Chapter 7 - Take the Throne

Alec was pacing back and forth, books sprawled out on every surface, as he examined them one by one, thoroughly searching for a way, any way to get Magnus back to him. All the while, the final terrified look on the warlocks face, never leaving his mind.

Alec has been at Magnus' apartment for two days now, desperately trying to find the answer he was looking for. His mother walked in, a bag of food in her hand, she stood for a moment in the doorway as she watched her frantic son, looking worried and broken. "Have you eaten anything?" she finally asked.

He barely looked up at her before shaking his head, "I'm not hungry." he stated flatly, continuing his search. He had already let Magnus down once, he was not going to again. And food was only going to slow him down.

Maryse put down the bag on one of the chairs and walked up to her son, placing a comforting hand on his arm, "Alec, you have to take care of yourself, eat something." she said softly, he just shrugged her off.

"I need to find him mom." he insisted firmly, finally looking up at his mother "I can't keep standing by while he suffers, I've done enough of that already."

"You were doing the best you could." Maryse told him.

"No, I didn't." Alec was shaking his head, unable to rid the sick feeling in the pit of his stomach, and sharp ache in his chest. "You told me, you tried to warn me that something was going on, and I didn't listen."

"You couldn't have known." Maryse said softly, placing her hand on his arm once more.

"I should've known, I shouldn't have been so trusting and naive." Alec was shaking with anger, "I saw him in Idris, you were right, there was something seriously wrong, he wasn't himself. I don't know what Asmodeus did to him, but I have to stop him before it's too late." they fell silent for a moment, Alec rubbed his eyes and sighed. "I never should have been so stupid as to trust Asmodeus."

"Alec, you can't blame yourself." his mother insisted, "You were trying to do the right thing, and had no way of knowing."

"This is Asmodeus we're talking about." Alec said angrily, "I should have known, and I should've listened to you, to my gut." they stood there for a moment in silence, neither of them really knowing what to say, there was nothing really that could be said.

"That's why I have to find him, I need to save him, to make it up to him." Alec finally spoke up, turning back to the book he was holding.

Later that day, Alec heard a strange noise coming from somewhere in the apartment, looking around and searching the various rooms, he finally found the source. A green lizard was in a cage, 'help' scratched into the glass.

Alec immediately called Catharina, but had to leave before she arrived, he had received a fire message saying that something was wrong with Izzy.

When he arrived at the institute, he found her sitting in the infirmary, on the edge of one of the beds. She was smiling and looked fairly well, so Alec managed to calm down a bit. He embraced her in his arms, "Izz, I'm so sorry, are you OK?" He asked her,

"I'm fine, don't worry about it." Izzy insisted, "Brother Zachariah even checked me out to make sure I was ok."

"Brother Zachariah?" Alec questioned in surprise, just as Brother Zachariah seemed to appear out of nowhere.

"Hello Alec." He said softly, his voice echoing in his mind. "I'm glad you're here, I would like to speak to you." Alec nodded softly, curious as to what it is he could possibly need to talk to him about alone. He turned his eyes back to Izzy, running his gaze up and down, examining her thoroughly.

Izzy laughed and gave him a small shove, "Go, I'll be fine." she told him. Alec gave her one last piercing look, before following Zacharia out of the room.

"Is this about Izzy? Is she going to be OK?" he immediately asked as they stepped outside the door of the infirmary.

"No, this is not about your sister, it is about Magnus." Brother Zachariah said, Alec swallowed hard, his heartbeat quickening.

"You know how I can get him back from Edom?" Alec asked, hopeful.

But Brother Zachariah did not know, "I'm sorry my friend, I do not." he said, "but I have been talking to Isabell, and she was telling me how strange Magnus was acting when you saw him, and I think I might know why." Alec stared at Brother Zachariah, waiting for him to continue, wanting and needing to know. "He came to me shortly after your… breakup."

"Oh." was all Alec could manage.

"He asked me to erase his memories of you." Alec froze for a moment, as he heard Zacharia's words echoed in his mind. He had been bracing himself for the worst, but that definitely was not what he was expecting.

"You erased his memories?" Alec almost yelled, clearly upset.

"No, I did not." Brother Zachariah said immediately, not phased at all by Alec's sudden outburst. "I refused him, I told him that I couldn't help him make that mistake, that he would regret it."

"But?"

"But he was suffering, and he insisted that it was the only way, so I told him that if he really wanted to, he could erase them himself."

"Oh, god." Alec breathed out, "So he did it?"

It all felt so surreal, this could not be happening. How did everything go so wrong so quickly? Alec never would have predicted this outcome to his harsh decisions. He wasn't sure what he expected, or how exactly he imagined Magnus will react to the breakup, but this sure wasn't it.

"I am not certain." Brother Zachariah said, "I never believed he would come to do it, but from what I have heard about the way he has been acting, then I would presume he did. And I know that telling you this now, conflict with his reasoning to do this, and I hate to break his trust, but I just thought you should know. Especially now that he is in Edom."

Alec breathed in sharply as Brother Zachariah spoke, not sure what to say or how to react to this information. But something was really bugging him, something still didn't make sense, "But… he knew me, when I saw him in Idris, he knew who I was." Alec said, remembering the painful moment, "he was extremely pissed at me, and acting quite strange, as if he was afraid of me, but he knew who I was."

"It could very well be that something went wrong, while he was sending his memories into oblivion." Brother Zachariah suggested, "Or perhaps, someone has been tampering with his mind and memories."

"Asmodeus…" Alec muttered.

He could feel it. It was surging through him, his whole body absorbing up all the power and energy he could get from his surroundings. His father was right, Edom really did make him much stronger.

He could feel his magic growing more powerful, in his blood and in his veins, all over. Magnus sat on his father's throne, feeling more powerful than ever. Finally, he began to feel like he could think a little more clearly, for the first time since his father found him on the roof.

Alec's last words to him kept echoing in his mind, 'I made a deal with…' with who? And what kind of deal? Was it a deal to try and help him, or just cause him more pain? Or maybe, he was just making it all up...

But there was something different about him, as if he were a completely different person, and not the Alec from his memories, the one who glared at him with hate and disgust, the one who caused him unbearable pain and fear. There was no trace of any of that.

Quite the contrary in fact, Alec looked at him with so much compassion, love even. As if he hated to see him suffer. As if Magnus was his favorite person in the world. Surely he had just imagined it, right?

Perhaps that was part of his plan, try and trick him again, like he did when they first met - maybe he was trying to make Magnus like him again, just so Alec could continue to take advantage of him, especially now that he had his own magic back.

His magic was back. Asmodeus gave him his magic back.

And he had yet to ask for anything in return, which was definitely suspicious, no matter how much Asmodeus insisted it was out of "love" and "care" for his son.

Conveniently enough, his Father somehow found his way back just in time, at the perfect moment. In fact, he showed up right when Magnus "needed" him the most, when he was at his lowest and most vulnerable.

Magnus did not know what to believe anymore, but he was desperate to find out. He was sick of being played, being the victim. It was time to put an end to it.

"You look good up there." he heard Asmodeus' voice from the doorway, if you could even call it that. "Royal suits you." as he looked at his father, at how so very pleased he seemed that he finally got Magnus to join him there in Edom, something clicked. Of course.

Magnus didn't know for sure, but he knew his father, he had been so hurt and vulnerable that he just followed him blindly, trusted him because he had no one else. But he should have known, that no matter what and how trustworthy he seemed, he could never really believe anything he said.

"Did you really think I would never find out?" he finally asked, his voice calm and steady, trying to ignore the nerves he felt, as all his insides were flipping.

Asmodeus raised an eyebrow, smirking slightly and looking quite amused, "How did you know?" he asked, coming closer.

"I didn't." Magnus said, "But you did just confirmed it."

"And what exactly is it that you think I have just confirmed?" Asmodeus asked, not looking in the least worried that he had just been busted.

"You made a deal with him, didn't you? With Alec?" Magnus asked, watching his father's every move, his expression giving nothing away. "He asked you to restore my magic?" he asked when Asmodeus didn't reply.

"Yes, he did."

"And my memories? The ones you showed me, were those real?" Anger boiling in the pit of his stomach as he finally began to piece everything together, he did not need to hear the answers out loud to know the truth. "And my actual memories? You took them away, didn't you?" Magnus was now standing, walking closer to his father.

"No, that you did to yourself." Asmodeus finally spoke.

"Just shut up, I don't believe you anyway." Magnus shouted, opening up a portal and quickly tying up his father with magic ropes.

"Be careful, I'm the only thing keeping that rift closed." His father warned, but Magnus just tightened the grip of the ropes. "Once it re-opens, your precious shadowhunters will be attacked again."

"I can seal it myself." he said, "I have had enough of your manipulations."

"You can never get rid of me." Asmodeus laughed, "don't you get it? I will always find my back to you."

"Not if you're stuck in limbo." Magnus hissed, before making his father pass out and shoving him through the opened portal, closing it up behind him.

Magnus sat back on his father's throne, he may as well get used to it, this was his new home, whether he liked it or not. He couldn't leave, if he did, the rift that he was now holding closed, would re-open and all hell would break loose in Idris once more.

Despite the pain, and the need for revenge that he still felt, Magnus couldn't ignore the fact that it was all due to his father's manipulation. If it wasn't for Asmodeus, he wouldn't hate Alec, wouldn't feel the need to cause him pain, like he thought Alec caused him.

Magnus still couldn't remember anything else, besides the memories that Asmodeus planted in him, he still wasn't sure what he and Alec were to each other before he lost his memories. But now, he may never find out, as he may be stuck in Edom forever.

"You look good up there." he heard a voice from the entrance tell him.

"So I've heard." He looked up and caughts Liliths gaze as she came forward out of the shadows. "What do you want?"

"I came to welcome my new neighbour." she smiled at him.

"Of course you did." Magnus spat at her. "So where is the pie?"

Lillith looks at him, amused, "After all, you finally got rid of Asmodeus, I've been waiting a long time for that." she said, stepping even closer to Magnus. "I was hoping you would let me through that rift you're holding closed."

"And why the hell would I ever do that?" Magnus looked at her amused.

"Because I need to kill my son."

"Up for mother of the year award, are you?"

"I have created a monstrous and dangerous creature, someone has to stop him." Lilith explained, she wasn't wrong, but despite how destructive her son may be, letting her leave Edom, can cause even more destruction, and Magnus did not want a hand in that.

"Yes, you have caused a very big mess." Magnus agreed, "However, I cannot let you leave."

"I will find a way." She insisted.

"The answer is no." Lilith conjured up a ball of magic and threw it towards Magnus, but he was quick and strong enough to stop it with his own magic, sending her flying and landing with a thud on the ground. "Soaking up all the power Edom has to offer, I see." Lilith said, struggling to stand up. "You're lucky I'm still weak from your friends mark of Cain, but I will get stronger and I will destroy you."