EDITED 5/30/2020
"Do you have to look so miserable?" Catarina asked Alec.
They were standing close together in the far corner of Lorenzo Rey's large mansion as the party raged on around them. Lorenzo and the other Warlocks had decided to throw Alec and Magnus an engagement party and the couple hadn't seen each other since the night before when Alec had walked away from Magnus.
"I don't know what you mean, Cat." Alec said nonchalantly, sipping his drink and looking around the room. He had yet to see Magnus and Madzie.
"This is your engagement party, Alec. Not your funeral."
"I'm well aware." He told her, shooting her a dark look. "I've just got a lot on my mind."
Catarina raised an eyebrow. "I'm well aware." She repeated him. "Magnus called me, terrified, last night. Thought you were going to call off the engagement."
"I'm angry, not stupid." Alec told her, finishing his drink. "Did he tell you I asked him to make me immortal? Did he tell you that he turned me down, and then when the job offer came up and all of that happened, he had the nerve to tell me that he wanted me to make my own choices and for him to not influence my decisions? When he had just made one of the most important decisions I could ever make, for me?"
"He did tell me about that." Catarina nodded, looking concerned. "I think Magnus is just afraid that you will grow to resent him over time."
"I'm his soulmate, he's my soulmate." Alec replied heatedly, not angry with Catarina, but with the situation. "How could he think so lowly of me?"
"He doesn't think badly of you, Alec. He's insecure. No one has ever stayed with him before, either by choice or due to death. He's insecure and afraid."
Alec dropped his head so that his chin touched his chest as he heaved a sigh. "I guess I just wish that he trusted me enough to forget about that. But I understand. I wish things didn't happen the way that they did. I hate fighting with him."
"I hate it too, my darling." Magnus said from behind him.
Alec spun around and came face to face with his fiancé and daughter. Magnus was dressed impeccably as usual, a burgundy button down, a black blazer and tight black slacks. He was holding Madzie on his hip, she was wearing a matching burgundy dress with a black leather jacket over it.
"Daddy!" Madzie squealed gleefully as she wiggled until Magnus released her. She ran to Alec who stooped down and wrapped her in his arms, picking her up.
"Hey, Princess." Alec said as he clutched his daughter to his chest, her arms wrapped tightly around his neck.
"Daddy, we missed you." Madzie whispered to him earnestly. "After Papa tucked me in and read me the story he went to your room and cried, and Auntie Clary couldn't make him stop!"
Her voice had gradually raised and when Alec looked to Magnus, the man was staring determinedly at the ground, his jaw clenched.
"I missed you guys, too, baby girl. I'm sorry that I didn't come home last night, but I'll be home with you tonight, okay?" Magnus raised his head to look Alec in the eyes. Alec could see the fear, the hurt, and the desperation in them. Looking Magnus dead in the eyes, he continued. "I promise. I love you guys so, so much. Daddy's so sorry."
"It's okay, Daddy." Madzie said cheerfully, pulling away to look Alec in the eyes. "We love you too." She gave Alec a kiss before wriggling to be let down and run over to her Auntie Cat.
Alec watched his daughter and friend for a moment before turning back to the man he loved. He strode forward until he stood right in front of him, staring into the devastated eyes of his fiancée.
"Baby," Alec whispered sadly, wrapping an arm around Magnus' waist and pulling him into his chest. Magnus went into Alec's embrace all too willingly, burying his face in his broad chest and clutching his shoulders, nails digging into him. "I told you I was going to come back, Mags. I'm always going to come back to you. I was just upset, that doesn't mean I'm going to leave you. You're my soulmate, my fiancé, the father of my child. I love you, I love our daughter, and I love our life together. While I have my issues with some of your decisions, I'm not going to leave you over them."
"Watching you walk away from me last night, was devastating." Magnus pulled away from Alec's chest reluctantly. "And I know that it wasn't intended to be forever, but in that moment, your back to me, walking out of the bar, it felt like I had lost you."
"You're never going to lose me, Magnus." Alec said, lifting a hand to tilt Magnus' lips up to meet his own.
Their lips moved together gently, tears slowly made their way down Magnus' face as Alec caressed the side of his face lovingly.
—
Alec pulled his grey shirt on and threw his towel over his shoulder, and glanced out into the bedroom where Magnus was sitting in the armchair looking as dejected as he was the night before. Alec had known that it would take time for them to make things completely right between them but he hadn't expected Magnus to look so utterly devastated still. He padded out into the bedroom and approached his fiancé, twirling his engagement ring around his finger nervously.
"Hey, Magnus." He called gently. "You okay?"
"Totally fine." Magnus said, sitting up and putting a smile on his face as he gazed up at Alec.
"Really? Cause you look upset." Alec said a little disbelievingly, suddenly wishing he'd put some pants on before coming out to have this serious conversation.
"Alexander," Magnus chuckles softly, clearly deflecting. "Truly, I'm okay."
"Y'know you don't have to pretend with me. You don't have to fake what you feel."
Alec looked at Magnus intently, watching as the emotions warred in his eyes. It was clear that he wanted to say something but was afraid of the outcome.
"You're upset with me." Magnus told him.
"I guess." Alec shrugged. "You don't want me to be immortal, you always said you'd love me forever, but then I'm asking you to give us forever and you don't want that. I guess I just don't understand. Or maybe I do. Maybe those are just words, you saying what we have will last forever. Maybe that's something that you tell everyone."
"I've only ever said that to you." Magnus retorted. "They aren't just words. They're the truth! I've never loved anyone the way that I have loved you. You are my soulmate, the love of my life."
"I'm not sure that I believe that anymore." Alec admitted in a whisper.
Magnus glared daggers at Alec. "Then I'll prove it to you." He hissed before standing and stalking out of the room.
Alec followed behind him hesitantly. Magnus led them past Clary and Madzie's bedrooms and into a small room with a lot of shelves. Magnus plucked a small wooden box off a shelf, letting the papers that were stacked on top of it flutter to the floor without a second thought. Magnus turned and handed the box to Alec, crossing his arms and staring at him without a word.
"What is this?" Alec asked, waving the box in a gesture.
"The third most important thing to me in the world. The second being Madzie, the first being you." Magnus' voice was monotone, his expression blank.
Alec raised his eyebrows and set the box on the small side table against the wall and flicked the lock open, and opened the box.
"Is that...?" Alec gasped.
"You." Magnus said. "That box contains mementos of all the lives we have lived together."
Alec stares in shock down at the black and white picture of the soldier, the soldier that was clearly him. He couldn't quite explain what he was feeling in that moment, he felt like he was floating, but not the good kind of floating. He felt like his world had been flipped on its head.
"Tell me." Alec choked out.
"Tell you what, darling?" Magnus' voice had softened like melted butter.
"Everything."
"First off I want you to know that I haven't had 17,000 relationships. That's an inside joke the two of us have."
"That I don't remember." Alec said sourly as he stared down into the box.
"Yes." Magnus said hesitantly. "The first time I was with you was the second relationship I ever had. It was 1650 and your name was Anne, you were the Queen of Russia. You had been forced into an arranged marriage with a King named Henry while we were together. We were together for eight years before your husband found out and poisoned you. The next time we met was in 1703, your name was Thomas. You owned a shop in a small village near your parents and your younger twin sisters. Your personality then is much like it is now. You were so fiercely protective of those little girls." Magnus smiled fondly. "You were attacked by a werewolf when you were with them, you were turned. You ended up closing down the shop and running to the forest, you lived in a cave when Catarina, Ragnor and I found you. We had eleven years together that time, a werewolf ended up losing control and killing you."
"Was I always murdered?" Alec asked.
"No," Magnus shook his head. "In 1750 I met you again. Adam Davis, another werewolf. We met at the town market. You were shy, blushed every time I flirted with you, absolutely adorable. You preferred to hangout with the animals on the farm you lived on. So I'd always sit with you and the dog or the chickens. We were only together for four years before you got sick and died."
Alec fingered a scrap of fabric in the box as he listened to Magnus compose himself. Magnus sniffed pitifully and Alec blinked back tears.
"It was nearly a hundred years before I saw you again. In 1825 I met Prince Isaac. He was the youngest Prince of Denmark and we met at a ball. We dated in secret for a grand total of 13 years before he was killed in battle. We'd been together for 3 years before he was forced to marry Princess Elizabeth. In 1890 I saw you again, in Puno. Imasu Morales. I wanted to spend more time with you so I asked you to teach me to play the chars go. That was probably the worst relationship we had. I couldn't open up to you, you never found out what we were to each other and eventually you left me, saying that you found me to be ephemeral."
"I don't even know what that means." Alec said quietly.
"It's a word that is used to describe something that doesn't last for very long." Magnus explained kindly.
Alec nodded and picked up a necklace, one the end of it was a beautiful green gem. He examined it carefully as Magnus continued talking.
"In 1915 I met George. You were an orphan, working a bad job in a factory where the workers weren't treated well. We fell in love quickly. But only four months after we met, you were drafted for the army. At that point I was so tired of losing you, I begged you to run away with me. But you wouldn't. You were a soldier, you had a strong sense of duty and good moral compass. The day before you were deployed you changed your mind. You came to me and asked me to run with you. But I thought you would regret it and resent me for agreeing, so I declined. You became upset and left. The next morning I saw you off and that was the last time I ever saw you. You died two months later. And I felt so guilty. I should have run with you."
"Magnus..."
"1938. Etta, we met in a club and I asked you to dance with me. According to you, by the end of the song you had fallen in love with me. We were very serious, and I told you everything, you had been a mundane. But by 1945 you realized that you wanted children and you began mentioning my immortality. I knew it was only a matter of time before you left me. So I asked you, as my last hope, if you would become immortal and stay with me. You said no. You said that while you wanted more time with me, you would never be willing to stop time to get it. Soon after that you left me and died 8 months later when you were mugged for your purse."
"Magnus, just because I didn't want immortality then, that doesn't mean that I don't want it now. I'm a different person than I was then."
"Perhaps." Magnus said noncommittally. "The last life you had was in 1965. You were a young, homeless Warlock in London. I remember how kind you were. You were so kind. We met at Wesley's party and we hit it off, I told you everything, so excited that finally, finally you were immortal and we would have forever together. But we only got 12 years before you were killed in a freak accident after you summoned a demon. And then there was Alec. The gorgeous Shadowhunter that saved my life. The first person I've ever had a child with, and my first ever fiancé."
"All those lives and we've never been married? We've never had kids?" Alec asked in disbelief as he pulled a chair around to sit down and hold the box in his lap.
"Never." Magnus said. "Alec I've never lied to you. I've never not told you the truth. You are the love of my life, I have never loved anyone the way that I love you. I didn't love Elizabeth, Count Axel, Camille or Kitty. Not the way that I love you. I will never love anyone the way that I love you, Alexander. My soulmate, the father of my child, my fiancé. You are everything to me, my love."
"Is this why you don't want me to become immortal? Because you know I'll come back to you anyways? If that's the case, please, I'm begging you; think of our daughter. You may be able to fall in love with a whole other me that doesn't remember you, but think about how badly that will kill her. Her daddy dying and then coming back and not recognizing her for Raziel knows how long. If I haven't resented you for the reincarnation or whatever this is, I won't resent you for getting to keep you and our daughter, keeping my memories of you and her and my family."
"Give me a couple days." Magnus sighs. "I'm going to talk to Cat, Wes and Tessa and weigh our options."
"Options?" Alec asked hesitantly.
"The best way to make you immortal." Magnus gave Alec a small smile.
"Really?" Alec looked up at the man hopefully. "You mean that?"
Magnus rounded the table and sat sideways in Alec's lap. "I mean that. I promise you. I'm not losing you again, darling. Never again." He cupped Alec's face in his hands and pressed his lips against Alec's.
Alec melted into the kiss and the tears he didn't realize that he was holding back started rolling down his cheeks. He couldn't hold back the soft sob that left his lips and Magnus pulled back, rubbing his thumb across Alec's cheek.
"Alec?"
"Thank you. Oh my god, thank you. Thank you." Alec cried into Magnus' neck as he wrapped his arms around him.
Magnus held him back, gently. He ran his fingers through Alec's hair and let the man cry on him. It took a few minutes for Alec to calm himself down and he just closed his eyes and breathed Magnus in. He felt like a heavy weight had lifted from his chest and shoulders.
"Alexander." Magnus whispered softly. "I am so so sorry that I denied you this before. I had no idea... I didn't know. I'm sorry."
"It's okay now." Alec murmured. He pulled away from the warlock's neck and looked back down at the little wooden box. "Will I ever remember?" He asked. "All those lives; will I remember them? Remember you, Cat, Ragnor, Wesley?"
"Yes. Now that you're aware of what's happening you should start getting your memories back." Magnus seemed to think for a moment before he started talking again. "And once you do, I think that you should go talk to Raphael."
"Raphael?" Alec furrowed his brow. "Why? Does this have to do with what Wesley was telling me yesterday? That he calls me dad because he respects our relationship or whatever?"
"He doesn't call you Dad because he respects our relationship, Alexander. He calls you Dad because you were a father to him. When you were James, you and I, we took him in. We didn't adopt him, but he was like a son to us. He loved you so much, Alexander. It killed us both when you died. I had to stop him from telling you everything when you proposed to Lydia. All he wanted was for you to come back to us. All I wanted was for you to come back to us."
"And I will, Magnus. Alec is here; James, Etta, George, Imasu, Isaac, Adam, Thomas and Anne will follow. I promise. I'm here, I know now. I'm here. And I'll be here forever. I'm not going anywhere."
"Isincerely hope not." Magnus pressed a kiss to his forehead and Alec's eyesfluttered closed, thanking the Angel that everything was okay again.
The bombshell has been dropped, guys. So Alec is a reincarnation, thoughts? As always please vote and comment!
If you vote:
5 votes: cute Malec/Madzie domestic scene
10 votes: one of the couples gets a pet
15 votes: Clary and Wesley catch up
20 votes: flashback scene to one of Alec's past lives
25 votes: Clary or Madzie get hurt and Malec gets protective
If you have other ideas, let me know. I'll be doing a lot more writing now that I'm laid off due to the Coronavirus. I'll add the new ideas to the next chapter. Maybe we will also do a comment challenge. I love feedback!
Love you all! ❤️Katie