Stay with me

Part3

Jace felt the second, Alec got stabbed. The agonising pain in his stomach he felt when he was in his kitchen came from his parabatai rune.

"Argh," Jace screamed and held where the pain came from. Jace's scream and sound of the shuttered plates brought Clary, Rafe, and Max into the kitchen.

"Jace!" Clary panicked as when she saw her fiancé in pain.

"Alec.. I need to get to Alec, " Jace managed to say before he passed out.

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"Magnus," Magnus heard Izzy and Clary's scream just before he lost consciousness. Magnus stayed strong. He stayed strong for his Alexander as much as he could, but the second funeral ritual ended, Magnus felt that the last bit of energy from his body had drained. All he could see was his angel's beautiful smile as he let the darkness embrace him.

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"Is he okay?" Magnus heard a faint voice.

"He... he is okay. He is mentally exhausted and seems like he has not had any sleep or food in the last few days." Magnus knew that familiar voice. He has known that gentle voice for centuries. Catarina.

"How are we going to?" Other voice asked. Magnus knew this voice as well, but it had been a while since he heard this voice.

'Tessa?'

Magnus slowly opened his eyes. His eye lids felt extremely heavy. It was much easier for him to keep them close than forcing them to open it. Any other time, he would have, but not after hearing Catarina and Tessa's voice. He squinted his eyes as the first thing he could see was the harsh white light.

"Mmh.." Magnus groaned as he turned his head away from the harsh white light.

"Magnus!" Two worried voices called him, but neither was Alexander's.

"Alexander?" Magnus's voice barely came out.

As Alec did not reply to Magnus's call, Magnus decided to sit up and look around. He groaned as he tried to get up. Someone quickly helped him to sit up.

"Thank you." Magnus was surprised by how weak his voice was. Magnus looked around the room he was in. His eyes landed on two of his closest friends. Catarina and Tessa Grey. He smiled weakly at them even though his mind was getting flooded with all the memories from the past few days.

"You need a lot of rest, Magnus." Catarina seemed worried.

"I just need a warm bath." Magnus smiled weakly.

"Tessa, to what do I owe this honour?" Magnus turned to his long-life friend.

"I... I heard. " Tessa managed to put words into a sentence, and with that, even the weakest smile on Magnus's face disappeared. Magnus looked away from his friends as he was not sure what to say or what to feel except the unbearable feeling of numbness.

They might have stayed like that few second, or few minutes or few hours. Not any of them knew what to say.

The uncomfortable silence in the room broke with the sound of the door to the room they were at.

"Papa!" Rafe's voice made Magnus quickly look for where his his oldest son's voice came from.

"Rafe, Max." Magnus smiled at his sons when he saw them standing by the door with their uncle Jace.

"Are you hurt, Papa?" Rafe asked from Magnus without moving away from the door. Magnus realised from his son's red cheeks and swollen eyes that he had cried a lot. It pained Magnus's heart to see his son in pain. Max was no different from Rafe. The only difference was that he was holding into his soft blue teddy bear, and he had dried tear drops on his cheeks. Magnus did not know where he got the energy from, but he got up from the bed and walked towards Rafe and Max.

"I am not, my angels. Not anymore. Can Papa have a hug?." Magnus kneeled in front of the kids.

"Papa!" Max and Rafe both said together as they hugged their papa tightly. Something broke completely inside of Magnus as soon as his sons hugged him as tightly as they could with their tiny baby hands. He could not control his tears anymore. He did till now, but not anymore.

"I am sorry, my angel. " Magnus looked up into the empty roof over him, apologised to Alec as he completely broke down in front of their kids.

"Papa, please don't cry." Max started crying as he saw his Papa's tears.

"Papa," Rafe whimpered. They did not know what to do except cry louder than their papa.

"I am sorry.." Magnus pulled back and put his hands on the sides of his children's cheeks.

"Just for today, let Papa cry. I am sorry, my angels.... Just for today." Magnus placed kisses on Max and Rafe's foreheads.

Catarina and Tessa could not hold their tears anymore. They have not seen their friend break down like this anytime during their centuries long friendship. Jace did not know how to console his brother in law or his nephews.

Jace did not know how to explain everything he was feeling. He felt empty. As someone ripped apart his soul. Every time the emptiness got unbearable, he touched where the parabatai rune was before. When he could not feel the burnt skin there anymore, it only added to the emptiness he was feeling. This was much more painful than what he had to go with Valentine, Jonathan, or even Lilith. The fact that there was no physical pain that could overcome the pain in his heart made his pain more unbearable. He lost the count of time he got up from his sleep while gasping for breath or number of times, Clary found him in the training room staring at Alec's bow and quiver. Jace could not sleep.. or eat .. or function..yet, he knew the pain Magnus was going through was much, much worse than his. Jace lost part of his soul while Magnus lost his soul. Jace knew that the only thing that was keeping Magnus from slipping away was his and Alec's children.