Imprinted Memories

Not your time yet

Clary's eyes fluttered open and she couldn't recognize where she was. It looked like a garden. She sat up and turned around to see a huge mansion.

"I always thought being dead would look and feel differently."

"That's because you're not dead, little sister," she heard a quite familiar voice behind her.

"Jonathan? What happened? Where am I? Is this heaven, hell or some interdimensional waiting room for the recently deceased?"

"No, neither of these options. You could say that your're trying to find your way back home."

"What is all this?"

"The place where you and I could have grown up together if things would have gone differently."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It was never in your responsibility. Come, let's walk for a bit."

Jonathan held his hand out to Clary and she took it. She wondered why she felt no hesitation towards him but then realized that there wasn't any evil in him anymore.

"I know what you did, Clary."

"What do you mean?"

"The sacrifice you made when you granted me an honorable death."

"You're my brother, Jonathan."

"Despite all the pain I've caused you?"

"As I said to you on that day, families can be our biggest source of heartbreak. What Valentine and Lilith did to you wasn't your fault. You weren't supposed or born to be evil. No one of us is. And regardless of what you did, you deserved to feel loved at least once in your life. I experienced first hand how manipulative Valentine could be. I wish, I could have saved you when I've seen you in my dreams."

"It wouldn't have changed things for the better. I never got to apologize for the things I did to you."

"I don't blame you."

"Why did you act against Raziel's order?"

"How'd you know?"

"Mom told me, she was waiting for me after I died."

"No matter what you did, no matter how many people you had killed or how much you've hurt my loved ones, I knew that my brother, the innocent child you were supposed to be, was still in you. I tried to solely see the monster in you but I couldn't. You were the last remaining part of my family, I've lost mom, I've killed Valentine, I thought, I could save you if you would only realize that you were loved."

"And I misunderstood it."

"I know but I don't blame you. Being subjected to Demonic influences... you wanted to be loved. You wanted to have what I had. I miss my family so much. After I killed you, I realized that I was the last of my family. And I miss my family," Clary's voice broke with tears.

"But you have a wonderful family around you. And they need you."

"They suffered so much because of me."

"You know, my wise younger sister once said that families are our biggest source of heartbreak."

"It's not nice to use that against me."

"I'm not using it against you. You were right with what you said but the love we receive in return is worth all the pain we might experience. Clary, they love you so much and they want you back. It's not your time yet to leave them."

"Will I see you and mom again?"

"You will when it's time. You still have so many things you have to accomplish in your life."