Magnex

Chapter 6

Well, there was good news and bad news. The good news is the camp was, in Magus's very sophisticated way of speaking, awesome. In many ways, it was a typical summer camp, but in other ways it was different. And by different, that means "powers of the children of divine beings" different. Magnus really had had his life turned upside down considering that seemed like a perfectly normal statement to him. Anyways, considering the awesomeness of the camp, Magnus was distracted from Alex, which his brain said was a good thing, but... other... parts of his body seemed to disagree. He decided to go with his brain on this one. The bad news, nothing can be insanely awesome without the threat of death. Or a near death experience. Or mutilation. Magnus experienced all three during their tour.

Apparently, Annabeth hadn't been particularly clear when explaining the rules of Valhalla. The way she had explained it to the campers is that Magnus and Alex would live forever and they could be resurrected. All true. However, the campers took this to mean that if they were in Midgard, they could still be viciously mutilated and still be fine. This was not the case.

Magnus almost had a spear go through his abdomen by a very terrifying looking girl, who couldn't possibly be the daughter of anyone other than Ares, and Alex almost got burnt to a crisp by a nine-year-old with a flamethrower. Yes, that actually happened. They had managed to avoid dying a second gory death, but they still had some pretty nasty injuries afterward. Luckily, ambrosia and nectar seemed to work on them, so the wounds healed pretty fast, but not as fast as it would have had they been Greek demigods. Will figured it would take them a couple hours for the wounds to fully heal. 

Alex had several second degree burns to the point where he could barely move his arm, and Magnus had an electric spear go straight through his shoulder. And yes, it hurt. Will had been able to remove it, but he still had a gaping hole in his shoulder. Being in Valhalla had apparently desensitized him, because the only reason he realized it was as bad as it was was due to the reactions of all the other demigods. Annabeth even audibly gasped, though not as loudly as Percy, who proceeded to call it "gnarly". Where did Annabeth find this guy?

Even Alex winced when he saw it, since he hadn't been in Valhalla for as long. Yes, he did decapitate Magnus, but that was because he had no choice and he knew Magnus would be resurrected. It was probably just the realization that if the spear had hit just slightly lower or slightly to the side, Magnus would be dead. He had seen a lot of shit in the streets, but apparently hadn't seen one of his friends impaled by an electric spear. Shocker(lol, pun).

Alex was clearly trying to hide his discomfort, and, for the second time in one day, Magnus wanted to be a decent human being and comfort his friend, but didn't. Although, at least now, he had the excuse of having a hole in his shoulder. That probably counted for something.

The girl who speared Magnus never came by(although, he was informed her name was Clarisse), but the kid who burnt Alex came down to the infirmary and started apologizing profusely. Leo explained that Harley(apparently the kids name) liked messing with people, but since Alex is dead that it wouldn't hurt him and he was really sorry. Magnus actually felt bad for the little guy and he was pretty sure Alex wanted to strangle him less after his apology. 

Eventually, Alex and Magnus were left alone to get some rest. Alex was trying to fall asleep, but Magnus kept thinking about how they were finally alone, and all the things he wanted to say to him, but every time he got close, he would close his eyes and try to go to sleep. It was a cycle that went on for about an hour. They were in a room that had blackout curtains, so it was as dark as night, but it smelled insanely sterile. Magnus hadn't pegged Will to be an obsessively clean guy, but the infirmary was proof that this was definitely obsessive.

Eventually, he heard Alex stir. He rolled around, his green hair sticking up in all kinds of places, his shirt riding up slightly. He looked incredibly handsome in Magus's opinion. Not that he was ever going to say that. How did he ever manage to get into Valhalla if he can't even go up to Alex and say, "Hey, you're cute. Wanna date?" He's surprised he even had the courage in him to die in a way that might slightly  resemble a heroic death.

Then, Alex started rolling around and making pained sounds. Magnus was almost sure he heard him say some things like, "Please, don't!" and, "Leave me alone!". Magnus quickly got out of bed and shook Alex awake, ignoring the pain in his side at standing up so fast. Alex shot up, his eyes bloodshot, his breathing quick. As soon as he saw Magnus, he let out a relieved sigh. 

"Are you okay?" Magnus asked. Alex shivered. He shook his head.

"It's nothing. Just a nightmare," He said. Magnus could tell it had freaked him out. He thought maybe it could be about what Magnus saw when he had seen into Alex's mind. The image of him getting beaten up and called a freak. The thought still made his blood boil, but he wasn't about to let that show now. He decided to risk getting sliced to death by a clay cutter and slipped into Alex's bed next to him. Alex's head shot up to look at him, confused, scared, and probably slightly angry.

"Is it okay if I stay here with you?" Magnus asked, keeping his voice low. Alex slowly nodded and looked down at his lap.

"I guess that's okay," He said, although Magnus could tell he was counting on Magnus staying. Magnus pulled back the blankets and wiggled underneath scooting closer to Alex who, in return, scooted closer to Magnus until they were both nose to nose. Magnus waited a few minutes and slipped an arm around his waist, pulling the already asleep Alex closer to him. He kissed Alex's forehead.

"Sweet dreams, Fierro."