Chapter Text
It was very normal day in Boston. Partly cloudy, people rushing around for lunch hour, cars honking, police sirens screaming. A giant rampaging on the streets. Three teenagers and a flying sword fighting the said giant.
It wasn’t the biggest of the giants they had faced, only a bit less than 9 feet. But Magnus thought it was definitely one of the ugliest as he jumped out of the way of its fist.
They were fighting by the river. Mallory jumped to the giant’s back, trying to hit it with her knives. The big guy attempted grab her and smash her down. Good thing Mallory was swift and was able to avoid the hit and jumped back on the ground. T.J was further away, on his knee, aiming his rifle, and the moment Mallory was off he pulled the trigger. The giant got a bullet into his (at least Magnus was pretty sure it was he) shoulder. Jack took the chance and finished the fight.
”Incoming!” Jack yelled as he charged towards it and flew right through. The giant fell and crashed into the water.
”Yieks, that can’t be good for the environment”, T.J grimaced, swinging his rifle to his back.
Mallory wiped dirt from her face. ”You sure it’s dead?”
”You want to dive in and check?” Magnus asked.
”I didn’t fly through it’s neck for nothing you know”, Jack said as he flew down to them.
”Good job, buddy.”
Mallory grabbed her jacket that had fell from her waist. ”Well, let’s head home then.”
The giant didn’t get up from the water, so they took it as in he was indeed dead and left the scene. Jack flew off his own to do what ever magical swords do on their free time. Probably to find a lady knife at the butcher’s to flirt with. The trio walked down the busy streets. No one seemed to notice anything had been out of ordinary and went on with their day. Glamour worked funny that way.
They crossed the street and took a shortcut through a park towards the gate they’d used before. Magnus and T.J were chatted this and that.
”Hey, Mallory, what do you think-- Mallory?” T.J turned around to see the red head had stopped in front of a notice board.
”You guys might want to see this…”
”What? Is someone selling a kitten? I hope someone is selling a kitten.” The boys walked back to her.
”What is it?” Magnus asked, confused. The board was filled with ads for concerts and shops. Someone was selling their guitar. There was a notice from the city to keep the park clean.
Mallory pointed one of the posters. ”Any guesses why would your partner’s face be there?”
Magnus frowned and leaned for a closed look. Indeed, on the paper Mallory was pointing to, there was a small black and white photo of Alex Fierro. Above it on all capitals MISSING, description of Alex and a phone number to contact to. The photo was probably older, Alex seemed few years younger.
”Possibly moving around Boston central...Who would still be looking for Alex a year after she’s been dead?” T.J said after reading through the note.
”Could it be left from before it?” Mallory thought.
”No, this looks pretty new…” Magnus said, ripping the paper off the board. He took a look of the contact info. ”Emily Fierro?”
”Does that name say anything to you?” T.J asked.
”No. Alex hasn’t told much about her family.”
T.J crossed his arms and raised an eyebrow. ”But Fierros must know she died? The police would have identified the body and told them. And I thought Alex wasn’t in terms with her family?”
”She wasn’t…”
They exchanged looks, no one really knowing how to react. Magnus really hoped it’d been about the kittens.
”I told you at the beginning, Magnus, you shouldn’t be out of the hotel so soon”, T.J said shooking his head.
”Should we… look around if there are more?” Mallory asked.
”Would look suspicious if we took them down”, Magnus replied. He folded the paper and put it into his pocket. ”We should tell Alex about this.”
In the end they made a small round to see if there were more, but didn’t find any so they headed back to Hotel Valhalla and floor 19. Halfborn was walking towards the elevator as the exited it.
”Oh hi guys! Back already?”
”Yeah. Have you seen Alex?” Magnus asked.
”Not for a while, I haven’t”, he replied, scratching his chin under his beard. ”I was just on my way to floor 78th. I heard there is a brawl going on there. Should be fun! Wanna join?”
”I pass”, Magnus grimaced. He still didn’t always understand einherjars love for fighting and gore. ”We have something to tell to Alex.”
”You mean you have something to tell Alex”, Mallory said. ”You’re her boyfriend, you’re gonna tell her the news, and I don’t wanna be near when that bomb goes off. I rather take the beating with Halfborn.”
”She’s got a point”, T.J mused. Then he patted Magnus on the shoulder. ”Good luck, solider.” He walked towards his room whistling.
”Thanks, guys…” Magnus smiled sarcasticlly. ”What a team.”
”What news are we talking about?” Halfborn asked, confused.
”I’ll tell you on the way”, Mallory said, took his hand and they took off.
***
Magnus eventually located Alex at the library. He was sitting at one of the tables in his usual pink and green glory, a book open in front of him. He was talking to a girl across him. The girl had long blond hair, hotel’s green shirt and jeans. She had her chin on her other hand and was fidgeting with her hair with the other, leaning bit too much towards Alex. She giggled a bit too loudly at something he’d said. Magnus suddenly felt irritated as he walked to them.
Alex saw him and smiled. ”Hey, Magnus. How was your mission?”
Magnus smiled back at his partner. ”It was fine, I mean, Jack did the most work, as always.” Alex laughed and the girl seemed to blush slightly. ”Can we talk?”
”Why sure!” Alex closed his book. ”I need to return this. See you around!” He told the blond girl.
”Bye”, she smiled. Alex got up and gave him a quick kiss on cheek and Magnus slipped his hand into his. Though they usually preferred not to show too much affection in public - it just wasn’t their style- small gestures like that were fine at the times. From the corner of his eye he saw the girl’s face fall, and when he turned Magnus had a small smug smile on his lips.
Alex led him through the bookselves, looking for the spot he’s taken the book.
”That girl was trying to hit on you.”
”Was she? I didn’t notice”, Alex said innocently. ”Why, was that the reason you took me away? Were you jealous?”
”No!”
”Because don’t worry, Maggie, I only see you”, he laughed and poked his nose.
”And that one guy at 148th floor you tought was hot?”
”On my defence, he was, and you agreed.” Alex put the book to the shelf and turned back to him, arms crossed and smirk on his face. ”So, what did you want to talk about then?”
Magnus took out the missing poster from his pocket and handed it over. ”We found this while we were out. It looks new.” Alex’s face fell serious as he took the paper and read it. He frowned.
”That’s not possible… I mean… they know I’m dead….” He muttered after a small silence. ” I checked… Why would…”
”Who’s Emily?” Magnus asked. Alex looked up and there was anger in his eyes. He crumbled the paper and put it into is pocket.
”No one.” He brushed past Magnus and headed towards the doors. Magnus stood by for a second, unsure whether he should follow or now. In the end he decided on yes and dashed after his boyfriend. He caught Alex at the elevators.
”Listen–”
”I don’t want to talk about it, Magnus,” Alex snapped as they stepped in. He pressed the 19 button and the elevator started moving. His whole body seemed tensed and his lips were pressed into a thin line. Magnus knew better not to press further so he said nothing. Once the elevator stopped Alex stomped away to his room and slammed the door shut behind him, and Magnus was left standing to the hall way looking concerned.
***
A couple of weeks passed. Alex didn’t bring up the missing poster so neither did Magnus. He’d brifed the others and asked them not to do it either. Alex would talk when she felt like it. Or not.
Magnus tried to talk about other stuff, and although Alex tried to keep up the conversation it was clear her head was elsewhere most of the time and she was constantly on bad mood. She’d smashed most of her pottery, made new ones and smashed them as well. The cleaning crows were getting annoyed. Magnus had heard them complain about how they didn’t like guests causing intetnional mess in their rooms.
”Look, I think you need to let it out”, Magnus said, braving himself up one evening as they were sitting in Alex’s living room. They were on the floor by the fire place drinking hot chocolate (Magnus thought Alex made killer hot chocolate).
”What?” She asked.
”The poster? It’s clearly bothering you.”
”No it’s not.”
”Then why didn’t you throw it away?” Magnus nodded at kitchen, where he’d seen the very familiar crumbled paper ball.
If looks could kill, Magnus knew he’d be dead now. Thank gods that was one way you could not die in Valhalla. Yet.
”You know you can talk to me. About anything”, he said carefully.
Alex was quiet for a long time staring into the fire. Magnus started thinking she wouldn’t reply, and was ready to let the matter be if she didn’t, when she talked.
”My sister.”
Magnus frowned.
”Emily. She’s younger of my two older sisters. We’re one year apart.”
”Ah.”
Another silence.
”So… you’re sure your family knows you’re dead?”
”Yeah”, Alex said. She was stroking the handle of her mug. ”My.. mom told me. I went to check the house. As a fly, obviously. My room had been all cleared. Like I never even existed… I some papers about the case and how my father didn’t want to open further investigation. I have no idea where would Emily had gotten the idea to look for me now.”
”Could Loki be behind this somehow?”
”I don’t know. Could be? But he shouldn’t be able to communicate with anyone this soon... right?”
”I don’t think so…”
They were quiet again for few minutes.
”What kind of relationship you had with her? Your sister?” Magnus asked.
Alex bit her lip while thinking her answer. ”We… simply put, she wasn’t the worst. She was only one in my family I got along somehow. She at least seemed to acknowledge me as a human being rater than some freak like my parents and other sister. And pretty much everyone else. We still fought a lot, but we would watch TV or movies together, and so on.” She sighed. ”But I don’t think she still…. Understood me.And it’s not like she ever stood up for me or helped if I was bullied and so, or even talked to me at school. I guess she still cared about her own reputation more than me. I guess I still was just a weird little brother to her.”
”Did you think about contacting her?”
”It did cross my mind. But I don’t think that’s wise.”
Magnus nodded. He was pretty sure in Alex’s language that meant she had been thinking about it constantly.
Magnus had been reunited with Annabeth after he died and it was sometimes great to get to talk to someone who was a ”third party member” and ease out from all Valhalla stuff. But Annabeth was also a demigod and seen even more crazier stuff in her life, she understood things differently, and even she had been surprised when she head Magnus was, in fact, dead. Sam had been able to tell Amir about her double life as Valkurie, it had taken time for him to adjust for it, but was a big support in the end while Sam still was in Valkuries. But Sam was alive and was able to step back and live pretty normal life. Alex had previously told that Loki had opened the eyes of her other family to the Nine Realms, but who’s to say how Emily Fierro would react if she found out her sibling was an undead, never aging warrior of Odin.
”So what now?”
Alex shrugged. ”I don’t know. I guess I’ll just… keep it low and stay in for a while. She’ll give up eventually.”
Alex took a sip of her now probably already cold chocolate. Suddenly she looked very tired and pained. Magnus felt bad for making her go through this.
”Hey…” He put his hand on her knee, gently stroking it with his thumb. ”I’m sorry. I didn’t want to dig up old wounds. I’m just… I’m just worried about you.”
Alex looked at him. She smiled softly. ”I know. I understand.”
”Just know that I’m here for you, no matter what happens. And that I love you and don’t think you as a freak, even though you scare the hel out of me sometimes.”
Alex chuckled. ”I know. I love you too.”
Magnus smiled. He reached his hand at her. ”Come here.” Alex moved closer and pressed her head against his shoulder. Magnus wrapped his arms around her and kissed her lightly on forehead and was glad the tension of the past few days was gone.
***
Obviously it didn’t go as well as they planned. Two days later, Hudning caught them after breakfast.
”A guest for you two. There are some wolves spotted around Boston.”
Magnus felt shiver travel through his spine when wolves were mentioned.
”Why us?” Alex asked, crossing his arms.
Hudning shrugged. ”I don’t know. Boss’s orders.”
Magnus went through his head all the possible times he could have annoyed Helgi recently, and could unfortunately think many occations. He glanced at Alex. ”Umm… I’m not sure if that’s a good idea…”
Hudning raised an eyebrow.
Alex sighed. ”Let’s just get over this. It’s just a couple of wolves.”
”Are you sure?”
”We’ll finish quick and come straight back. I’m sure it’s gonna be ok.”
Magnus had a bad feeling, but decided it was because they were off to fight wolves. He still hated wolves. There had been quite many monster attacks lately as well so maybe that was making him uneasy.
Hudning led them to a gate which took them to near the location the wolves had last been spotted and they stepped into the morning sun. It was beginning of the spring, but even though the weather had been warming up the mornings were still a bit chilly.
Magnus recognized they were near the Fenway Park stadium, stading on a smaller street. The clock probably around 10 am on a week day, so biggest morning rush had passed, but there were relatively many people walking around. He could hear the nearby highway.
Magnus released Jack from his pendant.
”Seniõr! What’s up?” The sword asked and performed series of some kind of dance moves. Magnus thought this as Jack’s stretch routine.
”Wolf hunt”, he replied.
”Oh! … what did you do to annoy Helgi this time?”
”Shut up.”
Magnus turned to ask how they would get started but where his boyfriend had previously stood now was a German Shepard. Dog-Alex barked at him and then started sniffing around the ground.
”That works”, Magnus shrugged. Jack hummed ABBA’s Mamma Mia (it had been a big mistake to show the movie to him) while flying around the street.
”Seniõr, come see this!”
Magnus followed him to the side alley full of trash containers. One that Jack was inspecting had been knocked over, all the insides scattered around, and had big scratch marks around it.
”That’s definitely not work of your usual alley cat”, he said, his nose wrinkling at the carbage smell. He knelt next to the container to see it better. Dog-Alex appeared next to him and sniffed the metal. Alex turned back to human and pointed at the other end of the alley. ”That way.”
They carefully stepped over the carbage bags and made their way there.
”How does that actually work?” Magnus asked. ”Like, do you still smell them after you turn, and how you even picked that smell among all that trash?”
Alex shot him a look telling him not to ask stupid question. They kept walking, Alex turned back into a dog at the times to check they were on the right track.
Suddenly a loud howl pierced the air. They started running towards the sound, Jack flying ahead to locate it.
They arrived to a small empty parking lot. Soon after three wolves appeared from the other side of it. They were usual ones with glowy eyes and lot bigger than normal wolves. All three crouched, ready to attack.
Alex transformed back to human again, his garrote in hand. ”Found them.”
”One for each?” Jack said and headed towards his pick. Alex charged as well. Magnus, empty handed as he was, picked a lid from a near by trash can and turned to face the wolf left for him. It charged and he swung the lid at it. The wolf responded by biting into the lid and teared it from his hand. Magnus used the moment to jump and kicked it on the side of its head. The wolf whined and shook its head but recovered quickly. It charged again, fangs bared. Magnus evaded. It tried to scratch him with its claws.
Then a scream came from behind them.
Magnus turned and saw a group of teenagers, maybe around 18-19 years olds, staring at them. Students from the nearby university, possibly.
”Get away from here!” Magnus yelled. He wasn’t sure what they saw, maybe they actually saw wolves, but he had to trust the glamour would do its work and they’d forget it as soon as they were further away. The students scrambled away, but one of them, a girl with black hair stayed behind. She was staring at them in horror, hands covering mouth. ”RUN!”
The last girl also snapped into her senses and ran off.
Unfortunately this moment had taken Magnus’s focus away from the wolf, which now charged and pushed him onto the ground. Its another front paw kept him down and he felt the claws stracthing skin. He grabbed the wolf’s throat, trying to keep its fangs away from his face. Some drool fell on him and he could very well smell the horrible breath it had.
Magnus managed to wiggle his leg up and put all his strenght to kick the wolf off over his head. It rolled few times on the asphalt. Magnus quickly jumped back on his knees and picked again the lid and threw it, but it missed and flew into the head of the wolf Jack was fighting.
”Nice shot!”
”Thanks, I was trying that.”
Before the wolf had time to recover Jack freed it from all the future pains.
Magnus turned back to his wolf, which had also gotten back on feet. It sniffed the air, howled and took off to the opposite direction.
Alex – now female- appeared next to him, having taken care of her wolf. She tied her garrote around her waist.
”That was fun.”
”You have weird image of fun.” She grinned. There was splash of blood (wolf’s) on her shirt and she had cut on her cheek and her arm.
”Hold on.” He placed his hand on her cheek.
”They’re just cuts, you don’t have to.” Magnus shushed her and released some of his healing power. The cuts disappeared. A quick memory flashed in his mind, from last night, of two of them together, enjoying each other’s company. It must have been hers and not his own as Alex slapped his arm and said: ”Wipe that grin off your face, Chase.” But she was smirking.
Magnus grinned wider. His own wounds had already begun to heal. There were some cuts here and there, most from when he fell, and the marks on his chest from when the wold pinned him to the ground.
Jack did few sommersaults in the air. ”Did you see how I did that first slash? It was epic! We did pretty good. Except Magnus, who let his opponent get away.”
”Hey!”
It was Alex’s turn to laugh. ”You better hope it won’t come back for revenge.”
Magnus glared at the two.
”Okay, now that that’s done, let’s--”
A yell came behind them. ”Alex!?”