Summary:


Magnus was meditating in the Ivy covered Gazebo where he had spoken to Izzy's daughter and her friends when he felt something from the old Institute, the one building he hadn't raized to the ground and grown plants over.

As far as the eye could see in any direction were plants, trees and flowers, always blooming, yes the trees and plants bore their fruits and vegitables but they were always blooming due to the magic he poured into them.

When he had finally killed the last Demon and sealed the holes they crawled from he hadn't known what to do, he'd been ready to end it and finally join Alexander, his sweet, precious Shadowhunter in death but then he had stood on the ground where his Loft building had once stood and looked around and his heart broke because all around him was destruction and devistation and Alexander would have hated it.

So, Magnus had torn down buildings and torn up roads and pulled pants and trees from the very dirt they'd been left to rot in, he had poured his red, burning magic into them and watched them burn. And then he thought of Alexander as he brushed his fingertips against a fried rose and blue magic had curled around it and made it grow.

He learned that different memories grew different things, that some worked better for flowers and some for trees, his favorites grew ivy and roses.

He had built the Gazebo where his Loft had been, where he had lived with Alexander and made a life with him for so brief a time.

The day Alexander had died he'd whispered a question to his lover while the younger man had been cooking breakfast, he had hooked his chin on Alexander's shoulder and breathed his question in his ear, Alexander had turned to him with a grin, throwing his arms around Magnus as he shouted 'Yes' at him.

Alexander had offered to stay with him, it wasn't every day they got engaged but Magnus had clients, he hadn't planned on proposing that morning but seeing Alexander preparing their breakfast he hadn't been able to stop himself, and he couldn't, wouldn't, didn't regret it even though he'd had something all planned out for later that month with roses and dinner on the coast of Cuba. He would never regret asking that day because now, at least, he would not wonder what Alexander's answer would have been.

And so, Alexander had gone off to the Institute and Magnus had had met with his clients, with much more patience than usual.

When Alexander had called him later he'd expected a portal request, what he'd gotten was a gasping exhale of his name, he'd managed to track Alexander and found his Shadowhunter bleeding out in an alley way.

He'd tried to heal Alexander but his magic had been drained before he had made a dent in the Shadowhunter's wounds.

'I would have liked to have married you.' Alexander had whispered brokenly as he closed his eyes one final time and his breathing faded to nothing.

Magnus had tried healing even after Alexander was dead, Clary's voice had woken him up a little but something in him had snapped and shattered what control he had had on the majority of his magic and he had left Clary and Jace in that alley where Alexander had been attacked, where Valentine and Jonathan had fought with him and wounded him so badly that Magnus could not heal him, where Alexander had apologized for not being strong enough to fight Valentine and his son, where Alexander had dreathed his last and left a void in Magnus that his maguc had filled with fire, anger, and a want for revenge.

And then Magnus had taken Alexander to the Loft and there had been a long while where he had hoped that Alexander's death was only a dream but when he'd woken Alexander was still gone and Magnus had destroyed the Loft in his anger and then he had carried Alexander back to the Institute and left him there surrounded by roses and lilies, the charm he'd been given after their first date in his love's hands, then he had gone after Valentine and his son.

"Magnus?" A familiar voice asked.

"Hello, Isabelle." Magnus answered, "What brings you here to my garden?"

Magnus turned to look at the woman, she had grown up, motherhood and marriage looked good on her.

"We wanted to see you." Clarissa said as she stared at his red-orange eyes.

"Why would you want to see me?" Magnus asked as he stood.

"We missed you." Sheldon said.

Magnus laughed harshly, "I let your brother die, why would you miss me, I destroyed the world." Magnus waved his arm at the flowers.

"It looks wonderful, Magnus, Alec would have liked it." Isabelle said quietly.

Magnus looked at her for a long moment, "The fire inside me won't let me cry for him."

"Oh, Magnus." And then Isabelle was wrapping her arms around him and hugging him tightly, "I'm so sorry we left you alone all this time."

"I killed Valentine." Magnus whispered.

"Good." Jace said, "He deserved to die."

"Yes." Magnus said, "The flowers by the Institute are wilting, I should take care of that."

"Magnus, you should-" Isabelle began.

"No, I will not go to Idris, Alexander died here, I loved him here, he said he'd marry me here." Magnus cried, arms wrapping around himself tightly as if to hold himself together, "I can't leave, I won't."

"Magnus." Jace breathed, "You asked him to marry you?"

"The morning he died, he said yes." Magnus whispered.

"Okay." Clarissa said, "Maybe we could come back to see you."

Magnus hesitated, "I still don't have the best control over the fire. I burn my flowers and trees often."

"It's okay to grieve, Magnus." Simone said.

"Don't crush my plants and you're welcome, bring your children if you like, I may not always be around here." Magnus decided.

"We will, Magnus, you don't have to be alone, we should not have let you be alone so long." Isabelle said quietly.

"It is what it is, eventually I will be all alone, I'm immortal and you are not." Magnus reminded them.

"We're here for now." Jace offered.

"For now." Magnus replied, and let them hug him.

Always for now, and Magnus was glad for it, even if his eyes never returned to the Yellow-green Alexander had loved, even if he spent the rest of his life fighting the fire that burned within the void Alexander had left him with, at least he had his family here for him to douse it even the smallest bit.