To start off with, for those of you who have read my stuff before: I do not own the characters, just what I do to them. For everyone new, welcome! The following story is just my thoughts on something that could happen with our lovely Magnus and Alec. These two cannot resist each other for very long, no matter what has happened.
He stayed out of his apartment all night long, and for the next several days as well. It just hurt too much to think that if he showed up any sooner he would have to see him. As it was, when he did finally go back home, he had to remind himself to breathe. All around the apartment, where his things had been neatly stacked, there were bare spots. Magnus felt a lump gather in his throat and tears prick at his eyes. It was the first time anyone had made him feel this broken. There was absolutely nothing left of the shadowhunter. You would never be able to tell that someone else used to live here. Magnus ran an agitated hand through his hair before walking to their, no his, room.
This room had been stripped of Alec's stuff as well. Magnus opened up the closet to find only his own sparkly, flamboyant clothes left in there. The bottom two dresser drawers were bare as well. His heart was pounding painfully in his chest. It was as if he had never been here. There was nothing, not a single thing for Magnus to remember him by. He wandered around blindly for who knows how long before going back into the master bedroom. He climbed onto the bed, found the pillow that Alec used to sleep on, and curled around it. It still smelled like him. Magnus finally let go and started crying. It was the first time ever that he felt like his heart was being crushed, and he really had never cried over a lost significant other. It scared him that someone could have such a hold on him. He fell asleep with those piercing blue eyes plaguing his memories.
In his dream, they were still together. Time seemed to be moving quickly, and Magnus had to watch the man he loved, still loves, go from a strong, vibrant youth to a hunched and pained old man in a matter of minutes, while he himself stayed young and healthy. Alec's hands were twisted with arthritis. Each step he took seemed to hurt him more than the last. Magnus saw himself sitting next to the hospital bed as Alec drew in his last breath and the heart monitor flat lined. A keening wail tore through the hospital room, startling Magnus into wakefulness. He realized that noise had been his own. As much as Alec had hurt him, he still loved the young man, and losing him in such a permanent way as death would tear his heart out.
Magnus walked from his room to the master bathroom to wash his face. It was three in the morning, but there would be no going back to sleep for him. That dream had been too real. The mirror showed a face that made Magnus stare at in shock. Never, since the invention of make-up had he ever looked so bad. Magnus shook his head at the sight. He turned the water on in the sink and froze with a cupped handful of water halfway to his face. He reached a hand out. Alec had taken all of his things, everything, even the crazy clothes that Magnus had bought for him, but he forgot to grab his toothbrush. Magnus knew he should just throw it in the trash, but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He shut the water off and left the toothbrush in the holder, then headed for his study. If he wasn't going to sleep, he might as well go over that spell book to see what he could find.
He sat down, opened the book, and started taking notes. With each new page, he had to fight back the images of Alec's wrinkled, gnarled hands and his clouded blue eyes, the way his back hunched and he winced with pain whenever he walked. Magnus could understand why Alec had done the research that he had. It was no fun growing old alone. He could understand the young man's fears that as he grew older, he might get left for a younger guy. The only part that Magnus didn't understand was why Alec didn't come to him with his fears. That was the part that hurt him the most. Not that Alec had looked into ways to take away his immortality, but that he had not trusted Magnus enough to talk to him about his fears.
Magnus had just closed the book and stacked his notes, when his phone rang, surprising since it was still only 5:30 in the morning. The caller id said it was Maryse. No doubt she was going to thank him for cutting ties with her son, since it would never work out between a downworlder and a shadowhunter. He ignored the call and moved to feed Chairman Meow. It was a little earlier than usual, but the cat would never complain about food.
His phone rang a second time. Maryse again and once again he ignored the call. She called three more times over the next five minutes. Magnus debated turning his phone off, but he had other clients that would have to be able to contact him if he was needed. He was, of course, still the High Warlock of Brooklyn. The sixth time the phone rang, Magnus had had enough. He grabbed the phone, hit answer, and growled out "What!"
"Oh Magnus, I am sorry if I woke you. I know you and Alec had a fight, and I think you broke up, but you wouldn't happen to know where he went?" She sounded more panicked than he'd ever heard her. She usually kept a calm demeanor.
"Well after he tried to take away my immortality and we cut ties, I have no idea where he took himself to. He cleaned his crap out of my apartment and that is all I know."
Maryse's voice shook. "Well, he must have stopped by here for a minute, but we don't know where he went. He left a really vague note about needing to get his head on straight and fix a mistake. It also said something about how he could have solved the problem by changing himself. The last time I talked to him on the phone was two days ago and he sounded like his world had ended. I just don't know what he meant with his note."
Magnus's ears perked up at the words "changing himself." He started to piece together what was happening. Alec could do very stupid things when he thought he was doing something good for someone else. "Maryse, what exactly did his note say."
He could hear the paper shuffling. Maryse blew her nose before reading. "To my family—I am sorry that I could not have been a better person for you guys. I still blame myself for Max's death, for Izzy getting hurt, for Jace being kidnapped, and just for everything in general. If I had been better, stronger, things wouldn't have gotten so out of hand. I know I have brought shame down on my parents by being gay, but you know that you can't really help who you love. Magnus has been the best thing to happen to me, and I've screwed everything up and lost the first and last person to really steal my heart. If he will ever speak to any of you again, please tell him I do love him. I am leaving to get my head on straight and fix a huge mistake I made. I never should have considered doing something to someone when I wouldn't even consider the options that I had to fix the problem with myself. I could have solved everything by agreeing to change myself, but I was too stubborn and scared to do it. Please let everyone know that I love them, and that they won't have to worry about me ever again, because if what I try doesn't work, I will no longer be alive to ruin things. With all my heart- Alec."
Magnus was shocked into silence for several minutes, while Maryse sniffled on the other end. Alec really was going to do something stupid, and Magnus was speechless. When the warlock still hadn't said anything after five minutes, Maryse asked if he was still there. He shook himself and whispered "yes."
"Do you know what he means by changing himself?"
"Yes," Magnus managed to choke out. There was only one thing that they had really talked about, that Alec had been adamant against.
"Magnus, is this about him being a mortal and you not?"
The warlock had to clear his throat twice before he could answer that. "Yes."
Maryse sucked in a gasp, and her voice shook as she said, "Magnus, please come over to the Institute so we can talk about this. My son loves you so much, so whatever he's done to hurt you, I know he regrets it deeply. He really would never have done something to intentionally hurt you. You have to believe that. Please, I need to find him and stop him from doing something he'll regret later on."
Magnus whipped up a portal without even thinking, and landed outside the Institute. "Maryse, let me in. I'm here."
He could hear the elevator whirring inside as she came down to the entrance. She threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around his waist, sobbing and shaking. He rubbed a hand up and down her back, trying to calm the distraught woman. She had already lost a son and basically had lost a husband, and add to that the entirety of the issues with Jace, she didn't need to lose another son as well. Magnus grabbed her arms and gently held her away from him.
"Let's get inside so we can talk and figure out what we need to do."
Maryse nodded and led the way inside. They took the long way to the study, trying to avoid the younger people living there. There would be no stopping those foolhardy kids from running off to rescue their brother, and not only would Magnus have to rescue one wayward Shadowhunter, but he'd have to risk his life to save the rest of them. Again. For what seemed like the millionth time.
They sat down at the large desk in the study. Magnus leaned back and crossed his legs, looking so much more composed than he felt. Maryse leaned her elbows on the desk and held her face in her hands. Magnus could see tears leaking through her fingers. The poor woman really had been through so much lately, and it wasn't fair that she had been dragged into her son's relationship problems. She seemed to know that it was serious, but Magnus had to explain just how serious it could be. He cleared his throat to get her attention before starting.
"Uh, so, you asked if this was about his mortality and I said yes." He waited for Maryse to look at him and nod. "We had, uh, been having a long standing argument about my immortality versus his mortality and what could be done. I have lived through many relationships, and most of them I loved dearly. However, I have to tell you that I have never felt so strongly about anyone as I feel for your son. He has come into my life and turned everything upside down. I said some stupid things about him not trusting me, when I didn't give him the benefit of my trust. But... that's another matter entirely. One talk we'd had was to turn him into a vampire." Maryse gasped at that. "He turned it down without even a slight hesitation. I don't blame him. That would have been such a drastic change for him, and I didn't want him to do something he wasn't comfortable with. I told him that years upon years ago I had come to terms with the fact that I am immortal and would long outlive any relationship I had. I love him so much and would enjoy our time together while we had it."
Magnus took a deep breath and lowered his eyes. "He was not thrilled with the fact that he would grow older while I stayed as I am. Recently he had been talking to Camille Belcourt about me, and to see if there was any way to make me mortal. I was hurt that he would do something like that behind my back and ended our relationship. I had been researching the same thing myself, but to have him talk to someone else about it..."
It was his turn to hide his face in his hands. Maryse slid her chair around the desk to sit next to the shaking warlock. She had known Magnus for years. Never had she seen the warlock look so terrible. He was always flashy and confident. She hadn't been happy that her son loved a warlock, and a male warlock to top it off, but she could see they loved each other. She also knew that her son could be very stupid. From the story Magnus told, she had a good idea of where her son may have gone, and judging by the fact it had been nearly two days since anyone had seen him, he could have already done irreversible damage to himself. She opened her mouth to speak when the doors to the study slammed open.
"What the HELL is he doing here?" shouted an angry Isabelle.
"Isabelle, watch your language. He's here to help us find Alec."
"Well, I don't think he wants to be found. He left me a text saying that he had gone to Alicante to try to smooth things over with dad. What? What's with those looks?"
"I don't think he went to Alicante."
"What do you mean?" This came from Jace, standing in the doorway.
Maryse and Magnus exchanged looks, and at her slight nod, Magnus explained. "He had been trying to figure out a way to make himself immortal or me mortal so that we could spend whatever days we had left together. I think he may have gone to the vampires."
The teens yelped their shock. The vampires were in an uproar because of the new leadership. Going there would be a death sentence and not in the rise from the ground as a new vampire kind of way. He would get drained, maybe kept alive for some time, but eventually he'd be killed. There was no time to waste. Jace muttered something about saving his parabatai's ass once again as he headed toward the door with Isabelle to gear up. Magnus threw up a hand and slammed the door before they could leave the room.
"We need to check with Simon first. He may have gone to someone familiar to do this for him."
Isabelle had whipped out her phone and started dialing the second Simon's name was mentioned. She walked to the other side of the room and must have gotten a hold of the daylighter by the gesturing and frantic talking she was doing. The other occupants of the room waited anxiously to hear what he had to say. Isabelle snapped her phone shut and walked over to everyone to explain.
"He's over at Simon's apartment now. Simon and Jordan have been trying to talk him out of being turned for the last day and a half now, but he's not listening. Simon's worried that if they don't take care of him soon, he'll wander off and find any vampire willing to change him. Simon is giving it serious thought because at least if he does it, he knows that Alec would be in good hands. We have to stop him. Magnus?"
Everyone looked around, but the warlock was no where to be found. He must have run off to Simon's place by himself. Maryse directed her children to gear up before the three of them left, just in case they ran into any unplanned problems. Once she was satisfied, the three of them left the Institute, hailed a cab, and made their way to Simon's apartment.
o.O.o
Meanwhile, Magnus had transported himself to just outside the apartment door. He could hear Jordan frantically yelling something. It sounded like he was on the phone with someone, though Magnus couldn't be positive he wasn't yelling at Simon or Alec. He knocked on the door, and the yelling stopped. Jordan threw the door open, and did a bad job of hiding his shocked face at seeing the glittery High Warlock of Brooklyn standing outside his door.
"Good evening, I do believe Alexander Lightwood is here. I have business with him."
Jordan visibly relaxed. With Magnus here, he knew that Alec might be persuaded to stop being an idiot. Who voluntarily got turned into a vampire? The younger man stepped aside and let Magnus into the apartment. Magnus did a quick once over and noticed that two people were missing. He looked over at Jordan who motioned toward what must be Simon's room. Magnus nodded and patted the werewolf on the arm. He walked over to the shut door and knocked. A very weary Simon opened up. Magnus held a finger to his lips to keep him from saying a word. He glanced behind the young vampire, then back at his face to ask if Alec was in there. Simon gave an imperceptible nod.
"Hey, Alec, I'm going to grab a drink. Do you want anything?"
"No thanks, I'm okay right now."
Simon pushed Magnus into the room, who became very hesitant when he heard Alec's voice. The door shut behind him, leaving him in almost complete darkness. Good thing for Magnus that he had excellent night vision. He could make out a dark shape on the far side of the room, laying on a pallet on the floor. He made his way over to the huddled form, his heart clenching at what Alec must be going through. Magnus's own hurt and anger had faded almost entirely when it had registered that Alec was serious about hurting himself. They would still have to talk, but right now Magnus just wanted to make sure Alec was safe and unhurt.
"Simon, I thought you were going to get a drink."
"I'm not Simon," Magnus whispered.
Alec bolted upright. "Magnus! No, no, no. I haven't done it yet. I need to change, so you can see that I was serious about never wanting to harm you. I would never have gone through with it. I just had to know if there was a way, you know. I just needed to know if there were other options. I was going to talk to you about it eventually, but..."
Magnus pulled him into his arms and kissed his hair. "You crazy, wonderful young man. I can't believe you were actually going to go through with this. You have to know there was no way I wanted this for you. I would miss your body heat."
Alec started crying. "I didn't want to lose you. I was so afraid that I was not good enough for you. You never talk to me about your past, and I know that your past is your past and that you live in the here and now, but I just had to know. Camille was willing to tell me things about you."
"I know, and I was so angry that you wouldn't come to me, but I myself was never very open with you. You know what?" Magnus took a deep breath. "I was going to talk to you that night when you came over about some research that I was doing. I, too, was looking into the possibility of removing my immortality. I know I told you that when we broke up, but I want to make sure you know. I was researching it." He leaned his forehead against Alec's. "I have loved people in the past, but none have compared to you. I have had relationships with men, women, vampires, werewolves, fairies... The list goes on. You are the first person that has ever made me think that being immortal may not be all that great. You... you are the first person that I have wanted to grow old with."
Alec shook with sobs. "You can't forgive me that easily. And, and you don't have to give up anything. Simon agreed to change me, though I don't think he was too happy about it. It was either have him do it, or I'd find some rogue vampire do it. But, you see! We don't have to grow old and die together, we can live forever together."
"Alexander! You can't mean that you would trust yourself to someone you don't know! How do you know that they would ever take the proper steps to make sure you would come back?"
"I, well I don't know that, but if I died trying to be someone good enough for you, at least you could see how much I love you."
"By throwing your life away?!"
"No!" Alec shouted. "By trying to change, become immortal. I would never have gone through with taking away who you are. I really want you to know that!"
Before Magnus could respond, the door was slammed open, and the light was flicked on. Isabelle, Jace, and Simon pushed into the room. Magnus could hear Maryse talking to Jordan in the other room. Isabelle threw herself at Simon, crying into his shoulder, as soon as she saw that her brother was still alive. Jace seemed to relax in on himself. He nodded at Magnus and left the room. Simon led Isabelle out to the living room, closing the door behind them.
"We still need to have a good long talk, but right now, your family needs to know you're okay."
Alec nodded and pressed a kiss to Magnus's neck. The warlock sighed and held Alec closer to himself. It had only been a few days since their breakup, but Alex had been distant from him for a long time. The shadowhunter leaned his weight into his body, knocking him on his back on the floor and climbing on top of him. He pressed a desperate, needy kiss to the glossy lips beneath him. Both men were breathless in seconds. Magnus was the first to gain his senses.
"Sweetheart, as much as I would like to transport us home, there is a scared group of people out there that need to see you are fine."
Alec stood and stuck a hand out to help Magnus to his feet. "Fine, but I need to know before we leave this room: are we okay? Are we back together?"
Magnus said nothing, but reached over to pull Alec solidly against his body and kiss him like there was no tomorrow. Alec snaked his arms around Magnus's neck The warlock pushed him firmly against the wall, letting his hands roam up underneath the other man's shirt. Alec gasped and pushed his hands against Magnus.
"I'll take that as a yes?"
Magnus smirked and grabbed Alec's hand. He whispered "marry me" in the younger man's ear before leading them out the door. Once in the living room, they could see varying reactions on everyone's faces. The younger shadowhunters smiled at the fact that the most steady pair was back together. Maryse's face was still pinched with worry for her son. Jordan and Simon stood in the corner with Maryse, guarded expressions on both faces. Maryse was the first to react to the appearance of the pair.
"Oh, honey! Please tell me it isn't true. Simon said you've been begging him for the last few days to turn you into a vampire. I don't know what I would do if I lost you."
Alec ran to his mother as she broke down. "Mom, please, don't worry. I don't think I'm going to do it. Besides, if it's something I ever go through, I'm going to make sure that my friends are with me to keep me in line."
Magnus rolled his eyes and pulled Maryse into a hug. "Honey, I'm not going to let your son do that. I did find a spell to take away immortality, so I'm guessing there might be one to grant it as well." He looked over at Alec and smiled, before grabbing him into a hug. "Either way, my love, one of us is changing at some point. Now, if nobody minds, we're going to head home. I have a lot of apologizing to do."
The rest of the group stared at the pair as they left the apartment. The younger crowd grinned at each other and Maryse looked grossed out to even think about what Magnus meant by apologizing. Everyone made excuses and mentioned other plans, so slowly the apartment emptied out. Simon was the last to leave, following Isabelle on some strange outing to a club or something. He let out a sigh of relief as he shut the light off, walked out to the hall where Izzy was waiting, and locked the door behind him. He wouldn't have to worry about a new vampire after all.
Well, thank you guys for reading! I do appreciate any comments, reviews, etc. I hope you all liked it :)