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Maryse returns the next morning to the shop, coffee in hand, eager to see what Magnus did with the place after she decided to turn in for the night. She isn’t sure what to expect - she told him not to stay too late, that she could always finish up whatever is left in the morning - but whatever she does expect, it isn’t to find Magnus sitting in one of the chairs in a corner reserved for reading. (a 3x18 coda)
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Bookmark Notes:
post asmodeal breakup
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“Alexander, what on earth did you--” she starts, but cuts herself off at the sound of sniffling on the other end of the line.“Mom? Mom, I… I need you.” Her son’s voice dissolves into a broken, choked cry that tears at her heart.
“I’ll be right there.”
In under a minute the closed sign is back on the door and she’s on her way to the Institute. Whatever’s going on Maryse is determined to get to the bottom of it. Alec nearly threw away his chance at love once in the name of a selfless act, and while she isn’t sure what’s going on right now she’s certain of one thing: this isn’t what he wants, and she refuses to watch him make the same mistake twice.
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“It’s for the best, you have to believe me. He’ll be better soon. He’ll be fine.” Maryse wonders how many times he repeated those words to himself in the past 12 hours. How many more until he might start to believe them. “I made a deal… a deal with Asmodeus, to get Magnus’ magic back. His condition was that I leave his son, and that Magnus could never know about the deal.”Maryse watches the way Alec’s expression shifts during the explanation. Some of the sadness fades and is replaced with resolve, with that fierce determination to set things right that she watched him don time and time again during trainings or missions… the face of a soldier hardened against the sting of loss.
She sees her son sacrificing himself once again for the good of someone he cares about, someone he feels responsible for. She watched him do it once before, nearly marrying a woman he didn’t care about - couldn’t care about - for the good of their family. And now, for the good of the man he wishes was his family, he’s calling off not just a marriage but an entire relationship with someone he loves.
Maryse Lightwood is tired of watching her son suffer for the sake of others. She knows it’s in large part because she raised him to shoulder those burdens whenever possible for his siblings and fellow Shadowhunters. These were the beliefs she instilled in him before she realized how wrong they could be to blindly follow… before she saw her son suffer through them time and time again.
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“He needs you, too. I know what you told me about the dinner, but… This isn’t what he would’ve wanted, not for either of you.” She gives his hands another squeeze, trying desperately to think of a solution. Some loophole, some middle ground, to fix this before the damage is irreparable. “Last night, while he was helping me at the shop, he told me he wasn’t drinking anymore. That he was trying to get better at adjusting, because he didn’t know what he’d do without you.”Alec winces, visibly flinching at her words. She doesn’t want to hurt him, that’s far from her intent, but he needs to know. He has to understand exactly what he’s doing before she stands back and watches him see this through.
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“Do you really believe that? He sacrificed his magic for you, Alec. Do you really believe he thinks so little of you as to just, what?, shrug and move on, with or without his magic?” She can’t believe that. And neither can Alec whether he admits it or not. “What if getting his magic back isn’t enough?”Alec freezes at the question, eyes wide as if he truly hadn’t considered the possibility that this deal might not solve all of Magnus’ problems. And then, very slowly, his voice hoarse and barely above a whisper, he says, “...it has to be.”
A heavy silence falls between them. Maryse came over here for answers but now that she has them it only leaves her at more of a loss than she was before. There’s no quick fix for this, no advice that feels even remotely helpful.
“What do you need from me? What can I do?” She asks instead.
“Is M…” Alec starts, then stops abruptly before speaking again. “Is he still at the shop?” Her heart aches at the way he stops to avoid saying Magnus’ name.
At least knowing that Alec still loves Magnus makes it less likely she’ll be deemed a traitor for taking him in this morning. “No. I sent him back to my place to clean up and get some sleep.”
Alec swallows hard and nods. “Good. Can you just… keep an eye on him? Until his magic comes back, if you can? Or at least make sure he goes to Catarina’s, or… I just don’t want him to be alone.”
“Of course,” she agrees. She meant every word she said to Magnus the night before about caring about him, about considering him family. And this… this complicates things. But she isn’t about to abandon him, either.