As Black As Hell

CHAPTER 5: Find Comfort

"YOU WILL FIND COMFORT WHEN YOU SEEK TO BE A COMFORT TO SOMEONE ELSE."

-JAMES ROBISON

"So," Magnus leaned against the wall and crossed his arms. "What do you want?"

They told him the story. Or at least, Jonathan did. Isabelle just wandered around picking things up and setting them back down again. Magnus appeared to be listening intently, though he snapped his fingers in Isabelle's direction, causing her to drop the massive tome she was holding in a flash of sparks. It whizzed back over to the shelf and assumed its rightful place.

When Jonathan finished speaking, Magnus just stood there, not saying anything. Jonathan waited. 

After about five minutes of this, he burst out, "Well, are you going to help us??"

Magnus rolled his eyes. "I already gave you my answer."

"You didn't even say anything!"

Magnus sighed and pushed himself off the wall, heading for the door. "If my mouth didn't say it," He opened the door with a flourish. "My face definitely did. Goodbye." He pushed them out the door.

"Wait!" Isabelle stuck her foot in the door. "That's it? You're not going to help at all?"

"I don't help shadowhunters. Especially not with something like this." He looked pointedly at Isabelle's foot, which was still in the door. "Now I'd suggest you move before I make you."

Isabelle held her ground, lifting her chin defiantly. "Is that a threat?"

"Did it sound like a compliment?"

Isabelle glared at him. She threw her arms up. "Fine!" She withdrew her foot. "I should have known you wouldn't help. You warlocks never do. You're all the same."

Magnus whipped the door open so fast they both jumped. He grabbed Isabelle by the arm. "What  did you just say to me?!"

"I said all you warlocks are the same!" She cried out in pain as Magnus's grip tightened on her arm.

He put his face right next to hers. "You keep your mouth shut. You don't know anything  about warlocks."

"I know enough." Magnus opened his mouth angrily to argue, but Isabelle stormed on. "I know about your friend. Ragnor Fell, right?" Magnus froze. "He was a traitor. He was killed so we could keep the rest of the world safe."

"That's a lie!"

Until now, Jonathan had been watching the argument like it was a tennis game. Now, he put his hand at his belt, where his nearest blade was hidden. He'd never seen anybody look quite like magnus did then. He was beyond mad. He looked like he was going to murder Isabelle there and then.

"Your clave made that up to make themselves look good! They made it up to justify murdering him!"

Isabelle tried to take a step back, but Magnus still had her arm in a firm grip. "What... the-the clave wouldn't-"

"Well, they did!" Magnus yelled. The party went silent. Magnus looked around to see the guests all staring. He stepped out into the corridor and shut the door. He lowered his voice to a hiss. "Ragnor was the best of warlocks. To hell with that, he was the best of people! He was selfless and honourable and the clave didn't like that. He used to teach up at your academy. I told him not to. Heck, we all told him not to! But he did. And he was so good at it. He was the best teacher they had."

"That-that's not what we-"

"Not what you were told?" Magnus finished for Isabelle. "Of course it wasn't! You think the Clave could justify killing him if everybody knew how brilliant he was? No, after the whole fiasco with the Failed Accords, the Clave decided they couldn't have him influencing their children anymore. But they didn't just fire him. They killed him. They were too scared that it would backfire if he lived." 

Isabelle's mouth was hanging open. Jonathan was fairly sure his expression was similar. He knew the story of Ragnor fell. Everyone knew it. 

He'd had no idea this was the truth.

It made him wonder what else the Clave had been keeping from them all.

He took a deep breath. "Magnus," He put a hand on the warlock's arm, encouraged when he wasn't immediately shaken off. "I'm sorry."

Magnus grunted. "Sorry for what? It's not like you did it."

"I'm sorry that the Clave did that to your friend. I'm sorry that they lied, and I'm sorry that we all believed it." He looked at Magnus's face, but his gaze wasn't angry or accusatory. It was pure, open remorse. It hadn't been anything he'd done, but he felt the shame and regret as if it had been his own actions. "It should never have happened. You didn't deserve that. Nobody deserves that."

Magnus looked down at the hand on his arm. There was a pause. "You're different, you are. Different from the other bastards." He said finally. Isabelle opened her mouth, no doubt to ask if he'd help them, but Jonathan stomped on her foot. There was no rushing this. If Magnus was going to help them, it would have to be his own decision.

Finally, Magnus looked up at them. "All right. " He said. "I'll help you. It'd be a good revenge, working behind the Clave's back. Helping the youth that they couldn't help. Or wouldn't help. And even if they find out and kill me..." He smiled sadly, but it was the sort of sadness that had a seed of hope, waiting to grow. "...At least I'll be with Ragnor."

"In Heaven." Jonathan said firmly. "Where you both belong."

Those words seemed to seal a bond between them. Jonathan knew he wouldn't be forgetting this tortured warlock any time soon.