Warning: Blood, guns, violence, blah blah blah. Also, I don't how guns work or anything about the military so... (story inspired by the song above.)
"Do we have a lock on the target?"
"Yes sir, we have a lock. But, sir-"
"Prepare to fire on my orders."
"Sir, is this... He's just a kid."
"Are you questioning my orders, soldier?"
"No, sir. Sir, just requesting more details about the target, sir."
"Request denied. Prepare to fire on my orders." The general repeated.
"Yes, sir." The soldier said.
Alec Lightwood was one of their best.
"Ready," The general said.
He was a straight shooter.
"Aim."
He never missed.
"Fire."
And he was a traitor.
The soldier knew that, but still. It seemed wrong to kill him. After all, he was just a kid. Seventeen years old, to be exact.
And here he was about to shoot him when he wasn't even armed.
"Soldier! I said fire!"
"Yes, sir, sorry, sir."
And he fired.
The raven-haired boy turned around at the sound, his blue eyes wide in surprise. But it was already too late for him to dodge it. It lodged itself right in his chest. Even from the distance, the soldier could see the boy suck in a breath before collapsing onto the cold cobblestone street he stood on, blood pooling around him. The soldier swallowed. Had he really just killed a child?
"Nice work, soldier." The general patted him on the back. "Let's go collect the body."
He really had just killed a child.
"Yes, sir."
The soldier flicked the safety on his gun, pushed his helmet up an inch, and started down the ladder on the side of the three-story building they stood on.
His feet landed on the road with a quiet thump, and he continued down the road almost silently, the only noise he heard was the loud beating of his own heart filling his ears, and the faint splish splash as his boots hit the puddles scattered across the streets.
He had just killed a child.
He turned a corner, and the street turned to cobblestone. This is where the boy was.
But looking at the road, there was nothing but puddles. Puddles of rain, and, right where the boy had been shot, blood.
But there was nobody to be seen.
"Um, General?"
"Oh, bloody hell, where'd he go?!" The General spat, literally. The Soldier could feel his spit on the back of his neck. The General pushed past him, kneeling down next to the puddle of blood. It was starting to rain again, lightly, quietly.
Had he killed a child?
Had he?
If he had, then where was the body? The boy couldn't have possibly just gotten up and walked away. It wasn't possible. Or was it? He didn't know what to think, whether to be happy or upset, for Alec Lightwood is the reason they were losing this war, this war they had lost so many good men in, this war his best friend had died in. But again, if he hadn't really killed a child... If he didn't...
The soldier and the general didn't know that the boy had been saved, saved in the few seconds it had taken them to walk down from the roof. He had been saved by a boy not much older than he was, a boy with green eyes with yellow speckles, and dark, dark, spiky hair. Little did they know that Alexander Lightwood would be coming back, and this time, he wouldn't be alone.
...
Magnus had no idea what this boy had done to the U.S Army, but they obviously wanted him dead. Either that, or they had mistaken him for someone else, but that was highly unlikely.
No matter the case, Magnus had fixed the boy up to the best of his ability, and now he was sitting on the couch, sipping coffee, waiting for him to wake. The boy was laying in his bed. Magnus had put him there. And it was torture waiting for him to wake up. And it didn't help that he was the most beautiful boy he'd ever seen. With his black hair, his skin the perfect shade, he looked so vulnerable as he slept, but Magnus knew he couldn't be. Anyone the Army wanted dead couldn't be anything less than strong.
It had started pouring outside, the rain blowing against his windows sharply, too loud to be peaceful. Magnus sighed, placing his coffee mug down on the coffee table. He stood up, walked to his bedroom door, and opened it slowly.
The boy was no longer asleep. His eyes were wide open. And they were... blue. Crystal blue. Bluer than any blue Magnus had ever seen. Magnus sucked in a breath.
"Who are you? Where am I?" The boy asked, already throwing the dark red covers off of him, trying to sit up fully, but he groaned and ended up leaning against the headboard.
He looked like he could kill Magnus with his bare hands if he wasn't injured.
Magnus raised his hands. "I won't hurt you. I only want to help."
"How do I know I can trust you?"
"If I wanted to hurt you, I would have done so when you couldn't fight back, when you were already dying." Magnus paused; the boy stared at him. "So," Magnus asked quietly, as if he were talking to a wild animal he didn't want to attack him or run away. "What's your name?"
There was a silence before he said, "Alec. Alec Lightwood." Alec. Such a nice name.
"Is that short for Alexander?"
He nodded.
"Okay Alec, well, you don't have to, but I think you should stay here for a while. I took the bullet out, but you're injured pretty badly. It might take a while to heal."
"No, no. I-I can't put you in danger. They'll find me, they'll find me and kill us both."
Magnus pursed his lips, thinking of what to say. He didn't want the boy to leave. He didn't want him to get hurt. What was the point of saving someone if they only died a few days later?
"Let them come." He said, determined. "And when they do, we'll be ready."
...
The soldier took a bite of the plain, butter-less mashed potatoes they were serving in the mesh hall. He was one of the only people at his table who wasn't talking. Everyone else was chattering excitedly about the mission they had just been assigned.
"Lot 39, you leave in three days." The general told them. "The rest of you will continue in your training."
That was his lot. Thirty-nine. The boy they were assigned to find and bring in, alive or dead, had been in lot forty. Alexander Lightwood, their best soldier. Until he lead his lot into enemy territory and left them to be captured, forming an alliance with the leader, and watching as his entire lot burned to death. Lot forty's table in the mesh hall was the only one where no one sat at. It was empty, completely empty. The soldier remembered when his best friend had sat at that table, how he would lean over and whisper dad jokes in the soldier's ear.
He remembered when he had left for the mission that Alec Lightwood had gotten him killed, he remembered their last conversation.
"When does a dad joke become a dad joke?"
"When?"
"When it becomes 'apparent!'"
"Wow," The soldier stretched out the word. "Very funny. But this is serious."
His best friend sighed. "I know. But I told you already, we'll be fine. Alec's one of the best leaders we got. If we can't trust him to get us out of anything safely, then we can't trust nobody."
"Anybody." The soldier whispered, correcting his friend.
His friend punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up."
The soldier smiled. "Just... promise you'll be careful?"
"Of course."
That was the last thing they'd ever said to each other.
He remembered when almost a week later, the General had announced that Lot forty had fallen into enemy hands, and it was unsure if they were alive or dead. And then a few days after that, he told the soldiers of the deaths. The entire lot except for one: Alexander Lightwood. And after that, when they found out that he had been the one to get them killed, how he had betrayed them. All of them.
Dinner was over, and the Soldier found himself walking back to his cabin, silently, still in his head.
He sat on his bunk, which was thin and had springs that stabbed into his back as he slept.
...
Alexander stayed. He stayed with Magnus, and let him heal him. Every day, Alec told him that he had to understand the risk. He had warned him that now the army might see Magnus as a target, too. But Magnus had insisted that the blue-eyed boy stayed.
Three days after his arrival, there was a pounding on Magnus's door. He didn't know how they had found them so fast, but he knew it was them.
"Alexander, they're here."
"Thanks. I couldn't have figured that out on my own."
Magnus rolled his eyes, which he had been doing a lot since the blue-eyed boy had arrived.
When Magnus looked back at him, Alec was holding a pistol.
"Where the hell did you get that?!" Magnus exclaimed. "You did NOT have that when you came! Did you?"
Alec was unfazed. He loaded the pistol and readied it. He shrugged. "I'm a straight shooter. Figured our best bet at getting outta here alive was... well, you'll see."
Not a second after he finished his sentence, the door burst down and people is full armor with guns ran in. Alec didn't hesitate before shooting three of them in the eye, right in the pupil.
Magnus was impressed. Especially since he was injured so badly.
In the three days they had known each other, Alec had told him his story.
Apparently, he used to be an enemy spy, and the people shooting at them right now were also enemies undercover as U.S soldiers. He said that not everyone there are spies. Some are actually U.S soldiers that have no idea about the rest of them. Alec had been one of those soldiers until he had found out and they had committed him to be a spy. But he had been faking it the entire time, and when he was chosen to lead a mission, he had explained to the U.S generals the situation, and although Alec had tried to save the ones who were not spies, they had all been killed. And now he was being blamed, and the General had told everyone that he had betrayed the United States and got his entire lot, lot forty, killed.
Bang, bang, bang. Gunshots went off all around him. A bullet whizzed past his head. He grabbed the nearest thing to him, a toaster, and chucked at one of the guys who was firing. It him in the head and knocked him out cold. Magnus winced. "That's gonna hurt in the morning,"
Bang, bang, bang.
"Alec!" One of the soldiers yelled. A blonde boy with golden eyes stumbled to the front of the group of soldiers. "How could you?"
Alec stopped shooting. He dropped his gun.
The others ceased fire as the blonde boy spread his arms out and yelled for them to stop.
"But, Lieutenant Herondale," One soldier whispered.
"Silence," the blonde ordered. He cleared his throat. "Alec."
"J-Jace?" Alec asked unsurely. The boy, Jace, still had his gun in hand, aimed at Alec.
"It's not true, right?" Jace questioned. "They said you killed your entire lot... is it true?"
Alec opened his mouth, then closed it again. He didn't know what to say.
Magnus decided to tell them. "No, it's not true. I know all about it."
Jace turned toward Magnus and aimed the gun at him, unsure. Magnus raised his hands in surrender, but kept talking. "Alec didn't kill anyone. Well, not anyone on your side. Well, before today, but that's only because you shot at him first. So that's understandable. But you don't understand. Alec tried to save them, not kill them. You see, within your forces, there are..."
"Magnus! Don't!" Alec stopped him. Magnus looked at him, but kept his mouth shut.
Alec picked it up. "There were... spies within my lot, and they turned on us when we were already outnumbered. They threw us in a holding prison camp. They questioned us, they asked which one of us was the leader. My soldiers tried to protect me, and hey refused to answer. So the enemy general shot them. And I couldn't take it, so I stepped up and said I was the leader of the lot. So the general had taken me and killed my entire lot." Alec cleared his throat. The soldiers were listening, actually listening.
Alec explained everything that had happened, he told them how he had finally gotten away only to find the holding cell where his lot had once been to be filled with nothing but blood and dead bodies. And he had checked them all, checked to see if anyone had survived. One was still alive. Alec had tried to save him, but he had died from his wounds not long after Alec had carried him out of the enemy base. And he had run. He had run and tried to find his way back, but he had never made it. He had just found the city again last week, and that was when he had been shot and Magnus had taken him in.
A stunned silence filled the room.
"So, you didn't kill everyone?"
Alec shook his head.
"Oh,"
Silence. The only noise was the sound of people's ragged breaths.
Jace cleared his throat. "I'm so sorry, Alec."
Alec didn't respond.
"We have our orders."
Alec's eyes widened.
"So you either come with us willingly, or we shoot you, right here, right now, and end this. You and your friend."
Magnus dropped his hands, which had still been raised slightly. He looked at Alec, who nodded.
"Okay, I'll come with you willingly on one condition. Leave him out of it. He ever did anything wrong."
Jace nodded. "Easy enough."
And that was it. They took Alec away. They took him away. But he had never forgotten about him. And it wasn't until two women came knocking on his door maybe ten years later when he had finally found out exactly what had happened, and his life was never the same after those two women showed up and recruited him.
"Who are you?" He asked them.
"My name is Isabelle Lightwood, and this is Clary Fairchild." The girl with dark black hair told him.
Lightwood.
"We are here to warn you. You remember my brother, I assume?"
Now that she'd said it, he could clearly see the resemblance. He nodded.
"Yeah, well, he's alive. Thanks to you. In fact, he is the general of the U.S Army. Second in command only after the President himself. And he asked us to find you. He said he needs you to open the box."
The box.
Yes, there had been a box. He had found it only hours after they had taken Alec. But he had never been able to open it, no matter what he tried.
He grabbed it from it's spot on the shelf where it had sat for ten years, gathering dust. And it opened, no problem. Inside, there was a sheet of paper, a dog tag necklace, and a bullet.
Magnus unfolded the sheet of paper, his eyes scanning over the words scribbled across the page. He gasped.
"Really?"
Isabelle nodded.
"If you'll except, that is." Clary told him.
Two days later...
"Alexander,"
The chair turned around, and in it sat the most striking young man in the entire universe. He had the same blue eyes, the same messy black hair. He smiled his perfect smile. "Magnus, long time no see. I take it you accept?" His voice was slightly deeper.
Magnus nodded. "I accept."
"Good." Alex stood up from his chair. "Welcome to the agency. Our goal is to protect those who cannot protect themselves. We run the military, and keep this country safe. Alec showed him a symbol that was tattooed on his forearm. Everyone in the organization will have this tattooed on their right forearm along with their ranking." Under the symbol, Alec had six lines. It was an interesting symbol, unlike anything Magnus had ever seen before. It's hard to describe it in words, but it was sort of like a diamond with two curved lines coming from the top.
"Welcome to the Shadow World."
A/N: Yeah, I'm not gonna explain anything. Use your imagination. I shall be the only one who truly knows what the heck that letter said and all that good stuff. Anyway, hope y'all enjoyed. Let me know if you find any mistakes so I can fix them, please. Love y'all, peace. ✌🏻