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He doesn’t actually realize that something is really wrong until they make it into the cabin, which is dark and smells faintly musty. Magnus pulls the door shut behind him as Alec moves deeper into the room, wrinkling his nose. It’s not going to be the most pleasant place to spend the night, but he’s pretty sure that if Magnus tries to make a portal in this condition they’ll end up at the bottom of the Mariana Trench or something.
“Well,” he says. “There’s a bed, anyway. Luke said there should be some canned food in here and the water’s hooked up, so…”
He trails off as he turns. Magnus is tilted against the door, head back, eyes closed, hands hanging loosely at his sides. Eventually, he lifts a hand to rub clumsily at his face, then opens his eyes. It’s hard to tell in the dim light, but they don’t look like they’re entirely focused, and there’s a grayish tinge to his skin. Worried, Alec takes a step closer. “Are you okay?”
“Fine, darling,” Magnus murmurs. His eyes slide shut again. He shifts, bracing one palm against the door like he’s trying to stand up, then almost stumbles before Alec catches him. His sturdy frame feels unnervingly loose-limbed, and his skin is cooler than it should be. Magnus always runs hot; a quirk of warlock biology, he explained once, but right now he's clammy to the touch.
“You don’t seem fine.”
“I’m…” Magnus trails off, takes a breath. He makes a soft noise against Alec’s throat, then murmurs, softly, “fuck.”
“What is it?” Alec asks, something close to panic flaring up in him. Magnus’s magic is drained to nearly nothing, and there’s no cell signal up here. Short of him hiking down the mountain and leaving Magnus alone for however long it takes him to get help, they’re on their own.
The latter is an option, but it’s not one he wants to take. Not unless he really has to. The idea of leaving Magnus here like this, alone and undefended and barely able to stand, isn’t something he can countenance.
“Nothing,” Magnus murmurs.
“Right,” Alec says, loading his tone with doubt. He loops his arm around Magnus and starts pulling him toward the bed, which is covered in a slightly dusty-looking quilt. Magnus doesn’t protest or try to pull away, which is all the more worrying. He just allows Alec to settle him onto the mattress and kneel down to pull his boots off; when Alec looks up, he’s still upright but swaying slightly, his eyes unfocused, face slack. “Come on. Let’s get your jacket off.”
“Are you trying to strip me, Alexander?” Magnus asks. There’s a faint curl of a smile on his face, but the words come out soft and slurry, like he’s either concussed or very, very drunk.
Not for the first time, Alec wishes like hell that his stele could work its healing magic on warlocks. “Yeah. Don’t get any ideas, though. We need to get you under the blankets and warmed up.”
“No promises,” Magnus murmurs. He tilts his head against Alec’s chest as Alec straightens up to unbutton his jacket and tug it off, and doesn’t really do anything to help. “Perhaps that poison is having an effect after all.”
“You think?” Alec mutters. He kicks his own shoes off and sits down on the bed, pulling Magnus down with him until they’re tangled together in a sprawl of limbs. After a moment, he tugs the blanket over both of them. Magnus is still so cold to the touch. “Are you going to be okay? Do I need to go get help? I can probably get a cell signal if I hike up the slope.”
“No,” Magnus murmurs. His eyes are falling shut, his face slack and pale. Alec starts to sit up, and Magnus grips his shoulder with sudden strength and says, more firmly, “No. It’s meant to weaken, not kill. It’ll burn out of my system once my magic is replenished. They weren’t—” he yawns. “They weren’t intending to keep me alive that long.”
Alec breathes out hard, pulling Magnus closer to him and suddenly, fiercely glad that Magnus’s eyes are closed so he can’t see the expression on Alec’s face. “Good thing we got you out.”
“Hmm,” Magnus murmurs into his hair, his hand loosening on Alec’s arm. “My very own knight in shining armor.”
Alec snorts. “Right. Just, you know. If you could do me a favor and not get kidnapped by pissed-off Seelies again, that would be great.”
“I’ll do my very best,” Magnus mumbles, shifting so that he’s curled around Alec, cat-like.
“Do you need anything? Should I get you food, or something?”
“No,” Magnus murmurs. “Just rest. Just…” he trails off for long enough that Alec starts to wonder if he’s fallen asleep, then adds, “just stay?”
“Yeah, okay,” Alec says, pulling him closer. At some point, he probably is going to have to get some food into Magnus, not to mention get a fire started in the wood stove squatted in the corner before the temperature drops too much, but for now--yeah. For now, he’s not going anywhere.