Screw The Rules

The Cell

Magnus woke up and looked around himself. Surrounding him were stone walls: in front of him, to his left and against his back. To his right there was no wall. There were bars. They were the same grey as the rest of the cell with added rust, they were thick and quite close together. He attempted to lift his hands to use his magic to open the bars but found he couldn't so much as move a finger. He turned his head to glance down at his hands behind his back and saw the great big chains on his wrists and covering his hands. He couldn't use magic without his hands, it would have been crazy for the Nephilim to forget that. As he moved the sound of the chains rattling was deafening, it was the only sound in, what felt like, the whole world. Magnus looked through the bars to see what was out there but the only light provided was from a single torch in a grey stone holder on the wall opposite the bars. This provided very little light and all you could see from it was the wall it was strapped to. So Magnus sat there, his hands behind his back, his fingers crammed in the small space provided by the chains, his back against the cold hard stone and stared at the wall.

What felt like eternity passed until Magnus heard footsteps coming from the entrance, or what Magnus guessed was the entrance, of the dungeon.  They were very loud and all through the damp dark dungeon, bouncing off the walls and hitting Magnus's ears. A boy holding a glowing witch light stood on the other side of the bars holding a tray, Magnus could not see what was on it as he was on the floor and could not lift himself up to have a look, nor was he bothered. The shadowhunter pulled a rusted key from his pocket and slid it into the lock. He turned the key and the cogs clicked and screeched as he pushed the door open. He stepped into the tiny cell. He held the witch light and key in his left hand and the try in the other. As he bent down to place the tray on the ground next to Magnus, he realised it was the young shadow hunter who had come to meet with him in his apartment. Magnus glared at him. When he stood back up Magnus was still glaring at him.
"How am i supposed to eat food with my hands covered attached to the wall?" He asked in the most sarcastic way he could.
"Someone is going behind the wall to extend the length of yours chains." He answered. Magnus said nothing, just stared at the food on the tray: a plate with a piece of bread and in a bowl with what looked like soup, but it was hard to tell, next to that there was a cup of water.
Magnus heard a crank and then a jangle and the chain length extended enough for him to move his hands to the tray and pick up the piece of, what he now realised, was very stale bread. He put it to his mouth and bit down on it, nearly chipping his tooth as he did so. He chewed on the bread and swallowed, feeling like he was eating rocks as te food slid down his throat. He picked up his cup of water and took a drink washing the stale bread down.
"Really" Magnus said "you come into my home and give me spiked whine, you knock me out with some lousy trick, bring me to this tiny, dark damp cell, chain me up and you can't even give me some proper food" the Lightwood boy just looked at him. Then said "I'll be sure to get you better food tomorrow then, does that sound okay with you"
"You know you Nephilim are so arrogant, you walk around thinking that just because you have some angel blood in you you can treat down worlders like they are your servants, your slaves." The boy looked down at him as Magnus took another bite of the rock bread and another sip of water.
"We aren't all like that you know. It wasn't my call to do this."
"Oh yeah I'm sure that's true" Magnus rolled his eyes and looked down at the ground.
"Is that why you lead all those attacks on the institute?" Magnus stared at him. The chains rattled as he took the spoon from the tray one hand on the other and began to eat at his soup, it tasted like sweat, he threw the spoon back into the bowl splashing it everywhere and took another bite of the bread feeling it spike his throat all the way down.
"You know if it wasn't your call to do this then why did you do it, why did you enter my home and insult me?" Magnus spat
"Because it is my job, and quite frankly I was sick of your attacks on the institute. I wanted them to end. I didn't  want it to come to this" he gestured to Magnus in the chains "but if that is what it takes to stop the attack then that is what I will do. Now are you nearly finished eating because I can't leave until you've finished eating and your chains are back pulled tight." Magnus looked up at him with the greatest glare he could muster.
"Yes my king, I am finished" he said in the most snarky voice he could. The boy looked at him.
"You may be a prisoner but you can call me Alec, since we are going to be seeing at lot more of each other when i come to give you your food every afternoon."
"Yay i cant wait." he said unite unenthusiastically. Alec bent down to pick up the tray and when he stood back up he nodded to Magnus and he glared at him. He walked out of the cell and closed the door with a deafening screeeeech. He slid the lock in the hole and turned the key. He deposited it back into his pocket and held his witch-light out to illuminate his path.
"You can make it even tighter than it was if you would like Jace" Alec yelled out. He heard someone in the room behind him yell a yes in response and then there was the sound of a lever being pulled down as his hands were yanked back behind him, even tighter, against the wall. He heard the two of them leave laughing and watched as the light went from bright, to dim, to nothing and magnus was left alone once again staring at the wall with his hands behind his back, stuck between his back and the wall, pulled right up against it. He lowered his head a looked down at the cold, damp stone floor.