Hi friends! Thanks a lot for reading this fic. On with the next chapter. Sorry for mistakes.

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INSIDE

Seven year old Rafael coughed as he slowly sat upright and rubbed his eyes to clear his vision. The amount of dust still floating in the air was making impossible for him to see anything infront of him. The thunderous sound of wall collapsing had scared the wits out of him and he was thrown backwards where he fell flat on the dusty floor. When Rafael's eyes fell on the huge mountain of cement slabs, rocks and poles, the boy remembered what happened and his heart started racing "Papa!" he called out

"Rafael" came a voice from his side so the boy turned his head to see Max staring at him with wide eyes. His face was smudged with dust and looked like he was in pain "Move...you are squashing my leg" Rafael looked down and noticed he was sitting on top of Max's leg. He quickly moved away and Max sat up rubbing his ankle. He scanned the fallen debris and gasped out loudly "What is all this?"

Rafael sneezed wiping his nose with his sleeve and backed up to the wall behind. Max stood tried to move the big pole infront of him but couldn't even shift an inch "It's too heavy" he panted and desperately called out to his father "Daddy!"

"They can't hear us. Max we are stuck here" Rafael clutched his legs and brought up to his chest feeling scared. Max stared at him with wide eyes and then looked around again. Feeling lonely and frightened, he decided to sit next to Rafael "Where are we?"

"I don't know... the room just went kaboom" said Rafael and Max tried to look through the destruction again but couldn't see the door where they had first entered "The door is blocked" he said trembling with fear

Rafael didn't reply because he knew Max was right. Max scooted closer to him and Rafael automatically grabbed his hands, not wanting to be alone. Max tightly held Rafael's hands "I want Daddy" he started crying and Rafael couldn't hold back his own tears and cried openly "Papa"

OUTSIDE

"Please evacuate this place as soon as possible. Everybody make sure your child is with you" the manager yelled at his customers. Magnus and Alec ran to the man "What the hell is going on here?"

"I'm so sorry Mr Bane but it seems an accident has occured in our new storage room which is still unconstruction. I'm not sure what happened but it would be better for your safety if you leave this restaurant"

Magnus's heart dropped to his stomach while Alec felt his body go numb "Mr Rosewood my son is not here!" said Magnus desperately

"Mine too! I can't find Max" Alec stood next to Magnus, eyes still searching for his son.

"What!?" Rosewood looked around "But the party was being held here. They have to be in this hall"

"They're not!" Alec raised his voice and Magnus looked at him "Raising your voice isn't going to help" Alec pointed his finger "You stay out of this Magnus. I just want to find Max"

Magnus glared at Alec "Your son isn't the only one who is missing" he turned to face the manager "Look Mr Rosewood no one has seen the boys leave. They must be here somewhere"

The man's eyes widened "Oh my God!" he placed his hand on his forehead "Did the boys go in the..." he looked at the two fathers and saw their faces go paler than before "Stay here please. I'll go check inside and inform you"

"I'm coming" Alec said without hesitation and Magnus nodded "We can't wait here"

"But we don't even know the kids are in there" Rosewood tried to agrue but Alec and Magnus were adamant about their decision. The manager gave a reluctant nod and soon they stood outside the last room. Rosewood turned the knob and entered followed by the two fathers and three men of his staff. Magnus saw many old boxes stacked in a corner. Four large shelfs occupied most of the room along with two cupboards that were placed on the right side. The strong smell of dust reached their nose and fear crept inside him "Rafael!"

"Max!"

Magnus and Alec called out many times and double checked the room but got no reply and their heart sank further. Rosewood then walked to the corner of the room where his new storage room was building and gasped in shock. He tried to open the door but it didn't budge. He cursed inwardly and called out "Mr Bane! You two need to see this"

Magnus and Alec ran towards the manager who pointed his shaky finger on the floor "Look at the two small set of footprints. I..I think your sons are in here. I can't open the door...something is blocking from inside"

Both Magnus and Alec stood frozen, shock settling in their body. Their boys were in the room which was locked. After few seconds Magnus was the one who reacted first. He pushed Rosewood out of the way and tried to open the door "Rafael! Rafael are you in there?!" tears leaked from his eyes and he banged on the door couple of times but got no response "Dammit! Rafael! Angel please... Can you here me?" He turned around and caught Rosewood by his collar "This is all your fault" he yelled "Why didn't you inform me this place was still underconstrution? If anything happens to my son then..."

"Please Mr Bane calm down. This room is far away from the main hall. I don't know how the boys ended up here. Please cooperate with me. I'll go call the rescue team" the manager freed himself and hurriedly went out to make few calls. Alec took a step back looking terrified, his eyes fixed on the door. He felt suffocated and trapped just like Max was in there. He loosened his top two buttons to get air in "Max" No no no this cannot be happening. Not to his son. The silence from other end was killing him inside. Was Max even alive, the thought crossed Alec's mind and his knees buckled

INSIDE

The boys were down to sniffles as they waited for their fathers to come rescue them. Both huddled together were eyeing the door that they could barely see, hoping any second it would magically open. Suddenly Rafael felt a warm liquid in his hand, the same one Max was holding. He took hold of Max's hand who hissed at the pull "Don't touch that"

Rafael frowned when he looked closer "Max you are hurt! You have blood on your palm"

Max looked at the small cut and nodded "I got it from that stone" he pointed at the rock infront of him that had sharp edges. Rafael quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wrapped it gently over Max's palm just like he would tie a shoelace with a bow knot on top "Why didn't you tell me before"

"I was.. scared" Max hicupped as fresh tears surfaced in his eyes. Rafael nodded and wiped his tears off "Don't worry Max. Papa and Mr Lightwood are outside. They will come and save us" he spoke softly

"Aren't you scared?"

Rafael wanted to cry again but forced himself to be strong. He was seven year old now. A big boy. He will not cry like a baby "I am scared Max but we have to be strong okay. Mr Lightwood would want you to be strong. They are coming for us"

Max stared at Rafael and out of no where he hugged him tightly "Thank you Rafael" Rafael slowly hugged Max back "Yeah..Welcome"

OUTSIDE

The place was now surrounded by rescue team workers. Plans and sketches were made on how to rescue the two kids without causing any harm to them. The didn't have the exact location of the boys and that was their main drawback. The single storage room was newly attached to the restaurant so they could work from outside. After discussing several times, the head of the rescue team then decided to start removing the big stones and cement slabs from the top.

It had been more than three hours since the rescue mission had begun. Reporters and media people were all over the area and were showing live coverage of the rescue. Magnus paced impatiently as he saw the workers slowly and carefully remove the huge and heavy cement slabs, all the while calling out to the boys so they wouldn't harm them by mistake.

Magnus took a glance at Alec. His red puffy eyes and tense posture told him that he was worried sick just like him. Only if things were right between them, then he wouldn't be standing alone right now. Why are you standing far away Alexander when I need you the most, thought Magnus and prayed for their boys safety. Please God please send my baby back to me, Magnus looked above for tenth time

"Alec drink some water" Jace held the glass infront of his brother who shook his head "I'm not going to have anything before Max is back with me again" he pushed away the glass. His brother and sister came running at the scene when they saw the live coverage on tv. Jace shared a look with Izzy who was equally worried for her nephew. She didn't want to even picture the thought of not having Max around. Alec would be devastated if anything happened to Max.

Alec's eyes then fell on Magnus and thought he too must be scared to death for Rafael. He so badly wanted to run towards the man and comfort him but he couldn't. Magnus had hurt and betrayed him. He made it very clear he didn't want to even see his face anymore. Alec sighed, his thoughts shifting back to his son "Hang on Maxie"

INSIDE ONE HOUR LATER

Both the boys were exhausted and sweating badly. Rafael sneezed again followed by few coughs. The boy felt he wasn't getting enough air to breathe. He noticed Max was also breathing heavily beside him "What time is it?" Rafael asked Max who checked his watch "Don't know. My watch is broken" The older boy picked up a small pebble and threw it on the big stone in frustration "It's been so long. What is papa doing?"

A thought crossed Max's mind and his eyes widened "Rafael!" he shook the boy's arm "What if Dad and Mr Bane came to know about our plan? What if they are mad and they won't come for us. What if they are punishing us?"

Rafael had a scowl on his face. He didn't like what Max was thinking but he also knew his papa would be very mad if he came to know about his plan. Rafael didn't want Max to panic so he lied "They will not find out. We are stuck here so who is going to tell them huh?"

Max nodded feeling relieved "Are you hungry?" he asked with a smile "I have few chocolates in pocket" Rafael straightened himself, temporarily forgetting about the insufficient air they were getting "Why didn't you tell me before? I am hungry!"

Max quickly emptied his pocket. There were six chocolates so they broke down to three each and ate like they hadn't eaten in years "Do you have more?" Rafael asked and saw Max shook his head

"It's okay" said Rafael and patted on Max's shoulder "Thank you" Max smiled broadly "You are welcome"

Rafael replied with his own smile and held his hand out "So... friends?"

Max looked at Rafael's extended hand with wide eyes. Soon a smile crept on his face and Max shook his hands "Friends" he confirmed

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