Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn

Chapter Eight: The Blue Room

A warning that this chapter has some REALLY bad violence in it. I'm talking torture, psychological, emotional and physical, and some very, very dark themes.

"I warned you! I told you that this could happen!"

Clary was in full lioness mode. Magnus sat on the couch, watching her as she paced. Opposite him, Raphael was draping a blanket around a trembling Simon. The Mundane looked so pale he was almost translucent.

"It was because I took your advice that this occurred at all!" Magnus retorted, eyes flashing catlike and angry. Jace, who had been watching Clary pace, gave him a sharp look.

"Don't put this on her!" He snapped. Magnus scoffed.

"Oh, I'm sure if you take her side on this she'll put out later-"

"Magnus!" Isabelle said, her voice uncharacteristically stern. Magnus slumped back into the couch, refusing to look at any of them, especially not Alec, who was kneeling beside Simon and trying to get him to drink something.

Ragnor and Catarina were sat on the loveseat, regarding the proceedings with an air of detached concern though Magnus could see Catarina's fingers were itching to start curing Simon.

"What happened?" Alec asked, his voice soft. Magnus wasn't sure who he was addressing, but it was Simon who answered, speaking for the first time since they had escaped that hell house.

"I came to check on Magnus... You know, we hadn't heard from him..."

*

"Unexpected," Magnus said as he answered the door. Simon shifted his weight awkwardly on his feet. Since Magnus had awoken from the Snow White curse, things had been strained between him and the Shadowhunters.

Alec was still officially kept on separate missions. Clary said he seemed even more distant than ever, brooding and moody. Simon couldn't imagine that it was for any other reason than his fight with Magnus. Although Simon also couldn't imagine Alec being any more silent and brooding.

Things were compounded by the fact that Magnus himself had contacted the Clave, telling them that he wanted the Shadowhunters to stay away unless they had specific information leading to the breaking of his curse.

But Simon wasn't a Shadowhunter.

"Just... checking how you are," Simon said. Magnus stepped aside to let him in. Simon gratefully took the offer, side-stepping around Magnus' cat and looking around the place.

Most of Magnus' things had returned to him, though it seemed that Magnus had used the opportunity to move things around a little. It wasn't the same place that Simon remembered and he took a moment to get his bearings. He took a seat on the couch as Magnus sat opposite him on a loveseat that Simon didn't remember him having before.

"As you can see, I'm fine. How are you?" Magnus asked, all pleasantries. Simon nodded his head.

"Pretty good. Xena's getting an updated TV series where they're actually acknowledging she was a little too close to her sidekick to be just friends, so that made me pretty happy," Simon said, keeping his tone light. Magnus smiled.

"Well, as a fellow Xena fan, that I can get behind," Magnus replied. Simon raised an eyebrow.

"You watched Xena?" He asked. Magnus shrugged.

"TV is one of the main things that makes this century better than the last. That and internet porn," he conceded. Simon couldn't help but laugh. He'd never really spoken much to Magnus, never really thought of him as more than a Warlock and then a curse victim. It was interesting to see his personality aside from that.