A/N: So… it's been a while. I apologise to anyone who's been waiting for this story to finally be updated (it's been over seven months), but thank you for your patience. I have a good few chapters lined up so that I can update every week for at least the next month. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep it up and not fall behind again. Sorry for the wait, but please do enjoy (and don't forget to review!)

Chapter 10

Alec was cold. He hadn't realised it before, but the chilling feeling surrounding him could no longer be ignored, the freezing temperature seeping slowly into his bones and paralysing him so that he felt as though he was trapped in a human sized block of ice.

He was pretty sure he was submerged in water, but he had no idea how he was breathing. It might have had something to do with the unfamiliar rune he had recently spotted on the inside of his arm, but Alec didn't possess enough energy to worry about the fact that it was gradually fading. He was tired, but couldn't sleep. He couldn't even attempt a guess at how long he'd been there, but it felt like forever.

It must have been a few hours ago that Alec had felt a pounding in his head and a familiar presence that comforted him and warmed his heart just a little - it felt like so long ago, but the feeling still throbbed in Alec's chest. He was sure it had been Jace, so heavenly warm that Alec had almost been able to feel the sensation burning on his skin, scaring away the infinite cold. It must have been him, his parabatai, calling out for him with a voice spiked with worry and confusion. Alec hoped upon every cell in his body that Jace - or anyone, really - would save him from this nightmare.

But that had been ages ago. Now Alec was left in the cold, praying to the Angel, his family, Jace and even Magnus that it would all end soon. He wasn't sure he could take this hell much longer.

"Magnus, open up! It's Isabelle!" Izzy pounded on the door with desperation in her tone, and Jace was sure that it was going to fall down before the warlock on the other side even had a chance to open it. She was anxious, riddled with worry for her brother who had now been missing for well over 24 hours. It was unlike him to stay out for so long without a word, and what Jace had seen through the tracking rune had scared him. He was concerned for his parabatai - and lover's - wellbeing, and a chill of uncertainty and worry shot through him at the thought of Alec.

Magnus soon answered the door, with an unwilling flick of his wrist and a scowl that could have burned through steel. He was dressed sloppily, with only boxers, a T-shirt and an elaborate robe on his person - it was strange for the warlock to wear such little glamour, and with absolutely no makeup, even on a day in which he was feeling groggy. His T-shirt didn't even have a quirky, slightly inappropriate slogan printed on it, just a plain green fabric. Magnus had always been anything but plain.

"What do you want?" He grumbled, barely opening his eyes before shutting them tightly at the sight if both the Shadowhunters at his door and, it seemed, the sun. He sighed, rubbing his forehead and groaning in a way that showed that he was clearly hungover - and badly so. "Must you Nephilim bother me every day? Don't I deserve a day off for once?" he moaned.

"Magnus, we need your help -" Izzy began, but was abruptly interrupted as the warlock's hand was held up to stop her.

"Please, save your breath. My head hurts too much to listen to you." Jace was so flattered by how nicely Magnus had worded that sentence that he was prepared the punch the other man in the face, no matter if it was against Covenant law. But before he had the chance, Magnus stumbled back into his apartment, reaching back to slam the door shut. Izzy caught it easily with her foot and traipsed into the loft without bothering to wait for an invitation that she was obviously never going to receive.

"It's Alec," she explained to Magnus, persistently following him as he made his way towards his kitchen.

"What about him? I told you that your efforts are futile, Isabelle -"

"He's missing."

Magnus spun around suddenly, tossing the glass in his hand over the room in the process. But he didn't even flinch when the glass shattered against the wall, immediately focused entirely on Izzy with his wide, cat-like eyes. "He's what?"

At that moment, a thud sounded on the wooden floor and a smudge of grey fur strolled into the room - Chairman Meow. The cat glanced up at its owner and mewed as though questioning what he had missed, before pouncing onto the couch - which was currently of a vivid purple - and taking a seat to watch the rest of the conversation play out.

Magnus didn't even seem to notice his beloved pet, his eyes fixed on Izzy. "What do you mean he's missing?" he queried loudly. "He's a Nephilim, not a dog."

"We haven't seen him since yesterday," Isabelle explained, "and he's not answering his phone -"

"And he's five years old, is he?" All of a sudden Magnus' attitude changed, switching from the intense worry he'd held just seconds before to this neutral annoyance that he seemed to be using as a curtain to conceal his real emotions. The warlock scoffed and turned away, shifting his attention to Chairman Meow by stroking the cat's head as it purred and nudged at his petting hand. "You do realise that your brother is an adult. He may simply be avoiding your calls, he doesn't need to be constantly held on a leash."

"Don't you think we thought of that?" Jace sent back. He purposefully hadn't spoken as of yet, but Magnus' tone wasn't making it easy for him to stay silent. "We're not idiots, you know. We used a tracking rune."

"And? What did you see?"

"Not much," Jace admitted, "but I'm pretty sure I know when my parabatai is in trouble, and that's now." Jace knew for sure that he was right, and the sceptic approach Magnus took was making him anxious. He felt this helplessness somewhere within him, a subconscious emotion that trickled into his thoughts and one he somehow knew was a projection from Alec. The fear was obvious and immense in its simplicity: Alec, wherever he was, needed help, and Jace was fully prepared to go to the ends of the Earth to find him.

Magnus sighed with frustration, but beneath his annoyance was a worry that Jace could see was pushing on the edges of the warlock's frown. His true feelings were so obvious that Jace wondered why he even bothered hiding them, but he guessed it was easier to live on in denial than to except pain.

"You know I don't do favours," Magnus muttered, his fingers still idly stroking at the Chairman's fur.

"Well make an exception!" Jace cried. "Deny it all you want, but you still care about Alec just as much as we do."

Magnus looked straight up at Jace then, his feline eyes boring into the gold of his irises. He let out another long breath but didn't let go of Jace's gaze as he said, "This had better not be another plot to get Alexander and I back together."

Jace just shook his head, trying to hide a gulp. He knew that Magnus was aware of his and Alec's recent encounters just by the sorrowful look in his eyes but somehow they seemed to hold no more resentment than usual. "I would never lie about Alec being hurt," he promised.

Magnus looked away for a moment, but Jace was unable to wait for an answer. "Are you going to help or not?" he demanded. "If you won't then we'll leave." To this Izzy sent him a questioning look, as it was true that that they really had nowhere else to go for help, but it seemed to be the only encouragement Magnus needed, as the warlock turned back to the two Nephilim and nodded.

"There is one thing I can do," he told them, "but I suggest that one of you returns to the Institute - Alec may soon return of his own accord, and I'm sure Maryse would appreciate an explanation of what's going on."

"I'll go," Jace said immediately, as the warlock was already beginning to annoy him, and Maryse was much less likely to shout at Jace for not being informed than her daughter.

"I'll let you know if anything comes up," Izzy told him, and he nodded before leaving the apartment and rushing back to the Institute as fast as he could.

As soon as Jace had left the apartment, Isabelle turned to Magnus with a pitiful look in her eye. The warlock was well under-dressed, his face so bare of make-up that he looked ill without it. Izzy knew that, in a way, he was ill. He may not have had any normal sickness, but it was clear in his face and the way he rushed so frantically around that he cared a lot more about Alec than he let on.

"Magnus," Izzy said, but the High Warlock refused to pause for even a second; he was intent on raiding cupboards and draws for whatever tools and materials he required, leaving a mess as he went. "Magnus, stop, just for a second," she urged him, but Magnus only groaned.

"I don't have time to stop, Isabelle. Do you want me to find your brother or not?" There was something in his voice beyond just annoyance, an emotion trapped at the back of his throat that he swallowed back, keeping it to himself. But as good as he was at hiding his emotions, Izzy saw right through him.

"Magnus, just talk to me for a moment -"

"There's no time, Izzy!" he snapped. "We have no idea where Alexander is and no clue what's happening to him - any moment something could happen and he could be -" Magnus found that he couldn't even utter the word 'killed', and was cut off by his own tongue only to reach up to rub his aching temples. There had been many times during his and Alec's relationship when either one or both of their lives had been severely at risk - it was the unfortunate nature of their world, their lives. But now Magnus knew that if they found Alec dead, he would feel more responsible than ever. There was a horrible feeling of guilt already heavy on his chest, and it had been there from the moment he'd returned home after ending things with Alec. He could barely take it anymore, and he knew that if Alec was dead it would tip him over the edge. Magnus had been there before, in that endless pit of heartache, and he didn't ever want to return.

Izzy edged forward, stepping cautiously towards the warlock, who seemed to be frozen in the centre of the room. She reached out to place a hand on his shoulder, attempting to comfort him - she found that she couldn't stand by and do nothing knowing the heartache and worry he must have been feeling. But Magnus shrugged off her gesture and stood up taller, trying to look stronger despite the tears that were insistently forming in his eyelids.

"There's no use sitting about mourning," he told Izzy. "He's not dead yet." Even though Magnus knew that he couldn't quite say this for sure, it comforted him to just say it and deny any possibility that what he said could have been a lie. Besides, he kept reminding himself, he had seen the effects of a Nephilim losing his parabatai, and Jace didn't seem quite that distraught as of yet.

"You're right," Izzy admitted. "What are you going to do?"

"A spell, of course." Magnus had only stood still for a few seconds, although the time had felt like hours, but now he was once again caught in a flurry as he rushed about his apartment.

"Do you need anything?" Izzy was prepared to help in any way she could - as usual, she would do anything to keep her older brother safe.

"Yes, a few things," Magnus replied, frazzled with his cat-like eyes darting over the mess he himself had made. "Although I believe Catarina should have them." He suddenly leapt towards the couch and grabbed his phone, tossing it straight to Isabelle, who caught the device with ease.

"Call her for me!" Magnus instructed as he swiftly glided from the room, and Izzy immediately began to do as he asked. But, just as she was about to call Magnus' warlock friend, she noticed a long list of missed calls from a contact named "Sweet Cheeks". Izzy immediately recognised the number as her brother's, and half-smiled, half-sobbed as she saw right before her eyes the reluctance Magnus had to let Alec go. She felt sorry for him - she felt immense sorrow for all three of them. It was clear that Alec was trapped in between two points of a love triangle that could only end in pain, and on top of all this, she had no idea where he was. Izzy was sure, and silently prayed to the Angel, that things couldn't get worse than this.