quick as lightning

1. In which the twins are 18

Piper

She ran, actually she was running, running across the glass floor. Barely able to see through the darkness Piper trusted her gut to lead her in the right direction.

In her hand she held a glowing sword—in the other, someone's hand. She traced up the arm seeing Clary's hand. Clary looked terrified, orange locks a mess around tear stained cheeks. Clary shouted Piper's name, a creature was behind them, probably looking for its next meal. Piper had two options--run or fight.

"Piper!" Clary Shouted, shaking her out of the nightmare. She was drenched in a cold sweat, her hair stuck to her face and neck.

More often than not, Piper had been having strange dreams either involving Clary or the creatures that chased them.

"Jesus Clary, you scared me half to death." Piper slung her legs out of bed, glancing around the room that they shared.

It was their birthday today, probably why Clary was all fancied up and bubbly. Her twin loved birthdays, especially their own.

Half of the room was a mess, papers and art supplies strewn about. Clary had her odd sketches taped up to the walls making it look more paper than red paint.

You couldn't even tell the other half of the room was red at all, Piper's posters and photos covering nearly every inch of space. The mess was on her half, dirty clothes, point shoes, and half her belonging strewn about the floor.

"You were screaming bloody murder...did you do something with your hair? You know how well that turned out on my own hair." She griped in a pleasent sort of way.

Confused at Clary's comment, Piper stretched and went to examine herself in the mirror. Horrified and mystified she took the dark chunk and separated it from the rest of her hair.

"Uh, no, I didn't... is this some practical prank?"

Clary frowned. "No, stop kidding Pipes. Anyway, how about let's not stress, It's our birthday!" The oddity gave way to her sister's overwhelming joy.

It had been a long awaited day, Piper eager to grow up and start doing her own thing. Not that she let much get into her way. Luke had branded her 'rebellious' and she sort of took that to heart.

"We're legal adults!" Piper said proudly, letting clary infect her mood with that excitement.

"Yeah, which means if you get arrested you go to big girl jail."

"Not if I'm good at getting away." Pipper chuckled, enjoying the laugh she earned from her.

Their mother had set the table with two plates of golden waffles with a strawberry on top. It was a running theme in Piper's life that everything must be red. Including breakfast.

Including her sisters hair, which had turned out poorly when they'd tried to dye the blonde locks copper. It ended up an orange-y color.

"Thanks Mom." Clary grinned using the whip cream before passing it to me. Whip cream happened to be the best part of the meal, a god send for real.

"I love you mom." Piper thanked, before putting the whip cream directly into her mouth. It was slightly a struggle, having overfilled her mouth and now smacking at it with her lips to keep it from escaping. This earned disgusted looks from both women. "Wapt?"

Clary shook her head before digging into her food. "Since we were seven that's what you've done every year on your birthday."

I laughed, pointing the can at her. "What can I say, April 1st is a great day to be Piper Fray." About to coat the breakfast in it, the girl stopped with a look of pure pride. "Hey! That rhymed!"