A Malec Story

Chapter 31: Nineteenth meet

Alec could only stare. Everything about the man was familiar - the lean curve of his back, the wild tangle of his dark hair, and the way that blue fire sprang from his fingertips like darting cyanotic fireflies. Magnus.

-City of Glass, ch.10 Fire and Sword, p.237

Magnus

In the evening, tired of sitting all day in that abandoned house, Magnus got out and took a long walk. Lost in thought he didn't pay much attention to where he was going. He was thinking about Ragnor, who was gone forever. He still couldn't grasp it and wondered what would happen if the truth sank in. That he was really and truly gone. And he was thinking about Alec and what he'd said to Clary. It had hurt him more than he thought possible, that Alec didn't want to acknowledge him. Hadn't he felt what Magnus felt, all those hours spent together? Magnus was frustrated that he couldn't seem to let it go.

He suddenly heard a rumble in the distance, and looked up. He could see Alicante at the horizon, the glass towers rising up in the air. Normally they'd glow with a silver glow, but now they were flashing red, as if an alarm was going off. Magnus stopped dead in his tracks. Not as if, an actual alarm was going off. Without thinking it through, he started running. Alec is there.

The streets were dark as he was winding his way through them. The city seemed abandoned. What was he thinking, going off running to Alicante like this? Now that he was here, he had no idea what to do. He was turning into Cistern Square when he decided to turn back to the manor. But then he was ambushed by a horde of Iblis demons. Demons. In Alicante. This was bad, really bad.

The demons where forcing him against the wall of a shop. He dispatched the first one of the smoky yellow eyed monsters with several blue flashes of magic. A second demon took the place of the first, and Magnus repeated the process, killing three of them at once. There were only a few left when he heard a rustle behind him and the thud of a pair of booted feet landing on the square. The sound of a seraph blade split the night. Magnus had just shot the last two demons with his blue strikes and whirled around to see Alec standing there, splitting another demon in half with his blade.

"Alec?" Magnus hadn't seen the last of the demons sneaking behind his back, but Alec was there. Alec was there. Conjured up out of thin air, saving his life. He stared at the Shadowhunter in pure amazement. He looked dazzling, all dressed up in gear, his blue eyes blazing. His body wired and ready for attack, every muscle tensed. His hair blowing in his face as he discarded the used blade. There was a fine layer of dust covering him, ash from the Iblis demon, but other than that he seemed unharmed.

"Did you just did you just save my life?" He realized he was having a hard time believing it. Never before had a Shadowhunter saved his life before. Although this wasn't just any Shadowhunter now, was it? But the fact that Alec was willing to put himself out there for Magnus, touched him more than he thought possible. Could it mean, he wondered, that their relationship wasn't as one sided as he thought it was?

Alec was staring at him, looking for words. When he spoke them, they weren't what Magnus expected. "You never called me back. I called you so many times and you never called me back."

Magnus shot his eyebrows up, completely baffled. Was he going crazy? "Your city is under attack, the wards have broken, and the streets are full of demons." He summed up the situation, "And you want to know why I haven't called you?"

He saw Alec clench his jaw, jutting out his chin, "I want to know why you haven't called me back."

Magnus threw his hands up in the air, blue sparks of magic flying off. "You're an idiot," he said.

"Is that why you didn't call me? Because I'm an idiot?" Alec said, sounding indignant.

Magnus shook his head and took a few steps to close the distance. "No, I didn't call you because I'm tired of you only wanting me around when you need something. I'm tired of watching you be in love with someone else someone, incidentally, who will never love you back. Not the way I do."