If it strikes your fancy to write:
What if in Born Anew when Magnus found dragon!Alec on the beach, Alec couldn't transform back into human form (didn't know how? was too exhausted?) and so when Magnus takes him home he doesn't know it is Alec - just a random, obviously traumatized dragon.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that Alec Lightwood died when some disaster happened at the Gard which also killed everyone in the room with him, including Imogen. (Alec doesn't know he has been assumed dead.)
Oh wow, now that’s a hell of an idea. :D
This is more like a whole new fic idea, though, not really a drabble idea? But, I didn’t want to give you nothing, so here’s a clip from Magnus’ POV of what that beach scene might look like if the dragon on the beach shrank down and collapsed against him but stayed a dragon.
When the portal sprang to life in front of him, Magnus hit it at a dead run, his hand out to catch Catarina’s the instant she reached through for him. He had no idea where they were going, her fire message hadn’t said, but the words she’d used had been enough to get across the sense of urgency.
Injured dragon on the beach, SH here, hurry. Office hallway.
Magnus had responded in an instant, vaulting off the couch that acted as his throne in Pandemonium in one swift move that startled the patrons around him. He paid them no mind, all his focus on darting down the stairs and through the crowd. When he reached the hall that led to his office the portal had already been there waiting for him with Catarina standing half in and half out.
She pulled him through and out onto the sands of the beach. Magnus didn’t pay attention to what beach it was, or where they were. Instead, he took in the area with one quick sweep to take in threats, enemies, and allies. His gaze ran over the group of shadowhunters standing nearby with lit seraph blades drawn and out – no mundanes in sight, thank magic – in a loose half-circle around what looked to be a small mass of darkness curled up in the sand.
That mass shifted, and a low keening sound tore through the air with a level of grief and pain that ripped straight through to Magnus’ heart. Magic poured from what was obviously the injured dragon – likely the only thing that had kept the shadowhunters back so far. It pushed out with just as much grief and pain as that cry held. Magnus’ magic quivered in response. Sweet magic, what the hell happened here?
There wasn’t time for him to try and figure that out. One of the shadowhunters took a step forward, their blade in hand, and Magnus couldn’t waste any more time.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” he demanded, shifting from the run he’d arrived in to a purposeful walk that he knew made him look even more intimidating. He let his magic out into the air around him to add to that aura of threat and hoped it would be enough to get him close.
Their semi-circle broke just enough for Magnus to make his way straight through them, moving past those seraph blades like he didn’t have Catarina at his back and magic at the ready in case one of them swung his way.
A few of the shadowhunters didn’t seem to know what to do, and that gave Magnus just enough leeway to get through them and closer to the dragon. Close enough that he could put himself between them in a barrier no one was getting past.
One of the shadowhunters at least seemed to be better at thinking on his feet than the others. He only startled for a moment before straightening himself up with all the arrogance nephilim seemed to be born with, and he sneered at Magnus. “We have this under control. No one called for you, warlock.”
“I did,” Catarina snapped, moving to stand shoulder to shoulder with Magnus. “And you should’ve. Any magical creature is under the jurisdiction of the local High Warlock. You should’ve sent for him immediately.”
“That’s a demon,” another of the shadowhunters snapped.
Magnus let his own sneer curl over his lips. “That’s not a demon, it’s a dragon, and as such they’re under my jurisdiction and my protection.” Before any of them could protest further, Magnus straightened himself up and lifted his chin, and he played the only trump card he had. One that he hoped would still work, even after everything lately. “Call your Institute Head and tell him that the High Warlock of Brooklyn has things under control.”
Then, in a move that could cost him so much if this went wrong, he spread his hands and grabbed for the spell he’d learned how to do on the fly years and years ago after far too many battles against monsters, demons, and nephilim. He set the spell and then yanked it up and over them, casting a dome over them that would keep not only the shadowhunters out, but the magic in here contained.
“Risky move,” Catarina murmured to him. She twisted at the same time he did, both of their focus going toward the dragon still keening in the sand. “They’re not going to react well to that. You better hope your shadowhunter can smooth things over for you.”
“He’s not my shadowhunter,” Magnus said absently. The pang that gave him was one he chose to ignore for now, the same as he’d been ignoring it.
He took a step forward, and then another one, bringing him a little closer to the dragon in the sand. The poor thing looked no larger than a dog, and its body and wings were trembling. But as Magnus lowered himself down to press one knee into the sand, mentally lamenting what that would to his leather pants, he caught a glimpse of one burning eye staring up at him from behind one wing.
“Hello there,” Magnus said, his voice gentle. “I’m Magnus, the local High Warlock, and I’m here to help.”
The little dragon trembled again, but they also shifted so that the other eye peeked out as well. Dark red seemed to burn as they shifted over to the shadowhunters and then back toward him.
“Don’t pay any attention to them,” Magnus said in a far gentler voice than he’d been using so far. “You’re safe. We’re not here to hurt you, we’re here to help.”
The dragon blinked, and the sound they let out seemed to throb in the air, the magic throbbing with it. Magnus flinched.
Something had clearly happened here, and just as clearly it was bad. So very bad. But he wasn’t going to be able to find that out until he could get them to uncurl and to trust him enough to get close. “Whatever happened, whatever they’ve done to you, we can help you. We can get you out of here to somewhere safe,” Magnus reassured them. “I… I know the local Institute Head. He won’t be the type to come after you. Not unless you’ve truly done something wrong.”
The dragon flinched, which only made Magnus’ worry grow. But then they surprised him by starting to move, their body slowly uncurling. They shifted and then slowly stood on unsteady legs. In the shine of moonlight, Magnus caught a faint hint of something dark splattered over their scales.
He didn’t have long to wonder about that.
His surprise grew as the dragon took a step toward him, then another, and then another, until they were suddenly right in front of him and stumbling forward on legs too shaky to hold them.
Magnus reacted instinctively. He reached out and caught them, grateful for Catarina behind him to brace against as the weight of the dragon collapsed against him like a puppet whose strings had been cut. Their body fell into his and the weight of them might’ve been enough to knock him over if it were for Catarina. He managed to keep them both upright, though, and to curl his arms around the little dragon that seemed to have gotten even smaller, their size somewhere between a dog and a housecat now.
The little dragon’s head rolled back, dark red eyes staring up at Magnus dully. They made a soft trilling sound that had something in Magnus aching, his arms instinctively closing just a little tighter around them.
“Oh sweetheart,” he murmured, the words slipping out without thought. He carefully adjusted his hold, one hand coming up to cup the little head that seemed almost too heavy for the dragon to support it anymore. “What happened to you?”
That wasn’t a question he would get an answer to now, or for a very long time afterward. But in that moment as he held the tiny little dragon and watched its eyes roll back, watched as it gave in to the exhaustion and the blood loss and the pain of whatever happened, he swore to himself he’d find out. And then he’d make whoever had done this pay for daring to harm one of the most protected magical species in the shadow world.
