Chapter Text
He calls Jace again and again. He tries to track the man through magic and CCTV. He calls Clary, but they don’t pick up. They don’t respond. They’ve fallen away from contact. Anger starts to burn low and hot in Alec’s gut, and he can barely think. His sister is in danger and he’s been betrayed by his parabatai.
Terror begins to take over and he runs to the only person he knows will help, and it isn’t his mother or his father or his friends or colleagues. He finds Magnus and collapses in his arms, the tears fast and as painful as they are relieving. Magnus doesn’t seem surprised by Alec’s sudden presence, or the obvious heartbreak weighing down the young shadowhunter. “Where is he, Magnus? Why won’t he help me? My sister, she’s--she’ll be--”
“I know,” Magnus whispers to him. The warlock murmurs to him, in a room away from the prying eyes of the Institute, in all the different languages he knows. Alec doesn’t understand the words and Magnus barely knows what he’s saying but what’s important is the support he gives the Lightwood without pause. Without regret.
Within hours Jace and Clary are back with Jocelyn and the cup. Isabelle is released into her brother’s arms who shakes with joy and left over fear. He throws an absent minded thanks towards Clary as he holds Izzy close to him. He doesn’t spare the redhead another thought after that, his attention on Izzy’s beautiful smile and Magnus’ smug expression. Gratitude makes his knees weak in a way he’s not familiar with, but leaves a wide grin on his lips that feels both natural and light.\
Underneath the relief and joy there’s a broken rift of hurt and betrayal, all aimed at his parabatai. When he glances at Jace, Alec sees the same shattered look he knows his own eyes hold, but he looks away and clings harder to his sister. He doesn’t know if he can forgive Jace and after the stunt he pulled with the bond rune while he was trying to locate Jace, their bond is already so weakened.
Then Jace is apologizing to him at his bachelor’s party. They come clean to each other and talk about their fears, in a way that leaves them both breathless despite their still bodies. Alec is reminded of just how well he knows every flaw and doubt of Jace’s mind, of why he holds Jace so dear to him, and why the blonde does the same for him. They avoid talk of the future: they don’t speak of the war, or of the Clave.
“Why didn’t you answer me?” Alec finally works up the courage to ask.
“What do you mean?” Jace asks.
Alec can feel the old fire begin to flame inside him as he clarifies, “When Izzy was in trouble, you ignored me. I called you, texted you. Hell, I used the bond to cry out to you.”
Jace’s brow crinkles, “All I felt through the bond was anger.” He runs his hands through his hair and then adds, “And you didn’t call me, Alec. I checked, like every minute, I mean, I was terrified . I didn’t know what was happening.”
Alec looks at Jace and tries to detect the lie in his voice. “You’re lying to me again.”
Jace’s face falls and he replies, “No, Alec. I’m not.”
“I called you and Clary!”
“Clary? She didn’t say anything about that.”
Jace pulls out his phone and shows it to Alec and true to Jace’s word, there is no history of any calls. Alec looks further into the settings and he hisses in anger when he finds that his number has been blocked and deleted. He shows it to Jace who looks beyond confused, and the befuddlement in his parabatai makes the fire die down again, to be replaced with a new cold suspicion.
Jace looks at him and his brother looks like the world’s been turned upside down and shaken. Alec swallows at the faint but still evident pain that pulses dully through the bond on his abdomen.
“But I don’t understand. I would never block you.”
Alec whispers, “Clary.”
Jace shakes his head, “No, no. She wouldn’t.”
Alec looks at him, and Jace looks down at his fingers as his mind scrambles to catch up. “Clary understands,” Jace insists. “She lost Simon, she knows how it would feel to lose you or Izzy. She wouldn’t.”
Alec pulls Jace into his side and the blonde drops his face into Alec’s neck even as he continues shaking his head. “There’s only one way to find out.”
It’s a simple matter for Alec. He leaves Jace behind, and walks through the Institute. He sees the redhead practicing on the sparring ground. He walks by her jacket on a bench and slips the phone from the cloth with deft movements ingrained from his constant training. He doesn’t stop walking and doesn’t even glance in her direction, knowing that if he did his anger would bubble forward. Violently.
When he returns, they look at Clary’s phone and finds dozens of calls and messages. All ignored. All never mentioned. Jace reads each and every one of them and uses his every breath to apologize again and again to Alec. To Izzy, even though she’s far from sight.
“You have nothing to be ashamed of, Jace,” Alec insists.
“I should have known,” the blonde despairs.
“Why is that? I know you, Jace. Trust doesn’t come easily.”
“But Izzy...she almost--because of me…”
“No, because of Clary.”
“Closer than blood,” Jace says, looking up at Alec.
“What?”
“Closer than blood. You and me. I guess it’s true, heh? Clary is my sister.”
Alec blinks in understanding and he reminds Jace, “Izzy is okay. I’m fine. You’re back. We can do this. I will never betray your trust, J. I will never leave you behind. I will never manipulate you. I love you. I will protect you with my life and soul. I will cherish you as family.”
Jace looks at Alec, and his eyes are shining and his lips trembling, but he grabs his older parabatai’s hand and repeats, “Closer than blood. I will protect you with my life and soul.”
Both boys feel tension leaking from their bodies as they feel their bond runes glow and warm up with their words. Alec and Jace talk then, of Jace’s father. Of Valentine. They talk about Clary and Izzy, and of everything that had been locked in their rib cages by fear and uncertainty. They relive childhood memories and make jokes until they fall asleep huddled in a corner of the room, where they had gone to etch designs into the floorboards with their steles, like when they were kids. With each scratch in the floor boards and each shared laugh or tear, the bond strengthens until it buzzes constantly with its normal depth and presence.
When they wake up, the morning of the wedding, their parabatai runes are warm and sharp. Their bond renewed.
They venture into the rest of the Institute and the atmosphere around the campus is light and hopeful as everyone readies the chapel for the wedding...
Alec has never felt so confident and yet so confused as he steps into the church and walks up the couple of stairs to the dais. He watches as clave members trickle in to watch the wedding.
His parents come to him and his mother hugs him close. “I was mad when you picked Lydia, rather than letting me decide your match. But now, I understand why you did it. The Branwell and Lightwood line will be made stronger than ever, and I’m so proud of you,” his mother says. He looks at her in disbelief at those words, having never heard them fall from her lips.
He doesn’t know what to respond with so he only nods dumbly and watches as she walks away from him to sit in the front row to the side with her back straight and expression expectant. His father shakes his hand and looks just as lost for words as his son. They part ways quickly with a matching set of forced smiles.
Alec pauses and takes a second to breathe in deeply, trying to come to terms with the words of praise he’s so unfamiliar with. It makes him feel light headed with confusion and a strangely reluctant satisfaction. They’ve beaten and insulted him. They’ve told him over and over again that he wasn’t good enough and compared him to Jace. But today…
Alec turns at the feeling of a hand on his shoulder to see Jace. Alec grins at him and pulls him into a quick tight hug. “Are you ready for this?” Jace questions, making sure to watch his brother’s expression, trying to see the truth.
A picture of Magnus Bane flashes across Alec’s mind, but he swallows and says, “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Jace looks at him and says earnestly, “I’ll always be here. Wedding or no wedding.” He pauses and adds, “Woman or man.” Alec looks at the other sharply and he opens his mouth to protest, but Jace holds up a hand for silence. “I know, your parents, our parents , don’t respect that. But they’re wrong, Alec. Whatever you do, I’m there. Whoever you choose, I choose. They will be my family as well, and all I want from them is to make you happy.”
Alec doesn’t manage to reply before another older couple comes by to congratulate him and take their seats. When they’re gone and Alec turns back Jace is helping other guests sit and answering questions. Alec stands at the front of the chapel motionless, listening to his own calm steady heart beat. He doesn’t feel nervous, he feels...resigned. He cracks his neck to the side and catches a glimpse of Clary’s red hair. He watches in detachment as she hugs Simon, and he wonders if Simon would remain loyal if he knew what Clary had done.
Alec looks to Jace and sees him watching Clary. The blonde’s expression is blank, but his eyes are shining with hurt, echoing the pulses he can feel through their connection. He wants to go to Jace and comfort him, but more people come up and demand his attention. By the time he’s through with the formalities, everyone is ready for the ceremony, and he’s ushered up the dais to stand and wait.
Alec doesn’t notice when the music starts playing, but his eyes alight on his sister as soon as she appears in the archway. He automatically smiles at her, she looks beautiful as always, and she holds his eyes the entire walk down the aisle. When she passes by him to stand on Lydia’s side of the dais, she runs a hand down his arm. He hopes his smile shows his full appreciation of her. He’s always nervous that his love for Izzy doesn’t shine through as easily as it does for Jace, since though they’re related by blood, he and his sister don’t share a rune bond. He wishes he could shove his gratitude and love through a link into her soul. His fingers itch to grab her and pull her into a hug, to whisper his pride and respect for the woman she’s become.
Everyone lets out a murmur as Lydia passes through the arch next, and Alec can hear a stifled gasp coming from his sister. When he follows Izzy’s gaze he sees Lydia, she looks like a goddess. She steps confidently as she walks down the red carpet and up the stairs to stand next to Alec.
Her movements betray no nerves or doubts, though her heart flutters with nerves. She smiles at Alec, knowing that she doesn’t love him like she did her John, but knowing a deep and full respect for the man before her. That is enough for her and for the Clave.
Neither of them really hear what the silent brother is saying, but Lydia’s hands are sure when they pick up and place the bracelet around Alec’s wrist. He in turn clasps the necklace for her, and she thinks of the wedding several years back, where she wore a similar necklace. She pushes aside the pang of loss and turns to Isabelle. She gives the younger Lightwood a smile as she takes her stele. Isabelle looks back at Lydia with awe and a strange amount of what looks to be sadness. Lydia feels her throat go dry, and she quickly looks away and back to Alec.
“It is time for Alec Lightwood and Lydia Branwell to mark each other with the wedded union rune. A rune on the hand, a rune on the heart. A union is born,” the silent brother speaks in the crowd’s mind.
She touches the block and the rune with her stele and steadies her hand above Alec’s wrist. They look at each other, both feeling the same need for a breath, a pause, before she starts to lower the stele to skin.
Both of them, as well as the entire room, look to the sound of doors banging open, and Lydia’s hands fall away when she sees Magnus Bane standing there, eyes only for Alec. The Lightwood in question stares at Bane, eyes wide and mouth open in surprise. His breath is suddenly stolen and his heart rate rockets, in the way it hasn’t all day, as he continues to look upon the comely warlock. He wants to run to Magnus. He wants to run away from the rigidity of this ceremony and the demanding looks from his mother. An urge he ruthlessly squashes before it can take root.
“Alec...Alec!” Lydia whispers. His eyes turn back to her as he struggles to breath. He looks at her smile and wants to return it, to be the man she needs.
Instead he only manages to gasp, “I can’t breath.”
Her eyes twinkle knowingly and she says, “I know.”
“I can’t do this,” he says, before his mind catches up with him. “I thought we were doing the right thing, but this isn’t it.”
Lydia’s smile falls and she licks her lips as she thinks. She looks at Alec and places a hand on his cheek, “I know. You deserve to be free, and I deserve to be with someone who loves me. Alexander Lightwood, you are an honourable man, and a good man. I will always be tied to you by honour, but I don’t want to kill your spirit. Go, you deserve to be happy.” She steps forward and places a lingering kiss on his cheek before pulling back and giving him a light shove towards the steps.
He looks at her in awe and says, “I’m so sorry, Lydia.”
She winks at him and says, “I’m not.”
He laughs without breath and his eyes return to Magnus’ unmoving body. His mouth is dry and he tries to swallow before he chokes on nothing. He can see his mother striding towards the two of them from the corner of his eye, but he can’t tear his gaze away from the warlock in front of him. He can hear the sharp edges to Maryse’s words even though he can’t understand their meaning, but he hears Magnus’ reply, and knows he will never ask him to leave. Never again.
He nearly trips when he steps down the couple of stairs, and then he’s moving towards Magnus. His mother is spitting words at him but he only bites out, “Enough.” He’s finally able to touch, and he watches his hands reach out and grab Magnus’ jacket and pull.
They both shock at the first contact of lips, but then sink into each other. For Magnus it feels like finally coming home. For Alec it feels like finally finding freedom. Alec pulls back and his eyes check with Magnus for assent, for approval. The other man’s lips chase his as he does so, and Alec sees nothing but a softness in Magnus’ expression. He dives down for another taste of Magnus and sighs into it. He feels unstoppable, similar to the feeling of weightlessness after Izzy’s trial.
When he pulls away again, he feels the full responsibility of his actions fall upon his shoulders and he can’t stop himself from looking to his mother. Maryse is still standing a few feet away and she marches forward and backhands Alec hard enough for him to stumble to a knee. Magnus looks enraged, but Alec holds out a hand and says, “No!” before Magnus can act. The warlock drops his glowing raised hand with difficulty and glares at Maryse.
Alec regains his footing and looks at his father who is watching the scene with no expression. He returns his mother’s angry gaze and says, “You will never touch me again.” He’s impressed by the amount of steel he can fit into the monotone calmness he’s famous for. “No more pain runes, no more silence runes. You will no longer antagonize me or starve me. You won’t title me a failure or demand my obedience.”
There are murmurs all around them and when he glances at Magnus, he can see a sadness there that confuses him. He belatedly realizes he just admitted to being abused in front of a room full of important families, but he brushes it aside as unimportant. Maryse looks furious and embarrassed. She spits, “Alexander Gideon Lightwood. You don’t dare talk to me like--”
“Maryse,” Alec states.
“What makes this different than the other times you threatened to leave, Alec? I still have all the same cards to play.” She leans forward to whisper, to threaten him without outside ears listening in, “You leave and I will be forced to place your responsibilities upon Isabelle.”
Alec inhales harshly and he can feel Magnus stiffen even further next to him, but Alec looks at Maryse with no surprise or remorse, “Because before now, I thought I would be punishing her by forcing her against the Clave. Against her family. I didn’t want her to have to choose between us, but you're the mother that helped arrest her, and the mother that supports the council that almost had her stripped of her runes for being compassionate. I’ve learned, Maryse , that I don’t need to protect Izzy from the Clave, I need to protect her from you. ”
Izzy approaches them as Alec speaks and she looks at her brother with tears in her eyes. She smiles and says, “I am so proud of you, Alec.”
Alec smiles and pulls her to his side, safely between him and Magnus. Jace is next, walking to stand on Alec’s other side. Maryse turns to Jace and says, “You can’t possibly think this as well, Jace. You are the perfect soldier. I gave you everything you needed.”
Jace nods, “You’re right. You gave me a family. My family is Alec and Izzy. And now… Magnus.” Jace sends a tentative smile towards the warlock and Magnus returns the grin with relief and excitement.
The crowd is standing now, murmuring and pointing, and Maryse looks around herself with unease. She points at Alec and says, “This is not over, Alec. You are my son. You are a shadowhunter. You answer to me and to the Clave.”
Alec says nothing, just watches her walk away. He sighs and slumps his shoulders back into their constant slouch as the fight seems to suddenly escape him. Lydia lifts his head and he relaxes at the sight of her broad smile. “What will you do now?” he asks.
She shrugs, “Throw myself into work? I don’t think there’s a place for me here. I don’t want to break apart your family.”
Alec shakes his head and takes her hand with both of his, “You will always have a place here. You are not breaking us apart, you are helping us rebuild.” She sniffles and lets a tear slide out and down her cheek and he leans forward to place a kiss on each cheek. “Thank you, Lydia Branwell. May our names be honour linked, and you be welcome to our family.”
Izzy cheers where she stands and wraps her arms around Lydia for a massive hug. Magnus, in turn, takes Lydia’s hand to place a kiss on it, and murmurs a quiet heartfelt thanks into her ear. Simon appears in the group and begins to ramble about a movie that Alec has never heard of. When the man finally stops talking Alec deadpans, “Who invited the vampire?”
Simon’s expression falls and he sighs out, “Really?” But then Simon catches the small uplift of Alec’s smirk and he beams at him again, “Oh, whatever, Elaine, I’m happy for you!”
Alec smiles genuinely at the previous mundane but he’s interrupted by Clary saying, “I invited him. He’s my best friend.” She smirks and says with a light air, “My parabatai if you will.”
Magnus asks, “Ah, yes, biscuit. I have brought together all of the items that could lead to the book of the white. If you all will come with me.”
Clary tries to fall back to Jace, but Alec quickly blocks her from his path.
Magnus stops them at a table at the center of the Institute. He waves his hand, and blue light hovers over the table as a small collection of random magical items appear. A casual display of power that is so very Magnus.
“It’s something in this pile, but I have no idea what,” Magnus muses, while he’s gliding over to stand next to Alec. Magnus places a small hand on Alec’s back, and the tall Lightwood wears a goofy grin with no bashfulness.
Clary gasps and picks up a torn cloth bookmark, “It’s this. I saw this in the other dimension. You had it in a book of spells, Magnus. A large white book.”
Simon snorts, “Well, at least we know the name is accurate.”
Magnus ignores Simon and says, “You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. And now we can track it to whoever has it, right?”
Jace shrugs and says, “Sure,” as he reaches out to take it from her hand.
Magnus’ hand flashes out before his and picks it neatly from her frail fingers. “Warlock tracking is stronger,” he says. Jace smirks in Alec’s direction who blushes.
“Sure,” Jace agrees loudly, but makes no move to take it back.
The others wait as Magnus closes his eyes and begins tracking the trace energies in the cloth. They can feel the hum of magic around them as the warlock works and it makes their skin tingle slightly.
Clary glances at Jace and understands that she won’t get Jace alone, not if the past few hours are anything to go by. So she bites her lip and steps in front of Jace and Alec and proclaims, “Jace, we need to talk. You can’t just keep ignoring me.” It’s clear that she’s hoping to guilt Jace into giving in.
Jace scoffs and Alec widens his stance, as if getting ready for a fight. “I don’t know, Clary. I guess you should tell me, after all you’re great at ignoring people,” Jace snaps.
Clary looks confused, and the rest of the group turns to witness the argument with varying degrees of confusion. “What? I don’t ignore you,” Clary replies.
“No, you don’t ignore me. You just manipulate me.”
“What are you talking about, Jace? You’re being ridiculous, and can we please take this somewhere more private?” Alec watches her feet shuffle side to side and knows that the girl understands exactly what they’re talking about.
Alec sneers and deadpans, “He’s talking about when you blocked my number on his phone and almost got Izzy’s runes stripped from her by ignoring my frantic messages for Jace.”
Everyone falls silent and Clary’s eyes are wide and her breathing is fast. She yells, “You’re lying!” She turns to Jace, and the change in her expression is so fast it makes Alec dizzy. “Jace, come on. You know he’s never liked me. He’s had it out for me since the beginning.”
“I guess he was right. I should never have trusted you.”
Simon steps forward and his voice is weak when he says, “Come on now, guys. I think there must be some kind of mistake here…”
Alec says, not unkindly, to Simon, “I guarantee you there’s not.” Simon looks up at him with a scared and lost expression.
“Jace, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Did you mean to hurt Alec? Or Izzy?”
Clary shakes her head, “Of course, not. How dare you, I was just trying to help my mom.”
“How dare I?” Jace parrots back in obvious disbelief.
“Why do you trust him over me, Jace? After all we’ve been through!” Clary cries.
“I believe him because he’s my parabatai, and because he’s never lied to me! And because we looked at your cell, Clary.”
“You have no right looking through my things!”
Alec places a hand to his head and mutters, “That’s the argument you want to have right now? Do you even hear yourself when you speak? You’re the one who blocked my number in Jace’s phone in the first place!”
“Says you!” she says in desperation.
Jace nods, “Yes. Says my parabatai.” There is no doubt in his voice or eyes.
“Alright, parabatai vs. parabatai. Ask Simon if that sounds like something I would do.”
Alec argues, “He’s not your parabatai!”
“Why? Because we don’t have runes to show it?”
“Yes! And because you swear to protect them with everything you have. You’re the one who couldn’t even answer the damn phone for a week when he was going through withdrawal, and got himself killed.”
Jace turns to Simon and adds off handedly, “No offense.”
Simon nods numbly, but his eyes are large and on Clary, as if in a daze. Alec wants to both slap him to get a response and to pull him into a hug and comfort him. Neither of which he is used to feeling.
Clary growls in frustration and finally turns around to Alec, her face contorted with a rage he didn’t know she could possess, “Fine. Yes, I blocked your number, because I didn’t want to deal with your petty possessiveness over Jace. Everyone knows you’re just in love with him; you’ll do anything for his attention. Did you tell Magnus that? Does he know that he’s just an excuse?”
Alec steps back as if slapped and the room goes quiet. Alec is looking at Clary and he can’t recognize a single aspect of her. Before, she was infuriating and destroying his world, but at least she was honest hearted.
Alec starts speaking, and every person who hears it flinches at the obvious danger of it, “Clary Fairchild, you are more demon than shadowhunter, but more than that you’re a fool. I love Jace. He’s my parabatai and nothing will change that.” Jace lays a hand on Alec’s shoulder at those words and Alec straightens his shoulders at the show of support, and looms at his full height as he looks down upon the redhead in front of him. “But don’t you dare drag Magnus into this. I won’t pretend that I didn’t idolize Jace, but we all have pasts. We’ve all made mistakes and been confused. Magnus is the first person who’s looked at me like I can be loved. He’s the only person I’ve ever lost my breath around. Magnus has supported me through the mess you’ve made of everything , and I will not allow you to insult or invalidate his importance to me and my life.”
Alec takes another step towards her and she shrinks back underneath his gaze, “You manipulate Jace again and I’ll remove you from the field entirely. You endanger Izzy again and I will take your stele and rune lock you into a cell for years to come. You try to attack Magnus and I will beat you down with your own blade. If you ever comment or insult those that I love again, I will make sure you regret it. You dare to jeopardize any and all of my people and I will put a kill order on you, and unleash you to the demons. By my word, Clary Fairchild, you will not harm them again.”
Alec’s voice by the end of his small rant is hoarse, not used to saying so much at once. He feels a chill to the air and looks around to find everyone’s eyes on him. He doesn’t dare look at the expressions of those standing closest to him.
Alec blinks and steps away from them all, uncertainty rushing through him, but then Jace’s hand, still on his shoulder, tightens. Alec looks at Jace, who says, “And we won’t let you be harmed again, parabatai.”
Alec can feel heat spreads across his face and down through the rest of his body as he looks down at the ground. He can still feel eyes on him, and he’s not sure what to do with so much attention.
Simon brushes at the tears on his face and suddenly understands the respect all the shadowhunters in the Institute pay to Alec Lightwood. He sees the man that Alec has been hiding behind snark and sarcasm, but more importantly he sees the ugly rage that Clary’s been hiding. He’s caught glimpses of such fury and darkness before, but they were mere flashes before now. He’s learned to follow her orders and to not push her too hard. He’s learned her every reaction and the best way to avoid her ire, but having it laid out before him, aimed at someone else, and so... vindictively…. It leaves a stone in his gut that makes his head swim and pound.
He’s been trying to keep up with her for weeks, but now that he’s finally got his fledgling feet back underneath him, he barely recognizes his friend. The thought that she would do that to the Lightwoods, even so far as to endanger Izzy...
He turns away, breaking the intense atmosphere and hurries for the door to the Institute. He needs to breath, he needs to be away from Clary and away from the others. He can’t help but start to wonder how often she has manipulated him in the same way. How much of what she’s said to him in the past, has been to keep him on a tight leash. All his half realized suspicions from their years of friendship coming to the front of his mind with sickening vividity. He’s not entirely sure that the floor isn’t heaving underneath him and the walls closing in on him.
The others watch Simon retreat, and Alec almost reaches for Clary as she runs after him, but Jace catches his hand. Alec takes a deep breath and looks back at the items before him, still unable to look at the warlock. “So, what’s the news?”
“Bad or good?” Magnus asks.
Alec finally looks up and is frozen by the sheer amount of emotion that is brimming in Magnus’ eyes. “Both,” Alec whispers.
“Good news is I know the owner. Bad news is, it’s Camille,” Magnus replies with confidence.
Jace glances after Simon and runs to catch up to him. The others watch the blonde stop him just before the door with a shouted “Simon!”
The tall gangly brunette turns at the shout and looks at Jace with red rimmed eyes, faint smudges of blood caught in his eyelashes. Simon ignores Clary who is standing directly next to to the vampire and trying to speak to him. He walks slowly back to Jace; meeting the blonde several meters away from the table, but still within earshot of them all.
“We need your help,” Jace beseeches. Simon looks at the blonde in confusion. “Please,” Jace adds, and there’s genuine respect in his voice.
It’s that tone that has Simon nodding and saying, “What do you need?”
Jace takes a deep breath, “Camille.” Simon flinches back and away from the name and Jace quickly reassures, “You don’t have to be there, but she has the book. We need to talk to her.”
Simon tries to smile and wave off the concern, but he lets it fall after a moment. He nods meekly and says, “I’ll set up a meeting with Raphael.” When he turns and retreats, it’s with vampire speed, and he’s out of the Institute in seconds.
Clary glares at them all and stalks away, towards the private wing of the Institute, where their rooms are.
Alec moves away from the table as well saying, “I’m going to check on Lydia.” As he departs he can hear familiar a set of footsteps following him.
Magnus doesn’t stop him until they’re a good distance away from the group. “Alec,” is all the warlock says.
Nothing else needs be said though, Alec comes to a nearly involuntary stop and begins playing with the cuff to his sleeve. Slipping his jacket off and onto a nearby table, just for something to do. “Glad we got away from all those people. So intense,” he says, trying to make a joke.
Magnus grabs Alec’s arms and turns him around to face the warlock fully. “You never cease to amaze me, Alexander.”
Alec looks down into Magnus’ eyes and sees only pride and affection.
Magnus adds, “And I have to say, you really know how to make a statement.”
Alec huffs out a laugh and says, “Yeah, I guess I do. We haven’t even gotten that drink I owe you yet.”
Magnus winks, “Can’t wait.”
Alec sighs and brings a hand to set on Magnus’ waist. “What Clary said, I--”
Magnus holds a finger up to his lips, and the action is so familiar that it makes Alec grin sheepishly. Magnus smiles back at him and says, “If I doubted where I stood with you before, then I certainly don’t now. Alexander, you are a wonder.”
Alec tries to play it off with a shrug, but Magnus pulls him in for a short embrace and the warlock whispers into his ear, “I would tear apart the world for you at a word.”
Magnus pulls back then and says, “Incoming.” The warlock gestures behind them and Alec turns to find his parents swiftly approaching them.
Magnus steps away as Maryse stops in front of her son. “What have you done, Alec? To us? To this family?”
“This isn’t about you,” Alec responds.
“Of course it is. You are either being selfish or naive. This wedding was your idea from the start, and now you have humiliated us in front of the most respected members of the Clave. I don’t even recognize you anymore.”
“Why? Because I’ve finally done something for myself?”
“And all for a downworlder .”
Alec nearly stamps his foot in frustration but manages to say, “He’s not a--Mother. Downworlders are just the same as us. Our blood doesn’t make us better, and Magnus is a better man than any others I have met.”
“He isn’t a man at all. He’s a warlock! And of all warlocks, him? ”
“He is a person, Maryse. A person that I have full trust and faith in.”
Robert adds in, “Even among downworlders, Magnus has a bit of a... reputation .”
“You know nothing about Magnus Bane, Alec,” says Maryse.
“Then I plan to get to know him. And if you guys have a problem with that, you can deal with it. Now, I have to find Lydia. If you’ll excuse us.”
He pushes past his parents and holds a hand out to Magnus to lead him down a few stairs. Magnus nods to the Lightwood parents, takes the offered hand, and follows Alec away and into the deeper recesses of the Institute.
They’re nearly to the door of Lydia’s office when Magnus asks, “Are you okay?”
Alec chuckles half genuinely as he turns to Magnus. He stops walking and just studies the other man. “Actually, I am. As weird as that may be, things are finally just out in the open.”
Magnus inches closer to him and prompts, “Your parents?”
Alec reaches out to Magnus’ waist and pulls him into his body, smelling the shampoo in his pink highlighted hair. “Reacted about as well as expected.”
“Those things you said at the wedding...how bad was it?”
Alec pulls back and hums in confusion, not understanding the question.
“The abuse. You said they hurt you.”
Alec straightens in realization but quickly slumps back down into his poor posture and says, “Bad, but rare. Most of the time they would merely yell or manipulate or keep food from me. They needed me to be the best son. To be the man that could uphold the Lightwood name.”
“But?”
“But, sometimes it would get out of hand. It was...I mean, sometimes they would activate a pain rune or something, and leave me locked in rooms for hours. One rune in particular. It’s faded now, hasn’t been used in years, but it’s still there, you can still see it, if you look close enough.”
“Where is it?”
Alec nuzzles into the side of Magnus’ neck and says quietly, “My lower back. I was always glad I didn’t have to see it too often.”
Magnus runs a hand through Alec’s wild hair and presses a kiss to his chest. “I will never hurt you, Alexander.”
Alec smiles into Magnus’ darker skin and mumbles, “I know.”
“And I will do anything to keep away others who want to hurt you.”
Alec lifts his head high enough to place a kiss to the nearest cheek and whispers again, “I know.” Then he kisses the other cheek and adds, “Thank you.”
Alec lingers in Magnus’ hold but pulls away with a groan and says coyly, “We owe Lydia like the best wedding present ever.” Magnus chuckles and nods his affirmation.
Alec knocks and opens the door slowly. He gasps and runs to Lydia’s side when he sees her collapsed on the floor, with Magnus right behind him. When Lightwood looks up, Magnus is on her other side. He gives a nod, when he feels her pulse, and Alec sighs in relief. He bends down to wake her up, but not before he says, “What, in the name of Raziel, happened?”