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Izzy was halfway to the door when his voice stopped her. "Wait."
"Why?" She asked turning to look at him again. "It's obvious you don't want to talk. If you told me what you did, I might have been able to help. But now…"
"You can't help me…"
"Try me."
"Fine." He said looking up, some fire back in his eyes. "You wanna know what I did? I did two stupid things. The one I regretted immediately… The other… the other wasn't even stupid actually. And I will never regret it even if it kills me."
"Be clearer please." She said crossing her arms over her chest. "I can guess what the first thing was. But what about the second?"
"It doesn't matter…"
"I've lost count of how many times I heard that today!" She finally snapped. "It matters, so just tell me!"
"I told you already! I fixed my mistake. He is happy now, that's the only thing that matters."
"You didn't fix anything! The only way to fix your mistake would be to take him back!"
Magnus dropped his eyes shaking his head.
"Magnus! He loves you! And by the looks of you, you love him too!"
"What's wrong with my looks?" He said trying to change the subject and sound lighthearted, but failing miserably. "I'm magnificent…"
"Right. You are a magnificent mess about to collapse… You look like you're barely surviving… It's not normal."
He snorted.
"Magnus…" Izzy sighed. "I mean it. I've seen heartbreak before. That's not normal. You're acting like someone died."
"Don't tell me how to be heartbroken." He half-snapped at her.
"I saw you heartbroken before today… And it wasn't that bad. What happened to you? It's as if your pain got doubled!"
Magnus raised his eyes at her for a moment surprised, before dropping them again hastily.
"Oh. OH." She whispered, the pieces clicking together. "Magnus… What have you done?"
"So many questions…" He sighed.
"Is it possible?" She asked ignoring his half-hearted try to avoid the question. "Can you take away someone's pain like that?"
"No." Magnus finally said. "You cannot. Pain is like energy. It cannot be erased."
"Only transferred…" Izzy muttered and he nodded, dropping his head exhausted. She looked at him and remembered the way Alec looked this morning. Genuinely happy and carefree, not even Max's death shadowing his smile. "High Warlock or not, you messed up." She said and Magnus looked up at her anxiously.
"Messed up?" He asked worriedly. "Did something happen to him? Is he alright?"
Izzy sighed patting his head gently. It was crystal clear he loved Alec, so why was he being so stubborn? "You took all of his pain Magnus." She explained. "Even about Max! You can't live like that. It's too much!"
"Oh." The Warlock muttered, understanding, before shaking his head. "That's okay. It's the least I can do."
"Magnus… You can't survive this. All this pain will destroy you." She tried to talk him out of it again.
He shook his head slowly, staring at the wall, seeing nothing. "I'm more than 400 years old Isabelle. I've had more than my fair share of pain. I've lived in agony before, and I can do it again. And even if I can't, it's okay. Sacrificing my life for his happiness would be more than worth it."
"Magnus!"
"You don't have to worry." He said before she could add anything else. "His pain will die with me, it won't return to him. He won't…" He swallowed the lump in his throat, struggling to hold back tears. "He won't even know I'm gone. Won't care…" His voice broke but he still held the tears back, stubbornly. "Even if he hears I died… He won't care… No one will."
She couldn't take it anymore. No matter what happened between him and Alec, she loved Magnus like a brother too, and couldn't bear to just stand there and watch him suffer.
She wrapped her arms around him tightly, and he gasped softly not expecting the gesture, but then he hugged her back, hiding his face in her hair, trembling.
"I'm not worried about Alec right now." She told him petting his hair softly. "I'm worried about you. You stupid Warlock. No one will be happy if you disappear."
"Alec…"
"Alec is stupidly happy about everything right now, even the stupid weather so he doesn't count!" She snapped. "And you know he hates weather like that!"
Magnus laughed softly, a laugh wet with tears and she pretended not to notice in order to let his pride survive unscathed. Though she doubted he cared about that at all.
"Please Magnus… Was what he did so terrible? So unforgivable?"
"It was." He said surprising her, and she let go to look at him. "But I have forgiven him anyway."
"Then why?" She asked. "Why not take him back? Why prolong the suffering of you both? You do love him. Right?" She added because even though she could clearly see he did, it didn't make sense to love him and still stay away despite forgiving him.
"Of course I love him." He said. "I love him more than I have ever loved anyone before in my life."
She stared at him, taken aback. She knew Magnus loved her brother, but hadn't truly realised the extent of his love up until now. "I don't get it." She muttered. "If he really is important to you. If you love him that much, why?"
Magnus dropped his eyes, pained. "At first it was because of what he did. I never thought Alec could betray me like that. It hurt unbearably to be proven wrong. And then, after I realised why he did it, and that he may not have betrayed me after all…" He trailed off.
"Then what?"
"I was scared. Terrified. I've never felt this way about anyone before. I would have never forgiven anyone else, for what Alec did. But a look at his face the next time I saw him was all it took for me to reconsider. Loving someone that much is taking away your free will. Is giving them the power to shatter your heart with a snap of their fingers. Alec has already done it once. And I still don't care. No matter how many times he'd shatter it, I'd pick up the pieces and offer them to him. Because my heart will always be his. But I can't. I shouldn't live like that."