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Magnus stood in the entryway Lightwood estate, one of the larger houses in the Encanto, while his father was downstairs arranging his marriage to Isabelle. All four Lightwood children had been blessed with gifts along with their mother, and his father had told him in the years following when he didn’t get a gift that he would marry into that family.
There was no way to guarantee your child would get a gift. He was in the third generation born in the Encanto, and the fourth was already being born and no one had cracked the code. The only correlation anyone could find was that it seemed that when one parent had a gift, their children were a little more likely to have children who were blessed. His late mother had had a gift, but Magnus himself had not been blessed. Now his father was planning on marrying him off to try and guarantee that he’d have at least one gifted grandchild.
He didn’t want to think about what would happen if he didn’t.
He looked up to the landing and saw Isabelle standing there, outside her brother’s door. The few times Magnus had been over and she was on the landing, she often saw her standing and watching from outside Alec’s door. Magnus didn’t really remember the time when Alec was around, but he had to imagine him and Isabelle standing in that same spot, watching what happened below. He hadn’t seen her happy since Alec left.
After Alec got his gift, he became the buzz of the town. Everyone had wanted to know their future, and he was constantly welcoming people into the home and into his room, which held a space big enough for him to have his visions. Magnus himself had wanted to go see him, but his father forbade him. He had said if Magnus was going to marry into the Lightwood family, he couldn’t let the Lightwoods know while they were all still children. So Magnus never got to see the mystical fortune-teller.
The Lightwoods continued to be the talk of the town when two years later, Alec’s brother, Jace, got his gift. His favorite thing to do would be to use his gift to make himself look like his older brother. People would travel to the Lightwood home to see their future and to see themselves reflected back at them while they did it.
It was not unheard of for families to have two children with gifts. There had never been a family that had had more than two children with gifts to the point where there was talk about potentially not having a gift ceremony at all for Isabelle. A year after his own failed gift ceremony, they had chosen to go through with Isabelle’s at Maryse Lightwood’s insistence (and a not so subtle threat to have a hurricane come through the Encanto during every important occasion until her daughter’s ceremony). Four years after Alec had been blessed with the ability to see the future, Isabelle had been blessed with strength beyond anyone’s comprehension.
But by the time Max had been blessed with the ability to speak to animals, more than ten years after his oldest brother had gotten his gift, Alec had already left. No one knew where he went or why he left, but after he left it was like he never existed. The Lightwoods stopped speaking about him altogether. He had disappeared when Magnus was twelve years old and he didn’t remember much, but in the years after he had heard lots of people around the Encanto saying they were glad he was gone because he only brought on bad things. Magnus was not inclined to believe that.
There was only one person in the house who ever even spoke Alec’s name, and that was Jace. But the only time he ever said it was to tell someone else they don’t talk about Alec.
Magnus really didn’t know what to do with himself when his father and Maryse made their way into the dining room. He looked up at Isabelle, but she had wandered back into her room. He didn’t know if Max or Jace were around. A few of Max’s animals were wandering, but that was standard for the Lightwood home. So, with nothing else better to do, Magnus began to wander.
The house was gorgeous, especially as he explored deeper into it. There were countless priceless works of art hung up around the house. When he turned a corner and made his way down another hall, he could’ve sworn he saw one of the frames move. He looked behind him before he went down to the frame he saw movement. He ran his fingers alongside it and he felt it move again. He got his fingers behind it and pulled. It moved on hinges to reveal a rather large hole in the wall that led deeper inside.
He looked back into the hallway again and when he turned back around, he saw movement in the wall.
“Hello?” he called out and then he heard footsteps, almost running. Without thinking he climbed into the wall and started chasing after the footsteps.
“Wait!” Magnus yelled as he rounded the corner, seeing a person in a black hood. He stopped and looked at Magnus before he took off again. He groaned and continued to run after him. He had a feeling he knew who he was chasing after, and he was going to catch him.
Magnus didn’t know how long the chase went on. Though there was really only one tunnel for him to follow, it was incredibly tight with sudden sharp turns, and he wanted to keep up with the person he was pursuing. The last thing he needed was to come to the one fork in the tunnel and not know which way he ran. He had to imagine these tunnels circling the entire house, so they couldn’t run forever. Magnus would catch him eventually.
He came to a skidding halt, however, when he came to a large gap in the floor. The person he was chasing crossed it easily, kicking off a small ledge sticking out of the wall and swinging from a hanging pipe before darting around the corner. Magnus took a few steps back before running at the gap. He tried to kick off the same ledge, but he only kicked the edge of it. He didn’t get the height he needed to grab the pipe, and as a result, was just barely able to grab the edge of the floor on the other side.
He was gripping the hanging floorboards between his fingers, the rest of his body hanging above the black nothingness below. He couldn’t see the bottom so he didn’t know how far the drop was. He didn’t know why there was a random hole in the wall of the house, he didn’t know what caused it or what was below it. He could be three feet off the ground or thirty feet. but he didn’t want to find out.
Though he was beginning to realize he might not have a choice.
“Help!” he called out, hoping the person he was chasing would come back for him. He kicked his legs helplessly as he tried to pull himself up, “please, help me!”
“Please, please,” he squeaked as he felt his fingers begin to slip. He wanted to get out of this marriage, but not like this.
He finally began to accept his fate when he felt two hands grip his wrists. Magnus’ eyes snapped up to stare at Alec Lightwood, who was holding tight to him.
Time seemed to slow as Magnus looked into Alec Lightwood’s eyes. It felt like a scene from a romance novel as Alec looked down at him, his face full of concern and he tried desperately to keep Magnus from falling. At that moment, as he stared up at Alec, who had saved his life, Magnus knew he couldn’t marry Isabelle.
He let go of his weak hold on the boards to grip tightly to Alec.
“You’re very sweaty,” Alec spoke softly as he began to pull him up.
“And you’re hiding in a wall,” Magnus shot back as he got a bit more of his bearings and was able to help Alec pull him up. He wanted to punch himself. Here was this beautiful man who was pulling him to safety, and the first thing he’d done was snap at him. He decided to blame the stress of almost falling to his death.
“I could drop you,” Alec deadpanned as he continued to pull Magnus up.
“But you already put in the effort to come back for me,” Magnus replied as he rolled onto the floor, happy that he was coming back to himself and could properly flirt with the gorgeous man he was feeling more and more attracted to by the second. He laid on his back, staring at the ceiling as he took deep breaths, calming himself down.
“Bye,” Alec said and turned away from him.
“Wait, wait,” Magnus scrambled to get up and follow after him, “what are you doing here?”
“I should be asking you the same question, this is my house,” Alec said, throwing some salt over his shoulder that Magnus needed to dodge, “who are you anyway,”
“I’m Magnus and, if you didn’t notice, we’re in the walls so I think it’s completely reasonable that I ask what you’re doing here,” Magnus replied, dodging the handful of sugar thrown his way, “will you stop throwing things at me!”
“I think I liked you better when you were just standing pointlessly in the entryway,” Alec said as they emerged from the tunnels and into a small room.
“You saw me?” Magnus asked, “what did you think?”
“Yeah,” Alec nodded as he sat in the armchair in the corner. Magnus realized that this was his room, and the only furniture it contained was an armchair and some wood that looked like it was made out of the wall itself, “you seemed…distant?”
“What, when I was trying to come to terms with the fact that my father was off arranging my marriage to your sister?” Magnus scoffed.
“Marriage to my sister?” Alec perked up at that, “do you guys love each other?”
“I barely know her,” Magnus sighed, partially sitting on the table, but too scared that it would break if he put his whole weight on it.
“How old are you?” Alec asked him, eyes narrowing.
“I’m nineteen,”
“That’s young,”
“Yeah well, my father’s been trying to plot my marriage into this family since I didn’t get a gift,” Magnus shrugged, “it's why he never let me come see you,”
“You wanted to come to see me?” Alec asked eyes widened.
“Of course I did,” Magnus replied, “but my father was afraid that you’d see me married to one of you guys and it would ruin his path since his intentions weren’t exactly…great,”
“I see,” Alec nodded before staring down at his feet, clearly deep in thought about his sister’s situation.
“And, um, I was wondering, hoping maybe,” Magnus sighed, “once I realized it was you. I was wondering if you’d be willing to look into the future for me,”
Alec’s head snapped up at that, “absolutely not,”
“Alec, please,” Magnus pleaded, “I just…I just want to know if Isabelle and I are going to be happy,”
“No,” Alec shook his head again, “I left for a reason, Magnus. You should just listen to your father said,”
“I don’t care what he said, it doesn’t mean jack squat!” Magnus yelled.
Alec’s lips upturned slightly, “jack squat?”
“My mother said it,” Magnus shook his head, “that’s not the point, Alec, please I just…I need to know,”
“Magnus,” Alec sighed, but he could feel his resolve caving. Alec had felt inexplicably drawn to Magnus from the second he walked into the house. He had peered through a hole in one of the paintings that allowed him to see the entryway and saw him standing there. He was absolutely gorgeous and he looked just so…lost.
Then he got a vision, just a piece of one. He squeezed his eyes shut the second he saw the glimpse of it: Magnus with his hand on the shoulder of a child. He’d stumbled back and braced himself against the wall. It was the first unsolicited vision he’d gotten in years. He’d tried incredibly hard to stop the visions coming when he didn’t want them and for the most part, he’d succeeded. Usually, though, when a vision was trying to force its way through, he was bound to have the full thing at some point.
He’d been about to leave to let the vision come, to stop the fight before it even began, but then, Magnus began wandering. Alec was drawn to him once again and began to follow him. He hadn’t meant to reveal himself, but he’d tripped and stumbled out of the tunnel. Then, when Magnus was chasing him through the tunnels, he found himself wanting to be caught. It took him longer than he liked to admit to realize that he’d lost Magnus and even longer to realize that he might’ve fallen into the hole.
But now he was asking, practically begging Alec to look into the future for him, and if it kept going like this, he wouldn’t be able to say no. He knew he was going to have the vision, and he didn’t want to send Magnus away, so he might as well have it while he was here.
But he’d left for a reason. His visions never did anything good, they only brought bad things. It’d only ever brought shame on the family. Then when his siblings began getting their gifts, he became more and more of a burden, his visions became more and more negative and it just…wasn’t worth it anymore.
“Magnus my visions…they’re not good things,” Alec sighed, refusing to meet Magnus’ eyes. The last thing he needed to look into those eyes, “bad things happen because of me,”
“What?” Magnus looked at him, confused, “I thought you saw the future, not that you changed the future,”
“Even then, I see bad things and then those bad things come to pass and it’s…it’s my fault,”
“No, it isn’t, Alexander!” Magnus snapped. Alec’s gaze shot back to him once again and he was met with those gorgeous eyes and…they were brimming with tears. He stuttered as he tried to find the words. He couldn’t remember the last time anyone had used his full name. He wasn’t sure anyone actually remembered it.
“I…I…” Alec struggled to find another good excuse outside of his own insecurities, “I don’t have the space to do it here. I need a big, open space,”
“Didn’t you have a vision room?” Magnus asked, “you have to have had a space dedicated to it,”
“I did,” Alec sighed, looking down again, “Isabelle destroyed it,”
“What?!” Magnus’ jaw dropped. Despite her incredible strength, she was always using it to help people. She’d never used it to hurt or damage anything or anyone.
“My mother ordered it. It was the beginning of ‘we don’t talk about Alec’,” Alec assured him, “don’t worry. Your fiance won’t hurt you,”
Magnus almost gagged at the word. He took a deep breath in and tried to will the tears back into his eyes, “Alexander, please. I need to know how this marriage is going to turn out. You have to want to know if your sister is going to be happy,”
Alec sighed and hung his head, “if you can find me a space to do it, privately fine. I’ll do it,”
“Oh! Thank you!” Magnus jumped excitedly, “there has to be another room in this house with enough space. Tell me where it is and I’ll help sneak you there,”
Alec looked up at him and sighed once again. Magnus was beginning to wonder if it was the only sound the man-made, “I know a place, it’s just down the hall here. No one goes in there. You’d have to move a bit of furniture though,”
“Just me?” Magnus raised an eyebrow and Alec just glared at him, “right. Yup. Just me,”
“Mhmm,” Alec nodded, “besides, I need to collect some things and they’re scattered all throughout the tunnels,”
“Okay, then, lead the way,” Magnus said, gesturing back to the hall.
“Can’t believe I’m doing this,” he mumbled under his breath as he stood. He tried to avoid Magnus’ eyes as he walked past him, but Magnus caught his arm and forced him to look at him.
“Thank you,” Magnus said softly, looking him in the eye. Alec stuttered a little, unsure of what to say or what to do. He couldn’t help but let his eyes look at the younger man’s lips. Magnus only gave him a soft smile.
When Alec found that he wasn’t going to be able to form words, he just nodded. They looked into each other’s eyes a moment longer before Alec came back to himself. This was supposed to be his sister’s fiance, as much as he wished that wasn’t true. And he was beginning to feel that it wasn’t just because he wanted his sister to be able to marry for love.
Alec turned and headed out into the tunnels in the opposite direction they’d come from.
“Did you build all this yourself?” Magnus asked as they walked through the tunnels and he took in the sheer magnitude of them.
“No,” Alec huffed out a laugh and shook his head, “I found them when I was a kid. When I decided to leave…it was the only place I could think to go,”
“Why did you leave?” Magnus asked, his voice soft as if he wasn’t sure he was even allowed to ask.
“My gift wasn’t helping anyone,” Alec said sadly, “even if I wasn’t making the bad things happen, people thought that I was. And even if I didn’t, they still had to go through life knowing that whatever bad thing I told them was going to happen, would happen. Knowing the future is an…incredible burden in and of itself but being the person who can see the future, who holds the key to that burden is…impossible,”
He also wanted to add how exhausting it was to actually have the visions, and how much they kept him up at night. But he didn’t want to put that on Magnus too.
“I’m sorry it fell to you,” Magnus replied, “you don’t deserve all this pressure,”
Alec stopped next to the back of the painting that would lead them into the room they needed, “thank you, Magnus,”
“No, thank you, for doing this for me,” Magnus rested a hand on his arm, “this must be difficult,”
Alec nodded, “it is, but if I’m being honest…I want to know just as much as you and…I think I’m going to have this vision whether I wanted to or not,”
Before Magnus could respond, Alec pushed the painting opening. They stepped through together and were met with what looked like a drawing-room. There was a large table in the middle surrounded by chairs, with some small tables and more comfortable chairs along the outside.
“We just need to move the table and chairs, that’ll give me enough room,” Alec explained, “so, I guess just lock the door then move the chairs. We’ll move the table together when I get back. The less noise we make, the better,”
“Got it,” Magnus nodded and was about to continue when he heard the painting shut behind him.
So Magnus got to work, picking up the chairs and piling them neatly in the corner farthest from the door. He figured they’d put the table against the door, just as an added layer of protection. The last thing he wanted to do was get Alec discovered while they were doing it.
Just as he finished moving the chairs, Alec came back into the room, and Magnus finally got a good look at him. The dark lighting in the tunnels hadn’t offered many opportunities for Magnus to actually see him.
Alec held his gaze as the two stared at each other. He no longer felt how heavy the jar of sand was in his hand, or the strap of his bag digging into his neck. He only saw Magnus, staring at him as if he was something special.
“Do you need help with that?” Magnus asked, pointing the jar and breaking them both out of their trance.
“Uh, no, no,” Alec shook his head, stepping through the hole in the wall and placing the jar and bag down on the floor before walking over to the end of the table opposite Magnus.
“I was thinking we could put that against the door, just in case,” Magnus said, grabbing his end.
“Good idea,” Alec nodded, giving him a small smile before they lifted the table together and walked it to the door. They placed it against the door and Magnus leaned his hip into it to ensure it was pressed firmly against the door.
“Good?” Magnus asked, looking at Alec.
“Yeah, it’s good,” Alec nodded. He went over to the jar and opened it, pouring four smaller piles at the four corners of the square, leaving the middle open.
“Sit here,” Alec said, tapping his foot on the ground, showing Magnus where he wanted him. Magnus nodded and sat down. Alec then put his foot at the center of the square. He put one foot in front of the other and took five steps away from the center before he began pouring a steady line of sand in a circle around them.
“Alec,” Magnus watched him as he walked around him.
“Hmm?”
“You said you were going to have this vision whether you wanted to or not…do you…can you not control when you get visions?” Magnus asked.
“Sometimes I can’t,” Alec sighed, “it was really bad when I was young. I couldn’t control it, and even then I didn’t know how the guide them. The only guidance I ever got was when someone else was there to guide me to what they wanted me to see. Which is how I ended up giving people specific visions, I would let them guide me through their futures,”
“But you can control them now?”
“For the most part,” Alec explained as he finished the sand circle. He put the jar down by the painting and picked up the bag, “I devised this ritual not only to help me focus or prepare or…cope, I guess with the visions. It also began to train my body that it only has visions under these circumstances, if that makes sense,”
Magnus shook his head as Alec knelt and began pulling what looked to him like sage leaves from his bag, “I’m sorry, I’m a little lost,”
“It’s kind of like…how your body is conditioned to go to sleep in your bed so, even if you’re not tired, you’ll still fall asleep when you get in bed,” Alec told him as he pressed on the tops of each of the mounds of sand, making little wells in each of them, “it helped to stop the spontaneous visions, to the point where I almost exclusively had them when I wanted them. Every once in a while, though, they try to force their way through. I try to hold it back until I can perform the ritual. It makes it…easier,”
“And this…vision about me,” Magnus prompted him.
“When you walked in, I saw a piece of it,” Alec admitted, putting a few small leaves in each well, “it’s been…a long time since I had one try to force its way through. The last time was right before Max got his gift,”
Magnus’ eyes widened, “that was two years ago,”
“I know,” Alec grimaced, putting the rest of the leaves in a pile in the center of the square. He pulled a match and a stick from the bag and placed them both at the base of the large pile before placing the bag outside. He then sat down across from Magnus.
“You’re sure you want to see this?” Alec asked, giving him one more opportunity to back out.
“This shouldn’t just fall on you,” Magnus insisted, “if you’re going to have to see it…I want to see it as well,”
“Okay,” Alec nodded. He took a few deep breaths in and out, centering himself. He picked up the match and struck it against his finger. He placed the stick on top of the pile of leaves before dropping the match into the pile. They caught fire quickly and immediately began to smoke. The stick in the pile caught fire and he used that to light the smaller piles. He blew out the small flame on the stick and placed it in front of him as the smell of sage filled the air.
Alec took a deep breath, shutting his eyes, letting the sage fill his lungs. Keeping his eyes closed, he extended both his hands, palms up, towards Magnus.
“You might want to hang on,” Alec said, still not opening his eyes. Magnus got up on his knees and reached his hands across, placing them on Alec’s. He felt a zap between them as if something was locking them in place. He saw Alec take a breath, and the sand around them began to flutter and glow green. Magnus looked at it, hesitantly, before Alec’s grip tightened. He looked back at Alec to see him opening his eyes.
They were glowing bright green.
As soon as he opened his eyes, the sand around them shot up, creating a dome around them with green threads throughout. Magnus looked around, awestruck at Alec’s ability.
“There!” Alec gestured, keeping their hands joined as he drew Magnus’ attention to the sand above his shoulder, “that’s what I saw!”
Magnus turned and saw himself, just his torso, standing with a little boy. He had his hand on the boy’s shoulder and they were smiling. Slowly, he saw a hand come over his shoulder and hold him tight, and he saw there was a wedding band on their finger.
Magnus’ eyes were suddenly drawn away from the hand when he saw another little boy come running into the picture. He crashed into Magnus and the other little boy, who both started laughing. Magnus put a hand on the boy’s back and maneuvered him so he was standing on the other side of the older boy, who Magnus had to assume was his brother, and in front of a set of legs that had materialized out of the sand.
He didn’t quite know what to feel as he realized he was staring at his children.
“Alec, who’s there with me?” Magnus asked because he was beginning to suspect it wasn’t Isabelle by the way Magnus looked up to where, supposedly, his spouse’s head was. Isabelle was shorter than him, so he wouldn't be looking up to her.
“I’m trying,” Alec grunted, letting go of one of Magnus’ hands to reach out, trying his best to direct the sand to finish the body of the person who Alec was becoming more and more convinced was not his sister and he just…he didn’t want to get his hopes up, but…
He needed to know.
Magnus watched himself laugh and push his spouse away from them as his children laughed along with him. They were engaged in some sort of conversation, though Magnus couldn’t make out any words. Then he saw himself summon the other person back, and as they came back, they began to fully materialize in the sand.
It was clear quite quickly that the figure was male, so obviously not Isabelle. He came into the picture and put his arm wrapped back around Magnus, his other rested on their younger son’s shoulder. His whole body was there, just not his face.
Slowly, vision Magnus leaned in and kissed the man who would be his husband. As he kissed him, his face came more into view. As he pulled away and smiled for what Magnus assumed was a photo, his face came into view.
He was staring directly at Alec.
Alec’s hand instantly left his and the sand around them stopped glowing and fell to the ground. Magnus turned back to Alec, who was holding a jade tablet in his, with the image of the four of them smiling together.
A happy little family.
Magnus watched as Alec walked, almost like he was in a trance, over to the nearest table. Magnus followed slowly, getting a better look at the tablet. There was no doubt in his mind now that that was Alec and the two were smiling together. Happy.
He stepped up next to Alec and let his fingers run over the tablet, his fingers accidentally brushing Alec’s as he did. The two looked at each other, uncertainty and confusion in both of their expressions.
Magnus wasn’t sure which one of them leaned in first, but suddenly, they were kissing.
Magnus’ hands immediately tangled in Alec’s hair as Alec wrapped his arms around Magnus’ torso and pulled him as close as possible. The kiss wasn’t slow or tender, it was an explosion of the tension that had been building up since they’d first seen each other.
“Oh, Alexander,” Magnus said softly as the two broke apart, moving only far enough away so they could look into each other’s eyes, “when I first saw you…”
“There was just something about you,” Alec finished the sentence Magnus couldn’t. Magnus nodded before he leaned up and pressed a quick kiss to his lips. Then another. Then another. Alec didn’t let go, and neither did Magnus.
“What do we do now?” Magnus asked, resting their foreheads together.
“I…I don’t know,” Alec sighed, “I can’t just…I can’t just come back home,”
“I think you can,” Magnus said, running his fingers through Alec’s hair, “they’re your family, Alexander. No matter what happened…they still love you,”
Alec shook his head, “you don’t know my family, Magnus. You don’t know who they truly are,”
“So are we just going to live in the walls together?” Magnus asked, “it wasn’t exactly the threshold I expected to be carried over but…”
“I don’t expect you to live in the walls, Magnus,” Alec bit his lip as he held tighter to Magnus’ shirt, “you shouldn’t live in the walls,”
“And you shouldn’t either,” Magnus insisted, “I’m not saying you have to move back in with your family. Maybe you could move in with me?”
Alec’s eyes lit up, “would you like that?”
“I would,” Magnus nodded, “of course, I would,”
Alec pressed another, almost hesitant kiss to his lips. Magnus smiled into the kiss before kissing him again. When they separated, Alec pulled him into a tight hug.
“Are you okay?” Magnus asked as Alec held onto him like if he let go, Magnus might disappear.
“I never thought I’d get this,” Alec said, his voice muffled as he spoke into Magnus’ shoulder, “I thought…I thought I’d be living in these walls forever,”
“It’s okay now. You’re not,” Magnus assured him, running his hands up and down his back, “are you going to be okay facing your family?”
“I’m not sure,” Alec replied, “obviously I’ll have to do it. Especially because we need to get you out of marrying my sister,”
Magnus chuckled, pulling back so he could look at Alec, “oh yeah, I forgot about that,”
Alec looked at him and started laughing until they were both unable to contain their laughter. He couldn’t help but think that for the first time in his life he was actually happy.
He was happy.
And they were both going to be happy. Together.