City of Ashes

"Look. In all the years I've known him, there's always been exactly one place Simon wanted to be, and he's always fought like hell to make sure he got there and stayed there."

"Where's that?"

"Wherever you were."

What they had between them was still as fragile as a flickering candle flame, as delicate as eggshell - and he knew that if it shattered, if he somehow let it break and be destroyed, something inside him would shatter too, something that could never be fixed.

"I really was sick. I swear. I almost died back there on the ship, you know."

"I know. Every time you almost die, I almost die myself."

"No. I've always known just who you are. Ever since the first time I saw you getting off the ship from Idris, when you were ten years old-you walked into my heart, just as my own children did when they were born."

"You disappear so completely into your head sometimes. I wish I could follow you."

You do. You live in my head all the time.

"I wish I could hate you. I want to hate you. I try to hate you. It would be so much easier if I did hate you. Sometimes I think I do hate you and then I see you and I-"

"And you what?"

"What do you think? Why should I tell you everything about how I feel when you never tell me anything. It's like banging my head on a wall, except at least if I were banging my head on a wall, I'd be able to make myself stop."

"I don't want to be a man. I want to be an angst-ridden teenager who can't confront his own inner demons and takes it out verbally on other people instead."

"I'm not sure anyone can make Jace do anything. But I think you can remind him that he has something to live for."