Epilogue

„Life after you"

Magnus was running late, terribly late. He was supposed to be back home an hour earlier, however, his students had kept him a bit longer today. To add more, his phone had died about three hours before and he had no way of contacting Lydia. He just hoped, the young woman won't be too angry with him for his lateness.

He ran upstairs as fast as he could and literally burst into his apartment in Brooklyn, completely forgetting that they may sleep, seeing as it was close to half past nine pm.

"I'm so sorry, I'm late," he said, dropping his bag and keys on the counter in the hallway before he moved to the living room. He looked around, trying to find Lydia, but he couldn't spot the woman. "Lydia?"

"Hey," the blonde, blue-eyed woman stepped out of the second bedroom in his home.

"I'm sorry, I'm late, Lydia. But Matt and Harry kept me a bit longer today. Honestly, these two…"

"They're your best students, Magnus." She finished for him with a huge smile. Lydia moved to take her brown coat off the hanger and put her high black heels. "I'm going and I'll see you on Monday? You're visiting your family over the weekend, right?"

"Yeah, it's the sixth anniversary and I think we'll stay over the weekend at theirs." She offered him a small smile and patted his arm before she opened the door of the second bedroom. "Bye, sweetie. I'll see you on Monday."

"Bye!" they heard a loud response.

Once Magnus closed the door behind Lydia, he went back to the second bedroom. He opened it wide and shook his head on the state of the room. Papers were lying across the floor, colorful pens discarded on the white desk by the window. Magnus sighed loudly.

"You were supposed to clean after playing, darling." He heard giggles from underneath the peak of pink covers. "What am I supposed to do with you, huh? Oh, no…where's my little Angel?" Magnus sat on the bed and began to tickle the peak of covers, receiving a pure laughter. "Ah, there you are!"

"Daddy, no!" Magnus peeled the pink covers with Disney Princesses and revealed the sight of his laughing daughter. He smiled genuinely at her. She was his biggest love, she was his heart. She finally stopped laughing and jumped into Magnus's arms. "I missed you today, daddy."

"I missed you too, Angel. But you had fun with Lydia, right?" She nodded to this eagerly. "That's great, and tomorrow we'll off to see grandma, grandpa, auntie Izzy, uncle Jace, uncle Max."

"Yay!" She exclaimed, looking into Magnus's eyes. "Grandma Aya and grandpa Mike too?"

"Of course! We'll all go for a nice dinner to the Atelier and then we'll visit Alexander." Magnus winked at her putting her back to bed. He tucked her and placed a kiss on her forehead. "Now, sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."

"Daddy, will you tell me a story?" Magnus moved to lean over the white headboard, while his daughter laid her head over his knees. Magnus ran his fingers through her black locks and hummed.

"What kind of a story, baby girl?"

"Some nice story about a princess and a prince."

"How about I tell you a story about a prince, who met a wonderful knight in his life?" She nodded to that and hugged her father over his thighs. Magnus reached to the lights and turn it off, instead, he turned the soft yellow light of the night lamp on. Soon the laminating stars on the ceiling began to shine down on them. "Ok, so let the story begin…

Once upon a time, in a far, far land full of high towers, surrounded by the wild waters, lived a boy. He was the fairest of them all. Tall, lean, with his incredible gold-green cat-like eyes. He caught the attention of everyone in his kingdom, causing many heart breaks for young maidens. He knew he was desired by everyone, yet, he held his heart in a tight grip, waiting to give it away to his destined one, to his other half, his knight in shining armor who would show up to save him from his own fears.

One day, the boy met another boy his age, tall as well, and equally handsome, with the most beautiful blue eyes. The young man could drown in the ocean of his destined eyes. The said boy defended him in front of villains, even though one of the villains was the friend of the knight. From that day, the boy had taken an interest in the other boy. His own knight in shining, yet black, armor.

Finally, Destiny seemed to have mercy on the boy and let him explore the relationship with the knight. Although, at some point, the boy thought the other a wizard as well as he seemed to enchant him. He couldn't stop thinking about the knight, he wanted him for himself. He wanted to be close to him.

And one day, his dream came true. The boy learned what enchantment the knight had put over him.

It was true love.

The most beautiful thing the boy hoped to have one day.

It was finally here.

But Fate didn't let him enjoy it for a long time. The fate decided to bestow the knight with its horrible and dreadful name. Leukemia. However, the boy had given the knight his heart forever and couldn't imagine leaving him alone to the fate. They had decided to fight together, through many bumps in their road. The boy loved his knight with his whole heart and soul till the very end…

Magnus wiped the tears from his cheeks when he had gotten to the end of the story. At least the one part of the boy's, now a man's story. He smiled sadly, as the image of his blue-eyed Angel popped into his mind. The image of the last time he had seen him, seven years ago.

Magnus's heart stopped as he saw tears running down Lightwoods' faces. Coldness filled his whole body, freezing it from the inside. He couldn't see anything through the blurriness before him. He kept calling, silently the name of his lover.

"Alexander. Alexander."

Magnus dropped to his knees, as the realization hit him.

It was over.

Alec was dead.

"NO!" A roar escaped from his mouth, followed by a cry. "NO! NO! NO!"

Some familiar voices were heard above him, but he tried to shut them out. His Angel was gone and he didn't even say goodbye. He felt empty like his heart was ripped away and crushed before him.

He wanted to die and join Alec.

Magnus was numb, rocking back and forth, as tears were running down his cheeks. He didn't feel arms around him, he muted the voices near his ear. He was dead inside, same as his beloved Angel. Before he knew, he got up from the floor and ran out of the hospital. However, before he could do anything more, he was grabbed by someone and pressed into a hard chest. Through his tears, he could recognize the familiar mop of a blonde hair.

"Please… don't …leave us…" Jace choked on his own words, as he tightened the grip on Magnus's back. "Please…I...we…need you now."

Magnus let Jace walk him back to the hospital, where the Lightwoods and his mom were joined by doctor Anderson. She was talking to them, holding Maryse's hands in hers, as the woman was trembling in Robert's arms.

"I'm so sorry." She said, fighting off the tears built in her eyes. "We thought that everything will turn out alright, but as Alec's system tried to rebuild itself with Max's bone marrow, something went wrong. Max's bone marrow didn't adapt as well as we thought it will. We gave him immunosuppressants to stop the graft-versus-host-reaction, but his liver stopped working as well. At this point, we couldn't even do a transplant of a liver, he wouldn't survive it. His system was too much toxic from all the chemo. We couldn't do much more. I'm so sorry for your loss."

"Can…can we see him?" Isabelle whispered, through her tears. Doctor Anderson nodded and led them into the direction of the hospital's morgue.

The room was cold, both from the atmosphere and the metal's bed with people's dead bodies. As soon as they entered it, they saw the lifeless body of Alexander, lying with covers pulled up to the middle of his chest. They could see the red rush over his chest and brown blotches on his arms.

He looked so beautiful, like a real Angel, Magnus thought to himself.

"I leave you alone for a while." They heard doctor Anderson's voice, but none of them paid any mind to her.

"My baby…" Maryse wailed, taking Alec's hand in hers. "My sweetheart."

Robert was holding her strongly as if he was afraid she'll pass out. In fact, she was close to that. Same as Magnus, who was now held by his mother and her boyfriend. Jace was holding Izzy and Max in his arms. Ellie, on the other hand, was pressing herself into Izzy's side. Magnus heard Jace explaining everything to their little brother, and soon, Max burst out into tears, calling out for Alec.

Magnus wanted to do the same, yet, he couldn't find his voice.

He had no idea, how long they were inside, staring at Alec's dead body, holding him, stroking his face. At some point, Magnus stopped crying, he felt numb, hollow…lifeless. His heart and soul died, he wanted his body to follow it as well.

Magnus found some strength inside of him and walked towards Alec's body after the rest of their family bid their goodbyes. He touched his right hand, brushing softly each of his fingers. Then he moved his hand to brush over his whole arm, his shoulder, his neck, the line of his jaw. He touched his cold lips, his nose, his closed eyelids, his brows, trying to memorize his features forever.

Alec was beautiful, like an angel, glowing in the yellow light of the lamps. He looked like he'd be just sleeping. He was Magnus's sleeping beauty, however, when kissed for the last time by Bane, he didn't wake up. His fairytale gone bad, ending in the most painful way.

Magnus didn't remember the days after. During those days, they set up Alec's funeral on the local cemetery. Many people from their school came by, but as asked by the family, they remained in the back and ceased the sympathy words. Lightwoods and Magnus decided that they don't want to connotate Alec with such words. They wanted to remember him being happy, smiling.

Alec's siblings and their parents made their short speeches, filled with tears, sometimes screaming, when it came to Jace. Ellie did hers as well. Magnus too, though he decided to do it in a more private way. He looked down at Alec's face and took him by his cold hand.

"Loving you, was the best thing I've done in my life, Alexander. You were…no, you still are my heart and soul. I know that even though I won't be able to see you anymore, I know you're still with me. I will always have you in my heart, Alexander. I will love you forever, sweetheart. Rest in peace. I will see you in the afterlife, Angel. I love you."

The time after Alec's funeral was a blur for Magnus. He was depressed for a few months, until Maryse shook him off it, by telling how Alec would hate if Magnus shut himself out. Magnus realized she was right, he needed to get a hang of his life and move on, but not forgetting Alec. He needed to cherish the memories they had created and lived his life. He needed to do it for his Angel.

"So, the Prince didn't have the happy ending with the knight?" his daughter asked, propping herself on Magnus's chest, sadness coloring her beautiful blue eyes. "So, the prince was unhappy for the rest of his life?"

"No. But he had a great time with him." Magnus explained. "And he wasn't sad till the rest of his life. In the most unexpected time, he was granted with another Angel in his life."

"Really?"

"Mhm." Magnus ran a hand through her locks again. "Two years after the knight was gone, the prince met in a hospital a little, beautiful girl with the most adorable smile and wonderful blue eyes. She was alone, but the moment her eyes crossed with his, they knew, they are meant to walk through their lives together. She brought him the happiness again."

"What was the name of the girl, daddy?"

"Well, Lily." Her eyes were surprised. "And once he had taken her with him, he gave her a new name. Lily Alexandra Bane."

"You're the prince, daddy?" Magnus nodded to that with a happy sigh. "And I'm your princess?"

"The one and only, forever, baby girl." She leaned up and kissed him on his cheek heartedly. "You're my heart."

"And who was your knight, daddy?"

"Alexander."

Thinking of the man didn't bring any pain to him anymore. Magnus overcame the pain, turning it into his greatest strength. It gave him the power to fight for Lily, when he had met her in the hospital, two years after Alec's death. Magnus was a volunteer then, helping in the children's wing when they brought her. She was barely one and abused by her father, after losing a mother who died in a birth. She was so vulnerable, but her blue eyes still shone with warmth, which reminded Magnus of Alexander. Bane quickly became attached to her, maybe because they both were alone in this world. He took care of her while she was in the hospital and after she was released, Magnus asked Ellie, a new social worker to take her case.

A few months later, Magnus could properly adopt Lily and gave her a new name, close to his heart. When Lightwoods and Magnus's parents met Lily, they were charmed by her adorableness. They quickly grew to love her and call her their own granddaughter and niece, even though Magnus had no chance to marry Alec.

Now, six years later, Magnus could tell he's happy again. He began to date again, though he knew, he won't have such a great love again like he had with Alec. Alec was his greatest love. But he's willing to give a try to love again, maybe one day, he could give Lily another parent.

"Are you happy, daddy?" Lily asked, playing with his necklace. It was a silver opened medallion heart-shaped with pictures of Alexander and Lily. On the back of it was engraved always and forever in my heart.

"I am, sweet pea." She was content with this answer. Lily yawned loudly and moved herself to lay properly on the bed. Magnus tucked her in once again and kissed her temple before he turned the lamp off and walked out of her room.

Magnus walked towards his own bedroom and looked at the picture of his nightstand. It was a picture from his and Alec's date in the movies, from seven years ago. Just before Alec was back in the hospital. They were so happy, smiling at each other, with love sparkling in their eyes. He sat down on the bed and took the photo in his hands. He stroked the face of Alec and smiled.

"She reminds me so much of you, Alexander." He said, chuckling. "She's so curious and smart, adorable and selfless…you would love her too. I miss you, Angel. I love you."

As Magnus thought about the story of his love, he decided that indeed, from the very beginning he had met Alexander, it became a fairy tale. Even though it ended too quickly, he was glad he met Alexander. He filled his heart with true love, the fairytale kind of true love. Despite the pain, he wouldn't change it at all.

They say that love is a beautiful tale, the only sense of life.

And theirs was like a true fairytale.

A/N: Did you like it?

So this is the end. I'm happy with both of epilogues, because it shows how such ilnesses can end. There's no happily ever after everytime, but it's important to find a strength to live again.

This isn't the last thing from me.

Look forward, because soon, I'm going to publish a new story for this fandom. It will be a collaboration with my dear friend Daime Guiral (she wrote a one shot and epilogue with me to the sequel of original MWAAF - look up in my stories.) We hope you'll like our work and that you'll bear with us. It's going to be the first time for us doing a long term collab and in such new topic. So yeah, look forward ;)

Review if you feel like to,

Intoxic