Alec couldn't breathe.

Magnus was gone; he was gone, the guards had taken him away. Robert hadn't even explained why. Why? Something Magnus had refused to do that The Clave had asked of him, something about necromancy. Magnus hadn't given them a necromancy spell so they were going to kill him.

There was an eerie silence in the aftermath of all the screaming. All of Alec's screams.

Hands touched him and he pushed them away unthinkingly, just numb, too numb for contact because someone else touching him felt wrong when he was so empty. His eyes lifted blankly to see it was Isabelle in front of him. The guards were gone and his sister stared at him in tearful sympathy, panic behind her eyes that let Alec know that she hadn't known a thing about this either.

Magnus was gone and his chest was too tight. Somehow it was hard to breathe without him. Alec swallowed against the lump in his throat, inhaling to ease the weight on his chest, but all in vain. He needed to collapse; his legs were too stubborn to let him on the floor. So he just stood there, the crushing numbness spreading like a disease through his limbs.

"Alec!"

The voice commanded him to turn, staring at his father with empty eyes. Robert Lightwood beckoned him forward, turning to march towards the office.

Such a compelling rage struck Alec then. The audacity of this man who called himself his father. To shackle and sentence Magnus right in front of him, to drag him away even as he cried for Alec, and then to order his son into following him. It was too much.

"Alec," Isabelle whispered, so much softer than their father, but Alec pushed her away.

He strode forward, blatantly ignoring Jace and Clary as they tried to rush into comforting him, brushing past his mother who tried to touch his arm in a show of support, and tailed his father down the corridor. The door to his office was open. Alec turned to close it once he was inside, palm pressed flat against the surface.

"Alec—"

"Do not speak to me," snapped Alec, turning on his father in a blind rage. It all flooded out then because they were alone and it was his fault that they had taken Magnus away. It was his fault. "I am the head of this institute, not you. You had no right to come in here and implement Clave orders without my knowledge."

"You are not the head of the institute anymore. I am under orders to take command while this is sorted," revealed Robert, his tone cold and insensitive. "Besides, if I had told you, then you would have tried to stop me."

Alec swallowed hard, that simple movement almost pushing the tears up. He didn't even care about losing command; that meant nothing to him now. "I did try to stop you," he whispered, then shook his head. "Why…? Why would you do that? Magnus didn't do anything to you."

His father gave him a measured look. "You don't know him, Alec. Not really. If you knew all the things he had done, then you would understand why The Clave issued the order for his arrest. He's the son of a greater demon and he's had this coming for a long time."

For a moment, Alec could do nothing but stare at his father. The main issue that Robert had brought up about Magnus was that his father was a greater demon, which had absolutely nothing to do with Magnus as his own person. From what Alec had seen of Magnus, from what he knew of the man he fell in love with, Magnus was nothing like his father.

"What did The Clave ask him for?"

Robert glanced away; his jaw set in a hard line. "That's above your jurisdiction."

"Magnus is my boyfriend," said Alec, a firmness to his tone to match his father's. He refused to give ground so easily. "I deserve to know why you're going to slaughter him like a goddamn animal. Or is it just because he's a downworlder?"

"He was your boyfriend," Robert muttered, fixing him with a hard stare.

Alec clenched his jaw, lifting his hand to point aggressively at his father, struggling to rein in his anger. "You don't decide my choices. Magnus is my boyfriend and you arresting him doesn't change that. I love him more than anyone in this world. Him refusing to do necromancy for you doesn't stop me loving him, it stops me loving you." He took in a shaking breath. "Any respect I still had for you is gone. You're nothing to me."

A hint of distress entered his father's eyes for a moment. "You would choose a downworlder over your own father?"

"Yes," said Alec. There was no question. "Magnus would never do anything to hurt me, but you seem to have no problem with killing part of me. That's what you'll be doing if you kill Magnus. I will never love again and I will never recover from it. If you ever felt any love for me, then you'll stop this and you'll release him."

Robert regarded him a moment, his gaze heavy. "I can't."

"Then we're done here."

Alec moved to open the door, holding it open and stepping aside, a clear invitation for his father to leave. Clearly understanding that Alec would not be swayed, Robert gave a resigned sigh.

"I will always do what's best for you, Alec. I hope you come to realise that."

"Get. Out."

Robert complied and Alec slammed the door shut behind him.

Despite his father's immovable position, Alec was not ready to simply give up. Not on Magnus.

He combed through his office for books regarding Clave guidelines and regulations, stacking them up on his desk and, when he was satisfied that he had separated them all, sat down to begin what he knew could be days of fruitless reading. No one disturbed him for at least an hour, wisely giving him a moment of space before trying to offer their sympathies. Alec didn't want their sympathy, but he could definitely do with their help.

The first was Jace.

His parabatai gave the door a hesitant knock and Alec called his permission to enter. Jace didn't even speak. He took one look at Alec, one at the books scattered across his desk, and came forward to take one off the top of a precarious tower. Alec watched him as he sat to read. Some kind of warmth touched his chest then, easing the pain marginally.

The door went again a few hours later, but this time Jace stood to answer it. Alec didn't look up; he could recognise his mother's voice well enough. Jace murmured something in return, his tone low and quiet, and Alec couldn't make out the words from either of them. When the door closed, Alec was alone again. That was fine; he didn't need Jace to read for him.

Instead of abandoning him as Alec had feared, his parabatai returned barely minutes later with Isabelle at his back. Alec glanced up as his sister wandered over to him, her eyes heavy with grief and sympathy as she leaned in to kiss the crown of her brother's head. A show of support. A promise. She picked out a book and boosted herself up to perch on the edge of his desk, legs dangling absently as she began flicking through the thin pages in search for the information that they so desperately needed.

They sat like that for an age, stubbornly focused, sifting through book after book as the sun travelled its arch across the sky, bouncing shafts of sunlight around the office. No one said a word when Alec shook his head at the offer of lunch. They understood that he was too engrossed in his work to do much else, even eat. It was when he refused to come to dinner that they began to fret.

It was Clary who had come in with the dinner reminder, her eyes red and puffed as if she'd just finished crying, and Isabelle and Jace were on their feet when Alec muttered that they should go on without him. Even though he was scanning a copy of the accords, he saw the trio exchange anxious glances in his peripheral.

"We can bring you something," Clary offered, kind-hearted and worrisome as always even in her grief.

Alec shook his head. "No, thanks."

Footsteps padded soft against the floor and Alec glanced up as Jace's hand came to clutch his shoulder, squeezing gently. "Hey, come on. You haven't eaten anything all day… You're not helping him by starving yourself," he coaxed, and Alec glanced away, ashamed of his transparency. "Alec, please, you need your strength."

Alec stubbornly refused to meet his gaze, feeling more and more like some petulant child with every passing second. "I'm not hungry."

"Alec," Isabelle urged, stepping forward to lean her hands against his desktop. "We'll get him back. You need to eat something."

Remaining silent this time, Alec simply shook his head, too wrecked to do much else. He returned to his research, but found he couldn't even concentrate on the pages of accords laid out in front of him. The letters swam before his eyes.

It was a waste of time, trying to find some mistake in his father's accusations; deep down, he knew that. No downworlder had ever been decided innocent because they didn't get trials. They didn't get appeals; there was nothing lawful they could do to fix this because downworlders weren't people to The Clave, they were just demons.

In a frenzied rage, he swept the book from the table, hands clutching into his hair.

"This is useless!" he lamented, his grief spilling out into anger. "They can't break the accords because they made the damn accords! Everything in here just supports The Clave!"

"Alec," said Isabelle, striding around the desk to clutch his shoulder and force him to face her. She was the only one brave enough to say what they had all been thinking. "You won't find a lawful way to get Magnus out of this. If The Clave has decided to kill him, then he's dead. You know that. He's only safe as long as he doesn't tell them anything, and you know what happens if he won't comply with questioning."

Alec glanced away, closing his eyes. He didn't even want to think about that. The Clave acted so high and mighty, but they were fickle at best, and more than happy to twist the rules to breaking point in order to get what they wanted. If Magnus didn't tell them what they wanted to hear, they wouldn't just keeping asking him questions; they would torture him for the answers.

He rubbed his hands against his head, surely mussing his hair. "What do I do?" he muttered, staring up at his sister with wide eyes, desperate for someone to come up with all the answers. "I can't help him. Trying to break him out of the cells… dad knows I might try it. I can't put Magnus at risk like that."

"Alec, you're not alone," assured Clary gently. "We all want to help you. I know I personally owe Magnus so much."

"We all do," agreed Jace.

"Besides, he's family," Isabelle stated firmly. "We won't give up on him."

Their words sent tears to Alec's eyes and he angled his face away to push them back, fingers rubbing at his eyes. "Okay," he agreed, accepting their assistance gratefully. "What do we do?"

Their plan was a simple one. One that required a certain level of improvisational acting on both Alec and Jace's part. For this to work—for them to get Magnus out of the cell and to safety—they had to feign a realistic argument. It would be difficult for them to go against one another, even if it was just theatrics. They were parabatai after all.

They were playing a long game and Alec feared that the time it could take for it to play out would mean that they wouldn't be in time to save Magnus. Still, he'd be damned if he didn't try. For Magnus.

So, with a heavy heart, Alec approached the permanent Clave guard stationed at the elevator.

"What do you want?" she asked, not unkindly.

"I have to see Magnus."

"I'm sorry, but that isn't possible," the guard was gracious enough to apologise to him for forbidding this basic request. "Your father was very clear on his instructions. I can't let anyone through who has been compromised by this... incident. Particularly not you."

Alec clenched his jaw. "You don't understand. I need to see him."

She stared at him a moment, no resentment in her gaze but no sympathy there either, infuriatingly neutral. "You're not the head of this institute anymore... You don't get to make demands."

There were soft footsteps and Alec glanced to see Jace emerge from his observing position. A feigned pity was pinching his expression. Alec wondered briefly how much of it was Jace playing his role, wondered if Jace did pity his situation. His sympathy certainly wouldn't be misplaced. Alec was pitiful at this point.

"Hey," his parabatai soothed. "I know you think you're doing right, but you're just making things worse. Come away, alright?"

Alec clenched his jaw. "Don't pretend you care," he growled and there was some hurt in Jace's eyes at those words. "You never cared about Magnus. Always so wrapped up in Clary. Neither of you bothered to help when they took him, none of you even tried! I was the only one fighting, because I'm the only one who cares what happens to him!"

The commotion of raised voices had attracted Robert's attention. Both of them caught him wandering closer in their peripheral, carefully keeping a safe distance as if he didn't want to interrupt, as if he wanted to see where this argument was going. The bait was set. They just had to convince him to take it.

"Alec," Jace murmured, a hand settling to his shoulder. "This isn't you, okay? You aren't this dismissive of rules. The law is hard, but it is the law, and Magnus had broken the accords. Whatever you think you feel for him, it can't be stronger than your loyalty to your family."

Alec threw him off, glaring at his parabatai in only a half-feigned rage. "You don't know anything about my feelings," he snarled.

His eyes stung as he turned to storm away, shoving past his father when Robert moved forward to speak with him. Not me, Alec's thoughts urged. Robert had to go to Jace or this was all for nothing. He didn't look back, didn't stop until he had reached his room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Half-collapsing, his forehead pressed against the wooden surface, palms pushed flat against it. Emotion flooded him then and he didn't try to hold it back.

The sobs left him as breathy gasps, tight-chested as the tears rolled down his cheeks. Allowing his legs to give out, he turned to let his back slide down the door, sitting with an elbow resting on a lifted knee, a hand up to shield his face. No one had to see him here; no one had to know how broken he really was. He let himself cry because there was nothing else that he could do. He couldn't save Magnus; he couldn't do anything.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, staring up at the ceiling through blurry eyes. "Magnus, I'm so sorry."

With that hollow apology into the darkness, Alec buried his face in his hands and wept.

Back in the Ops Centre, Jace watched after Alec, a heavy feeling in his chest. He knew Alec was just pretending, just trying to sell their argument as truth so Robert would question their alliances, but there were things Alec had said that got him wondering. All good lies were sewn in truth.

Robert's eyes followed Alec to and, for a moment, it seemed as though he was about to follow his son. The initial panic eased from Jace's mind as Robert turned to him, wandering over with a frown plastered across his features.

"I assumed you would be on Alec's side," Robert pondered aloud. "Back when the warlock was taken you stood for him."

Jace glanced to him. He had to sell this, he had to. "I am on Alec's side," he agreed. "That's why I argued for Magnus originally, but I can see now that Alec's not… himself. He can't see what's for the best. He hasn't been the same since Magnus met him."

All good lies were sewn in truth. Alec had changed since he'd met Magnus, it was true, just not the way Robert would see it. Robert would see the negatives, the way his son had defied orders and duty and reputation to chase some downworlder. The truth was that Alec had changed for the better. Jace had never seen him happier than he was with Magnus.

"You think… the warlock has corrupted him?"

Jace feigned a frown. "I thought that was one of the crimes you charged him for."

Robert seemed to realise his mistake. "Well, yes… Yes, I was just surprised you had noticed. I thought your parabatai bond may have blinded you to the truth as well. It's a… a powerful and manipulative magic that this warlock has."

It was so difficult not to leap to defend his brother's boyfriend, but Jace held his tongue. "He is a downworlder," he forced himself to say the words. They felt bitter in his mouth. "His demon blood means he's blinded by his impulses. Warlock's think they're so clever; they always underestimate our intelligence."

Robert seemed pleased by his discriminative words. "I'm glad you weren't drawn in." He sighed softly. "Alec wasn't so fortunate."

Biting the inside of his cheek, Jace forced himself to take a silent breath, forced the emotion from his eyes and his voice. "You know I'd do anything to help Alec. He's my parabatai and my brother. If I have to break his heart before I can save him, then so be it. I know why you sentenced Magnus and I want you to know that I support your decisions."

"Thank you, Jace," Robert spoke his gratitude with a soft tilt of his head. "I'm pleased to know that I have someone on my side."

With that acknowledgement of his feigned loyalties, Jace knew that he had earned Robert's trust. The plan was in motion. The bait was taken. All he had to do now was choose his moment.