Chapter Text
|Sunday August 13 2017|
His arms hurt. That was the first thing Alec noticed as consciousness slowly rolled over him. He couldn’t open his eyes.
What the hell happened.
Jace. He can’t feel Jace, why can’t he feel Jace? is he blocking the bond? But that doesn’t explain the lack of feeling, even with the bond blocked he can always feel something, unless- unless he’s- no. He can’t be. Then every thing fell into place. lake lynn, Valentine, Jace, Valentine killing Jace.
Valentine killed Jace. Now Valentine has him. He hears footsteps but he still can’t open his eyes, they stop and he feels a pinch in his neck
pain pulses through his body.
Then nothing.
——
He opens his eyes, taking a second to blink the fog over his eyes, it’s in a dark room, or maybe his eyes are closed. there are chains on his ankles attaching him to the floor.
There’s the sound of water dripping from a week faucet.
Looking around he can see a door in the middle of the right wall.
It has a large steel lock that looks like it can only open from the outside.
He can hear voices outside, Valentine.
the door opens with a loud creek that hurts his head.
He hears footsteps echoing through the room slowly getting closer.
A man with a big angry circle rune on his throat walks in.
He feels a sting on the inside of his elbow, they’re taking his blood, why? He doesn’t know, but I mean when you do experiments why not have some extra Nephilim blood?
He was lost. It was as though he had no body at all. Just his mind. They must have drugged him, or maybe this was just him now.
They left a tray of food with what looks like a sandwich?
It doesn’t matter, he doesn’t think about it. All he can think about is Jace. He failed Jace, he was supposed to protect him.
As the day drags on, his curiosity builds, what could Valentine need him for? What could he possibly want? And why didn’t he use the wish? Why did he k- kill Jace?
So many questions and no answers.
——
The next time he woke up, was because he was moving.
A pair of arms were wrapped around him.
He was sat down in a chair, metal cuffs were wrapped around his wrists.
The familiar burn of a stele hit him almost immediately Alec tried to pull back but was still, he had no energy to make his body move.
He had no idea what they were burning into his flesh, all he could do was listen to the sizzling sound of the rune being drawn.
And then it stopped, he tried to sift over to see what it was but was stopped by them activating the new rune.
And then pain. So much pain. His body tensed, his blood was on fire. every nerve ending in his body was screaming.
screams were torn from his throat as they activated the rune.
——
|Monday August 14 2017|
After being so rudely woken up by a constant banging at his front door
Magnus rolled out of bed at. 2:35AM? who the hell would be at his door right now?
He got up and slipped on his silk robe and made his way to the door.
Sighing Magnus opens the door. He has barely a second to take in her tear stained face before she pushed herself past the door and into the loft
“Isabelle, what’s wrong?” He asked moving forward to her.
With out Answering she turns towards him, her eyes sparkling with tears waiting to fall. “Isabelle?” He asked in a whispered. putting his hand out to grab her arm.
She launched herself into his arms.
Magnus stifled he was stunned, he had never seen her like this before. he wrapped his arms around her and started rubbing her back as she started sobbing.
Within about ten minutes her sobs died down and she was asleep, obviously exhausted from whatever had happened.
He put his hand under her legs and the other around her waist, lifting her up as if she weighed nothing, and brought her to his room.
Whatever it was that happened, they could talk about the morning, but for now Isabelle needed to sleep.
After he got her settled he attempted to call Alexander, just to let him know that Isabelle was at his place.
No answer.
——
When she woke up Magnus was already awake and looking at her.
How did— then every thing came back to her.
Tears gathered in her eyes as she dropped her head into her hands.
He moved to her Instantly, gathering her in his arms.
“Shhh, it’s ok.” he said
“He- i- Ja- Jace is dead.” she said after a minute
“w…what.” Magnus stuttered
“Valentine killed him.” she said sobbing with pure rage in her voice
“I- Lilith, i- i’m so sorry. H…how’s Alexander?” he didn’t need to ask, he knew, he’s seen Nephilim lose their parabatai’s before, they beyond lost, they were like empty vessels of what use to be nephilim.
“He- i don’t know.” she admitted
“You don’t- what do you mean you don’t know.” How did she not know? I mean he knows Alec is difficult when it comes to his feelings but.
“I- he- fuck” she took a deep breath.
“I mean, he’s missing, they think
Valentine took him.”
Alec is missing.
“What happened h..how long has he been gone, do we have any idea where he is.”Magnus asked all in one breath.
“All I know is Valentine was going to use Raziels wish so he and Jace went to lake lynn to try and stop him.” She pushed the sobs that were trying to crawl up her throat down.
“The report said they found Jace dead at the scene, and there was no sign of Alec or Valentine. So he’s been missing since yesterday afternoon.”
“Fuck.” He whispered.
She looked up at him “I think we should head back to the institute and get some more information”
“Yeah, all right let’s go” he agreed.
He opened a portal.
——
|Tuesday August 15 2017|
He couldn’t move, he was in so much pain, it felt like he if he moved he would die. Which might be better than he life right now.
“Is he even alive?” A voice asked from behind.
“Of course he is, he’s not that weak,”A familiar voice replied. “I wouldn’t have brought him here if he was.”
“What are we going to do with him?”
“I’ll tell you when you when the time is right ” the voice said. “Is everything ready” he asked
Ready for what?
“Yes” they answered. What was ready? The pain flared as he shifted.
“Great we’ll get started then.” the voice who he could now see was Valentine, because of course it was. He signed internally.
He heard footsteps echoing closer.
Just as he turned to see, he felt the prick of a needle in his neck, and then he was gone.
He woke to find himself strapped to a table with his hands tied.
“Well” he snapped the edge in his glove to his hand “i would say something like no need to worry, it won’t hurt, but that just wouldn’t be true.”
Shit.
He felt the knife rip through his skin.
His screamed echoed through the air. They dragged the knife down his arms, ripping through layers of skin.
He heard the sound of his blood dripping on the ground. They cut into his legs, his chest, everywhere. Injected things, activated runes till he passed out.
——
|Tuesday August 15 2017|
“So we have nothing.” Magnus stated
“Well we don’t have n-“ Isabelle started but was interrupted by Magnus “We have nothing.”
“Let’s go over the mission report again.” she said.
“We have been over it a million times there’s nothing.” the warlock said.
“Then what do you suggest we do?”
“We need to start looking, we need people searching at all times. We can try and capture circle members to get information. I..I just- I need to do something.”
He needs to, Alec is gone, Jace is dead, Alec is alone with Valentine, He needs to find him.
“I know, we do have people looking, they just haven’t found anything.”
“I need something, anything to know he’s ok.” He said, voice just above a whisper. She put her hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.
“We will find him, no matter what it takes. I don’t care if we have to burn down the city, we are going to get him back.” She said like she believed it. So he was going to try his best to believe it to.
“Ok think, do we know anywhere Valentine would go?”
“Jace never talks-” She cleared her throat “Jace never really talked about him.”
“Ok well if you think of anything you let me know” she nodded. They moved towards the table.
“All right, we have two teams in idris and one team in New York, just in case he came back.”
“Ok, i’m going head to Alec’s room and find something to track him with.” he turned to leave without waiting for her answer.
The walk to Alec’s room was quiet.
He got to the door when he stopped.
“Come on Magnus, you’ve been in here a million times, just open the door.” He muttered
He took a deep breath and turned the nob, And… oh
Oh… shit
He was immediately hit with the faint smell of Alec’s shampoo, every thing was still, like nothing had been here in years. Every thing was so… Alec his room was like a time capsule, even though it had only been three days, it was like no one had touched it in years. remembering the task at hand, Magnus walked into the room, and made his way over to the closet.
Opening the door he found Alec’s favorite sweater. He sighed, he grabbed on to the sleeve and pulled it off the hook, gripping it with both his hands he started tracking.
Nothing. He tried again.
Nothing.
Again.
Nothing. Nothing. Nothing.
“Damn it!” He yelled. throwing the sweater on the ground. He could feel his magic ache for Alexander, reaching for something that wasn’t there.
He stared down at the sweater.
Fuck.
He gabbled the sweater again, sat on Alec’s bed.
And he tried again.
——
|Wednesday August 16 2017|
Magnus woke to find that he had slept in Alec’s bed, waking up rap in in Alec’s sent was nice, really nice, but just made him miss he more, if that was even possible. And oh he misses him.
There is nothing Magnus wouldn’t give for just a brush of Alec’s finger tips across his skin.
Every minute without Alec was agonizingly long, he felt lightheaded. Empty.
He got up and tried to track him again. Nothing.
He signed.
After about two minutes of silence he left the room. He made his way to Isabelle’s room, he did three rapid knock’s and waited about a minute before opening the door.
And there she was, standing in front of the mirror, dressed in a black dress.
“Hey” he called out. She turned around towards him. “Hey” she echoed. “I was just about to dispatch the teams for today’s petrols.”
“Right well, i was thinking of going to lake lynn, maybe get some more evidence.”
“You know you can’t go to idris” she said.
“Can’t i?”He asked not really asking.
“Magnus” she started.
“What? I’ll be sneaky.” He interrupted. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.” She turned away again.
He sighed. “I just want to check some magic signatures, I’ll have a better chance tracking them if I’m closer.”
“But we don’t even know if there still in idris” she added. “I think it’s worth a shot, I’ll be in and out”
“Well i guess I can’t really stop you, just, please be careful” I don’t want to lose you to. words she didn’t say, but they sat heavy between them.
“I promise.” He swallowed.
She sighed. “Ok.” her voice still unsure.
——
Arriving in idris was…. weird to say the least. The first thing that caught his attention was a puddle of blood, or well a of stain blood. His magic reached out. Jace, it was Jace’s blood. He spotted a rock in the distance, also with blood on it. He walked over and picked it up, he magic moved through it.
Alexander. This was Alexander’s blood.
He’s stomach churned, and his chest ached at the mere thought of Alexander in pain.
All he saw was the blood There was a ringing in his ears.
He used the blood to try and track him again, his magic shot out to
nothing.
Lilith, they were going to pay for every drop of Alexander’s spilt blood with their own. Taking another look around he saw more blood. This time it wasn’t Alexander’s it wasn’t Jace’s.
It was Valentine’s. That-
That made him smile.
——
|Wednesday August 16 2017|
He feels empty, he is empty, haft his soul is gone.
“What do you want with me?” He asked his voice ruffled in the air.
“You don’t need to worry about that right now” Alec raised an eyebrow.
“You’re helping me with a very important experiment.”
Alec laughed. “And why the hell would i do that? I’m not gonna help you do anything.”
“You will, it’s not like you have a choice.” Valentine said.
“Yeah, good luck with that.” Alec called out as Valentine walked out and looked the door.
“Don’t worry I have something special planned for later.”
Of course Valentine made good on his promise. Later that day he was brought out again.
Cut after cut, rune after rune, injury after injury, punch after punch.
Eventually Alec was hanging from his cuffed wrists over the hook in the middle of the room, stretching him out to his full height, in a way that hurt his back a little bit.
He houng there as they cut into him, he was to week to scream, Alec bit his lip so hard it drew blood. choked sobs came from his throat every time they cut. His body tensed as they activated the rune, he had no air in his lungs to form a scream.
It felt as though they were ripping apart his veins with a seraph blade
When they released the chains, his body fell to the floor, ragged breaths escaped his mouth. The pain causes him to throw up, stomach acid burns his throat as he throws up.
They pulled him out by the chains, his body dragged on the ground leading a trail of blood behind.
The rattling of chains echoed through the room. They brought him back to his room, threw him in and locked the door.
His bones ached, his body was broken bleeding, he was covered in bruises, cuts, burns, you name it. He was 99% sure his shoulder was dislocated, and his wrist was sprained or broken.
“Damn it.” He said to no one. He needs to get out of here.
An hour later the door opened again. The same guy who took his blood a couple days ago.
His mind snapped into focus so quickly it hurt. He didn’t have enough energy to fight back but he sure did try. He pushed back against his hand, but ultimately couldn’t stop him.
Having his blood taken left him even more drained. But the good news is while the idiot was talking his blood he failed to notice Alec stealing his knife from his pocket. Fucking idiot.
Now he just needs a way out.
——
|Thursday August 17 2017|
They took him out of his room just like they always did, only this time they went down a hallway Alec had never seen before. They passed some cages with two warlocks in them, they looked, like they were sick or dying. Which they probably were.
They lede him to the room, inside was a chair, he was sat down.
He expected pain, he was used to pain, he can do pain.
Alec has lived his whole life familiar with pain. his parents had started training him years earlier than most shadowhunters. Cuts scrapes and broken bones, he could do pain, he inflicted it on many different occasions.
But to Alec’s surprise, there was no pain. He felt lighter, like he was floating, and like-
Oh shit. They drugged him.
Again.
He wanted his body to move, but it wouldn’t budge.
They injected him with something, he tried but couldn’t move away from the needles. Angle he felt sick.
He tried to sit up, and was shocked at how hard it was. His body felt heavy. It had to have been days now, days without food, without water, without sleep that wasn’t due to being knocked out. And angle, he was tried.
He never got a moment of peace. Even in sleep as his dreams were haunted by jace, Magnus, his parents, all his mistakes.
He tried so hard to keep his eyes open.
——
|Thursday August 17 2017|
“Find anything helpful?” She asked.
“Mmm, no. Tracking didn’t work, I’m not sure we can what else to try.” He sighed.
She looked down. “Hey, don’t you think it’s weird Valentine didn’t use the wish?”
“I.. I mean i hadn’t really thought about it, why?” he asked slowly.
“Well I was just thinking why didn’t he, I mean Raziel was right there, he’s always wanted to rid the world of downworlders, why not do it now?”
“What are you suggesting? Valentine had some master plan, that he wanted Alec all along?”
“When does Valentine do anything without some sort of master plan?” She sighed.
“So what does he need Alec for? Wouldn’t it be better to have Jace, with his pure angel blood?”
Izzy’s throat tightened at the mention of Jace “I don’t know but he’s got to need Alec for something, and I’m going to find out whatever it is.” She turned back to her room before he could respond.
Which was good because Magnus wasn’t sure what he would say to that. Why would Valentine want Alec?
He’s cell phone ringing cut him out of his thoughts. He read the contract number. Catarina.
“Hello?”
“Magnus, there was two warlocks reported missing” she said.
“Ok? I mean that’s awful but what do you expect me to do about it?” He doesn’t really handle the missing cases, unless a lot of magic was involved.
“They both went missing the same day Alec did.” She added.
Oh.
“-nus?”
That could-
“Magnus?”
“Hmm, oh yes?” He took a deep breath. “Are you alright?” She asked.
“Yeah.” He lied.
“I’m coming to the institute.” And with that she hung up.
Magnus waited “patiently” for Catarina to get there. When she finally got there, she walked up to Magnus and pulled him into a hug.
“How are you? Really? Don’t lie to me cause I’ll know.” She asked “I’m….I don’t know what to feel, I’m tired, I want him back, but I don’t know what else to do, and I just-“ he eyes started watering.
“Hey, we’re going to find him, I don’t care if we have to burn the city down.” He laughed.
“What’s funny?” She asked.
“Nothing just, Isabelle said the same thing”
“Well she’s smart.” She nodded as she talked. “Speaking of, where is that little genius?” Cat asked, looking around as if she might appear if she looked hard enough.
“She’s trying to figure out what Valentine wants Alec for.”
“Mmm, I’ve been thinking about that to.” Ok, was he the only one who wasn’t thinking about?
-can’t think of anything besides some experiment.” She continued rolling her eyes as she talked.
The idea of Valentine using Alec in an experiment…. It made Magnus want to vomit, but since he hasn’t eaten today he doesn’t have anything to throw up anyway.
And as if she could hear his thoughts. “God you look terrible, have you eaten anything today?” He didn’t answer. So she grabbed him by his arm and dragged him down the hallway.
To some sort of.. Shadowhunter cafeteria? She sat him down and summoned a plate of food in front of him. After he didn’t take a bite she coughed loudly, he sighed and took a bite.
“So tracking didn’t work?” he shook his head. “Did they find anything at lake lynn?” Magnus swallowed. “The report wasn’t very helpful, so i went to lake lynn.”
“And did you find anything?” She asked, seemingly not surprising that Magnus broke the law to see if there was anything he could use to find Alec.
Blood. So much blood. Alec’s blood. Jace’s blood.
“No, not really.” He said. Cat looked skeptical but didn’t say anything.
“Well why don’t you go to sleep, and in the morning we can track him together?” She asked.
“We can just do it now.” he started to get up.
“Magnus, when I was asking I wasn’t really asking, I was just being polite because ordering people around is rude, but now i am ordering. You will go to bed, you will get a full night rests. then in the morning we will try to track him. Ok?” She sighed “you’re no good to Alec if you drop dead from magic depletion”
He sighed. “Yeah ok”
——
Laying in Alec’s bed and in Alec’s clothes. He could almost imagine being curled up in Alec’s arms.
Almost.
Because he was still very aware of the fact that Alec was still missing.
But just for a second as he fell asleep, rapped in Alec’s clothes, he forgot about everything bad.
——
|Friday August 18 2017|
The door creek’s open, Alec lays down and doesn’t move, he’s “asleep”
The guy walks over, the same guy who’s been taking his blood.
He leans down, and just as his getting the needle lined up. Between a breath Alec is holding him to the ground with his good arm.
He slit his throat before the man can get a word out.
He pushed himself onto unsteady legs. He needs to get out. He’d never been outside this room, he has no idea where he’s going, he doesn’t even know where he is.
All he knows is he has to leave.
Outside the door is a hallway, a long hallway with multiple doors. He runs down. Well if you can call it that, based on how injured he is, it’s not much of a run.
More like a baby deer walking for the first time.
At the end of the hallway was two different doors. He put his ear up to the first door. He heard muffled voices. Probably not a good option.
He opened the other door to find another hallway. But at the end of this one it another door. He heard the faint sound of cars. A road. Outside.
Alec rushed the rest of the way down the hallway He ripped the door open, and-
Fresh air. Angel it was nice. Remembering that he’s still technically kidnapped Alec walked out. He heard footsteps and moved. He ran and-
Bam. The Impact hit Alec’s head so hard he barely had time to think before he was on the ground.
He got caught. He failed. Again.
——
He awoke to find himself back in his cell with not only chains on his ankles and wrists, but also around his neck. And his leg is definitely broken.
There is no way he’s getting out of here now.
——
|Saturday August 19 2017|
Magnus woke up at 12:00pm even though cat said she’d wake him up at 9:00am.
He picked up Alec’s sweater and made his way to the ops center, where he found izzy and cat standing around a table.
“Why wasn’t I woken up?” The cat eyed man asked. “I’m sorry Magnus but you needed the rest.” Cat said looking anything but sorry.
“Ok, well now that you are up, you guys can do your special magic tracking together thing.” Izzy chimed in obviously very eager to see if it’ll work. Cat walked over and put her hands on the sweater. They closed their eyes and started looking. Searching through nothing, feeling magic currents. It’s like blindly searching around a room.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Nothing Keep searching.
Noth- wait, it’s faint, barely anything. But it’s there, like a whisper in the dark. But it was there
it was Alexander.