Once Upon A Time In Brooklyn

Chapter Twelve: Cinders

Magnus stared at the boot print on his wall. With a click of his fingers it could be gone, but he had a feeling he knew who had put it there. He had a feeling he knew the desperation that had led to the scuff and in a way, it warmed his heart a little.

Oh, he still had his misgivings about his and Alec's relationship. With everything that was going on it was hard not to have some doubts, but he couldn't deny that it had been a long time since he had felt this attached to someone else. Even if it was against his better judgment.

He turned away from it, viewing his reconstructed apartment with a critical eye. He'd managed to fix the damage his father had done pretty easily, but it had left him with the urge to redecorate. Eventually it had ended up with a full set of new furniture and he was still getting accustomed to it.

His eyes settled on the door to the Curse Room. Of course, it had been completely unaffected by his father's destruction.

Thinking of his father, a chill went down his spine. He'd heard nothing of Asmodeus since he'd been rescued. He had expected retaliation, but had heard nothing. Magnus knew that Asmodeus hadn't been successful in completely transferring the curse, but he also could not tell how much the curse had affected Alec. He didn't know how to tell him that it might not have just been a one time occurrence.

Magnus poured himself a glass of wine. Hell, it was 5 o'clock somewhere in Asia, he was sure. He walked over to the Curse Room and scanned over the book's contents. His stomach lurched when he saw a new curse had been added.

Cinderella .

Magnus stared at it.

Well wasn't that... odd? All the other curses had held an element of danger to him or to his friends, but Cinderella...? No one died in that, as far as he could remember. Cinderella and her prince lived happily ever after.

Magnus refused to even entertain the idea that he could be an Ugly Sister. He was certainly not going to accept that .

The longer he thought about it, the more he realised it was truly a fantastic development. Prince Charming found his True Love at the ball. All he had to do was hold a party and the curse would provide him with the means to save himself.

It was perfect.

The only problem, Magnus realised, was if his True Love wasn't Alec.

*

Alec's fist collided with the punch bag. He felt the punch jar up his arm before he twisted, using the momentum to spin into a kick that sent the bag swinging away from him. He was about to deliver a final blow when he saw Jace was watching him, arms folded.

He raised his eyebrows, reaching out to steady the bag. Jace nodded and walked toward him. There was something in his expression that said what he had to say was serious. Alec had been part of enough serious conversations over the last few days to last him a life time, but this was Jace and he couldn't deny him the chance to speak if he needed to.

"You heard from Magnus?" Jace asked by way of greeting. Alec shook his head.

"Well, nothing about the curse anyway," he corrected himself, starting to strip the padded gloves from his hand and unwrap his knuckles. Jace's arms were still crossed, a defensive gesture that made Alec wonder what it was that he wanted to say.

"Did you guys... y'know, date yet?" He asked. Alec paused, tape half-peeled from his hand.

"No. Not yet," Alec said. It was a niggling worry in the back of his mind that Magnus would back out of it. Magnus had cancelled their previous plans, citing the need to sort out his apartment and be sure that Asmodeus was done with them. Now it seemed like he was waiting for a reconfirmation of the date that would never come. Magnus' flirtatious texts were the only thing preventing Alec from thinking it had all been a dream.