Disclaimer: The Mortal Instruments series does not belong to me; it rightfully belongs to its creator, Cassandra Clare.

-/-

Yes, Magnus Bane was at the Uprising. And yes, he did shed Shadowhunters' blood; those of the Circle, those in league with Valentine, those…who wanted to wipe out his kind. In the Uprising, Magnus likes to think that he didn't defend or fight for either side. But it was a war, he was old and had seen many battles, and he knew that that was not true.

When he came, he fought for the Clave. The Clave knew that they couldn't win without one of the oldest Warlocks in history, a direct descendent of a demon king. So they swallowed their pride and drafted Magnus, disrupting his vacation in Peru.

And he realized, that night, how much he hated the color red. Blood…it was everywhere. It was running down the street, there were pools of it, and then there was the blaze of fire as Shadowhunters set Circle members houses on fire, listening to the screams of their brethren as they died.

Magnus Bane much more preferred colors like blue. He stood in front of a Circle member's house; he had decided that he would kill them first before he lit their house on fire. It seemed like the noble thing to do, and Magnus Bane was a gentleman.

He snapped his fingers and a sword materialized in his hand. He kicked the door open; it banged against the wall loudly, like the fire of a gunshot. What was the point in keeping quiet when there was chaos outside?

He was no fool though, he would have to be quiet in his attack, lest these people try to escape, or worse, fight back. He tiptoed up the stairs quietly and heard the soft sobbing of a young woman. His heart ached at the sound but he couldn't stop now, not after he had ran his blade through so many other peoples' chests.

He searched all of the top level, his ears twitching as he tried to catch any sound where they might be hiding. He finally stumbled upon a baby's nursery, it looked like someone had already searched this place and had found what they were looking for. The cradle was upturned and the carousal was hanging on by a thread, about to snap and fall.

The window was open and the white drapes fluttered gracefully in the wind like ghosts.

There was nothing for Magnus here. He turned around to leave and set the house on fire when he heard it, the sound of a baby whining. It was soft and almost non existent, but he was as sure as he was a Warlock that that was a baby. Then the sound of someone shushing and lulling the baby asleep, which only resulted in the baby's cries to get louder.

Magnus's hand tightened around the hilt of his sword and he clenched his eyes shut. 'Please, please God, no, please let there not be a mother and child here,' he thought to himself. 'If there is just an infant here, I have no choice but to kill it.'

He silently prayed that in his head as he turned back around and walked towards the closet. He could tell that whoever was hiding in there was holding his or her breath, just as Magnus was holding his. He didn't want to kill a mother and her child, he couldn't do that. But if they were part of the Circle, he had no choice.

He stopped in front of the closet door and rested his hand on the doorknob. He took one breath and held it. He opened the door and unfortunately he was right, there was a mother and child there, the child couldn't be more than just a few months old.

The woman shrieked, fear flooding in her beautiful blue eyes and her black hair fell across her face in disarray. In her arms was a small bundle, a baby wrapped in a black blanket. Its face was so chubby, with a tuft of black hair on its head. The baby cooed in its sleep, not knowing the danger that just stood over him; the baby yawned cutely before snuggling into the warmth of its mother. Magnus couldn't take his eyes of the child, he couldn't kill that.

"Please," the woman pleaded brokenly. "Please! Don't kill me! Don't kill my child! I'm begging you!" The woman broke down in sobs. "Don't…don't kill my baby boy…please…please…"

The baby opened his eyes and Magnus's breath caught in his throat. The child's eyes were the most magnificent shade of blue he had ever seen. They were alight with happiness, completely oblivious to the possible danger. Then the child looked up at Magnus and smiled; he pointed and reached his arms out for Magnus to hold him, and cried when his mother cradled him closer to her chest, away from Magnus.

"Alexander…no, shh," the mother soothed.

And whatever resolve Magnus had left crumbled. He threw his sword to the side, creating a loud clanking sound when it hit the floor, making the woman flinch away. He knelt down in front of the woman and child, so they could be eye level. He held out his arms and the child's face lit up again, reaching for Magnus.

"I won't kill either one of you, I'll protect you. Now, come on, we're getting out of here."

Eleven years later ~

Magnus Bane stood in front of the New York Institute. Anyone who walked by would just see a homeless man standing in front of a demolished church. But once the glamour was removed, one would see a very glittery man standing in front of a beautiful chapel that was very much in tact.

He didn't understand why Maryse called him here; he didn't know what could be so important as to disrupt his vacation in Venice. But then again, it's not like he hasn't been there before. Being as old as he is, he has visited all the wonders of the world and then some more than once.

He hadn't seen the woman since he got her, Robert, and Alexander out of Alicante after the Uprising. That brought Magnus to another thought. He wondered how the child was doing. The last time he saw Alexander he was just a baby, he was curious to see how the boy had grown.

Magnus sighed and went into the Institute, riding up the elevator, and as soon as he stepped off, was tackled to the ground by a little black blur. Magnus went down with a shout of surprise, grabbing a pair of thin arms and dragging the little body down with him.

He groaned as he hit his head against the gate of the elevator. He registered a pressure on his chest and looked up into a pair of familiar blue eyes, alight with happiness, just as they were all those years ago. He sucked in a breath as he stared at the child on top of him, transfixed. Was it really him? Was it really that same baby boy he carried all the way out of Idris?

The boy on top of Magnus also seemed to be in a state of shock. He stared into Magnus's cat eyes and scrambled off of him. He held up a fake stele and tried to look menacing but to Magnus, it just made the child look cuter. "Warlock," the boy hissed out.

Magnus couldn't help but chuckle, even though the boy he saved all those years ago practically hated him because he was a Downworlder.

"Hey, Alec!" a golden haired boy called from around the corner. He also had a fake stele in his hand and the confidence he radiated reminded Magnus of someone he once knew long ago in London. "Where'd you go? I can't defeat demons without you by my side," the boy said to Alec, completely oblivious to Magnus.

"Can't I defeat demons too?" a little girl asked; her ink black hair tied back in two braids.

The golden haired boy shook his head and made a face. "Nuh-uh! Girls can't fight demons, they'll get too scared!"

The girl pouted and crossed her arms before, unexpectedly, tackled the golden boy to the ground with a battle cry.

"Magnus Bane!"

The man in question nearly jumped ten feet in the air. He twirled around and saw the familiar face of Maryse Lightwood. She had definitely aged since the last time he had seen her; fear in her eyes, her face smeared with dirt and ash, and all alone, huddled in the corner of a closet, holding her baby boy close to her.

Now her features were more distinct, they were sharper and harsh. Her black hair now had a bit of silver running through it and there were dark half moons under her eyes, and there were the faintest marks of crows feet and smile lines on her porcelain skin.

"Maryse," Magnus said pleasantly. "So lovely it is to see you again."

"Likewise," the woman said indifferently. "I see that you have met my lovely children. That's Isabelle, Jace, and then…" Maryse trailed off when she reached her oldest.

Magnus nodded. "Alexander, it's good to see you again." Magnus knelt down to be at the boy's eye level. Alexander shied away.

"Do I know you?" he questioned warily.

"Yes, you do, honey," Maryse answered. "But you were just a baby then so of course you wouldn't remember."

Seven years later ~

Alec watched as Azazel, one of the fiercest demons that even hell didn't want, and his boyfriend, Magnus Bane, negotiated. They needed a weapon to cut Jace's and Sebastian's bond. It was nearly impossible to find a weapon like that that already existed.

When they asked the Iron Sisters to make them such a weapon, they told them that it was nearly impossible to forge a weapon like that without harming both of the boys. They summoned Azazel in Magnus's loft to see if an unearthly being could make for them such a weapon. But currently, the demon wasn't helping them.

If this didn't work, Alec didn't know what would.

"Alright, Bane, I'll help you, if you give me that pretty little Shadowhunter," Azazel said, pointed to Alec. The boy flinched and clenched his fist. Magnus stared at him unbelievingly. "Yes, the one with blue eyes. Sometimes I get lonely, it would nice to have some company for a change, a nice warm body to share my bed with…"

Alec felt a cold shiver run up his spine. Magnus growled. "No way in hell."

Azazel cackled, though it sounded more like the breaking of glass. "Come now, I was only teasing."

Magnus looked unconvinced and he took a step closer to his boyfriend.

"Relax, Bane, I promise that I won't touch a single hair on your pretty little Shadowhunter's head. What I really want is a happy memory from every. Single. One. Of. You."

"Why?" Isabelle questioned warily.

Azazel's flaming eyes bore into Isabelle's. "Like I said, life of banishment can be very boring. Just a single memory to keep me amused in my life of torment. Can't you just spare me one?"

"Once we give you this memory, we will completely forget about it? It will be wiped from our heads and we won't have it anymore?" Simon asked. Azazel nodded in confirmation.

Alec thought, what was one memory that wasn't too precious too him and he could afford to lose, but was sufficient enough to please Azazel. Alec felt the tickle of a memory play at the back of his mind, completely forgotten and pushed aside.

He reached for it and he saw flames touching the sky, blood running down the street, and heard the screams of dying men and women. He saw his mother's face, she looked much more young and her features were more soft but at the moment her face was constricted with fear.

He saw her running around a nursery, knocking things over and tearing things off the walls and ceiling, then opening the window to make it look like someone had just been there and left.

He heard a door downstairs being kicked open and his mother gasped, picking him up and then hiding in the closet, holding him tight against her chest. He heard the light footsteps and someone coming up the stairs and wondering around the second level, and then finally coming in the room they were hiding in.

He whined when his mother squeezed him a little too hard; he could sense her fear and that made him cry louder. Then light flooded in the closet. His mother shrieked and began to sob violently, saying things that Alec couldn't understand, and waking him from his slumber. He looked up and saw the silhouette of a man standing in the threshold. His face was cast over with shadows and ash, but one thing glowed and stood out on the man's face.

Golden-green, slanted cat eyes.

Alec felt happiness bubble up in his chest when he saw those eyes, he didn't know why. He reached out for the man but his mother pulled him away; he cried, didn't his mother understand that he wanted to be with this cat eyed man. His mother calmed him down with soothing sounds.

The man threw his weapon aside and dropped to his knees, as if he were struck down. He held out his arms, as if to accept Alec and Alec smiled, reaching out for the man again.

"I won't kill either one of you, I'll protect you. Now, come on, we're getting out of here."

Alec was sharply brought back to reality when he felt the cool touch of his boyfriend's fingers against his forehead and that warm memory being drawn away from him. His mind reached out for it, not wanting to let it go, but Magnus pulled it away before he had a chance to grab at it. It left Alec dizzy and slightly confused.

The man stared at his boyfriend in sympathy before going to collect a memory from Simon.

Magnus gave Azazel the memories he wanted before the demon disappeared.

Alec heard the murmur of voices around him but didn't bother registering them. He felt strangely empty, or like something was out of place.

"Alec, are you okay?" The boy felt a warm, tanned hand rest on his shoulder.

He looked up into a pair of familiar golden-green cat eyes but he couldn't figure out why they were so familiar to him. Where was he? Why was he here? Who was this man? He had a sudden memory lapse and that scared him; he didn't understand what was going on.

"Who are you again?" he asked the cat-eyed man.

Everyone simultaneously sucked in a breath, the one in the most shock was the man standing in front of him. He looked hurt and genuinly unnerved. "Alexander," the man said with a slight accent. It was like a slap in the face, and then everything came back to him.

He was in the High Warlock's of Brooklyn's apartment, Magnus Bane. They summoned the demon Azazel, who wanted a memory from everyone. Magnus was a warlock with cat eyes. Magnus was his boyfriend.

"Too soon to joke about the happy memory thing, I take it," Alec quickly covered with a joke.

Magnus Bane sighed in relief. "You think?"

-/-

A/N: Hey, so I know that that is not how the dialogue really went in City of Lost Souls, but I didn't have the book with me and I was just dying to finish this, so I improvised. Also, was I the only one who was hoping while reading that scene that Azazel really would ask for Alec and Magnus would get all protective? X3

Anyway, I hope that you guys enjoyed this as much as I loved writing it. This idea has been bugging me for the longest time and I just decided to finally write it.

Review!