Chapter 6 - The space between us

"My dear boy!" Asmodeus called out to Magnus, as he walked into his apartment, his voice a little too cheerful, it was actually quite creepy how cheerful he was.

Magnus stood staring down at a Lizard in a glass cage, that seemed to appear out of nowhere. He was contemplating whether or not to ask his father how and when he had acquired a reptile, but did not want to engage with him in any unnecessary conversations.

"Father." he muttered bitterly, not even bothering to look up at him. Magnus was disappointed he had come back, even though he knew very well that he would. There must be a way to get rid of his father, and he was going to find it.

"Come on now dear boy, cheer up, we are going out on a mission together." this was not something he could get used to, even if he wanted to (which he most definitely did not), Asmodeus hanging around, trying to cheer him up, planing "father and son" missions, it felt twisted and wrong on oh so many levels.

"A mission? What mission?" Magnus asked, pouring himself a drink. He tried to sound bored and uninterested, so his father wouldn't take his curiosity as him agreeing to anything, especially not to going on a mission with him, which Magnus knew, there was no possible way it could ever end well.

"We are going to Alicate, Jonathan Morgenstern is there, we will be joining him in destroying the city and all the shadowhunters in it." his Father explained, way too excited.

In all of his 400 years, Magnuns had never been fond of the shadowhunters. In fact, Alec had been the first one he had actually let into his heart, the only one he truly befriended, and that had proven to be the biggest and worst mistake of his long life. But despite his hatred and his need for venges, Magnus felt sick to his stomach at his father's words.

Magnus Bane was many things, and a murdurer was definitely not one of them, especially when it came to the murder of innocent people, even those that came from a long line of prejeduce hate and discrimination, passed on for generations.

Magnus stared at him expressionless and sank into an armchair, "Can't it wait until tomorrow? I'm tired." he said, still trying to avoid his father's gaze.

"Magnus, you are a royal, and it is about time you start acting like one," Asmodeus insisted, "Royals do not bury themselves in sorrow or self pity, nor do they sit back and allow others to make fools out of them."

Magnus finally looked up and met his father's gaze, he stared at him for a moment, considering his options. He knew very well that his father would try and drag him to Edom with him, but despite how alone and betrayed he felt, there was no chance he would ever go with him willingly, nor did he plan on killing innocent shadowhunters.

But as gave it more thought, he started to think that perhaps he could find a way to get the revenge he wanted, without falling into his father's trap. He knew that Alec would probably be there, and that it would be a good chance to make him suffer, just as the shadowhunter had done to him. Like a pathetic fool, he had missed his chance in the alley, he would not allow himself to miss a chance like that again.

So Magnus put down his glass and stood up, "Fine, and how do you plan on getting there?" he asked, still making sure to not sound enthusiastic about it in any way.

"You are going to portal us there." his father said, he seemed pleased that his son was playing along with him.

"Portal? We can't portal into Idris, it won't work."

"Oh, yes it will." Asmodeus insisted, "Jonathan took care of that." Magnus looked at him suspiciously, but opened up a portal nonetheless, and they both stepped through it.

As soon as they exited the portal on the other side, in Idris, Magnus scanned his surroundings in horror. The whole city was in complete chaos, people frantically running to find safe ground, trying desperately to escape the demons shooting fireballs in every direction, destroying anything and everything they could.

The cannons were firing, trying in vain to kill off the demons, and only the bravest of shadowhunters pulled out their weapons and tried to fight them off. But the demons were strong and hard to get rid of, and even those few that were successfully killed, were quickly replaced by more demons, that just kept flying out from the huge rift in the sky. It was hopeless, Magnus was sure of it.

"Come along my boy, no time to waste." he heard his father's voice, pulling him out if his state of shock. Magnus walked alongside his father, it seemed that the demons sensed them, as if they knew who they were, and did not harm them.

Asmodeus was walking calmly, as panic stricken shadowhunters ran and stumbled in the opposite direction. Magnus wasn't sure what his father's plan was, but he knew what he wanted to do. He needed to find Alec, prove that he wasn't a coward.

Finally, he found him on the steps of the entrance to the main Clave quarters. He ran in Alec's direction without a second glance at his father, losing him in the frantic crowd. Alec and Isabell stood with their weapons ready to attack, as a group of flying demons gained in on them.

They had no chance against them, there were too many demons. Magnus came up behind them, he felt a sudden surge of fear rushing through him, and instinctively attacked the demons and killed them.

Shit. that was definitely not part of his plan.

Alec spun around quickly, and immediately his breath caught in his chest. Standing behind him, with his arm still outstretched, was the last person he expected to see. "Magnus…" he whispered, taking a step towards him. But Magnus, breaking out of the state of shock he seemed to be in, took a quick step back, a look of terror in his eyes. "Don't." he said in an angry sharp tone, it hit Alec like a sharp blade. "Don't you dare come near me."

Izzy looked over at Alec, she seemed just as confused as he was. "We have to get out of here." Izzy shouted over the sounds of more attacks and screams of panicked people. As they both ran up the steps towards the entrance to the building, Alec grabbed Magnus' arm and pulled him in with them, despite his resistance.

As they entered and settled into a large room, Magnus pulled his arm back forcefully, "Let go of me, shadowhunter." He shouted, both Izzy and Alec taken aback. His mom was right, Magnus was acting strange, he definitely wasn't himself.

The warlock took a few steps back, creating even more distance between himself and the shadowhunter. For a moment they all stood frozen, as if there wasn't a war going on outside.

The few feet separating the two ex-lovers, charged with an endless amount of emotions, due to explode at any minute. Either of them could have closed the gap with just a few steps, but it was apparent that it wasn't the only thing separating them.

Alec had just begun to realize how much damage had been done, it did not matter how close they were in proximity, because there was a rift between them, bigger than the one in the sky. A rift that was rooted so deep, as if they were not standing in the very same room.

"Magnus, why…?" Alec began to ask, but wasn't sure how to phrase his question. He wanted desperately for Magnus to look at him, so he could see for himself the regret and love in the way he looked at him, but his warlock did not lift his eyes.

"You really have to ask?" Magnus spat, avoiding any eye-contact. "after what you've done to me?"

Was this all really because of the breakup? Alec knew it would hurt him, but he never imagined that Magnus would react this way. "I'm sorry I hurt you, but-"

"I don't want to hear it." Magnus shouted, cutting him off. "I don't need your lame excuses."

"Magnus, please…" Izzy pleaded, looking around and out the windows at all the chaos, it was too dangerous to just stand around like that. "We can deal with this later, we have to go help the others!"

Magnus gave her a sideways glance, then turned back to Alec, looking in his general direction, but never directly at him. "I want you to suffer, the way you made me suffer." he said, stepping forward, magic sparkling in his fingers.

All that anger, it was overwhelming, it couldn't be all because of the breakup, it had to be Asmodeus' doing. Alec wanted to get to the bottom of this, but it couldn't be there, in the middle of a war. "Listen, I know I hurt you, but I can explain." Alec began, "please, I just need to take care of this mess and then we can talk and-"

"I don't care what you have to say." Magnus cut him off, shooting a ball of magic, that missed Alec by a hair.

The hell with his stupid deal, Magnus had to know, he couldn't let Asmodeus influence him like that, especially not at the cost of an entire city. "Look, there's something you need to know." Aled said, "the reason I-"

"Shut. the. Hell. up." Magnus shouted again, slamming another ball of magic, which hit Izzy's arm, sending her flying back. Alec rushed to her side, helping her up.

"I'm fine." she mumbled, as he pulled her to her feet.

Once he made sure Izzy was OK, Alec stepped towards Magus, "What the hell was that?" he shouted at him.

"Oh, so only you're allowed to do the hurting?" Magnus asked, his tone cold and filled with the need to cause pain.

"What happened to you?" Alec asked, his voice weak.

"Seriously? You're actually going to ask that?" Magnus shouted, shooting another ball of fire.

Alec ducked just in time, and it hit the pillar behind him. "Magnus, stop!" he shouted, looking up at Magnus as he straightened back up.

Magnus was breathing heavily, his whole body shaking uncontrollably. It looked like he was in pain, like his whole body was aching and he was barely holding himself upright. He could feel his body trying to fight itself, as if a part of him wanted to protect the man standing in front of him, as the other part of him attacked him, feared him.

Alec felt his heart melting, "Magnus, please let me explain." he said softly, taking a slow step forward, careful not to startle him or make him mad again. When Magnus didn't move or say anything, he continued, "You need to understand why I did what I did."

"There is no explanation, nothing you can say that will excuse what you did." Magnus said, barely able to breathe, let alone speak. Why was he so weak against the shadowhunter? It seemed that every time he was near him, all his guards were suddenly down, and he could no longer seek the revenge he wanted. So damn pathetic.

Alec wanted to run up to him, hold him, tell him everything will be OK. He wanted to tell him this was all Asmodeus' fault, he never wanted to break up with him, it was the last thing he wanted to do, but he had to, he had to do it so he could get his magic back. He thought that's what he wanted, more than anything, even more than being with Alec. "I just wanted you to get your magic back." was all he managed to say.

"What?" Magnus choked out, "You are the reason I lost my magic to begin with."

"I know, and I feel terrible that you lost it for me." Alec felt like he was losing more and more control, there was so much tension, so much baggage, too many things that needed to be said, but so little of it came out.

"Stop it, stop lying." Magnus was shouting again, all the while, trying to control his own battle which caused his head to ach, and his whole insides to shake with uncomfortable nerves.

"It's true." Alec said softly, taking another step forwards, Magnus didn't move, so he took one more. "I wanted you to be whole again."

"Whole again?" Magnus repeated, barely above a whisper, filled with confusion. Their eyes met for the first time, and they just stood staring for a long moment, only a couple of steps separating them now. This was not the Alec from his memories.

Alec poured all the unspoken words and emotions into their gaze as he continued to speak, "So I made a deal with-" he was cut off by the steps behind them, he looked back to see who was coming, "Asmodeus."

"Hello Alexander," Asmodeus hissed, walking forward to stand by his son, "I would be careful of what you say." he gave Alec a death glare, then turned to his son, "We need to go, before it is too late." he grabbed Magnus by the arm and pulled him towards the balcony, "Don't worry," he told Alec and Izzy, "We will make sure to close the rift."

Alec looked from Asmodeus to Magnus, his gaze lingering on Magnus, catching his eyes and silently pleading with him, but Magnus seemed to be completely lost in his own world. "But there will never be another way out of there." Asmodeus added before pulling his son roughly and magicly sending them both through the rift.

Alec stood frozen, his eyes glued to the sport where Magnus had been just a few moments ago, refusing to believe that he was now gone. The last image of him, right before his father pulled him into the rift, was burned into Alec's brain, not being able to forget the sudden look of terror in his eyes.

He could hear voices behind him, he was vaguely aware of Jace and Clary appearing at some point, even the loud bombing and screams were not enough to pull him out of his daze. How could he let this happen? He should've stopped him, he never should have let Asmodeus take Magnus, deal or no deal.

Alec couldn't help but feeling extremely guilty, remembering again that look in Magnus' eyes, as if he was pleading with him to not let him be taken away by his father. It was clear, that no matter how upset and hurt he had been, Magnus definitely did not want to go to Edom and spend eternity with the prince of hell. He should have done something, should have reacted quicker, he should have saved him.

Instead, he just watched. He just stood there and watched as Magnus was being taken away against his will, doing absolutely nothing.

His gaze fixed to the sky, Alec took a few steps forward, watching the rift, hoping that there was still a chance that Magnus had managed to get away from his father, to come back to him.

He was watching the rift as if Magnus would re-emerge at any minute, but he didn't. Alec felt his knees give away as he dropped to the ground, his eyes never leaving the rift, as tears began to stream from them. "Magnus…" He whispered as a hand was placed on his shoulder, another on his arm.

Jace kneeled beside him and Clary and Izzy stood behind him, all staring up at the rift which slowly began to close, sucking back all the remaining demons. And with one last glow, the rift was sealed and gone.