Chapter 4 - Old habits die hard
As soon as they returned to the institute, Alec went straight to his office. He was glad they saved Clary, but he needed some time for himself, before they got word on where Jonathan was and left to catch him. They had all went their separate ways, most of them to gear up. But Alec thought that could wait.
Luckily, he had managed to keep himself composed, focused on the task they had in hand. There was so much going on, he had even forgotten about his own mess for a moment there. He had so many years of shutting off his emotions, that even after allowing himself to express them and open up with Magnus the past few months, he had not managed to completely rid himself of the ability to lock everything up, and shove it deep inside, as if it were never there.
But he did not like it, he even hated going back to a version of himself that was so cold, and disconnected. Now that he was back at the safety of his home, he found himself flooded once again. Alec no longer wanted to be that terrified person that always felt the need to hide behind a mask, even if the cost was tremendously painful, on the verge of unbearable.
When he got to his office he found his mother pacing frantically, she sighed with relief when she saw him walk in. "Oh thank god, Alec," she breathed, rushing to his side, "We need to talk, it's about Magnus."
Although he did not enjoy the return of cold and distant Alec, he could not allow himself to completely come undone just yet. He still needed to stay put together, at least until they found and captured Jonathan, and talking again about Magnus, was definitely not a good idea, in fact, it was probably even a terrible idea.
"Look, I don't have time for this, I already told you everything you need to know." Alec said, trying to brush off his mother. "Please just let it go."
"No Alec, you don't understand," she protested, "I went to see him "
"You did what?" Alec said, sounding upset, "why in the world would you do that?" he loved his mother dearly, and he never thought he would miss the old version of her, but at that moment, he couldn't help but want to go back to the time where she completely disregarded the existence of his personal life.
"Because I knew something was up, I needed to understand." Maryse explained, "And you were never going to tell me." there was a good reason why he didn't tell her, and the fact that he didn't, should have been a very big fat clue for her, that he did not want her to go to his ex-boyfriend.
And yet, Alec looked at her and something seemed to soften inside of him, despite it all, he couldn't stop himself, "how is he?" He asked, his voice sad and concerned. Maryse gave him a soft sad smile and walked over to him, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, and shook her head slightly. He knew without her needing to say, he's not ok. "Did he get his magic back?"
"Yes, he did."
"Good, that's good. At least that." Alec sighed, "I should get back to work." that was all he needed and wanted to know, anything more would not be helpful, it would just be even more of a distraction.
"Alec, there's something you need to know." Maryse said as he began to walk to his desk. God, when had she become such a… mother?
"Not right now, I can't deal with this." He mumbled as he continued to walked off, but his mother's next words stopped him dead in his tracks.
"Asmodeus is with him!" she called after him, Alec spun around to look at his mother, she continued, "I feel like there's something very wrong happening with them." Alec took a step forward, contemplating with himself whether he should tell her about the deal he made.
"He wasn't supposed to stay…" he muttered under his breath, before he could stop himself. "He was supposed to give him his magic back and leave. I don't want him to corrupt Magnus." Alec walked back towards his mother.
"I have a feeling it might be too late for that." Maryse said, Alec raised his eyebrows and gave her a questioning look, "he seemed very cold and angry, Magnus, he didn't seem like himself." She explained.
"Yes, because I pretty much abandoned him at his worst, of course he's angry." Alec said loudly, taking his anger out on his mother. He didn't mean to take it out on her, he shouldn't have… but she was there, and she had chosen to get involved.
"No, this was much more than that." Maryse insisted, "I don't know, I think you need to go talk to him."
"He probably wants nothing to do with me," Alec said, "and I can't blame him for that."
"But you can't just leave him like that under his father's influence, for all we know he has been brainwashing him." Maryse insisted, looking very worried, it made Alec worry even more about his ex-boyfriend.
He had trusted Asmodeus to keep his end of the bargain, he didn't really think anything could go wrong. He never imagined he would actually stay. Maybe his mother was right, maybe he should check up on him? "I don't know Mom, if I go and Asmodeus is there, he might get upset if he sees me, he could take Magnus' magic away again." Alec rubbed at his temples, his brain hurting from not know what to do.
Maryse looked at him worriedly, "Alec, what exactly have you done?" she asked, dreading to hear the answer, but needing to know. He sighed and fell onto one of the armchairs, his mother sat on the second one.
"I made a deal with Asmodeus," he finally told her, "He said that he would restore Magnus' magic only if I broke up with him, and that Magnus could never find out."
"Oh no, Alec." his mother's eyes grew wide and if possible - even more worried, as she placed a hand on her forehead.
"Magnus is strong, I'm sure he won't let his father corrupt him." Alec wasn't sure if it was his mother he was trying to convince or himself, but it's what he needed to believe. "He hasn't let him before, despite all his efforts to."
"Alec, you don't understand… Asmodeus, he wants to hurt you." She was having a hard time keeping herself calm, she didn't want to cause Alec to stress even more, but she needed to make him understand and fully comprehend the gravity of it all. "He said he was going to make you pay for the pain you caused Magnus."
But Alec seemed unphased, he had so much trust in Magnus, that even Asmodeus' threats couldn't scare him, "I trust Magnus." He told her with every ounce of confidence he could muster, "He would never allow his father to harm me, even if I did cause him pain."
Maryse was about to reply, when there was a knock on the door and Izzy walked in. she smiled at her mother, "Hey Mom," she said walking up to her, as both Maryse and Alec stood. Izzy walked in to her mother's arms and hugged her.
"Hello my sweet girl." Maryse said, kissing her daughter's forehead.
When they let go Izzy turned to Alec, "No sign of Jonathan yet," she said, "but the monitors are scanning for him, and we also sent shadowhunters out to streets looking for him."
"Good job Izz, thanks." Alec put a hand on his sisters shoulder and smiled at her.
"I think you should go rest a bit." Izzy told him.
"No, I can't rest while everyone is out risking their lives." Alec protested, "I need to be out there with the rest." Izzy sighed, knowing very well that she could not argue with her big brother, especially considering that she would feel and do the same.
"Fine, I understand." she told him, obviously there was no point in arguing with him, it was a battle that she was clearly going to lose.
Alec smiled at her faintly and sighed, then looked at her with concern. "Besides, you should probably be the one resting." he said.
He was so caught up with everything happening with Magnus, that he almost forgot about her, she was hurt pretty bad when Glorious exploded. "I'm fine." She assured him.
"Are you sure? Maybe we should get the silent brothers to take a look at-"
"No, Alec, I'm fine." Izzy cut him off, "I got all the shards of the sword out, and the cuts are healing fine."
Alec was about to respond, but Maryse, who up to that point let the two talk without interfering, cut in before he could say anything, "By the Angel, Izzy! That sounds extremely dangerous!" she said with concern.
"We're shadowhunters, when are we not in danger?" Izzy said as if it were the most normal and trivial thing in the world, as if they were being crazy. Then she continued before either of them could argue any further, "Mom, Alec, I promise you I'm fine, so stop worrying."
"OK, fine. but please don't over do it." Alec said reluctantly, knowing, as Izzy knew with him, that there was no point in trying to stop her.
"I would never." she smiled innocently, and he raised an eyebrow at her, with a doubtful look - they were born and bred out of the same blood, after all.
"You want to come with me to patrol?" he asked. "That way I can watch your back."
"Yes, but first I need to talk with mom." she said, after noticing the look Maryse was giving her. "Go, I will join you." Alec gave his mom one last hug before grabbing his jacket and walking out of the office "I'll be at the ops center." her called over his shoulder.
When he left and the door was closed shut after him, Maryse waited a moment to make sure he wasn't coming back and then turned to her daughter with a concerned look. "How much do you know about what happened with Alec and Magnus?" she asked her.
"Pretty much everything, why?" Izzy replied, concerned from the look in her mother's eyes, and from the tone in her voice. Maryse sighed and brushed her fingers through her hair.
"I went over to Magnus' apartment today, he was there with Asmodeus." she told Izzy, who's eyes widened upon hearing this information.
"When did he get his apartment back?" Izzy asked, and when her mother gave her a sharp look she added, "sorry, what the hell is Asmodeus still doing with him? Alec said he would just restore his magic."
"That's what he thought as well, but he stayed nonetheless." Maryse said, "and I'm really worried, Magnus didn't seem like himself, he was angry and hurt and I'm afraid that with him so vulnerable right now, Asmodeus would be able to influence him."
"Does Alec know? He should go talk to Magnus before something bad happens." Izzy said.
"I told him, but he's afraid that if he goes, and Asmodeus sees him, it won't end well." Maryse explained, "I thought maybe you could convince him to go, or if maybe you could go, maybe Magnus would be willing to talk to you…"
Izzy took a moment to think about it, then replied, "I'll go talk to Alec, see what I can do." she grabbed her jacket, gave her mom a hug and left.
"You were looking for me?"
"Yes, I heard you were in New York, and I think we should join forces. "
"You do, do you? Want makes you think I would ever join forces with you"
"We both have the same interest."
Cat eyes met green eyes, in a half sceptic, half amused look. How could a greater demon, a powerful prince of hell, allow himself to be told what he desires, by a newly reborn brat demon, especially one that came straight from his arch enemy. He probably should have just flicked his fingers, and banished him then and there back to his mother. But he couldn't deny it - he was… intrigued.
"Is that so?" Asmodeus raised his eyebrow and stepped forward, his voice calm, his expression remaining neutral, almost bored "and what might that interest be?"
"We both want Lilith dead." Jonathan said with a twisted smile, he also stepped forward, coming closer to Asmodeus, who seemed surprised by that information.
"And how do you plan on doing so?" the greater demon asked.
"I am planning to go to Idris, open up a rift to Edom, let all hell break loose and destroy those god forsaken Nephilim." Jonathan explained, "I need you to go to Edom and kill her while she is still weak, so I can continue to destroy the Shadowhunter's, one institute at a time."
"Well, it just so happens that I have reinforcement." Asmodeus said and Jonathan raised his eyebrow, "My son, he will help me."
"Isn't your son a shadowhunter lover?" Jonathan asked with disgust.
"He was, until I made that stupid Nephilim break his heart." Asmodeus said ,amused. "Oh, and I may have planted some fake memories in my sons head, to make him even more angry." Jonathan gave a slight, bone chilling laugh at that.
"You greater demons are quite cruel." He said, "but definitely a genius."
"Yes, and now he has more incentive to join me and avenge his honor." Asmodeus said, smiling. "He was a fool to let that shadowhunter weaken him, turn him into his pet, but lucky for him I am here now to save him, and when I take him to Edom, he will just get stronger."
"Well, when I open the rift with the sword you can take him there, and after enough damage is done, you can close it and lock him there forever. Just make sure my mother doesn't escape while it's open." Jonathan said, showing off his new sword, "and bonus points if you kill some shadowhunters on the way."