scream; malec au

chapter twelve

Those first few days were terrible for Magnus. The entire population of New York were living in fear, all gossiping and raving about the gruesome murder of Alec Lightwood. It became something distant; everyone had seemed to forget that Alec had been a person with feelings and a life, not an exciting tragedy that could be exploited for the press.

Most newspapers had the same headline: Victim of Killer Attacked for Second Time and Murdered Horrifically. There was a lot of emphasis on the fact that Alec had been attacked and survived previously, conspiracies surrounding the topic evolving. Some thought that Alec had faked the first ordeal, as why would anyone let their victim survive? 

Others were led to believe that the killer must be someone who Alec is close to, and in the first instance they couldn't bring themselves to do it. A third option was just to torture Alec, which no one had guessed, but was the real answer as to why Alec had been kept alive, just to be slaughtered when he was finally mentally broken after the death of his younger brother. 

Magnus felt as though nothing would be the same now that Alec was gone; he felt a hole form in the core of his heart that could never be filled again. Alec and him didn't always have a romantic relationship, that was only recently, but they had known each other, it seemed like, forever. They had been very young when they met, and had instantly clicked. It was a soulmate-type of situation.

And so, when Alec was ripped away from him during the prime of their relationship, it felt wrong. Unnatural. Nothing was right about the situation, and so nothing was right with Magnus and his mental stability. It hurt him in ways he couldn't express.

His body hadn't initially reacted as explicitly as Magnus would have thought that he would have, his emotions bubbling in a delayed way. After he told the Lightwoods the news, he travelled back to his house, his father now examining Alec's body, so he had a free house. 

Magnus could barely contain himself, and as soon as he shut the door behind him, a wave of emotion overtook his body and he collapsed to the floor in a sobbing mess. It pained him to think of Alec, and it pained him not to think of Alec. Nothing seemed to satiate his sorrow.

Memories tried to act as a cure for his lament, to remind him of the good times, although it only acted as a placebo and did nothing to help Magnus through this tough time. It actually made things worse; a vivid memory flew into Magnus' memory of the first time that he and Alec had sex.

He remembered how after, Alec had a sleepy smile on his face, and it was the most ethereal thing Magnus had ever seen. It stretched from cheek to cheek, not quite reaching his almost shut eyes, that were swimming in a hazy green dream. Knowing that Alec would fall asleep soon, Magnus had moved Alec so that he was still resting against Magnus' bare torso, but his chin was propped up by Magnus' chest, so that they were eye-to-eye.

 "You are so beautiful," Magnus had said after a few moments, brushing away a stray black lock that fell into Alec's face. Alec's infamous grin had grown slightly, replying, "Isn't that obvious?" The hearty laugh that followed filled Magnus' vessel with joy, although thinking back on it made him sad. 

All that would drive Magnus to get out of bed in the mornings in the few days following Alec's death was the need to pursue justice. The fact that the killer hadn't been caught yet was ridiculous, and too many people had been innocent victims of whoever was doing this. Magnus would do it, even if the police couldn't.

It just seemed ludicrous that this was the top priority and there had been five victims, all around the same age, in the same city, all in the same school (apart from Max), and the police were still scratching their heads. The killer had a pattern, but the police's approach would be very different from Magnus'.