I've had this idea playing around in my mind for a while, I've just never wrote it down or developed it. And I finally decided to write it, so here it is!
It is where most of the characters get a personality swap, due to a wish that Clary made. Picture a timid and modest Jace, a cruel and spiteful Simon, a shy and studious Isabelle, and a spontaneous, rule breaking Alec!
Disclaimer- Do I really have to put this in? You all know I'm not Cassandra Clare!
Clary swirled around and lunged towards the dummy, swinging a glowing Seraph blade and severing it's head. It's head dropped to the floor with a trail of stuffing and thread. Panting, the redhead turned to her golden eyed tutor.
"Not bad, Fray." Jace commented, picking up the beheaded dummy on the floor, "but not good enough." Jace tutted, shaking his head in disapproval.
"What? What was wrong with that? It was fine!" Clary blurted unbelievingly. She had managed to behead the dummy, hadn't she?
"Well, look how much stuffing came out of the dummy." Jace indicated to the heap of wool on the floor.
"So?"
"If you were facing a real Demon, you wouldn't want all their insides flailing all over the place, would you? Don't forget, blood stains. And Demon blood is dangerous, especially to mundanes." Jace explained. "Now, are you going to clean this up?"
Clary sighed and bent over to collect the remains of the dummy. She knew that Jace was only trying to help her improve, but did he have to be such a perfectionist? Before, he had claimed that she hadn't swung accurately enough, then that it wasn't forceful enough, quick enough, and once even that 'she didn't look tough enough'! And now, she was too messy? Isabelle, or even Alec, wouldn't have been this fussy. Did it really matter how she killed a Demon as long as she killed it?
"Good, now try it again, but not as forceful. You don't want a messy killing." Jace said, beckoning for her to have another go.
"So first I wasn't forceful enough, and when I actually do it right you criticize me for making it too messy?" Clary yelled, outraged at her boyfriend.
"I'm sorry, Clary, but did you really think that Demon hunting was going to be easy? It's not as easy as it looks. I know I make it look so effortless and simple because of my amazing talents, but it's actually very hard. And weren't you the one who suggested I teach you?"
"I guess you're right." Clary sighed. Jace had a point. She did ask to be trained by Jace and she definitely didn't expect for Demon hunting to just be a walk in the park.
"Are you going to have another go then?"
Clary sighed again, and nodded her head. This time, she would get it right. She picked up her Seraph blade and whispered it's name. She sprinted towards the dummy standing next to Jace and thrust her shimmering sword into the chest of her fake opponent. She retreated a few steps back, pulled out her blade and slashed the neck of the dummy. The head rolled right off onto the floor. No unnecessary stuffing fell out either. Clary grinned. Finally, she had gotten it right. Jace surely couldn't fault her for that performance.
But when she gazed into the beautiful golden eyes of her trainer, instead of approval it was disappointment that filled his eyes. Clary's heart sunk. What did she do wrong? She had done exactly what he told her to. She wasn't too forceful or too little or too slow, and it wasn't even messy. So why was Jace shaking his head?
"What was wrong?" Clary asked her tutor, confused.
"You didn't cut his neck straight." Jace smirked. Clary was outraged. He was deliberately picking faults now, ones that didn't even count! When she was out killing Demons, would anyone even care how neatly they were beheaded or how quickly it's hand was sliced off?
"What? I've been working here for three hours, slaying dummy after dummy while you just stand there and criticise me pointlessly! Nobody cares about how neat it looks, as long as it's dead!" Clary shouted angrily.
"Clary, there are some times of Demons that can only be killed by severing a specific artery and even if you chop it's head off, it can still survive if the artery wasn't cut during the beheading. I'm not being fussy, I'm just being realistic."
"Realistic?" Clary fumed, "I've been working my butt of these past three hours training with you, and all you do is fault me for no reason! Fair enough mark me down for things like not taking the whole head off or, or not being swift enough but seriously? Things like neatness or messiness don't matter! As long as the Demon is dead, why should it matter?"
"True, but Clary, Demons are much harder to slay then dummies made from stuffing and old potato sacks."
"You just don't think I can do it, don't you? You just think I'm this soft weakling who…"
"Clary, I don't think that. I know very well that…"
"Just admit it, Jace! You just don't want me to be a Shadowhunter, you think I'm some weakling who can't handle it. Well I have news for you, I am more than capable of handling it! I've beaten Valentine, I can easily handle a few Demons."
"Clary, you didn't actually kill Valentine…"
"So now you think I can't kill anything?"
"Clary, stop being so…"
"So what? Selfish?"
"No, immature. You're whining over nothing. It doesn't matter."
"Doesn't matter, eh? Then why keep criticizing me then, huh?"
"Ugh! I give up!"
"So I'm the bad student now am I?"
"If you're going to carry on like this then, yes!" Jace snapped, storming in the room leaving a furious Clary on her own. With weapons.
…
Simon waited for his best friend inside her new favourite restaurant, Taki's. He checked his watch, she was six and a half minutes late. Sighing, he flipped through the menu. He couldn't eat anything of course, but there wasn't much else he could do to pass the time while he waited for his best friend to arrive. Two extra minutes went by and no sign of the flame haired girl. The blonde waitress came to take his order, but he had to send her away because Clary hadn't yet arrived.
Now that Clary had started Shadowhunter training, she had little time to spend with her best friend, so Simon really appreciated the small amount of time he could share with her. He couldn't visit her in the Institute any more, and she hated going back to her old apartment because of the horrible memories and every time they went to Simon's house he would be nagged by Clary into revealing his secret to his widowed mother, so they mainly hung out outside, like at Taki's or the park.
After another three minutes, an angry sixteen year old stormed into the restaurant. Clary. Why was she so angry? She thundered over towards him, shoved her bag down on the floor and slumped down on her seat with her arms folded.
Simon raised his dark eyebrows. "Are you okay?" He said softly.
"I'm fine," Clary mumbled, avoiding any eye contact. Of course, Simon wasn't fooled.
"Clary,"
"Okay, Okay, I'm just annoyed with Jace that's all." Clary muttered with a sad look in her eyes.
"He's not giving you a rough time or anything is he, bullying you, forcing you into anything…" Simon said with genuine concern.
"No, no, of course not." Clary laughed half-heartedly, "he's just being really fussy with training and stuff."
"Are you sure you even want to do Shadowhunter training? I mean it's hard work…"
"What? So you don't think I can do it either can you? God, you're just like Jace!" Clary slammed her fist down on the table.
"I'm just saying, maybe it's not for you, it's really dangerous."
"So is being a vampire but I don't tell you that it's not for you do I?"
"I don't have a choice in that, Clary, but you don't have to be a Shadowhunter."
"It's in my blood, I want to do it Simon! Why doesn't anyone believe I can do it?" Clary buried her face in her hands. Simon reached out and put his hand on her shoulder, but instead of embracing it, she shoved him away.
"Get off me, Simon!" Clary yelled.
"I'm sorry…" Simon was taken aback by Clary's outburst.
"No you aren't, now just leave me alone!" Clary stormed out of the restaurant. How come nobody believed she had what it took to be a Shadowhunter?
…
Isabelle, looking as happy and radiant as ever, skipped into the lounge of the Institute with a million dollar grin on her ever beautiful face. Seeing Isabelle so perky and cheerful only made Clary feel even more angry. How come nobody ever gave Isabelle a hard time or doubted her ability to kill Demons?
"Why so happy?" Jace asked, not really focused.
"Because I have four free passes to Pandemonium!" Isabelle grinned.
"That's what you're so happy about? It's just a club." Alec groaned.
"Don't be so boring, Alec! All you ever do is stay inside and be boring!"
"I go to Magnus'."
"Wow, you visit your boyfriend, so hardcore!" Isabelle said sarcastically. "Please? You could bring Magnus?"
"Fine." Alec sighed. "But if Magnus can't make it, I'm not going."
"I'm in, it's been boring all week, could use a bit of fun." said Jace.
"But that means, there's no more passes." Isabelle's grin dropped. "Clary, you won't be able to come."
"Oh," was all Clary could say.
"We could always do something else, me and you." Jace smiled at Clary.
"No, " Clary mumbled, shaking her head. "You go and have fun without me. I'll be fine on my own."
"You sure?" Isabelle asked.
"Yeah, course I'm sure."
"Maybe you could work on your training?" Jace suggested. The saying was harmless, but it was a real blow to Clary. Unable to go to the club with Isabelle, instead having to stay in to train all by herself. She couldn't go out with Simon because he probably wouldn't want to speak to her after what happened earlier.
She was going to be in the Institute alone. All by herself. Some friends.
…
Jocelyn wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling her in for a motherly hug. A one that Clary had missed. Clary had been in a bad mood since she'd woken up, due to lack of sleep, which was made worse due to Jace's criticisms, Simon's doubts, Isabelle's failure to invite her and Alec taking her place.
"It's alright, Clary." Jocelyn whispered sweetly into Clary's ear, who had broken down before her mother. After everyone had gone out, she had called Jocelyn because she really wanted her mom more than ever.
"I'm just so sick of them all! I wish Jace wouldn't be so arrogant! He think's he's king of the world and has the right to criticize everything I do, just because he's better trained. And I wish Simon wouldn't be so overprotective of me, he's always saying that maybe Shadowhunting isn't the best route for me because it's too dangerous. Why can't he just accept me?" Clary wept. "And Alec, why does he have to be so, boring? He never wants to do anything, except stay in or visit Magnus. Also, Isabelle is too girlish, all she likes to do is put on makeup and shop and go to parties yet they never question what she can do! " The last comments weren't really relevant, but she felt like she had to say them anyway.
All Jocelyn could say was "be careful what you wish for Clary, because it might just come true."
What do you think? Should I continue with this? I'm sorry if Clary went OOC!
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