"Stop it! Please! It's me you're angry at so please, hurt me not him. Please."
Alexander Lightwood's voice rose as his parabatai held him back from his boyfriend as he was publicly flogged; the crime; falling in love with a Shadowhunter and dating him.
"Don't Alex, they'll hurt you to make their point and Magnus will yell at me for that," Jace whispered to his partner.
"They're gonna' kill him, Jace. I need to do something," Alex's voice was hoarse from screaming half the day. The Clave was deaf to all his protests and didn't want to listen to any others either.
"They'll kill you if you interfere with his punishment," Jace whispered. Turning his head into Jace's black jacket clad shoulder Alex cried, hot tears sliding down and streaking the grey tee he wore.
Jace wrapped his arms around the smaller boy and let his partner cry, he needed it. When the news reached them about Magnus, Alex had taken to his room and hadn't left but to for missions that were deemed important enough to warrent for more than two experienced Shadowhunters. He stopped coming to meals and only showed his face at Robert's threats to kick him out if he didn't put on a front and at least pretend to be happy.
The final arc of the flogger made its descent and hit the torn flesh of the mage. Born from the body of a human and the seed of a demon they were good for a helping hand here and there and only if you had enough money to pay them up front. Greedy and rotten to the core the Clave thought they were.
The shackles round the tanned but cut wrists were released and the muscular body fell to the hard floor. A sound never left the pinched lips of Magnus as he was wrenched upwards and made to face the elders of the Clave on his knees.
"Do you know why you have been brought here today, Warlock?" The elder asked, distaste clear in his face, eyes hard and emotionless.
"For falling in love, the ultimate sin of all the races on this earth it seems," Magnus said with a glint in his eyes.
"God, Magnus please don't egg them on," Alex whispered. Still wrapped in Jace's arms he bit his bottom lip in worry.
"For corrupting a young Shadowhunter, for bringing him into your lifestyle, that is what you were punished for. Do you dare argue with the citations for which you were brought here?"
Magnus started to laugh and laugh and laugh. The Clave looked to one another then to the experienced mage.
"What do you think is so funny?" The elder asked.
"Corruption of a Shadowhunter. Young and easily led by another he is not. Alexander Gideon Lightwood has a mind of his own and I, nor anybody else, has led him astray in his life. That is what I find funny." Magnus's laugh died down to a chuckle and he stared at the Clave with defiant eyes. "I wasn't punished for loving another like him long ago. What has happened between that time and this?"
"He did not love you as you loved him, this was proven."
"He loved me as well as he could until you interfered with us. Now I am told that loving, again might I add, one of your precious Shadowhunters is illegal. I pity the day you marry Elder," Magnus was livid now. Angry red spots dotted his face and he, in spite of his injuries, made for the front of the podium where the Clave sat.
Alex whimpered in the back of his throat and wiggled in Jace's tight grip. He had brought his face from Jace's shoulder and was staring at Magnus with tears burning in his eyes. He knew that Magnus had loved another but to know that the Clave had not punished him for it then and was now doing so made no sense. Fighting against Jace he whispered a quick, "Sorry," before stepping on Jace's sneakered foot and running towards Magnus just as the Overseer brought down the flogger.
"NO!" Jace cried as on Alex's back and arms were four parallel lash marks. Jace ran forward and dragged Alex back to where they had been before. "Stay here, dammit!" He hissed in his ear.
Looking back to where the Clave was now staring at Alex.
"Why do you interfere young Shadowhunter?" The Elder intoned, voice echoing in the vast cavern of the room.
"Because I love him, Elder!" Alex called out to the entire room while Jace groaned and looked at the floor.
"How can you love one such as he. A thing born with magic that is good for naught but causing destruction." The Elder spoke with such vehemence in his voice that Alex took a step back before locking his knees and staring the older man down.
"I am the one who says he loves that person that causes destruction. He has been nothing but considerate to me while we were dating. He is the reason I am still sane after all the battles fought, the demons we have battled, and the shit we have been through. You have no right to tell me who I can and cannot date, the Accords have been changed to fit the last alliance we had. The downworlders have their own place but this Downworlder has his place beside me," Alex ranted, drawing closer to the Clave Elders with a sense of strength growing inside him.
Jace didn't know whether to clap, laugh, or cry. Alex was right on all fronts but the Clave decided in the end who was right and who was wrong, though the outcome was never the one they wanted.
The elders whispered among themselves as if to find a solution to the problem they faced. When the elder nodded they turned and stared at the young man and the warlock in front of them. "We are not sorry as we pass this judgement. Magnus Bane, High Warlock of of Brooklyn the punishment for disregarding the Accords so freely and for going against time honored traditions, we, the Clave and the Elders upon it, deem it necessary to ban you from ever seeing, acknowledging, or contacting the Shadowhunter Alexander Gideon Lightwood as long as he shall live."
Magnus crumpled to the floor and lay there, stunned to hear the verdict but expecting it.
The Elders turned to Alex next, fixing him with their grey, blue, and brown eyes that were cold and void of emotion. "For the trespass you, Alexander Gideon Lightwood, have conducted against the Accords in full knowledge of the laws that were set down; you too are banned from ever acknowledging, contacting, or seeing High Warlock Magnus Bane as long as you shall live."
Alex shook his head and tears started flowing freely again. Then he thought about what the Clave had said. From contacting him. He had a feeling he would owe Isabelle so many favors now.