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Magnus sat staring out at the rain through the doors that led to the balcony wondering if using his powers to somehow change the weather could be considered a good thing. This was his day for a walk in the park, every week for the three months. It was the day the woman, who's name he now knew to he Marianne took her baby Alexander and little Bethany through the park to meet one of her friends at the coffee shop nearby that had a small play area for the children.
He knew he should stay away, he knew that if she found out he was only going there to see the baby, convinced it was somehow Alexander reincarnated then she would think differently about him. She wouldn't see him as the man who looked maybe a little out of place watching the ducks quietly by himself. The man she had chatted too briefly on her journey. She would see him as the strange man with too much interest in her baby.
Magnus got to his feet and moved away from watching the grey skies and never ending rain and glanced at the time, wondering if just after eleven in the morning was really too early for a cocktail when he felt someone moving through his wards and abandoning all thought of the cocktail he went to the door and opened it widely to greet his guest with a smile.
“Clary.” He said, taking her hand and holding it as she entered and he closed the door behind them, leading her to the living room to take a seat. “What a lovely surprise, how are you?”
“I'm doing great thanks.” She smiled back, not missing the sadness that still sat in his eyes. “I had a check up this morning and all is well with the baby.”
“You're certainly showing a bump now.” Magnus told her. “Come and sit, would you like anything to eat or drink?”
“I'm fine Magnus, but I have something for you.” She told him a little reluctantly.
“Surely it can't be that bad?” Magnus asked, curious.
“It would seem that before Alec passed away he gave my great grandmother something to give you when he had been gone for a hundred years.” She explained, knowing that even though she hadn't read the contents it would have a huge effect on him. “They have been passed down the family on my side and when she passed away, they, the letters were packed away with the rest of her belongings and my grandmother and mother have only just decided it was time to sort them out.”
“Letters?” Magnus asked, a range of emotions running though him.
Clary pulled the small pile of letters from her handbag, they were all in sealed envelopes and tied together with a fading gold ribbon and there was a note slipped beneath it. Magnus took them from her and after taking a calming breath he took the note and and read the words in Alec's familiar hand.
“For my husband, the love of my long life. Please keep them safe for me and then pass them on to him when a century has passed His loving husband, Alexander.”
“You don't have to read them Magnus.” Clary told him gently. “But they are yours, and you should have them.”
“Thank you Clary.” Magnus replied, a tear sliding down his face and landing on the top letter. “I think I need to be alone.”
“Are you sure, I can stay?” Clary told him, feeling he shouldn't be alone.
“I am, thank you biscuit.” He assured her.
Clary nodded and got to her feet then moving close to him she leant down and placed a soft kiss on his forehead.
“Call me, if you need me.” She told him and then quietly left as Magnus pulled the bow of the ribbon open.
The letters all has a date on the back, starting around four weeks before Alec had died until a couple of days before. Magnus carefully opened the first envelope and unfolded the sheet of paper within, reading it slowly.
“My dear Magnus, my darling husband.” It began and before Magnus had got half way through reading it, his tears were sliding down his face.
By the time he reached the end of the last one, the words of each were all imprinted in his mind. Random lines reciting themselves as he sat in the armchair, arms wrapped around his legs as he gazed outside, the clouds beginning to clear and the sun trying to shine through.
“Meeting you was the best moment of my life.”
“You were right, we were meant to be together.”
“Those times, when we fought, I felt like my heart was going to stop if we didn't find our way back together. But we did, didn't we? Ours hearts and souls made sure of it.
“The day you proposed and then left for Edom, it felt like my heart had been ripped from my body and when Clary came up with the plan you get to you there was no way I would ever have not tried, no matter how dangerous.”
“I really would have stayed in Edom with you.”
“Our wedding day was perfect in so many ways, I wouldn't have changed a second of it.”
“We had a good life together, didn't we?”
Magnus nodded, smiling weakly through his tears.
“We did Alexander.”
“I used to worry at first, that as I got old and grey you wouldn't still love me. But I came to realise long before that happened that you would never do that too me. You loved me as much as I loved, love you.”
“I hope you have been living your life? I don't want to think of you spending a hundred years alone again.”
“I know my time is coming, that will leave you very soon, I think this will be my last letter. Promise me something? That you will place these in the box with all your all your other memories? And I will make a promise to you, if I find some way to return to you, then I will do.”
“Magnus, I love you more than words can ever say, and I always will. Yours forever, Alexander.
Tears poured freely down Magnus face as he sobbed into his knees where his head rested and he made no attempt to stop them, until exhausted he fell into sleep.
When dawn arrived the nest morning, the bright sun shining in woke him and spotting the letters on the coffee table he moved to get up. His whole body aching from sleeping in such an awkward position and took a moment to use a spell to take away the pain and conjurer up a large mug of coffee before moving look out at the clear, bright morning.
His current cat, Chairman Meow JR meowed at his feet to be let outside and he lifted a hand to open the door when he spotted the beautiful butterfly again. It was sat on the arm of the chair outside on the balcony where he and Alec used to spend the evenings curled up together at the end of the day and lazily flapped it's wings, basking in the morning sunlight.
“I'm waiting for you Alexander, I promise you and I will never stop.” Magnus told him.
Chairman Meow JR wound himself around Magnus' ankles. Magnus picked him up and holding him tight he took him inside again, not taking his eyes off the butterfly until it flew away into the distance. Picking up the letters, Magnus carefully returned them all carefully to their envelopes, tied the ribbon back around them and moved to his study to pull an ornate box from one of the shelves.
Opening it Magnus smiled at the contents. It wasn't the box that Alec assumed he would place the letters in. This box was for Alec's memories alone filled with many things, including his wedding ring, lock of his hair and little things like a shell they picked up on a rare day off at a tropical beach and the necklace he gave him to mark their fifty years together before placing the letters on top and closing the lid again.
He placed the box back on the shelf as a knock came to his door and went to answer it, finding Catarina stood outside with a concerned smile on her face.
“Clary sent you, didn't she?” He asked, knowing it would be true.
“She said you might need to speak to someone who also knows what it's like to lose someone they loved fiercely.” Catarina told him.
Magnus felt another tear slide down his face as he pulled his friend into a huge hug and she held him tightly until his fresh set of sobs began to subside.
Your touch is soft and gentle
Your kiss is warm and tender
The End.