As promised, here's chapter two! I hope you enjoy it! And again, if you're from Indonesia and I screwed up something about your country and culture, please let me know so I can fix it. I did my research, but I'm not perfect.

Anyway, kudos, bookmarks, and comments are always appreciated ;)

Chapter 2

Magnus woke up to the smell of dark coffee, freshly cut fruit, bread, and Alec. He opened his eyes to find not only an amazing homemade breakfast and a half-naked Alec at his side, but the sun completely illuminating their room. He had no idea what time it was, but he had clearly overslept.

"Morning." Alec said with a smile.

He was wearing only his swim trunks and his hair was all wet. Magnus figured that he had woken up earlier than usual and had decided to swim in the pool. It was clearly hot outside and, for a moment, Magnus didn't know what he wanted more—to run to the pool to swim too, to eat the mouthwatering food that Alec had prepared for them, or to lose himself in his boyfriend's arms. It was a really difficult, if not impossible, choice.

"Did you sleep well?" Alec asked, grabbing a strawberry from the plate and biting it.

The sight of the strawberry juice slightly coloring Alec's lips made Magnus's mind to consider choosing his boyfriend over the food and the pool, but when Alec gave him what was left of his strawberry and his stomach rumbled, Magnus had no choice but to admit that eating should be a priority at the moment. All the magic that he had used the day before, not only so that they could walk twice as much as what any other tourist would walk, but also for their private bedroom activities had exhausted him completely. He was practically drained and needed to recover his energy as soon as possible, and food was always the best source to get it.

"Where did you find all this?" Magnus asked, grabbing some grapes from the plate and a piece of bread. Alec had prepared food to feed an army.

"The store down the street." Alec said. "It's owned by a werewolf, did you know that?"

Magnus nodded. "I Kadek Pedjeng," he said, sharing the name of the store owner with Alec, "his older brother used to be the owner, but he died a few years ago."

"His name is I Kadek Pedjeng?"

Magnus nodded again. "Balinese names are different from Indonesian names."

"How so?" Alec asked, scooting closer to Magnus on the bed and grabbing some more fruit.

"They have three parts: a title, a name according to birth order, and a personal name." Magnus explained. "In this case, I, is the prefix that indicates his gender and works as a title, Kadek, means little brother and is used to name second born children, so it indicates his birth order, and Pedjeng, which means moon is his name. The person you met is a second-born male whose personal name is moon."

"His personal name is moon and he's a werewolf?" Alec said, chuckling a bit.

"A mere coincidence." Magnus said. "He didn't use to be one, he was attacked when he was a child."

"Where?"

"I don't know exactly, but it was during a family trip to the Riau Islands. The whole family was attacked by a pack of wild werewolves, but only the two boys managed to get out alive. The Batam pack took them in and helped them out."

"How old were they?"

"The one you met barely 6 and his brother 10, it was a real tragedy."

"He's a very nice man, the moment he saw me, he knew that I was a Shadowhunter and that I was with you. He says he knows you."

"He comes to keep an eye on the place from time to time and make sure everything's fine, and I pay him for it." Magnus said. "I know he needs the extra cash, he has a family of his own now—a wife and a baby girl."

Alec smiled, taking some bread. "I liked him, maybe one day we could invite him and his family to visit New York." He said between mouthfuls. "We talked a bit while he was packing all the food and he said he's never been there before, but that he'd like to visit, so maybe if you asked him, he would like the idea of spending some days there with us. Anyway, what are our plans for today?" He asked.

"I was thinking that we could visit the Komodo National Park and then Tana Toraja—I have a friend who lives there and who could show us around. I'm sure you're going to find that place and its traditions absolutely fascinating. Besides, all the surrounding areas are really beautiful and there are a lot of places to explore."

"Sounds great, but what about Jakarta?" Alec asked.

That had been the original purpose of this trip, to visit where Magnus had been born. Alec knew a lot about Magnus's story, he knew that he had been born in Jakarta—although at that time the city had been known as Batavia and Indonesia as the Dutch East Indies—but still. Alec knew that that was the place where Magnus's childhood memories were and that was why he was asking him when they were going to finally visit the city. But Magnus had been delaying that visit until the very last day for personal reasons.

"Tomorrow." He said, taking a sip of his coffee to avoid having to elaborate.

"You don't want to go, don't you?" Alec said.

Magnus sometimes forgot how much his boyfriend actually knew him and how easily he could read him.

"It's not that," Magnus confessed, "I want to go, but…"

Alec grabbed his hand.

"It's not easy," Magnus said, looking at Alec; his boyfriend was listening to him attentively, as he always did, "you know my story, in fact, you're the only one who knows every bit of it, and it's hard, Alexander. I come here all the time, but I always try to avoid going to Jakarta. I need time to prepare myself for it. And maybe I'm being selfish, but everything's been so different with you here. I'm enjoying our time here so much, I don't want to ruin it with bad memories."

"Haven't you come here with any other of your past lovers?" Alec asked.

Magnus shook his head. "You're the first one." He said. 'And the last one.' He thought, but didn't say it. He couldn't see himself sharing this with anyone else.

Alec squeezed Magnus's hand tighter. "Then we'll go tomorrow and if you're not ready, we'll come back some other time." He said and bent down a bit to kiss him on the cheek. "Remember that you don't have to do anything you don't want to."

Magnus smiled. "I love you."

o-o-o-o-o

The visit to Komodo Park was exactly what Magnus had expected it to be: fun, exciting, unexpected, and full of adventures. It was one of Indonesia's greatest natural treasures and they had enjoyed every minute of their time there. They had scuba dived, walked, hiked and even run for their lives at some point when a Komodo Dragon—the world's largest lizard—had decided he didn't want them to be there taking pictures of him and had tried to attack them; despite the fact that Alec had, very kindly, asked him to pose for them before approaching him. They could have easily stopped the animal with magic or with one of Alec's weapons, but they loved animals, so instead of risking having to hurt him to make it out alive, they had just ran away, laughing and hoping that their new four-legged enemy hadn't decided to follow them and finish what he had started.

After that, they had portaled away and visited some other places on the Lesser Sunda Islands, stopping only for lunch and to buy some souvenirs for their friends and family back home. When they had made sure to have a gift for everyone, including people they didn't necessarily like, they had portaled directly to Southern Sulawerest to spend the rest of the day exploring Tana Toraja—the land of the Heavenly Kings.

"Wow." Alec said, again.

That was, perhaps, the only word his boyfriend had been using whenever they visited a new place.

"This is one of Indonesia's best kept cultural secrets." Magnus said. "You'll see why."

"Where are we exactly?" Alec asked.

"Ke'te Kesu." Magnus said. "It's a traditional Torajan village."

"Are those...houses?" Alec asked, pointing to the wooden structures in front of him.

Magnus nodded. "They're known as Tongkonan. This village has six Tongkonans, twelve granaries, a large open ceremonial ground, and a nearby cave burial site."

"Oh!" Alec exclaimed. "This is the place you said that had some complex funeral ceremonies, right?"

"Complex would be saying it lightly, but yes." Magnus smiled, glad to confirm once more that Alec really paid attention to every word he said. "But we'll talk about some of those traditions later, we have to meet my friend, the one I told you about. He owns one of these houses, I don't know which, this is the first time he invites me—the bastard—but I sent him a fire message while we were shopping to tell him that we were here, and he said he would be happy to invite us for a drink, so come, let's go."

"Does he know about us?"

"Alexander, after what happened at your own wedding, you can be 100% sure that the entire Shadow World knows about us, you didn't kiss an ordinary warlock, darling." Magnus winked at him. "Besides, news spread fast in our world. Do you know how many fire messages I received that day? Thousands! Some congratulating me, some others wishing me a quick and painful death, and others simply expressing their anger because I had scored a young and very handsome boyfriend and they hadn't."

Alec laughed and followed him.

"Anyway, all Tongkonans have boat-shaped roofs," Magnus continued, explaining what he knew about the place as they got closer to the village, "they're higher on the back in a symbol of desire for prosperity for those residing in the house. The decorated poles that support the roof and that you can see framing the facades are a sign of the wealth and status of the family." He explained.

"Are they decorated with...horns?" Alec asked, tilting his head a bit.

Magnus nodded. "Buffalo horns, and those on the sides are Buffalo jaw bones. The more Buffalo horns and jaws, the higher the prestige of the family." He said. "Buffalo horns are excellent for some spells, they're hard to get and-"

"Magnus!" A man exclaimed, approaching them from the village.

"Mentari!" Magnus said, greeting his old friend with a hug. It had been almost a century since the last time he had seen him. He hadn't changed a bit, though, just his hair—it was shorter now. "May I introduce you to-"

"Alec Lightwood." Mentari said, immediately shaking hands with Alec. "I've heard a lot of things about you, young Shadowhunter—not from Magnus, of course—he never writes or remembers that he has friends unless he needs them," the man said, and Magnus rolled his eyes, "but you are what the Downworld likes to call an unusual breed of Shadowhunter."

"I hope that's a good thing?" Alec said hesitantly.

"It is, it sure is. But come," Mentari said, pulling them both, "let's have some drinks at my place. We can talk more freely there."

Both Magnus and Alec followed Mentari to his Tongkonan. Magnus had been in the village a couple of times in the past, but had never had the chance to actually see the interior of one of these places. All the times he had visited, Mentari hadn't been around to let him in, and charming the Torajans hadn't been an option. They were a pretty difficult ethnic group to please, magic didn't surprise them.

"How's been your stay in this land?" Mentari asked, motioning them to climb up the stairs to get inside the place. Magnus looked at Alec and then at the very decorated poles on the facade, so that his boyfriend knew that his friend had an important status among the villagers due to the excessive number of Buffalo horns he had there.

"We're staying in the Tiga Gili." Magnus said, using the Indonesian name of the Gili islands.

"Oh, a beautiful and very romantic place." Mentari said suggestively. "But please, make yourselves at home." The warlock said, opening the door of his home.

From the outside, the place looked small like all the others, but once he entered, Magnus could feel the magic and the spells that his friend had cast to make the place even bigger than Magnus's penthouse in New York. It had a lot of traditional ornamentation, a clear sign that Mentari respected the culture of his country, but Magnus couldn't help noticing that his friend also hadn't been able to resist the temptation to add certain...amenities that were typical of the Western world. His Tongkonan was like a city apartment with every comfort and luxury one could imagine, but still very Torajan—if that made any sense.

"I see that not even you could resist modernization." Magnus pointed out.

"I've lived many, many years, more than you, temanku sayang, I can't live a traditional life all my life. This place has remained frozen in time for centuries, I got bored of it." He said.

"Temanku sayang?" Alec asked.

"It means my dear friend." Magnus immediately said, and Alec smiled.

"Although he's not so dear to me at the moment," Mentari added, "but I'll consider forgiving him if he invites me to New York one of these days."

Magnus rolled his eyes. "You know you can always go there, you don't need an invitation, and I did invite you a couple of months ago." He said.

"Oh, yes, when you were collecting warlocks for your spell." Mentari said. "But the new High Warlock of Brooklyn sent a message to the High Warlock of Jakarta and she forbade us to assist you. What did you even do to that man? He doesn't like you very much."

"Nothing!" Magnus said.

"Hmmm, I'm not sure if I should believe you or not. I know you, Magnus, you must have done something to make him dislike you that much." Mentari said. "But anyway, have you visited all the land?"

"No, we went to Komodo Park this morning and spent some time on the Lesser Sunda Islands, but we wanted to see Londa and visit you, of course. I wanted to show Alexander as much as I could of all the different places, cultures, and traditions that we have here." Magnus said. "I thought he would find extremely interesting what happens in this place when someone dies...the Rambu Solo."

"Oh, that's for me the most fascinating aspect of the Torajan Culture." Mentari said, looking at Alec. "The Rambu Solo are our funerals, we, Torajans, believe that the most important thing about someone's life is their death and, as such, all our life rituals are in preparation for the corresponding burial rituals. Torajans don't believe that death is immediate," the man explained, "but rather that the deceased is 'sick'. And since the deceased can only be buried at certain times of the year—during our funeral season—and once a certain number of buffaloes have been amassed for sacrifice, the body remains in the homes of their relatives for weeks, months, or even years before the traditional ceremony of Rambu Solo can be enacted. During this time, the family continues to visit, talk to, and bring food to the deceased."

"And how do you-how do they preserve the body?" Alec asked. He seemed intrigued, fascinated, and scared all at the same time.

"With formalin, although a little bit of magic is involved, not that they're aware of that, so if someone asks you, you say formalin." Mentari said. "Anyway, as part of the burial ritual a traditional dance is performed, buffaloes and pigs are sacrificed, and then there's a feast that is shared with the entire village. In some cases a ceremonial cockfight is required too."

"Why do they sacrifice animals?" Alec asked.

"Due to the Torajan belief that blood needs to be spilled on the ground to facilitate the transition of a soul to Puya —the land of the souls."

Alec looked at Magnus.

Magnus smiled. "I told you that you would find it fascinating." He was aware that Shadowhunters' burial rituals were also very complex.

"And can we see that?" Alec asked them both.

"Of course," Mentari said, "none of the villagers here have lost a relative lately, but there's a nearby village that's having a Rambu Solo for one of their elders, so if you hurry, you could see part of what happens. I'm not sure if you have time to stay for the whole thing and still visit Londa during the day, which is when you should go. Londa isn't a safe place for anyone from the Shadow World at night."

"Oh, we have time," Magnus said with a smile, "we can visit Londa first and then go see this other village."

"But aren't you here on official business?" Mentari asked.

"No, we're just visiting," Magnus said, "for the weekend."

"We're celebrating his birthday." Alec added.

"Your birthday?" Mentari asked, looking at Magnus with surprise. Magnus nodded. "What? No, it can't be. I would have remembered your birthday. I'm your friend and I clearly know that you were born on...wait!" He said and closed his eyes, raising his hands as if to ask for absolute silence while meditating.

Magnus and Alec looked at each other and tried not to laugh.

"In the name of the Seven Princes of Hell, it was your birthday." Mentari finally said. "On December 8, now I remember."

Magnus nodded.

"I can't believe that I am the bad friend now, that's completely unacceptable. I haven't sent you a gift in decades and I did receive a bag of dragon's eggs powder from you last year. We must change that. I shall throw a small gathering in your honor. Do you want us to perform a Manganda dance just for you? Because I can totally arrange that and-"

"It's not necessary," Magnus intervened, "we want to keep exploring the place and-" he was saying, but his friend interrupted him.

"Nonsense. You deserve to be honored for your birthday, so I'll go talk to the villagers. They'll be happy to celebrate with you. You two can go explore Londa and the other village, and when you're back, everything will be ready for the gathering in your honor."

Magnus sighed resignedly.

"Sounds like fun." Alec said tentatively.

"It is fun, so say no more, we'll celebrate Magnus tonight. I'll go get everything ready, you two take your time exploring, but don't come back too late." Mentari said, grabbing something from his table and walking out of the house without saying another word.

"So…?" Alec said.

"It seems we have to hurry."

"He's nice." Alec smiled. "And throwing a gathering in your honor is a nice gesture, he didn't have to do that."

"He's a pain in the ass, but I suppose we could enjoy the celebration."

"Then let's go, we have no time to lose."

o-o-o-o-o

When Magnus and Alec portaled back to what had become their little home for this trip—Magnus's Villa—both were completely exhausted. The celebrations in Tana Toraja had extended and it had been way past midnight when they had finally been able to excuse themselves for the night and portal back home. Magnus felt tired and drained of magic after all the exploring, dancing, and drinking, but not as tired as Alec looked. His boyfriend had walked straight into the nearest couch and had practically dropped dead on it.

"Tired?" Magnus asked, sitting on the edge of the same couch and rubbing Alec's back in circles, transferring some of his magic into his muscles to help him relax.

"Yes, but not for long." Alec said, activating his stamina rune for the umpteenth time today.

"Using that rune so much has no side effects, right?" Magnus asked worriedly. Alec had been using it a lot during this trip and the edges of his rune were starting to look a bit red. Magnus knew every part of Alec's body by heart and noticed when something was even a little different.

"No, as long as I keep being human."

Magnus arched a brow at that.

"This rune activates my angelic energy," Alec explained, "so it can keep me going for a long time, but eventually I have to get some real human rest. The same happens with the nourishment rune, it helps in times of need, but it's not a substitute for food. I'm only half angel, after all."

"You could have fooled me." Magnus said, making Alec blush. "But it's good to know that you're going to be okay as long as we keep being human. And we have, I mean, we've been sleeping and eating a lot despite almost exhausting ourselves to death during the day."

Alec nodded and laughed.

Magnus liked the way Alec was when he was with him—happy and relaxed—very few ever had the chance to see him like that, like he truly was. "You like it here, don't you?" He asked, because despite the fatigue the way Alec seemed to radiate in this place was almost blinding. His skin was now sun-kissed and that gave him a glow that had Magnus completely enthralled.

Alec shook his head. "I don't like it, I love it!" He said, making room on the couch for Magnus to join him. "I want to move here." He said.

Magnus knew that his boyfriend wasn't being serious, but he played along. "Well, you could run the Institute in Bali if you wanted or the one in Papua, it's really pretty up there, the Lorentz National Park is amazing and the Mamberamo River is to die for, in fact, there's an entrance to the Seelie Realm right there."

"Don't tempt me." Alec said, closing his eyes and resting his head on Magnus's lap.

"Would you really move here?" Magnus asked because maybe Alec had been serious about it.

"If you moved here, of course I would." Alec said, not even opening his eyes. As if the answer he had just given hadn't been that big of a deal, when according to Magnus it had.

"For real?"

Alec nodded and opened his eyes.

"But what about your family and your parabatai?"

"They're a portal away." Alec said.

Magnus couldn't hide his surprise. "Would you really drop everything and follow me here?" He asked.

"Wouldn't you?" Alec said, turning so very slightly to make eye contact. "Wouldn't you do the same for me? Let's say that suddenly I had to run the London Institute or the Paris Institute, wouldn't you drop everything to come with me?"

"Of course!" Magnus said, without thinking twice.

"But what about your friends? Raphael, and Catarina, and Madzie, and-"

"They're a portal away." Magnus said with a smile. He had used Alec's own words.

"See? You're not getting rid of me that easily, especially if you ever plan to move here." Alec said.

Magnus chuckled. "I'm not planning on getting rid of you ever." He confessed, leaning down to leave a kiss on Alec's cheek.

"I like the sound of that." Alec smiled, closing his eyes again. "I like it very much."

The last chapter will be up tomorrow :P