I don't know where I placed this at. probably somewhere between the first and second book. I don't think Simon is a vampire yet.

I don't own the characters. I attach strings to them and shout, "Dance marionettes! Dance for my pleasure!"

The sun was setting on the New York City skyline. Twilight was drawing quickly to a close and Clarissa "Clary" Fray/Fairchild/Morgenstern (whatever the hell you call her) was frantically trying to capture the fading scene on a five by three foot canvas. Her wild red mane was sloppily pulled back into a low ponytail, a few strands sticking to her face. Splotches of paint adorned her cheeks and clothes but she either didn't care or was too busy with her painting to notice.

To Jace, she always looked the most beautiful when she was like this.

Of course, Jace also thought she looked just as beautiful when she was covered in blood and demon intestines, but there was something about Clary when she looked so dazed, with her glazed-over eyes and ears that were deaf to the world while she painted herself into a stupor. Like she was living in a world that was made for her and her art and no one could disturb her.

Not even Jace. The thought enchanted him and terrified him at the same time.

On one hand, in her world she couldn't get hurt. Nothing but her imagination and her craft to keep her alive and satisfied. She could block everyone out, ignore all the judgmental stares that came with being Valentine's daughter. (He was used to it, being the adopted prodigal son of a former Circle member.) She could pretend that Alec didn't hate her for the most stupid of reasons and that her best friend wasn't in love with her.

On the other hand, Jace couldn't be with her when she was in her other world. He couldn't comfort her if she was terrified. He couldn't hold her hand if she was shaking in fright. He couldn't hide her behind his back at the first sight of danger. He couldn't kiss away her tears if she was crying. He never saw her bight smile when she was in the other world. He didn't see the verdant color of her eyes when she smiled, the bright red of her cheeks when she blushed, the way she bit her lip when she was trying to hold back her laughter. He didn't see any of those things and that scared him more than any demon or any form of Isabelle's cooking.

Clary's sigh broke him of his thoughts. She was wringing her paint-coated hands together and her eyes were no longer glazed. Instead she was intently studying her painting. The mixes of yellows, blacks, blues, and oranges were tastefully combined to create buildings and a beautiful skyline sunset. It was almost picturesque.

"What do you think?" Clary nervously asked. "I know its not perfect, but just tell me what you think."

He can't help but chuckle because a) the picture looks like it should be in a gallery instead of an easel on the highest floor of the Institute and b) she's so damn cute when she's flustered. "I think its amazing, Clary." He wiggled his eyebrows. "The offer of a nude model is still there."

Clary rolled her eyes. "I'll be sure to come straight to you." She suddenly smirked. "After I'm finished with Simon, of course."

Clary's eyes widened and Jace knew it was because his eyes had darkened like they usually did when he was upset, angry or horny. Usually horny. "Why would that mundane," Jace spit the word out, as if the very idea of Simon disgusted him. "be taking his clothes off in front of my baby sister?"

The murderous look in her face tells Jace he has said the wrong thing.

"Excuse me?" She shrieks, and even though he has faced ugly demons, murderous Downworlders, and Isabelle PMSing, nothing hurts him more than the obvious hurt in Clary's eyes. "We discovered we are siblings a month ago, and all of a sudden you want to act like some wanna-be older brother figure? What the hell, Jace!"

"Who else will act like that if not me?"

"Have you ever stopped and thought that maybe I don't want someone like that? That I was doing just fine on my own before you showed up?"

"Nope. You're certainly enough of a trouble-magnet to need a protector. Besides, who else wants the obligation of taking care of you?"

The flush spread down to her neck and Jace felt small warning signs when tears started to pool in her eyes.

"Fuck you, Jace!" She snarled before turning on her heel and slamming the door.

"Just who the hell does he think he is?" Thought Clary angrily as she marched down the Institution's halls. She nearly ran over Church in her haste to get as far away from Jace as possible. The cat hissed, but Clary, not in the mood to deal with the fat cat, scowled and hissed right back. Church's tail poofed up and he scurried away. Clearly Clary was not her usual forgiving self tonight.

Coincidentally enough, just as Clary turned the last corner to get to her room a strong wall came out of nowhere and knocked her down.

"Hey, are you oka-oh, its just you." Great. Just another reason to get angry tonight. "Are you going to get out of the way anytime soon?"

"Go around me if you're in such a hurry." Grumbled Clary.

Alec paused. The usually shy and timid Clary being, dare he even think the word...snappish? "What crawled up your pants, Fray?"

"The fact that today has been the most terrible day of my life, excluding the day I was unfortunate enough to meet you."

His nostrils flared. "Are you looking for a fight?"

"I was kidding Alec. Loosen up or you'll break something."

Sarcastic Clary? Now he was very intrigued. "What happened to make you so upset?"

"Jace being Jace is what happened. By the way, being such fellow jerks, you two deserve each other. Have at him. Go at him like some horny rabbit for all I freaking care."

Alec laughed and knelt next to Clary. "Jace getting you upset? Is that all? You'd think you would be used to it by now."

"I'll never get used to Jace telling me who I can use as a model."

He raised a brow. "Is that all you were fighting about?"

She sighed. "I don't know. I just got so angry at him after he told me it was his obligation to protect me." Now Alec knew why she was so pissed. "Maybe I was just taking my anger out on him. In case you haven't noticed, I have been quite stressed out."

"I'm sure this has all been very stressful to you. Finding out you have a brother, discovering you have an amazing talent. Oh yes, you have every reason to be stressed out."

His sarcasm did not go unnoticed by Clary. "Try not knowing if your mother is ever going to wake up. Try finding out that you are half of an evil mastermind who wants to kill everyone who opposes him. Try discovering your best friend, the one who you've always loved as a brother, is in love with you and you have no idea what to do about it. Although in your case, the last one probably sounds like a miracle." She sighed. "It feels...I feel so lost."

Alec stared at Clary, What was he supposed to do? He was shit at comforting people. Hell, he could barely comfort himself! As he looked at Clary and her pained and lonely expression, he slowly began to realize that no matter how much he didn't like her, she wasn't leaving.

"Get up."

His voice startled Clary. "What?"

He rolled his eyes and jumped to is feet, helping her off the ground in the process. "I'm going to show you something. Now hurry up or I'll leave you behind." He gave her a sardonic grin. "Who knows? Maybe you'll even like it."

As Clary followed Alec through the hallways of the Institute, her mind raced a million miles an hour.

Alec was showing her something. Alec, who hated and despised her, was leading her somewhere and only did she have no clue where she was going, but no one knew where she was.

Anyone see anything wrong with this picture?

He suddenly swerved to the right and pushed open a set of double doors. Inside were all kinds of weapons. Some that were more familiar to Clary than others, like the many Seraph blades hung on the walls but many more unfamiliar.

Without even pausing Alec strode up to the nearest wall and removed a blade from its position. He turned around and held out the hilt to Clary. "Name it." He demanded.

"Excuse me?"

He rolled his eyes and grabbed her wrist, placing the hilt of the blade in her hands. "To activate a Seraph blade, you need to name it. I recommend a Latin name. They like that better than Greek."

Clary bit her lip, trying to come up with some impressive name that would shock Alec. When she failed, she shrugged and gripped the hilt. "Baruchiel." The blade hummed in her hand.

Alec took his own blade from the sheath on his belt. "Now we fight."

Clary blinked. "I'm sorry, but did you just say we now fight?"

He nodded. "Yep. However, since its your first time, I'll let you attack first."

"I should fight you, why?"

Alec shrugged. "This is the way Shadowhunters relieve stress." He looked thoughtful. "Well, either that or sex."

Clary shook her head. "I'm not fighting you. You'll kick my butt in ten seconds!"

"Three if you want to be technical."

She rolled her eyes. "Three then. No matter what you'll still kick my butt."

Alec grunted. "You want to learn about how to be a Shadowhunter, right?" Clary nodded. "Then just go along with it. I promise not to strike you unless I know it won't hurt you."

Clary sighed and nodded. She readied her shoulders and raced forward to strike her blade against Alec's. He blocked and struck in retaliation. She only barely managed to dodge the close blow to her side. "Hey!" She squeaked. "I thought you said you weren't going to hurt me!"

Alec shrugged. "You dodged."

"What if I hadn't?"

He shrugged again. "Then I would have softened the blow. Remember, I'm the one who has been doing this for most of my life."

"Thats supposed to make me feel better?" She grumbled. But she took advantage of his relaxed state and lashed at him. He quickly blocked and parried back. It was back and forth between them for awhile. The sound of clashing metal echoed in the empty training room.

"You're pretty good for a beginner." He commented.

Clary huffed. "Simon snuck me into a few fencing classes at the local community center. I liked it until my mom found out and freaked. I guess now know why she hated fighting so much."

"Guess so." He murmured back. He saw so many weak spots in her stance it wasn't even funny. As she pressed him harder though, he felt he actually had to make some effort to dodge and block her strikes. "You're getting better." He sounded impressed.

To his surprise she smiled at his complement. "Thanks. You're a good teacher."

He nodded to himself as he dodged again. "I know."

She rolled her eyes and ducked a wide swing to her head. "Get an even bigger head why don't you."

The fighting and light verbal banter lasted for another hour before an exhausted Clary called a halt to their sparring. "I'm not made of muscle." She huffed, her hands clasped around her knees. "I don't have the stamina you do."

To her surprise, instead of complaining or pointing out how dreadfully mundane she was he set down his blade and tossed her a bottle of water. She clumsily caught it and quickly gulped it down. "You aren't bad, you know."

"Huh?" She wiped her mouth.

"With a little more training you might actually be able hold your own in a fight against Izzy, or even Jace."

Clary rolled her eyes again and shook her head. "I'm never going to be anywhere near as good as they are."

"So what?" She looked at him in shock, but he just shrugged. "So what if you are never as good. Even then, you could still be decent enough to handle a demon on your own. In the Shadowhunter world, that's really all that counts."

She smiled at him. "You know, I think I like you better when you're nice."

He snorted and started walking towards the exit. "Don't get used to it. In fact, by tomorrow, I will have forgotten this ever happened." He was about to leave the training room when he paused at the door. "Clary?"

"Yes?"

He turned to look at her. "You do have the potential to be just as good as Jace or Izzy, even better than them. Never doubt that." He walked away and out of Clary's sight.

Clary smiled and drank the last of her water before setting off to find the nearest available shower. She didn't know what came over Alec that night, but she knew she liked him a lot better now than before.

I really like Alec and it pisses me off that he and Clary don't have a lot of interaction with each other friend-wise. I think they could actually be really good friends if they just sat down and talked to one another. I mean, has anyone noticed the similarities in their personalities?

Don't get me wrong, I am a huge supporter of Jace and Clary. I just think that Alec could use some more friends that are not apart of his family.