Chapter Text
They found Magnus by accident. It was funny how it happened, funny in a twisted sort of not funny way. Magnus was so careful. He more than most understood why they had to be careful and how to do so. He knew how to avoid the Shadowhunters and he knew their normal patrol routes. He knew every dark space he could duck into, if he needed. He knew every safe house and mostly, he used his knowledge to help other people.
He smuggled warlock children out of New York, to where they’d be safe. Or, safer. There wasn’t really a safe anymore. Just safer places they’d made, places that could crumble so easily if just one shadowhunter was tipped off to their existence.
Magnus helped vampires find cover when morning came. He helped them find places that Shadowhunters were unlikely to raid during the day light, looking for those that couldn’t run. He helped the stray faerie or two, though they had mostly learned to stay in their own realm for it was not safe here anymore. He helped the werewolves when he could.
He helped them all really. Alone, Magnus could escape anything quick. He was smart. He knew enough to get away any way he could. He always thought if he got caught, it would be because he was trying to help someone else who couldn’t get away as fast. That was the only thing that made sense. If anything was going to take Magnus down, it was going to be his own compassion. Ragnor had told him just as much but that wasn’t what ended up happening.
That wasn’t how he was caught. The night it happened Magnus was alone. That was what made it worse. If he had been caught helping someone he could at least accept he’d been caught for a worthy cause but being caught completely alone? It was just sloppy. It was stupid. Magnus was old enough to know better and he really had no excuse.
He’d just been tired. He’d been up for days now. He’d been so exhausted and when he found the warehouse, he knew it wouldn’t be the best idea. Shadowhunters loved to raid places like this. Vampires would hide here. Werewolves, warlocks, they’d all duck in here if they had to.
Magnus really should have known better but he’d just been so tired and he knew no one had been in that building in days. What are the odds they’d decide to check tonight, he had thought. Slim enough that he’d decided to just go in. Slim enough that he’d hid away in a corner and pressed himself into the wall before falling asleep.
Of course, that was the night they came. Maybe, they had a sensor. Maybe, they knew Magnus was there the moment he stepped inside. Magnus wasn’t sure. It didn’t really matter anyway. They came regardless and Magnus had been so tired, he hadn’t even woken up until they’d already been in the building, until he’d practically been caught already.
They saw him when he jumped to his feet and they were on him before he could try to run, throw himself out the window, something . He had the fleeting thought to make a portal but they’d found a way to track those. They’d know where he’d gone but still, maybe that would buy him enough time to get away.
In the end, he could do nothing. One of them pinned him down on his stomach. Knees and elbows dug into Magnus’ skin painfully. There was another shadowhunter behind him laughing as Magnus tired to get away, laughing as he groaned in pain. It was a piercing laughter that made Magnus’ stomach turn.
His arms were pulled behind him. His face was shoved down into the concrete floor. His magic flared out, burning at the wrists of whoever was holding him. Magnus had been hoping it would make them let him go but it didn’t.
The shadowhunter on his back just cursed and tightened his grip, snapping for the other one to come help. There were cuffs on his wrists before Magnus could do anything else, before he could even think to do anything else. One of them slammed Magnus’ head against the ground, either because of his thrashing or just because.
His magic fizzled out in his hands and then refused to bubble to the surface, even though he could feel it coiling under his skin, trying desperately to lash out at the people holding him. It was the cuffs they’d put on him. Magnus had seen them in use before. It was the same runed magic that kept warlocks from entering their sacred ground, unless they were owned of course. Permanently collared or with their runed cuffs, they could enter but not if they were free.
It was clever. It meant that the free warlocks, the ones that could actually do something to save their own people were powerless to do so and the warlocks that they kept enslaved were stuck there.
Some had escaped before but that was the whole reason they switched to the collars in the first place. The downworld knew how to get the cuffs off if someone escaped but they couldn’t get the collars off no matter how hard they tried. The collars were made of pure adamas. They couldn’t be removed once they were put on. Magnus wasn’t even sure if the Shadowhunters knew how to remove them, not that they’d ever want to.
Even if you ran, they could track you with your collar. Most who ran ended up killing themselves the second they could. Magnus didn’t blame them. Had he known that he was going to be captured today, he’d have done the same the night before. Death was better than being taken by them. Death was better than being collared, being forced to serve the nephilim and all the glory. Death was better than having to please them, then being completely at their mercy.
Magnus knew the horrible things they did to his kind who were captured. The ones who were simply used had it best. The ones who cleaned and cooked and were ignored. It was the other ones that tried to kill themselves most often. The ones who didn’t have a task other than being a toy for the Shadowhunters to fuck with when they were bored. Some had weapons used on them. Some were beaten in training. Some were strung up in the entrance halls of their buildings, kept in awful positions, being prodded and jabbed by every shadowhunter that walked by. Some were fucked. Some were used in worse ways than that.
Magnus could have hoped he’d be put to work, if things had been different but Magnus knew he would not be. He would not be allowed to hide in the kitchen. Magnus’ fate would be far worse when they noticed and Magnus was sure they would.
He was dragged bleeding to the Institute. They hauled him inside, his knees being scrapped up on the harsh steps they didn’t allow him to walk up. He was thrown to the ground in a dark room with the doors locked behind them. Only a stele could open them and Magnus didn’t have one. He couldn’t use one even if he tried, even if he could get his hands uncuffed.
They ripped his clothes off. They searched him with their fingers digging into his skin, leaving bruises in their wake. Magnus spit at them when they were done, so one grabbed his face and carved a silence rune on his cheek, grasping his jaw hard enough that Magnus was sure there would be another bruise there.
In a moment, Magnus’ jaw was sealed shut. He couldn’t even wiggle his teeth open until they decided to take that rune off, if they ever did. Magnus had heard of warlocks dying because they’d been silenced and no one had realized how long it had been until they died of dehydration and starvation. Warlocks suffered through things like that slowly. It would take weeks for a warlock to die like that.
Magnus couldn’t imagine this rune being on him for weeks but if it was, if they forgot to take it off, Magnus couldn’t see himself trying to draw attention to it. He wasn’t sure if they’d care anyway but even if they did, Magnus would rather keep his silence and die than alert them and have it taken off at the last second. Magnus wondered if the warlocks who’d died of it before him had thought the same thing or if they’d wanted to live, if they’d pointed at it and clawed at their mouth, wishing it would open so they could take even a single sip of water.
That was another thing the Shadowhunters had been smart about. They realized when they were blocking the warlock’s magic that their skin was susceptible to runes. They hurt. They burned in their place in a way that Magnus was sure didn’t happen when Shadowhunters had them but they worked and they didn’t kill them. Even if Magnus had managed to get the cuffs off his wrists, he’d die instantly when his magic met the active rune on his cheek.
One of them brought out the collar. Magnus had seen them before but never this close. He had never seen one off someone either. He’d only seen them sealed. He’d only seen the runes of ownership and control lit and active.
It looked smaller when it wasn’t around a neck. It looked more fragile. It almost looked fake, like Magnus could just pull it off when they were done with their game.
One of them pulled Magnus’ head up by his hair and held him there while the other shoved the cold metal around his neck. It was closed and sealed with the flash of a rune before Magnus could even register what was happening, as if it would have made a difference.
They dropped him after they did it and Magnus fell forward, nearly toppling over without the use of his bound hands. If Magnus had been thinking more clearly, he would have known not to bend over like that. He was naked but they hadn’t noticed yet. They would eventually but maybe, maybe Magnus could hide it-
“Oh, look-“ One of them said. He reached forward and Magnus felt his hand skimming Magnus’ back.
Magnus jerked away, his eyes widening as he realized too late what they’d seen. Someone grabbed his shoulder and held it firm in their grip, so Magnus couldn’t move. “Fuck,” One spit, sounding disappointed. “This one belongs to Alec.”
They held him firm for a moment before they let go. Magnus was shoved and this time he did fall. He fell onto his side, his arm pinned painfully against his side. He stayed still, his eyes locked onto the shadowhunters who’d caught him. They weren’t looking at him now. They were looking at each other.
Magnus knew what they’d seen. It was his soulmark. It was the name of his soulmate. Even with all their angelic grace, sometimes they still had downworlder soulmates. It had been shameful for a while but that didn’t exactly work in the Clave's favor. Soulmates were a powerful thing and the shame just led to shadowhunters hiding their marks if they knew theirs was a downworlder. It made them more susceptible to being swayed to help their soulmate get away, if they did finally meet.
They’d shifted tracks a few centuries ago. It wasn’t shameful for your soulmate to be a downworlder anymore. Instead, the shadowhunters were taught it was something special. They were taught that they were so special they’d been given a downworlder to serve them. A downworlder for them to do whatever they wanted with. Wasn’t that just wonderful?
They had a list of every shadowhunter with the name of a known downworlder. A list of those who’s soulmates might be a downworlder. They targeted them and made sure they beat every last ounce of sympathy from them. They made sure to teach them how to put their downworlder in their place, when they were finally found. They were taught how to punish them. How to control them and restrain them. What it might be fun to do to them, if they were bored.
The last thing the Clave needed was a bunch of shadowhunters respecting their soulmates, thinking of them as people when they were so clearly below them. It worked pretty well, or so Magnus had heard. He had never known personally and he’d hoped to never find out but he would soon he supposed.
“We never get to play with them,” One said bitterly, turning towards the door they’d entered from.
Magnus knew there were many like him in this building for them to play with but he also knew that they were probably broken already. What they really meant was that they never got to play with them before everyone else had a chance to ruin them.
Magnus felt a soft relief at the fact that they seemed to be leaving him alone but it was short lived. Momentary relief was all it was. He’d be brought to his soulmate soon and Magnus knew that wasn’t a good thing. Magnus had imagined once it might be good to have a soulmate if he got caught. To be bound to one person only and have relative protection from the rest of the shadowhunters.
Now, Magnus knew that shadowhunters treated their soulmates more cruelty than even the unbound warlocks who were left out to play with. They had something to prove. They had to show off that they did not care for their soulmate, or it would be suspicious. They had to show off the power they had.
Still, Magnus was thankful when they left the room and slammed it behind them, leaving him alone in the dark for a few moments. He had a moment to breathe and try to calm down. He had a moment to consider everything that had happened.
Magnus wondered what Catarina would do, when he never contacted her again. He wondered if she’d hear he’d been caught. He wondered when she’d hear. He wondered how she’d feel.
Magnus had been terrified for years that he’d find out Catarina had been taken. She was always rushing into danger to heal people. Magnus had always been so worried for her but now, it was him instead. At least, Ragnor had been caught a while ago. Magnus had heard he’d died shortly after. He wasn’t sure how. He wasn’t sure if he’d been beaten to death or if maybe, he’d managed to kill himself.
Either way, he was thankful Ragnor had gotten away from them. It had haunted him to think of Ragnor with a collar around his neck. At least his soulmate wasn’t a shadowhunter but still, Magnus was almost thankful to hear he’d died.
Now, he was the one here. He wondered what Ragnor had thought when they’d done this to him, when they’d forced a collar around his neck. He wondered if Ragnor had spit at them like Magnus had.
Magnus must have sat there for nearly an hour by himself when the door finally opened again. Magnus could see shadowhunters peering in the room, eager to see the new warlock even if he was already owned. In front of them all stood a shadowhunter that Magnus recognized instantly.
He had never seen him before. They’d never met but Magnus knew that he was looking at his soulmate. He was tall. He was handsome but Magnus knew he was supposed to feel that way. Everyone thought their soulmate was attractive, except maybe the shadowhunters who’d been taught not to think of their downworlder soulmates as anything but dirt.
Magnus’ soulmate walked into the room. He stood there and stared at Magnus with a blank expression for a long moment before he turned and closed the door behind him. Magnus wasn’t sure what he expected next. He wasn’t sure if his soulmate would want to exert his dominance right away. Maybe, he’d wait until they were alone in his room. Maybe, he wouldn’t.
Magnus’ soulmate turned back to him again and took a few steps forward before stopping. He frowned but Magnus wasn’t sure why that was. Maybe, he wasn’t pleased with Magnus. Maybe, he’d been hoping his soulmate would be better.
He knelt to the ground and pulled a stele out of his back pocket. Magnus wanted to flinch at the sight of it but he didn’t. He didn’t want his soulmate to have the satisfaction of seeing his reaction.
His soulmate reached forward and when his hands met Magnus’ face, they were far more gentle than Magnus expected them to be. He held the side of Magnus’ face in his warm hand as his stele swiped across the rune on Magnus’ cheek, deactivating it.
Instantly, Magnus felt his teeth fall apart the smallest bit. Magnus stretched his jaw a little, his eyes caught on his soulmate’s face the whole time. He was staring cautiously. He didn’t understand. He didn’t know what to expect now or how to prepare.
His soulmate let go of him. He sat back on his knees and looked Magnus over once, his eyes catching on the bruises blossoming all over Magnus’ skin, before he tried to smile. It was a sad, almost mournful expression. “I hoped they’d never tell me they found you,” He murmured.
Before Magnus could react, Alec was standing and moving to walk around him. “Let me see your wrists.” He murmured from behind, already reaching to unclasp the metal holding Magnus’ hands behind him.
Magnus’ hands fell free and then his soulmate was reach to help him stand. “I’ll get you something to wear in my room.” Alec said softly, as he led Magnus towards the door. He looked back at him and frowned sympathetically, “It would seem odd if I brought you something now.” He said before pulling the door open, leaving Magnus to follow behind him naked and dirty into the room full of shadowhunters.
Magnus would have tried to run. He would have tried to fight or get away from Alec but being here in this room seemed far more dangerous than following Alec to wherever they were going. Magnus could hear them all murmuring around him, talking about how lucky Alec was to have a warlock to himself, especially one as powerful as Magnus.
He could hear them talking about how Alec had already tamed him, talking about how easily Magnus followed him. It made Magnus want to lash out at them. It made him want to do anything to show them that he wasn’t tamed but that would be stupid.
Maybe later, he could rebel and hope they beat him to death but for now, he followed behind his soulmate with his head down and his eyes burning in anger. If he had his magic, he could kill them all so easily but he didn’t have his magic and most likely, he’d never be able to use it again.
There were some warlocks that were allowed to use theirs. The nephilim still needed things done for them that only magic could do but Magnus would never be one of those warlocks. He was too powerful to ever be allowed to use his magic again and besides, he had a soulmate. He was nothing but a toy now.
Magnus thought about Alec’s gentle touch and his soft words and he wondered if Alec would be different. If he’d be nice. If somehow, something kind had survived here and then, he pushed that thought away. It would be stupid to get his hopes up.
The most he could hope for now was death and if they would not grant him that, then he hoped maybe his soulmate would be busy a lot. Maybe, he wouldn't have much time to spend doing whatever it was he was going to do with him.
That was a more realistic goal to hope for.
Magnus kept his eyes down the whole walk to Alec’s room, half because he didn’t want to see all the shadowhunters looking at him and half because he didn’t want to recognize anyone he used to know here. At least, Ragnor was dead. He would not have to see him like this. Ragnor would not have to see Magnus like this.
That made Magnus feel a little better but not much.