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Out of all the things Magnus had imagined himself doing in his life, this is one he most certainly thought he would not be doing.
Mourning he was used to. Too often, especially in the days of Valentine, did he have to sacrifice the time spent mourning a dear friend for something more productive. He didn’t have time to mourn. He had to help others escape, and formulate new plans to help stop Valentine.
But never had he guessed he would even come close to mourning Maryse Lightwood. Hell, he thought one day he’d celebrate it, even. Never thought he’d be sitting here on his knees at the site of her grave, slow warm tears falling down his cheeks.
If anybody had told him a decade ago, that he’d be doing this? Crying over the loss of a Lightwood, no less, he might’ve laughed in their face. His relationship with Maryse relationship had always been… strained, to say the least. First, with the circle. Then, with his relationship to Alec. And then, things changed about his relationship with her personally.
Magnus hadn’t even realized just how close she’d become to him until… well, until they were sat alone in his apartment both sipping a generous glass of wine, each gossiping about the clave and its stuck up leaders. Of course, also teasing her for once being said stuck up leader once upon a time.
Only after a joyous bought of laughter had calmed, and left Magnus with a gentle smile on his face and a strange warm feeling inside, did Magnus realize the extent of which Maryse has seemed to worm her way into his heart.
Alec had come through the door a little while later, giving Magnus a light peck on the lips and his mother one on the cheek before excusing himself to the bathroom to shower.
His last conversation with her was still fresh in his memory.
“Oh Maryse, do come by again. I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard in centuries.” The soft lighting in his loft meant you could hardly see the delicate salt pepper streaks in her naturally dark hair.
“Of course, Magnus!” A wide smile graced her face, the wrinkles in her skin softly stretching around it. Then, standing on her toes, she gently placed a kiss on his cheek and wrapped her arms around him in a tight embrace.
He smiled into her shoulder and embraced her just as tightly. Warmth filled him. A message that had no need to be spoken washed over them.
When they gently departed, the smile remained on his lips, and for the rest of the night the warm feeling of wine and love swirled through him.
One week to the day is when she’d been found by Luke. She went in her sleep, peacefully. And Magnus was grateful she’d departed this world in the way she deserved.
Magnus had lost a lot of people in his life. It was part of the deal, after all. Pain was an old friend of immortals. But Magnus, bleeding heart and all, never got used to each loss. Acquaintances - friends - they’d been. He was still shocked at the loss. Alec, while also grieving the loss of his mother, had comforted him through words beyond his age.
“She’s not gone, Magnus. The people you lose - they’re never gone, you just have to keep them here,” a gentle touch to his chest where his heart pounded with grief, “and never forget who they were. We’ll see her again, one day. But for now?” He pressed his hand harder onto Magnus chest, “This will be enough.”
Many people had stepped into and out of Magnus’ life, many figures. Brothers, friends, lovers. But not once in his long life did he ever have anyone come close to what Maryse had been to him. Nobody, nobody, would ever replace his own mother. But Maryse? She had a special place in his heart, tucked gently beside where he’d kept all his precious memories of his own mom. And she would remain there for the rest of his immortal life.