A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Just a short chapter for now until I can find more time to write, I just wanted to get something up to show you that I am not in fact dead.
. 36 .
Alec leapt onto the railing, chest heaving. "Don't!" he rasped, "Don't come any closer…"
Magnus froze in the doorway, blocking Jace from continuing his pursuit of the boy. He could see the tears in Alexander's eyes from where he stood, could see the shaking, the trembling as he balanced so precariously on the railing overlooking the rocky shore of Lake Lyn. All that flashed in Magnus' mind was the very similar image of Alexander balancing on the rafters, how he fell to his very own Hell…
"Alec…What are you doing?" Jace gasped, eyes wide in realization and horror.
"I can't…I can't live like this," Alec replied in a pained voice. "I can't watch everything I love be destroyed and corrupted. I can't let you live like this, at his mercy…I'd rather die…"
Magnus heard footsteps behind him but didn't move. His eyes were glued on Alexander. "Please…Angel, don't…Don't…"
Alec met Magnus' teary eyed gaze with his own starkly blue orbs. His voice was broken when he spoke, "I—I have to…You're not safe if I don't."
"Alexander, don't you dare. Don't you dare!" Magnus cried, his voice now sounding just as angry as it was desperate. He began slowly, timidly making his way closer to the boy as he continued, "Do you remember what you said to me that day? The day before you ever went to that warehouse. Do you remember what you told me?"
Alec closed his eyes, a tear slipping down his cheek.
"You promised me you wouldn't leave me. You told me you are a Shadowhunter, that Shadowhunters always keep their promises…Don't you dare break that promise to me, Alexander. Don't you dare."
The Shadowhunter's shoulders shook with silent sobs. "Don't you understand? You're safer if I'm gone! I'm trying to protect you, damn it!"
"You are a Shadowhunter, Alec!" Magnus roared back, taking another step forward. "I thought you said that Shadowhunters fight until the end, until there is nothing left to fight. Am I not enough for you to fight for? Are your parents and siblings not enough? Is the future of your people not enough for you to keep fighting?"
Alec wavered on the railing as Magnus drew closer and closer, his nerves on edge and his mind waging its own personal battle. His voice was calm now even as tears spilled silently down his cheeks, "Of course they are. I would die for them."
"Then you have to try for them, Alexander."
Alec was quiet for a long time, gazing down at the water. "Then you have to try for me."
"I'll always try for you. I love you."
A small smile pulled at Alec's lips, his eyes softening as he looked at the warlock one last time. "I love you too, Mags. Remember that."
"Alec, don't—"
Both the warlock and parabatai attempted to stop it from happening, but neither were fast enough to stop the boy from jumping. They were left sobbing over the railing as Alec's body hit the water.
Jonathan watched quietly from the doorway, calculating and reserved. He let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.
Later, when they searched the rocks for a body, they would not find one.