"Good morning!" Alec said cheerfully, entering the kitchen and grabbing a piece of toast, humming under his breath.
If they weren't inside the institute and it wasn't morning, Izzy would have attacked him, mistaking him for some shape-shifting demon. But they were, so she just looked at him shocked, as if he had picked up a spider and was eating it, instead of a piece of bread.
"Alec? Are you okay?" She asked, staring intently at him, after getting over the initial shock and finding her voice again.
"Yeah." He smiled. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Izzy stared harder, trying to detect a lie in his words but found nothing. "No reason…" She lied, baffled.
"Actually," he added surprising her even more, "I've never felt better. Isn't it a beautiful day?"
She looked outside the window, at the too-bright sun entering the kitchen, and frowned. Alec absolutely loathed it when it was that sunny.
"I guess…?"
He smiled again, turning away and she kept looking at him, studying him. He was too cheerful, and even looked healthier. Like he had finally gotten a good night's sleep and a good meal. 'Something's wrong…' She thought.
~o~
Now, one may wonder why in Heaven's name would the fact that Alec seemed healthy and happy, be wrong, and why would his sister, who loved him more than anything, be disturbed by it.
It was wrong, very wrong, for one simple reason. The last time she had seen him, no more than 15 hours ago, he was anything but happy and healthy.
Let's start at the beginning.
When he got together with Magnus months ago, she was so happy for him. He was finally being true to himself, he was finally free. She had never seen him as happy as Magnus made him, and was extremely grateful to the Warlock for that.
Until everything went to Hell.
For the past month her big brother had been a shadow of himself. Since Magnus broke up with him, he would barely eat or sleep and even if he kept saying he was fine, the lie was too blatant to be believed. Not when they all could see the way Alec was wasting away day by day, getting worse with time, instead of getting better.
And now suddenly, he appeared before her, smiling genuinely, the way he did when he was with Magnus, not just pretending to be happy, his eyes no longer dull and devoid of life. Not to mention the fact that he was eating. She'd spend half the past month, begging him to eat something, to stop doing this to himself, and all she had gotten out of him was a lifeless 'I'm not hungry'.
She did briefly consider the possibility that Magnus may have taken him back, but swiftly dismissed the idea. She was certain they weren't back together, because Alec wouldn't be at the Institute if they had, but back at Magnus' loft, making up for the lost time.
She was happy that Alec seemed better, but she knew it wasn't normal. People, and especially Shadowhunters, and even more so, Alec, wouldn't get over losing the love of their life in a span of fifteen measly hours. Not when a month had already passed and they had shown no sign of improvement. 'Something happened last night, and I'm going to find out what it was.'
~o~
"So… Alec. How did it go yesterday?"
He turned to look at her craning his head to the side, not understanding. "Yesterday? What happened yesterday?"
"Magnus." She said, staring at his face trying to detect every little change. "You went to talk to him. How did it go?"
"Oh." Alec said shrugging, not even looking a little upset. "He didn't answer the door. He doesn't want to see me again."
Izzy stared at him not believing her ears. "What?"
He only shrugged again. "Sucks I know. But what can you do? Too bad though, I really liked him."
"You really liked him…" She quoted, disbelief colouring her voice before almost shouting. "You really liked him?"
"Well yeah." He said unbaffled by her tone. "He's a pretty cool guy. Gorgeous too."
She was left gaping at him. 'What the hell is wrong with you?' She almost asked before an idea occurred to her.
"Alexander." She said, testing his reaction. Nothing. He just looked at her waiting for her to go on. If there was any doubt in her mind before, it was gone now. Since the breakup, whenever someone called her brother by his full name he would flinch and look pained, (even more so than usual) like they'd hit him. That null reaction wasn't 'normal', given the circumstances.
"Alec…"
"Yes?"
"What is my middle name?"
"Sophia."
"What demons aren't extinct enough?"
"Dragonidae."
"What was Max's middle name?" She asked, gritting her teeth. Even talking about him, hurt.
"Joseph." Alec responded not batting an eye.
"It is you…" She muttered. "I don't understand… Are you sure you didn't meet Magnus yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"I'm not." She said and turned to leave.
"Where are you going?"
"To have a talk with your ex. Don't wait up." Izzy only told him and left.
~o~