The Morning Star (TMI City of Lost Souls AU)

Chapter 2 - Brotherly Bonds

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Light drifted through the window as morning came and Clary's eyes fluttered open, almost forgetting where she was. Not that it was possible to forget, regardless of what she wanted. Her head was reeling from the day before and the thought of sitting up seemed horrible. She brought her hands up and raked them through her hair and down her face in exhaustion when a spark of panic rose in her chest. The ring was gone. She shot up and patted the bed all around her, throwing sheets on the ground. Shit. The first day there and she already lost her one way to contact the other dimension.

"Hey, are you alright?" Jace had opened the door and was leaning on the doorframe in jeans and a cream colored long sleeved t-shirt with buttons a third of the way down his chest. At Clary's silence, he raised his eyebrow quizzically.

"I-I'm fine, I-" She wanted to tell Jace but she didn't know if she could trust this Jace quite yet, so she kept her mouth shut, "just had a bad dream is all."

He walked towards her and wrapped his arms around her, sending a wave of familiar comfort through her. She almost felt like everything was back to normal, having Jace back in her arms. "Well I'm sorry I wasn't here for you last night. We're making breakfast if you want some." Jace broke away with a smile and walked out the door into the hallway, Clary trailing behind as she pulls on her jeans.

"Good morning you two. Eggs, pancakes?" Sebastian smiled over his shoulder absentmindedly flipping pancakes in a frying pan. He was dressed similar to Jace except his shirt was black, his hair messy across his forehead. Jace hopped up on the stool behind the island.

"I'll have some eggs, thank you very much." He said with a smile and when the both looked at her, she just politely smiled and shook her head. With a shrug, he returned his attention to the stove while chatting casually with Jace. Their banter made it seem like they had been friends for years, despite the fact that Jace had killed Sebastian not that long ago and Sebastian had tried to end Jace's life multiple times as well. Using their distraction to her advantage, she quietly walked around, observing the apartment she was in. The kitchen opened up into the living, all contrasting colors of white with dark counters and leather couches with pops of red accents like pillows and vases. On the white wall across from the couch was a black marble fireplace that stretched to the ceiling with a flat screen TV above the mantle. On the far side of the room was a staircase made of glass, almost as if you would be walking on air as you go up to the second floor. Clary made her way over to the staircase and slowly walked up, glancing down to see Jace and Sebastian still laughing and talking in the kitchen.

The glass staircase opened up into a narrow hallway with 3 doors. She started at the door to her left which opened up to a bright bedroom. All white and charcoal and exquisitely neat; the sheets were made, all the books were aligned perfectly and the closet was color coordinated with mostly blacks, grays and whites and the occasional blue or green. Jace, she thought. This must be Jace's room. Her shoulders dropped with a mixed sense of relief and sadness. Based on his room, you would never have thought he was any different. But Clary knew better, she knew he was not the same Jace that she loved. She walked back into the hallway and went into the second door that was in the middle, directly at the top of the stairs. This room was very large, even bigger than the one that she had decided was Jace's. This room had the same dark hardwood flooring and white walls as the rest of the house, but the bedsheets were a royal blue with golden accents. The thing that surprised her the most was the closet, full of women's clothes. All beautiful clothes her size, but nicer and more expensive than anything she would wear. Nearly all of them still had price tags on them as well. Despite her better judgment, she ripped off her bloody and ripped jeans and oversized t-shirt in exchange for a pair of tight black jeans and a flowing maroon tank top with a geometric cut at the top. It felt nice to be in clean clothes, especially the nice ones that were here. She searched the room for anything that might help her figure out whose room it was and for her ring. She opened drawers all around and slammed one shut in frustration knocking a picture frame onto the floor. When she bent down to pick it up, her breath caught seeing what was in the frame. It was a picture of Valentine with her mother wrapped in his arms. They were a lot younger, maybe barely older than 19. Valentine looked down at her with a composed smile, his ashy white hair falling over his face ever so slightly. And Jocelyn, looking very similar to Clary herself, was laughing. It was so hard to see the man who nearly destroyed her family and friends making her mother happy, it didn't seem real. She set the picture frame face down so she didn't have to see it and made her way back out into the hallway.

Making her way to the last door that was to the far right, she pushed it open. The floors were the same, but the walls were red, not white. The bedsheets were a charcoal gray and silver and the room was in a state of disarray. This must be Sebastian's room. The closet was open and there were clothes strewn across the floor and the bed. Hesitantly, she walked over to his dresser and started pulling open drawers and searching for the ring. After a few minutes she found it in his bedside table, gleaming in the drawer. She picked it up in her hand and sat down on the bed examining it. A tinge of betrayal and anger flashed through her momentarily until she heard a voice from behind her.