Chapter Text
“Alexander, watch out!”
Alec spun on his heel, his sword taking the head off a spitting demon before he brought his bow back up. The demons were everywhere. So far, Alec had managed to keep them at bay, but he could feel his energy fading, each subsequent arrow falling shorter. The demons could sense it, he knew—they were crowding closer, a great big mass of slavering, split jaws and razor-sharp talons.
“Up here!” the same voice called from somewhere above him, and he looked up through clouds and smoke to see Magnus hanging in the air above him, wings beating the wind furiously. “There are too many of them, Alexander!”
Alec took a look around and realised that Magnus was right. More demons were pouring in, scrambling through the cracks between realities, screaming with fury and madness. He fired off a final salvo of arrows, then kicked off, soaring upwards.
“What were you doing?” Magnus asked, grasping Alec’s shoulders as they met in the air. “Battling a full brigade on your own? Did the heavenly legions of the Clave all have a terribly important garden party to attend?”
Alec rolled his eyes, reaching into his coat for a stele and a couple of throwing knives. “Keeping the mundane realm free of lesser demons isn’t technically in the Clave’s jurisdiction,” he replied, then brought the stele to the blades of his knives and drew a quick fire rune on each blade. He took aim and threw the knives towards the writhing mass below, averting his eyes as the demons exploded in a ball of heavenly fire. “Or so I keep hearing.”
“Cranky today, are we?” Magnus asked, clearly amused, as he summoned his own magic and let it flow across the ground, removing the debris of the battle.
“Whatever gave you that impression?”
“Oh, just the general sense of annihilation,” Magnus replied. He put away his sword and reached inside his cloak, pulling out something small and wrapped in colourful paper. “Caramel fudge?”
Alec snorted, then quickly pulled his face back to a more neutral look. “It’s been six mortal years,” he said. “I’ve had time to fine-tune my manifestation abilities. You won’t make me weak in the knees with a sweet anymore.”
“Guess I’ll have to come up with something else to achieve that effect then,” Magnus replied, winking at him. “But I really must recommend this batch. Lovely little shop in Abbots Ripton, England. You must let me take you some time.”
“Oh yeah, like when?” Alec asked, realising this came out more frustrated than first intended and trying to soften it with a smile. “If you hadn’t noticed, things have been a bit busy of late.”
Magnus looked at him, and Alec found his smile faltering. Magnus reached out and took his hand, pulling Alec in, even as his wings stretched and curved, closing them off from the rest of the world for a moment. Alec closed his eyes and slumped against Magnus’ steady frame, letting out a breath he hadn’t realised he’d been holding.
“Where have you been for the past year, by the way?” he asked. “Demon activity in New York has increased even more since I saw you last. Nothing serious, but my God, they’re everywhere. Two more intrusion spots in different Starbucks shops only this month that would have been a lot faster to clear out with some backup.” He gave Magnus a look that hopefully conveyed fond exasperation rather than the sweet ache at the centre of his chest that seemed to start up every time he thought about Magnus lately. For a moment, he imagined he could feel Magnus’ breath hitch against the side of his neck. As quick as it came, the sensation was gone again, however, and when he looked up, he found Magnus’ smile as enigmatic as ever.
“Oh, you know, here and there,” Magnus said, with a nonchalant wave of his hand. “Appearances at long-winded meetings have had to be made, unfortunately.”
Alec sighed. He, too, had spent too many hours in the presence of his superiors lately—in his case trying different ways to convince the Clave that they should do something more than just sit back and shrug as more and more of their charges got eaten by lesser demons. Considering how quickly time passed in the mortal realm, he feared any changes he actually managed to get implemented would come far too late for the current population. “I know the feeling,” he said. “Have you heard anything new about the prophecy that’s putting everyone on edge?”
“Nothing concrete. Massive supernatural convergence is imminent etc etc. Something about light flooding a cup of fire, making its contents spill unto the shadows in the form of a child. Nothing too exciting.”
“Do you think it’s another apocalypse?” Alec asked. “It feels like that’s always the name of the game whenever a new prophet turns up. Especially when there are chosen children involved.”
“Tell me about it,” Magnus replied. “How many have there been foretold in the last few millennia? Ten? Twelve? I lost count after the one foretelling rivers of lizards in the 14th Century.”
Alec barely managed to hold back a snort. “The one that turned out to involve two poor Komodo dragons getting dumped into the Saine?” he asked. “God, the paperwork from that was insane .”
He shook his head and then surveyed the now demon-free ground with narrowed eyes, then raised his hand and sent a pulse of heavenly fire towards a nearby dumpster. A muffled screech was heard, and the dumpster broke in half and was sucked into the rift that had begun to form below it, before the crack glowed white and closed up.
“This child foretold will change the fabric of reality as we know it, apparently,” Magnus said. “I very much doubt that will be the case, but my father has insisted on keeping a close watch, just in case they turn out to be useful somehow.”
“Same with the Clave,” Alec replied. “Everyone pretends they couldn’t care less, but I’d be willing to bet they’re keeping close tabs on the situation.”
“Great. Well, here’s to hoping for an underwhelming outcome for everyone involved,” Magnus said happily. He reached back into his coat and pulled out a handful of sweets. “Now, what do you say we head off to somewhere without mundanes around so that you can enjoy these with me properly?”
Alec rolled his eyes anew in reply, but couldn’t quite hide his smile. Or how quickly he reached out and took half of the pieces of wrapped candy out of Magnus’ hand, suppressing the shiver that went through him as their fingers brushed against each other.
“Lead the way.”
___
“It’s just so frustrating that none of them will listen ,” Alec complained, and then caught the eye of a nearby server, who obligingly came over and refilled his coffee cup. “They all know something is coming—the increase in demon activity alone proves beyond a doubt that there is an instability in the energy structure between realms—but they still refuse to lift so much as a feather unless it directly affects the Heavenly Realms, and I just— urgh! ”
“They are the worst,” Clary agreed, grabbing the last pancake from the plate next to them and putting it on the one in front of Alec “Here, you need this more than me.”
“I don’t even know why I’m telling you this,” Alec grumbled, even as he took a bite and the sweetness from the syrup Clary poured over his pancake rushed towards his brain. “I’m the guardian, you’re the ward. I’m supposed to be the one listening to your troubles, not the other way around.”
“Your bosses are objectively way worse than mine, though,” Clary replied. “Besides, that’s what friends are for.”
“Angels don’t have friends.”
“Of course not,” Clary said. “Just like they don’t eat human food.”
Alec glared at her and tried to chew as surreptitiously as possible.
“I’m proud of you, you know,” Clary continued. “Remember when you stood in my kitchen and barely dared to smell a cup of coffee because of the Clave’s stupid rules? You’ve come a long way.”
Even with the obvious facts clearly stacked against him, something inside Alec balked at her words. The piece of food in his mouth felt too big all of a sudden, and he swallowed it with some difficulty, then took a drink of water to clear his head. “It’s not like that, and you know it. The law is the law, and I’m technically not breaking any.”
“Right, the famous brunch exception,” Clary retorted. “Whatever you need to tell yourself.” Her phone chimed with an incoming text message, and an excited smile spread on her face.
“Let me guess: Jace’s back in New York?”
A blush bloomed across Clary’s cheeks, even as she looked away from him and started to pack up her things. “Sorry, I got to go; I need to be back at work in ten.”
She put a couple of bills on the table and hurried off, leaving Alec alone with a half-eaten pancake in front of him. He pushed the plate away and slumped back against his seat. His vessel felt suddenly cold, as though all the sugar in his system had turned to ice within him and landed in his stomach.
The Law is hard but it is the Law.
He knew Clary had said what she had to encourage him, but the realisation that she’d been right hit him hard; while he might have kept within the letter of the law until this point, he’d been in flagrant violation of the spirit of it for quite some time—and what was far, far worse, he couldn’t seem to muster up much remorse about it.
With shaking hands, he pushed away from the table and got to his feet, barely making it out of the diner and into an unseen spot in a nearby alley before his wings burst forth and took him up into the air.
___
“Angel Lightwood, it’s good to see you back in the Realm.”
Alec looked up from his report and inclined his head politely at the angel who’d stopped next to his pulpit. “Always good to be back home, Archangel.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Archangel Dieudonné said. “We were beginning to fear that this little… crusade of yours was starting to cloud your judgement.”
Alec clenched his jaw to keep himself from replying. Only two days earlier, a full nest of demon eggs had begun to hatch in a maintenance tunnel off Grand Central Station, and it was only through sheer dumb luck that one of Magnus’ people had found them in time.
“There’s nothing wrong with keeping a close eye on your mundane charge, don’t get me wrong,” Dieudonné continued. “Miss Fairchild certainly seems like the spirited sort.”
Alec made a non-committing sound in reply, even as a chill ran down his spine; he couldn’t remember ever hearing Dieudonné talk about one of their mundane charges, much less mentioning one by name.
Before he had time to come up with something to say in reply, Dieudonné smiled, thin and unpleasant-looking. “I was happy to see that you’ve kept such a thorough record of her exploits,” he said. “I don’t think I need to impress upon you the importance of transparency in these… interesting times. Especially considering your brother’s appalling choices.”
Alec forced a smile to his lips, and inclined his head again, praying that Dieudonné would take the hint and move on before Alec gave him reason to become even more suspicious. A definite downside of spending a lot of time on Earth, he’d found, was that sensations experienced in human vessels tended to linger, even after he’d regained his usual form, and Dieudonnés sudden interest in Clary made him feel like his heart was beating a mile a minute and as though every muscle in his body had tensed up in anticipation of defending against an oncoming attack.
“Remember where your duty lies, Angel Lightwood,” Dieudonné said, his voice dropping to a low caress. “If anything out of the ordinary happens with the girl—anything at all—I expect you to inform me directly.”
“Of course.” At least his voice remained smooth and steady. Alec only hoped the rest of him was displaying the same confidence.
Dieudonné looked at him for a long, piercing moment, before finally inclining his head, ever so slightly. “Very good, carry on then.”
Alec bowed low, not trusting himself to say anything else. As soon as the archangel had disappeared from view, he allowed himself to let go of the tension he’d been holding.
What in the Angel’s name had that been all about?
—-
After realising just how badly he’d been slipping in his duties, Alec had vowed to spend a minimum of six months in the Realm to regain his footing—barring any absolute emergencies. After three, he’d been so on edge that even the cherubs had begun to give him odd looks, and when he’d felt the tiniest probe against his grace that signalled that Clary needed his help, he’d left within the minute. He’d arrived just in time to save his ward from the grisly fate of having to clean exploded fish out of the shared office microwave and had proceeded to award himself for a job well done by walking over to the donut shop a block away and getting a mixed box with all of his favourites.
The first bite had been pure heaven, instantly erasing the past months of dutifully going through the motions and making him feel alive for the first time since going back home. The voice in his head pointing out that this kind of behaviour was exactly why he’d left Earth in the first place had turned out to be no match against the pure happiness that had come from simply sitting on a worn bench in a mundane park, watching people walk past and licking a stray smear of salted caramel frosting from the top of his lip.
Magnus had appeared at his side after he’d finished donut number three, and had laughingly pulled him to his feet and led him away from prying eyes to teleport away to a clearing in the woods, where the grass was cool against Alec’s hands, and large oak trees shaded them from the rays of the sun.
“Remember when you claimed you couldn’t be made weak in the knees with a sweet anymore?” Magnus murmured, amusement clear in his voice as he leaned across to grab one of the remaining donuts from the box at Alec’s side. “I think you might have been lying,”
A thrill went through Alec as the words were spoken softly right next to his ear. He wet his lips and turned towards the sound of Magnus’ voice, his left hand reaching out on instinct to grab the front of Magnus’ shirt. He hummed in reply, drawing air deeply into his lungs to try and clear his head. The sugar from the donuts was surging through the blood in his manifested human form, making his skin tingle and his head spin. He tightened his grip, pulling Magnus close enough for their foreheads to touch. Magnus’ hand circled his waist in reply, finding its way beneath his shirt and sliding up his spine to press against the unbroken skin between his shoulder blades, sending a surge of electricity down the length of Alec’s spine.
“Magnus, I—” missed you , his head filled in, and the truth of the words made them far too big to fall off Alec’s tongue, somehow. He breathed in the scent of Magnus, felt the steady warmth of him and the shiver it sent down his spine. I missed you more than I knew I could .
“It’s okay, I’ve got you,” Magnus whispered in reply, and Alec felt a moan break from his throat as the now familiar tingle of Magnus’ magic began to flow through him, burning away the sugar high. His hand kept circling the area where Alec’s wings would normally spring forth, and Alec shivered in response, his mind painting a vivid picture of what it might feel like to have Magnus’ strong hands carding through the rows of feathers. He felt himself begin to shift without fully meaning to—the human form he’d taken fading as his wings broke through and unfolded behind him, pressing into Magnus’ touch.
Magnus pressed closer against him, his other hand circling around to Alec’s back as well, and Alec gasped, heat overwhelming his senses. Bliss began to course through him as Magnus shifted with him and his grace started to flow through Alec’s, and he found himself reaching out to press Magnus even closer, searching for something more— some unknown sensation that felt just out of reach.
“Alexander, you are making it very hard to remain a gentleman around you,” Magnus murmured, the corner of his mouth just shy of brushing against Alec’s cheek.
Alec felt a reckless thrill run through him at the words. “ Good .”
Magnus’ response was to pull Alec fully into his arms, a low groan slipping from his throat. The energy flowing between them burned hotter, and Alec marvelled at the intensity of it all. When Magnus’ wings burst forth as well, curling towards him, it felt like the most natural thing in the world to curl his own towards Magnus in turn, losing himself in sensation. His face turned on its own accord, and as his lips found Magnus’, Alec could swear he saw a new cluster of stars being born.
He swallowed a soft moan that broke from Magnus’ throat greedily, wrapping him more tightly in his arms as their mouths moved together. The touch of Magnus’ tongue against his own lit a fire deep within his core, making him feel invincible, like he could take on the entire Council of Angels without breaking a sweat. Like he—
“Alec, wait, we can’t—” Magnus panted, and Alec felt the euphoria that had been rolling across his senses leave him as sudden as a lightning strike.
He drew back, doubly confused when he saw only desire reflected back at him through Magnus’ eyes. “What’s wrong? Don’t you want to?”
For a couple of glorious seconds, his whole being was inundated with heat, as Magnus’ hand came up to caress his face, then tangle in his hair.
Then, as soon as it had started, there was a flash of light, and the heat was gone.
I most certainly want to , the piece of parchment suddenly in his hand proclaimed. I don’t know how it could work, but if, in the pale light of day, you still want to try, I’ll meet you at the top of our mountain.
Alec turned his face towards the sky, a cold wind sweeping past and leaving him chilled to the core. The stars seemed further away all of a sudden, and Alec trembled, releasing his wings and folding them around himself to ward away the cold. He turned Magnus’ note over in his hand, reading it again. The words didn’t make any more sense the second time.
Doubt filled his mind, growing stronger as the minutes passed. Angels falling because of a mundane was rare, but not unheard of. His own kind mixing with that of the Ignum most certainly was. He could only imagine how much more difficult his work with the Clave would be, should they get word of him forming such an attachment.
The coldness grew, freezing him to the spot.
What in Heaven’s name did I just do?
Hours later, as the sun rose in the East, he still hadn’t moved. With a shaky breath, he rose to his feet, stretching his wings behind him in preparation of flight.