Somewhere Out There
POV Archangel Michael
Michael shifted his wings to try and release the pressure in his shoulders, the fluttering of his feathers tickling his exposed skin. His sword was buried in the dirt at his side, blood soaking into the soil of this realm. It was the same as it ever was. The landscape before him was littered with broken bodies, shredded wings soaked in blood, and the discarded weapons of the fallen. Dust curled around the field, casting a brown haze over the land.
Gabriel stood at his side his dark leathery wings expanded, sorrow and rage fighting for dominance on his face. Michael was always struck by how dangerous his brother looked in these settings. Why anyone would ever want to cross him, he had no idea? Gabriel was lean, lithe, and deadly; the embodiment of a weapon ready to strike.
The light from the ravaged sky illuminated their horizon, where five battle hardened angels stood with weapons aloft and armor glistening. Michael didn't know their names. He almost never did, not that it mattered. Gabriel scoffed as another stepped out of formation to advance upon them, "Why do we even bother brother?" Came his whisper soft voice across the chill of the air.
"They do not understand, and it is our duty to make them." A fierce look of determination hardened Michael's features as he drew his sword from the ground. It was never a pleasure to do what they did, but it was necessary. Gabriel flicked his wrist and silvery magic engulfed his hands. Michael nodded with satisfaction, even as the adrenaline of the battle flagged in him, his brother was still in fighting form. Through their bond, he felt only strength and a singular focus.
Moments later the Angels clashed. Michael fought sword to sword on the ground while Gabriel launched himself into the skies and his magic ignited the air around them. Flapping black wings cast a shadow over them and Michael knew the amateurs surrounding him had no clue what was about to happen. After his first century, this no longer made him sad, but it was entirely asinine. Neither his power or his brother's power were for the taking. Ignorant angels believed that if they killed either one of them, they would rise in their place. And so, the two Archangels, God's left and right hand, were forever defending their rank and position. Michael defended against an aggressive attack and rolled his eyes. Gabriel's magic was building and the fools surrounding him were completely oblivious. No matter the extent of the legends surrounding the two of them, there would always be challengers.
Michael watched as silver sparks burned the angelic flesh of their opponents. A thick mist covered the ground and Michael smirked, Gabriel was no longer pulling punches. He clearly wanted this over, and Michael could hardly blame him. Once the mist had latched onto the warriors, it was easy enough for Gabriel to drop down from the sky, nearly invisible, and slip behind each one of them. A deft flick of the god blade in his hand, and 5 throats were cut in under a minute.
"Before you say it's not fair, we have been here for over 24 hours brother, and time is growing short." Gabriel said defensively.
Michael shrugged. "I had no intention of saying anything. You are good at your job, even if I don't always agree with your methods."
Gabriel raised a brow in his direction. "Are you injured?"
"No, what…"
Gabriel interrupted. "The only time you ever praise my skill is if you fear my immediate demise. That has happened less than a handful of times in our millennia."
Michael grunted and turned his back on his brother. "Very funny."
Gabriel shifted and his wings disappeared from view, quickening his pace to stand at Michael's side he asked seriously, "have you uncovered any further information about who is trying to kill you?"
"Besides these upstarts….No." He said with a brief glance at his brother beside him.
"Now you lie. To what end Michael?"
He heaved a sigh and opened a portal, but before he could step through Gabriel's form began to fade. Gabriel put his hands on his hips with a huff, "Honestly he could have waited at least another 10 minutes for me to finish interrogating you."
"Where's the fun in that? I will see you shortly." Michael placed a hand over his heart and watched his brother do the same, they bowed to one another and in the next instant Gabriel was gone. He didn't curse at his brother's disappearance, he only looked once again over the war torn horizon behind him. "I hope like hell we know what we're doing."
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Limbo
Alt!Alec POV
Jace tilted his head and his eyes went wide, "Run."
Alec didn't hesitate. He had no way of knowing if this was his parabatai or some other Jace, but there probably wouldn't ever be a time when he didn't trust that face. Reaching for Magnus' arm, Alec moved.
Jace's warning came a little too late.
A huge cloud of dark smoke erupted from the ground before them, swirling pressure like a tornado. Alec fell back a step and Magnus grabbed his arm to steady him. A higher demon emerged from the cloud, and when the dust cleared a portal opened with an endless stream of dark writhing bodies flowing through. Alec pulled the shiny new weapon from his shoulder and got to work. Arrow after arrow, unknown demon after unknown demon fell at his feet. Jace shouting warnings and advice completely unable to help. That was okay though, Magnus was at his back. And wasn't that a revelation.
The warlock moved with the grace of a dancer and the deadliness of a warrior. Every ball of magic he flung into the wave struck a deadly blow. His hands danced around him and more than once Alec had found himself distracted by the sheer beautiful drama of it all. Awe inspiring as he was, he was also incredibly intuitive because Alec never stumbled over him. When his arrows were past their usefulness and he drew his angel blade, Magnus just seemed to melt into Alec's movements. Twirling around him and covering every single one of Alec's blind spots. It was incredible. He was incredible.
Alec's sword deflected each attack, but his concentration slipped when he saw something in the distance. Was that an angel? That drop in focus nearly cost him his head. The higher demon had turned his attention to Alec. Magnus wasted no time in throwing himself in front of Alec, his body shielding Alec from whatever magical burst had come from the higher demon. Magnus had his arms stretched out, and then pulled them into his body like he was holding a basketball instead of a wad of power. The demon's magic was red, but Magnus was holding onto it without much effort. Then his yellow green eyes went flinty, "Get back Alec." he ordered. Apparently, the magic needed somewhere to go, and rather than push it back at the caster, Magnus absorbed it and promptly collapsed on the ground.
Alec was horrified, but not so much that he didn't fire an arrow into the dead center of the higher demon's skull. "Jace get us out of here." Alec shouted as he pulled an unconscious Magnus into his arms. They'd taken out enough of the demons to hopefully give them a head start, and maybe the Angel would allow them to escape. Alec could only hope.
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Alec dropped to the ground with a heaving breath. Jace had led them through some sort of forest maze, only for them to pop out beside a waterfall and a cave.
"Here is safe. I promise. The demons don't come out this far."
"Where is here?" Alec asked.
Jace's eyes went shifty and he shrugged. Alec could tell he was hiding something, but his worry over Magnus distracted him from pressuring Jace for answers. Laying the warlock down in the grass, he had felt Magnus' breaths against his throat as he ran, so he knew he was alive. But damnit, there was no telling what the hell kind of effect that demon's magic had on a warlock. He couldn't use runes, and he knew jack shit about healing. He did a quick check to make sure Magnus wasn't bleeding and then looked around. He could at least try to make him comfortable.
Magnus had other ideas though, because the minute he moved back the warlock's hand shot out and grabbed him. "Are you okay?"
Alec moved in closer and said softly, "Of course I'm okay you idiot. You're the one that got blasted with demon power, what made you think throwing yourself in front of demon magic was okay?"
Magnus' gleaming cat eyes looked up at him and Alec fell just a bit further into them. Damnit. "I'm not arguing with you about this, it's done. It's over and I'm fine." Magnus moved to sit up and Alec pressed him back down.
"Magnus. I'm serious, what the hell were you thinking?" He said warningly but the warlock rolled his eyes. Alec withered under Magnus' intense stare, his face telegraphing " I'm a centuries old warlock and I can bloody well take care of myself ". Alec wanted to argue and push and demand that Magnus not be so damn reckless, but with Jace beside him now wasn't the time. So he moved back to let Magnus breathe.
"I was thinking it would save your life, and it did, so drop it." He pushed Alec back, but gently, and rose to his feet.
In his best conciliatory tone he asked much more calmly, "What did you even do? Why did it make you pass out?"
"Alexander," Magnus said with a sigh. Then he looked over at Jace with a calculating stare. "The demon's magic wasn't entirely demonic. There was an undercurrent of angelic energy that I wasn't expecting. It took me by surprise and my body did not react well to it."
"I was distracted on the field, I thought I saw an angel but I wasn't sure. If the demon has angelic magic…..how is that even possible?"
"I was hoping Jace might be able to tell us." Magnus said with an arch of his brow.
"Do you know where you are?" Jace asked instead, clearly deflecting.
"Limbo? How is that relevant?" Alec demanded.
"It is, trust me. Do you know what Limbo actually is?"
"Clearly we do not Shadowhunter, care to enlighten us?" Magnus crossed his arms over his chest impatiently.
"Limbo is the Garden of Eden." Alec heard the words. The words made sense, but he couldn't understand what Jace was even saying.
"Like Adam and Eve?" He asked incredulously.
Jace nodded, "Yeah. Like the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, the apple, the snake, all of it happened here. When Adam and Eve left, the garden became locked in a kind of petrified state and was transformed into Limbo. Nothing here grows, but nothing here dies either. The demons and the angels have been meeting here for awhile. There's a rebellion happening, but I don't know much more than that."
Alec watched Magnus' face go through a series of confused expressions before he spoke wonderingly, "How exactly am I not dead then? Why are there demons here? If any legend we know is accurate, this place is the purview of Angels. Why are they working together with demons?"
Jace shrugged. "Not even close, this place isn't the purview of anyone. And the angels are helping the demon rebellion. I'm not sure how long I've been here, but what I've discovered from spying on them, it seems like it's been going on for centuries.."
"Doesn't answer why the demon was using angelic power." Magnus said suspiciously.
"Yeah I don't know why, but maybe if we wake up the Shadowhunters, they'll know more."
Alec ran a frustrated hand through his hair. What the hell were they doing here? What was even the point of all of this? "You said Shadowhunter's were imprisoned here, so where are they and what do we need to do to get them home?" Alec said questioning his brother and watching him closely. Was this even his parabatai? Resisting the urge to rub the empty spot where his rune used to be, he observed the other Shadowhunter. He moved the same, he looked the same, he had the a small scar on his cheek like his Jace had. Was any of that definitive proof? How could he test it?
"Yeah they're being guarded by the tree, and I think all you would have to do is break the enchantment that surrounds them, but that's probably a question for the warlock to answer."
Magnus nodded, "Can you take us there?"
"We should probably lay low for a bit, let the demons settle for the day and then I can lead you there." Alec didn't want to hear it.
"We go now. The quicker we get this over with the quicker we get out of here." Alec said with a harsh command. Magnus looked between the two of them with a considering look, coming to some conclusion that Alec couldn't even begin to guess.
Jace crossed his arms over his chest and gave Alec his best judgy stare. And something in his eyes gave Alec the answer he had been looking for, that did it. That right there sent him over the edge. This was his parabatai. Alec felt the tiny grasp he had on his control fray as the knowledge ripped him apart. Was this another punishment? Was everything that had happened to him since meeting Magnus one long punishment?
"I think I'll go make use of the waterfall boys, that fight made me tense. You two should talk." With that, Magnus turned on his heel and walked away from the brothers before Alec could say anything. Alec wanted to latch onto him like a lifeline, a part of him desperate to keep the warlock in his sights, but he also….he and Magnus weren't like that. It wasn't his right. No matter how badly he wanted, it was never going to be his. Filthy blooded Shadowhunter's didn't get happy endings. So he turned away from the water and stomped into the cave. Darkness was where he belonged.
"I can see why you like him." Jace said with a smirk drawing him out of his gloomy thoughts.
Alec backpedaled a little and looked at his parabatai horrified, "I do not."
"Please, it's all over your face. Have you slept with him yet?"
Alec felt his face go tight with a glower. "Jace shut up."
"Nah don't think I will. He's a good one." Jace smirked and chuckled at Alec's increasingly horrified expression.
"He's a warlock and I'm a Shadowhunter. And besides that he's not even interested."
"You're an idiot. An idiot that should follow him into the water." Jace waved a hand at the mouth of the cave.
"Jace…" Alec said with a long suffering sigh.
"What's the problem? It can't be the Clave because you haven't given a shit about them since you came out and they pulled that reconditioning bullshit on you. And it can't be that he's a warlock because I can see it on your face when he does magic that you think it's hot. So what? What's stopping you from going after him."
"They'll kill him." Alec turned his back on Jace and sat down. Pulling his knees up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He hadn't ever told anyone what had happened. Leaning against the cool wall of the cave, he wondered if Jace would even believe him.
"Who? Who are you so damned afraid of?"
"The Angels Jace. they made it pretty damn clear after you died that it was only by the grace of god and my years of training that I was alive."
"What the hell are you talking about?"
"After you died the Clave wanted to make an example of me. A cleverly built narrative was constructed about how my corruption was fostered by my association with the Downworld. They wanted to execute me as a traitor for failing to protect you, under the premise that I was some sort of sleeper agent."
Jace growled. "That sounds like some Clave bullshit. What happened?"
"The angels stepped in."
Jace was looking at him in confusion. "They saved you?"
Alec shook his head. "No brother, they re-educated me. Not like the Clave tried to do by beating the gay out of me, it was different."
"Alec, what the fuck did they do?"
"I don't know how long it went on, and as far as I can tell no one even knew I was gone. The Clave had me locked in a room in Alicante, and one day Aldertree came with two angels. They took me somewhere, I don't know where." Alec took a deep breath, closed his eyes and leaned back against the wall.
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Somewhere in Alicante (Demon free world)
Alec's flashback
The door opened and Alec moaned with the pain pulsing through him. Jace was gone, his rune was a pink scar on his body that would never be whole again. He would never be whole again. He didn't care who was standing over him, all he wanted was death. If they hadn't come to kill him, then what did it even matter. Aldertree had sworn he would die, that the Clave would see him executed for treason. Alec drifted in and out of consciousness, but even he knew the Clave didn't drag its feet with traitors. If they were going to execute him, it would have been done already.
Hands grabbed his arms and he blinked blearily into the darkness of the room. "Who?" But before he could get the question out, a portal appeared. On the other side of it, his stomach heaved. He hadn't reacted so strongly to a portal in years, but in his weakened state his body was heavily opposed to the mode of travel. The hands dropped him as he dry heaved on the ground. "Where?" He rasped.
They ignored him.
Alec rolled onto his back and looked up at a dark ceiling. He wasn't sure if it was the delirium or some spell, but he was in a castle chamber of some kind. Stone floors, stone walls, no windows.
Time passed, he had no way of knowing how much, when the hands were back dragging him onto some sort of stone slab.
"Lightwood, do you know why you're here?" Came a resonant voice from the shadows, but Alec felt the power in it. Ancient and heavy.
"Don't care. Kill me." He said with a whisper.
The voice chuckled and Alec felt a shiver of fear shake through him.
"I have no interest in your death, only your blood, filthy as it is."
Alec was confused, so very confused. "What?"
"You are a disease within your kind, you are an infection, and I'm going to burn the sickness out of you." Alec felt the hands on his body again, but this time they were strapping him down to the slab. He didn't fight. There was no fight left in him. Jace was dead. There was nothing inside of him anymore, no point in all of this. The Clave had been increasingly throwing him on the frontline in hopes of a demon killing him since he publicly announced he was gay. Now Jace was dead because of it. He killed his brother. They could do whatever they wanted to him, it didn't matter.
Alec felt the magic around him build, and then fire and pain. His flesh was being seared off, magic burned the stamina rune on his chest and Alec screamed. The creature above him was carving out his runes. Jerking against the straps holding him down, he screamed and screamed. Taking deep gulping breaths he grit his teeth. He just had to make it until it was over. And it would be over forever. His body would go into shock from the pain, and then he'd never have to wake up again.
The creature ran a hand over the skin he'd seared off, healing it. Then he began again. This was madness. He was ripping out the runes that covered Alec's body, burning the flesh, healing the flesh, reapplying the runes and tearing them out all over again. Alec's blood flowed in streams over the stone slab into the floor, his body in cold shock from the pain and healing.
When Alec had no more sound to give, his throat raw from his screams, lights came on around the room, softly illuminating everything and Alec turned to look at his captor. Horror and shame choked him. Above him stood a beautiful man, pale alabaster skin, crystal clear blue eyes, and beautiful golden wings stretched out behind him. Alec could barely comprehend it, had the pain made him hallucinate?
The creature, the angel smiled a cold dark smile down at him, "I am no dream abomination. I am here to cleanse you."
With those words Alec checked out. His mind collapsed on itself and he drifted away. Pain and burning fire were the only things he could feel, and he had no idea how long he was strapped to the table when it ended. Hands pulled him from the table, the lights had been dimmed, and he tried to orient himself. "You will obey the Clave, you will work for the good of your kind, and you will under no circumstances associate with the downworld any further. You will not associate with men. You will atone in penance for your life. You are now the weapon of the Clave, you serve no other purpose." The angel's words were harsh, but Alec felt nothing.
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Alec came out of the memory to see Jace's face wracked with fury. "Those monsters."
"I was in a coma for a while. And when I came out of it, Izzy said it had been three days, but I think the angels messed with people's minds. I think I was gone for a long time. I know the deflect rune was burned off at least seven times."
"Alec, there is nothing wrong with you. You're the best of us, and if they can't see that, then fuck them." Jace said with impassioned wrath.
"You don't understand Jace. They're powerful. More powerful than anything I've ever felt. I can't be around Magnus. The longer I'm around him, the more danger he's in. Yes they need to be stopped, but I have to do it on my own. I can't bring someone else down with me. Not again." Alec was so tired. He was just so so so tired.
"That's bullshit Alec. You were not responsible for what happened to me, and you can't do this alone."
Alec rolled his head to the side and looked out of the cave into the sunlight, "I know, but I can't risk him. It's, I barely came back from what happened to you Jace, if something happens to him...I won't be able to…" Alec took a deep breath to stave off the panic at the thought of Magnus dying. Then he remembered the final thing, the thing he wasn't sharing with anyone, the thing that had allowed him to get out of the bed and keep living.
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The hands that gripped him, drug him back to a room where they threw him on a bed. He fell into his mind, and hoped he wouldn't find his way back out.
After darkness consumed him and surrounded him, a gentle hand rested upon his shoulder and he opened his eyes. A man stood over him, his eyes held an ocean of pain, dark hair fell into his eyes and large leathery black wings stretched out behind him. He touched Alec's cheek and whispered, "I will see you avenged."
When Alec closed his eyes, peace had wrapped around him like a comforting blanket, and he'd opened his eyes in his dreams to see the eyes that would offer him salvation.
Blinking the memory away, he felt his determination rise. He would be damned if he would allow anything to destroy Magnus.
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Jace had given him some time to collect himself, but insisted that he go retrieve Magnus, saying he'd been gone far too long and they needed to get going if they were going to save the Shadowhunters. Alec grumbled but finally relented. The little waterfall wasn't extravagant, but it was large enough to get in a good wash and as Alec got closer he sucked in a breath.
Magnus was….he almost didn't have words.
He was waist deep in the pool, his head tilted back letting the water fall over him. Steam rose up from the falling water, so he could only assume that Magnus had heated it with magic. The man was a god. Beautiful dark skin glistening with the water beaded on his skin, the curve of his muscled arms, the taper of his waist into the water made Alec sweat with how badly he wanted to see more. To see everything. To have Magnus. To have his dream. He wanted nothing more than to wade out and join him. It was a problem. One he needed to get under control. Control was the only thing that would keep them all safe.
After Magnus let out a groan, and Alec felt his body go taut with the sound, it was an exercise in restraint to keep himself from getting hard. Alec snapped himself out of his daze and cleared his throat. "We should get going?" His raspy voice echoing in the quiet glade.
Magnus didn't turn around in shock, which told him that the warlock knew he was there. Had known he was there the whole time. He just turned so his back was to Alec, and looked over his shoulder with a smile. "I'll be out in a moment darling." The shift and play of his muscles made Alec twitch so he turned away before he did something he would regret.
It took everything in him not to turn around and watch. He could hear Magnus getting out of the water, and he felt the pull in the air as his magic sparked. "I'm decent."
Only when Alec faced him again, he could barely be called decent. Bare chest with water droplets made Alec's mouth water as they slid down his beautiful skin. Magnus had put on dark purple harem pants with knee high black boots, and in his hands he held a tank top that he'd not put on yet. Alec cleared his throat as Magnus approached him, keeping his eyes locked on his face.
Magnus stood beside him and raised a hand to place it on the tattoo just under Alec's shirt on his collar bone. "You never asked me how I knew you had a tattoo."
Alec didn't jerk away from the warlock, but it was close as he anxiously looked at him, "how….how did you know? I thought you recognized Ragnor's magic and you just…" Alec said stuttering as he looked down cursing his own weakness. He hadn't stuttered in years. Between the angels and the Clave, every ounce of weakness had been ripped out of him. Magnus made him feel shaky and unsure of himself.
Magnus put his finger under Alec's chin and lifted his face until they were looking into each other's eyes, and Alec was amazed to see nothing but gentle acceptance. "No angel, it wasn't Ragnor's magic that I felt, it was mine. He's one of the few warlocks I know that can create the kind of bond that you have." Alec latched onto the word bond.
"Bond? What does that mean?"
Magnus smiled softly, "It's not invasive in the way a bond sounds, perhaps that is the wrong word entirely. Ragnor took a piece of my magic and he gave it to you for protection. It baffled me when I finally figured out what he'd done. For a warlock beneficiary to give a Shadowhunter a piece of another warlock's power, he must have been motivated by something truly moving." Alec gaped. He wanted to pull away, but Magnus had him under his thrall. "But for the life of me, I can't picture what it could have been if you had never even met me." Magnus' fingers left his chin and he raised his palm to Alec's face to cup his cheek. His voice had gotten softer as he continued to question Alec with his eyes. It was like Magnus sensed the turmoil in Alec and wanted to soothe him. Alec desperately wanted to let him, but that way lay danger.
"I don't know…" Alec stuttered again.
Magnus' eyes went flinty, "Shhh." He moved a finger to Alec's lips, quieting him then shifting closer into Alec's space, he brought their chests flush and heat rolled through Alec in a wave. "Ragnor would have never parted with a piece of me, unless he knew something. What was it, Alexander?"
Alec could barely stand the pressure of the tension between them, a weight had settled in his chest that absolutely terrified him. He'd never felt this way about a person. Magnus' eyes held him captive and he blurted out what he promised himself he wouldn't, "a dream, he gave me my dream." Alec couldn't stop himself, desperate to feel, he put his hands on Magnus' waist and gripped him tightly. Desperately. He could feel the dampness of Magnus' skin, and a shiver rocked through him.
Magnus lifted up on his toes and just before he pressed their lips together he paused, asking for permission, and it was a permission Alec couldn't give him. He felt his breath catch with the pain of it, then he jerked back and put his hands up. "Magnus I can't…"
Magnus frowned, a sadness building in his eyes. "Of course darling, my apologies."
"It's not that I don't want...I just can't." Alec said furious with himself, and wishing for the first time in his life he'd been born as something other than a Shadowhunter.
Magnus backed away another step, the sadness making his eyes darker, and pulled the black tank top over his head. He snapped his fingers and a dark purple jacket appeared in his hand. He shrugged into it, and walked up the small incline toward the cave where Jace waited for them. "Say no more Shadowhunter. I understand. Please let us go save your brethren." Magnus' words were sure and firm, and Alec was beyond grateful that he didn't just portal away and abandon him. He would have deserved it.