Chapter Text
Magnus clung to Izzy as the two waited for the doctors to come out. Of the two of them, Magnus wasn’t sure who was comforting who. It had been an hour since they had had Alexander under surgery. He had drawn iratze runes and blood replenishing runes with the stele Jace left him but it had not been enough. Catarina’s phone had been unreachable. So he had taken his first action as a mundane - brought his hurt boyfriend to the hospital as he called Izzy.
There was still no word from Jace about Clary and Simon. Magnus stopped himself from assuming the worse. He was in the middle of a very non-convincing argument to himself when his phone suddenly rang.
“Catarina!” He sobbed into the phone. “It’s Alec. I need you Cat - Okay, yes, I’ll see you here.”
Moments later Catarina portalled into the hospital and hugged Magnus and Isabelle. “Is he inside?”
Magnus nodded.
“Hey hey, listen to me you two. I’m going in and I’ll make sure he’s alright. I’m not going to let anything happen to Alec. Okay?” With that, Catarina conjured up a nurse’s scrubs and entered the operation room.
“Catarina’s here, he’s going to be fine, Magnus,” Izzy looked at him, squeezing his shoulders, still crying.
“Yes he will.” Magnus pulled Izzy into a hug, and pulled her back to the benches by the wall. For the first time, since he had come back from hell, he did not feel completely helpless.
After Catarina’s arrival, it was only a matter of minutes for the doctor to come out and inform them that Alec was now in recovery. “Our team will now move him to the critical care unit. Luckily, the weapon only grazed his heart. He is alive but he is still weak. We have sedated him for now. You can visit him in a few minutes but we will not be having him wake up until tomorrow, that too if his vitals are normal.”
Both Izzy and Magnus nodded. But anything else the doctor said did not matter, what mattered was that Alec was going to be okay. Still too much in shock to speak, the two hugged each other as they half-laughed and cried.
“Magnus?” Catarina said softly as she touched his shoulder.
“Catarina - thank you so much,” Izzy cried out as she hugged the warlock tightly, surprising her.
“You are welcome, Isabelle.” She guided them to the room where the nurses had taken Alec. “Why don’t you go ahead and see your brother? He should have been transferred by now.” The Shadowhunter nodded with a smile and rushed to Alec’s room.
“Cat, I have no words to thank you,” Magnus said, finally having found his voice. “I know you risked a lot with Lorenzo but I - “
“Your Shadowhunter has come to the aid of the Downworlders more than once. I am sure the community will understand. Lorenzo’s entire claim for not supporting you was to avoid a battle with Lilith and frankly with her banished to Hell again, I do not see a problem in assisting a friend. I do have a question though. Why did you not heal Alec yourself? You were at the scene when he was hurt, I believe?”
Magnus took a deep breath as he prepared to tell Catarina the truth. He could already imagine the disappointment in her eyes. “That was my father’s price - my magic for his assistance.”
“Magnus - no! You gave up your magic? And for what? A Nephilim?”
“It was a small price to pay. Honestly, I know it will be difficult to live without it, but Catarina, when Asmodeus asked me, it was a no-brainer. At the time, I was thinking about how to save Jace but much before that, I had already been looking for - well, solutions - for the lack of a better word. I do admit that my magic was not something I was planning to part with, but,” he trailed off, letting out a sigh.
“I hope he loves you as much as you love him, Mag,” she pursed her lips as she hugged Magnus before leaving. Sighing again, Magnus headed to Alec and Izzy. He found Isabelle sitting by his side, her hand on his shoulder, moving her thumb against it, subconsciously.
“Iz?”
Isabelle turned and frowned. “He’s fine. Or at least he’s going to be. I activated his healing runes as well so he’ll be back to being our Alec sooner.”
“Then why are you not smiling?” Magnus feared that could only mean one thing - Clary and Simon.
“I couldn’t help but overhear,” Izzy left Alec’s side to hug him. “Oh, Magnus, I am so sorry.”
For someone who had lived through centuries, Magnus was surprisingly unaccustomed to such love. He smiled uncomfortably. “Things we do for love, right?”
Seeming to understand his discomfort, Isabelle did not say anything else but simply held his hand. A warmth took over Magnus’ heart. Izzy was the complete opposite of her brother in most aspects but both the Lightwoods were the same when it came to their hearts.
“Any word from Jace?” Magnus asked after sometime. Izzy simply shook her head. “I tried calling but his phone is not reachable. I was hoping you would stay with Alec for sometime so I could go look for him?”
“Of course! Oh, I did not pay attention to it then but I think Catarina mentioned something about Lilith being banished back to Edom, so that’s good news, I guess.” He offered a small smile but it was not enough. Isabelle returned his smile before she kissed Alec on his forehead and left.
“Alexander,” Magnus sighed as he pulled a chair next to his boyfriend’s bed and held his hand. “You have to be alright. I can’t lose you. There is so much we haven’t done yet. I’ll take you to Italy this time.We’ll have to fly, of course, can’t really portal myself around. But we’ll have fun, right?” He looked outside, ensured no one was watching and took out Alec’s stele again, continuing to reactivate his healing runes.
Magnus knew that Alec would be fine now but he could not chase out this terrible feeling of almost losing him just yet. He thought of Alec’s family - Jace, Isabelle, Maryse - Oh my! Maryse!
Quickly, he took out his phone and dialled the number he had never thought he would use.