#the wrong way to use healing magic lockscreen | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sugarandspace · 5 years

Text

One Missed Call (chapter 3)

Masterpost

Read on AO3

Magnus didn’t even know what time it was. It was dark outside, had been for a long time now, but the first rays of sunshine hadn’t yet made their way over the horizon. The exhaustion was starting to get to him but he couldn’t sleep. All he’d managed were short naps in the chair, less for the will to rest and more because of his body’s inability to stay awake.

It was so quiet in the room, the only sounds coming from outside - faint sounds of traffic and wind. Jace and Izzy had been in the room earlier, but even then it had been quiet. No one knew what to say about the situation, but at the same time the situation was the only thing on their minds. No discussions about the weather or how their weeks had gone felt fitting when Alec was lying on the bed, recovering from the fight that could have led to his end.

There had been no sign of waking up, not that Magnus was really expecting any yet. But he couldn’t help but wish. Wish for even the smallest movement from his boyfriend that would give them all a spark of relief.

Alec looked so peaceful, and a part of Magnus was happy about that. Alec was safe, in their bed, and healing nicely. Most of his injuries had been easy to heal but the exhaustion was something his body had to fight on its own.

But he looked too peaceful, the fact unnerving Magnus. Alec never slept this peacefully, he moved during the night, and he let out those little snores Magnus liked to tease him about.

But not now. Now Alec was just lying there, completely still, and it looked so wrong.

Magnus didn't know if Alec could even register anything around him or if he was completely knocked out - the option Magnus was leaning towards more - but he found it comforting for himself when he could card his fingers through Alec’s hair, use it to ground himself in the moment, not letting his thoughts wander too far on what happened and to the countless what ifs that his brain was unhelpfully providing.

The room was lit by the lamp on the bedside table, it’s faint light casting shadows across Alec’s face. The bags under his eyes seemed more prominent, although Magnus could hardly judge them since he was fairly sure that his own eyes had shadows of their own.

Jace was asleep in the guest room, his exhaustion on a whole another level. It wasn’t a surprise really. Besides fighting off his own tiredness that was a result of the mission they had went to earlier, he was getting the echo of Alec’s through their bond. It had taken a great deal of convincing from Magnus and Izzy to get him to leave Alec’s side and get some sleep, but eventually he had agreed. With a condition that they would wake him up as soon as there were any news about Alec.

Magnus had sworn that, understanding how deep the worry had rooted itself in Jace as well, knowing that he’d want the same courtesy if he were in Jace’s shoes.

That had left Magnus and Izzy on Alec’s bedside, sitting in silence, both waiting for Alec to wake up.

After a couple hours though, Izzy’s phone had gone off. It had been a call from the Institute, calling all hands on deck. Isabelle had been unwilling to leave his brother at first, but as she’d heard that it was about the Shadowhunter who had been drawing runes on mundanes and turning them into Forsakens, she had been up from the chair in a heartbeat, her eyes burning with revenge in a way Magnus had never seen before. Isabelle looked like she was ready to take down Lilith herself, and Magnus would have felt bad for the person she was going to hunt down if he wasn’t filled with violent dreams of what he’d like to do to the person himself.

He tried not to think about that though. Alec didn’t need him angry, didn’t need to wake up to Magnus’ eyes burning with hatred and to the air feeling static. And Magnus felt weak, couldn’t waste the little amount of magic he had been able to gather back after his meal and the - albeit not the most comfortable - rest he’d gotten on the chair. There might be injuries his magic hadn’t been able to detect, pain that had gone unnoticed. He needed to be able to help Alec if he woke up and something was wrong.

So he had promised Isabelle to let her know if there was any change in Alec’s state. She had promised to be back as soon as she could, and Magnus had nodded, watching her leave the room. Her exit had been silent, careful not to wake up Jace.

Magnus had no doubt that the blond Shadowhunter's reaction would have been similar to Isabelle’s, no matter how drained of energy he might have been. There would have been no powers outside of magic to keep the man in bed rest if he heard that there was a chance to capture the person who had caused his parabatai to be in the state that they had found him in.

As Magnus had heard the front door click shut, and there had been no sounds coming from the guest room, he’d let out a sigh and turned his attention back to Alexander.

He didn’t know what he would have done if he had lost Alec today. They had come so close, it was a matter of minutes, if not seconds that they had been in time. Alec had looked so beaten - both physically and emotionally - as they had opened the door. Seeing him so defeated, on his knees on the floor, had ignited a protective surge in Magnus he hadn’t felt in so long. The fight had been easy for them, getting through the remaining Forsakens had barely made him break sweat, but looking at his boyfriend so close to collapsing had made it obvious that the the case had been very different to him. The desperation with which he held the arrow in his hand, knuckles white with the force of it, had broken Magnus’ heart. He’d been unwilling- or perhaps unable - to relax, fearing that the fight wasn’t over. That he wasn’t safe, that there would be more Forsakens coming any minute now.

It had almost been a relief to see Alec losing consciousness, his relaxed body a stark contrast to the tension that had radiated from him only seconds ago.

It felt like all that had happened weeks ago. Each hour since their arrival to the loft had stretched on forever, and Magnus was sure he was going to go crazy if Alec didn’t wake up soon. Just a minute of him being awake would be enough for Magnus. Enough to convince that Alec was truly okay, that there wasn’t something big he had missed while healing him. He needed that reassurance so badly.

Healing wasn’t Magnus’ strongest suit. He was skilled at it, he was the High Warlock of Brooklyn after all, but it wasn’t what he was known for. Unlike his friend Catarina, who had spent centuries focusing on healing spells and potions, practising that kind of magic regularly.

Magnus wanted to hear her opinion on Alec’s situation, just to be sure. It might have been the exhaustion that was making Magnus second guess himself in that moment, but he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if something happened to Alec because he had been careless.

He took his phone from the bedside table where he had put it when he came back to Alexander’s side. It was still turned off - Magnus had had no energy or interest to turn it back on. If there truly was an emergency where he was needed, someone would send him a fire message. But even then it would have needed to be quite an emergency, because nothing short of an apocalypse was going to get him away from this room until he was one hundred percent sure that Alexander would be fine.

Magnus had a feeling he wouldn’t be moving far from Alec after that either.

He pressed the power button, watching as his phone came back to life. He typed the code in and watched as his lockscreen appeared on the screen, a picture of Alec on their couch with his nose buried in a book that for once, hadn’t been for research. That kind of relaxed moments had been few and far between at the beginning of their relationship, both too busy to go from catastrophe to catastrophe to have time to relax. But after years of being together, they’ve gotten more of these relaxed moments and have learnt more about each other.

As the phone came back to life, a notification appeared on the screen.

One missed call

That in itself wasn’t a huge surprise, but what made Magnus’ blood turn cold in his veins was the name of the caller.

Alexander

#shadowhunters #malec #alec lightwood #magnus bane #shfanficnexus #my writing #one missed call #as always #i'd love to hear your thoughts!!

27 notes · View notes