8

Right Before Your Eyes

Magnus was sitting on the edge of the couch, fists clenched, eyes hard. Alec looked between the two of them, waiting. He knew Magnus better than to think he was angry. This wasn't what he looked like when he was angry. This is what he looked like when he was hurt.

"Where were you, Adriana?" He hissed. "If you were alive this whole time, why didn't you tell me?" She looked at him, smiling gently.

"I was around, Magnus, trust me. I checked in on you from time to time."

"Is that supposed to comfort me?" He bellowed. "How did you survive? Why did you let me live five centuries thinking you were dead? Thinking that I was all alone in the world? Thinking that if I died at that moment that no one on the face of the Earth would give a damn?" Alec put his hands on the warlock's shoulders, trying to calm him. Magnus relaxed a little.

"How did you survive?" He asked quietly.

"There is a type of magic that most do not understand and do not know how to tap into. I'll teach it to you someday. But, the funny thing is, you performed it on me without even knowing it. That's how I survived, Magnus. You," she explained.

"What did I do?" He frowned, his voice quiet.

"You loved me, Magnus. And, as cheesy as this is going to sound, when you cried while holding me, those tears of yours proved that you loved me. That was magic in itself. But you must've said something, something that set it off. Did you?"

"I said 'Bonus licentia meus diligio'," he said. He looked at Alec, who looked confused. "Goodbye, my love. Sister love, not, not like that." Alec nodded.

"That would do it," Adriana nodded. "Love is a powerful thing, Magnus. That's how you healed this one's pretty little face." Alec blushed a little, linking his fingers together. "Love is a magic that Armand could never tap into no matter how hard he tried. He doesn't know how to love, simple as that."

"So what happened, then?" Magnus snapped.

"Well, I think it was about two weeks after I died when I finally rebooted enough to wake up and get myself out of that accursed coffin and drag myself out of my own grave. I changed my appearance and put as much of a shield around myself as I could. The last thing I wanted was for people to know that I was still alive.

"So I got enough money to get across the ocean to where you were. I knew that was the next place you would go. I knew you would want to be as far away from me and Armand as you could get. So I followed you.

"I checked in on you when I could. But I couldn't tell you who I was, or that I was alive. I couldn't until Armand was dead. If word got out that I was alive, then that would put you in danger as well. And from what I heard you did to him he'd want as much revenge on you as he could get. But I was there, Magnus. I told you I always would be."

Alec looked at Magnus again, his heart sinking again when he saw the repressed tears there. Magnus had cried too much today.

"You weren't there when I needed you," he whispered. "You weren't there, time after time when an attempt was taken on my life. You weren't there when I was beaten senseless and left to die! You weren't there when I was methodically tearing myself apart from the inside out, living like some sort of shell with nothing, nothing to keep me going!"

Alec's wide eyes shifted between the two warlocks, lingering on Magnus.

Adriana leaned forward, taking Magnus's hands in her own, her eyes pained. "Listen to me, Magnus," she said quietly. "I never, ever intended for you to feel that way. I'm so sorry that those things happened to you while I could've been there to help. I'm so sorry. But you have to understand, I did it to keep you safe. I swore to myself that I would never let you get hurt because of me and I meant to keep that promise. I didn't want Armand to find you."

"He knew where I was," he breathed, taking his hands away. "He left me alive because he wanted me to watch the world burn when he found the book." Her eyes grew.

"I…I didn't know."

"If you would've told me you were alive you would have, wouldn't you?" He snapped. "Which brings me to my next question. How the hell did you lose your own book?"

"It started off as being stolen. Then it was just flat out lost. I have no idea how it ended up in Valentine's possession, then again he isn't an idiot, is he?" He didn't answer, just glared at her. "I didn't know where it was, honestly. And I knew if I didn't find it soon then someone with the wrong intentions would. Speaking of which, why do you want it, besides to keep it away from Armand?"

"To learn what's in it. To be able to perform every spell in it. To, in theory, become so powerful that anyone who dares to try and take it, or hurt me or someone I care for, it's utterly impossible. This has proven to be a useful on quite a few occasions," he took Alec's hand, squeezing it lightly. "And besides, if you can do more, people pay you more. This is true with a few professions."

Adriana smiled, chuckling. Magnus laughed too, hating that no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stay mad at her. He couldn't hate her like he wanted to. He knew she was just trying to keep him safe. He just wished that from the time of her death, to the time he met Alec there was someone, anyone there to be there for him.

"I'm sorry, Magnus," Adriana said, her eyes genuine. "I truly am."

"I know," he mumbled. "After you died, well, it all went downhill from there. And it all started with Boston. And of course the revolution."