Just out of curiosity, who here has listened to Adam Lambert's new song "If I Had You"? The first verse alone ("So I got my boots on, Got the right amount of leather and I'm doing me up with a black colored liner…") screams Magnus, no? Getting to the story at hand, yes, this is another update! I had a short brain-fart but thankfully there were no serious consequences. I'm updating and I hope you all return the favor by reading and reviewing!

"Magnus!" Alec whimpered, pausing every now and then to upchuck his dinner. "Maggie, Maggie…" His sobs had died down about an hour ago and were replaced with hiccups and whimpering. He had the warlock's head on his lap and was gently stroking the ink black hair similar to Izzy's, vaguely aware that every time he pulled his hands away, glitter covered him all the way up to the elbows. But he didn't care; his entire world was falling apart and all that he had left was the glitter on his body to remind him of his past.

"Alec," Izzy cooed. She stood right behind him and was stroking his hair just as he was doing to Magnus, except her tears had dried up whereas Alec was unsure the flood would ever end. Magnus, the love of my life…

"Oh Jace," Clary cried as she buried her face deeper into Jace's chest. She didn't love Magnus as much as Alec did, but she loved the warlock like a brother and felt the pain just as much as Alec did.

Alec wasn't aware of how much time had passed, but before he knew it, Izzy and Jace had forced him to his feet while the adults poured into the room, identical masks of shock and horror clear on their faces. Robert and Maryse stopped in front of Alec and when he ran into their arms, they began to cry in unison.

It was easily one of the saddest moments Clary had witnessed in a while. Immediately, she was brought back to the Accords hall and saw before her the same arrangement as back then; The Lightwoods huddled over a lost member with Jace just on the outskirts. But this time, he held her in his arms with such a tight grasp, she began to lose all feeling in her arms where his hands encircled them. She knew he was only holding onto her that way because he was scared of losing her as well–that much was clear from the look in his eyes–but the thing was, regardless of the fact that he was hurting her, she didn't want him to let go. She wanted him to press her against himself so tightly, they would mold together again, only because it meant that she could never be separated from him the way Magnus was torn away from Alec.

Hours later after the Lightwoods ceremoniously covered the body and stored it in the weapons room since it was temperature regulated so that they could have a proper burial the next day, Alec found sleep completely out of reach. The longer he tossed and turned in his bed, the more impatient he got.

Usually, when he had sleeping problems, Alec would ask Magnus for a sleeping potion via some sort of telepathy that Magnus had installed in his brain. Alec felt the pain pluck at his heart like a harp and turned over to his side where he conveniently placed a garbage bag in case he felt nauseous. He felt the bile make its way up to his throat but couldn't find it in himself to actually puke. So he swallowed it down, despite his stomach's protests, and kicked off the sheets, given up on sleep.

He padded to the door, took a deep breath and decided to let his feet wander to clear his mind. He made it down the hallway and was about to turn the corner when he suddenly collided with a soft wall that went "oomph!"

"What the–?" The other person grabbed Alec's shoulders and he stopped resisting when he realized it was Jace. Alec sagged in Jace's hands and if it weren't for Jace, Alec would've fallen flat on his face.

"Have you gotten any sleep at all?" Jace asked, forcing Alec's bobbing head to stay up so he could examine his face. "You look horrible."

"Thanks, Jace. I can always count on getting a compliment from you," Alec snapped, but his heart wasn't all that into it.

"I wasn't finished," Jace said softly. "I was going to say that if you need anyone to talk to, you know I'm here for you always." The corner of Jace's mouth quirked up a little, which oddly enough reminded Alec of Ma–

"Thanks," Alec replied hastily, ducking out from under Jace's arms. "But I just want some time to just clear my head, you know?"

"Understood" was all Jace said, clapping him on the shoulder before he left. And for some reason, Alec had a feeling that Jace did actually understand–more than he anticipated. And that scared him the most. They were parabati after all, so he wasn't too surprised when Jace basically read his mind every now and then. But that didn't mean it didn't scare him when Jace's assumptions were right.

Alec continued on his way when he stopped in front of the weapons room. It was as if there was a magnet on the other side of the door that was opposite the magnet inside of Alec that was drawing him in like a fish on a hook. Before he knew it, his hand was closing on the doorknob and he was sliding through, as silent as a cool breeze.

It was clear from the sudden biting cold that the weapons room had been set up to accommodate a dead body the moment Alec slid in. He glanced around the room until his eyes found the metal table set in the middle of the room, a single lamp overhead being the only source of light in the entire room. It was a fluorescent bulb, so it had a draining effect on the sleek steel metal inside the room that gleamed where the light touched it.

Alec sucked in his breath when he realized that the body was placed on top of the table, the table where he and all the other Shadowhunters made their weapons or discussed their strategies for whatever demon hunt they were about to do. In the back of his mind, Alec wondered if they did this with every dead body in an Institute.

He took a step forward and before he knew it, he was standing in front of the table, his hand outstretched and hovering right above the cloth that covered the lifeless body in front of him. What are you doing? He paused. You only know that once you see it, his death is forever sealed in stone. Do you want to do that to yourself? See him lying there, cold and lifeless?

Alec sighed and shook his head. But as he was about to withdraw his hand, the cloth twitched under it and suddenly, a pale hand reached out and grabbed onto his hand. Alec froze, too stunned to do anything. Slowly, the cloth fell away as the body underneath it sat up. The warlock sitting in front of Alec pulled his hand back to run his fingers through his matted hair, Alec staring at him wide-eyed and silent the entire time.

Finally, as if he'd just realized someone was there with him, Magnus looked at Alec. "Well?" he demanded. "Aren't you going to greet your boyfriend?"

Alec took a step back and turned his head in time to spew his guts on the floor.