Winter Blooms (Alec Lightwood)

🗝 Chapter Two 🗝

There is a specific feeling missing from the air.

Magnus Bane had noticed it the moment he was alone with Varian, and every subsequent attempt at using magic to wake up his son led to the feeling strengthening.

He was aware of the Maledti's work, the way the two bars sat on his sons hands, laying waste to any attempt at magic in the future, and the chances of any past magic sticking around rather slim. It was the worst part of Varian's injuries, and in close second, the two flattened pieces of bone on the top of his head. The thought of Valentine Morgenstern touching his son, destroying the boys Warlock mark in such a way, taking one of the last pieces of Ragnor Fell from his son.

It made Magnus want to puke, the bile rising in his throat every time he kissed his sons forehead at night.

Not missing the way the Shadowhunter, Alec, held his son's wrist so delicately on the bed. Sleeping in a bent over position, and never straying far from the room. The way that he looked at Varian when he believed that Magnus wasn't watching, the muttering that he did when he thought no one was listening, the Shadowhunter was in love, and Magnus trusted him with his son.

He watched as Alec prayed.

To the Angel Raphael.

To God.

To whoever would listen.

He never doubted that Varian would wake, and Magnus was right along side him.

Six weeks after they found his son on the shore of the Hudson river, there was a sign of life. His son began to mutter, repeating Latin words that tore the heart out of any who could translate. It was the curse of the Maledti, and it would not stop.

One week after that, Varian was alone in the room, for just an hour, just barely any time to his own silence.

Ever so slightly, Varian opened his eyes, his hands reaching up to protect his face despite the confirmation of a familiar room. Panic setting in, he shoved his way off of the bed, slamming shoulder first into the hard wood of the floor, the movement causing a debilitating jolt of pain through him. Bile rose up in his throat, before spilling onto the hardwood, the coughs that wracked through his body felt like knives tearing though his lungs.

Varian scrambled across the floor, missing the way his legs took a second to move beside him, the black bars on the back of his hands. The door to the room flew open, the sound of it hitting the wall echoing through the small room, and drawing a strangled scream from Varian as he curled against the corner of the room.

Voices shouted, loud and echoing, and all the more terrifying for the Warlock.

People approached him, running across the small space as Varian threw his hands up in an attempt to protect himself. Blinding pain followed the action, the magic missing in his heart.

The world was silent, or nearly so. Mumbling voices called out to him.

Ever so slightly, Varian lifted his head. The movement small, minuscule, the ache that the light brought to his head powerful and blinding. His baba  stood in front of him, hands reaching towards him palm down, un-threatening.

There were tears in his eyes, big crocodile tears that threatened to fall the longer Varian hesitated to reach for his hands. Varian threw himself across the distance, falling into his baba's  arms as both father and son started to cry.

A hand pressed into his shoulder, the emotions missing at the contact, Varian started to panic, he throws his head back, looking up at his boyfriend with wide eyes. There was no color in the air around him, no signal for how he was feeling.

"What happened?" Varian's voice cracked, the tears continued to pour down his face as he looked up at the man he loved, the only signal of their shared sadness being the way tears trickled down his cheeks. "Why can't I see- see the colors?"

His hand reached up to touch the air, a replica of what he had done when he had first told Alec about the power. Just as it touched where the color would usually be, the backs of his hands came into sight, and a strangled scream passed through his lips.

Varian thrashed, ignoring the way the pain echoed up his body, trying to pull at the magic that had sat at the bottom of his heart his entire life. A lock and chain now holding it so firmly in place, unwavering and unable for him to use.

His baba's  hands wrapped painfully around his shoulders, holding him despite the thrashing. Alec's hands feeling strangely silent as they pressed into his cheeks, holding his head steady as he looked down at him with sad eyes.

"Varian, V, you've got to stop, you're going to hurt yourself." Alec's voice broke as he muttered the words, and the moment Varian complied, he pressed a chaste kissed to his forehead. "There we are, breathe for me."

Varian took three deep breaths, his eyes bouncing in between the worried faces of his baba  and boyfriend. There was nothing in the air, no hum, no whispers of magic, the marks on the backs of his hands ached as they sat on his chest. Shaking and unsteady, all magic had drained away from him, missing and painfully lost.

"I can't, it's mumbled." Varian's breathing continued, shaky as he tried to focus on the voices of the two holding him.

Magnus eyes shot up to Alec's, looking terrified as he shifted his left hand to rest beside Varian's ear, snapping once, twice, and noticing the delayed way that his son jolted away from the sound. The memories of how hard it had been when Varian was a baby, when he had first come into Magnus' care came to the forefront of his mind. How he had cried often, and had trouble with hearing and how difficult walking had been as a baby.

A wave of Magnus' fingers brought a lighter feeling to the air, but Varian looked all the unphased, his eyes bouncing between the sad eyes of his baba  and the happy tears of his boyfriend.

Alec lifted him carefully, forgoing the bed and taking him into the living room, not missing the way that Varian smiled and titled his head into the sun. His eyes falling shut peacefully, a light sigh passing through his lips, he leaned into Alec's chest.

"He's okay." The words fell from Alec's lips as he sat Varian on the couch, propping his head on a pillow and turning to Magnus.

The Warlock nodded, mumbling under his breath about finding something, and holding up his hand as he walked away. Alec sat beside his boyfriend, pressing another kiss to his forehead and smiling as he noticed the temperature of his skin was closer to normal.

"I love you." Varian's voice was loud when he spoke, accidentally so, his eyes still shut which meant he missed the slight wince from his boyfriend.

Alec smiled brightly, squeezing the wrist nearest to him three times as he spoke. "I love you too."