New York 2022

"I told I don't need a coat Dad!"

Alec grinned to himself as he heard the usual banter between his two favorite warlocks. The older, black haired one, the love of his life, only rolled his amber eyes with a smirk and flicked one ringed finger towards their son.

The following grumble of irritation led to Magnus' laughter as the Feline eyed warlock's face beamed with happiness even as Max growled in annoyance at the jacket that was now hanging on his frame. Muttering to himself about his father's overbearing nature and shaking his head, Alec could sometimes see the glimmers of Max's real skin colour below the glamors that he wore to join them on their venture out into the city.

"You'll be glad when you don't lose anything, it's cold today" Magnus chided with a gentleness that Alec could remember only ever seeing in the other when he spoke to their son, or sometimes Clary.

"Dad seriously I'm Fifteen! I can handle myself!" Max huffed, folding his arms across his chest as he stepped forward a few steps his fingers glittering at his annoyance before calming.

Magnus opened his mouth to reply, the glimmer in his eyes enough for Alec to know that he planned some mischievous retort. However a moment later his head snapped to the right, and his feline eyes narrowed as he grew tense.

"Alexander…. you may wish to call Jace…" With that said Magnus caught Max's arm in his and drew him with him into the alley nearest them.

The sulfur was almost enough to choke him as Alec hurried after his lover and their son, drawing one of the seraph blades that he kept with him at all times. His other hand finding the phone tucked away in his back pocket and hitting his number one speed dial.

He hated to bother Jace; the blonde was an expecting father, and he was as much the lovesick fool that Alec had always suspected he would be when the time came, and Clary finally agreed to have children. Jace was almost never more than a few steps from the red haired woman these days as she was soon to go into labor, her petite stature leaving her pregnancy weight to leave her a little limited in movement.

"Hey, Alec! I thought you were going to the theater with Magnus and Max! Don't worry about Clary - though it's sweet, you're checking in...but Tessa and Jem are here to help, and Simon won't stop fussing. She's threatened him with a knife to make him stop running to her side every time she gets out of her chair. Gods I love this girl!"

The tidal wave of words exploded from the other end of the line when Jace picked up, and Alec had to sigh as he knew that his news would shatter the other's good mood. It was unbelievable how much having Clary in his life had calmed the once self-destructive blonde down and even how much his capacity for love and affection had grown over the years.

"Alec?"

Something about Alec's silence seemed to register with Jace as his tone went from light and happy to immediately serious. In the background, Alec could hear the bustle of the others go silent, and his sister was asking "what is it?"

"Fourth and Main… the alley behind the Nandos...we have major demon activity." Alec reported, his eyes searching out where he could already see blue sparks flying from his warlocks' fingers as the demons appeared the powers only making the sequences on Magnus' suite glitter in the early evening dim.

" I'll be there!"

With the declaration, the phone went dead leaving Alec free to step into the battle alongside his family. One thing he had gotten used to over the years was how to fight with a warlock at his side, he knew when to move aside and let them handle things, and he had gotten over his impulse to handle everything alone. It amazed him sometimes how smoothly they could transition between his frontal attacks with his blades, and Magnus' ranged attacks with his magic.

Despite the practice and the power all three of them had the enemy was many and Alec frowned as he felt them pressing in around them. He couldn't think of anything, merely reacting to what was going on. A jab here, a thrust there. Parry, lung; leap dodge. These were all that his mind had time to register as he reacted mostly because of instinct and the many years he had trained.

There was a rather painful moment in which one of the demon's managed to catch him under the rib cage with a tail spike, leaving him staggered against the wall. The burn of its venom as it worked it's way through his body was almost shocking at how rapidly it progressed. Burning up his side and down his arm and then immediately numbing the limb as he felt his lungs constricting.

"Dad!"

"I'm fine! Help your father!"

Alec frowned as his lips felt numb now and his vision blurred as he looked up to see Max over him. When had he ended up on the ground? Wait why was Max blue? Shaking his head Alec tried to push himself up to his feet, only succeeding in reaching his knees before the world tilted and spun.

"Stay down Alexander...that one got you pretty good… Max… start working on drawing the venom I'll be right there!" Magnus called from somewhere out in the black murk that was Alec's sight right now.

Blinking rapidly trying to clear his vision Max came more into view and Alec frowned as he realized that his son's glamour had been completely obliterated, which only ever happened when he had used too much of his powers at once. Not that Alec or Magnus ever cared that their son was blue in colour, but the mundanes were not as understanding. Another reason for his frown was the deep, bleeding cut that Alec could already see healing along Max's jaw and down over his neck.

" You're hurt!" God, was that weak gasp him?

"I'm okay dad, here.." The growing dark of the Alley was suddenly lit up by the bright pale blue that accompanied Max's magic as he reached to heal his wound.

It always awed Alec to watch Max work. The young warlock had taken pride in learning his art from his father since he was old enough to spark and transport things - which disturbingly had begun at the early age of five. The first time something had appeared suddenly in Max's hands had come as a shock to the shadowhunter before he had finally just given up on trying to keep toys that Max wanted away from him.

"It's not working! I don't think I have enough left!"

Max calling out in frustration drew Alec out of his stupor. The deep lines that his son got around his eyes when he worried about something or was anxious made Alec tense as his muddled brain tried to stumble to catch up. What wasn't working? The healing? Was that why his whole body now felt like it was on fire?

A rather vulgar curse left Magnus then - Alec would have to chastise him later for that sort of language in front of Max- as he turned and hurtled what Alec could only describe as a light grenade. The blue flames exploding as they made contact with their target and striking many of the smaller demons around it.

Turning towards the sounds of screeching Alec felt his body relaxing as he saw Magnus suddenly crouched beside Max. One hand was held upwards and out towards the alley, blue light shimmering at his fingertips, and for a moment, the silence seemed to engulf them. The other hand was suddenly on Alec's cheek, those blue flames that he knew so well dancing over his skin, yet not burning.

Alec sighed in relief at the touch of the oh so familiar magic as it ran the length of his body healing the wound and drawing the venom from his injuries. As the burning subsided and the numbness slowly eased out of his limbs, Alec let himself nuzzle into the hand that was touching him. Last to return was his awareness, but when it did come he realized why they suddenly seemed to be in a separate place from the cries of the demons before. There was a blue shimmer to the alley immediately around them, and Alec stared in wonder at the shield that seemed to be holding the demons at bay.

" I didn't know you could do this!"

A smirk spread over the feline-eyed Warlock's face as he quirked his head, pulling his hand back to hang limply over his knee. Despite the pleased expression and the almost cockiness of his posture Alec could see a serious tiredness that was pressing in on the edges of the warlock's features. His amber eyes a dulled shadow of their natural fire and his usually tanned complexion oddly pale.

" Hey after dating for seventeen years I have to have something to surprise you with don't I Alexander?"

Alec felt his lips curling up into a smile as he heard Magnus teasing remark the tension slowly fading from him more as he saw over the warlock's shoulder as an all too familiar head of blonde and brown hair appeared running up the alley behind them. Isabelle was right with her husband and their adoptive brother. To his horror, Alec frowned as he spotted Clary hurrying a ways behind them.

"I told you to stay out on the main street!"

Jace was shouting back at her even as he dove into the mix, his seraph blade flying in pace with the claws coming at him as he moved as he always did. Ever the avenging angel, his body, almost blurring with his movements and his skills shining through from years of practice and battle.

"And I told you that wasn't going to happen!" Clary snapped back racing to her Parabatai's side.

The idea of the tiny woman fighting in her extremely pregnant state was preposterous to Alec, and he shook his head. The moment, however, lost as he noticed the danger even before Jace himself did. From where he was, he could see the demon lunging for the fiery haired shadowhunter, it's pronged tail flying at her, as well as the expression on Jace and Simon's faces as they also noticed the danger.

In a heartbeat, Alec was up and moving with only one thought in mind, protect his parabatai's heart. Somehow his body behaved enough to propel him across the distance between them. However, that was where it failed him. With himself placed between the demon and Clary, his barely returning strength petered out as he attempted to draw his Seraph blade. Widening his eyes, he stared up at the demon even as it crashed down on them.

"Alec!"

"Clary!"

The panicked voices of everyone in the alley pounded in Alec's ears as he stared as he had been at the beast before him. His body tense and struggling to respond to the danger, clary's hands buried in his shirt as she had her arms wrapped around him as if she could protect him from harm the same as he had tried to protect her.

But what he was seeing was what had left his brain short circuiting. Standing in front of both of them, his broad back facing them and his blue-tipped fingers spread wide in front of them was Magnus. The shimmer of his shield flickering as it seemed to momentarily hold the demon back. Alec frowned as he noticed how much paler Magnus was and heard the heaving breaths the other was letting out. His neck now soaked with sweat and he could see those normally strong shoulders trembling under the strain.

"m..agnus" that was clary's gasped whisper as she saw the same thing Alec was. The warlock may have stopped the demon, but he would not hold for long.

Even as the thought crossed his mind, Alec gasped as the light shattered in a few glittering sparks leaving Magnus staggering backwards in exhaustion. The demon was not wasting even a moment as it lunged again at the now weakened Warlock even as Magnus rose his hands once more.

Time seemed to slow as Alec could do nothing but watch as the blue sparks he had seen so many times barely seemed to sizzle at his lover's fingers before disappearing leaving Magnus utterly defenseless.

Someone was screaming as the warlock's blood filled the air as Magnus was thrown across the alley to crumble to the ground a good foot away. Alec only realized that it was him when he had to inhale sharply to ease the desperate ache in his lungs after expelling all of his oxygen. Turning from the demon then Alec found himself running to the crumbled body of his lover.

Somewhere Alec was aware that the others had converged on the demon with violent, furious roars of rage. None of that mattered now however as Alec reached Magnus' side, his eyes locked on the barely moving man even as his son was ripping his now destroyed suite from him and began pressing his blue fingers to the gaping wound that was cut deeply from Magnus' left shoulder to his naval. The ground was already wet with Magnus' blood as Alec knelt at their sides reaching for Magnus.

"Take what you need… take it all if you have to…" Was that hoarse whisper his?

The amber eyes that found his dulled with such a profound agony and exhaustion that Alec felt as if his heart had been ripped from his chest. As iff the deep wound had been within his flesh. There was so much in those eyes that Alec felt his throat constricting and his eyes burned as he shook his head pulling Magnus hands to his lips.

" It's okay! Max will heal you…" Alec promised in a soft whisper as he leaned forward pressing his lips to the other. Pressing against Magnus and praying that he would feel the same draw he had in the past, the one that told him that Magnus was borrowing the powers and energy he needed to heal himself.

"I ...I can't! I don't have enough left!" the desperate cry pulled Alec back a moment later as he snapped around and grabbed one bloody hand in his and held on tight.

"Take mine! Take it all! Save him!"

"Alexander….its… no use...after your injury not even you have enough to give him what he needs… and..even if he did have enough...I would not heal fast enough."

Alec flinched at those words, spoken so calmly, so reasonably. But there was absolutely nothing reasonable about any of this situation. No! He would not accept this. Magnus Bane was a freaking warlock.

" You are supposed to watch me grow old and die! You are meant to live! You're immortal for pity's sake. " Alec snapped as his fingers started digging through Magnus' pockets for the phone he knew the other kept there. Pulling it out and cursing as the screen was cracked.

Ignoring his name on his lover's lips, Alec prayed that the phone would still work enough for what he wanted. Sending a prayer to the angel as although damaged, the phone still turned on and allowed him to pull up Magnus' contacts - he kept telling Magnus not to use his birthday as his password- and hit the speed dial for Catarina Loss. It rang once, twice and then went straight to her voicemail.

"Dammit!" Alec swore before looking around for the others, who were now standing just behind him. " ...Clary do something!"

The bewildered expression that crossed her face then almost made Alec feel badly for his cross tone. Almost. She blinked at him as if she couldn't understand him for a few more moments before stepping forward.

"...What do you want me to do Alec?"

"Create a rune!... make one that will heal a warlock! You created the rune that would work on downworlders before! Do that now!" Alec knew that what he was demanding of his parabatai's wife was unreasonable and ludicrous, but the words would not stop. Nor would the violent trembling in his body.

"Alec!... you know that isn't how her powers work!" Jace's voice was gentle, kind. The look on his parabatai's face telling Alec all too well that Jace was feeling every ounce of his heart desperately breaking at the situation.

"I Don't care! what use are her powers if she can't use them!"

"Alexander!"

The sharp call drew Alec's eyes around to Magnus then as he leaned forward, reaching out to gently touch his lover's paling cheek with trembling fingers. Never before had Magnus ever seemed this...brittle. This vulnerable. Not even when Alec had found him in Lilith's domain, even though he had been dying then as well.

Alec felt his breath leave him at the thought. Magnus was dying, and there was nothing he could do to stop it. His Magnus was slipping away with every moment that he knelt there yelling at their friends.

"Alec… please… there is something...something I would like…" Magnus had to stop and start several times before he could finish.

" Yes! anything!"

"I don't want to die here…"

" Of course! I'll take you home!" Alec agreed as he thrust Magnus' phone at Simon. " keep trying Catarina loss!"

"No...I don't want to die there… you and Max will live there…I don't wish to ruin that place. Hmm, Clary…" Magnus' voice was so weak. Alec wanted to tell him to stop talking even as Clary leaned in to hear his request, the tears on her cheeks making Alec realize something. He too was crying.

When Clary pulled back and hurried to stand up and began creating a portal on the alley wall Alec blinked almost numbly as he found his arm being slung over Izzy's shoulder as his sister helped him stand. In front of him, Jace and Simon were picking Magnus up, each crossing their arm under his knees and back to hold him reclined back over their arms, max's hand held firmly over the worst of the wounds.

As he watched, Alec realized that Max's other hand was deftly touching Jace's shoulder and the strain that was filling the blonde's face made Alec's heart skip a beat a moment. Jace was giving up his energy to his son in an attempt to keep Magnus alive long enough to get him where he wanted to go.

Moments later the portal was open, and Jace and Simon were carrying Magnus through Clary rushing to help Alec through just behind Max. Alec staggered as they arrived, the usual disorientation of travelling via portal hitting him harder due to everything that was going on. When he was finally able to gather his wits he was left blinking and staring around.

Staring back at him was an assortment of startled shadowhunters as a heavy silence seemed to have covered the accord halls of Alicante. Alec stared around in shocked silence before finally pulling his attention away from where he could see his father rushing through the crowd, calling their names clearly worried. All he cared about was Magnus, who now looked worse than ever where Simon and Jace were lowering him into Max's care.

"Magnus….what are we doing here?..why Alicante of all places?...this is a shadowhunter place!" Alec gasped as he fell to his knees and reached for his lover's fingers in his own.

The exhaustion was all he could see in Magnus' face now despite the continued power that Max was pouring into Magnus, his hand now being grasped in Jace's as he continued to draw on Alec's parabatai for more energy. Alec could see that even with this it would not last long, Magnus would fade and die.

" we should have portaled you to Catarina!" he chided gently barely noticing as Clary and Isabelle rushed through the portal.

"Alexander! you're bleeding!...by the angel! " Robert Lightwood trailed off seeing the state his son's long time boyfriend was in, and he turned yelling for them to run for a healer.

"This place was the first time you acknowledged me entirely… when you kissed me here, you were telling not only me but your people that you didn't care what they thought of you. That I was yours, and you were mine!" Magnus' voice sounded more steady now with the continued energy that Max was supplying him. His face, though so pale now and strained, wore a gentle smile and his eyes locked on Alec.

"Because You are mine… I would kiss you a million times over if only I could stop this!"

" I know Alexander!...I...must admit that I was not expecting...this...I have lost my lovers...I know the pain I'm going to put you through...and I never wanted you to suffer through this!" Magnus stopped then to swallow hard, blinking rapidly as tears trickled down his cheeks and he coughed, blood wetting his lips.

"I love you so much! You and Max!...you are the most precious things I have had in my four hundred plus years… you showed me what it...was to live...and I'm so grateful…"

Alec could feel himself rocking now as he shook his head, his vision was blurred, his eyes burning. And he suspected that faint sobbing sound was coming from him. Shaking his head, Alec kissed his hand and held it to his chest.

"I am the one that should be grateful… you saw me when...everyone only looked at Jace. You saw me and showed me that who I was was not wrong, that… I could be who I was and still be what I was "born to do"...from the moment you winked at me, to this moment… you brought so much...into my life I never thought I could have…"

Alec trailed off then as he could not force anything more out, his throat closing up and his eyes clenched shut as he curled around the hand against his chest. Only Alec realized with a start that he couldn't feel the hand there, he couldn't feel the skin against his palms or the ground under his knees. And at that moment, he jerked his head upwards almost afraid that Magnus was somehow gone.

"... I"m so sorry I can't stay Alexander. My beautiful angel… I wanted to see that day when we were married in the halls of your people...wanted to meet the first Fairchild Herondale child to be born...watch Max grow up….But if I have to go it's here...with you and max at my side...surrounded by those that I care for." Magnus words were so soft now, and his lips were losing all colour but the blood that he kept coughing up.

Now that he was aware of his surroundings Alec jumped as he noticed the hand on his arm, a different colour blue than Max's, the other hand pressed over the wound in Magnus' chest. Catarina loss was staring down at Magnus from where she knelt beside them, her normally composed expression raw and brutally pained.

Alec was also shocked to find that having taken Jace's place in providing Max with energy was Jem, who crouched beside him with Tessa at his side.

"Hush now… Catarina's here now… she'll heal you you're going to be fine.." Alec protested, the words falling short even in his ears.

"Promise me something!"

"of course! Anything!" Alec felt as if his heart was crushed in his chest.

"Please live!... Love again, be happy. Live a life full of joy and wonder. Do not let the grief of me passing steal away your life. Grieve for me… you Nephilim love with all of yourselves so desperately and soo deeply that pain can shatter you. Please do not let yourself shatter. Or if you must shatter then, please let the ones that love you help you put the pieces back together again when you have finished mourning me."

The words were unthinkable to Alec as he stared at Magnus as if he had never met the Warlock before. How could Magnus ask any of those things of him? How could he be expected to live and be happy when the man he loved with every ounce of his being was dying? How could he ever love someone else the way he had loved Magnus?

"Please, Alec. You must promise me this! You must promise me and actively work towards it!..."

Alec jumped as Magnus rose the hand pressed against Alec's chest to cup his cheek. Stroking his thumb over the trail of tears, wiping them away his eyes imploring and desperate.

"I promise you!" Alec's mouth burned with the lie… but how could he deny the man he loved his dying wish?

With the promise received it was almost as if Magnus wilted before their very eyes until he could not even keep his head up, having to lay it in Tessa's lap now as the other warlock ran her fingers lightly through his hair. Alec did not move as he watched as the man he loved continued to draw laboured breaths over and over. one minute, two minutes..then three dragged on before finally with what was left of his strength Magnus grabbed Alec's cheek and pulled him down until their lips were touching.

Alec could not know for sure but as he kissed the warlock, his eyes locked on those amber ones beneath him. Alec thought he felt Magnus murmur "I love you…" against his lips as the light seemed to fade completely from his eyes and his breathing hitched and stopped.

Alec did not need to look up when he pulled back from Magnus to know that he was dead. His eyes unseeing and his once expressive face forever still. Magnus was gone…


New York 2027

The floor was cold against his cheek, Alec's body aching from how long he had laid upon it. His arms curled around his chest, cradling the ruined fabric he had cried himself to sleep holding. His body rocked faintly as he finally managed to drag himself to sit up. His knees and sides ached, and his fingers were numb.

Alec's throat was dry and sore, and his eyelids stuck together like they often do after one has cried for a very long time. He could not think clearly as he turned to look around the room his mind seeing everything as if through a haze or fog. When finally he got a look at the digital clock over the fireplace he flinched.

Three days…he had lain here on the floor of the study for three days without moving, only crying and screaming when he had the energy to do so…no wonder he was thirsty and so out of it. He had not eaten or drank anything in that time and now that he was thinking about it; he could vaguely remember the sounds of the phone and the door.

Pulling himself weakly from the floor Alec stumbled from the study, still clutching the suite Magnus had died into himself. Somehow he found the bathroom, and he collapsed against the counter as he fumbled with the faucet. Drinking deep gulps of water from his hands, Alec did not even want to think about the way he looked there as he hunched over the counter in the bathroom desperately drinking from the faucet. But see what he looked like he had to as when he looked up he came face to face with what should have been himself

Instead, what he saw in the mirror was the husk of a man, with too pale skin, sunken eyes and cheekbones. There was almost no muscle or even any fat on the skeleton that stood before him. The Alec Lightwood in the mirror was hardly even there, almost as if the wind would blow him away should it catch him.

No wonder Jace looked so pained every time he pulled away from him if this was the state that Alec was in then it must be killing his parabatai to watch him waste away and was refused when offering help. Alec could not remember the last time he had truly looked at himself in the mirror or seen how he truly looked. Surely he had not looked…this bad. Had he?

Picking a slow path from the bathroom, Alec looked around the loft as he made his way, for once letting himself see the memories that had often arisen as he looked around. A flash of Max and Magnus wrestling on the living room floor only to have the downstairs neighbors's fish tank's water dumped on them as Max found himself pinned under his father. Or Magnus leaning over the back of Alec's favorite chair to read the newspaper over his shoulder while he handed him his morning cup of coffee., the smile on the Warlock's face every time that Alec had returned through that door after going on a hunt with Jace and Isabelle.

His chest tightened as he remembered these things, wanting but not wanting to forget them. Wanting to push them away as he had the last five years. But that would mean that he was pushing away Magnus, pushing away the man he had been the lover and father. Ignoring the life they had lived together because he did not want to miss him. How could he have ever pushed him away from him when that meant cutting Magnus out of his mind so completely that he almost never even let the memories surface.

Stopping near the answering machine, Alec hesitated as he saw the flashing light, finally hitting the button. He cringed for an entirely different reason when it announced that he had " six missed messages."

Each of the first three was from Max with an increasingly high level of worry until the fourth one was a very short " I'm coming over!"

Great job Alec, freaking out your son he chided with a shake of his head before sighing as he sat down on the arm of the chair nearest him to listen to the others.

"Alexander Lightwood, I got a call from a particularly panicked young warlock this morning. If you do not call him back then I will be forced to pay a house visit, and as I am incredibly busy I will not be happy by this required visitation…this is Catarina Loss in case you are unawares!"

Alec blinked at the concise way in which she spoke and even the veiled threat that hung in the air as the message ended. Alec could vaguely remember Magnus telling him once that that was just how Catarina showed her concern.

"Alec are you there? Answer the phone! Max called us! He told me what he did, and he's panicking that you're doing something stupid! Call me dammit. I'll come over I don't care what time of the day it is, just call me okay?"

Alec blinked rapidly at the panicked tone of his sister's voice on the phone line. She was so desperate and so afraid for him, and she clearly expressed what he had figured out already. His lack of answering the phone had made Max worried that he wanted to join Magnus…which he would admit he did want. But he also knew that Magnus would never forgive him if he took the easy way out.

Picking up the phone Alec dailed the phone bracing himself for the barrage of words he knew would be coming at him…