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Clary’s cell rang and she saw Alec’s name on the screen. With a smile, she answered it.
“Hey, Alec! How is it going?” She asked.
Things had been very calm at the institute lately and Alec and Magnus had taken the time to finally plan Alec’s move in to Magnus’ place. Clary, Jace and Izzy had been following both Alec and Magnus’ tribulations with all the logistics of having a shadow hunter go leave with a downworlder.
Izzy, in particular, was enjoying all the arguments and discussions surrounding the whole situation. She was crestfallen when she was asked to go to Idris that week, because she really did not want to miss anything. Clary had promised to keep her updated of every move.
“I need your help!” Alec voice came through the phone in a nervous whisper.
The smile left Clary’s face and worry instantly took over.
“What’s wrong? Where are you?” Clary said, already looking for her keys and sword “Are you at Magnus’?”
“Something is wrong” Alec answered back. “Can you come? Alone?” he continued; his voice still low.
“Are you hurt?” Clary asked.
“I’m not hurt. I’m at Magnus’. I just need your help and do not bring Jace!” Alec whispered and hung up.
Clary frowned at the phone, put the sword and her stele on her purse and left her place, heading to Magnus.
___***___
She only needed to knock once at the door. As soon as her hand touched the door, Alec opened it. His eyes were huge, he was gasping and his cheeks were red. He quickly pulled Clary inside the place and closed the door again.
“What is going on??” Clary said worried and stopped short when she saw the apartment.
The living room was surrounded by a dense low fog, the air was chilled there was a faint sound creaking somewhere. Her eyes took in the kitchen and the dining table and stopped at Magnus’ bedroom. The door was closed and she could see blue light coming from under the door. She could also see the door trembling incessantly.
“Alec?” She asked faintly.
Alec stopped in front of her, blocking her view from the door. His hair was even wilder than usually. Clary knew that was because Alec would be running his hands back and forth through his hair.
“There was a spell.”Alec said and both he and Clay heard a roar come from the bedroom door “I don’t know what to do!”
Alec panicking hadn’t happened in a long time, not since he had fully embraced who he was and took the leadership of the institute. To see him like that surprised Clary.
“Ok.” Clary said, moving Alec aside “Ok, one step at a time.” She pointed to the bedroom “Is that Magnus in there?” she asked, while she opened her purse and looked for her stele.
Alec took a step towards the door and stopped again.
“Yes and no.” Alec answered.
Clary put the stele back on the purse.
“I have no idea what that means.” She told him. “Look, will he hurt me?”
Alec looked at her helplessly.
“I don’t know. He won’t let me come near him.” He said and for the first time, Clary heard the sadness that Alec had been concealing from her until now. “I just wanted to help”
Clary took a deep breath and walked to the bedroom door.
“Ok. Back me up here, Alec.” She said once she had touched the handle and trying it.
Clary was not even a little bit surprised when the door did not open. Drawing an unlocking rune on it, she tried again. The door opened and Clary got in.
The bed was unmade, the sheets and the pillows everywhere. The doors of the wardrobe were opened and the clothes were all on the floor. There was a thunder cloud on the ceiling, crack and thundering loudly. In the corner, between the bed and the huge window, there was a tiny creature curled up against the wall. Clary moved inside the bedroom and accidently tripped on some clothes.
The noise startled the creature and a pair of entailing golden eyes framed by straight black long hair looked back at her.
“Magnus.” Clary said in a whisper.
The thunder cloud cracked again and Clary saw the creature get up.
“Who are you?” asked the warlock that did not appear to be more than fifteen years old.
Clary could not help but stare at Magnus, this younger version of the warlock that had become part of her family. From the corner of her eyes, she saw Alec entering the room. She saw Magnus look at Alec then proceed to curl up against the wall again. He heard Alec sigh and curse in a low voice.
“I’m Clary. This is Alec.” Clary said in a soothing voice. “We are your friends.”
Magnus snorted.
“You are shadow hunters.” He said with disdain. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing!” Alec said taking one more step into the room. Magnus eyes widened and Alec stopped again “We want nothing from you except to help you.”
Magnus crossed his arms.
“I do not believe you. Shadow hunters lie and you did something with this room. My magic does not work well in here. Let me go!” Magnus said in a loud voice.
Alec raised his arms in surrender.
“We did nothing to his room, the room is your sanctuary and it will always protect you.” Alec said in a whisper.
“Then why can’t I charm you?” Magnus asked irritably.
Alec gave him a small smile.
“Because the room is my sanctuary as well and it will always protect me.”
Magnus threw his arms upwards in frustration.
“That is a lie!! I do not know what you did, but there is no way this is true!”
And Clary, who was still trying to recover from actually seeing a teenage version of Magnus, finally found her voice again.
“Why don’t you come with us to the living room?”She asked in what she hoped was very mundane voice.
Magnus studied her.
“There is something different about you. What is it?” he asked very bluntly.
Clary smiled. She could see the Magnus she knew getting formed from this younger version of the warlock. Magnus was testing what kind of approach he could use. By the time Clary met his adult version, Magnus would be a pro in reading people.
“I’m an accidental shadow hunter. My whole life I thought I was a mundane.”
Magnus nodded satisfied with the answer.
“I will go with you, but I do not want to be close to him” Magnus said pointing at Alec.
Clary saw Alec taking a deep breath and closing his eyes.
“And that was why I called you here.” Alec told her “Every time I would come near him, he would start shouting and get further from me.” Alec’s eyes studied Magnus and Clary could feel his frustration that his lover did not want him nearby.
“Never thrust a Lightwood.” Magnus said shrugging.
“Uh!” Alec said and left the bedroom, his strides strong and irritated.
Clary turned her attention back to the young warlock.
“Do you remember what happened?”
Magnus shook his head.
“I don’t but I’m pretty sure I know what is going on.” He said.
Clary sat on the bed.
“Well, then. I’m all ears, mister warlock.” She said with a small smile “Tell me.”
Magnus got close to her, his cat eyes never leaving her face.
“You are really not like any other shadow hunter I know.” He said and seated on the bed as well. “This is a revenge spell. Probably casted by someone I did harm. This particular spell is about regression and forgetting new experiences.”
“It was Camille.” Alec said from the living room “she wanted you helpless and without all the power you have today. She wanted you to go back to her.”
Magnus frowned.
“I don’t know any Camille.” He answered back, raising his voice a little so that Alec could hear.
“She wanted you to fall back in love with her and for that, you needed to forget her. Believe me, if you still remembered her, there would be no way you would go back to her.” Alec’s voice came again.
Magnus caressed his chin.
“She went through all this trouble to get me?” Magnus asked himself “She probably wanted me for something. Having a warlock at anyone’s leash is always an advantage.”
“DON’T SAY THAT!” Alec’s voice came again very loudly, suprising both Clary and Magnus, and Clary could see him getting close to the bedroom again. His eyes were clouded and angry “You are no one’s property. You are your own person.”
Magnus eyes widened.
“And what is your relationship with me, then? If I’m not your property and if I’m not playing at being your boy toy, I don’t understand!”
Alec gasped again.
“Magnus, Alec is your lover. You are moving in together.” Clary said, looking at Magnus.
“Bullshit.” Magnus replied and Clary saw the blue sparks come to life on Magnus hands “I would never get together with a shadow hunter, specially a Lightwood.” Magnus said the name as if cursing and all Clary could do was watch as all Alec’s deepest fears came to life. “Lightwoods are the worst kind, thinking they can clean the world from all impurity, well, I have news for you, mister shadow hunter: YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN ANYONE.”
And finally, it started raining inside the bedroom, Magnus eyes were two huge golden spots and his aggression was palpable.
Alec closed his eyes again and left the bedroom’s entrance. Clary saw Magnus puffing heavily.
“You should not have said that, Magnus.” She told him. Alec’s sadness was heartbreaking.
“Well, why shouldn’t I? It is the truth.”
Clary shook her heard.
“It is not. Alec loves you. And you love him. That is why you cannot hurt him in this room. You charmed it like this so that you both could be protected.”
Magnus snorted.
“Yeah, right. So let me guess, he also would not hurt me inside this place.”
Clary smiled sadly at Magnus and saw him frown.
“Alec cannot hurt you at all. He asked me to draw him a shield rune with your initials and then he drew it himself on his body. He cannot hurt you anywhere.
The rain stopped.
“That is not possible. No one can create new runes.”
Clary grinned.
“I can” she said, opening her purse and taking out her notepad and a pen. She started drawing. “As you already realized, I’m not a normal shadow hunter.”
Magnus got close to her to see what she was drawing. And right before his eyes, the rune that Clary had drawn specially for Alec, the one Alec put right over his heart, started appearing. As soon as Clary had finished, Magnus took the notepad from her hands.
“That is not possible” he said again looking at the paper “WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO DO THAT, SHADOW HUNTER?” Magnus shouted to the living room in frustration.
“BECAUSE I HAVE NO SELF PRESERVATION.” Alec shouted back with the same frustration on his voice. Clary asked herself if Alec had also regressed to his younger self. “I AM ALSO VERY IN LOVE WITH YOU!”
“Ok, that’s it!” Clary said getting up from the bed. She took Magnus hands and pulled him from the bedroom “You! Go talk to Alec.”
Magnus took his hands back and stopped outside the bedroom’s entrance.
“I cannot” he said angrily.
Clary turned back to him and crossed her arms.
“Why not? You know he will not hurt you!” Clary said shaking his arms towards Alec’s back, who was till in the living room not looking to nay of them. “He loves you!!”
“I cannot think when he is on the same room as me!” Magnus replied back nervously. “He makes my mind stop working!!”
“THAT IS BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME BACK, YOU STUBORN WARLOCK!” Alec shouted turning to Magnus.
Magnus gasped and stepped behind Clary, she saw him using his long hair to hide his face. Clary frowned.
“Magnus? What’s wrong?”
Magnus shook his head and started moving back inside the bedroom. Alec groaned.
“It’s useless.” Clary heard Alec say and ignored him.
“Magnus? You need to tell me what is wrong.” She said again, caressing Magnus head and pulling part of the lock behind his ear.
Golden eyes looked back at her.
“How can he love me?” Magnus whispered to her “I’m part demon, he is a Lightwood” Magnus brought his hands to his face, blue sparks still cracking on it. “He has light even on his name!”
There was a small silence while Clary tried to come up with an answer that would be good enough for the your warlock.
“I love you because you are you and I am me. There was never an alternative for both of us.” Alec said from right behind Clary. She had not heard him get close.
Magnus eyes found Alec’s.
“That is not an answer.”
Alec laughed.
“That’s what you told me when I asked you why you loved me.” Alec got close to Magnus. “Please, my love. I would never hurt you. But we need to know how to help you.”
And Magnus shook his head disbelievingly.
“I must have lost my mind” Magnus said and Clary was certain that he was talking to himself. “A Lightwood of all shadow hunters!”
Alec gave him an apologetic smile and shrugged.
“If it helps, I’m very happy with my choice of dating the high warlock of Brooklyn.”
And Magnus got close to Alec and hugged him.
Allec looked back at Clary stunned and Clary shrugged back. She had no idea how to react. Alec hugged Magnus back.
The rune over Alec’s heart started shinning.
“This shield of protection you carry will protect me from everything, including mean intentioned spells” Magnus said to Alec’s ear. “I cannot wait to meet you properly, Alec Lightwood.”
Alec smiled and hid his face on Magnus hair.
“Call me Alexander.”
And with a bang, blue smoke descended all over the apartment. When it cleared, the fog had disappeared from the living room, the bed had been made, the clothes were back at the wardrobe and the warlock hugging Alec back was decidedly stronger, with a pair of mischievous golden eyes staring back at him.
“Well, hello, there, Alexander” Magnus, the high warlock of Brooklyn said with a huge smile on his face “And hello to you, Clary.”
Clary smiled back, happily and carefree.
“Hello, Magnus. Welcome back.” She said.
Alec had still not let go of Magnus, his eyes were still studding the warlock.
“You are back.” Alec said.
Magnus touched Alec’s face.
“Clary’s rune and your love did it.”
Alec nodded a bit dazed.
“Do not do that again” Alec ordered. “My heart cannot take it.”
“Never again, darling” Magnus replied and kissed Alec’s lips.
Clary took her phone out of her purse, and, fulfilling her promise, started texting Izzy.