SHAPESHIFTED (✓)

31. The much needed talk.

[W: Mention of child abuse]

Alec was lying on his bed, exhausted, and tired. It was around midnight and he couldn't sleep, so he was trying to finish the book he started, but couldn't focus. Groaning, he banged the book on his head and sighed. All he could think about was Magnus and his betrayal, and because of that, he couldn't focus on his responsibilities either. It had been two days since the incident, since he talked to Maryse and his phone was filled with hundreds of messages and missed calls from Magnus, even his voicemail was full, and everything said the same thing, that they needed to talk, that Magnus wants to explain himself.

Honestly, even after the talk he had with his mother, he couldn't bring himself to talk to Magnus. He was scared, scared that he would fall for Magnus' lies, scared that he'll forgive him too easily and end up being heartbroken again. And that, he doesn't want. He was done crying his eyes out, done getting heartbroken again and again. He sighed then sat on his bed, picked up his phone, and scrolled through all the messages once again, debating whether he should give Magnus another chance or not. Even after his mother's advice, he had no idea what to do, so with that thought in mind, he had barely slept that night, just like the previous ones.

**********************************

*Next day*

*Magnus' loft*

Magnus was pacing in his living room, scrolling through his phone, rereading all the messages he sent to Alec which were left on seen, but the young shadowhunter hadn't replied to any. He took a deep breath then dialed Alec's number again, but it went to voicemail which was already full. He wiped the tears falling down on his cheeks from the back of his mahogany colored loose-fitted robe's sleeve and sat down on the couch with a thud. Since the time the first drop of tear fell on his cheek and he got back into his real self again, realizing every mistake he made in the last 200 years, all he was doing was weeping continuously, trying to reach Alec, force-fed by Catarina, barely sleeping and repeating the cycle. All he wanted to be was for Alec to listen to him, he knew now that what he did was unforgivable so he wasn't even expecting it, but he was willing to try and mend his mistakes.

All the tears held inside him were finally pouring down, making his dizzy, violent, and evil-filled mind clear and right-minded again. He sighed and looked at his phone, he tried calling Izzy and Jace, but even they didn't pick up. Before he could lose his courage he dialed Izzy's number again. It rang four to five times before she finally picked up. He didn't get to say his part, as she burst out on him.

"Magnus Bane, don't you dare call me or any of us ever again! You broke my brother's heart! I've never seen him like this before, you did this to him! I don't know what happened, but if you'll try and hurt him again, I swear on Raziel I'll burn you down with your own magic! So you better-"

"Isabelle, Is... Isabelle please, please listen to me once. Please. I... I need to..to talk to him, pl.. please. I.. I know I've... I've made a horrible mistake, bu..but, he didn't let me explain. Pl.. please, let me explain myself once. I..I need to talk to him, he's.. he's not answering his phone. Help..help me, Isabelle, please, I beg you."

Izzy frowned and looked at her phone in disbelief. She did expect the warlock to request to talk to Alec, but what she wasn't expecting was for him to literally beg for it. That wasn't the Magnus she heard about her whole life, and by the sound of it, he was as miserable as her brother. She sighed and rubbed her temple, then looked at the group sitting in front of her. Yes, the call was on speaker and the whole group was sitting in the library discussing about Alec when Magnus called. Clary and Simon were the ones controlling the rage-filled siblings so that they wouldn't do anything stupid.

"Magnus.." she spoke softly this time. "What exactly happened between you both? Alec isn't telling us anything, he had locked himself up in his room and not talking to anyone. We just overheard that you both had a fight. Care to explain?"