Malec One Shots

49. Meaning

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Song ~ Jaymes Young - What Is Love
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"Good morning, Magnus." Alec smiled, placing the tray he held in his hands on his husband's lap. The warlock's feline eyes blinked slowly as he woke up, cat language for I love you, you stupid, gorgeous angel. And all Alec could do was smile. "Boys! He's awake!" Alec raised his voice a little, and their two sons came bounding in, now grown men. Max had a crown of deep blue-black curls atop his head, unruly, clearly not brushed yet. If Magnus was in the right state of mind then he would've chided his son for being so careless, and then kissed the curls tenderly. Rafael was dressed neatly, black hair as neat as his clothes, nails painted the same shade as his button up, shoes glimmering under the dim light. Too much light would mess with Magnus' severely weakened vision. Magnus, if he'd had the effort to turn his head, would've, and said how handsome he looked, how grown up. But he didn't.

Ever since Magnus and Alec had started again, just after Magnus had turned four hundred years old, he'd started to deteriorate by the decade. Alec, now fifty nine, spent his days either caring for his rapidly calcifying husband, or working in the Institute. Magnus was four hundred and sixty two years old, and Alec would be lying if he said it didn't kill him to watch his husband die before his eyes.

Magnus had told Alec that once warlocks got to a certain age that they started to close up, stop feeling anything. Alec didn't know what to do, he didn't want this, no one did. It was Alec who'd delayed the calcifying process when they'd reconciled and gotten back together, and now it was catching up on them. Time was catching up on them. Alec had gotten used to caring for Magnus in the many, many years they'd been together. Despite the years that had passed, Rafael and Max were grown men, and that frightened Alec because it had all happened so fast. Max was supposed to be 39 years old, Rafael being 41, but Max didn't look a day over 19. He kept his father's good looks. Not his demon father, but Magnus. He had that glimmer in his eye that meant more than just flirtation.

Alec turned to Magnus, who was poking at his omelet with a fork. He hadn't taken a bite. "Come on, breakfast is important." Alec hummed, cutting some off and handing it to Magnus, who ate it after glaring at it distastefully. "Don't be difficult, Mags." Alec ran his fingers through Magnus' hair. A select few strands came away with his hand, and he brushed them off without a second thought. "Alexander." Came Magnus' gentle voice, as he struggled to sit up and then touched his husband's cheek. Alec let out a noise of discomfort from Magnus' struggle, and curled a hand around him to aid. Magnus still looked and sounded the same, yet his movements were lingering and his voice was cracked. "You okay?" Alec looked into the eyes of the warlock opposite him, and he nodded slowly. It was said that when a warlock dies, all the calcifying goes away for just a while, just enough time for them to experience feeling for the last moments. And that broke Alec. It broke him to know that Magnus would feel almost nothing until his last moments. He thought that maybe Magnus would think he was getting better, and then get all the more sick.

Maryse had died a long time ago, and that had also hit Alec like a brick. He had his Parabatai, his sister, Simon too. Luke and Clary had passed the previous year, and Maia and Lily Chen visited more often than usual. Maia would cook dinner and spend time with them all, and Lily would tell Magnus stories from his bedside as both sons listened along. Emma Carstairs and Julian Blackthorn didn't visit much anymore, Cristina Rosales sometimes showed up to say hello to the boys while Alec was working, and Kit Herondale was a sunshine in the dim light of the bedroom when Magnus felt up to talking. Kit reminded him of Will, and when he couldn't see Kit right and called him Will by mistake, the whole house shook with sadness.

Alec was sitting in his office working when someone knocked on his door. Alec shouted for them to come in, and there stood two people he recognised vaguely along with someone he knew quite well. "Catarina." Alec smiled, getting up to hug her and greet the people she brought with her. "Alec, this is Tessa Gray and James Carstairs, you knew him as Brother Zachariah though." She smiled, her blue skin shimmering beneath the witchlight in the hallways. "I know you two a bit, don't I?" Alec smiled gently, too tired to talk with enthusiasm. "You do." Tessa smiled back. Alec invited them in, and as he took a seat at his desk he saw them sit in the chairs opposite. "Tessa and Jem wanted to discuss something." Catarina said, standing to leave. "Can you stay?" Alec's voice was scratchy, as if he hadn't drank. He'd lost his bodily fluids crying his feelings out as he thought of his husband. "I have my shift in a minute, I have to get to the hospital." She sighed, brushing her scrubs down and leaning to plant a kiss on Alec's cheek. "Be safe." He whispered in her ear before she portalled out.

"What do you want to discuss?" He asked, and Tessa gulped. "Magnus." Jem said. "Okay, shoot." Alec held back tears once again. "When he goes, we were planning something. Because of all he's done for Downworlders and Nephilim alike, we want to start a petition for him to wear white silk and be burned for the pillars in the City Of Bones." Said the former Silent Brother. Alec sat quiet, tears brimming over in his blue eyes like infinite pools of water. "Guys." He let out a broken sob, and Jem rose to his feet to hug Alec. He still had the graceful glide of a silent brother when he moved, and Alec curled his arms around the smaller man as he cried. Once the moment ended, Jem handed Alec a lace handkerchief with the initials J.L to wipe his eyes.

"Let's do it." He said with determination in his saddened blue eyes. Tessa nodded. She pulled a clipboard out with a sheet of paper, and Alec was the first to sign it. They already had three signatures. "The Clave lean toward having it happen but there's a low level group that don't want it happening and they're the ones stopping us. "The Cohort?" Alec asked. "Yes." Jem nodded.

It took Alec, Jem, and Tessa less than a week to get all the signatures needed, and it took Magnus a week to deteriorate just that bit more. When he got home from Idris after collecting the signatures, he greeted Lily, Maia, Max, Rafe, everyone was there. Something was wrong. He shoved past people, knocking his own family and friends over as they huddled around Magnus and Alec's bed. He took a look at his husband and held back his tears.

"Alexander?" He asked, crying himself. He hadn't gotten to the bad stage yet, but Silent Brother Enoch who was stood by the wall confirmed he was close. Alec crawled into the bed beside Magnus, and pulled the warlock into his chest. He curled up, fingers digging into Alec's jumper as he cried. "Hey slow down, breathe." Alec reassured, knowing Magnus' fits got worse by the day, especially when he got worked up. Magnus stopped, his breathing slowing as he tucked his hands beneath the hem of Alec's shirt and hugged him closer. He fell asleep. So Alec spoke. "I have something to share. Brother Enoch knows but me, Tessa Gray, and James Carstairs have kept it quiet for the time I've been away. At Magnus' passing he is to be cremated in Idris and his ashes put in a pillar in the Silent City for all the aid and care he's given in his life. Shadowhunters and Downworlders alike are invited to the ceremony, so invite all you can. Please. He deserves this." Alec explained, and the crowd was crying silently.

Alec felt a movement on his chest, and looked down to see a very much awake Magnus staring up at him. Alec took a sharp intake of breath, and willed himself not to cry. "Alec." Magnus said, reaching up and sitting back in his knees to look at his husband. "Magnus. Don't go." Alec said, and Magnus shook his head. "I have to, but I love you so so much. You gave me everything I've ever hoped and wished for, you gave me everything, Alexander." Magnus sighed, kissing Alec on the mouth for a while, unaware of the crowd crying around them. Then Max and Rafe stepped in. "Oh my boys look so grown up. Oh my babies." He laughed, touching both sons and kissing their foreheads. They crawled into the bed too, the family hugging one last time. Magnus turned to the crowd of people he called his second family. "Thank you all for being there, I love you all. Make sure my sons don't get into trouble and make sure my dear Alexander lives long and happy, understood?" He said, his voice catching. The group nodded and a hushed yes moved through the room. He then relaxed against Alec's chest once more, his breathing slowed, and then it stopped.

Alec pressed a palm flat against Magnus' chest and failed to find a heartbeat, checked his pulse, nothing. He cried loud this time, sobbing uncontrollably and clutching his husband and children to him. Brother Enoch glided through. "It's time, Mr.Lightwood." His voice echoed in everyone's mind. "Magnus." Alec kissed Magnus' head once more, before he got to his feet with him in his arms. A plethora of portals were made in the sitting room by people who knew how, and everyone got to Idris.

Identification wasn't needed for such a serious event, and once everything was set up there were a row of Nephilim guards surrounding the perimeter, paying respects. Isabelle, Jace, Simon, Max, and Rafael were stood together at the top with Brother Enoch, Tessa Gray, and Jem Carstairs. Alec tied the white band around Magnus' eyes with meticulous care, and left a feather light kiss on his cold forehead before standing to the side. "We are here to go through with the first downworlder pillar funeral ever performed. The funeral of Magnus Bane, a loving warlock, husband, father, soldier, and bisexual icon." Jem read from a piece of paper. Alec stepped up. "My husband was more than an advocate for warlocks and Downworlders. He was my other half, the father to our children. He worked through everything life threw at him, and he was all mine. I loved him, I still do. So we will remember him not as who the Cohort refer to him as, but as Magnus Bane, High Warlock of Brooklyn." He said, leaving the crowd of Nephilim and Downworlders opposite him cheering with tears in their eyes. Alec hugged his family after that, being the one to light the flame of Magnus' cremation pyre.