Disclaimer:I'm not Cassandra Clare thus own none of her characters.

I'M SORRY! I WAS GOING TO POST THIS CHAPTER YESTERDAY, BUT THEN CASSIE POSTED A NEW MALEC SNIPPET AND EVERY LAST COHERENT THOUGHT I HAD FLEW OUT THE WINDOW. (I almost died actually…) {Have you read it yet?}

To Guest Annabeth: Thank you! I had written the part on ch.21 as it is, and when editing I almost changed it to something along the lines of 'how could you believe etc" and then realised it was too similar to Twilight! xD (Hadn't read it in ages, and I forgot momentary of the other quote)

CHAPTER 22 - A promise and an Angel's worth

Minutes, maybe hours passed and they just lied on the bed, serenely holding each other, feeling complete. Alec was relishing the feeling of his soul in one piece again, the warmth he missed so much these two Hellish days, but there was still more he needed to say… Even though he was terrified, dreading the moment when Magnus would agree with him and sent him away. He had to tell him…

He left Magnus' arms, and raised his body a bit, supporting it on his elbows. The Warlock looked at him questioningly and asked "Sweetheart? What's wrong?" Gathering his courage, the young Shadowhunter took a deep breath and prayed not to regret his next words. "I… Magnus… You may think I do… But I… I… don't deserve you… I'm not worthy… Of you, of anything… I–"

"Not worthy?" the Warlock interrupted him mid-sentence looking at him incredulously, raising an eyebrow "Darling, you can't get more worthy than that. You are kind, strong, lovely and beautiful, not only outwardly but inside as well!" He said breathlessly, without even stopping to think. Alec violently shook his head raising his tone a little, "But I'm not! I'm none of these thing Magnus! I… I'm… unimportant. I'm… nothing." The older man reached out to him, cradling his face in his hands "Please, don't say that my love… It pains me to see you torture yourself. How, can you say that? Listen to me… You are more important than you will ever know. And no matter what you may lead yourself to believe, to me, you are perfect and always will be. I love you. Do you hear me? You are perfect, and if anyone so much as dared to say otherwise, these would be his last words. Please sweetheart. Don't treat yourself like that. I love you. I love you so much…" "But I…" Alec paused, swallowing hard; "I betrayed you…" "No you didn't…" Magnus retorted "You said so yourself… You would never betray me…" "I…"

"You, are just a child." "I am not a child." Alec pouted stubbornly and Magnus smiled sadly in response. "But you are sweetheart… You are a child who hadn't known love before and made a mistake. I understand now… How scared you've been… I should have listened to you and spare us both the pain. I know you never meant to hurt me." "But you said…" "I know… And I'm so sorry… I said that calling that a mistake was a vast understatement. It's no excuse, but I was hurt so badly… I… I did think you had betrayed me." Magnus said looking down "I thought you chose Camille over me… It wasn't about what you did, but the fact itself that you of all people, did it." The Warlock paused, and then raised his head again, looking deep into the Shadowhunter's blue eyes, and went on "And I was wrong… So wrong. It was just a mistake. I had so many years… I've done so many mistakes myself, how could I not forgive you? I'm sorry… I had forgotten… How it was to be young and scared, to experience things for the first time…" "Had?" Alec spoke for the first time in minutes, too surprised to stop himself. "Yes…" Magnus smiled at him sweetly "Because now, I remember again. You make me feel alive again… Feel things I'd never thought I would. When I found you in the tunnels I was terrified. I thought I'd lost you forever… And there are still many I haven't done… Things I want to do with you. If…" he dropped his eyes to the floor surprising Alec even further. He'd never seen him look so vulnerable "If… you could possibly forgive me."

"Don't you know my answer already?" Alec answered simply and Magnus' face fell. "I understand…" he said in a small voice, not facing the Nephilim who looked at him intensely "Do you?" "Yes." Magnus said, looking at him at last, his eyes gleaming with unshed tears he fought to control. He seemed so hurt, Alec almost felt physical pain, just looking at him. "Of course…" Magnus went on. "There was no way you could forgive me… You may have made a mistake, but I was the one who led you to it… I forced your hand. And I was the one who destroyed what we had without a second thought. It was stupid of me to think you could, or should forgive me… I'm sorry." Alec was dumbfounded.

'But I said I love you!' he thought, screaming internally; 'What are you talking about? I just said I am the one not worthy of you… Did you listen to a word I actually said?'

He fought back the urge to hug Magnus and say all that out loud, and instead whispered. "It's true." Magnus bit his lip, trying to hold back his tears, looking away. "You did not give it a second thought before deciding we should break up. But, before saying anything else, let me answer my own questions. 'No.'" "What?" The Warlock looked up at last, surprised. "No." Alec repeated with a tone of finality and Magnus dropped his gaze again. "I see you do not know my answer already. No. It seems you don't understand." The boy reached out to him touching his face. "Look at me." he did, and Alec went on, "How could my answer be anything else than 'Of course I forgive you. I love you.' ?" "You… do…?" "You stupid Warlock. Why am I here?" He answered smiling, and Magnus did too at the reminder, a tear escaping his cat-eyes. Alec gently swept it away closing the distance between them. It was a real struggle to keep it up for so long.

"While I was speaking before, saying I, was unworthy of you, were you even listening?" he asked incredulously. "How could you… YOU, of all people, the Magnificent Magnus Bane, think I wouldn't forgive you?" He semi-shouted, taking the Warlock's face in his hands. Magnus looked at him, frozen with surprise his eyes shining, a small smile forming on his lips. "Especially when you're looking at me like that…" Alec added blushing a little, "Stop it." Magnus regained his composure, smirking at him. "Stop what darling?" "Stop being so… so…outrageously adorable one moment, then sexy the next, then… argh! Just stop, you're driving me crazy!" Alec mumbled and blushed deeper as Magnus' smirk intensified. The Nephilim looked away embarrassed and Magnus reached out to him and turned his face his way, a gentle smile playing at his lips. "Don't be embarrassed baby… You know I adore your honesty…" "Honesty, huh?" Alec muttered under his breath and then spoke up, a little aggressively, scaring Magnus momentary. "You want honesty?

I was dead without you." Alec said, leaning his forehead against Magnus', looking deep into his eyes. "I love you. And I will till the day I die." he paused, looking sceptical for a moment "Unless…" Magnus looked terrified. "I become a ghost! Are ghosts real? In this case, you'll never get rid of me. Unless you want to, of course…" he finished looking away, blushing realising he was being too bold again. Magnus just hugged him tightly. "You impossible boy… I love you so much… Never leave me."

………

Magnus had just closed his eyes, letting his mind wonder, when it hit him. He remembered about the Lightwood ring, and raised his head with a jolt. "Alexander!" He snapped leaving Alec's embrace and laughing momentary at his pouting face in response to that action. However he soon sobered up and said; "You… You… Zero Confidence Nephilim! How could you believe that?" "What?" the Shadowhunter looked at him, surprised, not understanding. "That." Magnus replied, raising his hand in front of Alec's face, to show him the ring on his finger, quoting; "Please, don't forget me too soon…" he closed his green eyes, shaking his head, "My stupid Nephilim… How could I ever forget you? How could you believe that? Once more, how… and… and why, can you think so lowly of yourself my love?" While he was talking, Alec was staring at the ring on his finger, not believing either his eyes or ears. He hadn't noticed him wearing it, and even if Magnus had said he loved him, it still seemed so unreal… That someone so perfect would love him.

"I guess you want that back?" Magnus asked hesitantly taking the Lightwood ring off and offering it to Alec, after seeing him stare at it for so long, ignoring his semi-rhetorical questions. "You… You can… keep it… If… If you want to, of course…" Alec stuttered, looking away, blushing. "It always belonged with you anyway… Just like my heart." Magnus was dead silent, so, though fearful of what he may see, Alec risked stealing a glance his way. The Warlock was smiling broadly, his eyes shining with happiness. "I will be honored to keep them both then, Sayang." he said softly offering his hand to Alec who, smiling too, placed the ring back on his finger. "I promise they will be safe with me… I'm never going to hurt you again. From this day on, I promise to protect you from everything."

………

Apologies: I'm really sorry that one took so long! It's no excuse, but a lot happened the past few days, so I had no time to properly edit it, and also I've been really tired… Also, I'm sorry! I think this chapter still needed more work… :( And Last but NoT Least, I'm Sorry! I really suck at endings! I hope I didn't ruin the whole story with that! {There will be one more chapter, one short epilogue, but I will post it after I'm done with the revamps, so I can let you know if you are interested in reading them.}

Note: I didn't want to leave the paragraph at "till the day I die" because that would spark bitter thoughts about him dying and Magnus being left alone, so I decided to lighten it a bit, I hope I didn't ruin the moment for you! If I did, I'm sorry; just skip the part after it, and only read Magnus' part afterwards.

Also, probably everyone pictures Alec as the insecure one, which is true of course, but I think, that where Alec is concerned, Magnus would be insecure too.

Sorry for the long annoying notes… :(

{And if there are any mistakes!}