A Malec Story

Chapter 27: Eighteenth meet

Eighteenth meet- The Portal

Alec

You figure it out.

When are you going to stop deluding yourself and everyone around you?

Magnus's words were still ringing in his ears. Couldn't he see it was killing him? This delusion he had to keep up for so long now. He didn't know how to deal with it. He didn't know how to deal with his own feelings. Alec had stood there in the loft watching Magnus walk away and he didn't know what to do. He left the apartment eventually. Magnus's last words sounded to him as if he really didn't care less what Alec would do. Magnus was obviously done with him. So Alec had left. There was a dull ache in his chest as he descended the stairs. How was he going to fix this?

He had tried calling Magnus a couple of hours later. There was no answer. That night he tossed and turned in bed. Thinking about Jace and what he felt for him. And thinking about Magnus. It was confusing. They didn't go well together in his head, Jace and Magnus. In the morning he had called Magnus again, leaving a message on his answering machine, asking him to call back. He hadn't. Alec had felt a constant pull to go to Brooklyn and talk to the warlock, but the look in Magnus's eyes during that talk had kept him back. It had been cold as ice.

Day passed into night and still there was no word from Magnus. No message, nothing but dead silence. In the evening, after he was done packing for Idris he called again. The phone rang and rang, as if there was no one at the other end of it. With a deep sigh Alec shut his phone and laid down on his bed.

In the morning he checked his phone without hope. No missed calls, no messages. He dialed again, listening, hoping to hear Magnus's familiar voice at the other end. It was no use. Obviously Magnus was avoiding him. He wondered if this was the point where he had to accept that it was over between them. He found he didn't want that. Maybe, he told himself, he could give me another chance? It couldn't be that there was nothing left between them. Thinking back at that night on his birthday, Alec felt the heat in his stomach, creeping up and blush his cheeks. That wasn't nothing, was it? Alec thought he couldn't bare it if it was. Then again, maybe for Magnus it was nothing. For all he knew Magnus had probably done something similar with another boy a thousand times over. The thoughts confused him as he went around in circles, trying to convince himself that what was between them was important for Magnus, too.

Then he remembered that today was the day they were leaving for Idris and he'll see Magnus at the portal. But not alone. His whole family would be there and he couldn't talk to Magnus without raising suspicion. Alec sighed deeply and wondered if he was ever going to be brave enough to speak up to them and tell them the truth. One day, maybe? But not today.

Magnus

Magnus' phone lit up and Alec's name appeared on the caller ID. It must have been about the tenth time Alec tried to call in the last two days, but Magnus had no inclination to answer. If Alec wasn't willing to acknowledge their relationship, he wasn't willing to answer the phone.

He was scared that Alec would ask him another one of his countless favors. He was scared he would cave in as soon as he heard Alec's voice. He had to guard his heart. Because it hurt too much. And truthfully, he was a bit angry too. He was quite sick of Alec only wanting him around when he needed him, and pretending there was nothing between them at other moments. It was painful.

Thinking back on Alec wrapped around him, he shivered. He had already admitted to himself that he was falling for the guy. But he hadn't realized how far gone he was. How irreparably, irrevocably in love. Totally hung up on the gorgeous blue-eyed shadowhunter. He actually, physically missed him. He wanted nothing more than repeat what had happened on Alec's birthday in his apartment. Just thinking about it, about Alec's touch, Alec's lips on his, made his heart jump and his stomach flutter. And he was reminded of his own fear at the beginning of this relationship, that Alexander Lightwood would break his heart. And although Alec hadn't officially broken off their relationship, when he walked out on him the other day, it did feel like it. And it hadn't felt like his heart was breaking. It felt as if it was shattered. Shattered into tiny little pieces. And all just because Alec wasn't ready to come out and acknowledge that his crush on Jace was nothing but a safety net. A part of Magnus said to have patience. Alec was still very young, and Magnus couldn't even remember how it was when he was young, since that was almost four hundred years ago. Alec will come around, he told himself. But then again, maybe he would not. Magnus was very afraid that he would not. So Magnus decided ignoring him was the best tactic, even though it took him every ounce of willpower he could muster.

This afternoon though, there was no chance of avoiding him, since Magnus was called by the Institute to create a portal to Idris. He came at the Institute around twelve thirty to find Maryse Lightwood awaiting him there. He caught her looking down at his rainbow colored leather pants with some disdain and couldn't suppress a grin. As if he cared what her opinion was on his clothing. She didn't comment on it, instead showed him where to make the portal, against a mossy wall of the Institute. As he was working on it, he saw Alec approaching, with Isabelle and a small boy, about nine years old. His younger brother, Max. Magnus knew Alec was fond of his younger brother, he had told him plenty about Max during their dates and the time he spent at Magnus's house. He glanced at the boy, curious to see if he looked anything like Alec. Max had brown hair, lighter than his siblings and his eyes were brown too. He wore glasses and looked serious, older than his age. That was the only similarity Magnus could find. Alec, too, seemed older in some ways, although he was young and innocent in many others.

The three of them stopped in front of him and Maryse turned to her eldest son. "You have everything? Where's Jace?"

"He'll be here in a moment," Alec replied to his mother.

Magnus tried to ignore the small talk behind his back and focused on the Portal runes. Yet hearing Alec talk, and knowing he was so close to him and yet unreachable, it made the hairs on his arms stand up and he felt a tremor run through him.

He felt a nudge on his elbow and turned around, surprised. Max was staring up at him, his eyes wide with curiosity behind his glasses. "Are you a warlock?" he asked very seriously.

"Yes, I am," Magnus smiled down at the kid.

"Max, leave the warlock alone," Maryse took her youngest son by the arm and drew him away from Magnus. Of course, Magnus thought, bitterly, she couldn't let her kid venture to close to him. Who knew he might turn him into a toad. He felt his shoulders tense but he didn't say anything, expect a mumbling, "It's fine, really."

"I don't want him to distract you," offered Maryse.

At that point Alec intervened, "Don't worry, mom, it's not like Magnus will let anything happen to him. Max can watch."

Magnus felt touched that Alec would stick up for him, but before he could say so, Jace arrived and called Alec. Alec's head perked up, hearing Jace calling him, and he was gone before Magnus could even turn around. It felt like a slap in the face, Magnus admitted to himself, that Alec was still so hung up on his parabatai. Moodily, he went back to work on the portal.

At some point Maryse turned to him, impatiently, "I don't see why it's taking so long. Is that normal?"

"What's not normal is the discount I'm giving you," Magnus replied, irritably, "Normally I charge twice this much."

He was almost done with the work when suddenly the air was filled with a white mist. The distinct scent of it immediately told Magnus what it was, hell mist. That must mean there was some sort of attack happening. Just then he heard a shriek from one of the Shadowhunters. Maryse, who was standing next to him, immediately went to stand in front of her youngest son, grabbing a seraph blade from her weapon belt. Alec, too, was holding a blade while Isabelle was coiling her whip. Magnus hurriedly finished the portal and opened it up when behind him the fighting began. A Forsaken attack. The air filled with shrieks, and more mist wrapped around him. From a distance he saw Jace coming, a blade in hand, and behind him, Clary's vampire friend Smedley.

"The Portal," Magnus yelled to Alec, "Go through the Portal!" A couple of Shadowhunters jumped through. Then Maryse appeared, Max in her arms, as she went. Alec and Isabelle where right behind her. Alec was staring at Magnus, white faced. "Go," Magnus yelled and almost pushed him the Portal in. Behind Alec a Forsaken leaped at him and Izzy, but they were jumping through and gone. The rest of the Shadowhunters jumped into the portal and now only Jace was left. The Forsaken that had attacked Izzy turned on the vampire, hacking with a blade in the boy's shoulder. Jace was wielding his blade and killed the Forsaken, heaving the boy over his shoulder and jumped through the portal. As soon as they were all gone, Magnus closed the portal, granting them safety.

By the time the Portal was sealed off, the Forsaken were all gone. Fortunately they had no interest in a six feet tall warlock.