Magnus's heart was crushed. He was relieved, of course, his conversation with Alec had gone better than expected. At least he and Alec were still together, that was all he could have really asked for. But when he had finished explaining to Alec that he had never wanted to marry anyone else, his Alexander had promptly begun sobbing.
He had held on to Alec for hours, squeezing him harder and kissing his forehead when words weren't enough anymore. He had first tried talking to him, telling him that everything was going to be okay, that they were both going to be fine. But he quickly began to lose his composure as well and settled for holding Alec as tightly as he could and playing with his hair.
After hours of the same thing, Alec had cried himself to sleep in Magnus's arms. Alec was still asleep when the buzzer in the apartment went off.
Magnus, not wanting to wake Alec, used magic to answer it and whispered, "If it's not life and death, go away right this second."
He could hear low laughter on the other end of the line. "Magnus, it's Jace and Clary, and this matter actually is life and death, so let us up or I'll break in."
Magnus chuckled when he heard a gasp, obviously from Clary, "No you won't Jace Herondale!"
Jace's voice was amused when he responded, "It's not like I haven't done it before, Clary."
"Stop right there, Jace. I do not want to know about that," Magnus's voice was still as soft as he could make it. "Come on up." He buzzed them in and leaned over to wake Alec up.
"Alexander," he whispered while brushing the hair out of his eyes. "Alec, wake up, your terrible brother is here."
Alec choked back a laugh as he began to wake up, rubbing his eyes which were still puffy. He thought he was going to begin crying again, until Magnus leaned forward and kissed his cheek and he couldn't help but smiling. "Magnus, you know I'm not really in the mood for this right now."
Magnus could hear how much he had cried in Alec's voice. He reached up and brushed his thumb across Alec's cheek. "I know, darling, but if we need to I can always kick him out."
"Sure you'd love to do that, Bane." Jace smirked as he walked in the door. "But this is something that you're both going to be in the mood for, trust me."
Clary, who was right behind him was clutching her journal and looked absolutely terrified. Alec caught on to this immediately and scooted forward to the edge of the couch. "Clary, what's wrong?" He looked up to Jace, searching for an answer.
"What's wrong with me?" Clary was taken aback by the state of both Magnus and Alec. "Alec, are you okay? You've been crying, I can tell." She automatically strode across the room and sat beside of Alec, taking one of his hands while still clutching her journal with the other.
Alec couldn't help but smile; he and Clary were finally close, like brother and sister, and she was constantly worrying about him. "I'm fine Clary, it's-"
"Oh cut the crap, Alec." Jace began laughing at the surprise on both Magnus and Alec's faces. "I can hear in your voice that you've been crying. And I can also see from the number of puffy eyes in this room that he," she motioned towards Magnus, "has been crying, too."
"It's nothing, I promise," Alec's voice was much stronger than he had expected, he was feeling much better since his nap in Magnus's arms. "What's going on? I know there's something, why are you two here? Not that I don't love having you here, but I can tell it's not just a pleasure visit."
Clary began fidgeting in her seat and Alec could tell there was something that was really bothering her. He leaned back against Magnus again, who immediately wrapped his arms around Alec. They could both tell that this wasn't just one of their normal crises, this had something to do with the two of them.
"Clary and I have something we need to talk to you about, and for once in my life I'm taking this pretty seriously," Jace's voice wasn't exactly as strong as he had intended it to be, and he knew Alec could pick up on how it was shaking.
Clary realized that Jace was on the verge of losing his own composure and picked up the conversation from there, "I have something I need to show you, something that was sent to me," She looked pointedly at Alec. "Something sent to me for you."
"What are you talking about Clary? Just go ahead and let us have it, we can take it."
"I've been sent another rune," She reached over and opened her journal, handing it over to Alec so that he could see the new rune she had drawn. It was unlike any rune Alec had ever seen before, it was so complicated he wasn't sure he could ever replicate it. He looked up at Clary, confusion clear in his eyes.
"It's gorgeous, but what does it mean, Clary?" She reached out and covered one of his hands with hers, flipping the journal to the next page with her other hand.
As soon as Alec had read the words on the page below, he dropped the book, as though it had been set on fire, and covered his mouth with both hands. He began shaking his head in earnest. "It's not…No, Clary, that's not possible." His voice was breaking and they could all tell he was close to tears.
As he stood up Magnus stood with him, catching him before he could walk away and turning him around. The look on Alec's face was enough to both break Magnus's heart and fill him with rage. He immediately turned to Clary.
"How could you do this to him?" He was practically screaming. "Do you not understand what he's been going through? How could you play such a sick, demented joke on him?"
Jace automatically jumped up, "Woah there, no Magnus, you've got this all wrong. Just calm down a second. You of all people should know that we would never do this to Alec. I know what it's been doing to him, and more than anything else, I know how much he loves you. I would never joke about this with either of you."
Magnus had to admit that Jace had a point, but the pain in Alec's eyes was unbearable. He could feel the tears streaming down his own face when Clary's soft voice began again, "Magnus, Alec, please. I would never do this to you; you both know that. You have to believe me when I tell you that this is real."
"Magnus.." Alec's voice was barely audible, the pain crystal clear. "I can't do this. I'm sorry. I love you, but I'm sorry." He gave Magnus a quick kiss before turning and running out of the apartment.