Here it is, the first chapter of the sequel, yay!
This is set about five years after the end of 'The Exception'.
People take memories for granted. Every moment of your life is special, whether it feels like it or not. Bad times and happy times, loving times and sad times; they all have the same outcome - they are all things that you remember. They stick with you and are there for you to look back on whenever you're having 'one of them days'. It's easy and simple. The ability to recall your past memories is something you've had your entire life, that you haven't put much thought into really, because it's always been there. Like your heart, for example: how many times have you actually thought about the process of which it goes through just to keep on beating, therefore keeping you alive? You don't think about it very often, do you? That's because it's just there, just like it always has been.
Memories are important. They let you reflect on your past, on the things that made you, you.
So what happens if the part of your brain that holds your memories, just doesn't want to co-operate with the rest of your brain? What if you simply forget a section of life? In that time, you may have become an entirely different person, but you can't remember that because your memories are gone.
Memories are simple, but the complex of them are complicated.
People shouldn't take memories for granted… But they do.
Magnus would always remember that dreaded phone call he had received two weeks ago.
He had just got home from a long, tiring day at work and collapsed onto the sofa, turning on the TV to watch some aimless, predictable, family sitcom. After an hour, he started to wonder where Alec was considering he was usually home from work himself by now, and prayed that Alec hadn't made the decision to not come home so the couple could talk about the night before.
And that's when his phone began to ring. It was Isabelle. She informed Magnus that Alec had been in a bad car accident. She didn't know much because nobody was telling her anything, but Alec was in surgery and was apparently in bad shape.
Magnus had rushed to the hospital as quickly as he could, ironically driving like a maniac and nearly causing three road accidents despite the fact his boyfriend had just been in one himself.
Alec was in a coma. The doctors weren't sure if he was going to make it because of a bad head injury.
As soon as he heard those words, Magnus' entire world just crumbled around him.
Now, two weeks later, Magnus was knackered. He had divided his time between going to his dance studio and making sure his employees were running everything smoothly without him; going to the hospital and sitting by Alec's bedside, praying for him to wake up and be okay; taking care of his own health so he was actually able to do all of this rushing around.
He'd just got out of the shower when he received a text from Isabelle:
Alec's awake. Sitting up and talking, thank God. There's something wrong though, but I think it'd be best if you heard it in person, not through a text. Izzy x
And that's how Magnus found himself running up the stairs to the fifth floor in the hospital - he had been too impatient to wait for the elevator to arrive - not caring that he was pushing people aside rudely if they got in his way. He was flustered and emotional, desperate to get to Alec as soon as he could.
When he finally got to the fifth floor, he only gave the friendly nurses a small glance and a nod of acknowledgment. They all knew who he was of course, considering he was here the majority of the day and he usually stopped to talk to them for a bit, but he just wasn't in the mood to today. He stopped outside Alec's door and hesitated for only a moment. He could hear Isabelle's loud voice and a familiar, deep hushed voice; a voice he hadn't heard for what felt like forever.
He knocked twice before entering.
The sight before him was stunning, breath-taking, amazing, beautiful, heart-stopping, lovely, splendid, remarkable, astounding… He could go on forever describing how great of a feeling it was to see Alec sat up in bed, awake, those sweet, bright blue eyes looking up at him in wonder. Magnus had imagined this moment so many times before, but this… This was far better. He had imagined himself blurting out to Alec just how much he loved him, how sorry he was for the argument the night before the accident, how he couldn't wait for him to come home so they could continue their lives together. But now that the moment had finally come, all he could whisper, was, "Alexander."
"Hey, Magnus," Alec replied in a croaky voice, a small smile on his face.
Magnus moved over to sit on the edge of the bed - momentarily forgetting Isabelle, who was sat in the chair on the other side of the bed - and took hold of Alec's hand, happy tears filling his eyes. "It's so good to see you awake," he said. "It's been so weird not having you there for me to talk to, I hated it. Alec, oh my god. Alec, I lo-"
"Magnus," Isabelle interrupted him, causing him to look over at his boyfriend's sister. Alec pulled his hand out of Magnus' grip as he did so. "There's something you should know."
"What?" Magnus asked impatiently. All he wanted was time alone with Alec, to hold him and talk to him, to revel in this precious moment of his boyfriend being awake, alive and well.
"When Alec woke up," she said, a nervous edge to her voice. "The doctor ran all the tests to make sure he was okay. And he is; he's completely recovered, apparently. Apart from one thing… They asked Alec the routine things they ask coma patients that wake up - name, year, etc. And it made them come to realize that Alec has amnesia. Memory loss. And they don't know if them memories will ever come back to him."
"Apparently," Alec said, with a regretful sigh. "I've forgotten five years of my damn life. It's not fair."
Magnus froze as the words registered in his mind.
Five years.
A lot had changed in Alec's life in five years, things which Magnus certainly wasn't looking to Alec finding out, simply because he couldn't stand to see his boyfriend get upset over those things again. But the one thing that stood out in Magnus' mind about the past five years was: he and Alec had officially become a couple again.
If Alec had forgotten five years of his life, that meant that in his mind, he and Magnus were still just friends. He wouldn't remember them building their friendship again until the point where they were closer than they had been when they were younger. He wouldn't remember the day they decided to give a relationship another go. He wouldn't remember the first night they made love to each other. He wouldn't remember the day they moved in together, the good times they had, the day they finally - after a long time of avoiding the words - said 'I love you' to each other.
He wouldn't remember any of those things and it pained Magnus greatly to think about that and how in his mind, Alec wasn't completely comfortable with being close to Magnus because of the events of high school, which felt recent to Alec.
Magnus refused to believe that all those memories wouldn't come to Alec. He had to remember them, didn't he? He couldn't just never remember five entire years of his life, that was absurd! To quote Alec: "It's not fair."
It was the sort of drama in a relationship you might see in the movies, not in real life. Magnus could barely comprehend it all; he couldn't imagine what was going to happen now…
But despite all of this, there was one good thing Magnus could find in it all: Alec would forget the argument they had the night before the accident, the argument which caused Alec to storm out of the house and spend the night at Jace's. Magnus had been scared of Alec coming home after work the next day because he knew they'd have to talk about the argument and he had been scared it wouldn't go well and they'd split up.
Alec couldn't remember any of that.
It was like the universe was giving Magnus a second chance with Alec. A second chance to prove that they were made for each other, that he was worthy of Alec's love; that he was sorry for the things that were said and didn't mean any of them.
And he decided right then that he was going to help Alec recover the memories of the good times they spent together.
And he was going to make Alec fall in love with him again.
He was suddenly aware of Isabelle calling his name and looked back at her, saying, "yeah?"
"You zoned out. Look, I know this is really bad, but we can't think about that right now. Alec's awake and he's going to be fine," she smiled. "That's what we need to focus on."
"Yeah," Magnus nodded. He turned back to look at Alec and forced a smile onto his face. "So, what's the last thing you remember?"
Alec thought about this for a moment before answering. "It was the day you and I made up and agreed to be friends again. Just friends. I went home, did my homework, had a talk with Izzy, then went to bed. That's it. I don't remember waking up or anything after that."
"Right. Okay. That's… I guess that's a start… I'm sorry, Alec. I just- I need to go." Without another word, he got up and left the room, yet again choosing the stairs over the elevator.
He was grateful for the second chance, yes, and he wasn't going to give up on Alec… But Magnus just needed some time to wrap his head around the fact his boyfriend couldn't remember falling in love with him.
Obviously, everything about the past five years will be revealed in future chapters. Hope you liked it, please leave reviews! xo
