Crumble

"MAGNUS!" Alex screams, his voice shrill, and goes until it ends in barely a whisper. His throat aches.

The building had collapsed.

The building collapsed. With Magnus inside.

It didn't seem real. They had been hunted by gods and monsters alike, and none had managed this kind of damage before. Even after dying over and over, death hadn't seemed this close. Dumb, stupid, savage, homophobic people. They had caused the explosion, they were monsters. He becomes a dog, sniffing out where Magnus could be laying injured, maybe even dead. He follows the scent of fresh blood.

He has to lift the rubble, and he knows he'll be useless even with his einherji strength. He can't panic, he can't panic. He doesn't know any spells for this. He shifts into large gorilla, needing a stronger and much larger form for this. He takes no time in digging through the wreckage. Soon he hears something, like someone, or something, yelling.

"Señor!" It was from Jack. Magnus must have taken him out of pendant form before the building fell.

After a moment he can see the remains shift, rock and wood falling. The sword of summer launches himself out of the pile looking completely unscathed.

Together, they lift the rubble, being careful of where they know Magnus is buried. With how fast Alex is going, it takes only a few minutes for them to reach him.

"Maggie!' Alex holds back a sob at seeing the body that is laying there. He is horrified, he is relieved, he is scared.

There's blood everywhere, and Magnus doesn't even look alive. His shirt is ripped and Alex can see that his bones are not right. Alex can even see a rib poking out, dark red blood oozing from the wounds on his chest, and everywhere. His legs are crushed, and it is the source of most of the blood. There are see cuts and gashes all over the body and it's terribly bruised.

The mangled body in front of him is glowing faintly, so Alex can see that he's at least alive if only barely. If Magnus died here, there'd be no resurrection, no reviving and he'd be gone forever. Alex would never see his radiating smile ever again. He would never hear his terrible puns. He'd never hold Magnus ever again.

Carefully, he lifts the broken body and begins running at full speed to the gate between the nine worlds. The duck statues weren't supposed to be too far. He doesn't attempt to put Jack back in pendant form, who has been uncharacteristically quiet, in case the strain kills Magnus from the effort it must have taken for Jack to help save him.

Now that he's running and he can't stop, because if he stops Magnus will die. His increased stamina helps, but his lungs burn, and he doesn't think he has ever gone so fast in his life, yet moving so slowly. Time is going by too quickly. It shouldn't be taking this long. The statues shouldn't be so far. He can't determine how long it takes for him to get to the portal, but it takes an excruciating amount of time. He has probably beaten some sort of world record at this point.

Magnus stirs in his arms just he sprints into the hotel lobby. Alex becomes human once again back and he's completely exhausted. He gently lays Magnus on a lobby sofa.

Magnus looks like he's trying to move, to say something, but he can't quite open his eyes.

"Alex?" he's struggling, Alex is surprised that he managed that.

"Y-yeah, Maggie?" Alex is at his breaking point. He can't keep it together, even if Magnus is technically safe here, but he can't get the idea of never seeing him again out of his head.

"I－" Magnus begins coughing, and there's so much blood. He hasn't stopped glowing, but Alex can tell he is nowhere near healed. Hardly even alive.

He can hear Magnus struggle to breathe, blood dripping from his mouth. He can hear gurgling and more coughing. Alex has witnessed things like this before, but he has never been so close to truly losing someone he cared about, especially not Magnus.

He shouldn't be so upset by it, but he is. He watches helplessly as the choking stops and Magnus stills

—

"Oh, hey Maggie. Finally awake." She looks at him with a playful smile, but it doesn't quite meet her eyes.

"H-hey, Alex." Magnus looks confused for just a moment as his memories don't make any sense. He must've died, right? But weren't they working together at the Chase Space?

"What happened?"

Alex doesn't know how to answer that. How does she tell him that the place they had been working on for so long was now destroyed? And did she even tell him that he nearly died?

"It... It was destroyed, Magnus. I- I don't..." she can't finish her sentence. Thinking back all she can imagine is her standing just at the statues, Magnus choking, blood covering them both. She's just outside the gate. She knows that if she had been any slower he would've died. He would have DIED. For such a stupid reason.

Alex can see the look of comprehension dawn on Magnus's face, as he recalls memories from the previous day. Magnus clenches his jaw.

"I can't believe that they'd do that... We'll- we'll rebuild it. We will... And... " he pauses, his face falling and his voice becomes strained, "How could they be so heartless? So cruel?" He knew how, he knew, but he didn't want to. He didn't want to imagine the thoughts, the meanings, the intentions.

As he stands he can't help but admire the person in front of him; he realizes what she must have done to save him. The strength and will she must have had.

"Thank you, Alex."

She smiles mischievously, a sadistic tinge to her voice, "As if I'd let you die. You're my favorite person to kill."

Magnus smiles at her, relieved, and hugs her. He never wants to let go. "I love you," he whispers, wrapping his arms more tightly around her. She does the same.

Apparently miffed about being ignored, Jack flies from where he had been laid on the table.

"You're alive, señor!" Jack either wasn't thinking, or really didn't care, as he once again becomes the pendant on Magnus's neck.

As Magnus goes limp in her arms, his eyes rolling back, Alex whispers to him, "I love you too, Maggie."