With Loves Last Breath

Magnus

"...So I bent down and kissed him, cause I thought he was dead. After I kissed Alec, magic swirled around his arm, and I guess it brought him back to life."

"That's when I burst in after the guard started to get mad. I froze all of you, and Magnus helped me to get you guys here. Then I went and picked up Adi, since I don't know what Elizabeth would have done to her."

"And yeah. That's pretty much it. Any questions?"

The group was sitting in the small cramped living room that was Brianna's safe house. Using an expansion spell she invented, Brianna was able to turn her one room apartment into a five bedroom house. Clary, Jace, and Simon sat squished together on a couch, Izzy was perched on a table, Eleanor was on the floor, and Brianna and Magnus were standing in the front of the room, telling each of their sides of the story, about what had been going on.

Clary, Jace, Izzy, Simon, Alec, and Eleanor stared at Magnus and Brianna, with dumbstruck faces. Adi, who had already seen Magnus and Brianna in action, was less shocked, but still amazed with their stories. No one seemed to be able to speak, or even just close their mouths. Izzy took a deep breathe and let it out very slowly.

"I don't know" she started. "Whether to hug you for saving Alec, or kill you for putting us in this mess."

Magnus stepped back very quickly, knowing exactly how far Izzy would go when it came to her brother.

"That's ok Izzy, I don't need a hug, there is absolutely no reason to get closer to me than that."

Jace stood up from his spot on the couch. "Magnus, I'm grateful for what you did for Alec, but why didn't you tell us about this before? We could have helped you, figured out a way to control it! None of this would have happened if you'd just told us!"

Magnus looked out the window and sighed.

"It's, not that I didn't just not want to tell you." he said, gripping the window sill. "It's that I didn't know how you would react, and I didn't want to lose you guys. Your the only family I have."

Clary looked at Magnus worriedly. "What do you mean, we're all you have?" she asked. "What about your parents?"

Magnus squeezed his eyes shut, and talked about the one thing no one knew about.

 His childhood.

"When I was a little boy, my parents hated me, hated what I was. They wouldn't even let me touch certain things, they thought I infected whatever I touched with my "disease". I wasn't allowed to talk or play with the other children, and I wasn't allowed to leave the house. I was lucky I even got to go to school. My father would beat me whenever he got the chance, whenever I broke a rule. I tried very hard to not break the rules. But one day, I was feeling bold, and rebellious. One of the rules was to never let people see my natural eyes, or they might get suspicious. That day, I decided to take the contacts I wore out, so I could impress the boy who was my only friend at this school. When I took them out, he started screaming, yelling that I was a freak, a monster. The teacher agreed with him, and locked me in a storage room, calling first the police , then my parents. My mom arrived first, furious to be called out of work. The police arrived a minute before my dad, and were just as freaked out as the teacher. When my dad came in, everyone got real quiet. They could just feel the rage coming off my father. He calmly explained that I was mentally unstable, and I liked to pretend that I was a demon, so I wore colored contacts, and that they were going to take me away so I wouldn't scare or hurt any other children again. The ride home was deathly quiet. I sat as still as possible, and prayed that the beating wouldn't be too bad. It would be worse than I ever imagined. "

"Magnus stop" Alec said, looking at him worriedly. "You don't have to tell us, we understand."

"No, you don't." said Magnus tiredly.

"When we got home, my father dragged me into the basement, and ordered me to take off my shirt. I did as he said, expecting a lashing with his belt. Instead, he held a gun in his hand. He pointed it at my chest saying that he should have done this a long time ago. I could feel the fear welling up inside of me, wanting to get out. When the shot sounded out, I screamed out all of my fear, and all of my magic. The blast made the entire house explode. I think I passed out in the middle of it. When I came to, I was laying under a pole of ashes that used to be my house. Not knowing what to do, I ran. I ran until I couldn't run anymore. And when I couldn't run anymore, I sat down and cried, for the loss of my home, my life, even my parents, who I had thought loved me, at least a little. Apparently I was wrong."

Alec reached out and put his hand in Magnus's. He gripped it tightly as Magnus continued.

"After I calmed down, I figured out where I was, and tried to understand what had happened. I was a 5 year old boy, with no parents, no home, no food, and no money. I had exploded for the first time, so I had no idea how to control my magic. I took me a few days, and a lot of walking, but I finally found an abandoned house, in a friendly enough neighborhood. I finally got a little control over my magic and learned how to conjure food. Then, wanting to see if I could learn more about myself, I enrolled myself in the nearest school online. My first day there, I had my contacts in, and didn't talk to anyone, like I'd been taught. Nut then, a little boy with black hair and blue eyes invited me to play with him. It was his friendship that got through those cold nights alone."

Magnus turned to Alec and choked out:

"Alexander, your one of the main reasons I was able to keep going. I'd do anything to save you, I hope you know that."

Alec looked at Magnus, his best friend, and now something more, and felt his heart crack, fir all the things this poor broken boy had to go through. He grabbed Magnus, and pulled him into a hug, and he wasn't letting go anytime soon.

"Thank you" he whispered.

"This is a touching moment and all, and I hate to interrupt it, but, what do we do now?" Jace asked.

"Now, we get you guys to a safe location, and me, Adi, and Brianna find Elizabeth, defeat her, and come back for you all and celebrate."

"Wait."

Everyone turned to Simon, who had been silently observing up to this point.

"Magnus, I haven't really known you for a while. But I've gotten to know you week enough to know that you can be a little...eccentric at times. Before we all just go and believe you, I'd like to see some proof."

"Simon!" Clary hissed. "We are literally standing in proof. How else could we have gotten here? How else could Alec be alive? What more proof do you need?!"

"No no, it's fine Clary." Magnus smiled, happy that he got to show off his powers for once, instead of hiding them.

With a snap of his fingers, a small blue flame appeared on Magnus's palm. The whole room gasped as it grew bigger, and bigger, and bigger, until Magnus was literally a giant fireball. Seeing that he was scarring them, Magnus snapped his fingers once more, putting the fire out, and leaving him perfectly unharmed, with only a slight wisp of smoke rising from the carpet.

"Is that proof enough?"

Simon stared at Magnus, with a look of awe.

"Your... incredible!" he breathed.

Magnus laughed and scratched his eye.

"Oh wait" he said suddenly. "I can take these out now!"

Magnus reached out and popped out the contacts in his eyes, revealing their natural yellow cat irises.

"Cool!" Alec exclaimed. He reached up, turning Magnus's head this way and that.

"Umm, no one ever really answered my question" called out Jace.

"What happened now?"