10

Show Me the Magic

Magnus dropped the phone, letting the dial tone go. He bowed his head and started to sob softly. Adriana was taken aback. It had been a very long time since she'd heard Magnus cry like this. And that scared her a little. She came up behind him, resting her hand on his shoulder.

"Magnus?" He looked up at her, deep sadness in his eyes. And guilt.

"It's my fault. It's all my fault, Adriana. He's hurting him to get to me. And…and I don't know what to do…" He sobbed harder. She knelt down in front of him, hugging him. "Shh…It's alright, Magnus. There's nothing you can do. Absolutely nothing. I'm going to work my ass off to get The Book as fast as I can, alright? You will get Alec back. All Armand wants is The Book. But we can't give it to him."

His head snapped up, looking angry.

"If you think I'm not trading it for Alec then-"

"No, Magnus, listen to me," she said, trying to get through to him. "Armand doesn't know I'm alive, does he? Neither you nor I may be able to take him alone. It would help if you had some back up. I'll follow you there, alright?"

"I'm finishing Armand myself," he growled. "If that's what it comes to."

"Do you honestly think he'll go peacefully?" She asked rhetorically. He bowed his head.

"What if he…what if he…kills Alec before..." He shut his eyes. She shook her head.

"You can't think like that, Magnus. Alec will be fine," she assured. Magnus swallowed.

"He's so scared, Adriana. He's only a child, he shouldn't have to…I asked him to take me instead." Her eyes grew.

"Magnus, you…you know what Armand will do to you, don't you? He'll, god, Magnus you can't!" She exclaimed.

"He wouldn't do it. I offered him me and The Book and he said no," he mumbled. "I don't understand why."

"Maybe he knows that he can hurt you more if he has Alec," she suggested. He bowed his head again, tears welling in his luminescent eyes.

"I just want him back, Adriana. I want my Alec back. I won't rest until he's in my arms again. I just want to hold him again." He started to sob, wrapping his arms around his chest, trying to hold in the agony.

The rain outside poured in buckets, flooding the streets. Many Mundanes were confused by the harsh weather that still wasn't showing up on radar and seemed to have come from nowhere.

Adriana touched Magnus's cheek and coaxed him up, sitting him down on the bed.

"Shh," she hugged him. "We'll get him back, Magnus. It's alright."

Magnus continued to cry. He remembered another time when he thought he'd never see Alec again. Such a long time ago…

"What is it?" I asked, smiling lightly. Alec was staring at the floor, taking a moment before he answered. My smile faded. Don't let this be that kind of talk. Please…please…

"Magnus, I…I…I'm not…I don't want to be with you…anymore," he said, at least giving me the decency of looking at me.

I felt like I'd been punched, hard, in the stomach. I could barely breathe. I'd let myself fall for Alec, fast and hard, and this is what I got for it. The first time I open my heart in six hundred years and this is what happens. It gets broken again.

I kept the emotions away from my face. My expression stayed neutral; if I was lucky it would stay that way.

"If that's how you feel," I said, keeping my voice even with great difficulty. He nodded at the ground, his jaw fixed.

"It is," he said quietly. I nodded, managing to keep myself from begging him not to do this, crying and yelling by some sort of miracle.

"Okay," I looked at the ground. "I'll leave, then." He nodded. I felt my heart shatter. I walked past him, pieces of my heart throbbing when his smell overwhelmed me. I shut my eyes for a brief second before grabbing the doorknob.

"Goodbye, Alec," I said, voice strong.

"Goodbye, Magnus."

I went back to Ragnor Fell's cottage, letting my tears come freely. I thought I had found that someone. That one person that I could love with everything I had. But I was wrong. I was so very wrong. I stood behind the house, looking out at the fields. I threw my hand out, smashing a tree to smithereens about three hundred yards away from me. I blew up everything around me, screaming, crying.

What was left of my heart ached horribly, like it was bleeding, gushing, throbbing.

I collapsed against the back wall, sobbing, hating myself. Was there something I could've done to stop this? Could I have prevented this? What did I do?!

I tried to understand why he would do something like this. I tried to understand if there was another reason as to why he broke up with me. Maybe he was just confused. Maybe I wasn't what he wanted, I didn't know. I didn't know until we were in the Accords Hall.

He finished drawing the rune on my hand and looked up at me. He didn't let my hand go, in fact his fingers entwined with mine. He was holding my hand in front of all of these people.

My heart twisted. Why was he doing this to me? It hurts…

"Alec, what-?" I was cut off by his lips. My eyes were wide, disbelieving. The lips that were moving against mine were his. He was kissing me, really kissing me, in front of the entire Clave and population of Downworlders. I couldn't think. I couldn't breathe. He pulled away and looked up at me, touching my face.

"I'm sorry, Magnus. I didn't know what I wanted. I didn't know you even cared about me. I thought you didn't care at all. But then you said you loved me, and…and now I know. I love you too, Magnus." I swallowed hard before smiling.

"And you've officially introduced me to your parents."

Adriana's voice brought him back to the present.

"Magnus, I have to go get it, alright?" She said. He nodded solemnly. "Hey," she turned his face to look at her, "It's going to be alright, okay?" He nodded again.

She left reluctantly, not wanting to leave Magnus in the state he was in.

Magnus stared at his hands, Alec's screams echoing in his ears, his desperately pleas for help, his sobs.

"I'm so sorry, Alec," he cried softly. "I'm so sorry."

Alec ran hard. He had no idea where this strength was coming from, but he was running out of it, fast. He fell into walls and on the floor, tried to get doors open and found they were locked. He turned corner after corner, staggered down a flight of stairs before the whip struck him in the back. He fell down the rest. He pushed himself off of the floor and bolted down the nearest corridor. His chest was tight, and the cold air hurt his lungs. His feet were numb, his legs burned, his body throbbed with horrible anguish. But he ran. If he didn't the whip would hit him.

He fell against a door, reaching for the handle. He was surprised when it opened. He ran inside and stopped dead.

It was a room. It was the cell he had been in earlier.

"No," he breathed, wheezing. "God, no, please…" There was a crack and the whip struck him between his shoulder blades. He fell to the ground, rolling over once he hit concrete, whimpering. Armand grinned and moved to bring the whip down again. Alec backed up, staggering on his hands and falling several times. The whip hit him anyway. It wrapped around his arm, leaving a large welt that bled slowly. Alec cried out, tears in his sky blue eyes. He continued to back away. He wedged himself in the corner, still hiding his face. Armand laughed, long and hard.

The whip came down in a fury, striking his neck, his shoulders, his legs. He screamed and cried and begged. But Armand seemed to hit him harder and laugh more when he did so.

He dropped the whip once it was dripping with the young Shadowhunter's blood, breathing heavily and grinning. Alec was trembling, hardly able to take the added pain. The burns hadn't even started to cool yet, and now this.

He stayed curled in the ball he was in, covering himself and trying to block any other blows.

Armand chuckled and grabbed his arm, yanking him so hard Alec was surprised it didn't snap.

He threw him to the ground, dropping to the floor on top of him, motioning to the two other warlocks that had followed him. They held his arms down while he straddled the whimpering boy.

"No, no please, please, Armand, no!" Alec begged. Armand laughed and took a knife from the inside of his coat. He ran the blade across his cheek, grinning. Alec whimpered very quietly.

"I'm going to make sure Magnus doesn't want you, Alec. I'm going to make sure he's absolutely disgusted with the sight of you," the warlock grinned. He looked at the knife, whispering something that Alec could neither hear nor understand.

He smiled at Alec.

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

--Uh oh!--