Chapter Text
Life as a shadowhunter was one spent in training. That was a universal truth that they all knew. From the instant they were able to walk, able to hold something in their hands, nephilim children were put into training. They were taught the proper way to walk, to move, how to hold themselves, right alongside their prayers and educational schooling.
Beyond the seraph blades and signature weapons that became a part of their lives later on – an extension of their bodies, as well versed in using them as they were in using their hands or their legs – nephilim children were taught that their bodies themselves were weapons. Ones they needed to have absolute control over.
Alec Lightwood-Bane had spent the past two decades doing his level best to make sure that his body was the best weapon it could be. One that he could use to keep his family and his people safe. He had honed his skill against countless opponents over the years. More recently, against his husband, which was an exercise in control that Alec loved and loathed every single time.
While he wasn’t quite up to Magnus’ skill – the man had trained for centuries, not just a paltry few decades like Alec – he liked to think he was skilled enough. He held his own against Jace, after all. Considering his parabatai was lauded as the best of their generation that was a pretty good feat to lay claim to.
Training against them had nothing on training against an archangel.
The thud that jolted through Alec as he hit the ground once more was hard enough to rattle his teeth.
“Nice job!” Gabriel called out.
Scowling, Alec brushed his hair back off his forehead and glared up at the sky. “Thanks.”
Laughter echoed around the large clearing. The two of them were in the same pocket dimension that Gabriel had once brought them to when they’d communed for the first time. He said it was the safest place for Alec to practice where he wouldn’t risk calling too much attention to himself or hurting anyone. Which meant that no one else was allowed to come with them, either.
For the past two months Alec and Gabriel had come here every other day to train. They practiced using his powers, honing them so that they did what he wanted them to do, and they practiced with all the physical as well. His body was enhanced beyond even what his runes had ever given him, and there was no shutting it off. Alec was faster, stronger, more agile, and he needed to train until he could trust himself not to move too quickly or accidentally use too much strength when reaching for a pen or a doorknob.
They also worked on combining those two things together – physical and magical. Gabriel taught Alec how to combine grace with his combat training to enhance his movements and make him even deadlier. He promised that one day it’d all be second nature, even if it felt so strange right now. Magnus promised the same thing.
Alec kept hoping for the day that easier part came into practice. As it stood right now, he spent most of the time feeling like a novice all over again. Something he wasn’t exactly eager to repeat.
It had to be said, though, that Gabriel was a far kinder taskmaster than any of Alec’s trainers ever had been. He didn’t threaten or punish if Alec got something wrong. Sure, he knocked him on the ground a lot, and Alec definitely walked away with bruises that his grace took a bit to heal. But he also helped Alec back up each and every time, and he patiently showed him what he’d done wrong and how to correct it, or he gave him just enough for Alec to work it out himself.
He also praised far more than he teased. Just like now.
Strolling forward, Gabriel held one hand out and caught hold of Alec’s as soon as he lifted it, tugging him up to his feet. “Give yourself a little credit, kiddo. It took you ten seconds longer this time around before your ass met the ground.”
Alec rolled his eyes and let himself get pulled up to his feet. “Yeah. Ten whole seconds.”
“You’ve got the basics down, and you’re picking up on more and more each day.” Once Alec was upright, Gabriel let go of him only to hook his hands in his pockets and grin up at him, rocking up on his toes as he did. “You’re just pouting cause you haven’t managed to kick my ass yet.”
“The thought has crossed my mind.”
Unlike most other people in Alec’s life, Gabriel didn’t roll his eyes or get annoyed with Alec’s dry humor. If anything, it only seemed to make his grin grow even wider almost like he was proud of just how snarky Alec could get. Which, the more Alec thought about it, the more likely it was.
“Oh, definitely proud,” Gabriel chimed in shamelessly. Two months of Alec’s scowls and he still showed no shame or regret whatsoever in casually picking up on Alec’s thoughts and giving commentary. For the most part Alec’s protesting had turned pretty much instinctive, and mostly insincere. Everything he’d learned made it clear that, while a lesser angel might not pick up as much and could block it all out easier, archangels didn’t have that luxury.
“We’re kind of ridiculous powerhouses,” Gabriel had explained once. “Dad didn’t exactly build us with subtlety in mind. We were the first, and he was still sort of new at the gig. Made us a little supercharged. When it came time to make the others, he was a bit more careful, knew exactly what he wanted them to be. The first of us were the equivalent of smashing a whole bunch of things together to see what happened.”
Everything that Alec learned from Gabriel always felt like the strangest sort of revelation. Part of Alec still felt the awe that came with talking to an archangel of all beings. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get over hearing someone talk so casually about God and angels and Heaven. After a lifetime spent worshiping them all, this sort of casualness felt almost like… blasphemy.
Though it was getting easier and easier to move past that with each time Gabriel knocked him flat on his ass. Or on those nights he’d join them for a meal and share the kinds of stories that would leave Alec’s face burning.
A warm arm slid around Alec’s waist at the same time that the bright sound of Gabriel’s laughter echoed through the open air. “You are all over the place up there today. C’mon, kiddo, I think you could do with a little meditating. Let that brain of yours rest for a little while.”
The idea of that sounded wonderful – in theory. Letting his brain rest was something Alec wished he was capable of doing. But there was just too much going on in his life to really get that sort of a chance. Every time he managed to stop thinking about one thing another of the eight thousand things in his brain took center stage. They had so much going on right now it was impossible to ignore it all.
Between training his powers, learning to live with them in both a home and work setting, dodging the Clave and all their pushiness after the Trial, trying to comb everything and reach out to every contact he had in an effort to hunt down whoever was going after all the hell dimensions, as well as using what little free time he had to try and research hell dimensions as well as anything that might help them stop this person once they found them…
Life was busy, and chaotic, and Alec would be more than happy to rest. Unfortunately, even when he did get the chance, that rest wasn’t entirely peaceful. It never was when he and Magnus were apart. And for the last week Magnus had been at the Spiral Labyrinth doing his own research into hell dimensions as well as doing his best to try and find the one responsible for going after them.
Neither one of them was all that fond of being apart from one another. They’d always been abundantly aware of just how… little their time together was. They wanted to make the most of it.
Not anymore, a part of Alec whispered.
He pushed that thought back down with a quiet giddiness that was broken by the familiar waves of guilt, hope, and worry.
They hadn’t talked yet about immortality and what these angel powers might mean for Alec. Too many other things kept getting in the way. (Too many things they let get in the way. Alec wasn’t blind to the cautious hope that filled his husband now and again. Nor did he imagine Magnus was blind to the hope and fear both that rolled through Alec every time he thought about staying with Magnus, or about leaving his siblings, his parabatai, behind)
The arm around Alec’s waist went a little tighter. “Okay, yeah, forget meditating. There’s no way you’re gonna unclench enough for that.” Instead of dragging Alec any further forward, Gabriel tugged down instead, dragging the both of them down to the ground. “Come on. It’s been too many days since we last communed. Let’s see if we can get that angst-cloud over your head to be a little bit lighter.”
“I’m fine,” Alec insisted, though he didn’t stop Gabriel from yanking him down and close. “I don’t have an angst-cloud. I just…”
“Have a fuckton on your plate and no husband to fuck it all out of you at the end of the night?”
Color flooded Alec’s cheeks. “Gabriel!”
“What? You can’t tell me that’s not what you’re gonna do the instant he’s home. I’ve already got an extra set of wards up around the place to contain whatever backlash you’re gonna let loose.” When that only made Alec’s blush worse, Gabriel grinned brightly at him. Then he shifted himself around until he was loosely cross-legged right in front of Alec. His wings spread out behind him in a display that still stole Alec’s breath away.
What little he’d seen of Gabriel’s wings the first time they’d done this was nothing compared to what he saw now. With each passing day it felt like his senses were a little stronger. That meant Alec could clearly make out the shades of gold that made up Gabriel’s feathers. Not just the blindingly bright shine of them, but all the other shades, too, from a dark burnished gold to something so pale it was almost white. They were stunningly beautiful. The sort of thing that Alec couldn’t help but feel awe over.
Gabriel grinned, though he said nothing on whatever he could hear from him, and he held his hands out, palm up. “Now c’mon. While I can’t provide you the relief Hubby will, I can at least help get rid of that headache you’ve no doubt got from thinking so hard.”
It was on the tip of Alec’s tongue to protest or scold the being in front of him. However, he knew from experience that it wouldn’t do any good. Especially when they were going to be joining their graces together in just a moment. Gabriel would be able to feel everything then, Alec wouldn’t have to say a word.
Though the two always ended up cuddled up in some way once they got going in this, they always started out this way. Like this, Alec could pretend that he was a grown man who wasn’t about to snuggle against an archangel like a baby.
Alec knew he shouldn’t want to do this. He was a grown adult, he didn’t need to have this sort of comfort. Hell, he hadn’t needed this when he was a child! It was easier when they used this as a method of teaching. When they’d reach out and touch grace, Gabriel would pass thought and feeling and knowledge to him, and Alec shared whatever the hell it was he couldn’t keep under lock and key – because those touches always went both ways.
But moments like this? The ones that Gabriel called communing. They always felt like reaching for something he shouldn’t. Like he was wanting things that weren’t his right to have. And he did want it. Despite his protests, Alec loved these moments where he felt small, and safe, and loved, and held together by someone who expected nothing out of him other than that he be who he was. Someone who had seen all parts of Alec – literally, there was nothing that could be hidden when communing like this, not unless you were extremely careful and Alec had no idea yet on how to do that – and who still cared about him anyway.
Gabriel smiled softly at him and said nothing on whatever he was picking up from Alec’s thoughts. He stayed where he was, hands held out between them, and waited. No smirk, no jokes. Just a steady patience and a look of affectionate understanding that
There’s no shame in doing this, or in enjoying it, a voice that sounded suspiciously like Magnus’ reminded him.
With one last deep breath, Alec reached his hands out and laid them on top of Gabriel’s, letting go of everything, giving himself permission to be just Alec, even for just a little while.
How long the two of them were lost in one another was something Alec hadn’t quite figured out how to be able to sense. Gabriel insisted it was because he was so young. “You’re a nestling,” he told Alec, over and over, without any of the snark that would’ve made those words mocking instead of factual. “Even when you were just a teeny tiny nephilim you responded to me like I was your superior. With the familial bond we’ve got going on, and the fact that you’re a nestling and I’m me? We’re both lucky this worked out the way it did and didn’t end up with you clinging to my grace like most nestlings would.”
Yeah, that definitely would’ve put a damper on the whole stop the end of the world thing that Alec had signed up for.
Still, Alec couldn’t deny that a large part of him felt so much better after these little sessions, no matter how he might protest them or get flustered later on. Being wrapped up in Gabriel’s grace was wonderful. Alec always felt so much better when they pulled apart. Like he’d just come off of a full day with Magnus, a great sparring session with Jace, and a little alone time with himself and a good book, all combined together.
You really are a sweet one underneath all those scowls of yours, Gabriel murmured to him as they slowly began to draw apart.
Little by little physical sensation started to return for Alec. The first thing he felt – the first thing he always felt – was the brush of feathers. Gabriel wrapped them up in his wings whenever he did this. A fact which they both knew Alec loved even if he didn’t come out and say it.
Take your time, enjoy the sensation for a bit. There is no rush.
As if to put a lie to those words, a soft whoosh sounded nearby, the sound something Alec had been trained to listen for. He moved instinctively and reached up just as a fire message came tearing through the air toward him. Gabriel’s wings parted in a curtain of gold that Alec would’ve admired at any other time, allowing the message to come through.
One look was all it took for the peace Alec felt to wash away. The note was from the Portland Institute. A call for backup – apparently they had a massive rift open and were calling in every ounce of backup they could to hold them over while the warlocks they’d hired shut the rift. To reach out to New York, all the way on the other side of the country, meant it had to be bad. Alec scrambled upright, absently noting that Gabriel rose with him.
“Hold tight,” Gabriel warned him, reaching out to Alec’s arm as he did. He didn’t need Alec to explain to him what was going on. Either he’d read the note himself or he’d plucked it straight out of Alec’s head. Whatever it was, he wasted no time in flying them out of there.
They went from Gabriel’s pocket dimension to Alec’s office at the Institute in the blink of an eye. Alec gave one brief glimpse around to orient himself and then he was moving, hurrying over to his desk. A few quick taps on his phone put out the all call to his people to gather in the Ops Center. Another few messages summoned the others he’d need first.
“I’m gonna leave you to this,” Gabriel said, watching as Alec sank down behind his desk and reached for his tablet. Gone were any signs of the soft little nestling that had been cuddling against Gabriel just moments ago. In their place was a shadowhunter. One who was in full leader mode.
Still, Alec made a point to look up and say a quick “Thank you, Gabriel.” It got him a smile and a wink before the archangel was gone in a flutter of wings.
Not a moment too soon, either. Just seconds after Gabriel vanished there was a rap against the door. It was followed almost instantly by the door opening and the familiar face of his newly hired secretary peeking in.
Captain Benjamin Sunkeep looked like the ideal shadowhunter at first glance. Tall, just an inch or so taller than Alec, with a lean yet strong build, the last thing most people would peg him as would be a secretary. Yet from the moment Alec had pulled him from the Intelligence Division and offered him a job as his personal secretary, he’d seen the man flourish.
Right on his heels was Andrew, his Head of Security, and First General Cordelia Roseweather, Head of Operations.
“Come in,” Alec said, gesturing with one hand. “We don’t have a lot of time to waste. I got a fire message from the Portland Institute requesting immediate backup for a widespread rift pouring demons into their city. What I need…”
The three looking on snapped to attention as soon as Alec started speaking. The more he spoke, the more their attitude shifted into that same readiness that all shadowhunters possessed. They’d been taught and trained to be warriors. Ones who were ready to go to war in an instant.
It only took ten minutes for Alec to arrange and instigate all the necessary protocols to guarantee the safety and protection of his Institute while he was gone. Control would briefly pass to Cordelia, who would keep things here running as smoothly as possible. Five minutes after that and they had the only available warlock on retainer at the moment – Catarina – there in the Ops Center, ready to portal them to Portland, and to portal them back when they needed.
She seemed surprised to find the teams already ready and waiting to go once she got there. Five teams, all armed to the teeth and in full battle gear, ready and waiting behind Alec. Both Jace and Isabelle stood at Alec’s back, with Clary there between them, his own team waiting with him.
“You know, once upon a time, this sight would’ve been enough to send me running,” Catarina said wryly, looking around the room before she settled her gaze on Alec.
There wasn’t anything Alec could say to that; it was the truth. He settled instead on saying, “Thank you for coming, Cat. I really appreciate it.”
“You’re lucky I like you and your husband as much as I do. This is my night off with Madzie. She’s not thrilled I had to leave to portal her favorite uncle somewhere, and I didn’t bring her with me.”
Alec grimaced, a bit of the warrior melting away for a moment. “I’ll make it up to you both. An the Institute is prepared to pay handsomely for your services tonight.”
“Oh trust me, I’ll get my payment, and so will she,” Catarina said, laughing lightly at the quiet sigh Alec let out. They both knew Madzie had her uncle – both her uncles – wrapped firmly around her little fingers. Whatever payment she’d demand for being unable to come to the Institute tonight was one that Alec wouldn’t hesitate to pay. Happily.
Right now there wasn’t time for that, though. Despite their playful banter Catarina was already moving through the motions of summoning up a portal in the designated area. As soon as it snapped into place, the shadowhunters around her became even more alert, ready for trouble the instant they walked through.
Catarina caught Alec right as he took a step forward, ready to go through. Concern showed in little lines at the corners of her eyes – the only thing she’d let show in front of a group like this. “Call me if you need anything, Alec.” One corner of her mouth quirked up in a faintly teasing smirk. “I don’t want to deal with Magnus if he finds out you were hurt and I didn’t help. Especially with something like this.”
If only you knew. Alec pushed that thought back – as well as the guilt that came with knowing that his friend and one of Magnus’ dearest friends had no clue about the recent changes in their life – and resolved yet again to bring it up with Magnus. Later. Right now, there was a job that needed done, and no time to waste.
Alec settled for giving one last nod, and then he headed into the portal, his teams following behind him.