"Dad, daddy! Look! I did it!"
Alec smiled, following his son as he was pulled along. "Look!" Rafael said, pointing at the target where an arrow was standing straight in the middle.
"Wow! I'm so proud of you, Rafa!" Alec exclaimed, picking him up and hugging him tight. "You'll be an excellent archer in no time," he told him.
Rafael had been practicing with his bow pretty much every day since he had gotten it for his 10th birthday. Or what they assumed was his birthday, anyway. He'd been about three years old when they found him, but since they had no idea when he was born they just made the day they found him his birthday. It had been three weeks now, since they celebrated his 10th birthday. And this was first time he hit bullseye.
"Go tell papa," he suggested, putting Rafael down. As soon as Rafael was on the ground the little boy ran as fast as his legs could take him, and disappeared through a door into the castle.
Alec sat back on a bench nearby, smiling to himself. It had been almost 10 years since he and Magnus had come home, riding back from their quest to defeat Lilith, and Alec had never been happier.
"Oh my god! Jace, come quickly!" Izzy's voice had been the first thing Alec had heard as he and Magnus rode onto the place in front of the castle. Something had been wrong, the place was covered with black flags and most people in the city before the cadtel were wearing black clothes. As if they were in mourning. Alec wanted to ask Izzy about that. A minute after he had heard her , she and Jace came running out towards them. Alec was still tired but he felt great as he jumped down from his horse and hugged them. He had missed them so much. He felt like he was home again.
""Oh, Alec I'm so glad that you are back home. Everything is falling apart and we don't know how to react. It's so much with the funeral and the ruling and… Oh how I missed you" said Izzy and kept holding him in her arms. After that Alec and Magnus learned that Alec's father had been killed, just a few days prior. The following days were a blur and Alec couldn't bring it all together anymore. But he became king and they held a nice funeral for their dad. Magnus was always on his side, helping him and making sure Alec was not loosing his mind. About a year after that Alec officially told everyone about his relationship with Magnus. Of course everyone knew about it by then, but it had to be made official. Alec knew that it had been a hard year for Magnus, but Magnus understood that Alec had to take care of so much and had to find his way into the role as king.
It was only a few minutes later when he heard familiar voices, and Rafael and Magnus appeared in the doorway, little Max trailing after them with an even smaller creature in his hands.
Max, who they had found only four years ago, when he was barely a few months old. Neither Alec nor Magnus had expected to have kids but they were so happy about their boys and wouldn't want to ever miss them.
"Look, papa!" Rafael pointed again at the arrow. Magnus smiled brightly down at his son. "What a talented son I have. One day you'll be better than daddy."
"Really? Better than daddy?" Magnus nodded.
"You'll be the best archer in the kingdom. Just wait and see." Magnus patted Rafael's shoulder softly. "How about you take a break? You've been practicing all day. Go inside and help your brother with Tykorn. He almost managed to fly today," he said.
Max and Rafael walked into the castle together again, looking and talking about the little creature in Max's hands.
Magnus moved to sit beside Alec on the bench. "We have some very beautiful kids," he murmured against Alec's lips before kissing him softly.
"They take after their father," Alec said. Even though he knew it wasn't possible since none of them were their biological children, they certainly had their attitude and flair for the dramatics from Magnus.
"And by father you mean you," Magnus said, and Alec only shook his head with a chuckle.
"We should go check on them before they throw one of the dragons into the pool again," he said.
"I think that Elark quite enjoyed the bath," Magnus replied with a chuckle.
"Maybe. But he didn't make fire for days," Alec replied.
"He hadn't started producing fire regularly anyway." Alec stood up with a smile, reaching out for Magnus's hand.
"Come on," he said, kissing him softly before they walked together into the castle.
After they had returned Alec had dedicated an entire part of the castle to the dragons, and also released Ithuriel. The dragons came and went as they wanted, but they tended to come around the time they got their eggs. Alec and Magnus would always help take care of the little dragons, and now their kids had joined too.
"I'm sorry but you did what ?!" Jace exclaimed after Alec and Magnus were done telling their story of how they traveled around to train and make contracts. And how they made friends among the dragons and eventually killed Lilith. They also told their family that Magnus was a warlock and that it was a good thing. That this had saved their lives and made Magnus who he was.
"Killed the queen of hell. And now we are bringing back the dragons and for that I plan to use maybe a ballroom or something so we can help them with their eggs," Alec repeated. After that they kept talking for a long time to make Izzy and Jace understand everything and make them stop thinking that Alec and Magnus were crazy. In the end the other two agreed and decided to help with creating a safe space for those dragons who had helped Magnus and Alec survive
This year one of the dragons had hatched early, and they were careful to take extra good care of him. Slowly, and with the help of the dragons as well, they were nursing him back to health. Alec and Magnus stepped into the big room. Like Alec had planned it, It had used to be a ballroom. It was one of the few places they all fit.
The room had been completely changed. All the paintings that had been on the wall had been moved to another place, and the beautiful rugs that used to cover the ground had been moved as well. The floor was of stone, which was good. In the middle of the room was a big pile of wood. It served multiple purposes. Not only did it keep the room warm when the dragons were there, but it was also a good place for the smaller dragons to practice their firebreathing. In the roof over it they had cut a hole so all the smoke would leave the room easily and not suffocate the dragons or any human who was in there to help. .
They had also removed one of the walls, and replaced it with a gigantic gate. Whenever the dragons came over they would open the gate and the dragons could come and go as they pleased. In the corner of the room there was a little pool of water which the dragons used both to drink and to bath in sometimes. They also had a corner in which a few feathers were laying around. Since not many people liked to clean in there they had decided to fed the dragons in one corner. Once or up to three times a day someone brought chickens or sometimes a pig or other suitable food into the room . It depended on how many dragons were there and if they were young or old, the older dragons prefered to go out and hunt for themselves but the little or baby dragons were not able to do that yet so Alec had to help.
When Magnus and Alec stepped into the room Rafael was on Elgdor's back, pretending to be riding through the sky. Max was chasing Jufil, a two year old, green dragon about the same size as Max himself.
Magnus flicked his wrist and a flock of blue birds, made from Magnus's magic, appeared flying around Rafael. He laughed and tried to catch them. Alec took to running after Max, catching him from behind and throwing him to the sky, catching him a moment later before he started tickling him. He really was happy, happier than he had ever been.
"Tell a goodnight story, papa," Max requested as Magnus tucked him into the bed.
"Yes, papa, please!" Rafael chimed in from where he was already lying in his own bed. The two children had been offered to sleep in different rooms multiple times, but Rafael refused to leave Max's side, and Max didn't like to sleep in a room alone. They slept only two rooms away from Magnus and Alec, easily available in case any of them had a nightmare or needed anything else..
"Okay, but it'll have to be a quick one," Magnus told them, sitting in the chair between both of their beds. "Which one do you want to hear?"
"Tell the one about the two boys!" Rafael suggested. Magnus smiled and nodded.
"Once upon a time, a long long time ago, there was a prince and his servant…"
Magnus smiled to himself as he told them the story. It was one of their favorite stories, and little did they know it was a true one.
"After the prince and the warlock had defeated the evil witch the dragons took them back to their own world. They rode back home on their horses, the dragons leading the way and protecting them from enemies. When they arrived, the prince heard the news of his father's assassination, which had happened just a few days before. The prince was sad to have lost his father, but he had his brother and sister to rely on, and also the servant. The prince was crowned king, and he ruled the kingdom peacefully. He brought back magic and dragons to the kingdom, and he made it a better one. And a few years later the king and the servant got married, and they lived happily ever after."
"What took you so long, love?" Alec asked when Magnus stepped into their bedroom. "I thought our boys were so out of energy that they had fallen asleep straight away."
"Well they wanted to hear a bedtime story so… I couldn't just leave them could I?" Magnus chuckled and stepped closer so he could kiss Alec.
"What story did you tell tnight?" he asked.
"You can guess three times, my king."
"Oh… the two boys, agin? It's incredible how often they want to hear that."
"Well I will never get tired of telling it. I love to say that we got married and are now having our happily ever after."
"Can you remember our wedding?"
"Can… can I remember our wedding? Alexander what a stupid question. Of course I can remember our wedding. It was such a huge event and the whole kingdom was there. Well, not really but it felt like that… It was one of the happiest days of my live. Right on top next to day we decided to keep Rafael and the day we found Max. Our two babies." he said.
"Yes… those are my favourite days as well," agreed Alec. He then took Magnus's hand and pulled him to the bed. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Finally! Last chapter of his story... Or is it? There is a little surprise coming, but I can't promise it'll come before Christmas. I'll try to get it this year at least. It's not relevant to the plot, so you don't have to read it unless you want to.
There were many other plot lines I wanted to write, like Morgana's story. But unfortunately my time is limited. Maybe sometime in the future I will, but nothing is planned yet.
Anyway, I want to thank everyone who left kudos and comments on this. Every comment has been really appreciated and motivating, so thank you.
For now I just want to say Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates that, and happy holidays if you don't. Thank you very much for reading this!
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