max snippet for his bday could you be so kind to share some of this beautiful character you’ve made 🥹🥹🥹
“Your magic used to be blue, do you remember?”
Of course, Max remembered. It was indeed blue, just like the rest of him. But slightly softer—like robin’s eggs, and Lance’s baby blanket, and David’s eyes in the morning.
“And now you carry magic of others. Magic that is not your own,” the man told him, and Max pretended not to hear the bitterness in his tone.
“I couldn’t just take it off a shirt—”
“Yes, you could have.” The warlock laughed. “One trip to the Spiral Labyrinth and Hermes would’ve sorted this out for you. But you didn’t.”
Max swallowed. Because it’s true. Because he didn’t.
“I bet you thought if you kept it, it could make up for your…other inadequacies, hm?” The warlock hummed. “Nicolas Thorn’s magic is extremely powerful, after all. Did you think it’d be easier to be a hero with borrowed tools?”
“Sometimes I forget just how much you take after your father, Maxwell,” the man tutted, like he was genuinely disappointed by that information. “I forget just how much of a shadowhunter you are—taking things that are not yours.”
“I didn’t take it for myself!” Max hissed. “I took it because Mallory was hurting people with it. And I kept it because I wanted to protect my husband—”
“You mean the husband who killed himself?” the warlock asked,and sighed dramatically. “Some protector, you are.”
Max’s body went cold. The same way it did every time he was reminded that David…that David did that.
But it wasn’t true. Not in this life. Not in his world. He won’t let it happen. He won’t ever let it happen again in any world.
“You are not taking his magic,” Max told the warlock, meeting his eyes. “Nicolas Thorn wanted me to have it.”
“Is that what you tell yourself to sleep better at night?” the man cocked his head. “Or do you truly believe an extra hand of magic will help you change your husband’s fate?”
Max didn’t know. He didn’t know what he needed to protect David—only that he’ll do it. Whatever it took, he’ll fucking do it.
The warlock moved closer. There was a softness in those gold-green eyes. But Max knew better than to fall for it this time.
“David’s suffering is inevitable, Maxwell, as is your eventual loneliness,” the man said gently. “The sooner you make peace with both, the better it is for everyone involved.”
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