When duty calls

Chapter 5

"Papa?" Rafael's voice came loud and clear through the phone.

"Rafael? Is that really you?" Magnus asked, looking at his husband wide-eyed.

"It's me, Papa."

"Is Max with you?" Alec asked and closed his eyes tightly, bracing himself for the worst.

"I'm here, daddy," Max spoke as cheerfully as usual. "We miss you..." He quickly said, letting out a sigh.

"We miss you too, buddy. I'm glad you're together." Alec said, trying to grab the phone but Magnus didn't allow it, he was keeping it close to him, wrapped around his magic.

"Where are you? Why haven't you answered our calls? Everyone here's worried about you." Magnus said, his voice indicating he was upset but also a little annoyed.

"We don't know where we are; we've been trying to go back home but... But we don't know how." Rafael explained.

"It's complicated, Papa." Max continued. "We're home but at the same time we aren't." He sounded frustrated and confused.

"Max. It's not the time for games right now." Magnus said in a stern tone, glaring at his phone as if Max could see him. He thought the kids were messing with them. "Look. You won't get in trouble, okay? We just want you home and safe." He stayed in silence for a few seconds before adding; "Just send me the location and I'll pick you up."

"Papa! You aren't listening to us! We don't even know if we're in the same universe and you want a location?!" Max blurted out, annoyed that he wouldn't believe them.

The husbands share a look, both startled as they stared at the phone. So they both had heard the same and they weren't going insane?

***

"What do we do?!" Magnus mouthed to his boyfriend when they basically heard their own voices, that had only changed a little, through the kid's phone.

Alec gave Magnus a look that said. Do I look like I know? His eyes were wide open as he was trying to process the situation. How was it even possible? How could they be listening to themselves through the phone? Was it some sort of sick trick someone was playing on them? That couldn't be it, there must be a logical explanation for this.

"I think we... we... we traveled to the past." Rafael finally admitted. "There's no other explanation for this other than an alternative universe or time travel." He said and bit his lip as he looked at Max, he wasn't ready to tell them the rest of the information.

"We are with a version of you. Dad seems younger. And Papa too, even if he refuses to believe he ages a bit." Max said, trying to break the tension.

Silence. More silence.

"Dad? Papa?" Rafael asked, he could hear them whispering something to each other but couldn't make up a word.

"May I?" Magnus asked, he was scared but sounded confident on the outside. He did it for the kids. "Hello. I'm Magnus Bane. This... This is awkward." Said the warlock in a loud tone. "Hello?"

"M-Magnus? I-Is that you?" A very familiar voice came through the phone. It was his boyfriend, actually, it was his husband or future husband? Alec. Yes, that was Alexander, he would recognize that voice anywhere.

"It's me. We have your kids here. This is just as confusing for us as it is for you and them. I know. But we're looking for a way to help them go back home." He said, going straight to the point. He didn't know for how long they would be able to maintain the call.

The exchange was a bit awkward, not only for both of them but for the rest that was just listening to the conversation. Magnus had ended up interrupting them, it was weird to talk to himself but his husband wasn't being helpful at all or maybe he was just being impatient; the shadowhunter kept stumbling over his words and repeating them over and over again, his ideas being a bit hard to follow. That's why he had taken over it.

Alec chimed in at the end of the conversation and suggested them to write a message on a paper and leaving it somewhere in the house that hadn't changed over the years. That would prove if they were in the past or in a different universe. It would be easier to work on a plan once they figured that out. It wasn't the same to do research about parallel universes than to research about time travel.

The phone call ended abruptly. Magnus was feeling better by that point, his magic wasn't red anymore, it was blue, which meant he felt more like himself now and would be able to think rationally. If he didn't, the kids wouldn't be able to come back home.

"Dad? Papa? What happened?" Max asked, looking up at his older brother for answers even though Rafael was just as clueless as him. But his big brother always had an answer for everything and anything he asked and if he didn't he would find one for him; but the look Rafael gave him made his eyes fill with tears, he was scared now, he didn't understand what had happened, why the called had ended like that.