Because I Love You

Alec Goes Missing

Alec looked Jace directly in the eye.

"I. Hate. You." Alec said slowly. Jace still didn't believe him but decided not to vocalise his thoughts. "Now let me go." Jace pulled Alec towards him, stepped to the side and released Alec's wrists, sending him tumbling to the floor. He didn't bother trying to stop him when Alec stood up and stormed out of the room. Alec was furious with Jace. He didn't dare go back to his room as he was too easily found, and the library was also too obvious. Instead, he decided to go to one of the unused rooms. One deep within the institute where no-one would suspect. It took him a few minutes of walking to find an area where he was comfortable in. He opened one of the doors and stepped inside, closing it silently behind him. It looked exactly as his own room had looked when he'd first arrived at the institute. To him, it felt like he was moving in all over again.

In the living room of his home, Magnus sat on the couch with a bowl of popcorn and all the sweets he could fit on his small coffee table. He was depressed, and it showed by his actions. He had on no makeup, no glitter and was eating enough calories for three people. Not that he cared though. The only time Magnus moved was to feed Chairman Meow, to go to the bathroom, to eat something and to change what he was watching on the tv. He wondered what Alec was doing. He'd left Alec hundreds of texts and voicemails, but he hadn't had one reply. In his annoyance, he'd thrown his phone across the room and hadn't bothered to retrieve it. Out of the corner of his eye he could see Chairman Meow pawing it across the floor.

"At least it makes someone happy." Magnus mumbled. Dropping his eyes to the coffee table, his eyes locked onto the baby clothes. For a few minutes, he just stared at them. Then, with a snap of his fingers, they disappeared. Magnus had sent the baby clothes to the bin and had replaced them with more unhealthy food.

"I won't be needing you anymore." Magnus then looked back up at the tv. He was watching a extremely boring show but it kept his mind focused. Every now and again, Magnus would find his gaze drifting over to the bin where he'd put the clothes. He knew he wanted a baby, but he didn't want to raise them alone. Magnus wanted Alec by his side. He wanted to cuddle with Alec every night and he wanted, above all else, to be loved by the one he'd give up everything for.

Three days passed without anyone seeing or hearing from Alec. He'd stayed silent in the room he'd chosen as his temporary quarters. Alec wouldn't sleep and he wouldn't eat. He just sat huddled in the corner of the room. The curtains were closed so no light could get into the room and all the lights were off. Isabelle had entered once but left just as quickly as she'd entered and since then, no one else had gone in. She hadn't seen Alec, to his relief, but he knew that he was worrying them. Standing up, Alec opened the door and stepped out of the room for the first time in three days. He shielded his eyes from the light and slowly made his way to his real room. His stomach growled so much that Alec was contemplating asking Isabelle to make him something to eat. However, he still wasn't in the mood to see anyone. He just wanted his room back. Alec slowly dragged his feet along the floor. His anger had long passed, but his sadness was embedded in his heart and soul. There wasn't a happy thought in his head. It took him almost three times as long as it should have done, but Alec eventually made it to his room. Opening the door, Alec stumbled inside and pushed it closed behind him. Glancing over to his dresser, Alec sighed and gathered up the pieces of his phone. Collapsing on his bed, Alec began piecing it back together and then turned it on once it was ready. It took its time to turn on, but once it did, it starting vibrating. Message after message, voicemail after voicemail, all coming through at once to bombard his phone. It took more than an hour for all the messages to come through, and then came the gargantuan task of going through them all. Ninety-nine percent of all the messages and voicemails were from Magnus. A couple were from Jace and even fewer were from Isabelle. One by one, Alec read through them.

'Alec, I'm sorry. Please call me?' Read the first message from Magnus.

'Alec? Please, don't do this. I need you.'

'I love you Alec, that will never change.'

All the messages were basically the same. As Alec got to the more recent ones, the messages changed slightly.

'Alec, I need you. Please don't leave me. Not like this.'

'Fine then, I guess this is the end. I'm so sorry, I should've never pushed you.'

'I just... I don't even know anymore. I'm lost without you Alec. I hope you know that'll I'll always love you.'

Alec opened and deleted every message. It took him what seemed like forever. Just as he thought he had finished, his phone rang. It was Magnus. Alec bit down on his lip and answered the phone. He held it a little away from his ear.

"Alec?" Magnus asked, not believing that Alec had really picked up. "Oh Alec, I've been so worried about you. I called Jace and no one could find you." Alec could hear the worry in his voice, but he decided not to reply. He just stayed silent.

"Alec please... I'm so sorry. Can we please just talk about this? Then if you still want me to leave you alone, then you'll never have to hear from me again." Magnus was begging.

"I have nothing to say to you." Was all that Alec said before he hung up and put his phone down. Magnus was heartbroken but he couldn't cry. He'd used up all his tears over the past few days. Magnus had smoked more than a hundred cigarettes and had drunk more alcohol than he had in months, but nothing had helped. Magnus punched Jace's number into his phone and pinned it between his shoulder and his ear. He then lit a cigarette and took a long slow drag of it.

"Magnus? What's wrong?" Came Jace's voice over the phone.

"I just thought I'd tell you, Alec is okay. I've just been on the phone to him." Magnus said, the smoke from the cigarette billowed from his mouth with every word.

"Okay. Thank you. Say, why don't you come down to the institute? I can get you and Alec together for a little while so you can talk things through."

"Really? You'd do that?" Magnus asked, shocked.

"Of course I would. Even though Alec told me he hated me, I can stand to see him so depressed. He's my parabatai after all. It's my job to help him."

"Jace, thank you. Thank you so much."

"Yeah." Was all Jace said before the line went dead.