Disclaimer: I do not own these characters. They belong to Cassandra Clare and I wouldn't have it any other way!
Summary: The New York Institute has been compromised, and Sebastian and Valentine are in the wind. The High Inquisitor is out for blood, and her wrath has zeroed-in on the current head of the Institute; Alexander Lightwood. She decides to make an example out of him, but will her punishment take things too far?
Hurt!Alec and Protective!Jace/Magnus/Izzy/Maryse. Takes place at the end of s02e18.
Izzy rolled the syringe between her fingers as she hesitated, then glanced up at Alec's pale face, which was a stark contrast to the deep red of the bloody handprint still lingering on his cheek.
He was clearly in a lot of pain and could use the relief, but opioids were not something to mess around with, especially when they're only in an experimental stage. Who knew how these drugs would react to angelic blood, or to the rune itself?
Mind made up, she set the syringe aside.
"Let's see how far we can get without it. Magnus, give him a few more sips of that cocktail and monitor him. With the amount of pain he's in, he'll probably burn through the buzz pretty quickly.
"Mom, keep some pressure on his shoulder again too till I can get to it. The alcohol is going to make him bleed more because it acts as a blood thinner, but we'll just have to deal with it the best we can. There's no way I'm operating on his leg while he's sober.
"Jace, keep his leg as still as possible. I can't have him moving while my hands are in there."
Everyone snapped to Izzy's instructions immediately, glad to have something useful to do.
Maryse rose to her feet in order to maintain enough pressure on both of Alec's torso wounds. As she leaned over him, his clouded eyes met hers, looking despondent.
"I don'… feel so g'd…" he mumbled, shifting unhappily on the bed.
"I know, hunny. We're doing our best to keep you as comfortable as possible."
"Think… Think m' leg's leakin'… An' m' back hurts. Like, a lot."
He frowned and lifted his head, trying to find out why he was in so much pain. But before he could get a good look at himself, the thermos was being pressed against his lips again.
"This should help, Alexander. Just a few sips at a time, okay? Even angels can suffer from alcohol poisoning."
Alec turned his head away petulantly. "Don' wan' it. Tha' stuff burns."
"I know it's not particularly fun to ingest. But trust me, it's the lesser of two evils."
Izzy started prying open Alec's thigh wound again and Alec gasped in pain. Magnus took advantage of the situation and poured some of the beverage into the shadowhunter's open mouth.
Before Alec could spit it back out, Magnus wrapped a hand firmly over his lips.
"Don't even think about it," he warned. "This is high-end liquor that has been aging for over two centuries. It's too good to waste, so swallow…"
As he watched over Alec carefully, he witnessed the reluctant bob of his Adam's apple and knew the boy had done as he'd been told.
After a moment, Alec's eyes glazed even further and he blinked very slowly as the alcohol worked its way into his already inebriated system.
"That's it, darling… Don't fight it. Just ride the high while it lasts."
As Magnus eased his hand away, Alec's mouth opened and closed, searching for words that apparently wouldn't come to him.
"It's alright now, Alexander. Just try to relax."
"I… Ugh… Room's spinnin'…" the shadowhunter muttered with another heavy swallow, this time against his protesting stomach.
"Then close your eyes."
"Can't," Alec replied sincerely. "That's worse."
"Then focus on me, Alexander."
Magnus cupped Alec's bloodstained cheek in hopes that it would help ground him a bit.
Alec fought against his hold at first. Even the slightest movement of his head sent him reeling. But then he caught sight of the warlock's glowing cat eyes. It mystified him enough to bring the spinning room to an abrupt halt.
Magnus smiled as the younger man's eyes locked with his own.
"There you are…"
Izzy listened in to their quiet exchange, and when Alec seemed to be sufficiently distracted, she tried her luck and dug a bit further into the wound, reaching the deepest layer and watching her brother closely for any reaction.
Alec grunted and squeezed his eyes shut, his brow furrowed in discontent, but he wasn't struggling to get away anymore. Time to get down to business.
She began the slow, arduous process of cleaning and stitching his thigh back together from the inside out.
A gentle caress on his cheek coaxed Alec into opening his eyes again, and this time, they stayed open. His muscles slowly began to relax, one-by-one, as he lost himself in the adoration emanating from the warlock's steadying gaze.
Alec was cooperative for the rest of the first layer, but as Izzy started the second in a more tender, more raggedly torn area, he moaned and the muscles in his leg tensed again as he attempted to pull away.
"He's fighting me," Jace reported, doubling his hold on his brother's injured limb.
Magnus swooped in with his elixir once more, and after a couple tentative gulps, Alec fell still, staring groggily up at the ceiling as if it were the most fascinating thing he'd ever seen.
Izzy continued making progress. And each time Alec started coming out of his haze, Magnus would ply him with more alcohol.
The more Alec drank, the more vocal he became, much to his sister's amusement. She had never seen him so open before, always hiding behind his walls of stone and trying to be what everyone else wanted him to be.
But this? This was Alec with no filters.
"You 've nice eyes," Alec mumbled deliriously, staring up into Magnus's heavily applied mascara and eyeshadow. "Nice face too. Shouldn' hide it behin'… all that."
He gestured vaguely with his restrained right hand at the decorative makeup Magnus was wearing. The warlock smiled warmly back at him. "Are you saying you don't like my guy-liner, Alexander?"
"No! No, tha' loo's nice too. Either way. I mean, wish-ever you pref'r. But I like you, for you."
"That's very generous, darling. I like you for you as well."
Magnus ran his fingers soothingly through Alec's messy hair and Alec let out a heavy sigh, looking for all the world as if he were about to confess he stole the missing cookie from the jar.
"Magn's, 'm sorry."
The warlock's perfectly shaped eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "What on earth for?"
"I… I thin' I took a bath with Jace earlier."
Jace's head whipped up and he gaped at the two of them from the other end of the bed.
"'s hazy, but he just sorta… jumped in behin' me…" Alec continued earnestly, much to Jace's dismay. "Nothin' I could do."
Magnus raised an amused eyebrow at the flabbergasted blond. "Is that so?"
Jace quickly held out a placating hand. "Wow, that is not at all what it sounded like…"
Alec nuzzled his head against Magnus's palm. "Wish it had been you though. I like showerin' with you."
"Too much information, buddy," Jace warned him, shooting an awkward look at their mother who was still hovering over Alec's prone form.
Maryse's mouth thinned out a bit, but she kept her composure.
"As uncomfortable as I may be with the whole situation, Alec is an adult. So whomever he decides to date, and what he decides to do in his relationship are his business. As long as he's being safe about it. And if he's not, Magnus, you and I will be having a very different conversation."
Magnus scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably. He could only imagine what the "safe sex" talk from Maryse would sound like.
He was about to assure the woman that he would never put her son at risk when Alec sniggered loudly.
"'s not like he can get me pr'gnant, Mom…" When Magnus didn't immediately agree with him, Alec's eyes widened comically. "Wait, can you?"
Jace groaned and squeezed the bridge of his nose, trying to block that particular image from his mind.
Magnus huffed out a laugh at Alec's drunken innocence. "I've told you before, Alexander… As a warlock, it's quite impossible for me to have children. Regardless of what gender my partner is."
"Oh. Right."
Alec actually seemed disappointed by this revelation, so Magnus did his best to cheer him up. He tapped him on the tip of his nose, making the young shadowhunter go momentarily cross-eyed.
"But perhaps when this is all over, we can put that theory to the test. I mean, there's no harm in trying, right?"
Alec grinned goofily up at him, and Izzy couldn't help but cackle when Jace muttered a curse under his breath.
"Can we please change the subject before you guys permanently scar me for life?" he practically begged.
"Oh, come on, Jace… Sounds like our big brother is finally learning to enjoy life a bit," Izzy stated, winking up at Alec before starting on the final layer of outer stitches. "You should be happy for him."
"Oh, I'm ecstatic," the blond groused. "Doesn't mean I wanna hear all the details though."
"I hear cats," Alec supplied, unhelpfully, spiraling off on another tangent. "Or 's that birds? Do you hear them? 's loud!" he practically shouted.
He tried to mimic the sounds in his head, like fingernails on a chalkboard.
Magnus winced. "I think I heard Church make that noise once. Or perhaps it was the rodent he was eating…"
"This is gonna last how long?" Jace inquired dryly, nearly yelling to be heard over Alec's din.
"Hopefully, just long enough…" Izzy finished with Alec's thigh, then moved to switch spots with her mother to examine Alec's seemingly impaled side. "This one looks like it went all the way through, but surprisingly, it doesn't seem like anything major was hit."
Alec stopped his caterwauling and rolled his head to see his sister prodding at the hole in his side. His nose wrinkled in disgust.
"Gross. 's like Alien…"
Jace cocked an eyebrow at him. "Since when did you start watching mundane movies?"
"Since he started dating an amazingly cultured warlock who insisted that he at least get through all the classics," Magnus supplied.
"Don't you think he sees enough horror on a daily basis while out fighting demons?" Jace tossed back. "Next time, get him to watch Footloose or something."
"The original, or the remake?" Magnus queried. "Cause if you're referring to the later, I must say that was more horrific than anything involving aliens."
"The original, obviously. Wait, there was a remake?"
Izzy sighed. "Boys, can we focus for a minute here? Jace, help me roll Alec onto his left side. I need to see the exit wound."
Alec cried out as his abused body was manipulated and additional pressure was put on his bad shoulder.
"Sorry, Alexander," Magnus muttered. "Sounds like you need another top-off."
He poured the last few swigs into Alec's anxiously awaiting mouth.
"That's the last of it, Isabelle. Best make it quick."
"I'm going as fast as I can. Alec, can you feel this?"
Izzy prodded tentatively at the half dollar sized hole in Alec's back.
"Feel wha'?" Alec asked, trying and failing to crane his head around to see what his sister was doing.
"Lie still," Magnus admonished as he eased Alec's head back down to the pillow. "Not much longer now."
"'s gettin' hot in here…" Alec mumbled with a frown.
Magnus checked his forehead for fever, then shook his head at Izzy's questioning glance.
"He's still warm, but no worse than he was before."
"Where does it feel hot, Alec?" Izzy pushed, worried that one of his injuries might already be getting infected.
"Stomach," he replied wearily, curling his knees up a bit now that Jace wasn't forcing him to keep his leg straight anymore.
His brother had been relegated to propping Alec's right hip up so that Izzy had full access to his wounded side.
Magnus grimaced. "That's probably just from all the alcohol, darling."
"No…" Alec was starting to sweat profusely again as he pulled his knees up even tighter. "No, it really burns. It… Ah!"
"Alexander!"
Magnus blinked in stupefaction when he saw actual smoke coming off the younger man's body. Lunging forward, he pried Alec's knees away from his chest far enough to find the origin of the smoke.
He quickly summoned a cold, wet cloth into existence and held it against Alec's stomach.
"Isabelle, my dear… I'm afraid the next stage may have just begun."
"What is it?"
The sound and stench of searing flesh suddenly permeated the room, answering her question.
Alec screamed and pulled so hard against his restraints that his wrists began to bleed. He bucked against Jace's hold on his hip, desperately trying to escape the torment.
An angry burn mark had appeared across the skin of his abdomen, approximately three inches long, as if the hot end of a fire poker had been pressed against his flesh.
Magnus shifted the cloth accordingly, trying to cool off the worst of it.
"I think it's time to test out those drugs, Isabelle."
"But Magnus, we don't know if…"
Alec screamed again as the perfectly stitched wound in his thigh began to sizzle and seal itself shut, leaving what appeared to be third degree burns behind in its wake.
Apparently, the Agony rune wasn't about to let its victim die from blood loss either. It wasn't quite done with Alec yet.
"Just give it to him, Izzy!" Jace shouted as he wrestled his brother's writhing torso back down to the bed.
Izzy yelped and backed away as the wound in Alec's side began to heat up beneath her hands and cauterize itself as well. She gaped at the newest level of injury, watching as actual sparks flared to life within his punctured side, eventually fading to a charcoal black.
Alec's desperate voice drew her back to awareness, her brain registering his agonized pleas.
Izzy snatched up the needle again and uncapped it, silently praying to the Angel that the concoction didn't do more harm than good to her suffering brother.
Magnus nodded to her encouragingly as he summoned a second soaked cloth and eased it against Alec's burning thigh. It made a terrible hissing sound as the steam rose from the wound.
"Hang on, Alexander. Relief is on its way."
Izzy quickly approached the head of the bed, looking Alec over carefully for the best possible insertion point, then let out a slow breath.
She needed to inject the fluid directly into her brother's bloodstream, but with Alec's arms restrained the way they were, the crook of an elbow was out of the question so she moved on to the next best thing.
She reached out with her empty hand and ran her fingers gently over the exposed deflect rune on Alec's neck, searching for the pulse point.
He startled at the unexpected touch, eyes popping back open to see the needle hovering inches from his neck.
"No… nonononono…"
"Magnus, I need you to distract him," Izzy instructed as her brother instinctively tried to shy away from her in fear.
"Izzy, what are you doing?" Jace asked nervously from the other side of the bed, holding a mostly melted ice pack against Alec's sizzling side.
"I need a major vein. His arms are at a bad angle, so it's either his neck, or I go digging around in his inner thigh for the femoral one. Which would you prefer?"
Jace cringed. "Pretty sure he's not gonna like either option…"
"Here, hold this," Magnus instructed the blond, having him take over with the cloth on Alec's thigh. The initial burn on Alec's stomach had been more of a warning than anything so it wasn't nearly as deep or serious as the other burns.
He handed the second cloth to Maryse, correctly assuming that Alec's shoulder would be the next injury to be attacked.
Magnus moved up the side of the bed until he stood on Alec's right, capturing the side of his face again and keeping him focused on himself instead of Izzy.
"Just stay calm, Alexander. You're going to be alright."
Just as Izzy was about to insert the needle, Alec caught sight of it again out of the corner of his eye and immediately started struggling.
"D-don't!"
Alec screamed again as his left shoulder began to smoke and burn. He was fighting them all with everything he had left.
Izzy quickly pulled back just in time to avoid stabbing Alec in the windpipe.
"Magnus! Keep his head still!"
"I'm trying!"
"Well try harder!"
"What would you have me do? Press so hard that I snap his neck?"
"The more you restrain him, the harder he's going to fight," Maryse stated, doing her best to keep Alec's torso pinned down while she held the cold cloth against his shoulder.
"So what are you suggesting, Maryse?" the warlock demanded. "That we should simply let him up and watch him suffer?"
"Of course not! I'm merely suggesting you try honey with him instead of vinegar!"
Magnus gaped at her for a moment, wondering if he had possibly misunderstood. Judging by her exasperated expression though, he had understood every word. Then he made up his mind.
Easing the restraining grip on Alec's cheek the slightest bit, he tilted the boy's head back and descended on him, kissing him passionately on the lips.
Alec immediately froze in shock and Izzy took advantage of the small opportunity. She carefully inserted the needle into Alec's neck and began injecting the fluid.
Alec recoiled a tiny bit and hissed as the analgesic burned its way through his veins like a corrosive, but then Magnus's lips found his again and the needle in his neck was quickly forgotten.
Izzy eased the needle out and threw it away. "Okay, Alec. It's done."
But apparently, the other two weren't quite done yet. Jace had to clear his throat awkwardly before Magnus and Alec finally broke apart, panting for breath.
Alec was still a bit shell-shocked by his ex's sneak attack and he blinked up at him stupidly, a soft blush heating up his cheeks as the corners of his mouth lifted into a small smile.
"There now," Magnus stammered uncomfortably once he realized that all eyes in the room were currently staring at him. "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
"I… Whoa," Alec whispered in awe, blinking hard as the room morphed around him like a bad acid trip. Multiple faces leaned over him in concern, watching expectantly.
"You alright, buddy?" Jace asked worriedly as his brother closed one eye and squinted at him through the other.
"You're blurry… And, purple?" Alec muttered, sounding perplexed.
"I think it's safe to say the drugs are working," Magnus stated, earning a snort from Jace.
"Ya think?"
The tension in Alec's body slowly began to bleed away as he sank heavily into his mattress, feeling like every inch of him had turned to stone.
"Can' move…" he murmured, half in wonder, half in fear.
"That's probably for the best, buddy," Jace replied.
Izzy lifted Alec's half-mast eyelids and confirmed that his pupils were dilated. A hand on his chest revealed shallow breathing.
"Well, he's officially stoned."
Alec blinked up at her like she was a new species he had never seen before.
"You're really tall…" he stated in surprise and Izzy chuckled.
"Only cause you're lying down, Alec. Trust me, you're still my obnoxiously tall big brother."
Alec pouted back sourly. "Not 'noxious."
"You're right," Izzy acquiesced playfully. "You're not obnoxious. You're ridiculous. So how do you feel?"
When Alec didn't respond, too busy enjoying the light show flickering around the mutated room, Izzy snapped her fingers in front of his face.
"Alec!"
"…Huh?"
"How are you feeling? Euphoric? Tired? Anxious? Nauseous? Constipated?"
"I… yeah…" he finished unhelpfully, his eyes rolling aimlessly in his head before the lids fell closed and he let out a blissful sigh.
"I doubt you'll be getting any straight answers out of him for a while, Isabelle," Magnus comforted. "The good news is he doesn't seem to be in pain anymore."
Magnus manifested a jar of ointment from his loft and gently began dabbing the cream on the burn across Alec's stomach.
Alec hissed and squirmed a bit.
Magnus pulled back with a frown. "Did that sting?"
"No. 's cold."
"My apologies, Alexander."
Magnus attempted to warm the cream between his fingers before running them gently over the sealed wound in his side.
"Is that better?"
"Yeah. Feels… fuzzy. 'n soft. Like a bunny…"
Another burn scalded its way across Alec's right pectoral.
"Somethin's burnin'… Jace, get Izzy… outta the kitchen."
"Very funny," Izzy grumbled, pressing gently around the latest wound to gauge its severity. "You're the one cooking, genius."
Alec lifted his head unsteadily and glanced down at himself, watching the smoke rise with detached mesmerism.
"Oops," he mumbled. "Did I… do somethin' bad?"
"You did no such thing, darling," Magnus responded as he continued applying the cream to Alec's burns. "Just try to relax and let us know if you're in any pain, alright?"
Alec nodded.
"Blueberries," he blurted out a few moments later. "You should get some… for the loft. For pancakes."
"I'll put them on the shopping list, okay? They'll be waiting for you when you come home."
"… Home?"
Magnus smiled fondly down at his shadowhunter.
"Yes, Alexander. Home."
TBC
And there's part two! More to come soon. Please review if you're still enjoying this story!
