#magic depletion

Magnus let the power explode out of him, even as the demons attempted to run.  He sliced through demon after demon, destroying them with barely more than a thought.  His body was singing with the power cascading through it, and the destruction of these demons was child's play, was nothing more than a test sent by his father.  

By the time they were gone and silence had descended on the warehouse, Magnus could feel the burn in his veins that told him he would regret pulling on the power this way.  He forced himself to ignore it and stalked to the rift, pressing his hands to either side of it.  

"Magnus!"  

Magnus couldn't afford to lose focus now, and he would not.  He had those he had to keep safe.  With a final push of the power he'd borrowed from the realm on the other side of the rift, Magnus pressed the rift shut and sealed it, the power backlash enough to have him tumbling across the floor where the burn suddenly became so much more intense and painful.  

He whimpered and curled up, trying to breathe through the pain, his fingers flexing, his breath coming in harsh, desperate pants.  There were no words, he couldn't speak.  

"Magnus!  Magnus, hold on!"  

The familiar voice and the even more familiar touch were enough to remind him that he'd succeeded.  He'd protected what was his and they would live to fight another day.  Magnus let his head rest against a strong shoulder and closed his eyes, letting the next wave of pain take him into unconsciousness.  

~!~

"Jace!  Izzy!" Alec shouted, kneeling next to Magnus, an arm wrapped carefully around him.  Magnus had gone limp, but there were still sparks of black flame shooting across his body, and every time they did, a small moan of pain left Magnus' lips.  

"What the hell did Magnus do?" Jace asked, hurrying back towards the door.  "I've never seen magic like that before."  

Alec shook his head, carefully adjusting his hold.  He tucked an arm under Magnus' knees and around his shoulders before lifting him, glad when Magnus' head stayed pressed to his neck.  Like this, it felt like Magnus weighed nothing at all.  "We need to get him to the medical wing, and we need to call Catarina."  

"We don't know if the rift is sealed," Izzy protested, looking down the hallway, even though it was empty now.

"Whatever Magnus did is hurting him, and I am taking him to be looked at, now," Alec snapped, striding past her and towards the exit.  Magnus was trembling in his arms and Alec tightened his hold, hurrying out of the warehouse.  

“Hold on,” Alec whispered, pressing a kiss to the top of Magnus’ head.  “Hold on, Magnus, I’ve got you, I promise.”  

Alec carried Magnus back to the Institute, calling Catarina the second he’d made sure that Magnus was stable.  He explained the situation quickly and asked her to please come and make sure Magnus was all right.  Magnus was still far too pale and had started shaking minutely now that he was resting on the bed.  Alec took his hand and squeezed it, trying to breathe through the fear making his chest clench.  

“Alec!”  

Alec looked up in relief at the sight of Catarina flanked by Izzy.  “Catarina, please, I don’t know what’s wrong.”  

Catarina immediately stepped forward, magic dripping around her hands as she hovered them over Magnus.  A spark of black magic jumped from Magnus to her and she hissed, taking a step back in pain. 

Alec squeezed Magnus’ hand tighter and stared up at Catarina.  “What’s going on?  Why is his magic attacking you?”  

“He’s magically exhausted.  It’s a defense mechanism.  The last thing he remembers is being attacked, so it’s going to try to defend him,” Catarina explained.  Her eyes drifted to where Alec was holding onto Magnus’ hand.  “Isn’t his magic hurting you?” 

“The black stuff?” Alec asked, waiting for her nod.  “No, it doesn’t hurt at all.  Feels the same way his magic always does.”  

Catarina blinked and tilted her head, staring at the shadowhunter.  “It does?”  

Alec nodded, tightening his hand on Magnus’.  “Yeah, feels the same.”  He watched a spark of the black magic jump to his hand and smiled, watching it dance around his hand before returning to Magnus.  “See?”  

Catarina looked down at him and gave a faint smile, waving her fingers to widen the infirmary bed and make it something much more comfortable.  “You should climb in with him.  You’re making him feel better.”  

“Will that help?” Alec asked, looking up at her, his eyes shining. 

“Yes, I believe so,” Catarina said, watching as Alec scrambled to crawl into bed next to Magnus, pressing in close to him.  When her friend immediately turned into Alec’s arms, reaching out for him, she relaxed.  “Was his magic reacting to protecting you?”  

Alec looked up at her and flushed.  “It might have been.”  

Catarina nodded.  “I can tell.  He’ll be all right, but he needs time to recover,” she said, staring him down.  “When he does wake up?  Don’t...” she paused.  

“Don’t what?” Alec asked, lifting his eyes to her.  

“Too many in his life have feared the power that he can wield.  Do not be one of them, Alec Lightwood,” Catarina warned, summoning a portal for herself.  

Alec watched her go through the portal and turned his attention back to Magnus, carefully wrapping an arm around the warlock, holding him close.  He pressed a kiss to Magnus’ forehead.  “I’m not going anywhere,” he promised, tightening his hold.  

~!~

Magnus came back to himself to a distinct lack of pain.  He blinked in surprise and felt an arm immediately pull him closer.  He relaxed into Alexander, smiling faintly before realizing this wasn’t their bed and he wasn’t in his loft.  He sat up, staring around and watched a prickle of black magic peel off of him and hit the floor, making him wince.  

“Fuck,” he swore, taking a deep breath.  He could still feel the last vestiges of the magic he’d pulled burning in his veins and his fingers twitched with it.

“Magnus?” Alec muttered, his eyes opening slowly before he looked up at the warlock.  “You okay?”  

Magnus wanted to laugh.  The last thing he was was okay.  How the hell was Alec curled up in bed with him like this?  Why wasn’t he terrified and running as far as he could.  He covered his face in his hands, fighting down the trembling, well aware magic was roiling over his skin again.  

“Magnus, look at me,” Alec ordered, reaching out to take Magnus’ arm gently, trying to grab his attention.  

Magnus eyes flew open and he yanked his hand back, but not before some of the magic had reached Alec, jumping across his skin.  He watched it and waited for the wince, or shout of pain, but Alec hadn’t looked away from him.  He blinked and looked down at where the magic suddenly jumped back to his own skin.  “It doesn’t...hurt?” 

“Of course not,” Alec said, relaxing.  “Your magic never hurts me.”  

The matter of fact statement shouldn’t calm the roiling center of his magic, but it does and Magnus lets himself fall back to the pillows and into Alec’s arms when he’s pulled close.  “You’re okay?” 

“I’m fine,” Alec whispered, pressing a kiss to Magnus’ forehead.  “More than fine, thanks to you.  You saved us all with what you did.”  

Magnus winced and sighed as he remembered.  He’d called on all of his powers as a Son of Asmodeus and wielded it like he’d been doing it for decades.  “I’m glad you’re all safe.”  

Alec tightened his arm around Magnus, pulling him in close, pressing a kiss to the back of Magnus’ neck.  “I don’t know what’s wrong,” Alec whispered.  “But I want you to know that I’m here when you want to tell me.  You haven’t scared me away, and I’m not going anywhere.”  

Magnus tensed.  “Alexander.”  

“I’m here,” Alec promised, kissing Magnus again.  “For now, rest, and recover.  Pull from me if you need to.  It’s okay.”  

Magnus exhaled hard and closed his eyes, sagging into Alec’s arms.  He couldn’t help the faint sense of fear still niggling at the back of his mind, but for now, he’d recover and deal with all of that when he woke again.  

“Rest,” Alec whispered.  “It’s my turn to protect you.”  

Magnus’ last fleeting thought before he drifted back to sleep was how nice that sounded.  

~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~!~

Close the rift and let the Shadowhunters deal with the demons that had already come through, that had been the plan. Simple and logical. Of course it went haywire.

There were far more demons than they had anticipated and Alec had called in backup right from the start. At least the place, an abandoned industrial area with a decommissioned factory, was a good deal away from any residential areas. If he caught the warlock who’d been stupid or arrogant or desperate enough to open a rift to a demonic dimension and leave it open, be it for revenge or out of recklessness – maybe he’d been killed already? – he’d banish that idiot to the lower levels of the Spiral Labyrinth for at least a century!

Hissing and clicking sounds filled the air, from mandible-like jaws and far too many thin, scaly legs against the floor. The acrid smell of ichor hung in the air, burning in his lungs with every hectic breath he gulped down. He whirled around, threw another ball of magic at a Shax demon that had tried to sneak up on him from behind. It exploded in the middle of the air, incinerated on the spot.

They’d paired up in groups and he’d went with Alec and Izzy to the location of the rift. The summoning circle had been crudely drawn, the power and knowledge behind it thankfully not enough to open something major. He’d managed to close it easily without depleting himself. He should’ve seen it coming, the attack afterwards, the demons vicious and angry. They’d hit them like a wave.

They’d been separated in an instance. At first he’d been able to hear Izzy and Alec shouting as he’d tried to get back to them again, but it had been futile and they quickly slipped his immediate focus as he got attacked from all sides.

Red energy sparked around his fingers, ready for another attack. Or so he wanted them to believe. The once bright and angry sparks now sizzled dangerously.

He stumbled.

His heart was hammering against his ribs, screaming out its desperation and fear in Morse code. Magnus tried to ignore it. Maybe he had ignored it for too long already, had played the danger down to keep on fighting, to not fall prey to despair. But now his legs barely held his weight anymore and the edges of his field of sight got increasingly blurry. But most of all, his magic was almost completely depleted.

And there were still too many left.

Sweat dripped into his eyes as he pushed forward with both hands and another bout of magic. Nothing flashy, nothing elaborate, just a simple pulse of power. Two demons got ripped from their feet and thrown through the air. He couldn’t see it, couldn’t focus on it as he stumbled on unsteady legs, but he heard the loud crash and the abruptly ending screeches as they connected with something hard. A wall? One of the metal crates?

Pain shot up his right knee.

Shit, he was on the floor.

Not good!

He tried getting up again, but he couldn’t. Not enough air. Not enough energy.

Not enough magic.

No! No, not like this!

Magnus dug deeper into himself, unearthed every last ounce of his strength, of his magic and called it to his hands. Everything he had left. The alarm bells in his mind didn’t matter. This was purely about survival now.

He flung his magic out and pushed it all into a Raum demon that was far too close. Pushed it in, let it saturate it as it flung the demon back right into a throng of Raveners and then he let it loose. The demon’s big, black eyes bulged outward as it got ripped apart from the inside out and burned to ash at the same time. As well as everything it touched; every other demon it was in contact with got incinerated right along with it.

Black spots danced in front of Magnus’ unglamored eyes. He’s dizzy. There’s a strange tingling in his limbs as they drag him down, heavy as they were. He fell down further, his head eerily numb as he kept himself on all fours, gasping for breath as he watched his sweat drop to the dirty floor between his trembling arms.

There’s movement next to him. He could sense the demon jumping more than he saw it.

He knew he needed to move, to fling out his arm and rip it apart with magic. Or to roll out of its way at least, if he wanted to save himself, if only for a little while longer. But he couldn’t. He got nothing left.

Nothing.

He pressed his eyes shut, awaiting the inevitable.

I’m sorry, Alexander!

***

The impact of the demon never came. Instead there were shouts, footsteps, more movements and an angry slicing sound. Then the painful screech of a demon, followed by angry growling, right before everything around him exploded into the noises of battle. Grunting, screaming, slashing. The squelching of ichor as it splattered the floor. Short commands shouted in a deep voice.

That, and the flickering, constantly moving, familiar white light of seraph blades.

Still lightheaded and panting he lifted his head, confused as to what was happening. The simple motion was harder than expected. There were people around him, clad in dark gear: Shadowhunters.

Alexander!

He counted four but he could be mistaken, their movements too fast and erratic for his exhausted and dizzy mind. They all had their back towards him, surrounding him in a circle as they viciously slashed the demons all around with deadly grace and precision. Sweat stung in his eyes and he had to close them against the burn as well as the onslaught of movement and flashing light all around him that had his head spinning even worse than it already was. He couldn’t tell for sure, but he was pretty certain that none of those four was Alexander.

Neither had he heard the telltale sound of a cracking whip.

Magnus knew he should help them.

But he could barely keep himself from tumbling into a heap onto the floor, let alone fight.

So he stayed down and tried desperately to get his breathing back under control at least. With not much success thanks to all the adrenaline that was still rushing through his veins, making him jittery.

This one had been close. Far too close for his liking.

And it wasn’t over yet.

Alexander! Please be okay!

The noise around him died down. The last screech reverberated eerily in the big hall, then it was silent apart from heavy breathing, if only for a second. A deep male voice bellowed orders and with hurried footsteps the Shadowhunters all around him dispersed and rushed off to other parts of the building. It shouldn’t come as a surprise and yet it still stung. He was still just a Downworlder after all. They had done their duty and protected him from the demons, but now that the threat was dealt with, their job was done. And there were more demons yet to kill after all, so they left.

Had he really expected anything else?

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. It stank of ichor and sulfur and metal. This place wasn’t safe. He was nothing more than a sitting duck in here, in the middle of the hall. An easy target. He needed to get out of here!

No! I need to find Alexander! I need to know if he’s okay!

Something touched his shoulder.

His heart missed a beat.

Startled, he flinched back so hard he nearly crashed face first into the ground as his right arm threatened to give out.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you.”

He’s gasping for breath, blood rushing loudly in his ears. Shaky all over he opened his eyes and looked up towards the voice. It was the voice that had given the orders not long ago. The dark shape of a Shadowhunter was crouching next to him. One of them had stayed.

Magnus blinked up at the guy, very aware of his messed up, vulnerable state. The man was in his thirties most likely, blond curls framing a kind and worried face. A familiar face, although he couldn’t really place it at the moment, let alone put a name to it.

The guy’s eyes widened slightly and, too late, Magnus remembered that his glamor was down. Not that he could do anything about that at the moment. But the Shadowhunter surprised him by not flinching away. Instead his eyes narrowed with concern.

“Are you alright?”

He nodded. He felt far from alright with his twitching, burning muscles and that emptiness within him where he usually felt his magic. His shirt was clinging to his back, cold and drenched with sweat. But he wasn’t hurt.

“You don’t exactly look the part. Sure they didn’t get you?”

Magnus blinked in surprise. “Yeah,” he panted. “Just drained.”

The guy nodded. Was that relief in his eyes? “Alright. This place is not safe for a drained warlock. Come on, let’s get you out of here!”

The blond stood up in one fluid motion that Magnus envied him for right now, then he held out a hand for him to take. Surprised by the gesture as well as that warm and open smile Magnus took the offered hand and help. It was an easy feat for the Shadowhunter to pull him up, although, the second he got his feet under him again he faltered on unsteady legs when the world around him started to lurch and move in ways it really, really shouldn’t.

A strong hand with a sure grip clutched around his upper arm in an instant and kept him upright.

“Whoa! You weren’t kidding when you said ‘drained’, huh?”

He would’ve gone for a sarcastic comment, or at least a glare, but he got other priorities at the moment. The guy kept him steady and upright without complaint until the spell of dizziness finally faded and he got his bearings back. A bottle appeared out of nowhere in front of him, small and black and with strange fastenings at the side, probably from a mechanism to click it onto a belt or something similar.

“Here, drink! It’ll do you some good.”

Magnus was too perplexed to do anything else but take the bottle – the cap already snapped open – and drank. It was water. It was lukewarm and stale, but as soon as it filled his mouth he realized how parched he was. Greedily he gulped more of the liquid down. He felt better already; still drained and exhausted, yet his mind was clearer than before. With a sheepish expression he gave the bottle back, a bit ashamed for having almost taken it all, but the guy only smiled at him and shook his head. “Keep it! You need it more than me.”

“Thank you!”

“Ah, don’t mention it,” the blond said with a dismissive wave of his hand.

But Magnus wasn’t ready to let this go like that. “I didn’t mean the water,” he said and fixed the tall Shadowhunter with his gaze. “Well, not only about the water. You and your team, you saved my life!”

The guy merely shrugged and averted his gaze, checking their surroundings instead. “Not yet. We really should get going. Think you can walk?”

He nodded. They left right away. His body felt heavy and sluggish and his knees weak, but with the guy’s hand still around his arm to steady him whenever he needed it, he managed to hurry along. He followed the blond’s lead and the whitish glow of his seraph blade. The noise of fighting carried from a distance, somewhere along a corridor they passed.

Alexander!

“Alec’s alright. He met with reinforcements in the production hall.”

Had he said that out loud?

Doesn’t matter! Alec’s alright, that’s what matters!

Distracted by his relief the clicking sounds to his side only registered when it was too late. Something small jumped out of the darkness and right at him. He ducked on instinct, just as a gleaming white light slashed through the air and evaporated the Shax demon on impact.

“Come on, we better hurry!”

He followed the other, the hand around his arm never letting him go. Finally they reached a small and unremarkable metal door, kicked it open and stepped outside into the twilight of a very early morning, shortly before the first rays of sunshine reached across the horizon. Judging from the already blueish tint of the sky it couldn’t take much longer than half an hour until the sun would come up. The guy led him further away from the factory hall, past a set of generic looking black vans until they reached a small building at the entrance of the whole compound, possibly an attendant’s hut for access control or something. No matter what it was or had been once Magnus gratefully leaned his back against its rough wall and slid down until he sat on the ground. Utterly exhausted he leaned his head back against the wall and closed his eyes for a second to gather himself.

He heard the Shadowhunter talk to his colleagues through an earpiece most likely, requesting updates and coordinating different groups throughout the building.

Magnus opened his eyes and looked up at the guy who stood firm, one hand against his ear, the other closed around his seraph blade. His eyes scanned the area, alert and ready to jump into action should the need arise. Magnus popped the lid of the bottle open and drank the rest of the water before he finally voiced his thoughts. “Shouldn’t you get back in there again?”

The blond turned and frowned down at him with an honestly confused expression. “No, they got it under control. And it wouldn’t make much sense to rescue you from a bunch of angry demons only to leave you out here on your own, unable to defend yourself, while there are still demons around, don’t you think?”

He got a point. Still, it wasn’t a point he’d expected from a Shadowhunter. Not when it came to Downworlders, anyway.

Maybe that’s why he felt the need to say it again.

“Thank you. For saving me.”

The guy shuffled, his eyes darting away. He looked uncomfortable, but judging from everything Magnus had seen and heard from this Shadowhunter so far, it wasn’t the fact of having to rescue a Downworlder that made him uncomfortable but the praise. “Really, it’s not a big deal,” he tried to dismiss the whole thing again.

Magnus huffed. “Well, it is for me!”

The blond chuckled and sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. “Yeah, you kind of have a point there.”

He couldn’t help but join in and soon they’re both laughing. It’s surreal somehow, laughing with this Shadowhunter he didn’t even know, with a fight raging not far away, hidden away inside this factory building. Strangely enough he enjoyed this stranger’s company.

There’s a clanging noise, then a decidedly non-human hiss followed by the clacking sound of thin scaly legs on metal. It’s still too far away to be an immediate threat, but the blond was instantly on full alert again, positioning himself with his back to Magnus to protect him.

“Richwood, Merryweather, I’ve got demon activity on the outside of the building. South end. You should be closest. Do you copy?”

Magnus couldn’t hear the answer from the earpiece, but it didn’t take long and he spotted the glowing white light of two seraph blades at the south end of the building. The sound of grunts carried through the air, more hissing, then a screech and they saw the telltale burning ash of a vanquished demon flare up.

The Shadowhunter above him relaxed visibly and was just taking a step aside so he could face the building as well as Magnus when he suddenly paused. His left hand went for his ear, listening to something. “Copy that!” The concentration on his face melted into a small smile. “Tell them, he’s safe and out in the yard.” The blond relaxed again and turned towards him. “Alec and Izzy are worried about you.”

“Are they alright?”

The guy nodded. There was an open smile on his face as he looked down, not at all fazed by the golden-green cat-eyes that stared back at him. For a while they simply shared this moment, the relief and this smile and their easy conversation. No words were needed. Until, all of a sudden, something flashed in the blond’s eyes that Magnus couldn’t quite place.

“You know,” the blond started, “after all this you kind of owe me, right?”

It hit him like a blow to the stomach. Hard and unexpected and it really, really shouldn’t have come as a surprise. He could feel his expression harden, the comfortable, easy smile melting from his face. Of course it would be like this. Of course he would want something in return for his ‘deed’, would demand some reward, some magical favor that he’d had no way of declining since the Clave would never take his side should the other make an official complaint. So in the end, the guy was just another one of those typical Shadowhunter stereotypes, only in this case hidden behind a friendly, misleading façade.

The guy’s face froze at the same time as his own, only the blond’s eyes widened in shock and his mouth dropped open. “Oh God, this came out so, so wrong! I didn’t mean to-- I just-- I thought I could-- oh damn!”

Magnus blinked in honest surprise, not sure what to make of this.

What just happened?

The blond stopped, took a deep breath to collect himself. After a quick scan of their surroundings he looked down at him again, his nerves only showing in his eyes now, no longer in his hectic gestures. “Okay, sorry. This was me, totally messing up asking you for a game of pool some time. I really didn’t mean to offend you.”

WHAT???

He probably stared at the guy as if he were a blue chicken with three heads.

“Pool?” he heard himself say, his surprise and confusion lacing every letter of that one word. Never in a million years could he have foreseen this turn of events. To be honest, he still wasn’t sure he’d heard the guy correctly.

The Shadowhunter rubbed his neck again. “Um, yeah. Alec mentioned that you’re pretty good at it and I’ve never competed against someone with centuries of experience. You don’t have to, of course. I was just thinking-”

Magnus simply stared open-mouthed. Right now he couldn’t tell if he’d ever been this dumbfounded in his long, long life, but he doubted it.

So the guy knew who he was – that much was clear – and Alec had talked with the blond about him? And now that Shadowhunter wanted to play pool with him? Just for the fun of it? Was this some kind of Shadow World version of ‘Hidden Camera’?

He huffed a sound of surprise.

Alright, maybe times really were changing. Not just the Lightwoods, but indeed a whole new generation of Shadowhunters. And as strange and unexpected as that was, it was a nice surprise for a change.

A smile tugged at his lips as he shook his head in wonder. “Very well then, a game of pool it is! There’s just one thing left to settle...”

“Which is?”

“Who exactly are you again?”

The blond’s eyes grew big and there was a faint shimmer of red on his cheeks – or maybe that were the first rays of daylight that spilled across the horizon. “Of course! Sorry! I really make a fool of me today.”

Magnus grinned, but shook his head. “I strongly disagree! You did safe my life after all.”

And the guy grinned back and held out his hand, now that there was no need for vigilance anymore with the daylight all around. “Stephen Underhill.”

Ah, the new head of security Alexander had told him about.