Chapter Text
Isabelle Lightwood double-timed it up the long flight of stairs to Magnus Bane's apartment, humming a random tune under her breath as she went. Flicking her long fishtail braid over a bared shoulder, she decided that today was a good day. The sun had been shining all week, there was a distinct lull in activity, demonic or Valentine-wise, and her big brother was officially in the Dog House. Cackling gleefully, Izzy reached the large metalbound doorway and banged on it with a closed fist. When no one answered straight away she knocked again, louder and longer and with an added kick from her heavily booted foot for good measure.
Alec had always been the goody two shoes of the Lightwood family... Well, except for the whole Downworlder boyfriend thing...and technically the whole boyfriend thing... Huh. Maybe she didn't give her brother enough credit. Even so, he'd messed up big this time. It was definitely a good day.
Raising a hand to knock for a third time, fully prepared to yell at the top of her lungs if there was still no answer, Izzy grinned as the door flew open before her fist could make contact. "Magnus! There you are!"
The slender warlock in the doorway scowled as he ran a bejewelled hand through his dishevelled black hair; a gesture picked up from too much time around Alec, Izzy noted with an even bigger grin.
"Isabelle?" He sounded surprised. "Not that it's never a pleasure to be graced with your presence in my humble abode, but it is far too early in the..." Magnus paused as he blinked down at his wristwatch, brow wrinkling in confusion. "Oh, the afternoon, apparently." With a delicate sigh he moved aside to allow her into the apartment. "To what do I owe the pleasure?"
Isabelle took in the state of the loft with a raised and perfectly plucked eyebrow of her own. The curtains were pulled shut to block out the afternoon sunshine, blanketing the large room in shadows, but it only managed to highlight the disarray. Empty and half-drained bottles of liquor littered nearly every available surface not already taken up by stacks of books, paperwork and random jars of ingredients she didn't care to know the names of but looked disgusting. A fancy crystal cocktail glass lay upturned on the corner table alongside a row of sticky shot glasses, the dregs of blue and green liquids of questionable origin staining their insides. Clearly a party was had by all. "Fun night?"
Magnus pulled an oversized pair of sunglasses from the pocket of his silk robe and used them to cover his amber eyes. An answering grunt was the only acknowledgement he gave and Izzy hid a smirk behind her hand. If Alec was late to work because he had a hangover, she'd never let him live it down. That, and their mother would murder him, resurrect him, and murder him again for good measure.
"I'm here to collect a stray."
Magnus gave her a blank stare and Isabelle huffed out an impatient breath. "My brother, Magnus. I'm here to collect Alec. He was supposed to be at the Institute hours ago and mom is freaking out because he's never been late a day in his life." Turning away from the Warlock, Izzy headed for where she knew the main bedroom was, throwing open the doors as she called over her shoulder, "Mom thinks you're a bad influence!" The last was said as if a curse, and Magnus wrinkled his nose in distaste.
Finding the bedroom lacking in the six foot, blue-eyed, hairy mess that was her brother, Izzy frowned, turning back to Magnus. "Where is he?"
Padding on bare feet over to the loveseat Magnus flopped heavily into the plush cushions, grabbing a mostly full bottle of whisky en route and taking a giant swig. "Isabelle, darling, I'm not sure where you got the idea from that Alec was here, but unfortunately you're mistaken."
Confusion growing alongside her irritation, Izzy stomped towards the slouching warlock and loomed over him, hands on her slim hips. "You don't have to cover for him, Magnus. I know he told mom and dad he was studying all weekend with Aline but I know for a fact that he was coming here to spend time with you. He was looking forward to it the entire week."
Magnus sighed, abandoning the bottle of whiskey on the floor so he could sit upright. "Look, if Alec sent you over here to soften me up before he comes to apologise-"
"-Apologise?" Izzy squealed, but Magnus carried on as if he hadn't heard.
"-for his ostentatious lies and half-truths, you can tell him that I'm not interested. Not until he decides our relationship is worth more than-"
"Magnus!"
Realising his monologue was going to be ignored and completely unappreciated, the warlock gave up. He wasn't actually mad, anyway. If anything, the past two days had been a stark reminder of how much he'd been looking forward to spending some time with Alexander. That, and drinking wasn't all that much fun when done alone. Snapping his fingers with a resigned breath, the curtains sprung open, flooding the room with daylight and causing Isabelle to blink into the sudden brightness.
Quickly recovering and rolling her eyes at overly dramatic boys and their silly emotions, Izzy joined Magnus on the loveseat, fiddling with her braid. "Look, I get that you're upset Alec lied to our parents about where he was, but it wasn't because he's still ashamed or confused about your relationship. It's because our dad..." She hesitated, not sure it was her place to be gossiping, but eventually decided it wasn't gossip if the information helped clear up whatever argument it'd caused between her brother and his boyfriend. "Dad's been giving Alec a seriously hard time, saying he's prioritizing his relationship with you over his duties to the Clave and that his training is starting to slip."
Magnus sniffed at the preposterous insinuation. They'd only found time to see each other twice in the last week - Alexander had been training a bunch of new recruits at the Institute in between travelling to Alicante and back for Clave meetings, and Magnus had been dealing with a particularly insolent client that had expected to be waited on hand an foot - and yet Robert Lightwood still thought that was too much?
While he'd never been Maryse and Robert's greatest fan, at least Maryse tried to be supportive of her eldest son's lifestyle choices. Robert, on the other hand, had been needlessly bigoted from the very beginning. That man needed to start putting his own affairs in order before he judged others, because Alec was one of the most dedicated Shadowhunters Magnus had ever met, and he'd had the pleasure - well, mostly the displeasure - of meeting quite a lot of them, so he knew what he was talking about.
"But Magnus," Izzy interrupted his internal rant. "That's beside the point. Are you really telling me that Alec hasn't been here with you the last two days?"
Magnus blinked. "I haven't seen your brother since he stormed out of the here two nights ago, after our little disagreement." The and drank myself into the hangover of the century was left unsaid, but was so obvious it didn't need to be stated aloud.
Izzy's eyes widened at the implication. "So then where is he?"
Magnus jumped to his feet, once more snapping his fingers. This time it was to change from his wrinkled bedclothes into a pair of skin-tight, black jeans and a remarkably tame, yet almost see-through lavender shirt. The sunglasses disappeared, revealing perfect makeup and no sign of his earlier hangover. He'd even fixed his hair and done his nails – a shade that perfectly matched the lavender of his shirt. Izzy really wished she could get ready at the snap of her fingers.
"I don’t know, Isabelle, my dear, but shall we find out?"
*SHADOWHUNTERS *
Half an hour later, Magnus was putting on a brave front for Isabelle but he was genuinely starting to worry.
Alec might not have been the best at handling his emotions, but he'd matured a lot over the last few months. He wasn't that terrifyingly repressed teen boy who'd thought he was in love with his parabatai any longer, and while the whole storming out after an argument thing was new territory for the pair of them, Magnus was proud that Alec felt secure enough about them as a couple to do so. Before, the young Shadowhunter would've taken Magnus' intentionally spiteful words to heart, sat in a pensive silence as he contemplated what they meant before inevitably accepting all blame, apologising profusely and promising to try harder at making things work. Even when those things weren't technically his fault. That version of Alec had carried the weight of the Shadowhunter world on his broad shoulders for far too long, drowning in his attempts at living up to both the Clave and his parents' ridiculous and antiquated expectations. Admittedly, that was the version that Magnus had been attracted to from the start, but this newer Alec - the one that argued back, threw things and stormed out of the apartment when Magnus was being an overdramatic idiot, the one that went against everything he'd ever been taught to believe in when he realised it'd all been lies - that was the boy Magnus had fallen in love with.
And now he was missing.
Leaving Isabelle on the phone to Jace and Clary, Magnus shut himself inside the bedroom and began making enquiries of his own; each of the fire-messages disintegrating into a puff of smoke before continuing on the journey to their intended recipients. While he wouldn't send an enquiry directly to the Faerie Queen, he had a contact inside the faerie court that could keep her ears open for news or even any rumours. The others he sent to Raphael, Luke, and Catarina, as well as a few warlock acquaintances that weren't likely to use Alec's disappearance as an opportunity to gain favour from him. Magnus just hoped that one of them knew something.
It could all be for nothing. Magnus supposed Alec could still be sulking somewhere, having lost track of time. Anything was possible, after all. Still, between him and Izzy, they'd already started with the most obvious ways of contacting her brother.
Alec's cell phone had vibrated mockingly from the table in the other room, having been left behind when he'd stormed out days ago, and the fire-message sent for his immediate attention burned away into ash but reappeared in front of them a moment later, unsent. Even their tracking spells had failed, despite Isabelle using one of Alec's arrowheads and Magnus using a lock of his boyfriend's raven-black hair. It was all starting to add up to the fact that Alec couldn't or didn't want to be found.
Was Alexander really still that upset about their argument? Admittedly, their insults to each other had been harsh, borne out of the kind of exhaustion that could've been easily remedied with a little patience and understanding - and maybe a few rounds of Tequila. But instead they'd let their respective stresses get the better of them, lashing out in ways they'd known would hurt. Magnus wished wholeheartedly that he could take back what'd been said, but was an argument really enough of a reason for the teen to up and disappear without telling anyone?
Magnus didn't think so, which left too many other, less savoury, scenarios. The High Warlock of Brooklyn had many enemies, after all. If one of them dared to come at him through Alexander, heads would roll.
Slumping onto the mattress with an exhausted sigh, Magnus let his head fall into his hands and closed his eyes, taking a moment to sort through his swirling emotions. Originally, knowing Alec was out there, angry instead of spending quality relaxation time in his company? That had been bad enough, but now having to contemplate the notion that his boyfriend was missing - or worse, hurt - and not able to get the help that he needed? It made Magnus sick to his stomach. He'd wasted the past two days sulking and getting blackout drunk when Alexander could be dying in a gutter somewhere, mauled by a pack of Shax demons... or worse.
Overcome with the sudden urge to go out and search for his better half - he'd cover the whole of New York if necessary - Isabelle's gentle knock on the door interrupted Magnus' planning. Waving it open with a finger, he offered an encouraging smile as she peered around the frame, her face set in an unhappy scowl.
"Jace and Clary haven't heard from Alec either." The fear in Izzy's voice was palpable, the worry for her brother growing quickly. "But Jace says their bond, it's stable. Alec's not..."
Dead. Dying.
"But he could still be injured, couldn't he?" Izzy meant it as a rhetorical question but Magnus nodded his agreement. He'd been thinking the same thing anyway.
"Then I should probably head back to the Institute. Let mom and dad know Alec's in trouble." Her voice cracked on the last word, spurring Magnus to his feet. He pulled Isabelle into an embrace, smoothing down a wayward strand of her hair as he offered what little comfort he could.
"Alexander is a Lightwood," he reminded her gently. "Brave and stubborn and resourceful. If he's in trouble you know he'll do his absolute best to make it back to us. He wouldn't have it any other way. We'll find him, Isabelle."
There was no other acceptable outcome.
They had to.
*SHADOWHUNTERS *
Somewhere between opening his eyes and the pain in his head kicking in, Alec realized that he had no clue where he was, other than flat on his back and surrounded by a darkness so thick he couldn't sense anything around him.
The low rumble of an engine suggested he was on the move, but that was all the information he could glean before the vicious pounding from his skull dragged him back down into unconsciousness.