Some people just aren't fabulous enough to understand the fabulousness that is Magnus Bane. Well, most people.
I do not own Magnus nor his story.
TapTap
The New York Institute was on high-alert, same as every other shadowhunter outpost in the world. Dozens of their own had gone missing or had been found dead - while copies of proof of their allegiance to Valentine had been left in their stead, or on their bodies.
They had not been able to understand how it was happening, at first, but then, as other beings went missing or lost their lives, Warlocks had examined the evidence. They had tried that themselves, but Magnus Bane had not responded to their calls.
The reason for that, discovered by Warlocks and Seelies and shared with the head of the New York Wolf pack, was that it was Magnus Bane who had put the bodies there. The strength of the required magic in many cases backed up their findings. Luke had also been able to share that the Warlocks had been contacted by Bane, via fire message, and he had apparently advised them to keep their heads down, for a week or two - he was dealing with Valentine himself.
It was his information, delivered to Jace, Clary and the Lightwood siblings, which was all they had to go on, because after the unjust inprisonment of one of her knights, the Seelie queen was giving the shadowhunter society a distinctly cold shoulder. That shadowhunters kept turning up dead, courtesy of their ties to Valentines, didn't help either.
Clary had left the Insitute the moment Luke had called, accompanied by Jace, and it was Alec and Izzy who had brought back the news - the real reason Luke had called Clary: the reason he was in such close contact with Warlocks in the first place. He had contacted them, as ordered, to help in the process of waking up Jocelyn Fairchild, who had just appeared in the back room of his pack's Chinese restaurant one evening, accompanied by a fire message with instructions and one request: "please tell the little one that her father is dead. He is never going to come harm her again". Luke had dutifully given Clary the message, and she had watched by her mother since.
It was because of these developments that Lydia Branwell found herself holding a strategy meeting in the high quarters of a werewolf pack, including a selection of werewolves, shadowhunters and two vampires, one who lead the a local covern, and one who - though in training with the first - seemed to plead his alliegiance with the leader of the werewolves instead. She tried not to think about that. It was too strange.
"It is hard to say," the werewolf alpha said in his soft, dark voice, "this is all so out of character. But it is Magnus, after all. Jocelyn and I have always trusted him. I owe him too many life debts to doubt him now." "It is Magnus," Clary argued, less tempered and more passionately, Jace holding an arm around her shoulders. "He has always helped." "Everyone he has hurt has been traitors," Jace backed up her statement. "He saved Meliorn from your bad decision," Izzy was staring at Lydia in a decidedly hostile way, which stated an allegiance which was more complicated than mere shadowhunter loyalties.
"That might be, but he has more personal reasons here in New York," Lydia glanced at first her engagement ring, then Alec, "he might not be as... rational when he reaches us." "We will think of something," Alec reassured her, making both his sister and his parabatai roll their eyes. "We should consider replacing our wards," Lydia grimaced, "but no Warlocks want to answer my calls." She looked to Luke, but he merely shrugged. "I got their permission to rely the information, that is about all I can do. The Seelie queen sees your arrest of Meliorn as an act of war, the Warlocks rather take her side than yours."
"Then why?" Izzy's tone was still harsh, though not aimed at Luke, specifically."If they don't want contact, why let you tell us?" "Magnus is the High Warlock of Brooklyn, and he specifically addressed Clary in his note. As far as I can tell he seems to have asked the other Warlocks to keep an eye on her for him when he contacted them, as well. He was fond of her already when she was a child. She is a shadowhunter, so the Warlocks consider that much fair." Luke shrugged. Clary's expression screamed out "see?!" She was obviously not considering Magnus to have gone crazy, as Lydia assumed he had.
Alec felt decidedly splintered about the whole thing. Could he really have hurt Magnus so badly that he went off on... what, a homicidal conquest? Or was he just protecting his people? He couldn't see Magnus as a cold-blooded killer, either way. It had to be important, that it was just the traitors. He must go through the very heart of every institute to get to them, and yet all the innocents he must have passed along the way had been left completely unharmed. That had to matter, it had to be important.
It couldn't be a coincidence. A huge part of his heart wanted to just believe everything Clary was saying, and he could only feel reluctant at Lydia's suggestion to replace Magnus' wards. It didn't feel right. He felt safe, knowing Magnus' magic was protecting them, keeping their home safe and his family from harm. And to just consider he might be wrong, that felt awful.
But he was a shadowhunter, he thought with his head. Let Clary think with her heart. For the first time, he was actually grateful for her sentimental presence and her irrational surety. He tried to not to realise that, even for himself, and instead backed up his fiance at every turn. That was his duty, and that was what he did.
