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Nothing felt real. Screams still echoed in Alec's ears, the sounds of pain and grief, the cries of children. The feel of his father’s blood between his fingers, soaking through his shirt, his skin growing colder beneath his touch. He still couldn’t believe it. How could this happen? It was a council meeting, how could such violence start, violence that ended lives?
As Alec had pulled away from his father, the scene before him became a blur of hate and confusion. The Cohort was screaming about Downworlders and how they were poison, screaming for the re-glorification of Shadowhunters. Alec vaguely thought how insane it was for them to be spouting hate when blood was being shed, but his mind didn’t have time to process everything. He was going into autopilot mode. He pushed away from his father’s body and reached for a knife at his belt, trying to gauge the situation. Emma and Julian seemed to be fighting off Annabel Blackthorn. Through the teeming crowd, Alec could catch flashes of the Mortal Sword in Annabel’s hands, brandished as a weapon instead of a source for spoken truth. His blood ran cold, even from this distance he could see Annabel’s crazed eyes. The eyes of someone mentally broken beyond repair.
He started forward, but everything happened too fast. Still, the moments seemed to suspend themselves in his mind, etching them there for eternity. Emma was crashing Cortona into the Mortal Sword, pushing Annabel against the wall and eventually shattering the weapon. Julian was approaching from behind, his sister, Livvy, throwing him a sword. Shouting, and then Annabel leaping through the air, a graceful arc, over Emma and Julian, to stab the broken sword into Livvy’s heart. A thousand thoughts seem to run through Alec’s mind at once. Olivia Blackthorn is only 15, and she has a twin, her family can’t bear this, not after everything they’ve been through. An inhuman roar of grief echoed through the hall. Julian.
Alec watched numbly as Julian crawled over to his sister’s body. Shakily trying to heal her with an iratze. He could tell by the desperation and pain on Julian’s face that it wasn’t working. Sobbing and screaming filled his ears. He sees Emma kill Annabel with Cortana, but nothing feels over yet. The hall is still in chaos. Alec backs himself up against the wall, trying to process it all. He sees Dru on the ground sobbing, Ty, Livvy’s twin collapsed with Mark leaning over him, shoulders shaking. Helen was trying to fight the crowd to get to Mark and Ty. Emma still high on the battle, not processing everything just yet.
Through all this, the Cohort is still screaming hate. Attempting to use the chaos to further their agenda. It sickens him, but his eyes fall back to his father’s lifeless body, and a part of him breaks. He can’t hear anything; his fingers feel numb. Jia tries to calm everyone, yelling over the crowd, attempting to get everyone to help those who have sustained injuries. Her eyes fall on Livvy, and the sadness in her eyes seems to age her in the moment. Julian starts to yell when someone tries to separate him from his sister’s body. Alec sees himself in Julian then, the swarming grief and guilt, and knows that Julian will always blame himself for Livvy’s death, just as he has done with Max’s.
The rawness of the moment brought back the pain of losing Max, and the blood and death in the hall remind him of the Dark War. A sharp pain shoots through his head causing him to shut his eyes. When he opens them, everything is covered blood. The floor is slippery with it, his hands coated. He can feel the walls shaking as hundreds of Shadowhunter’s move about. Someone comes towards him, their face blank and sinister. An Endarkened. Alec glances around the room to see that all the familiar faces in the chamber are tainted. Turned by the Infernal cup into something evil and wrong.
His hand tightened on the knife, but the blood made it slippery, and it clattered from his grasp sliding away. His body felt like stone, but he knew he needed to fight. He tried to reach for the blade, but the sight in front of him stops him cold. His father split open and bleeding on the ground, turns his head toward him. His eyes vacant and cold, rolling in his head, as he claws at the ground savagely trying to get to Alec. Alec’s heart seemed to stop in his chest, blood freezing in his veins, lungs unable to expand. A guttural noise erupted from his father’s slack mouth, and Alec had a sense of complete certainty that his father will be the one to kill him.
He stared waiting, unable to move when someone slaps him across the face hard. The blow has him seeing stars, but as he blinks them away, reality sets back into place. He shakes his head slightly, blinking rapidly. The hall comes back into view, not drenched in blood, no Endarkened in sight. It’s been a long time since the trauma from the Dark War has haunted him so viscerally. He looks at his father, terror still fresh in his veins, but Richard Lightwood’s body is just that. A body, lifeless, his blue eyes, so much like Alec’s have been closed, and he looks almost peaceful. Someone grabs his shoulder and shakes him, catching his attention.
Aline was standing over him, her face pale and strained. “Alexander,” her voice seemed far away. “You need to go to Magnus now. You need to leave Idris as soon as you can.” At first, Alec couldn’t process the words, but Magnus’s name and Aline’s firm grip on his shoulder brought him back to himself. He can hear the shouts around the room, the cries against warlocks and other Downworlders. He can feel the tension like a string pulled taut, waiting for a reason to snap, ready to lash anyone that gets close. Magnus isn’t safe here, and he was unconscious and nearly unprotected in a guest bedroom.
Alec jumped to his feet, ready to dash out of the room to Magnus, but still, he hesitated. Some other Shadowhunter’s were already preparing to move his father’s body. Though he was unsure of what to do, Alec stepped forward hand reaching out as if to touch his dad’s arm, but the Consul stopped him. “There will be time later,” Jia said, her voice heavy yet commanding. “Right now you need to go to your love.” Resolve settled in Alec’s bones, straightening his spine. He nodded to Jia and slipped from the hall unnoticed, racing towards Magnus’s room.
Alec burst into Magnus’s room, nearly knocking the door of the hinges, surely leaving a dent in the wall. Magnus was still sleeping peacefully, sprawled on the couch, unmoving even after the noise. Alec’s legs almost collapsed in relief at the sight of his boyfriend, unharmed and resting. Kit stood frozen in the corner, questions blazing in his eyes. “Kieran-“ Kit started, but Alec cut him off with a raise of his hand. “I don’t need to know, and I don’t want to know. Go to the hall; the Blackthorns need you.” Alec said, knowing that Kit had become a part of the Blackthorn family despite the short amount of time he had stayed with them. He could see it in the way they interacted, feel it when he was near them. Their love and friendship for each other, something they were going to need a lot of to get through this.
Kit’s eyes widened, and he took off at a sprint. Alec wasn’t sure if he knew where he was going, this being his first time in Idris and the Gard, but he didn’t care at this point, all that mattered was Magnus and getting home to his family. He’d have to tell them what happened. His heart lurched at the thought, but he shoved it down. Now he needed to concentrate on Magnus, only Magnus. Alec turned to shut and lock the doors of the bedroom, not that that would do much, but he felt better knowing someone couldn’t just walk right in. Alec walked over to Magnus, kneeling at his side. He gently stroked Magnus’s face pushing away stray hairs, running his thumb lightly over the dark circles under Magnus’s eyes. He had seen him like this too often recently, it made him seem shockingly mortal, and scared Alec more than he would ever admit out loud. With the Clave falling apart, Alec could sense with an absolute dread that something bad was coming. Something that could destroy everything he had ever known. It sent a chill down his spine, and he reached for Magnus’s hand gripping it tightly in his own before bringing Magnus’s slender fingers to his lips and kissing them. He didn’t know what he would do without him.
Magnus stirred in his sleep, stretching awkwardly against the couch a slight wince creasing his brow. Alec glanced over at the bed, plenty big enough for both of them to lay comfortably. Alec cleared his mind, willed his hands to stop shaking, added a locking rune to the door and gently lifted Mangus off the couch, cradling his body against his own before setting him on the bed. He knew that they needed to get out of here, but he couldn’t move Magnus like this. Even in the chaos, he doubted he could carry Magnus out of the hall and outside the wards to a portal, which would have to be created by someone. Magnus was the one with warlock connections, and Alec wasn’t sure who he’d ask that would be willing to create a portal within Shadowhunter territory. The Cold Peace and new laws had damaged the trust between Downworlder’s and Shadowhunter’s, making it highly unlikely anyone would be willing to risk the wrath of the Clave to help out.
Alec sighed and stared at his boyfriend. He couldn’t help but envy Magnus’s secure peace, the bliss of sleep and not knowing what had transpired in the last hour, but Alec dreaded the moment he had to explain. Though Alec was too wound up to sleep, he climbed into the bed beside Magnus, conforming is body against the warlock’s side, and rhythmically running his fingers up and down Magnus’s slender chest, his arms, through his hair. Using the touch to soothe himself as much as Magnus. He let his mind drift, half succumbing to the shock pulsing through him, letting the numbness take him. Just until Magnus wakes up, he told himself. Then I will come back to myself.