A Malec Story

Chapter 34: Twenty first meet part 1

Magnus

The knock on the door woke Magnus up. It was at sunrise when he'd come back and had fallen asleep on the sofa, it was around midday now. He stood up and opened the door, and saw without surprise Alec and Jace standing on his doorstep, carrying a box. His eyes were immediately drawn to Alec, who looked gray from exhaustion. The circle's under his eyes stood out like bruises, and it was as if the blue in his eyes had paled a bit. As if a part of him had died, which, Magnus thought, was true in a way. He didn't have a little brother anymore, that part of him died.

They followed Magnus to the living room where Jace dropped the contents of the box on the table. "These are Sebastian's things," he announced, "Can you track him?"

"I'll get to it," Magnus replied, "First coffee though, have you even slept?"

The question was meant for Alec, he looked at him attentively before he walked to the corner where he had conjured up the red coffee maker he had bought for Alec. There was no electricity in Idris, but he didn't need it to make the machine work. He made three cups and handed one to Alec, another to Jace and took a big gulp from the third.

Alec shook his head, "I didn't have time to sleep. We had to perform the ritual. I had to..." His voice trailed off.

Magnus reached for his hand and squeezed it softly, before letting him go. Alec gave a deep sigh and continued, "My mom was so upset with the Penhallows, she arranged for us to go to an empty house. They're all there now. Isabelle has locked herself in one of the bedrooms. She's blaming herself. As if I didn't leave them alone with him, as if I shouldn't take all the blame."

"Of course not," Magnus replied, "Neither of you are to blame. You didn't know this guy wasn't to be trusted."

"I know," Alec replied, "But I feel so worthless. I tried sleeping in that strange house after the ritual, but I couldn't stop thinking about Max." His voice shook, the words stuck in his throat and he sank down on the sofa.

"You can sleep here, there's a bed upstairs, and I brought some things from Brooklyn," Magnus said, carefully choosing his words, not wanting to say too much in front of Jace. "I know it's not home, but... well, you've been to my place a few times, so it might be less strange for you."

Anything, he thought, anything I can do to make him feel better. "I could conjure up some of your own things from the Institute if that's what you want?"

Alec shook his head and laid back against the sofa. Jace, who was rummaging through the stuff on the table suddenly looked up.

"Alec, go upstairs and try to sleep, you're exhausted," he said, and he sounded very much like a worried brother. When Alec didn't move Jace strode to the sofa and hailed his parabatai up and moved him towards the hall.

"Go," he said. But Alec stood still.

"There's one thing I need to say," he said as Jace and Magnus looked at him in surprise. "It's not something you two don't know. But I need to tell you."

His eyes went to Jace and their gazes met, "I need to say I'm dating him."

He made a gesture toward Magnus with his arm, "I'm dating Magnus. I wanted you to know."

Alec's eyes went from Jace's to Magnus. Magnus felt his mouth fall open at what Alec had just said. Sure, during that strange fight in the square Alec had told him he was going to introduce him to his family. But why he was saying this now, that wasn't clear to him and certainly unexpected.

"I know," Jace replied, "And you know I'm fine with it, right?"

Alec nodded as Jace laid a hand on his shoulder. "I understand why you needed to say that now. And you've said it. Now go." Alec went and climbed the stairs obediently.

Jace turned back to Magnus, who felt his mouth was still open. He closed it quickly. "What was that about?" he asked Jace.

"Our brother is dead," Jace replied and he looked at Magnus. "He will never know what Alec just told me. That's why he said it."

"Thank you," Magnus said, understanding.

"For what?" Jace asked, surprised.

"For being his brother, I guess." Magnus replied.

Jace nodded and turned back to the table. He picked up a bracelet and played with it. "You showed me how to track, but we never quite finished it. So can you do it? I'll watch and see how it works."

"Sure," Magnus went to stand beside him and took a book from the table. His fingers sparked blue while he chanted a tracking spell. He closed his eyes while pressing the book into his hands. Nothing. He came up blank. He repeated the spell, but the same thing happened.

"Is this book even Sebastians?" he asked Jace.

"It should be," Jace replied.

An hour later, they had tried every single item on the table, and nothing worked. "It's as if he's not here anymore," Magnus muttered.

"You mean he's dead?" Jace asked.

"Could be, I don't know," Magnus replied, "Maybe he has something on him that blocks tracking."

Jace shook his head in frustration. "Okay, well, you know what, I'm leaving. I need to go for a walk. Tell Alec I went home when he wakes up." He turned on his heels and walked out of the door.

With a flick of his fingers Magnus moved the mess on the table back in the box and walked to the hall. At the foot of the stairs he waited for a moment, hesitant, but then he thought about Tessa, the one you love, she'd said. He climbed the stairs and entered the bedroom. On the big king-sized bed lay his own bedsheets and pillows, and under the comforter was Alec. Only his black hair visible on the fluffy yellow pillow. Magnus paused for a second to remove his boots, jeans and coat and crawled into the bed wearing only a t-shirt and Calvin Klein boxer shorts. Alec shifted, turned around and laid his head on Magnus's shoulder. Magnus wrapped his arms around him, rested his head against Alec's and closed his eyes. Despite all the hurt and sadness, he felt grounded, tethered to the world again, because Alec was in his arms.