This is my first Malec (kinda) fic. It's sad...I know, but I've had it saved in my drafts ever since Born to Endless Night and I decided to finally let it see the light. If you haven't read the short novellas from "Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy" and/or "Lady Midnight," and you don't want to be spoiled, please stop reading. If you don't care, then be my guest. This is a future fic, so I hope you like it. Try not to kill me in the reviews.
Promises
Max was looking for his father. It had been a while since the last time he had seen him. Ever since his brother Rafe had died that was something that had been happening more frequently. At first it was for a couple of weeks, then months, but now his father had been disappearing for years. Max had looked everywhere, the flat in Paris, the apartment in Copenhagen, the house in Australia, the condo in Spain, but his father was nowhere to be seen. It was as if the earth had swallowed him up.
Max was concerned. He knew his father was strong enough to defend himself, but he couldn't help but worry about him. He had asked Tessa and other warlocks with whom he knew his father was friends with about his whereabouts, but no one had seen him in years.
"Maybe he's here." Catarina said. Max was visiting her to see if she knew anything about his father. "In that old loft in Brooklyn."
Max doubted it. His father never, ever, set foot in there. He had refused to sell the place, but ever since they had cast the protection spells and glamoured the place to avoid strangers, his father had never returned. In fact, as far as Max knew, his father hadn't been in New York City in almost a century.
"You should probably go and see if he's there...and if you find him, give him my best. Tell him I miss his face."
o-o-o-o-o
Max made his way through the ever-clogged streets of New York and headed all the way down to Brooklyn. Thanks to the thousands of spells his father had cast to protect it, the apartment building looked exactly the same as it had looked back in the 21st century. For Max it was like coming home after all these years, so he opened the door carefully and walked in.
What used to be his home looked just as he remembered it. Being there was like going back in time. He could see himself, well, a much cuter and younger version of himself, running around the coffee table, chasing that lovely cat they used to have—Chairman Meow.
A wave of emotions hit him and some tears escaped his eyes. Perhaps one day, when coming to this place didn't hurt him that much, he might consider the idea of moving in. After all, this was his home...the place where he had grown up, the place that held back the best memories of his life so far. He loved New York. He had traveled the world and visited countless of cities, but no place felt like home as much as the big old city.
"Papa?" He asked.
The place seemed empty, but he had to try. After all his father could be anywhere. Determined, he started checking all the rooms—the kitchen, what used to be his brother's room and finally, his parents' bedroom.
When he opened the door he was surprised to discover that the place was completely upside down. Old clothes from both his parents were scattered all over the floor. On the bed, there was a huge box that Max knew his dad Alec had left for them all those years ago. It contained all sort of memories that were important for them and a set of letters addressed to them that the old Shadowhunter had left to be read over the years.
"Papa?" Max asked again, but as before, there was no reply.
He went into the bathroom and there, lying on the floor and curled into a ball, was his father. Magnus Bane, former High Warlock of Brooklyn.
Max's heart clenched. He couldn't believe that the man lying there was his father. That man didn't resemble the powerful Warlock everyone feared and admired.
"Papa..." Max whispered. His father was wearing and old, ragged sweater that Max was certain had belonged to his late dad Alec.
His father looked up. "Max..."
"Hi, papa." Max said, giving him a soft smile. "I've been looking for you everywhere, I never thought I'd find you here."
His father sat up and it was only then that Max realized that he was holding a book—a book that Max hadn't seen in almost a century.
"I didn't know where else to go." His father admitted.
"How long have you been here?" Max asked, sitting beside him.
"I don't know..." His father shrugged, "a couple of weeks, maybe? I wanted to be here because tomorrow is-"
"Your wedding anniversary, I know." Max said because he knew. That was exactly why he had been looking for his father these past months. He knew how difficult this date was for the old Warlock and he wanted to be there to support him. Besides, he was finally ready to fulfill the promise he had made so long ago. "I'm ready, papa. I'm finally ready."
"Ready for what?"
"Do you remember that promise I made you when dad died?"
Max noticed how his father's eyes opened wide with the reminder of that promise.
"I'm ready, I can do it." Max continued. "I know you're still here because you promised dad that you would take care of my brother and me, and then Rafe made you promise him that you would take care of his family as well. You have fulfilled both your promises, papa. Now it's time for me to fulfill mine."
His father was speechless, so seizing the opportunity, Max reached out and took the book his father had been holding. "I'm going to take away your immortality."
"Max, you don't have to do anything. You promised that at a time of great pain for all of us, I would never make you-"
"It's okay, papa." Max said, grabbing his father's hand. "I know how much you have suffered all these years. It's the least I could do for you. I love you and I'll miss you a lot, but I have more than 180 years old now, I think I can take care of myself. I just want you to be happy again and I know that you can only be happy if you're with dad again, so I'll do it."
A single tear escaped from one of his father's cat eyes. "You're so much like him...always putting the happiness of others over yours. And although I appreciate the offer, I don't think I can ever be with your dad again, Max. You know what we are, you know who my father is...I won't end up where I'm sure your dad is."
"Do you trust me?"
"Implicitly."
"Then don't worry because you will be with dad again, of that I'm sure." Max stated. He was sure of it, not in vain he had spent the last thirty years of his life studying every article, scroll, and book he could find about souls, spells to remove someone's immortality, and demons.
"You and your brother were what kept me going all these years...well, you and the promises I made to your dad. He wanted us to have long and happy lives."
"And we've had them." Max said, remembering all the adventures they had gone through in the past years. "Dad made sure to leave us a list of things to do for hundreds of years."
His father chuckled. "That he did...that obsessed, know-it-all, and always organized Nephilim, even in death he knew what we needed."
Max laughed because it was true. Before he died, his dad Alec had left them an endless list of things to do. It included all sorts of things from going on long and sometimes quite dangerous trips around the world, to spending lazy days at home wearing only pajamas and watching old movies. "Remember that trip we took with Rafe and his family to Argentina? It was amazing. I loved when we went to see the soccer stadium and Rafe kept telling Linda that he was the grandson of the famous soccer player...what was his name again?"
"Maradona..." His father said with a smile.
"That one...and do you remember when some natives overheard him and we had to practically run for our lives because they wanted to know stories about the famous soccer legend? That was funny." Max said, laughing at the memory. "We had a great life, papa. You did great...more than great I'd say. Dad is certainly very proud of you."
His father closed his eyes. "I miss him so much, Max. I naively thought that over the years I would learn to live without him, but I was wrong. Times have changed, but still everything reminds me of him." His father said, finally breaking into tears.
Max held him tightly. "I know, papa, I know. That's why I think it's time for you to see him again. You've done your waiting. It's time..."
His father looked up at him. "What if you are wrong and I never get to see him again?"
Max rolled his eyes. "Papa, I'm Max Michael Lightwood-Bane. If I say that you will see him again, then you will. Haven't you learned anything all these years? Now come on, let's get everything ready because you will spend your anniversary with dad."
o-o-o-o-o
Max had everything ready. He had made all the preparations, collected all the ingredients that the book indicated, and cast all the protection spells it required. In the morning, he and his father had gone to visit all their relatives and friends who still lived to say goodbye. Magnus had spent some time with them, and together when the night started to fall, they had headed back to the loft. Now, they were just waiting for the potion to be ready.
"Are you ready?" Max asked.
His father nodded. "Max..."
"Don't...I don't want you to say goodbye, okay? I'll see you all in a couple of centuries, anyway. You know I hate goodbyes."
His father just nodded. "You're just like your dad."
Max smiled. "Well, what were you expecting? I'm my dad's son. But anyway, let's get started...okay?" He said, handing his father a potion. "Drink this, it will prevent the pain. You're quite old so as soon as I start to cast the spell the weight of the years you have lived will fall upon you and it could kill you before I get the chance to split your soul."
"Come again?" His father asked confused.
Max knew his father had read the spell and knew it all too well, and the potion was not part of it. It was an addition that Max had come up with while studying on the subject. "You know Rafe's son became a silent brother a few years ago, right?"
His father nodded.
"Well, these past few decades I've been studying the spell, papa. I didn't have the book so I went to ask for some help. I talked to him about it and he told me about a way to split the soul before the spell ends. It's to send your demon part back to grandpa's hell and your human soul to wherever human souls go."
His father's eyes filled with tears.
"Dad and Rafe must be waiting for you there, so I want to take every precaution and stop big, old, evil grandpa to take you with him. Brother Stefano, that's his name now, by the way, said that it was a powerful change in the spell, but he was confident that I could do it. After all, I'm the son of the best Warlock of all time."
"I love you so much." His father said, reaching over to hug him.
"I love you too, papa. Now let's do this, or do you want to spend another century moping around about my dad?"
His father shook his head.
"Okay then, drink the potion and then place yourself in the middle of the pentagram and when you are ready, we can start."
His father did what Max asked him to do and stood in the middle of the pentagram. "Ready." He said.
Max nodded and with one last smile at his father, began to chant. As soon as the words started to come out of his mouth, the room became darker and a dense, black smoke filled the air. It was almost impossible to see what was happening, so Max raised his palms in the air and blue sparks started to come out of them, giving back some light to the room.
In the pentagram, his father's face was growing older at the speed of light and his skin was wrinkling like that of a very old man. His hair had turned gray and his eyes finally reflected the weight of all the years he had lived.
Two bright lights appeared from the ceiling and the floor of the room. One was red as blood, and the other one white, so white it was almost blinding. Max continued chanting wildly. He knew the spell was working.
"...et iterum uniri animae duae." Max chanted, ending the spell.
Max saw his father staring into the blinding light. He had the most beautiful of the smiles plastered on his face, and Max's heart filled with joy.
"Go with them, papa." Max said. "They are waiting for you."
The white and red lights collided and Max saw his father's body disappearing and his soul splitting into two. Immediately, the dark and formless part of his soul disappeared along with the red light, while the part that Max assumed it was his father's human soul, remained floating in the air.
"Aku cinta kamu..." Max heard his father's voice echoing through the room.
"Aku cinta kamu, papa." Max whispered back.
The white light exploded once more and just as it had appeared when the spell had begun, it disappeared, taking with it his father's soul.
Max closed the book of the white that now belonged to him and wiped the tears that despite of himself had run down his cheeks. "Aku cinta kamu, dads. I'm glad you are together again."
—o—
Up high above, in the place where most souls go, two pair of eyes stared at each other. It had been many, many years since the last time they had seen each other, but it felt as if no time had passed at all. They were there, face to face, looking at each other as they had done countless of times in the past.
"Alexander..." Magnus whispered.
Alec smiled and reached out his hand. Magnus took it, and at the precise moment he felt that familiar hand against his own, he knew he was home.
They were together again, and this time it was forever.