The aftermath (Malec short story set after 3X10)
NOTE: The first conversation between Alec and Magnus after the alley scene where Magnus lost his magic and Alec almost lost his life.
Magnus is circling the whiskey around in his glass, while sitting on his sofa in the loft. Still not comprehending what happened in the past twenty four hours. He fought with Lorenzo, took himself to Edom, traded his magic for Jace’s freedom and on top of it all almost lost the love of his life in the process. He’s done with this day, that’s for sure. He’s still not able to shake the feeling of being utterly useless when Alec was dying in his arms. Feeling useless is not something Magnus is familiar with. But he figures it will be a feeling he’ll has to learn to live with now. Although he’s not sure how he’ll do that.
The sound of someone stumbling into the room makes Magnus look up from his thoughts.
‘Alexander, no. You need to lay down. You can’t –’ Magnus immediately stood up to support his boyfriend back to the bedroom, but Alec halts him just before Magnus is able to reach him, by holding up his hand.
‘I’m not going back in there.’ Alec announces. ‘Just help me get to that sofa, please.’
‘Catarina healed me. And I feel much better already.’ Alec tries to hide the fact that there still is some pain involved, and Magnus isn’t buying it. He could tell. But to his own surprise, Magnus doesn’t make a fuss about it. Instead he supports Alec to the sofa, just like he asked.
‘If the pain gets to worse, I’m going to drag your ass back in there. You understand?’ Magnus firmly warns him, while taking his whiskey back in his hand and sitting himself in the armchair in front of Alec. A short, agreeing nod of him, bring the two men to an understanding.
A then there’s silence. Both of them searching for words to make sense of this mess. Magnus’ eyes are back to staring at his glass. And Alec’s frown grows deeper while watching the man he loves in more pain than the arrow in his chest probably could ever cause.
‘I need you to talk to me.’ Alec chooses to say first, desperately longing for eye contact but Magnus keeps avoiding his gaze. ‘I haven’t seen you since the moment Catarina arrived. I know you haven’t left the loft. But still you avoid me. So talk to me, Magnus.’
‘There’s nothing to talk about.’ Magnus states. He tries to end the subject before it even started. But Alec is not having any of that.
‘You lost your powers. I think there’s enough to talk about.’
‘It was a sacrifice I was willing to make.’
‘None of us would’ve expected you to do that, Magnus. It’s –’
‘Alexander, it happened. I lost them. So stop bringing it up.’ And with that, Magnus brings the glass to his lips and empties the whiskey in one go.
‘Fuck that Magnus, you – Argh. Ow.’ Magnus’ eyes shoot up when he hears Alec painful grunt. But Alec holds his hand up again, telling Magnus it’s okay. He wanted to stand up, but clearly that’s not the best idea. ‘Magnus, I’m not going to let this eat you away. Don’t you dare to shut me out.’
But instead of talking, Magnus chooses to pull himself up and reach for another glass of whiskey. Again, avoiding any form of conversation. Alec lets him and just watches him as he pours out the drink. Seconds are flying by and from the moment Magnus sits down again, Alec makes a new try.
‘If you’re not going to talk, I’m going to stand up from this couch and make you.’ He threatens him.
Magnus takes another sip before he answers. ‘You are going to take it easy like Catarina told you.’
‘Okay, well in that case…’ Alec sits himself up, ignoring the stinging pain in his chest and just before he wants to pull himself up, Magnus explodes in front of him.
‘No, STOP!’ Magnus raises his voice in anger. ‘WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO SAY, ALEXANDER?’ He shouts across the room after he stands up in bitterness, already pushing Alec right back into the sofa only with the volume of his words. ‘BY WANTING TO SAVE YOU AND JACE, I ALMOST LOST YOU ANYWAY. I COULDN’T SAVE YOU. I COULDN’T DO ANYTHING. I COULD JUST SIT AND WATCH YOU DIE AND IT HURT ME MORE THAN YOU CAN EVER IMAGINE.’ He empties the glass of whiskey in his throat again, before throwing the glass behind him. The clattering noise of the glass hitting the floor, startled the both of them. But Magnus continued, this time his voice more restrained. ‘My magic defined me. It made me, me. Feeling as helpless as I did in that alley is something I’m not used to, Alexander. I’m not sure I’ll ever get used to that. I don’t want to be this vulnerable. I would do it all over again to save Jace, but there’s a part of me missing and it just doesn’t feel right. I feel weak and powerless and helpless and I don’t know how to live with that.’
With those last words, Magnus sits himself down again. And now the two of them are looking at each other. Both staring at the one thing that would hurt more to lose than losing any form of power. Alec’s first instinct is to tell Magnus is wrong. Because there will never be a Magnus who’s weak, helpless or powerless. Even without his magic, Alec still thinks Magnus is the strongest man he knows. But he also knows that Magnus doesn’t think like that right now. And he doesn’t want to downgrade his feelings. Alec just wants to help.
‘I’m going to bring them back you know.’ Alec says instead. ‘I’m going to do everything I can to bring your powers back.’
And that’s the first time he sees Magnus smile. But it’s not a genuine smile. It’s far from that. Magnus is heartbroken. ‘It’s over, Alexander. We can’t turn this back.’
‘Well, it’s not over to me, Magnus. So either you’re going to help me with this or I’m going to do it alone. There’s no other option.’
Magnus knows Asmodeus won’t do another trade. And he figures he’ll have time to make that clear to Alec. Now he just wants him to stay calm and heal first. So Magnus just nods, pretending to agree with the offer. And Alec definitely takes it as a permission.
‘You’ll have to learn some special shadowhunter fight skills though.’
‘Do I ?’ Magnus grins, already guessing where this is going. ‘Maybe I should find myself a teacher then.’
‘I know a couple.’ Alec winks at him. ‘The best one is a tad busy with healing from an arrow wound right now and after that he’ll probably need a couple of days to make up with his boyfriend, but he’ll be free next week for sure.’
The sound of Magnus’ laugh suddenly sounds so calming in the midst of all these problems. And it’s a sign to not only Alec but also to Magnus that as long as they have each other, in the end it will be alright. And when Magnus moves himself forward to kneel down in front of Alec and kiss his lips so effortlessly, losing his powers suddenly seems not as important anymore.
Because all the power he needs is sitting right here in front of him.