Author's Note: I literally can't tell you guys how thankful I am for every one of your reviews. They brighten my day so much. I don't know, I can't even explain it. A huge, huge shoutout to iLoveMeSomeCaptainAmerica, DoClover, and AndyAshleyJakeJinxxCCPatchJace. Also, I just figured out how to do the line thingy (because I'm super technologically advanced like that) so yeah. That's good.

Disclaimer: I do not own anything concerning The Mortal Instruments.

Chapter 11

Something thick and sticky was dripping down Clary's arm. She pressed her hand to it, and flinched in horror when she saw blood painted onto her hand. She couldn't feel any pain, so she knew it wasn't her blood. This thought only made her even sicker to her stomach. Everything around her was pitch black and Clary couldn't hear or see anything. The only thing she was sure of was that blood that wasn't hers kept dripping down her arm, and no matter how hard she tried to wipe it off, more and more kept coming.

She tried to take a few steps forward, but she felt something crunching underneath her foot, causing fear to paralyze her. She was stuck, and at this point she would be lying if she were to say she wasn't hyperventilating.

Suddenly, an awfully familiar voice began shouting her name. "Clary!" Jace screamed, over and over again.

Panicked, Clary began running blindly, bumping into walls as crunching sounds echoed throughout the darkness. The blood kept dripping, except this time it was beginning to drip down her head, soaking her hair and clothes.

"Clary, help!" Jace shouted again, his voice nothing short of pain and pure torture. It broke Clary's heart in two, and she wasn't sure she was going to be able to survive with half a heart.

"Jace! Where are you?" Clary screamed into the darkness.

"God, Clary, help me! I can't do this anymore!" his voice replied.

"What's wrong? Tell me what's wrong!"

"She won't stop. She won't stop, and she'll do it to everyone, Clary. She'll do it to everyone until she gets to you. It hurts, Clary, make it stop!" Jace shouted again, his voice, if possible, filled with even more pain.

Tears were streaming down Clary's bloody face. Her fingers kept hitting solid walls. There was no way she was going to be able to get to Jace. She couldn't save him.

The Seelie Queen's voice replaced Jace's cries for help, and Clary was both relieved and even more scared.

"You should have known better than to let him save you, Clarissa. You're all going to pay." Her laugh resounded throughout the darkness, and suddenly there was brightness everywhere. And Clary could finally see where the blood was coming from. She looked up, only to be met with the glazed gazes of her family and friends. They were mangled and tied to the ceiling, all of their eyes placed on her. Their faces were frozen in permanent pain. Clary immediately looked to the familiar golden eyes, but this time they no longer held the spark that she had fallen in love with so many times. Blood was sliding out of his mouth like a small red snake, and Clary screamed.

Jace's rather annoying shaking was what woke her. Even half-asleep, she could feel her entire body trembling. A cold layer of sweat coated her from head to toe, and her mouth felt like a thousand cotton balls had been shoved into it. The only source of warmth was Jace's hand, which was holding her shoulder rather tightly and was still shaking her back and forth in an attempt to wake her up. Her eyes slowly opened, and at first all she could see were the pale white walls of Jace's bedroom, which reminded he all too much of the blindingly white brightness of her dream. She shivered involuntarily, and her eyes eventually shifted to Jace's face, which was filled with concern.

The encounter with the faerie queen had been days ago, and she had been having night terrors ever since then. She'd been sleeping with Jace lately, since he was the only one who could calm her down after she woke up screaming. She snuggled closer into Jace's warm embrace, trying her best to forget every detail of the dream.

"It's alright, Clary," Jace murmured, running his hand comfortingly down her back. She shivered and squeezed her eyes shut.

Pale moonlight slowly crept through Clary's eyes, and she opened them to meet Jace's concerned expression once again. "I'm sorry."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Jace whispered, his hand moving to brush her hair out of her face. Clary's breaths were slowing down and she sat herself up.

"Yes, I do. You've gotten no sleep these past couple of days." Clary grinned sheepishly up at Jace, whose expression was one of amusement.

He chuckled lightly, his arms bringing her closer to him. "That's true, but you shouldn't feel like you need to apologize for it. Even though it's not necessarily the type of 'lack of sleep' that I want," he paused to wiggle his eyebrows at her, "I'm still going to be here for you."

Stifling an annoyed groan, Clary brought a hand up to playfully slap his chest. "Are you ever not a pig?"

Jace shrugged. "Just trying to lighten the mood. Now, in all seriousness, do you want to talk about it?"

Clary sat up and let her bright red hair form a curtain over her face. She hated looking weak in front of Jace. He was always so strong, and she wanted to prove to both him and herself that she could be just as great a Shadowhunter as he was. Which also reminded her that she would be taking the tests in a few weeks with Simon, and that she felt nowhere near ready for them. Clary brought her knees up to her chest and groaned.

"Clary, baby, are you alright? Please talk to me," Jace asked again, attempting to pull her curly hair out of her face.

"Baby? Really?" Clary teased.

"Just testing it out. I figured I needed some sort of term of endearment for you. We've been together long enough, don't you think?"

Clary sighed. "I'm fine," she said, in answer to his former question. "Actually, for a second I wasn't even thinking about my dream. I was thinking about having to take the Clave tests with Simon soon."

Jace laughed again, causing Clary's eyebrows to furrow in confusion. "What's so funny?"

"Only you, who was born Nephilim and has defeated two of the biggest threats to the Shadowhunter world- who, might I add, the Clave themselves couldn't even defeat- would be more worried than a mundane about the Clave tests." Jace laughed again, and brought his hands up behind his head and leaned back against the headboard of his bed.

"Simon is not a mundane," Clary replied stubbornly.

"Technically speaking, he is. I don't think he's entirely recalled his past of being a Daylighter, do you?" Jace said softly.

Clary grimaced in response. The Daylighter thing she didn't mind him remembering, but it was all the parts that lead up to it. All the heartbreak and hurt she had caused him. If the roles were reversed, she knew she wouldn't be able to forgive him easily.

As if on cue, the door burst open. Simon was standing there, a soft light blanketing his body. His hair was all over the place and his glasses were slightly crooked, and his chest was rising up and down with heavy breaths. Even from the bed, Clary could tell Simon was trembling.

"Simon?" she whimpered. "What-"

"Stop."

His eyes blazed at her, and Clary cowered into Jace's chest. He had never looked at her that way before. This was Simon. He was always so kind and gentle with his best friend. But not now. She should have known things would have changed, if only slightly, but in no way was she prepared for this.

"Simon?" Clary asked again, because it was the only thing that she could muster up from the chaos that was currently her mind.

Simon pointed a trembling finger towards her. "You...you promised."

"What? Simon, what are you talking about?"

"You were supposed to always be there for me."

At his words, Clary quickly scrambled out of the bed and rushed towards Simon. She moved to wrap her arms around him, but he flinched and moved back slightly. Though his movements were miniscule, it was enough for Clary to notice. It was enough to twist her heart into another mangled mess. She felt the sting of tears creep up behind her eyes, but she refused to let them go any further. She told herself she would be strong for Simon, and she felt she owed it to him. She, afterall, had already broken one of her promises to him.

"Let me explain-"

Simon cut her off as soon as her voice sliced through the sickening silence. "No. I'm not sure I can handle any of your excuses right now, Clary." If it were possible, Simon was shaking even harder now. "I...I loved you?" His voice cracked slightly on the last word, and Clary wanted nothing more than to throw herself into his arms and assure him that she did love him. Because she did, just not in the way that he had wanted her to.

Clary took one breath to steady herself, and looked up into Simon's eyes. "You did. But you love Isabelle now, right? And I do love you Simon, I do. Just not...not in that way."

"So you chose him," Simon said flatly. It was more of a bland statement then a question, and the pain and betrayal that flashed through his face was more obvious than the color of the sky. Clary didn't know how much more of this she would be able to handle until she broke down completely.

She heard the bed creak behind her, and turned slightly to see Jace walking towards her. He put and arm around her waist and brought her close to him, and his warmth was enough to bring her pain down a notch. Of course, it only increased as soon as she turned to meet Simon's cold stare again. "Simon. you have to understand-"

He raised a hand and swallowed thickly. "I can't understand, not right now. You're still my best friend, Clary, I can promise you that. But I just need a break for a little bit. Just some time to sort out all of these feelings, all of these memories. I'll come back to you. But I," he swallowed again, and brought a hand up to cup her face. "I have to go." He kissed her cheek lightly, in such a familiar and brotherly way that made Clary want to crumple to the floor right then and there. He pulled back and walked out of the doorway, and he refused to look back at her.

"Simon, wait!" Clary nearly screamed. She jumped out of Jace's embrace and made to follow Simon, but Jace easily caught up with her and grabbed her again.

"You do need to give him time," he said, holding her tight. "He'll be back soon, I promise. Just give him time. He won't leave you again."

All Clary could do was nod her head in reply. She let her body relax slightly as she made her way back to Jace's bed. Even if she had to deal with the awful nightmares, anything was better than the reality she was in right now. She could feel her heart chipping away, and she wondered how much more it could possibly handle before it shattered like a stained glass window. She brought the covers up around her body in hopes of shielding away the heartache, and waited for Jace to lay down as well before she grabbed him tightly and squeezed her eyes shut. She didn't close her eyes fast enough, however, because the only thing that burned in her mind now was Jace's parabatai rune. It felt like demon blood was dripping down her skin and scorching everything in its path, because Jace's rune reminded Clary of how she had wanted to ask Simon tomorrow during lessons if he wanted to be hers. Clary wanted a parabatai, and the only person she could think of was her best friend. Simon, the boy who had once come with her family on a trip to the beach and had accidentally swallowed so much sand that they ended up going to the ER. Simon, the boy who had stayed up late watching Marvel movies and eating junk food with her when she had failed her first test. Simon, the boy who's contagious smile and warm embrace had been the one constant in her life that she had nearly depended on, that she had loved without a doubt. Simon, the boy who was walking out of the Institute with his hands in his pockets and his eyes never leaving the bright red hair that he could just make out from one of the windows.

I feel like that last paragraph may have come across as Clary having romantic feelings for Simon, but just know that that was not my intent. Anyways, hope you guys liked this, and, as always, if you have any suggestions I would love to hear them!