A/N: On behalf of my shitty update schedule... I suck. Okay, new chapter. I've been super stressed about school this week, because I guess the teachers decided it would be a great idea to give us a whole ton of work right before spring break…? Oh well.

Also, to 2patatesdansunmanteau (did I spell that right?): Thanks for correcting me! I looked up the definition online and decided to trust it, guess I shouldn't have done that XD. You learn something new every day. :)

Magnus and Alec were sitting on Magnus' couch, Magnus tracing patterns into Alec's back, patterns that sank into his skin. The author was curled up like a child, his head hidden in Magnus' shoulder. And Magnus was scared, because it felt like he had just woken up, and now the world was running around in a panic and he had no idea what was wrong. He didn't know what Alec needed and he didn't know how to help. He only knew that Alec needed something, but he was still refusing to talk, so Magnus couldn't help him.

The first thing he'd said when they'd returned to the loft was I need to be mad at someone. Magnus had told Alec to be mad at him, because if he hadn't stood up to Robert, he wouldn't have hit Alec. Alec had argued that it wasn't Magnus' fault Robert was a bigoted asshole, and that being hit hadn't changed his sexuality. Magnus was relieved that Alec didn't blame him, so he'd just held his arms out. And here they were: cuddled up together with Chairman Meow on Alec's lap and Magnus' arms laced around him.

Alec lifted a hand and traced the blue words on Magnus' arm. "Isn't ink bad for your skin?"

"Yes," Magnus answered. "But it comes off in the shower. How do you think I'm able to keep writing in the same place on my arm every day?"

"Sing this one," Alec suggested, relaxing into Magnus' chest, running his finger over some lyrics on the front of his forearm. Magnus couldn't pretend the touch didn't make him shiver. "I want to hear it."

Magnus cleared his throat, found the pitch, and sang:

"And no one understands

A silence swept the nation

Here I thought you'd be my salvation

But no one understands

At this point I'm not sure I want them to

All I want is you

Which you don't understand

Do you want me to say I'm sorry

Well, goddammit, I am sorry

For falling so hard in... love with you

That I brought you down with me

You shouldn't have tried to catch me

No one understands."

He stumbled over the word 'love,' but finished the piece regardless, wondering if Alec had noticed. He knew his boyfriend was tired (he smiled at the word: he could now call Alexander his boyfriend) and not in the best place right now, and besides, it was just a song, right? Right. Magnus didn't fall in love. He loved people, but love didn't have to be romantic. His love for Camille was pure and true, but entirely platonic. He was beginning to love Isabelle as a sister. And as for Jace, well… Magnus loved Jace the way one might love an itch between the shoulder blades, right where you couldn't reach.

"You have such an amazing voice," Alec said softly, still running his thumb over the back of Magnus' wrist. He flipped the singer's arm over and traced the soft skin on the inside of his wrist, where his pulse fluttered, leaning into Alec's touch. "How did I ever find you?"

"Well, my love, if I remember correctly we met in Alicafé, when I told you the drink I'd bought would turn me gay and you just stared at me," Magnus smiled.

"I had grown up in a house where joking like that would get you nowhere good," Alec told him. "So when you marched over to me with your glitter raining off your hair and smiling, I thought nothing good could possibly come of it. Look how wrong I was." He kissed Magnus' jaw. Magnus closed his eyes.

"Alec," he gasped out, and Alec pulled his lips from Magnus' face. Immediately he yearned for them to return. His heart was reaching out for Alec, the way it always did when they were apart. "I have to tell you something."

"Hmm?"

"I think Mala said it best," Magnus began. "'People tell me I have problems. And maybe I do. Maybe I used to not feel anything, or not feel enough. But now I think I feel too much. That's why the world shuns me, because I don't know what I'm doing. But then there's you… I feel like nothing compared to you. I am nothing compared to you. If you asked me how much I care for you, I wouldn't be able to answer, but not because of how little I feel, but because of how much. It's overflowing. I'm overwhelmed. All of me, all of the cells in my body are in love with you, and have been in love with you probably since time began. But even that's not enough. I may be powerful, but I cannot fit all of these feelings inside me. In all of the universes, in all possible fragments of existence, I am in love with you. And yet somehow, I feel so miniscule next to you, because you demand things of me that I don't know I have. You compel everything about me across every plane of being. I am insignificant, but then I look up at you, and… and you love me back… and I feel godlike. I didn't know, before I met you, that it was possible to feel this much at once. I thought I might explode. And maybe I did. Maybe these emotions are all explosions, like fireworks. I only wish I could see them.'" He stopped and closed his eyes. "Page 404."

"Did you just…" Alec looked up at Magnus, his voice shaking. "Did you just quote All the Locked Doors at me?"

"Yes, I did," Magnus sighed. "But only because I thought I couldn't say it better than that. Everything I wanted to say to you, Mala put into words. I suppose the best I can do is: Alexander Lightwood, I am in love with you. Pathetically."

"You glorious, love-confession-impaired idiot," Alec laughed, stretching up to kiss Magnus. "I love you too. Pathetically."

"I'm so glad," Magnus breathed, his skin tingling as he enveloped Alec in his arms.

But before they could reach a place in which the world didn't exist anymore, Ragnor burst through the door of the loft with an annoyed expression on his face. He slammed the door behind him and began to stomp down the hall to Magnus' guest room.

"Oi, Rags!" He hollered. "Throw me an orange!"

"You get your own bloody orange!" Ragnor yelled back.

"I'm occupied!" Magnus challenged. "You're in the kitchen, anyway!"

"No, I'm not." Ragnor stepped through the doorframe separating the kitchen from the hallway. "And unless your favorite blue-eyed celebrity is on top of you, you can un-occupy yourself and get your own orange."

"Quick, get on top of me," Magnus hissed to Alec. Alec did, flopping into Magnus' lap and pretending to be asleep. Now Magnus couldn't get up if he tried. Ragnor clomped into the living room and stopped short when he saw them.

"Oh. Your favorite blue-eyed celebrity is actually on top of you. I will get you an orange, but only because that's so damn adorable." He went to retrieve the fruit, handing two oranges to Magnus and taking a picture of the two of them. Magnus wondered if he should be concerned about all of the pictures his friends were taking of him and Alec. They hadn't done this with his previous exes. Then again, his previous exes hadn't been sweet angels like Alec, hadn't been good of heart or mind.

"Let me see that," Magnus said, reaching for the phone. "Everybody's been taking pictures of me and Alexander. First Camille, then Izzy, and now you." He snatched Ragnor's phone and looked at the image. It was awfully cute: Alec curled up on his lap, eyes closed, Magnus holding an orange and smiling down at him. He sent the image to his own phone and handed the device back to Ragnor, who smirked and left. Alec sat up.

"Blue-eyed celebrity?" Alec repeated, laughing.

"Well, you do have blue eyes and you are a celebrity," Magnus explained. "I think it's quite the fitting nickname."

"Well, then you're my favorite cat-eyed celebrity," Alec countered, tracing his finger around Magnus' eyes.

Magnus wasn't sure if he was trying to be seductive or not, but either way it was killing him. He closed his eyes.

"We should be arranging to meet with Aline," he sighed.

"You're right," Alec said in the same soft voice, but made no move to stop what he was doing. His index finger trailed along the bridge of Magnus' nose, down to circle his lips, then followed the line of his jaw, up around his left ear, tracing his hairline to his other ear, and then followed the slope of his cheekbone down to the tip of his chin. Magnus felt himself relaxing deeper into the couch. It had been a long few days, he had to admit, and it would be amazing to get a few hours of sleep… with Alec beside him… and he didn't even care that he hadn't gotten to eat his oranges.

"Alright, up!" Alec said with a grin. "I already texted Aline. We're meeting at Alicafé."

"You're sure you can be there again?" Magnus groggily sat up. "After your dad?"

"I'm fine," Alec said.

"Are you sure? Because I'm sure Aline would—"

"I'm fine," Alec repeated, perhaps a bit more harshly than he'd intended. Magnus shrugged.

"Alright, dear. To Alicafé we go. Let me just peel this orange real quick before we leave."

They made their way to the coffee shop for the second time that day, Alec still looking a bit tense. Magnus hoped his boyfriend would talk to him eventually. He'd had relationships before where the other person pushed him away when things got crazy, when in reality he'd needed someone to bring him closer. He pulled his ballpoint pen out of his pocket and began to scribble on his arm before the melody was lost. Alec looked at him in confusion.

"I still don't understand why you do that," he laughed.

"It's a way to organize my thoughts, so I don't forget an idea that could turn into something."

"I should start carrying around some pens for you, in case you forget one," Alec offered with a smile.

"That's sweet," Magnus said, and meant it. He looked up at Alec with a smile and put the pen away, opting to lace his fingers through Alec's instead. They walked through the doors of the cafe together, and Aline was there to greet them, wearing a black dress. Her hair was tied back from her wide smile.

"Magnus," she nodded. "And hello, Alec!" She gave him a hug. Magnus watched in amusement as Alec returned the embrace with zero awkwardness: one of the perks of being gay, he supposed, was the ability to hug the girls you were friends with without any weird feelings.

"Love how you're friends with my manager," he laughed.

"I've been friends with him longer than I've been your manager," Aline said, stepping back. "What's up? I assume this isn't related to music, since you brought Alec with you?"

"It's about the person who wrote those letters to you," Magnus answered, pulling the two papers out of his pocket. "We found these in Alexander's apartment this morning. Jace said this one was Jonathan Morgenstern's handwriting, but we have no idea who wrote this one." He held out the second letter, the one with the poem. "I recognized it from those letters you kept getting a couple years ago."

"Yes, it does look like the same handwriting," Aline mused. "And they did sign it with ciao. Was there no other indication to who sent it?"

"Nope. No envelope, no signature, nothing," Magnus replied. "It's written on fancy paper, though, with this pattern behind it like on important documents." He poked the center of the page, where four Cs stood out in pale purple ink.

"This looks like the insignia of the Clave," Aline noted in surprise. Magnus didn't know much about the Clave, other than that they were a massive company, a bit shady: they owned practically everything from bookstores to hospitals to museums. It seemed one of them knew Alec personally.

"It's probably my dad, then," Alec said resignedly. "He's worked for the Clave for years and hates gay people."

Magnus took his hand again, squeezing it affectionately.

"Why now, though?" Aline looked confused. "If you're right, and it is Robert, why would he start with the letters again? The last one I got was last year."

"No idea," Alec shrugged.

"Could it have something to do with the person who crashed your car?" Magnus wondered. "And could that tie into this next letter, with the I'm sorry's?"

"Maybe, but Jace said this was Jonathan Morgenstern's handwriting," Alec reminded him.

"Jonathan is Clary's brother, right? We can talk to him about that." Magnus looked at Clary, who was laughing as she took a customer's order. Her red hair was like liquid fire as it poured down from her head, bouncing with every movement. Her brother looked nothing like her, with his white-blond hair and chiseled features, his aloof persona and dark eyes. Magnus then looked at Alec's eyes, the shades of blue that not even nature had to offer, and smiled at him. Maybe nothing was perfect, but Alec was pretty damn close.

"I can't wait for this all to be over," Alec sighed, running his fingers through his thick black hair. Magnus wanted to run his hands through the author's hair too, but figured he wouldn't take too kindly to that in public, especially not after having been slapped and yelled at by his father for a similar display earlier.

"I know, darling," Magnus sympathized, earning a smile from Aline, who had relaxed into a more friendly stance since the beginning of their meeting.

"So tell me: how did you two get together?" She asked, sitting down at a high table. Alec and Magnus joined her.

"Well, babe, it's actually a funny story," Magnus began happily, and recounted the tale for Aline, gesturing with his right hand while Alec played with the rings on his left. He mentioned the odd shock they'd both felt after learning each other's identities and how grateful he was that Alec wasn't treating him any differently because he was a famous singer, and how he was trying to do the same despite Alec being a famous author. Alec said he was doing perfectly. Magnus didn't believe him.

"And he won't let you convince him to write a sequel to All the Locked Doors?" Aline looked surprised. "Wow. He must have his heart set on making everybody's life miserable." She poked her friend and smiled, and Alec rolled his eyes.

"Why does everybody want a sequel?" He asked irritably. "I thought people would be happy with the end the way it was."

"Alexander, the end was Killian being brought back to life to live as an angel with Mala, but we never found out what happened to the High Emperor or Elvira."

"God, Elvira scared me," Aline shuddered.

"Elvira wasn't that scary," Alec said.

"Yes she was," Magnus and Aline both protested. "She was an eleven-year-old mastermind who could probably play piano better than me and knew what she wanted and how to get it. That's scary."

"She wasn't supposed to be the bad guy," Alec admitted. "But the writing forces of the universe decided to make her one anyway."

"Really? Cause she was an epic villain," said Magnus. "You could've fooled me."

"Writing is weird," Alec began. "Because the characters come alive. So it's not just me controlling them. They're living their lives and I'm just rushing to write it all out as it happens. It's almost like they're the ones controlling me."

"That's deep, love," Magnus said appreciatively. "Do you have any drawings of her?"

"A few," Alec told him. "I can show you when I get the chance. But we need to talk to Jonathan, and figure out this shit with my dad."

"Aye-aye, captain," Magnus laughed, and strolled over to Clary. "Hey, biscuit, what are the chances of me talking to your brother?"

Clary looked confused. "I'm not sure, Mags. I can call him and tell him to get his ass down here, but he's going to ask why."

"Tell him Alexander and I want to talk to him," Magnus shrugged. "That's the truth, in any case."

"Got it." She pulled out her phone and told Maia, her work partner, to man the register for a few minutes. She frowned when Jonathan didn't answer.

"Oh well. I'll call you when he calls back?" She tilted her head in question.

Magnus smiled, nodded, and made his way back to Alec.

Simon was sitting on the couch in the spacious living room of the cabin, watching TV while he waited for Clary to get home or for Izzy to call him, whichever came first. He knew Jace was in Clary's room, probably designing some sort of building the way he did in his free time, and Jonathan was most likely out doing odd jobs around the property. For the moment, life was as serene as it had been in the park with Isabelle last week, before the crash and before the Magnus Bane Mess had started (That's what he was calling it; Magnus was awesome, but he was disrupting the natural order of life that was Simon's simple daily routine). He wondered if Izzy had booked tickets to Magnus' concert in two weeks. He supposed he would know if he'd bothered to ask her. Oh well.

Raised voices from the back room caused him to realize he'd been wrong about where Jonathan and Jace were. Jonathan was not outside and Jace was not in Clary's room. It sounded like they were both in the library. Simon got to his feet and made his way to the library doors, not sure whether he should go in.

"It's your fault!" Jace was yelling as he aimed a kick at Jonathan's stomach.

"It was an accident!" Jonathan shouted back, punching in the direction of Jace's face. Neither man had actually hit the other yet, it seemed.

"If it had been me, it would've been on purpose," Jace spat. "It was an accident because it was Alec's car!"

"I never meant to hurt Alec!" Jonathan threw a book at Jace, who ducked. The book landed on the floor a few feet from Simon, who looked down and read the title: They Both Die at the End. He'd read the book before, when Clary had come to him crying over it. He hadn't been surprised to find that they did, in fact, both die at the end. His first thought was that it was an ominous title. His second thought was that, if Jonathan had wanted to hurt Jace with a book, he should've thrown a heavier one, like All the Locked Doors or Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, which were of similar weight.

"Of course you didn't." Jace sounded rather cocky. "And you wouldn't have if you'd known that it was Alec's car!"

Simon paused. It sounded like Jace was blaming Jonathan for what had happened to Alec, Max, and Sebastian.

"It's not my fault you have the same car," Jonathan snarled. "It's lucky Simon told me the differences, or Alec would've gotten off a lot worse."

"Leave Alec out of this. I know you set the trap for him at his apartment," Jace accused. Simon was even more bewildered than he'd been five seconds ago, which was saying something.

"You idiot," Jonathan snapped. "That wasn't for Alec. I knew he would be at Magnus' or with Max. It was for you. I tried to get rid of you, but no, you decided to stick around, so I figured another attempt to injure you would keep you away from Clary."

"Who said anything about Clary?" Jace straightened out of his fighting stance, and Jonathan mirrored him.

"She's my little sister, Jace," he sighed. "It was always about her. You're dangerous for her. I didn't want to tell you to leave because she would get mad at me."

"What makes you think she won't, when she finds out about this?"

"I guess I'll just have to stop that from happening," Jonathan said quietly. And he pulled a gun out of his pocket.

Simon was barreling forward before he could even think about what he was doing. His only thought was that Clary would never be the same if Jace was shot, and that he would never be able to live with himself if he didn't do anything. He tackled Jonathan and attempted to wrestle the weapon from his hands. Jace joined the scuffle, leaping into the fray (Simon almost facepalmed at that) in a cloud of anger. The three men grappled for a few moments before a phone ringing cut them all off.

"Dammit, it's Clary again," Jonathan muttered, disengaging from the battle and walking off to answer his phone. In the hurry, he left the gun on the floor. Simon would've laughed if Jace wasn't already picking it up.

"Take this to Luke and tell him what happened. I'll hold him off for as long as I can," he hissed, handing the weapon to Simon.

"Glad to know you'll be playing the hero," Simon sniped, making his way toward the door.

"I don't need to play," Jace shot back (Wow, Simon was on a roll with these puns today) and began to stride toward Jonathan. Simon looked at the dangerous item in his hand, checked to make sure it wouldn't fire, and bolted from the library.

That definitely took a turn I didn't expect. Love it? Hate it? Want to kill me for it? (Please don't, cause then you'll never know what happens next) Bwahaha. Fun fact about me: I cannot do evil laughs. I just sound silly. But my friend can do a really good terrifying cackle that scares me to death!

Ugh, all this talk of death has put me in a dark mood. Hopefully nothing bad happens to any of the other characters! :]

As always, thanks for reading! :)