Prompt: Funeral (It's not every day that you gatecrash your own funeral, but it is today.)
AO3
The heavy door makes a loud noise when Alec pushes it open.
All eyes turn to him and Alec has a moment to think about how out of place he looks in a ceremony that’s held for him. Everyone looks neat and clean in their pure white attire, and Alec is standing at the door, panting from exertion and dressed in all black with his clothes and skin undoubtedly stained with dirt.
He looks at his family there, on the front of the room. Their expressions are shocked as they stand beside a body that’s covered with a white sheet. The silent brother behind them is tilting its head in a wordless question.
Jace is the first to act. He takes a blade from next to the body - his blade, he notices when his parabatai aims it towards him and starts walking.
“Who the hell are you?” He asks, his words accusing and voice trembling.
Alec lifts his hands up in surrender, “I’m Alec.”
The rest of his family walks up so they are standing behind Jace who’s still pointing the blade towards Alec’s chest. Alec locks eyes with Magnus who’s being uncharacteristically quiet and he can see the tear tracks on his cheeks that are yet to dry. Magnus is dressed in white as well, respecting the Shadowhunter tradition even though he’s not one.
“It’s me,” he says, looking Magnus in the eyes.
“But how about -” Isabelle starts before her voice fades to nothing. Alec looks at her and she nods at the body in front of the room. The body everyone thought was Alec’s.
“A shapeshifter,” Alec explains. “I got caught on the mission we went to last week and a shapeshifter took my place. I didn’t know it had died until I arrived here and heard you were holding my funeral.”
Alec doesn’t blame them for being suspicious.
“Magnus,” Maryse says, her voice the cold tone of a leader Alec remembers from his childhood. “There must be a spell you can use to verify this.”
“There is,” Magnus says carefully and steps in front of the group. Alec turns to look at his husband and gives a small, encouraging smile.
Magnus says something in a language Alec doesn’t know, his words too quiet to make perfect sense of them anyway. Alec keeps eye contact and studies the unsure expression on Magnus’ face. He’s retreated back behind the walls he uses to keep himself safe.
Magic covers Alec from head to toe. It feels warm and it vanishes as soon as it came and when it does, Alec holds his breath. He knows he’s who he claims to be, and he hopes the spell proves his words to his family as well.
He looks at Magnus carefully as the magic fades, and he’s alarmed when fresh tears spring to Magnus’ eyes. Alec doesn’t have time to react before there are arms around him, holding him close.
my fic for @ficletinstruments week 9 (prompt: oops)
ao3 link
Magnus brings his glass of champagne to his lips, careful not to take a sip. The war with the Nephilim is over but he wouldn’t put it past them to poison the drinks. It would hardly be the first time. Around him, the reception hall gleams with gold and surprisingly, the occasional touch of warlock blue among the finery.
Something in his throat tightens that he doesn’t dare call hope.
“Can you believe they let this filth in our Institute?” Two Shadowhunters walk past on their way to the canapes, their voices deliberately loud enough to carry.
Magnus' jaw clenches to keep from lashing out. He’d lobbied the council too hard for his place in tonight’s treaty signing to ruin it for an insult he’s heard a thousand times.
Air, he needs fresh air.
Whirling in place, he strides towards the exit. And slams into a wall of muscle. The untouched champagne in his glass sloshes over and to his utter mortification, drenches the jacket of the Shadowhunter he knocked into. He feels fifty years old again, a child coming into his power rather than the High Warlock he is.
The man laughs, the warmth of it so unexpected that Magnus’ gaze snaps up. His breath catches in his throat. The man is beautiful. Tall and well-built, with kind eyes and a plush, kissable mouth.
He’s also speaking. “…heard what they said. You have my personal apologies, High Warlock Bane.”
“You know who I am?”
“I’d be a poor leader if I didn’t.” He extends his hand. “Alec Lightwood, Head of the—”
“New York Institute," Magnus finishes. "I know who you are. I’d be a poor leader if I didn’t.” His smile as he mimics Alec's words comes out softer than he intended.
The words aren't a lie. The formal-wear hadn't helped, but he recognizes the man he spent countless hours plotting to assassinate. Lightwood had been too well defended to move against, and Magnus is suddenly, surprisingly grateful for it. However, he still hasn’t righted his own terrible faux pas and so he gestures to Alec’s sodden tuxedo. “May I? If you can stomach a bit of warlock magic.”
In all honesty, he expects this Shadowhunter to decline. Likely with a sneer and snide comment, regardless of his earlier lip service. But he doesn’t. He merely inclines his head. “I’d appreciate that.”
A spark jolts between them as Magnus runs a finger down Alec’s lapel, leaving clean fabric in its wake. He doesn’t need to be a powerful warlock to know this particular spark has nothing to do with magic.
“So,” he says, when it’s finally time to adjourn to the treaty room. “How many assassinations did you plain against me?”
Alec’s eyebrows shoot up, adorably so. “About as many as you did for me, I’d wager.”
Magnus laughs, his first genuine laugh since stepping foot in this place. “I’ll show you mine if you show me yours.”
Alec’s grin is bright, and Magnus begins to believe in peace.
@ficletinstruments reveals are up, and here’s my contribution for the week:
Title: Glamour
Link: On AO3
Pairing: TWI Magnus Bane/TWI Alec Lightwood
Tags: Established relationship, drunken confessions, hangover, H/C, ‘This World Inverted’ AU.
Summary: It’s been centuries since Magnus has shown anyone his warlock mark.
*
The smell of coffee is the first thing that percolates into Magnus’s sleep-fogged senses. He stretches, peels his eyes open, winces. His mouth tastes sour, the lingering remnants of last night’s cocktails. Far, far too many of them, now that he’s thinking about it. He remembers Alec standing up to toast the happy couple, a blur of dancing and drinking and laughter...
After that, it’s all a fuzzy blank. Although at some point Alec apparently brought him home, took his shoes off, and poured him into bed. How mortifying.
“Hey,” says a soft voice from the door, and Magnus lifts his head slightly to see Alec standing there in pajama bottoms, holding a pair of coffee cups. “How are you feeling?”
“Embarrassed,” Magnus admits, levering himself upright. Alec crosses the room to sit down beside him and press one of the cups into his hands. “A bit sore. I hope I didn’t make too much of a scene.”
“Nah, you were fine.” Alec settles his free hand on Magnus’s nape, fingers scritching into his hair. Magnus leans into it, closes his eyes. There’s a strange, half-familiar ache at the back of them, and the bright sunlight isn’t helping. “You’re a sappy drunk, though.”
Magnus huffs laughter. “So I’ve heard. It’s been a while since I’ve overindulged like that.”
“Yeah, that’s what you said last night.” He can hear the smile in Alec’s voice. The silence that stretches out between them feels comfortable, the warmth of Alec’s body soothing. At least until Alec shifts and says, “Is that something you can fix? With your…” he trails off, and Magnus opens his eyes in time to see Alec’s hand lift, flutter vaguely. “You know. Magic?”
Magnus tenses, a chill flashing through him. The cup rattles in his hand, splashing hot coffee over his fingers. “What?”
“Yeah, you…” Alec tilts his head to look at him. “You don’t remember.”
“Remember what?” Magnus says unsteadily. “Alexander—”
“Shit,” Alec mutters, and then, “Sorry. Yeah, you um. Showed me. Last night.”
“I don’t know what you think you saw, but—”
“Magnus,” Alec says softly. He reaches out, hesitates, then takes Magnus’s cup out of his hands and sets it on the floor, along with his own. Magnus wraps his arms around himself, unmoored, something like panic rising up through the sludgy hangover. He squeezes his eyes shut, and only then realizes why that ache feels familiar. His glamour is down. His eyes are slit-pupiled, cat-yellow, unmistakably inhuman.
And Alec has been sitting here talking to him the whole time, like it doesn’t even matter. Like his whole understanding of the world hasn’t been turned upside-down.
“Magnus,” Alec says again. His hand settles carefully on Magnus’s cheek. “It’s okay. I promise. I was—” he laughs a little. “I was a little surprised last night, okay? But it’s alright. Can you please look at me?”
Alec is still here. Alec has seen him—Alec knows—and he’s still here.
“Can I ask you something, my love?” Magnus asked, feeling loose and carefree and he turned to brush his chin over Alec’s shoulder and relished the shiver he got in return.
“Anything you want.” Alec promised him, fingers reaching out to run along the neat hair of Magnus’ goatee and then up his jaw, dancing across his cheek with featherlight touches.
“What do you like best, about all of this?” Magnus gestured to himself, to the layered necklaces and outfit he wore. He ended his little show by tapping his own face, nails painted the red of Edom’s conquered ashes and his face enhanced expertly with makeup.
“You.” Alec stated clearly, eyes focused on Magnus’ own as he licked his lips.
“Don’t be cute,” Magnus warned. “You know exactly what I meant.”
Alec gave a pout. A nearly identical expression to the face Magnus’ often left in bed, yearning for cuddles.
“I don’t just like it,” Alec said and he was looking at Magnus as though assessing a great work of art, to find it’s flaws and values. “I love it. I love how much you love it. I love that you sometimes pick one color and then do the rest to match. I love how much care you put into it, because it’s an expression and not just a statement. I love everything about you, Magnus.”
Alec was so sweet and so earnest and it was a good thing he already held Magnus’ poor heart, because it was gone for his Shadowhunter. Then Alec wrinkled his nose, wine tinted cheeks flushing darker as he averted his eyes and mumbled something.
“What was that, Alexander?” Magnus asked playfully, pretty sure he knew exactly what his husband had said.
“I said,” and here Alec paused to look up at the sky, puffing up his cheeks before letting out a gusty breath, “that there is one thing I don’t love.”
“And that is?” Magnus asked challengingly.
“Even though it looks absolutely amazing on you, nail polish still tastes awful.”
Magnus laughed, snapping his fingers and let his hands be laced with delicate blue fire, like a glove of flaming filigree, “there! Easily fixed.”
Alec stared at Magnus’ hands, his nails still perfectly painted but purified by magic and Magnus lost his breath entirely when a moment later, Alec slid to his knees before him.
Alec reached out, hands heavy and firm on Magnus thighs as he tilted his head coyly, a smug grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “I think I should be the judge of that.” He said and who was Magnus to argue. Soft lips pressed to the pad of his thumb and Magnus felt like a livewire, electrified to the bone by such a simple touch as Alec licked around his finger.
Entirely too soon Alec was pulling away and he pressed a simple kiss to Magnus’ knuckles. “You were right,” he said with a voice that was already deliciously -promisingly- hoarse, “tastes much better.”
Written for @ficletinstruments with the prompt Lecture Hall Ao3 Link
Simon leans back in his chair, his arms crossing over his chest. “No, no, no, no, no!”
“Dude,” Jace says, putting his elbows onto the table. “I’m telling you the honest to god truth! They are totally fucking.”
“There’s no way in hell,” Simon says, fiercely. “No. Fucking. Way.”
“Why is the truth so hard to believe?”
Simon rolls his eyes. “Okay. Exhibit one.” Simon stands, grabbing the clipboard from the desk at the front of the room, slamming it down in front of Jace with so much dramatics that Magnus Bane, their art professor would be proud. “Every single day, they sign up for this lecture room while also scribbling out the other’s name.”
Now it’s Jace’s turn to roll his eyes. “Haven’t you ever heard of foreplay?”
Clary scrunches up her nose. “Eww.”
“That’s like thinking about my dads having sex,” Simon says with a shudder.
“But Simon does have a point,” Clary agrees, tapping the sign-up form. “They do fight over this room like cats and dogs. And remember last week when Alec had his class come in here early and take over the room?”
“Exactly,” Simon says proudly. “Magnus’ face turned so red I thought he might literally explode. You said you had to go have class outside while my history class got to be in here. Alec spent the first fifteen minutes of our lecture gloating about finally defeating the enemy.”
Jace lets out an amused snort. “So? That is your proof? That’s nothing.”
“Exhibit two!” Simon declares, taking out his phone and flipping it around to show a picture. “They’ve begun leaving threats on the whiteboard for the other to find!”
The pictures range anywhere from ‘expect the unexpected, darling’ to ‘your ass is mine’ and the worst being ‘I’ll see you in the parking lot’.
Jace gives him a smug look. “Like I said before. Foreplay.”
“Twenty bucks,” Simon says, staring Jace down. “Twenty bucks says they’re fighting and not fucking. Sworn fucking enemies.”
“You serious right now?”
“As a heart attack.”
Jace smirks before putting his hand out. “You’re on.”
Jace checks the time before nodding towards the window. “It’s two o'clock which means they should just be pulling in. Go check, Lewis.”
Simon tilts his head in question before doing as he’s told. He looks out the lecture room window, down at the parking lot where, just as Jace guessed, Magnus and Alec are pulling in. In the same fucking car. “No,” he whispers, watching as they laugh together. Magnus leans across the dash, kissing Alec before they both get out, wide smiles across their faces. “What. The actual. Fuck?”
Clary lets out a delighted laugh as Jace demands his money. “How the fuck could you have guessed that?”
Jace takes out his phone in delight, sliding it over for Simon to see. Simon’s eyes widen as he stares at Magnus and Alec smiling into the camera at their own fucking wedding, Jace smiling at Alec’s side also in a suit.
(Read on AO3)
(This week’s @ficletinstruments fill for Funeral: It's not every day that you gatecrash your own funeral, but it is today.)
The support Simon receives after being forced to encanto his own mother into believing he’s dead is overwhelming. Isabelle’s by his side from the moment he leaves the hospital chapel, Clary spends time comforting his mother and helping Rebecca not deal with Mrs. Lewis alone, and even Magnus volunteers to help with a glamoured ‘corpse’ for the funeral service so his family has the peace of mind of knowing he was given a proper full-bodied burial.
Everyone supports him 100% until he says he wants to go to the funeral. Isabelle and Clary both refuse to let him anywhere near it, insisting it’s a bad idea. And maybe it is - it probably is - but that doesn’t change his mind. It’s Magnus who finally caves and agrees to glamour Simon so he can stand at the back, so long as he promises not to do anything stupid or say a single word. No one knows he’s there. They don’t even tell Clary.
Two minutes in and Simon thinks Clary and Iz might’ve been right - maybe he shouldn’t be here.
It’s a strange sensation to witness your own funeral, Simon realizes. He feels guilty at the sadness he’s causing every person there, and there are far more people present than he expected, honestly. But it’s also a bit of a relief; now he won’t have to worry about explaining away why he isn’t aging after a few years, he won’t have to spend the rest of his life building a web of lies.
He just has to get through this one gigantic lie and he’s free.
His mother doesn’t speak at the funeral. She’s asked to, and she tries, but every time she opens her mouth all she can do is sob.
Rebecca talks instead, saying some nice things about the sort of brother, son, friend Simon was. Her words are much more kind than Simon feels he deserves. Rebecca cries a little too, despite knowing the truth, because even though he may not be gone he’s still dead and their lives will change forever because of that. He supposes she’s mourning the loss of the brother she knew before - which is totally fair, even if it hurts to see the very real distress on his sister’s face.
Simon almost ruins his hidden spot by barely managing to choke back a muffled sob.
“We can leave whenever you want,” Magnus reassures him with a whisper. Simon shakes his head.
“If they can get through this, so can I,” Simon replies, resolved, and Magnus only responds by placing a hand on Simon’s shoulder and squeezing, leaving it there for the rest of the short service.
Just as quickly it’s over and everybody leaves - everyone except Simon who waits until the last car drives away to walk up to his own grave, standing there in silence for a few minutes before quietly asking Magnus to portal him home.
It’ll feel liberating in time, Simon imagines - he just has to stop crying first.
He wanted to destroy, scream, blame all Angels for that nightmare.
He wanted to burn the entire world.
Pairing: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Tags: Temporary Character Death, Well... He never died so..., Asmodeus is a big shit, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Episode: s03e18 The Beast Within, Another deal, Magnus' magic loves Alec, Angst with a Happy Ending
My story for @ficletinstruments‘ week 16 [Funeral]
You can also read here: ao3
____________________________________
“Alexander”
Magnus wanted to lash out.
He wanted to destroy, scream, blame all Angels for that nightmare.
He wanted to burn the entire world.
“Gideon”
But even for that, he was useless. They took everything from him.
His job, his home, his magic. His…
His love.
“Lightwood”
Everything felt wrong. He didn’t want to be there, receiving those looks of pity. But he would be damned if he wasn’t there to just… One last time…
“Ave Atque Vale.”
--
Later, Magnus, Jace, and Izzy still lingered for a bit at the ceremony hall. If Magnus still had magic, he would have portaled to somewhere. Anywhere. But now, he was too numb to even move. When Izzy finally tried to break the silence and say something, the sound of a portal caught their attention, and all three gasped in surprise, their eyes widening.
Because in front of them, there was Alexander. Badly hurt, but he nonetheless.
Nobody moved. However, soon Alec’s legs gave out and he crashed onto the floor. Several alarms went off in Magnus’ head, and a second later he was beside Alec, cradling him.
“H-How…?” Magnus sobbed, his voice and hands trembling too much for making sense of anything.
“That… son of…” Alec coughed, forcing himself to open his eyes.
“No, you died.” Jace’s voice was barely audible. “My parabatai rune… It…” He pulled his shirt to make a point, but to his surprise, the rune was there. Entirely black again. “What?”
“Asmodeus,” Alec tried again and Magnus looked at him with horror. “I tried to make a deal to get your magic back. At first, that bastard wanted me to break up with you. I’d never do that.” Alec breathed with certain difficult but never stopped looking at Magnus with tender eyes. “So, he offered me another thing. He said he needed some kind of… dark human emotion. Agony, torment, something like that. For that, I’d have to go to Edom and accomplish some missions. When I finished, he… I don’t know how it’s possible, but he put your magic inside of me. Said I was a container.” He waved his hand and blue sparkles flew. “It didn’t hurt, tho. I felt like… coming home?” He smiled gently. “But then he said I’d have to figure out by myself how to make a portal and come back. It took me some time, sorry.”
“But your dead body… And Jace’s parabatai rune…” Izzy started.
“He was having too much fun, apparently.” Alec huffed. “Sorry for making you all go through this. And, Magnus… Your magic... I can give it back to you. I think there is a spell, but you might know.”
“Oh, Alexander. You fool…” Magnus wanted to yell at him and punch him.
And also kiss him senselessly.
“You know, buddy...” Jace scrunched his nose, making a face that was a mix of scoff and smirk. “We both have the worst fathers-in-law of the Universe.”
We had such amazing turnout for this event. 68 participants, 451 fics, 18 weeks. This far surpassed anything we expected and are so happy to have been part of this.
We have plans for the future after a short break. :)
But, we have winners to announce before we do anything else!
Most weekly wins was a tie. Congrats @lynne-monstr and FannyT
Overall, in third place with 85 points, we have @sian265!
In second place, all with 90 points, we have @lynne-monstr, QueenyClarey, and Fanny T!
And in first place, with 95 points each, we have @bytheangell and @astudyinfic!
Congrats to all the winners! Your winners banners will be posted over the next day so watch here for those.
And keep your eyes peeled in a couple weeks for something new from here!
