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Strictly speaking, Magnus knew this temporary bliss would end at some point. Ever since he confessed to Alec about Edom’s demise and the two had finally stopped dancing around each other and finally gotten together. The last few months had been nice — quiet nights in spent getting to know the demon and his siblings, stolen date nights between both of their busy schedules. Magnus had never been happier. His trauma from Camille was behind him, his father, and the realm he ruled no longer posed a threat to Magnus’ existence, and for the first time in a very long time, he found something, someone rather, that made him want to keep on living.
Tonight was one of those stolen moments — Alec had managed to convince Jace to take over at Dark Alchemist for the evening so that he could join Magnus at Pandemonium while the warlock held court. As a rule, the demon siblings tried to steer clear of the Downworld to the best of their ability. The last thing any of them wanted was to be at the wrong end of a Shadowhunter’s blade. With no Edom, they wouldn’t reform themselves in the hell dimension after their untimely deaths, they would simply cease to be. As Magnus and Alec’s relationship got more serious, they realized that keeping themselves separate in public would be much too hard given the warlock’s prominent position. Instead, Alec had taken to increasing the Look Not spells and the glamor that surrounded him, choosing to simply blend in or not be seen. While it wasn’t ideal (because even Magnus could sense that the magic almost seemed to be smothering his boyfriend at times,) it at least gave them a chance to be together without having to hide their relationship away.
Hoping to maximize on the amount of time that he’d get to spend with his boyfriend, Magnus had pushed all of his appointments up to earlier in the day. Wednesdays were usually the night he held court but everyone he was supposed to meet with had been more than willing to let him shuffle around his schedule. Currently, he was finishing up with Luke who had come bearing news of a couple of stray wolves who had been caught causing mischief in the city. Magnus felt his wards ripple and he glanced toward the entrance, eyes instantly drawn to the dark-haired man who was stepping through the door. “Unfortunately, Luke, I must bring this meeting to an end but I assure you that you’ll be the first person I contact if I catch wind of any more strange wolves causing trouble in the area.”
The werewolf chuckled and pushed himself off of the chair. “Thanks, Magnus. Hopefully, that was the last of them but I appreciate the help. The last thing we need is the local Shadowhunters blaming us for the attacks and coming after our people.”
“I agree, my friend, I agree,” Magnus replied, still focused on Alec as the other man made his way through the sea of bodies on the dance floor and started to step onto the dais.
Realizing that the warlock’s attention was no longer on him, Luke bid him goodbye as he turned to the stranger.
“He’s all yours,” he said with a chuckle before Magnus heard him inhale sharply.
That reaction alone was enough to pull Magnus’ attention away from his boyfriend but it wasn’t quick enough to prevent what happened next. Before he could react, the werewolf had rushed down the dais, grabbed Alec by the neck and pushed him against the wall with a snarl. “How dare you wear his face, demon.”
Alec’s eyes widened and Magnus could practically taste the fear that was now radiating off the man. Luke’s claws had extended and were digging into the flesh around the demon’s throat. Blood was beginning to drip down his neck as he shot Magnus a panicked look with bright golden eyes. In his terror, Alec’s glamor had begun to drop and the last thing that they needed right now was a dragon demon appearing in the middle of his club. That would certainly catch the attention of both the Shadowhunters and half of New York’s downworld alike.
“Luke, that’s enough!”A wave of his hand had the two separated and Alec dropped to his knees, a now-clawed hand wrapping around his own throat to staunch the bleeding. The werewolf was fighting to free himself from Magnus’ magic bubble. He turned his attention to Alec, kneeling down to heal the wounds on his neck before he cupped the other man’s chin. “Go find Elias behind the bar. Ask him to pour you a whiskey and make you a portal home. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
Alec nodded numbly and Magnus helped him to his feet, watching as his boyfriend disappeared into the crowd on his way to the bar. Once he was out of sight, he turned his attention to the werewolf, his own gold eyes meeting the furious Alpha green ones. “What the hell was that about? Are you no better than those strays that you sent packing? You do not get to attack people in my club, least of all my boyfriend who did absolutely nothing to you or yours.”
“He’s a demon, Magnus. You of all people can’t be serious. How are you letting him go? You’re the High Warlock! You should be protecting the city, not letting evil loose in it.”
Instead of answering, he glanced behind the werewolf at the small crowd that had started to form. “There’s nothing more for you to see here,” he stated, adding a hint of magic behind his words to make those listening more susceptible to suggestion. It wasn’t something he’d been able to do a few years ago but since Edom’s demise, he’d found himself with a little more power at his disposal. He’d seen his father use this particular trick on Mundanes back when he’d been Asmodeus’ general, but it wasn’t one that he was going to make good use of. He didn’t like the idea of taking away anyone’s free will.
The crowd dissipated and Magnus cast a glare over at Luke. “If I let you down, can you promise to have a conversation like the rational adult that I know you can be?”
The werewolf’s eyes narrowed. “There shouldn’t be any need for a conversation. That’s a demon you just let go, Magnus. It’s your duty as High Warlock to keep the city free from those like him. And one wearing that face…”
Magnus snapped his fingers and gestured toward the seat Luke had vacated earlier. “Ignoring everything else you just said, that’s the second time you’ve mentioned ‘that face.’ Explain yourself.”
Luke sat down reluctantly, fishing his phone out of his pocket and scrolling through his photos. Finally, he handed it over to Magnus reluctantly. “That demon you just let go is wearing the face of Maryse’s dead son.”
The image on the phone was of a grinning Maryse and Luke, taken in the home that he now knew they shared together. There were photos on the mantel behind them of the two of them together, Clarissa Fairchild (whom they’d adopted after Jocelyn’s untimely death) and her best friend turned Vampire Simon, and some other faces Magnus couldn’t say he recognized. However, that’s not what instantly caught his attention. At the very end of the line of pictures, in a simple wooden frame, was a worn photo with three familiar faces.
He waved his hand over Luke’s phone and transferred the image from the device to the air in front of him, using his magic to zoom in on the photo of his boyfriend and his siblings and taking in all the details. There was no doubt that the Alec in the photo was the man who was currently waiting for him back at his loft. There was the familiar scar above his eyebrow, those same dimples that showed up when the other man was smiling, the same flecks of green in those warm hazel eyes.
His mind started to reel. He’d always known there had to be more to Alec’s past — one doesn’t end up in Edom with their memories entirely intact without something incredible occurring — but he had been waiting for his boyfriend to tell him on his own time. He’d never once considered the fact that they’d been Shadowhunters previously but now that he was faced with the evidence, how had he not known? Alec had introduced himself as a Lightwood and that was a name that he knew unfortunately well from his encounters during the Uprising.
Luke shifted uneasily in front of him and Magnus turned his attention to the werewolf before he could get lost in his own thoughts.
“When was this taken? What happened to her children?” He asked, trying to calm his mind enough to gather his thoughts into something coherent.
“That was during the Uprising right before Maryse left Robert and defected. She couldn’t support a cause that had her children deruned and executed even if they didn’t believe in the cause that she was fighting for.”
Deruned and executed. The words echoed in Magnus’ mind. The very thought of Alec and his siblings going through that made him sick to his stomach. He needed to talk to his boyfriend, and he needed to talk to him now. He wanted to understand, he wanted to comfort him. He had given the other man time and space, knowing that when Alec was ready, he’d share his past but now they didn’t have that luxury any longer.
Magnus turned his attention back to Luke, passing the werewolf his phone. “Thank you for sharing that with me. I think that it’s time that I take my leave. Alexander and I have much to discuss.” He twisted his wrist and opened up a portal to his Loft.
His statement seemed to surprise Luke and Magnus realized that the other man hadn’t mentioned any of the Lightwood children by name. “So…it’s really him? Maryse’s son? How?”
He couldn’t help but sigh. This was a conversation he was not ready to have. “It is and you weren’t far off. He is a demon but not in the way that you are thinking. For now, let’s keep his existence between us.”
Luke shook his head as he pushed himself off his feet to catch Magnus’ arm before he could step through the portal. “I have to tell her. Maryse deserves to know. She’s never forgiven herself for what happened to her children.”
“Let me talk to Alec first. He’s been in New York for over a year now and hasn’t sought his mother out yet,” he said softly, giving the other man a small smile. “There’s no use breaking anyone’s heart prematurely. Let me talk to him, let me get his side of the story. If he wants to see Maryse, then I’ll be in touch.” With that, he pulled his arm free and stepped through the portal, trusting that the werewolf would honor his request.
----------
It was dark when Magnus arrived home and if his wards hadn’t told him otherwise, he would have thought that he was alone.
“Alexander?” He called out, not finding Alec in any of the usual places as he moved through the space. “Angel?”
He heard a soft snort from the direction of the patio. “Demon, remember?” Alec answered as Magnus stepped outside to join him. His boyfriend was leaning on the railing, his golden eyes focused on the city below them. There were still silver scales trailing down his neck and arms, telling Magnus just how close his true form was to the surface. He’d have to take this discussion carefully if he didn’t want to let a dragon loose in New York City.,
“Demon or not you’re still my angel,” Magnus replied as he wrapped his arms around Alec’s waist and rested his chin on the taller man’s shoulder. “Do you want to tell me what happened back there?”
“Why are you asking?” Alec asked glumly and Magnus could feel him start to shrink in on himself. “Don’t you already know?”
“No, I didn’t ask Luke to tell me much and even if I had, I’d still want to hear it from you. It’s your story to tell, not his.”
The noise Alec made was distressed but he wasn’t trying to fight. Magnus pulled away and grabbed the demon’s arm gently, guiding him inside and onto the couch. A simple snap of his fingers had a steaming mug of Alec’s favorite calming tea. “Why don’t you take it from the beginning?” Magnus suggested, taking a seat next to his boyfriend. “And know that whatever it is you choose to tell me isn’t going to change my opinion of you, alright? I just want to understand.”
“Don’t hate me,” Alec whispered, his voice quiet and timid in a way that broke Magnus’ heart.
“Nothing could make me hate you, Alexander. I know that you’ve got trauma from your past…let me share some of that pain.”
For a moment, Alec said nothing and Magnus wasn’t sure he was going to speak. Finally, he seemed to resolve himself to begin. He slouched down and shrunk in on himself. “I was born a Shadowhunter, Alexander Lightwood…right before the Uprising really kicked into gear. I didn’t entirely agree with my parents and their ideals, but I believed in the original cause of the Nephilim. Fighting to protect the Mundanes and the Downworld from the demons who cause them harm.”
He reached out with trembling hands and took a sip of the tea that Magnus had summoned for him. “I wasn’t…I can’t say I was the best person at that time. I still wanted the approval of both my parents and the Clave. I made some horrible decisions that will continue to haunt me until the day I die, especially now that I’ve become the monster that I am… and that I’ve become part of the Downworld in a way that I never imagined possible. It’s those that I’m sorry for, Magnus. The things that I’ve done in my past…you should hate me for them. I wasn’t a saint… a saint wouldn’t end up in Edom.”
“We all make mistakes, Alexander,” Magnus replied, reaching out to give Alec’s knee a squeeze to both comfort and encourage him to continue. “Especially during the Uprising…we all had to do things that we weren’t proud of.”
Alec shook his head. “Not like the things I did. I killed warlocks… vampires, werewolves. People that were probably your friends. I knew it was wrong but I wanted the Clave’s approval, I wanted my parents to be proud of me. I did everything that they asked me to do. I tried to be the perfect son, the future Head that they always wanted me to be but I was never enough…no matter how hard I tried. And then one day… one day I couldn’t be that anymore. What they were asking me to do, I knew that I couldn’t live with myself if I did what they ordered. It was that night that I decided that I would rather die a traitor than have to live with ending two dozen innocent lives.”
A memory drifted through Magnus’ mind — a very particular moment from the Uprising that he hadn’t let himself dwell on since that day. He remembered receiving a fire message from an unknown source that an entire orphanage of downworld children had been taken into custody by the Nephilim. Magnus had been a mix of terrified and livid. He knew who resided at the New York Institute, he knew that they wouldn’t be kind to their prisoners, even if they were just a bunch of frightened children. It hadn’t taken Magnus long at all to gather a war party, ready to storm the gates and fight for their release. Instead, when he got there his magic pulled him away from the entrance, telling him his target was not inside. He found the children hiding in the shadows of a nearby park, surrounded by half a dozen fading glamor rooms. They were unharmed and the Shadowhunter who had apparently helped them escape the cells was nowhere to be seen.
“That was you?” Magnus whispered, unable to believe that the angel that he had thanked that night was sitting right in front of him. “I had heard the children got taken. I had shown up to the Institute ready for a fight but I found them hiding and free instead. I portaled them to safety and I never really gave myself time to think of their savior. During those days, time wasn’t something we had much of.”
“Not just me,” Alec explained, a look of renewed hope in his eyes. “Jace and Izzy too. I didn’t go down in those cells with an escape plan in my mind. Valentine had ordered an execution and my father had asked me to carry it out. That was my intention but when I got down there and realized the severity of what I had been asked to do…I couldn’t do it. That’s how Jace and Izzy found me. Frozen in the middle of the walkway surrounded by terrified children being held captive. It was Iz who urged me to make the right choice so the three of us did what we could to release them all quickly and get them out through one of the hidden tunnels.”
He paused to take another deep breath but as Magnus hadn’t stopped him yet, he could tell that Alec’s confidence to finish had risen a little. “We intended to take them farther, to somewhere they could be safer but traveling with so many kids slowed us down. Before we knew it, we heard the telltale sign of a hunting party coming our way. Someone had noticed the children were no longer in the cells and that it must have been a Shadowhunter who helped them escape. We knew it was only a matter of time before they found us, especially with the entire Institute on high alert. It would be our deaths if they caught us but we could at least give the children a chance. We found a shadowy spot, and told the oldest ones to keep the group quiet and hidden in the shadows. We drew the glamor runes and we told them that as soon as daylight came to run.”
It was a few minutes before Alec spoke again and Magnus could easily recognize the look of someone replaying a traumatizing scene in their mind. He had worn that very same look when certain moments of the Uprising started to haunt him. “As soon as I sent the fire message to the High Warlock, it seemed they were on us. My father was leading the hunt…when faced with his children who were the traitors, we really had no chance. We were separated and detained. Our trial was held without us in attendance. It didn’t take them long to decide our fate… by the time the sun was rising, we were stripped of our runes and executed. My father’s hand wielded the very blade that took our lives.” He raised his eyes to look at Magnus — grief and determination showing on his face. “The next thing we knew, we woke up in Edom as the monsters that you know us to be. We had our memories, we knew who and what we had been before this, but we were changed.”
Magnus closed his eyes, trying to picture how different their lives could have been if their paths had crossed all those years ago. They’d lived in the same city, they’d been fighting on two different sides of the same war, if Magnus had been just a little quicker answering that fire message from a stranger about the children, would he have been quick enough to save Alec and his siblings from their hellish fate? Had his distrust and hesitation doomed three innocent souls to hell? Would the Uprising have been different if he had three young Shadowhunters on their side of the war?
He was moving before he knew it, pulling Alec into a tight hug. His heart broke at how tense his boyfriend was. The longer he held him, the more the demon relaxed in his embrace, but it wasn’t long before he began to tremble.
“Shh, angel…you’re alright. My love for you hasn’t changed. I’m so sorry that happened to you and your siblings. If anything, I’m to blame. I got that fire message and I hesitated longer than I should have believing it to be a trap. If I had been there…”
“No, Magnus, you couldn’t have known…and I think if you had been there, the only thing that would have changed is that you probably would have died along with us,” Alec said, his voice muffled from where his nose was buried in Magnus’ neck. “And the kids wouldn’t have been rescued…it was better this way. Fewer lives were lost. We were an acceptable sacrifice in the grand scheme of things.”
“Your death is never acceptable,” Magnus replied sternly, holding Alec closer. “But even I can’t deny that sometimes we do have to make tough decisions in the middle of war. Still, though, I wish there was some way I could have saved you and your siblings from the torture and heartache. After all of that…why come back to New York? You escaped Edom. You could have started new lives for yourselves anywhere. You didn’t have to put yourselves through those memories again.”
“Despite everything, New York is home…it always will be. I was too young when I lived in Idris to remember any of it. Izzy never lived there and it wasn’t pleasant for Jace. The three of us grew up at the New York Institute. We know the streets, the city…there was never any question. You know that time passes differently in Edom. Despite those hundreds of years we were down there, barely any time at all had passed here. We didn’t realize that at the time and when we did…well, we just decided to stay and take extra precautions so that we weren’t found. We don’t use much magic if we can help it, both ourselves, our home, and Dark Alchemist are covered in glamors and Look Not spells. It seemed to work out well for us…until you found the coffee shop, that is.”
Magnus hummed, remembering that day. “It caught my attention because of the amount of magic and the fact that the magic tasted like Edom. I doubt anyone else would have picked up on it but given my nature, I’m more inclined to be drawn to that. Any other warlock would have sensed magic but would have guessed it was nothing more than something residual from a regular customer or employee. You three have done well.”
Alec seemed to shrink in on himself. “Not well enough. What happened tonight…I got too lax in my magic. I thought I was safe and I wasn’t.”
“Hush, Angel. What happened tonight was truly a matter of time and place. Luke is a good man — though if you were around during the Uprising I’m sure you know of him. He’s a werewolf now, betrayed by his own Parabatai. Not only that, he’s actually dating your mother…”
That revelation seemed to shock the demon, who pulled back from Magnus’ embrace with a surprised expression written on his face. “What? How? Why?”
“I don’t know the full story,” Magnus admitted a little sadly. “I know what I’ve heard and what I learned tonight from Luke. Your mother left the Circle before the end of the Uprising and mostly disappeared from the world though I never knew why. Tonight, I learned that she left the Clave after what happened to the three of you. She couldn’t support them any longer when they were the cause for your deruning and execution. I would imagine that she and Luke found each other after he was turned and they took solace in both being Outcasts. I’ve met your mother a few times since the Uprising though we haven’t had any life-changing interactions. I can tell you that she no longer has her runes. She’s different than the Maryse Lightwood I knew all those years ago.”
Despite Maryse being part of the reason for Alec, Izzy, and Jace’s deruning and untimely death, he truly looked pained at learning his mother’s fate. “I never wished that anything unpleasant would happen to her or my father. Even when we had begun to make sense of what had happened to us, we never wished for their deaths…we just wanted them to understand that we did what we felt was right. How could I execute children? I looked at those kids and I saw the trainees staring back at me.”
“I think eventually your mother did understand. It sounds like she feels remorse for what happened to you three…that’s why she left the Clave. I can’t speak for your father, however, I haven’t seen him since the Accords were signed. Last I heard, he was still in Alicante,” he explained softly, rubbing Alec’s back gently. The other man said nothing for a few moments and Magnus hated himself the slightest bit that he was about to disturb this quiet with the question that he was about to make. “You said you all returned to New York because it was your home…your mother may not have been the greatest at the time but she was part of that. She’s not the same person that she was when you were alive and Luke believes that she’d like to see you. Would you like to see her? Even if it isn’t to make amends, at least you could get closure.”
He felt Alec tense under his hand and he cursed himself for even asking that question. Alec had just come face to face with a whisper from his past. He’d just spilled his deepest, darkest secret to someone he’d let into his life. Alec probably needed time to process what happened tonight. Asking him this was so out of line, he should apologize, beg Alec’s forgiveness, he needed to…
“She wouldn’t want to see me, even if we didn’t have this…this history. She wouldn’t want to see her son like this. If she hated me then, she’d absolutely abhor me now. I’ve become a monster…the very thing she raised me to hate.”
“You’ve never been a monster, Alec,” Magnus said softly. “And your mother won’t think so either…especially if she’s seen the error of her ways. You may have been reborn in Edom but your heart and soul are still human.”
Alec inhaled sharply and closed his eyes like he was considering Magnus’ words. Finally, he let out a sigh. “Even if she did want to see me, It’s not just me that I have to worry about. It would affect Jace and Izzy too…I can’t let them get hurt again. I failed them once already… I won’t do that again. If we went to meet with her and you’re wrong about her regretting what happened…I can’t do that to them. I can’t break their hearts again.”
Magnus rubbed the demon’s back gently, knowing that Alec had a point. He milled over the options in his head, wanting both to do what was best for his boyfriend and give the man closure at the same time. “What about this?” He asked as an idea started to form in his head. “I contact your mother and meet her somewhere neutral — like Taki’s. You can come with me and stay glamored in another booth. I’ll ask her about what happened and you can hear her feelings straight from her. Then it’s up to you whether or not you reveal yourself and if you want to involve your siblings later. I won’t fault you if you don’t speak up… but this gives you a chance to possibly reunite with your mother and do it on your own terms. You both live in the same city…I know you’re careful with your glamors but it’s only a matter of time before something goes wrong, Angel. Meeting with her would get ahead of any potential problems.”
He could see the war in the other man’s head. Finally, he let out a sigh and nodded his head. “You’re right. Please…let’s just get this over with.”
----------
It took Magnus the better part of a week to arrange a meeting with Maryse Lightwood. She was hesitant to meet with him, and rightfully so, he figured. The last time he’d seen her had been doing the Uprising when she’d given him the scar that he now had across his stomach and chest. Now that she was deruned, she had no reason to be meeting with the High Warlock of Brooklyn. Magnus had insisted, however, stating that he had some important matters to discuss with her. He had a feeling that ultimately, it was Luke who convinced her to meet with him over lunch.
He’d chosen Taki’s for this venture — a place that they both should be familiar enough with that this discussion would be somewhere they were both comfortable. Magnus took his regular table, watching as a glamored Alec slid into the booth behind him. He had arrived early but he wanted to make sure that they had time to get into position before Maryse Lightwood arrived. He tilted his head, studying Alec for a moment to make sure that there was no hint of who he truly was showing through his glamor.
“Just remember, darling. She won’t know it’s you. You choose whether or not you reveal yourself to her. If you ultimately decide that you don’t want to, I will respect your decision and if at any point even being here becomes too much, you’re free to leave.”
“I know,” Alec said as he fiddled with the edge of his shirt, telling Magnus just how nervous he really was. “I won’t stay if it upsets me. I trust you…and I do want to hear what she has to say.”
The bell over the door chimed and Magnus turned his head, watching as the former shadowhunter stepped inside. “You’ve got this,” Magnus whispered to his boyfriend before he straightened in his seat and beckoned the woman over. “Maryse Lightwood, it’s been many years since I last saw you.”
She pursed her lips as she slid into the seat across from him. “Magnus Bane. I was a different person when we last met. I know my words probably mean nothing, but I am truly sorry for what I did to you and your people all those years ago. I will have to live with the sins that I committed for the rest of my life.”
Magnus hummed, tapping his ringed fingers on the table. “It’s not those sins that I asked you here to talk about today. Luke mentioned something the other day…tell me what happened with your children?”
Whatever she had been expecting him to ask, it certainly wasn’t that. A range of emotions crossed her face - pain, shock, fear, before finally settling on grief. “What happened to my children…I will never forgive myself. I wasn’t there when they needed me to be. I was part of the problem. I led them to their execution.”
“Tell me what happened,” Magnus replied softly.
“Why?” Maryse asked, her voice breaking as she spoke. “Why are you interested in what happened to my children?”
“I have a reason,” Magnus answered. “A good reason, I promise. I wouldn’t ask this of you if it wasn’t relevant. I need to hear what happened from you. I know this is difficult and I’m sorry that I have to make you relive it.”
There were tears welling up in her eyes and Magnus did his best not to glance at where a glamored Alec was listening intently. “I failed them… I believed so deeply in Valentine’s cause that I let him take my babies. What kind of mother stands by while her children are tortured and executed?”
The waitress set two glasses of water and Magnus’ martini in front of them and promised that she’d be back shortly to take their order. He sipped his drink and waited for Maryse to compose her thoughts and continue. “My children were special… and I wish I had seen it then. Alec was smart and driven and would have made an amazing Institute Head one day. Isabelle was spirited and stubborn in all of the best ways. Jace, while not my biological son, was probably the best Shadowhunter of his generation. A mother always wants what’s best for her children…and I thought that I could make the world a better place for them by joining Valentine’s cause…”
“You hunted Downworlders, Maryse. You took trophies. How was that supposed to make a better world for your children?” Magnus asked coldly. He had told himself that he wasn’t going to bring this up, that today was all about Alec getting the answers that he needed but the words slipped from his lips before he could stop himself.
“I know… trust me, Magnus, I know… now I do at least. I’m trying to atone for what I did. My children tried to do what was right. Those children… Angel, Magnus, all those kids and we were going to execute them just because they were warlocks… I didn’t think anything of it at the time. I thought… less demon-blooded creatures around. How could that be bad?” Tears were openly streaming down her face and Magnus magicked a handkerchief for her. “My children though, they were different. They saw the truth in what we were going to do…even Alec, who normally didn’t step a toe out of line. I’m forever thankful that they rescued the kids and got them to safety. I am glad we never found them. I just wish…I just wish that it didn’t cost their lives. I miss Alec, Isabelle, and Jace every day. Yes, they had broken the law but they were right and they needed their mother. I stood there and watched their deruning and I did nothing when they were executed. I never deserved them…they were too good for this world. Now I have to live each day knowing that I’m the reason that they’re no longer with us.”
Magnus reached over and grabbed her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze. Movement from Alec’s table caught his eye and he glanced toward his boyfriend. The man had tears in his eyes as he gave Magnus a nod. He wanted to proceed then. “What would you say to Alec if he were here right now?” He asked, trying not to stare at Alec. Maryse’s back was to him so even if the demon were to drop his glamor, she’d be none the wiser.
The woman dabbed at her eyes. “I’d tell him that I’m sorry I couldn’t be the mother he deserved…that I should have stepped in and fought for his and his siblings' lives. They were doing the right thing and I’m so proud of them for standing their ground for what they believed in. They saved all those lives at the expense of their own. I’d tell him that I love him and that despite my past actions, I will always love him. I’d ask him to forgive me…and ask him how I could start making amends.”
“Would you want to see him even if he wasn’t the man — the boy that you remember?” Behind them, Alec stood and Magnus could tell that he was waiting for her answer before he dropped his glamor.
“No matter what happened or who he turned out to be, he will always be my son. I will always love him.”
That was enough for Alec. Magnus felt the fizzle of his magic as the glamor faded away and he took the two steps to join them at their table. “Mom,” he whispered softly and Magnus could hear the pain in his voice even though it was quiet. “Hi.”
Maryse’s head whipped around and her eyes widened in disbelief. She took in the sight before her, frozen in place and he was certain she was thinking that if she even blinked the image in front of her would cease to exist. “Alec?” She asked, her voice trembling. “How? Is it..? You can’t be real.”
“I am,” Alec replied, “But Magnus is right…I’m not the son that you lost all those years ago. I’m… changed. Different.”
That verification was all she needed. The woman surged to her feet and pulled her son into a tight hug. Alec tensed at the contact but eventually relaxed and let his mother cry into his shoulder. “Mom, before you get too excited, there are some things you need to know about me…about Jace and Izzy too. That might change how you feel about us.”
“Your siblings are alive too? Whatever it is, I’m just… you’re here. That’s all that matters. I don’t care about anything else.”
“Hear what he has to say, Maryse…the change he’s talking about is something rather significant. Let him tell you how he came to be here.”
The woman pulled away and glanced over at Magnus with a frown on her face. “You didn’t bring him back?”
Magnus shook his head. “Necromancy, while possible, is forbidden by the Spiral Labyrinth. Even if I had raised your son from the dead, he wouldn’t come back right. He’d be more of a puppet than a living, breathing person. So no, I didn’t bring him back…but I am the reason that he’s still here.”
Alec sighed and dropped into the empty chair next to Magnus. “First thing, I did die. I was deruned and I was excuted. It was painful and horrible and I still have nightmares about it to this day. But…my death wasn’t the end. We were…reborn. In Edom.”
Maryse’s eyes widened. “Edom? Does that mean…?”
“That we’re demons? Yes, yes we are. But… we’re not normal demons. We’re nothing like the demons that Shadowhunters hunt. For one thing, when we were reborn we kept our memories… We know who we were in life. That made us… broken. Asmodeus wasn’t such a fan of that.”
“I can confirm everything that Alec just said. When I first felt the trace of a demonic presence, I had to check it out for myself. I couldn’t leave my city unprotected. When I stopped at the coffee shop, I didn’t expect to find a demon acting as the barista. He gave me no indication that he was out for blood so against my own judgment, I let him go. I followed up every week for months…keeping an eye on him and the Mundanes who frequented the shop. I realized quickly how different he was, but I wasn’t aware at the time that they were the demons that my father hunted. He hated that they weren’t obedient and bloodthirsty. I realized later the reason for that. Keeping their memories made them broken as demons, just as Alec said. They weren’t made right, at least in my father’s eyes. I’m still not entirely certain how it happened but I’m glad it did; I’ve gotten to know Alexander and his siblings very well over the past few months,” Magnus explained, reaching over to take Alec’s hand and placing a gentle kiss on it.
“This is me, Mom, and Jace, and Isabelle too. This is who we are now. We can’t change that — that we are demons,” Alec said, dropping his body glamor over his hand and revealing keeled silver scales.
Maryse reached out with a shaky hand and ran her fingers over the scales. Alec held still and waited for her reaction. “Oh, my poor boy…I am so sorry about everything that you’ve been through. I don’t care about what you’ve become. If Magnus thought you were a danger, you wouldn’t be here and I trust the decision that he made. You are my son, I made horrible mistakes those years ago, I wasn’t the mother that I should have been but I do love you, Alec. I would love the chance to prove that to you, and your siblings. I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but if you find it in your heart to give me one, I’ll be the sort of mother that you deserve.”
Alec moved before Magnus even had a chance to register it, pushing himself from the table and pulling his mother into a tight hug. “I missed you… and… and I'm willing to give this another shot. We’ve had time to come to terms with what happened…time passes differently in Edom so while not much time has passed here, to us it’s been a few hundred years. However, I’m not going to force Jace and Izzy into anything they don’t want to do. If they don’t want a relationship again, that’s their choice. They need to do what’s right for them.”
“I would never force them into it. I’m just thankful for the Angel that despite everything, you’re willing to let me try and make amends… and that by some miracle I’m even able to have another shot despite what happened. I love you, Alec, and I will spend the rest of my days on this earth proving that to you and Jace and Isabelle if they’re willing to let me.”
Magnus could tell that Alec didn’t really know what to say to that. He’d come into this meeting with reservations and Magnus knew that he truly expected that his mother hadn’t changed even if he’d been hopeful that she had. Even he was shocked at the transformation the woman seemed to have gone through since her part in her children’s untimely death. She squeezed her son tightly, and Magnus could only imagine that she was afraid that if she let him go, he’d disappear in front of her eyes. Eventually, he watched as Alec relaxed into her touch, letting his forehead rest on her shoulder as he closed his eyes happily. “I… love you too.”