Chapter Text
Though he knew they existed, Alec had never been to a shadow market, a real one, until he started dating Magnus. They were closely guarded secrets of the Downworld and the Shadowhunters had tried, more than once, to infiltrate them, only to be firmly rebuffed and run off.
It’s only when they’re standing hand in hand and Magnus lead him down an alley that ended in a large stone wall that Alec’s eyes widened and he realized where Magnus was about to take him. He froze and stopped them a few feet from the wall, his whole body tense.
“Alexander?” Magnus frowned and looked back at him, at the clear concern and borderline panic on Alec’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“You’re taking me to the Shadow Market, aren’t you?” Alec blurted, his eyes wide.
Magnus raised his eyebrows. “I had planned on it, but since you look like you’re about to have a panic attack, I’m reconsidering it. What’s wrong?”
Alec took a deep breath and looked down at him. “I have six different weapons on me, Magnus. I can’t go into what your people consider a sanctuary of the downworld - a place Nephilim are unwelcome and unwanted armed like this, I’d confirm every single impression of shadowhunters they have and-”
Magnus blinked in bemusement at Alexander and the rising agitation on his face. “That’s what you’re worried about?”
Alec frowned at Magnus. “Of course!”
Reaching up, Magnus pulled Alexander down and into a kiss, waiting until Alec relaxed into it before he moved back and summoned a portal, gesturing to it. “This’ll take you home. You can put your stuff back.”
Alec lit up and dashed through the portal excitedly. He quickly deposited his weapons and holsters on the weapons rack he kept for them and pocketed his stele before dashing back through the portal. He looked at Magnus with a grin. “My stele is all right, right?”
Magnus gave a smile. “Your stele is fine, Alexander. Long as you don’t go around activating runes, I don’t think anyone will even notice.”
Alec relaxed and nodded, reaching out to take Magnus’ hand as he summoned another portal, this one looking different than usual, the circle edged in a rainbow of colors. He took Magnus’ hand and took a deep breath, ordering himself to settle and to calm down. When Magnus stepped through the portal with him, Alec’s eyes widened at the sight of all the color.
Magic sparked in the air, bright, wild, and carefree, dashing amongst the banners and bright fabric hanging above them, protecting them from the harsh light of the sun. Dozens of languages were being spoken at the same time, a chatter rising above the sound of the crowd as stalls shouted their wares to passerby.
“What do you think?” Magnus asked, watching the open and honest awe on Alec’s face as he took everything in. His heart swelled at the growing grin from his husband as his eyes darted everywhere before coming back to him. “Like it?”
“It’s incredible,” Alec breathed, turning his attention around them again. He inhaled slowly and the scent of food made him grin again before he looked to Magnus. “Where to first?”
Magnus laughed in delight. “I have ingredients I need to pick up from an apothecary, but until then, I thought we could maybe explore and see what catches your eye?”
“Other than all of it?” Alec asked, looking around them again. “Magnus I don’t even know where to begin!”
“A step forward,” Magnus teased, giving Alec’s hand a small tug towards a cluster of booths. Alec’s presence was drawing dozens of curious stares, but his obvious joy and excitement were keeping the suspicion to a minimum, exactly as he had hoped. Their joined hands, he suspected, also reminded everyone that this was Magnus’ husband, and he was of no danger to them here.
Alec’s eyes lit up and he started asking questions about the different potion ingredients that were available on the table, engaging the warlock unwillingly into a conversation. Magnus watched in amusement as Alec absorbed any of the knowledge eagerly and hesitantly asked about combining the properties with Adamas and what the potentials of it were. Unsurprisingly, the seller didn’t have much experience with it, but Magnus watched as Alec promised to document and bring information back and purchased several ingredients.
Once Alec had taken his hand again, Magnus chuckled. “And here I thought I’d have to hold your hand through all of this.”
Alec shook his head. “This is just like Tokyo! I didn’t know anything there, I found that as long as I was open and honest, asking good questions did the rest.”
Magnus smiled in bemusement and let Alec lead them to the next booth further down the line.
~!~
Alec lost track of how many booths they had passed, but when he came across another, the sight of a lock caught his eye and he froze. He’d wandered a bit away from Magnus and now at the booth, he couldn’t help staring at the lock that looked almost identical to the one that they no longer had. He looked up at the seller and swallowed. “How much?”
“Not for sale, shadowhunter,” the seller said with a shake of his head. “Not even one as kind as yourself.”
Alec’s face fell and he stared at the lock. “May I touch it briefly? I have memories of a very similar lock.”
The warlock raised an eyebrow but nodded readily enough. “No harm in that.”
Alec picked up the lock and traced his fingers along the edge and smiled at it. It was almost identical. “It’s beautiful craftsmanship. Thank you,” he added, putting the lock back down on the table, giving it one last glance before moving back towards Magnus.
He accepted a bag with a bottle of wine and took Magnus’ hand and started to stroll down the street again, looking around for whatever could catch his attention next.
The sound of skittering, one that Alec knew better than any other, caught his attention and he froze at Magnus’ side. His eyes flew to the alley on the other side of a group of children who were dancing and playing with ribbons and sparks of magic, and the Shax demon on the wall behind them.
Alec cursed his decision to abandon every single weapon he had and grabbed the wine bottle in the bag he was carrying that Magnus had decided to impulse buy. “Magnus, get the kids!”
He shoved past a warlock and a seelie who scowled at him, and swung the bottle, shattering the end of it against a booth, making a mess, before he threw the broken bottle at the Shax demon, watching it fall twitching to the ground as people started to shout.
Alec pushed two of the kids past him and towards Magnus and other adults and grabbed the still squirming Shax demon and ripped its stinger off, before stabbing it, watching it dissolve into ichor. He stood up and stepped into the alley. The sound of more skittering came and he narrowed his eyes, grabbing his stele with his free hand, quickly tracing as many runes as he could before four more Shax demons stepped out of the shadows.
“Alexander!” Magnus shouted, helping the teacher gather the kids and get them out of the way.
Alec looked over his shoulder at Magnus and shook his head, turning to face the demons again. The first Shax demon jumped at him and Alec ripped it in half with his bare hands, snarling at the others. The next two were dispatched with the stinger still clutched in his hand, but he’d lost sight of the fourth. Behind him, he heard a child scream and spun, the Shax demon ready to jump.
Alec leaped for it, grabbing it by the tail, shouting when the stinger sank into his arm, before he threw it back into the alley, dispatching it with the stinger he held a moment later. It looked like that was all of them, and he dropped the stinger he was holding, his hand that had been stung aching. He took a deep breath, trying to stay focused, and he shifted, turning to look at the crowd at the entrance to the alley, cradling his arm against his chest.
“Are,” he cleared his throat, hating how hoarse he sounded. “Are you all okay?”
“I believe that is the question we should be asking you, shadowhunter.”
Alec blinked, trying to focus on the woman in front of him. He hated how fast Shax venom could make you woozy. It was never enough to kill unless you were stung multiple times, but it was making it impossible to focus. “Magnus,” he managed, trying to tell her that he needed his husband.
“I’m here,” Magnus said a second later, reaching out for Alec’s hand. “I’m here, darling, let me.”
Alec sagged in relief, leaning into Magnus, pressing his face against his neck with a sigh, offering his hand up for healing. “Sorry ‘bout the wine…” he mumbled.
Magnus snorted and shook his head. “The wine is the least of my worries right now, Alexander.” He carefully pulled the venom out of Alec, piece by piece, and watched clarity return to Alec’s hazel eyes. “Are you injured anywhere else?”
Alec shook his head. “S’just Shax demons.”
“Shax demons that could have caused a lot more trouble had you not acted as quickly as you did, Lightwood,” a calm voice spoke. “Magnus, let me see this shadowhunter of yours.”
Alec blinked, bringing the older, regal woman into proper focus as Magnus healed him. He offered her a smile. “Couldn’t let the kids be hurt.”
“Not all of your kind would have acted in such a way,” she said.
Alec sighed and pushed his fingers through his hair. “I know. I’m working on it.”
She hummed and held out her hand, a small key shimmering to life. “A gift and a thank you, for thinking of the children first, and your own safety last.” Watching him take it, she smiled widely and watched it disappear. “You will always find friends in the Shadow Markets across the world, Alec Lightwood.”
Alec watched her go and looked back at Magnus. “I get the feeling that I just impressed someone.”
“You did,” Magnus agreed. “She’s on the High Warlock Council.”
Alec blinked once and digested that. “The one that sits in the Spiral Labyrinth?”
“The very same,” Magnus agreed, turning to another warlock who had approached them with a raised eyebrow. “Everything all right Isaiah?”
“Here,” Isaiah said, thrusting the lock towards Alec.
Alec took it and blinked down at the sight of his and Magnus’ names on the back of it, running his thumbs over it carefully before up at the warlock. “Are you sure?”
“It belongs with you,” Isaiah said, nodding to Magnus before he turned and made his way back to his booth.
“What’s that?” Magnus asked, leaning closer to Alec. His eyes widened at the sight of the lock and his breath caught. “Alec…?”
Alec cleared his throat, glad that the crowd was starting to disperse from around them now that the excitement had died down and he showed Magnus the lock. “I thought…” he said, biting his lip. “You might like to put one back? A new start as husbands?”
“I’d like that,” Magnus said, his voice soft, looking down at the lock. He stared up at Alec. “Shall we stop there before we head home for the day?”
Alec nodded and pocketed the lock, reaching out for Magnus’ hand, before he belated realized he was still covered in ichor. “Uh, little help?”
Magnus snorted. “Ah yes, we need to erase the evidence.” He winked at Alec and cleaned him with a wave of his fingers before taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. “Shall we head there now?”
“Yeah,” Alec said, rolling his shoulders and stretching before he followed Magnus through the portal that he summoned a second later. The sight of the LOVE sign made him grin and he stepped up next to Magnus, bumping their shoulders together. “At least you don’t need to be worried about the surprise this time.”
Magnus huffed and gave him a look. “You going to insist on putting the lock on again?”
“Of course!” Alec shot back, reaching out to take Magnus’ hand, bringing him closer to the LOVE sign, stealing a quick kiss. He surveyed it and raised his eyebrow at Magnus.
“Here,” Magnus said, pointing to an opening. “Right here, Alexander?”
“Looks great,” Alec agreed, hooking the lock and rubbing his fingers over their names before he clicked it shut.
A rush of wild, golden magic exploded from the lock, wrapping around the both of them.
Alec grabbed for Magnus’ hand, shouting for him, only to have his voice lost to the whirlwind around the both of them before it was abruptly sucked into both of their chests, leaving silence around them. He stared at Magnus in shock. “What, what was that, Magnus?”
Magnus stared in shock at Alec, at the golden thread he could see between the both of them. He could feel it now, Alec’s heartbeat beating next to his, their life force bound together. “It’s a soul bond,” he whispered, his eyes wide.