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“Alright, Bane… you can do this, you’ll be in and out before you know it” Magnus mumbled to himself and straightened his shirt, slowly making his way down the stairs towards the place he dreaded the most in the New York Institute… the cells. Many bad memories came to light just by even thinking about the place, let alone going down there. But it was his job, to check the wards all over the building and make sure everything was working properly.
The warlock sucked in a deep breath through his nose and turned, his blood running slightly cold at the sight of that glass cell he had been trapped in.
“In and out…”
He slowly approached the control panel next to the cell and pressed a button, causing the glass sheet to raise up out of his way so he could attend to the wards. When the glass sheet was down the wards activated and didn’t allow any type of magic, not even his own.
“Just breath”
Magnus began checking over the wards, some of them were slightly damaged but nothing that he couldn’t fix, so he got to work.
It was about fifteen minutes in when he heard something or someone. A few snickers and shushing noises caught his ear causing him to stop looking at the wards and turn around, what he saw caused his heart to turn to stone.
Three shadowhunters were standing outside the cell next to the control panel… and they were lowering the glass. The three of them, all male, were sending him dirty looks and laughing darkly as the glass wall went down.
“Now you’re where you belong, in a cage like the filthy downworlder you are” One of them spat as Magnus ran over to the glass attempting to stop it from shutting completely, but it was too late, the glass wall was down, trapping him in the prison cell once more, without his magic.
Panic instantly began to set in as the shadowhunters walked away, leaving Magnus trapped with his hands pressed up against the glass.
“No, no, no, no! No this can’t be happening” He mumbled as he attempted to conjure any type of magic, anything would suffice at this point in time, but to his dismay… nothing happened.
“Hello?! Can anyone hear me?!” He shouted as he began pounding on the glass, the air getting thicker as it became harder to breathe. The more he pounded against the solid surface the more fear pumped through his veins, he couldn’t be in here! He needed to get out and he needed to get out now!
He turned to see if there was any other way out and froze at the sight in front of him, the chair, the chair was sitting there in the middle of the room once more. The chair he almost got executed in when he was in Valentine’s body; tears began to prickle at the back of his eyes due to the lack of oxygen entering his lungs. He pressed himself harder up against the glass attempting to get as far away from that wretched thing as possible.
“Guilty” A voice echoed, his head snapped to the side and his eyes widened. Standing in the cell with him was Inquisitor Herondale, glaring at him with hate in her eyes and the execution knife in her hand.
“I-Inquis-Inquisitor?” Magnus choked out, his throat barely allowing him to get the words out due to how tight his chest felt.
“Dirty downworlder,” She said as she took a step closer to him, Magnus whimpered slightly and attempted to back away from her, not realising he was up against the wall.
“Abomination” her voice got louder.
“Get away from me”
“Murderer” and louder.
“S-Stop! Please, I-
“Traitor” louder.
“Leave me alone!” Magnus screamed placing his hands over his ears as he dropped down, his knees failing underneath him.
“Failure” it was almost deafening at this point, Magnus screamed in an attempt to block out her voice but nothing was working, his breaths were rushing in and out of his body at a fast and alarming rate, causing pain to rack through his sternum.
“You will die by my hand”
“Magnus?!”
Alec groaned as he signed yet another piece of paper, by the rate he was going he’d be here all night. Being the head of the institute sure had its perks, but the downsides seemed to outweigh everything. He was brought out of his thoughts by a knock at his door.
“Yes?” Alec called, the door opened and in walked Izzy with a smile on her face.
“Well hello, big brother, working yourself into the ground again?” She asked crossing her arms over her chest, causing Alec to roll his eyes.
“I’m fine Izzy, is there something you needed?” Alec replied.
“Oh nothing, I just thought I’d let you know that a certain Magnus Bane is here checking the wards” Izzy smiled as she watched her brother perk up at the mention of his boyfriend.
“He is? Where?” Alec questioned hoping up from his chair, paperwork forgotten.
“Somewhere, you should be able to find him though, his outfit is rather glittery today” Izzy replied.
“Thanks, Iz” Alec smiled placing a kiss on his sister’s head before walking out of his office in search of his boyfriend. He started with the main room, no Magnus, the ops room, no Magnus, the kitchen, no Magnus. It seemed as if he had gone through every room in the institute and he still could not locate the warlock anywhere. The only place he hadn’t checked was the cells, there wasn’t any chance he was down there… right?
As a last resort, Alec began making his way down the stairs leading to the cells, calling out to Magnus along the way. The moment Alec’s foot came off the last stair he froze due to the sight in front of him. Magnus was inside the cell, curled up in the fetal position, his hands over his ears and his mouth open in a silent scream due to the soundproofing of the glass.
“MAGNUS?!” Alec exclaimed loudly rushing over to the glass, placing his hands on it to quickly assess the situation. Magnus was clearly having some type of flashback and panic attack at the same time. Reaching up Alec pressed the button turning off the soundproofing, not wanting to open the cell yet. If the cell was open the wards would deactivate and Magnus could lash out in fear and either hurt himself or Alec.
The soundproofing turned off and Alec swore he felt his heartbreak as those screams met his ears, he needed to bring him back.
“Magnus?!” Alec called, attempting to get the warlock’s attention, but his efforts were met with more screams.
“Magnus, Magnus it’s alright it’s me, it’s me, Alexander, please come back to me” Alec begged, his full name sounding funny coming out of his own mouth. A small breath of relief came out of Alec’s mouth with Magnus’ eyes shot open, golden cat eyes blazing and full of tears.
“Magnus you need to breathe, please love, whatever you’re seeing isn’t real. You’re safe with me, nothing is going to hurt you I promise” Alec begged the warlock, hoping to get through to him. It took at least twenty minutes of coaxing to finally get him to calm down, leaving him sobbing and shaking on the ground but no longer screaming. Alec turned to the control panel and pressed the button causing the glass wall to raise, rushing to his boyfriend’s side quickly.
Alec gently picked Magnus up and placed him on his lap, the warlock quickly clinging to his shirt, sensing his shadowhunter through his warmth and smell.
“Shhh, shhh I’ve got you it’s okay” Alec hushed quietly as he began to rock back and forth gently, Magnus placing his head between Alec’s head and shoulder.
“I’m so sorry baby, I’m so sorry” He apologised rubbing the warlock’s back attempting to calm him further. Alec attempted to pull away and look Magnus over but he whimpered desperately and clung to him tighter.
“Hey, hey it’s alright I’m not going anywhere” Alec mumbled gently kissing Magnus’ head. Together they sat there for a while until Magnus’ sobs turned into hiccups and his tremors into slight shakes.
“Come on, let’s get you back to my room,” Alec said as he began to stand, gathering his boyfriend tighter in his arms. Magnus didn’t protest and wrapped his arms around Alec’s neck and hid his face once more, beginning to come aware of what was currently going on.
Whilst walking back to Alec’s room, Izzy bumped into them, her smile turning to a look of concern as soon as she saw them.
“What happened?” She asked urgently, rushing over to the two. Alec subconsciously pulled Magnus away from Izzy a bit, wanting to protect him in his current state.
“I’ll explain later, just please cover for me?” Alec asked, Izzy, frowned but nodded allowing the two to pass and walk into Alec’s room. Once the door was shut Alec let out a sigh and began to walk over to the bed.
“Mags, can I put you down so I change you and get changed myself?” Alec asked softly in Magnus’ ear. Magnus whimpered lightly but nodded, allowing Alec to place him down on the bed and begin stripping him of his clothes, placing him in some spare pj’s. Alec quickly changed himself and got into bed with Magnus who instantly cuddled to his side like a magnet. Alec gently wrapped his arms around Magnus as he clung to him and began crying once more, Alec hushed him softly and ran his fingers through his spiked styled hair, allowing him to let his emotions out.
“I-I’m, I’m sorry” Alec heard Magnus’ voice say quietly.
“Don’t you dare apologise, you did nothing wrong” Alec quickly shut down Magnus’ apology, not wanting to hear it as none of this was his fault. He was going to find whoever did this and kill them for hurting his lover.
It took a little while but Magnus’ cries calmed down and soon he had fallen asleep, breaths slowly evening out. Alec looked down at Magnus in sadness, his makeup was running and his cheeks were tear stained.
Whoever did this to Magnus Bane was going to suffer the wrath of Alexander Gideon Lightwood.