Chapter 8-

When Worlds Collide

Summery:

Magnus and Ezekiel bond, Jake is annoyed,

Magnus tries to help…

Cassie and Jenkins call Ezekiel and Jake to let them know about their new collaborator

Really, is there such a thing as too many Magnus's?

Notes:

Okay, umm…

I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO FREAKNG MUCH!

Sorry, I'm back…

So, in this chapter we will have both Magnus's

Warlock!Magnus is represented as Magnus

I hope it doesn't get too confusing…

_Other-Other-Other-Other-Other_

"So, wait, how did you guys get out of the warehouse after that?" Ezekiel asked eagerly leaning forward

Magnus smirked, shrugging

"Oh, well, in one of the crates from the air force base I happened to find a sleeping gas grenade, Alec threw it on our way out and just to be safe we blocked the door with the leg from Divya's chair

Though she still insists we should have let her throw it…"

Ezekiel burst out laughing, shaking his head

Okay, no way a mission should be this much fun

He and Magnus had been swapping stories for nearly an hour

At this point he was certain that the guy was the Magnus from this world…

Also he was possibly one of the craziest, and by far most entertaining, people he'd ever met

He had about a million stories, each more insane than the last; he couldn't remember the last time he had laughed so much.

"Yeah, that's great, I'm gonna grab somthin' to drink" Jake grumbled, wandering out the door, heading for the coffee stand across the street

Magnus nodded kind of dismissively, before turning back to his phone, flipping thru more photos

Ezekiel rolled his eyes slightly

Jake seemed to be sulking about something or the other,

By this point he must have realized that Magnus was being truthful…

He really didn't couldn't figure out what his problem was then.

Maybe he was annoyed that Ezekiel had been telling Magnus so much, but he couldn't really seem to help it:

The guy was hilarious and he figured if they were actually trying to sound delusional, the truth of being a Librarian probably would sell it better than any crazy lie he could come up with.

Ezekiel huffed a bit, shaking his head

"Sorry about him, I don't know what his problem is…

I guess he probably thinks I'm telling you too much or something." He said with a shrug

Magnus chuckled slightly

"No, darling, that's not it…"

"No?" Ezekiel asked curiously

Magnus shook his head

"Nope"

"Okay then, you're the psychic…what is it?" he said, half teasing

"He is just rather annoyed by the flirting, that's all"

Ezekiel tilted his head slightly

"Huh? Why would that bother him? You've been flirting since we met you, it didn't bother him before"

Magnus chucked

"Yes, very true…but up till now you hadn't been flirting back

I'm afraid the dear is a bit jealous"

"What? Why would he be jealous? He was even kind of teasing me about it earlier,

And we're just joking…

Right?"

He asked, hoping he hadn't misread the situation…

He really didn't want to seem like he was leading Magnus on or anything

Magnus gave a bright laugh, and a kinda careless wave

"Yes, darling, no offense, you are adorable and really quite fun, but not my type"

Ezekiel nodded relieved

"Okay, good, same…

You are really fun and cool and honestly kind of annoyingly hot but, yeah not really my type either"

Magnus raised his eyebrow, smirking

Ezekiel didn't even bother stopping the groan this time

"What?" he asked exasperatedly

"Well, first off, thank you Sweetheart,

But let me guess…

Your type is more the, slightly older, handsome, overly serious, cowboy art/history major with pretty blue eyes?"

Ezekiel shook his head

"I-wa-no, that's crazy I'm not into Jake…we just work together, that's all…I have no interest in him, and vice versa

We're just friends that's all"

Magnus rolled his eyes

"Ly-ing" he singsonged

"Now, don't start that again! I just started to like you, that could change pretty quickly!"

"I will stop calling you out on your lies when you stop lying…

Darling, I don't know why you would have thought I'd miss it this time"

Ezekiel huffed

"I didn't…I just kinda thought you'd be a nice enough guy not to call me out on my hopeless crush, that's all"

Magnus gave him a rather surprised look

"Sweetheart, why would you think it is a hopeless crush?"

"Magnus, just…let it go, okay, please?"

He nodded slightly,

"Very well, I did not intend to upset you darling…

Though I would like to point out, generally if someone gets that jealous over a bit of playful flirting, it's probably because they want to be the one you're flirting with.

I do not think it's considered a 'hopeless crush' when both parties feel the same way"

Ezekiel rolled his eyes snorting slightly

" Yeah, right"

"Exactly, I am always right…

I am a psychic after all"

Ezekiel gave him a sarcastic look

Magnus just smiled

"I just don't think- oh, crap, he's back…drop it!" He hissed franticly, trying to look like they were talking about, literally anything else, as Jake came back in

"…and that's why I'm now banned from Peru" Magnus concluded

Man, he was quick on it…

Though he could have came up with a more believable story

Who gets banned from an entire country?

"Oh, you guys are still going, huh… We should probably ge-"

Jake was cut off by Ezekiel's phone ringing

Jake and Ezekiel glanced at each other than back at Magnus

"Umm…we, uh, we should probably go…" Ezekiel said nervously

"Oh, don't mind me, take your call"

Magnus raised his eyebrow, and smirked

"Man, I hate that look so much..." Ezekiel muttered

"So…you have told me pretty much all about your 'Library', Magic, warlocks and the like…

You truly believe everything you said.

And yet, you are nervous about answering a call, from, I'd guess, your 'team' back home.

I can only think of three scenarios in which that makes sense:

You actually are lying, and are far better at it than you pretended, in which case you are either highly trained operatives or total sociopaths, though I suppose it could be both as those could overlap…

You were being truthful, but are in fact, delusional, and in some way this call would disprove the delusion, therefore you are hesitant to take it because on some subconscious level you know that

Or,

You were being truthful, about everything, magic and other universes actually DO exist and there in fact IS a deranged power hungry warlock bent on wreaking havoc on this world and you were just hoping I'd chalk all your crazy ramblings up to thinking you were delusional…

Very interesting options…

I really am quite curious which one it is"

He finishes sitting back on the desk, crossing his arms, with that same smirk, clearly calling out their next move

This time Jake's phone begins to ring

Ezekiel and Jake exchange confused slightly panicked looks, at a loss

Finally Jake just shrugs

"Oh, what the hell…here goes nothing" he grumbles moving over by the desk next to Magnus and Ezekiel, holding the phone up and hitting the answer button

"Hey, guys…we, uh, we kinda have a bit of a situation here" he starts tilting the phone to show Magnus leaning next to them

Jenkins and Cassie have virtually the same, shocked, slightly panicked expressions, they glance to one side

"Uh…yeah, we do too…" Cassie says, turning the phone slightly

Ezekiel froze

Jake startled so much he nearly dropped the phone

Magnus gasped, eyes wide

"Well, hello there...I must say this is a first, even for me." Magnus said, raising an eyebrow, smirking

The expression was eerily familiar by now

It was somewhat unsettling with the golden cat eyes however

"…Oookay…so, option three it is…

Gotta say, I did not see this coming." Magnus whispered shaking his head slightly

_Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus-Magnus_

Okay, so, apparently he was now delusional as well…

Wait,

If you realize you are delusional, are you still in actuality, delusional?

Or does the acknowledgement of the delusion cancel it out?

How does that work?

Magnus didn't know, but that was the only option he had

Because that was the sanest reason he could come up with as to why he was currently staring at a phone about to have a conversation with, well, himself.

The other option was that he was currently talking to another universes' version of himself about aiding two magic hunting 'Librarians' from that universe in an attempt to track down four magical objects and a demented, power obsessed warlock hell-bent on becoming the most powerful being in this universe by stealing peoples 'essences' on the next full moon, (Meaning tomorrow night)

Really, he was kind of hoping for the delusional thing…

"…Darling, are you alright? I don't think we are generally supposed to be that pale" Magnus asked, smirking, an amused glint in his cat eyes

"Oh, you know what, j-just shut up for a second…

By the way Ezekiel? You are totally right, the smirking eyebrow thing is annoying as hell

I truly need to cut back on that" he muttered shaking his head slightly

He was kind of pacing the floor, he couldn't sit still…he couldn't do that normally

This was about the farthest from normal you could get

Like a whole other universe, far

Oh hell…

He shook his head one more time, before coming back over by Ezekiel, who was watching him rather concerned, he put his arm around Magnus's shoulders,

"You alright?" he asked cautiously

Magnus closed his eyes, and took a deep, cleansing breath, before releasing it

He nodded faintly, giving him a slightly grateful smile

"Yes, sweetheart, thank you…" he said, before turning back to the screen

He relaxed his shoulders, leaned against the desk, looked over the other two people on the screen, giving a faint smile of acknowledgement before settling on the smirking man with the cat eyes

He gave a casual shrug, and a slightly dismissive wave of his hand

"I'm quite alright, sweetie, thanks so much for the concern.

Slight slip up, but I believe that's rather warranted.

I suppose for you this whole parallel universe, magic, doppelganger thing is somewhat routine, for me it is somewhat unexpected, you understand." He said, all false sweetness

Magnus chuckled, the cat eyes glinting slightly

"Of course, as I said it is rather a first for me as well…though I did have more forewarning, which is to say any whatsoever;

Truthfully I'd half expect someone in your position to be verging on cationic or gibbering like a fool,

I must say, I am rather impressed"

"Well, truth be told I'm kind of going with the possibility that I, in fact, came into contact with whatever is affecting the people at the convention, and by extension, Ezekiel and Jake as well…

I mean, I have been listening to their stories for the better part of two days; it would stand to reason that some of that would stick…

We do not know what is affecting the patrons, though the most likely guess would be a toxin of some kind.

If that is the case then it is entirely possible that I just unknowingly came into contact with it and the delusional scenario I would experience would be based on the most recent, therefore move vivid, narrative I have heard."

He shrugged

Magnus laughed, shaking his head slightly, and again with the eyebrow thing

After today he was definitely cutting down on that

"So, you prefer to think that you are basically hallucinating this?"

"You mean, as opposed to thinking a megalomaniac warlock from another universe is currently collecting people to harvest their essences on the next full moon with the aid of a magic feather from a siren, and the only thing standing in his way is two universe hopping 'Librarians' and a fake psychic detective?

Yeah, I think I'm kinda hoping for the delusional thing"

"Fake!?" Ezekiel asked shocked, whirling to face him

Magnus rolled his eyes

"I don't have powers; I have an eidetic memory and about twenty years of detective training from my stern, overly enthusiastic, slightly obsessive detective father, okay?

Now, can we get back to the craziness at hand?"

"My father was Asmodeus,a greater demon and prince of hell" Magnus ventured

"Awesome; Remind me to call Henry later and apologize…

Apparently, he actually could have been way worse." He said glancing over at Ezekiel

At least he looks as weirded out by Magnus comment as Magnus was

God, this was already exhausting and confusing

Good thing it was just a delusion

Hopefully…

He shook his head

"Once again, can we get back to the most important crazy thing at this particular moment?

The universe hopping, power mad warlock focused on becoming a real life supervillian with the aid of a magic feather?"

The grey haired man on the screen nodded, looking somewhat impressed

"Quite right, thank you, Magnus."

The cute redhead standing next to him perked up, leaning forward and waiving slightly

Oh by the way, this is Jenkins, and I'm Cassandra, or Cassie's fine, and well, you know Magnus

And Magnus? these are the other Librarians, Ezekiel and Jake,

Guys this is…uh…Magnus Bane…

Wow, this is gonna get really confusing really quickly" She finished shaking her head

Everyone just sort of nodded

Ezekiel smirked, nudging Magnus's shoulder slightly

"Well, I could always just call you Sparkles"

"And I could always just tell Jenkins exactly what happened with the Gremlins last year"

"How'd yo-"

"Eidetic memory and deductive reasoning run amok; I remember every word you said, every inflection and can fill in the rest"

Ezekiel huffed, rolling his eyes

"I think the psychic thing was less creepy"

Magnus smirked, raising his eyebrow

What? He said after this he'd cut down

"True, but I've been told it is a fair bet more impressive"

"Fine, we're not calling him Sparkles" Ezekiel grumbled

"When was Sparkles ever an option!? You two seem, like, really chummy…

How much have we missed there?" Cassie asked glancing between Magnus and Ezekiel, then to a slightly glaring Jake

Magnus leaned forward, cat eyes glinting with amusement

"I am actually quite interested in that myself.

Cassandra, dear, you did not tell me just how attractive your friends were…I may have agreed to help sooner" he gave a charismatic smile, glancing over Jake and Ezekiel

Jake just kind of stammered and glared

It was an interesting combination

Ezekiel shook his head

"Uh, no…

And nothing, it's an in joke,

You had to be there,

Anyways, the name thing can wait…Last we talked you guys were worried that he" Pointing towards Magnus next to him

"Might actually be, him" Pointing at the Magnus on the screen

"And here in an elaborate scheme to somehow trap us for some reason or another…

How did we go from that to him sitting in the Library next to you guys?"

"Well, we wanted to be sure if the Magnus there was the Magnus from there or, well, the one from here.

Also, as I did not know what the fourth artifact could have been I thought he may have been able to give us some insight into what it was"

That seemed to snap Jake out of his stubborn, glaring, whatever the hell it was, he seemed stuck on,

"Wait, you know what the last artifact is?" He asked focusing on Magnus

He smirked, eyes flashing

Even on this side of the screen the three felt the need to move back slightly

"Oh yes, I know what he used"

"Uhh…w-what is it?" Ezekiel asked timidly

Man, and he thought this Magnus was intimidating

"My ring, that, apparently, he stole from my own home during a party a few nights ago"

Ezekiel scoffed slightly

"Oookay, so the guy isn't just 'crazy' in the delusions of grandeur, over reaching, supervillian in training kinda way…

He is actually completely bat-crap insane"

Magnus gave a surprised laugh, tilting his head slightly

The movement didn't seem entirely human

But at least the laugh seemed less 'destruction eminent' then the smirk earlier

"Oh, I quite like you, Ezekiel Jones" he practically purred

"Uhh…th-that's uhh…r-real flattering and everything, but uhh…we-" he said, slipping his arm around Jake, pulling him close,

Holding on somewhat too tight

"Are actually together, so uh, yeah…really flattering though"

Jake looked shocked for a moment, before nodding quickly, slipping his arm around Ezekiel too

"Uhh..yup" he said eloquently

Ezekiel fought down the eyeroll, it wouldn't do in the situation,

But seriously,

Yup!?

The guy knows more about literature and poetry than probably anyone on the planet and that's the best he could come up with?

On the screen Magnus grins

It's nearly playful, and like he knows something they don't

It's almost as disconcerting as the smirk with the flashing eyes

"Hmm…what a shame…

In any case, the Magnus there is quite correct. We really must focus on the task at hand.

Does anyone have an idea as to how to begin?" he asked politely glancing around at the others

"W-well, we need to find out exactly who he is. If we can find that out at least you would actually know who you were looking for,

I'd imagine finding a warlock at a Scifi convention has to be kinda difficult" Cassie ventured

Magnus gives a slight bark of a laugh, shaking his head,

"Seriously? He traveled across universes and his first stop is a scifi convention?

I think we have more proof of his insanity"

Ezekiel nodded emphatically

"Oh, dude you don't even know…Trying to spot something odd there is impossible, everything's odd!"

"I would imagine so"

"It is a strange place to target…" Cassie said complicating

"Well, not necessarily…" Jake ventured

"How so?" Magnus asked

Jake shrugged

"Well, the one artifact he has, Meredith's Charm?

In our world it transforms people into whatever they happen to be dressed as…

Where better to find a large number of people dressed up in costume than a scifi convention?

And really it would be the only place where it wouldn't be immediately noticed.

I mean anywhere else the first sighting of a hobbit or alien or whatever and it'd be major news.

But here?

We've been saying it the entire time;

It'd be weirder to find people NOT totally going overboard at one of these things.

Come on, guy's obviously an idiot,

Hell, he snuck into a party at the home of one of the most powerful beings in our universe and swiped a magical piece of jewelry, thinking he'd just get away with it?

Clearly he's a moron…

I'd bet he had no idea the artifacts wouldn't work the same in this universe…

He probably figured it'd be a straight transference of power.

This would be the perfect place to start.

Actually, If he's that off he may have truly got it into his head if he used the charm to transform them into their characters first, he could actually steal the essences of whatever they turned into…" he trailed off shaking his head at the sheer absurdity

Jake glanced around at the others

Magnus, nice, not scary, Magnus, was staring at him like he just saw Jake for the first time,

He nodded slowly

"Very good darling…that would actually track perfectly" he smiled approvingly

Magnus on the screen nodded consideringly

"I agree…very impressive.

Hmm… Handsome, an appealing accent, and intelligence,

You really lucked out…" he said, smirking at Ezekiel, before giving a slight laugh

"Although, I suppose the statement is rather interchangeable with you two"

"That is true enough" Magnus interjected with a slight almost giggle beside them,

Playfully nudging Ezekiel before sending a slightly flirty wink towards Jake

Ezekiel rolled his eyes smirking right back

Jake just blushed and tried to glare

Magnus on the screen gave a delighted laugh and clapped

"Oh, this is far too fun…

When this is all over I may have to spare this imbecile yet for the sheer entertainment this has been"

Magnus cleared his throat, pointedly ignoring what that statement implied

"Umm…yes…well, in any case, we know his motivation, but this brings to mind something else…

Cassandra, darling?

Ezekiel has said that you are quite the wiz when it comes to math;

How likely is it that someone would steal something from that universe and then this universes version of that person would just happen to stumble onto the case?"

She shook her head

"Mathematically nonexistent"

He nodded

"That's about what I thought, thank you darling…

Now, I was hired to investigate this case by the event coordinator,

He came to my office, seemed rather taken with me, talking about my cases.

Not to sound conceded, but I rather thought that the 'case' was just a ruse to meet me…

I suppose it could have been a coincidence that I just happened to get hired for the case, but that seems a bit of a stretch.

The man I was hired by is named Lidan Campbell…

Magnus? Does that name ring any bells?" He paused looking at him

He thought for a moment, but shook his head

"No dear, it doesn't. Although, I am not in the habit of knowing the names of every warlock in existence. I wouldn't have taken any notice of him…

And quite frankly, if he's as weak, willful and incompetent as he is appearing to be, that is probably the only reason he is still in existence, such as he is…"

Magnus nodded kind of wide eyed

"Uh huh, okay, not that that's not totally creepy or disconcerting or disturbing as hell, or anything…but a simple 'no' would have worked.

Anyways,

Maybe on your guys' side you can look into him, perhaps try to find a photo, or check your security cameras or whatever the magical equivalent of them would be… and get a photo to us.

Meanwhile we'll look into it from this side, check his background and such…

There's no way someone could have put together this entire event in a few days; I mean, if the warlock we were chasing was YOU then, yeah, but this guy?

No chance…

I'm thinking it's either a false name or he found a way to trick or charm his way into the position

Or he's just flat out lying and he has at least enough power to snap up all access passes and the like for the event…

In any case it would mean that he wanted me, or you, or this universes version of you. or some combination thereof, here for the event…

Perhaps he believes that I am, in actuality, a psychic and wants those abilities,

Or thinks that somehow with the charm thing I will somehow have your abilities, thereby giving him a chance at them,

Or, hell, maybe he's just some overly obsessed Fanboy with a crush, I don't know, and it is irreverent anyways;

There has to be a reason I am here

I was hired by Lidan, hence he is the best place to start" he finished more confidently

Okay, he may not know other universes, magic, warlocks or whatever else,

But he had been training to solve cases for the better part of his life

He had this

Magnus was staring at him rather curiously, eyes flickering slightly

"I agree darling

So…you still thinking this is a delusion?"

Magnus smirked, raising his eyebrow

"No, I think this is a case

I have a suspect, means, and a motive

All we have to do is find the solution; this? I got…"

_End Of Chapter Notes_

Okay, yes, I know Magnus should have thought about Simon and Raphael at the convention, but it didn't play into the narrative as of yet…

Give him a second, he just found out alternate universes exist and he still partially thinks he may be delusional…

Anyways,

I LOVE THIS CHAPTER SO MUCH!

What do you guys think?