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Alec awoke to soft lazy kisses being pressed to his back, and smiled into his pillow. From the way the sun streamed through the window, he knew it was still quite early, earlier than he’d usually get up, and much earlier than Magnus would.
And yet, the warlock was awake.
A collection of horrible scenarios flashed through his mind, but no, couldn’t be - Magnus wasn’t tense, he wasn’t grabbing his phone and rushing out the door, he wasn’t even cloistered in his workroom. He was awake, probably by choice rather than necessity, he wanted Alec to be awake… but not rushing it?
“Morning.” Alec whispered.
“Morning.” Magnus pressed a firmer kiss to Alec’s shoulder, running a hand over Alec’s hip. “What time do you have to be at the Institute today?”
“Not until late afternoon. What time is it?”
“A little after six.”
“You’re awake early.”
“I am.” Another kiss. “I wanted to spirit you away somewhere this morning.”
Alec turned so that he was face-to-face with Magnus. “Oh yeah? Where to?”
“You know I’m not going to tell you that, angel. And while we’ve experienced the night in a lot of different places… daytime is a different creature, and I think this place is best suited to daytime.”
“You’re not going to make me dress up, are you?”
“No, you can go just as you are. Most people will be dressed far less formally than you.”
Alec furrowed his brow in confusion. Many of the places Magnus took him to were almost otherworldly in their glitz and glamour, like Magnus himself. If this place was different… what was it that drew Magnus to it?
Magnus noted Alec’s confusion, and his look turned more serious. “I… it is a place with some history for me. I wasn’t there long, but… I can’t go back to the place where I was born, it holds too many painful memories for me. So this is the place closest to my childhood that I am happy to visit. This was where I learned what I really was.”
Alec smiled a small smile, rubbing his thumb under Magnus’ unglamoured eye (Magnus never glamoured them at home anymore if Alec was around, knowing how much he liked them). “You’re sure?”
“Yeah. I… I told you the story of my parents, and… it is time to move on. Share more of my past with you. If you want to.”
Alec reached for Magnus’ hand, entwining their fingers. “I want all of you that you are ready to give.”
“Then let’s do this.” Magnus kissed the tip of Alec’s nose, making him smile. “Get dressed and we can be on our way.”
Alec smiled back, and reluctantly pulled himself out of the nice warm bed, dressing quickly, ready to see what adventure Magnus had in store for them.
Once they were both ready, Magnus twisted a hand, pulling a spinning Portal into the air, and they stepped through it hand in hand.
* * *
They stepped out of the Portal into the shadows of a cobblestoned square, trees shading the area and obscuring their arrival. There were many people about on the other side of the square, strung along a winding road, and all of them were wearing backpacks and marching single-mindedly up into a pedestrianized area across the street.
“Where are they going?” Alec asked, staring at all of the people. “They look like they’ve been walking for awhile.”
“In many cases, they have. But they’re almost finished. Let’s join them, and you can see where they are headed.”
They walked out towards the stream of people, and Alec felt self-conscious being pulled along in the tide, especially since for once he felt somewhat overdressed in his jeans and leather jacket.
Once they crossed the road into the pedestrian-only zone, the crowd thinned out a bit as a result and Alec breathed easier. They wound their way through the narrow streets, passing through several small squares with stands and various festive things going on, before they went down through a tunnel and emerged out into a massive square.
Alec was struck by two things when he arrived in the square, Magnus’ hand pressed into his. One, this was where all of the people with the backpacks appeared to be stopping, hugging each other and - it would appear finally - sitting down.
Two, was the absolutely atrocious noise blaring into his ear. It sounded like it was trying to be music, but Alec had heard a lot of music - especially since living with Magnus - but he wasn’t sure if this qualified.
“What is that?” he asked Magnus.
“Bagpipes, of course. They’re an acquired taste. I know this isn’t the first place people think of when they hear ‘bagpipes’, but they’re indigenous here too, not just in Scotland. Believe me, first time I heard them, I also thought someone was strangling a goat.”
Alec chuckled. “So from this entrance, I can see that this place isn’t important just to you, but to a lot of other people as well.”
“It is. People come here for their own reasons. In fact, people have been coming here for centuries.” Magnus paused for a moment, his expression clearly a million miles away - or hundreds of years, as it were. “I did too.”
Alec didn’t say anything, not yet, just pulled Magnus close and pressed a kiss to his temple, waiting for him to continue.
“After I… after… well, my mother and stepfather were both dead. I fled home - the only home I’d ever known - and wanted to get as far away as quickly as possible. I got to the port, and hid on the first ship that I saw. At each port, I’d switch to a different ship, hoping that that way no one could find me. And they didn’t. Once I was several oceans away - or well, what had looked like several oceans to me, but at that point I’d only made it to India - I was able to get legitimate work on ships and that took me the rest of the way here.”
“But you were just a boy. You were working?”
“It was a different time, Alexander. And besides, doesn’t your little brother want to be out on patrols at his age already?”
“Fair enough.”
“I had nothing and no one. So there were two choices - work for it, or steal it. The stealing that I’d been doing up to then, it just - it reinforced what my stepfather had said. That I was an abomination, a damned soul who was destined for Hell.”
“But then you decided to work. What changed?”
“On the last ship I’d been hiding on, before we put into port in India, I’d heard the sailors talking. They had mentioned a place that if you went there and prayed to the saint - your sins would be forgiven. I didn’t really know much about it - I didn’t even really understand religion at that time - but when I heard that such a place existed, I swore I’d go there, and by honest means. And if a damned creature like me could find absolution there - then maybe everything would be all right. Maybe I could prove my stepfather wrong.”
“Are we - are we on the sea here?”
Magnus shook his head. “No. I walked here from Portugal. The last ship I was on docked in Lisbon, and the crewmen told me I’d know where to go. And I did, most of the time. And when I didn’t, there were people to set me on the right path.”
“So you got here, and then what?”
Magnus pointed up to the massive cathedral to the left of them. “Here. It is said that an important saint was buried here. The cathedral was built up around him. It wasn’t as glamorous as all this when I first came, but it was impressive all the same.”
Alec stared up at the church, its spires reaching towards the clear blue sky. “I’m guessing this one isn’t an Institute.”
“No. Too many mundanes for that.”
“So… you got here, and then what?”
“I went into the cathedral. The entrance to the cathedral is around the corner there, so let’s head up and I’ll show you.”
“You’ve been back here since that time?”
“I have. I try to come at least once a decade. To give my thanks.”
“Didn’t see you for a religious man.”
“I’m not. But this is where I was saved, as it were. But I’ll tell you that story as we move through this place.”
Alec let Magnus lead him through the square and around the corner to the entrance. As they passed through the doors, Alec saw Magnus wave his hand in a flourish and a wave of magic flowed over them.
“There, now no one can hear or see us.”
“Is that necessary?”
“Hundreds of thousands of people come here every year now. Certain areas are off-limits, to preserve them. But we can get there if we’re out of sight of mundanes.” Magnus winked.
Alec had been in a lot of churches - mostly Institutes, but not exclusively so - and yet the vastness of this cathedral astounded him. He tried to keep track of Magnus, but kept getting distracted by his surroundings. The sculptures, the paintings, the carvings, all of it. More than once Magnus had to pull him back onto the path that he was trying to lead.
“We can come back to look at everything in more detail once I’m done my story.” Magnus whispered into his ear.
“Yeah, sorry sorry. It’s just - it’s incredible.”
Magnus pulled him around a column, where they could see deep grooves in the stone, as if made by a hand, and Alec watched as Magnus placed his own hand there, and rested his head against the stone for a moment, before pulling away.
“These grooves have been worn by centuries of visitors here.” Magnus explained. “This is one of the first places we’d stop to give thanks for a safe journey. Then we’d visit the crypt, where the saint’s remains are kept, and then spend the night praying. It was during that long night that I found my salvation.”
“What happened?”
Magnus ushered him along further towards the saint’s tomb. “While the people I’d travelled with from Lisbon were kind, they were - they were still nervous of me. One of them had mentioned the strange boy with the golden eyes to one of the priests here. That priest had the Sight, and thus connections to the Institute. I’d been praying for hours, almost falling asleep, when they came.”
“Shadowhunters?”
“The Silent Brothers. I had done no wrong as far as the Shadowhunters knew, so they sent the Silent Brothers to question the foreign warlock boy who had just shown up in their city.”
“And how did that go?”
Magnus chuckled. “Well, you’ve seen the Silent Brothers. Now imagine being approached by them as a child who has no idea what’s going on. I was down in the crypt, by myself, when they came. I screamed, but they did something to me to make me fall asleep, and took me out of here.”
“What happened then?”
“They took me to the City of Bones. I woke up terrified - I’d come to be saved and it looked like monsters had abducted me. But they were kind, and for the first time I learned what I was. I despaired, at first, because my stepfather had been right - I was the child of a demon. But the Silent Brothers taught me that it didn’t mean that I was a demon. I had a soul, and that if I was good, if I did good - then I wasn’t damned after all.”
“Progressive thinking, for Shadowhunters.”
“Silent Brothers may be Shadowhunters, but they’re different. They’re not prejudiced like many mortal Shadowhunters are. Silent Brothers spend their time learning, learning, learning more. And the more you learn, the harder it is to justify prejudice.”
“I guess that makes sense. After all, I wasn’t a big fan of warlocks until I actually got to know them.”
“And now?”
“They’re all right. But there’s one warlock in particular that I’m a huge fan of.” Alec whispered the last sentence into Magnus’ ear, and a shiver ran down his back.
“Tsk tsk. Not here, Alexander. This is a sacred place.” Magnus motioned down a flight of stairs. “We’re here.”
Alec stopped his teasing and followed Magnus down the stairs. Despite the large number of people who had been milling about in the cathedral, when they descended into the crypt, it was as if they had all vanished (Alec suspected magic).
At the bottom of the stairs, in front of a gate, Magnus knelt. Alec felt awkward hovering next to him, so he knelt as well. He looked to see what was beyond the gate, and in a far recess in the wall he saw a reliquary, where he assumed the saint was buried.
Despite knowing that he was descended from an angel, Alec had never given much thought to mundane religions. He knew there were many out there, and most acknowledged angelic and demonic beings in some fashion, but the particulars never interested him. He knew what his job was, he knew the difference between good and evil, and the belief systems that had sprung up around the facts seemed… unnecessary. By doing good, you would be rewarded with good. It seemed simple enough.
But Alec tried to think of how Magnus must have felt as a child - believing himself to be damned because of the way he was born, he’d fled a world that had crumbled around him, and then to hear such a story - that if he just came here, it would all be forgiven? It would have sounded like a miracle. And then the reality - having someone explain what he was and who he could become - he understood why Magnus would want to return here.
Just like Alec sometimes found himself standing in the Institute’s chapel, just inside the door, remembering that fateful day when Magnus had interrupted his wedding. And instead of going through with it, Alec had stormed away from the altar and kissed Magnus in front of everyone.
This, here, was the first place where Magnus had felt hope.
Alec looked to Magnus, but the other man’s eyes were closed and he looked deep in thought, lips moving on occasion, but no sound coming from them. Alec didn’t want to disturb him, so he simply waited, contemplating the reliquary in front of him, and how millions of people must have passed through here over the centuries. Had they come here looking for hope as well? Had they found it? Or had they walked away disappointed, still searching?
He felt a hand on his arm, and started for a moment, before looking back at Magnus.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to disturb you.” Magnus said. “If you need some more time, feel free.”
“No - no, I was just - thinking about all of the people who have come here over the years. Centuries. If they found what they were looking for here.”
“Some do. Some don’t. I may not have found the salvation I was looking for, as it were, but I did find what I needed. And each time I come back - I make another wish, another prayer, whatever it is you want to call it. But I think this is the last time.”
“The last time you come back, or the last time you make that wish?”
“Possibly both. Either.” Magnus smiled, and took Alec’s hand as they got back to their feet, rubbing his thumb softly over Alec’s wrist.
“Why’s that?”
“Now I have everything I’ve ever wanted.”
Even though it was probably wholly inappropriate for the setting, Alec couldn’t help but lean in to capture Magnus’ lips in a soft kiss. Alec felt Magnus smile into the kiss as he pulled back.
“So that’s my story.” Magnus said softly. “What do you say we get out of here, get some lunch?”
“Yes.” Alec nodded.
They walked up out of the crypt, hand in hand. As they walked out of the cathedral and Magnus made them visible again, Alec felt a different kind of shiver pass over him. He was suddenly quite certain of what Magnus’ wish in the crypt must have been.
When they got back to New York, Alec had some jewelry shopping to do.