began to pump his chest with her flattened palms. After a few seconds, she stared at his mouth, then brought her lips to him, puffing air into his lungs. "Dammit Jace, come on!" She hissed. He wasn't reacting to her assistance. Remaining lifeless, causing her worry to reach unsafe levels.

Tears sprung out of her eyes as she continued her attempts at resuscitating him. Please wake up, she pleaded silently. Trying once more, he sprung up in a flash - startling her and causing a shriek to escape her lips. He vomited water onto the sand, coughing violently. Jace was lying down afterwards; panting with a hand against his damp chest. His eyes were rimmed red. "Jace?" She whispered.

He didn't say anything as he grasped at the back of her neck and pulled her against his chest, holding her as if he feared she would move away. Clary's fingernails scraped at his torso, clinging to him like a child would cling to their parent. Quietly, she began to sob. The realization of how close she had come to losing him - how close he was to never, ever waking up again… it was much too real for her.

AN: Not some of my best work, but the next chapter should be better.

Please leave a review to tell me what you think of this chapter!