Magnus sat in the Institute, not a hint of cheeriness in his features. Alec's family had been out searching for their missing member and so far only Jace had made it back. The blonde was sitting across from Magnus, his arms crossed over his chest in the silence between them. Neither knew what to say - they hadn't even spoken when Jace had first come back, the warlock only receiving a shake of the head to show he hadn't found his boyfriend.
The Indonesian didn't know what to do with himself. The silence helped, but he also dreaded it - not liking the thoughts that slipped into his mind when it was this quiet. It was unsettling how many terrible options could jump to your head in silence, especially for someone so old they knew quite a lot more scenarios than the others could jump to.
By now it had been 8 days since anyone saw Alec, and they still had no clues. Magnus, Jace, Isabelle, Clary and Simon had all searched New York nearly top to bottom - or at least as far as they could go without concerning the Clave entirely in their whereabouts. Meanwhile, Alec's parents and little brother were both venturing Idris to do the same, asking anyone if they had seen him. Since he was old enough to go to Clave meetings, even if there hadn't been one lately, there was still a chance he took off to involve himself in something.
Even with all of them searching, nothing had turned up. There were none of his clothes forgotten somewhere on the side of the road or a highway, no dead Shadowhunter bodies found - or at least none in their country so far - and no signs that anything had ever happened except for the fact he couldn't be found! It was really like he had just up and disappeared into thin air.
Jace and Simon had suspected Valentine of doing something to him, but that was impossible. Valentine was just as mysterious in his whereabouts - if he was also still alive, for that matter. Magnus did think it made some valid sense though; two people, unknown whether MIA or KIA, both with no sign to show where they could be or how they are. It was quite possible that he was the cause - but there were still a lot of doubts. There was almost no reason Valentine would even consider associating himself with the adult Shadowhunter. No real blood connections, familial ties obviously didn't seem very important to the former Circle member, and if Valentine had gotten anywhere near Magnus' apartment that night either him or one of the guests would have known something was up. The warlock's parties were all fun and games, but with the company he brings to them they all know a danger when they see or sense one.
It just doesn't make any sense..
Magnus had still been clinging to Alec's abandoned cell phone since he'd found it - only unhanding it once, quite unwillingly at that, to the family so they could examine it for any leads. There, of course, was nothing on there either except for a dead battery that they had to charge so they could check it. After they had gotten done, and Magnus snatched it back to himself like the broken person he was, he tried to use his magic to locate Alec. He'd placed the phone on a wide table and concentrated on it to show the "owner's" position, but all it showed was Magnus' room.
The last physical place before death I assume.. Magnus thought bitterly. Even since Alec left and he was absolutely sure that Alec wasn't coming back by choice, he hadn't been himself. He smiled less and less, it seemed almost by the hour. His eyes kept darkening, which really stood out without him putting on any make-up or glitter of any kind to distract from it. He had been eating less and sleeping less, though it hadn't gone long enough to be noticeable to anyone who didn't know him.
The door opened to reveal Simon and his room-mate Kyle, who the Day-lighter quickly explained was helping him out in the search. "Did either of you find anything? Anything at all?" Magnus asked, nearly sounding desperate. He wanted a good answer, but he doubted he would get one so he kept his head hung where almost no one could see his face in his hands. There was silence from behind him and he assumed they had shaken their heads, since it would be much easier than to tell a grown-man his boyfriend was still missing and probably dead - not like he didn't know it already.
After a moment of silence, Simon and Kyle awkwardly standing beside the door while Jace did nothing to make happy conversation, Magnus stood up and walked to the door. "I'll be back in an hour, tell me if anything comes up.." Then he left without waiting for an answer. The three looked at each other, wondering if any of them should stop him from being alone, but Kyle said that it was probably what he needed so they let him be.
Alec huffed slightly under the long dresser in Magnus' as he caught his breath. The hamster had gotten the sign almost completely done before Chairman Meow and Church got to him. The haitus-Shadowhunter had hoped that at least the other feline would realize it's him and give him a break, but he got no such luck. With both of them working together and Magnus being out of the house doing Angel knows what, they had managed to get his ball open. Using a maneuver he'd learned in his human form he was able to wriggle away from them, only getting a small scratch on his side.
Now he was hiding from them, though with Magnus' door being opened a crack and both of them being on the prowl he doubted this peace would last long. "Magnus, why did you have to leave at a time like this.." The hamster tensed up when he sniffed out a cat near-by, which meant that more than likely the cat had sniffed him out as well - or would soon enough. "Shit.. Gotta think fast." Alec looked around, only seeing the back of the dresser. It was close enough to the wall that he could push his back against it and crawl up, so he took the chance while he had it.
He gripped the wall with tiny claws and made his way up, getting half-way there before hearing a soft hiss then another sounding deeper. No, no, no, no, no..! Alec froze where he was for a moment, gripping the wall and not moving a muscle. He could now scent both of them and they were quite close, most likely inside the room. Then he heard talking in unfamiliar voices.
"You idiot! You let him get away again! I knew I shouldn't have trusted you when you let him slip out of your paws the first time." came a quiet growl. The other voice whined a bit.
"But Chairman I didn't mean to! He's a tiny little thing, why do we want to eat him anyway? The treats Magnus gives us are much bigger than him.." There was a soft thump and a startled yowl.
"It doesn't matter! He's fresh meat, when is Magnus ever going to give us that!?"
Alec's little blue eyes widened when he heard the talking. So those two can talk.. Those little ingrates must have been ignoring me! He felt irritated and almost wanted to stand up to them, but he was still a tiny rodent at the moment and he surely wasn't a brave one. He kept listening to their useless chatter as he started clawing his way up the wall again slowly. Maybe I can sneak into my cage while they're distracted..
"Well, yeah he doesn't give us the freshest stuff but he does give us a lot of it. That little thing wouldn't even be a mouthful for one of us.."
"Then only one of us will eat him! And from how you're talking, that one must be me!"
Alec was nearly at the top of the dresser now. Just keep talking..
"But-!" "No 'but's Church! If you don't want to eat him then let ME do the hunting, alright?"
"But he sounded really familiar.. Like that kid that keeps hanging out with Magnus and is really loud in here at night." Alec was sure he was flushed at this point, little whiskers twitching in embarrassment as he sat behind the cage where the two couldn't see him. I am not that loud! Magnus is just... very experienced.
"Do I care what our next meal sounds like? No. Why? Because in my belly he won't be making much noise. Now help me find him!"
"Alright, but I'm just sayin'.." With that the two went quiet and Alec felt anxiety in his small stomach.
Shit they're gonna find me! He looked around from where he was perched, trying to find a more hidden way into his cage. Alec crawled around the side, pressing himself to the cage and wood dresser, now glad that Magnus had a sleek black one. When he peaked out to see where they were, he noticed Church closest to the dresser while Chairman Meow was scenting out where they usually found him under the bed. Church knows it me, sort of.. Maybe he can help. With a lot more caution than would be expected, he made a small psst to grab the feline's attention.
At first it didn't seem loud enough, but Church's ear did twitch. His head twisted around to find the noise when Alec made it again, gaining Church's full attention. For a second Alec considered crawling between the wall and dresser again until Magnus came home, but he really wished this would work. Church glanced back at the bed, seeing sheets swish lightly but no one come out - so the feline jumped onto the dresser nearly 5 inches away from the rodent.
"Church! You remember me, right? Alec?" When he got nothing from the feline but a tilt of the head, he sighed and recalled Church's words. "'The kid who hangs out with Magnus and is loud at night'.." At that the cat grinned, or did something close to it. It was mostly in the eyes.
"I knew it was you. Chairman said I was being ridiculous again.." Alec nodded slightly to show he'd heard them talking. "Look Church, I need you to open my cage. If I get eaten then I can't be human again. You know how sad Magnus would be if I never came back, right?" For a moment Alec got discouraged and thought of the other saying 'yeah, not at all!' but he pushed it away.
"Yeah, I get it. Our owner won't shut up about you whenever you do your Shadow-thingy. Not sure what he means by that, but it sounds pretty cool. I'll open your cage, but can you convince Magnus to give us better food when you're normal again? He's really cranky when he doesn't get treats."
"Yes, yes! I'll tell him to give you all the treats you want! Now, please, open the cage already."
Church nodded and hooked his claws into the top latch on the hamster cage, sitting on his haunches as he worked. He wasn't the most skilled, or intelligent since Chairman did the planning, but he could get it open if he tried hard enough. There was a small noise behind him and Alec hid in Church's tail, peaking up at him in a plea to hurry up.
"Hey Church, what the heck do you think you're doin' up there? You find him?" came Chairman Meow's, well, meow from behind him. He paused his work and looked back at him with his claws still hooked.
"Uh, no.. I was thinking that if he's trying to hide from us, he'll try to get back in this thing. But, ya know, we can corner him in it.. Haha." They looked at each other for a moment before Chairman gave a grin, flicking his tail in approval.
"I knew you had some smarts in ya'. Good thinking Church. Keep a watch on the cage door once it's open, I can try to find him and herd him in there if I lose him." Chairman wandered back to the door, sniffing about and looking for Alec elsewhere - much to both of their relief.
"That was close.." Church got back to work and finally opened the cage, the door falling open onto his belly as he stayed where he was. Luckily it didn't make too much noise to alert Chairman in the other side of the hallway. "Yeah, it was." Alec got out from under Church's tail and climbed into the cage, looking around and sighing with relief from being partially safe now.
"Alright. I'll close it and tell Chairman that it was shut too tight. You find somewhere in here to hide so he won't see you.." With that, the feline moved to push it back up with his muzzle and shoved it hard to try and close it. Surprisingly, closing it was much harder than opening it. He kept pushing until the cage was directly against the wall, then shoved harder under he heard a grinding click above his ear. "Finally.."
The two mammals gave a farewell as Church went off to babble a few lies at his companion, while Alec took the chance to gather some bedding into the corner and hide in the center of it.
"Yup, I definetly have a new favorite cat."
Author's note: Sorry if the last Alec POV didn't make much sense - I just thought it would be nice if Alec found a friend while he was stuck this way. Plus, I always imagined Church being a more laid-back or non-aggressive cat, probably from the name.
PS. Sorry for taking a little bit to update, I had company over and school starts up tomorrow. Cya when I can!
