I wanted a Jace/Clary fight scene, so here it is! Post City of Glass. Alas, none of these characters are mine, with the exception of the hated Giles Greentree.
This is my first fanfic, so please review!
Clary dripped with sweat, forward and backslashing the practice column with her seraph blade. She was practicing after hours in one of the many Weapons Rooms in Idris, venting her frustration of a slab of onyx.
It was not so much that the long hours of sparring practices and her studies were taking a toll. No, the restrictions placed on her by the Council were starting to wear on her nerves. While the Clave had been all but annihilated during Valentine's war, many of the Councilmembers continued to uphold the "proper" restrictions that dictate shadowhunter training.
Her instruction—to her intense embarrassment—had begun with the newly marked 12-year-old children in Idris. The Council's justification was that she needed to start at the beginning, since she had had no formal education.
With a smirk, she thought back to her first sparring practice. This activity ended with five young shadowhunters pinned to the wall by the wide variety of throwing knives available in the Weapons Room.
With a sigh, she recollected the outcome of that stunt, which landed her in her current predicament. No group training. No demon hunting. And no new marks without the approval of her Tutor.
"Tutor," she scoffed to herself, slashing at the column, "more like a babysitter."
Giles Greentree was assigned to ensure that she was "thoroughly instructed on the strictures of the Law." Greentree spent more time forcing her to read books with gripping titles like The Compendium of Shadowhunter Law: Past to Present than teaching her anything practical, like how to hunt demons.
And hunting demons was exactly where she wanted to be right now. The Lightwoods were called away to a demon infestation outside of Idris and would be gone for the night. Again. Jace would be gone until tomorrow. She huffed in anger and slashed at the column again.
"Jace is probably hacking the goo out of demons right now," she growled to herself bitterly.
Eventually, Clary lowered her blade, and released the angel energy. Slowing her breath, she allowed the exhaustion from the day to overtake her. She examined her arms, and noted that the endurance runes on her hands had faded. The scars on her arms had begun to crisscross, but were nowhere near as lined as Jace's or Isabelle's. And they wouldn't be for a long time, because she could not add new marks until she had more "proper" training.
That was the wrong thing to think. Now she was exhausted and pissed. Letting out a huff, she angrily began to stalk to the washroom.
"I'm surprised you haven't banished that practice column back to the fifth dimension," a languidly arrogant voice remarked from behind her.
Startled, Clary flew around to see Jace leaning up against the doorframe of the Weapons Room. His hair was windblown and he was still in his demon hunting gear, looking ever like a highly amused destroying angel.
"Jace, how long have you been standing in that doorway," Clary snapped. Her heart picked up at the sight of him, inked and fully armed, but she was not in the mood for a smartass.
"Oh, maybe a column or three. I thought you would have carved a David by now." His eyes glinted and he pushed off the doorframe to join her in the room.
Letting out a sigh, Clary sat down on the stone floor and allowed him to pull up next to her. He still smelled like the night. As he put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close, she put her head on her knees and squeezed her eyes shut in exhaustion.
"Were the demons biting tonight?" Clary quipped lightly, trying to reign in her frustrations from the day.
"We hooked four, but it wasn't much of a sport. Isabelle had most of them strung up by their tentacles and beheaded before it could get too exciting."
"At least you beheaded something. I swear I'm going to behead a Councilmember or two if they keep me locked up in this godforsaken place much longer."
"Why, such a disrespectful thing to say about the Law! I really would have expected much more of you, Clarissa Fairchild," Jace mocked in a reproving tone, imitating with irritating accuracy the high nasal voice of Tutor Greentree.
"Ugh!" Clary shoved Jace over and pushed up off the ground. She heard his light laughter as she marched to the washroom. "Jace, you so don't want to mess with me right now."
"I don't?" The playful challenge in his voice stopped her short.
"No," she growled. She could imagine his tawny eyes gleaming wickedly from behind her.
"Zuriel," she heard him purr, like a lion baiting its mate.
Clary took a deep breath and closed her eyes, relaxing her shoulders. The smooth metal of the seraph blade was still in her hand. She knew she was still no match for Jace in combat, in part because of the limitations they'd placed her marks. She felt anger ripple like heat down her arms. Pent up frustration coursed through her blood and lit her tired muscles on fire.
Eyes still closed, she pictured her "tutor," and smiled.
"Ramiel!" The angel's name exploded from her mouth as she swung her blade up and whipped around in one motion to meet Jace's blade. The blades pulsed with white light and sparked when they clashed in midair.
Jace met her blow for blow as they sparred across the floor, his eyes taunting her as he flicked and blocked each blow. The runes on his arms blurred around her strikes with amazing speed.
"Show off," she growled, and abruptly changed tactics.
Feinting forward, she forced him to block her strike, and pushed all her weight against the clashed blades to force him back. Jace's eyes flew open in surprise and he stumbled a step backwards. Clary grabbed a bola from her belt with her free hand. She had an acute proficiency with throwing weapons and rarely missed her mark.
Smiling, Clary whipped the bola around her head and launched it at Jace's weapon hand. Jace dodged the throw at the last moment and laughed, "You throw like a girl." He readied himself to pounce again.
Clary's smile grew wider. She knew she was next to a closet full of knives, throwing stars, bolas, and chains. "You're right, let a girl show you how it's done," and she immediately began launching all the artillery within reach at Jace's approaching attack.
Jace began deflecting the deluge of flying objects with his blade, grunting as he was bombarded with a kitchen sink's worth of chains and sharp pointy objects.
Seeming to realize that Clary wasn't going to run out of ammo any time soon, Jace dove towards a table to take refuge.
Taking advantage of his momentary vulnerability, Clary whipped a bola at his ankles, catching his legs together and sending him soaring into a spectacular bellyflop under the weapons table.
"Score!" Clary cheered, and was rewarded with a grunt as he smacked into the ground.
"I don't think you'll be scoring for a month after that," Jace groaned, rolling onto his side.
Finally chuckling herself, Clary slid next to him under the table. "What, you don't have a thing for bondage? I thought we were onto something there."
Jace pushed a loose curl out of her face and kissed her forehead. "Thanks be to the Angel for healing runes."
Clary smiled and relaxed her head on Jace's arm, the tension from the day finally dissipating. They were both sweaty from exertion and the cool stones felt wonderful on her skin.
"The Clave should keep you locked indoors. You're clearly too much of a beast to be walking alongside humanity," Jace teased.
Groaning now herself, Clary pushed Jace onto his back and pinned him to the ground. "I win. So shut up for once and kiss me."
Laughing softly, Jace flicked his blade to free his legs, broke Clary's hold, and pinned her onto her back. "Haven't you heard? I always win. But I'll still let you kiss me."
"Bast..." But Jace's mouth gently kissed her bottom lip to smother the profanity, blocking all her means of verbal retaliation. Sighing in defeat, she laced her fingers through his hair and held him close, kissing him gently once, and he kissed her back twice with urgency.
Realizing where they were with a jolt, Clary broke away from Jace's lips. "Jace, I'm sure there's a Law that prohibits you from taking me on the Weapons Room floor."
"Taking you where?" he replied, his wickedly glinting eyes widening with innocence.
"Let's get out of here before I spend my adult life fighting inanimate objects," Clary muttered, rolling out from under the table and pushing to her feet.
Jace stood up next to her with a sigh, and let out a low whistle as he surveyed the wreckage in the room. Knives were embedded in the door, shelves were broken, and the floor was littered with weapons. He turned to Clary with his most charming smile.
"Since I won, you get to clean up this place."
This is my first fanfic. Let me know what you think!