Wow this is depressing to write. Seriously, I make myself listen to sad music so I stay in a melancholic mood.

I've never owned an iPod (shocker, considering I listen to music 80% of the day), but I have 'borrowed' my friends before ;), so hopefully I got the details right.

The song I mention (by name) is Cemetery by Say Anything. I love that song.

P.S. I introduce an OC in this chapter, but she's not going to be a big part of the story.

Alec lay in the hospital bed, watching the ceiling. Well, his eyes were on the ceiling, but his mind was wandering. He'd never, ever expected this. Cancer. Whoa. It still kind of blew his mind.

His hand twitched towards the nightstand, wanting his iPod. But he was so tired... he forced his hand to inch across the bed, pulling the tiny electronic towards him. Magnus was addicted to his own iPod (pink with rhinestone rainbows on the back), and Alec had loved listening to it for so long that Magnus had finally bought him his own, loaded with all of the songs he loved. It was black, with a pink rhinestone on the lower right hand corner. To remind him of Magnus.

Alec shoved the earbuds in, fingers automatically pressing buttons to turn it on and load his playlist. This time, however, he hovered over the play button, before switching songs. It fit the mood, he decided, to play depressing songs. Since his iPod was basically a copy of Magnus', he knew most of the songs, but he'd never had occasion to listen to Magnus' "Sad Songs" playlist. Now he would.

The first song started strangely upbeat, and Alec glanced at the name. 'Cemetery' by Say Anything. Alec's eyes started to slide shut, his last thought before the waves of sleep overtook him was, 'Magnus has good taste in music...'

Alec dreamt in pictures and sounds, of a tall woman with tumbling yellow hair, holding out a white rose. When he touched it, it curled in on itself and died. He dreamt of Magnus, dressed all in black, crying over a stone angel. He dreamt of Jace looking up at the sky and jumping into the clouds. He dreamt of many things, and some part of him wondered if they weren't somehow prophetic.

~X~

Magnus was not having a good day. He wouldn't have had one no matter what-it's hard to enjoy yourself when the love of your life is dying of cancer. Even if you were going to save him. And that's exactly what Magnus was going to do. It was close to the time when he'd call it a day and go to see Alec, but he was using every last second. He was considering making a potion before he left-it would be arduous, but if he hurried, he could take it with him. His phone rang.

It was his basic ringtone for all unknown numbers, and he answered it dully, "Hello?"

"M-Magnus Bane?" the voice was female, and unfamiliar.

He scowled at the phone. He hated interruptions, but especially when he was TRYING TO FIND A CURE FOR CANCER!

"What do you want?" he snarled into the phone.

"I-I... um, the Clave said that, um, that you were going to be working with me?"

Magnus' shoulders slumped. He'd forgotten about the stupid Clave sending him someone to work with. They said that it would help inter-country relations. They said they were sending him the apprentice to the High Witch of Reykjavik. Apparently they wanted some contacts in Iceland. Magnus had no idea why, but you didn't really refuse a request from the Clave.

"Are you the apprentice to the High Witch of Reykjavik?" he asked gruffly, gathering the ingredients for the potion.

"Y-Yes. Well, more like all of Iceland. It's a stunningly small space. My name is Catherine Andor." the voice said, and Magnus could detect a small hint of an accent.

"I'm a little busy right now, could you-"

"I'm sorry! Oh my God, I knew this was a bad idea, I just... I wanted to tell you that they want me to go to your apartment next Friday-if that's okay?" Catherine babbled.

"That's fine. I'll see you then. Bye." And Magnus hung up, immediately forgetting about the witch and their appointment. He carefully tipped a vial into the goblet on his desk, sending a silent prayer to Raziel that this would work...

~X~

Alec woke up quite suddenly, thanks to a grumpy nurse slamming the door as she left. The iPod was still on, the singer wailing something about dying slowly. Alec shut it off, stretching and yawning in the bed. The aching had returned full force, and he felt a twinge of the previous pain. It didn't surprise him. He could only imagine that Magnus' magic was wearing off.

He felt kind of guilty for letting Magnus use his magic on him. He knew that Magnus wanted to save him-and Angel knew he didn't want to die, but... there was a small part of him, a tiny pessimistic part, that wondered if any of it would help? Or would Alec just waste away, taking Magnus with him? What if something happened and Magnus didn't have enough magic... Alec squeezed his eyes shut as a wave of nausea overtook him. He couldn't help but worry. He loved Magnus, he didn't want anything to ever happen to him... but he didn't want to leave him.

Alec sat up then, reaching towards the sliding table thing (A/N: I have no idea what this is called. It's the thing that's kind of shaped like a sideways U, and one part goes under the hospital bed, and the top part you can put stuff on, and there's usually like a shelf on the side... anyway.), and pulled it closer to him. It held his cell phone, wallet, and some seemingly random things. They were the things he'd asked his mom to bring from home (she had bullied her way past the nurses this morning for an hour or two that morning). There was a tiny stuffed frog (Max had given it to him for his thirteenth birthday, back when Max was four and lisping); a glittery, fuzzy rainbow pillow (quite obviously a gift from Magnus, for their 4-month anniversary); and a shiny button that proclaimed: Nothing Less Than 7 Inches (he'd had a stroke of inspiration and made Isabelle buttons with her sayings on them. This one was kept for nostalgic reasons-the first one he made, it was spattered with his blood).

He looked at the tray on the table, which undoubtedly held food. Breakfast had been dismal-looking eggs, dry toast, and pulpy orange juice. He hated pulp. He wasn't that hungry, but he knew he had to eat. He lifted the lid, prepared to be revolted. To his immense surprise, the food actually looked... non-nauseating. There was a crisp-looking apple, an open-faced turkey sandwich, celery and ranch dip, and a brownie. He quickly ate, enjoying the food for the first time in... a long time, he realized with a pang. For the longest time he'd eaten merely out of need-not out of desire. How long had this been affecting him?

Apparently longer than he'd thought.

He thought over the past few days, weeks... he remembered going out to Taki's, and ordering... salad? Going out with Magnus, ordering... a fruit cup? He remembered Magnus teasing him about being anorexic, and him scowling and ordering a porterhouse steak, eating it viciously while glaring at the still-laughing Magnus. He remembered time after time of avoided eating, because he wasn't hungry, because... because he'd felt nauseous.

And with those memories, more and more came to him. Memories of flashes of pain, ignored and excused-telling himself it was a pulled muscle, or something else easily explained. Telling himself it was anything other than something to worry about. Alec's eyes began to water, and he swiped at them angrily as he chewed on a celery stick. If he'd... if he'd figured it out before, would he have been able to face this head on? Would he have been able to beat the cancer?

The tears came faster now, and he abandoned his lunch, curling up on his side, ignoring the throbbing in his side. He was sorry. He wanted to apologize to everyone-to Magnus, to his mom, Jace, Izzy, dad... everyone. This was his fault. He... he should have figured it out. But... he'd heard the doctor talking. He'd heard him saying that pancreatic cancer was almost always incurable... maybe even if he'd gotten it checked earlier.

Just as quickly as they'd come, the tears disappeared. He sat up, feeling oddly rested. Cancer sucked-it made him feel all out of whack. He pushed the celery away, instead biting into the apple. It was crisp, just as he'd suspected. He chewed on it, looking idly out the window.

It was sunny, not a cloud in sight. On a normal day, Magnus would be bugging him to go for a walk with him, and Alec would put up a fight, pretending that he really wanted to just stay in and watch TV, but after a few minutes of mock-arguing, he'd give in and they'd go to the park. Magnus would magic up a frisbee, and they'd play for a while, and for that amount of time, Alec would forget about everything else. For that amount of time, there would be no demons, no worries... just a two lovers, enjoying the day.

As Alec was musing on this, Magnus slipped through the door. He looked over, and visibly brightened when he saw him.

"Magnus!"

Magnus grinned at him, sitting at the edge of his bed and dropping a bag next to it.

"Alec! I missed you, darling." Magnus said, slipping his arms around Alec, burying his mouth in the other boys neck.

"Mmm, I missed you too," Alec murmured, letting his head fall against Magnus'. For a long moment they just sat there, holding each other, enjoying this... somewhat normal feeling.

Magnus pulled back, though he kept one arm around Alec. He reached across the room, grabbing his bag and pulling it over to them.

"I brought the things you asked for." he said, unzipping it.

"Did you feed Chairman Meow?"

Magnus rolled his eyes, "Yes, I remembered to feed my cat. He's going to get fat, you know."

Alec shrugged, "I'd rather he be fat than anorexic."

"...You are aware you're talking about a cat, right? Two weeks ago he ate a sock."

Alec ignored him, just smiling as he pulled things out of the bag. Toiletries, a few articles of clothing, glitter, some pictures, a-

"Magnus... why is there glitter here?" Alec asked suspiciously, holding up a container of bluish glitter.

"...Something to remind you of your gorgeous boyfriend?" Magnus said hopefully, grinning at him.

Alec gave him a small smile in return, setting the glitter on the bedside table, right where he could see it. Magnus gave him a satisfied smile, and they continued unpacking.

~X~

Maryse Lightwood stood in front of her sons hospital room. In a few moments, she would enter the room. She'd smile, and make small talk, assuring him that everything was going to be alright. But it wouldn't. And that knowledge weighed heavily on her, threatening to crush her under the weight of her knowledge. Why the hell couldn't the doctor just have lied. Told her that Alec would be fine. Why couldn't he just be fine. It wasn't fair-she'd lost so much already... She'd already lost one son. Did God have to make her lose two?

She rested her head on the wall beside the door, allowing herself only this lone moment of grief. She couldn't fall apart-she could never be weak. She had to be the strong one, the statue. She had Alec, Isabelle, Jace, and her husband.

And Magnus. He was the only one whose suffering could even come close to hers. At first, she'd doubted whether his love for her son was real, was truthful... but now, she saw it. In Magnus' eyes. When the doctor had given his prognosis... his eyes held the worst pain she'd ever seen. As if he was dying, from the inside out. When he'd come back from... wherever he'd been, when he'd curled up on the bed with Alec... his eyes only held sadness, pure devastation. And the kind of love people went their entire life searching for.

With that final thought, Maryse Lightwood straightened up, eyes now dry, self now completely under control. Magnus was no doubt already in there-the nurses had mentioned something about someone 'colorful' visiting, and, well, there was really only one person she knew who could be described as 'colorful'. And that was Magnus.

Even though she was expecting there to be a glittery warlock in her sons room, she was not expecting for the entire room to be... transformed. Magnus had, apparently, heard Alec was going to be here for a while, and decided to help him... decorate.

Alec had a pretty nice and large, private room, and they'd decorated... all of it. Photos were propped up on almost every flat surface-the dresser, the bedside table, and the other little table in the corner. There was also a lot of flowers, and stuffed animals. And glitter. There was glitter on about 60% of every new thing in the room. Glittery picture frames, glittery vases, and glittery stuffed animals. It was... odd, to say the least.

Alec was asleep, or so it seemed, and Magnus was no where to be seen, so Maryse took this opportunity to look at the pictures. She started at the dresser-there was a picture of Isabelle and Alec, the former wearing a lot of makeup and a tiny dress, with Alec looking extremely uncomfortable standing beside his posing sister. There was a picture of Alec and Magnus on the couch, Alec looking the most comfortable she'd ever seen him, wrapped in his boyfriend's arms. There was a picture of Alec and Magnus, lying in a bed together (dressed, thankfully) with a... with a small cat between them. Then there was a picture she didn't even remember being taken, of her and Robert standing beside Magnus and Alec, with everyone but Magnus looking uncomfortable. To be truthful, Robert was probably only uncomfortable looking because Magnus (wearing pink pants and a tight yellow tank top) had his arm around his shoulder-trying to be friendly, no doubt.

The ones on the table were various shots of Jace, Clary, and Isabelle. There was one of Isabelle and the vampire friend of Clary, and they looked... a little too friendly for Maryse's comfort.

Finally, she looked at the ones on the bedside table. These all were obviously important to Alec, and more personal. Maryse felt almost as if she were invading her sons privacy. There was a picture of him and Magnus kissing, a picture of the two of them curled up around each other, laughing at the camera... And there was a picture of Max. It was an old picture-well, it was actually about the most recent one of him they had. Max was grinning at the camera, and he looked... so young. Maryse bit her lip harshly, fighting against tears.

"You look just like him."

She jerked away, turning to see Magnus standing at the other side of the bed, having just come in through the door. He held (yet another) vase full of multicolored flowers.

"Wh-who?" she asked, her heartbeat slowly returning to normal.

"Alec. When he tries not to cry-he does that lip biting thing too." Magnus said, setting the vase down on the table.

"Does he do that a lot? Cry, I mean?"

Magnus sighed, looking wistfully out of the window, "Not too often. When we walk past a playground, or when it was near Max's birthday. Sometimes he'll just... catch sight of something, and... it'll remind him."

Maryse felt that nagging stab of guilt yet again, "I... I never noticed."

"He... he hid it well." Magnus said in a low voice, touching her arm in a comforting gesture.

She shook her head, clearing it of the depressing thoughts, "How is he doing today?"

Magnus sighed, running his hand through his hair-which she realized, with a jolt, was plain colored and loose.

"He's... better in some ways, worse in others. He ate lunch, which is good, and he seemed more energized when I came to visit him, but then he got tired... very quickly. The doctors are saying that the cancer has spread... they want to start him on chemotherapy tomorrow."

"Have you... I mean, can you..." Maryse stumbled over her words, but, luckily, Magnus got the gist of what she meant.

"I... I tried the routine spells last night. They helped for an hour or so, but then they stopped. I did a bunch of them, right after each other, and they lasted until morning... but they were just pain suppressants, basically. I gave him a potion... type thing I made earlier, but he fell asleep two minutes after drinking it-I'm pretty sure that was just regular exhaustion... I can't wait for him to wake up... I hope... I hope it helps." Magnus collapsed into one of the hospital's cheap chairs.

"So you... decorated?" Maryse changed the subject yet again.

"I put stuff places, Alec told me where to." Magnus said, smiling at the sleeping boy.

"There's a lot of... glitter." Maryse said.

"Well, what did you expect? I think Alec is finally starting to appreciate the wonder that is glitter."

"You talkin' about me?" Alec said sleepily, yawning and stretching, then wincing and stopping the movement.

"The potion didn't work." Magnus said, his tone depressed.

"M-Maybe it's helping in other ways! I feel rested!" Alec said, anxious to cheer Magnus up again.

"Thank you Alec, but... I think that it's probably because you just slept that you feel rested... not because of the potion. Don't worry, though-I have many other things I can try!" Magnus said, although it was obvious his cheer was forced.

"Mom... when did you get here?" Alec said, pushing himself up into a sitting position.

"Just a few minutes ago. I was just telling Magnus how... wonderful your room looks." she smiled at him.

Alec gave her a weak grin back, reaching out for a sparkly stuffed turtle, "Magnus likes to go all out. There is no such thing, for him, as too much color. Or glitter."

Magnus grinned proudly, "Exactly. I told you, Maryse, he is learning the wonder of glitter."

Alec just rolled his eyes at Magnus and spoke to his mother, "How is... everyone? Isabelle... and Jace, and dad?"

"They're... fine. Quite worried about you. They were going to come along, but right before we left there was a call about some Urzu demons terrorizing the park on Fifth. Isabelle and Jace went to go take care of it. Your father will be here in a few hours." Maryse smiled at him, although it was strained.

Alec gave her a look, but dropped it as the world seemed to tilt for a moment. Between the doctors pumping him full of medication, and Magnus pumping him full of magic, his body felt like a rag doll's. His eyes skidded across the room, giving the vaguest of winces when he realized that Magnus had done quite a bit of decorating when he was sleeping. The last he'd seen the room there'd only been three flower displays (now there was around 20), a lot less photos, and three stuffed animals (Magnus had won them for him at a carnival. Now there was around ten-at least).

They all sat in silence for a few long minutes, but it was not... entirely... awkward. It was a far ways from being entirely comfortable, but it wasn't bad.

Then Jace and Isabelle came in, the former ranting something about damn demons. They both stopped in the doorway, staring around the room, but simply shrugged and continued in, now used to Magnus'... glitter and flair. It was strange how much you could get used.

At first, it was obvious that Isabelle and Jace were treading on eggshells around Alec. They spoke to him brightly about things they never would have spoke of before. It wasn't lost on Alec, however, how they deftly avoided topics of the future, of anything that would give him hope he would be alive in a week, a month, a year.

It was the most depressing hours of his life-only multiplied when his father shuffled into the room, making forced small talk about the weather and glitter and the like. It was strained and uncomfortable, and Alec had to try and seem sorry when his family finally left. A small part of him insisted that he should bring the cancer up-should try and get them to talk to him about it, but... if he was dying-and he knew he was dying-then he wanted them to remember him nicely. He wasn't going to make them uncomfortable just for him... he was going to die anyway, whether they talked about it or not.

"I'll be back tonight, Alec, I promise." Magnus vowed as he pressed a kiss to Alec's forehead and left.

Alec nodded weakly, the ever-present exhaustion enveloping yet again.

He welcomed the darkness.

Ooookay, there it is. Next chapter there's going to be a slight time jump-just a little over a week. Otherwise this would get really boring, really fast. Just giving you fair warning!

P.S.-just realized the insanity of this, I'm working on 3 (THREE!) multi-chapter stories. At one time. So yeah, updating is getting a little crazy. I start school next Monday, which I am NOT looking forward to, so I'm going to be trying to finish this story in the next week. In case I didn't mention that before-this isn't going to get to 10 chapters. Maybe around six. Then I'll start work on the sequel.

ANYWAY-Review!