#what if we kissed in the wasteland (and we were both decapitated head!!!)

[skybson]

Music in Fallout (2024) Episode 7 - The Radio & Episode 8 - The Beginning

[ineffablelabpartners]

Forgive me, brother, for I have committed a fanfic.

Title: Reconciliations

Summary: During S3E1 (The Price of Power), Hordak makes amends with Entrapta after his outburst, and the two of them decide what to do about Catra. Some of Hordak's leadership choices are slightly called into question.

Warnings: Brief, humorous references to methods of execution?

“You know…there are more efficient ways to execute someone than banishing them to a hostile location.”

Saw. Tweezers. Pliers. Multimeter. Entrapta was in her room, mask down, working with every tool she could get her hair on at once. Her workbench was starting to wobble again, but this time she was pointedly ignoring it. The door opened behind her, and from the ominous shadow that fell across she didn’t have to look to see who it was. He had brought Imp with him.

“Ahem.”

“...” Entrapta’s soldering iron soldered on.

Imp chirruped.

“...After reviewing your research on First Ones tech in the Crimson Waste, I have decided that I am willing to discuss it further.” He was calmer now than she’d last seen him, with something different from his usual demeanor that she couldn't define. “I believe I have come up with a compromise to our disagreement.”

She shut off her tools, but didn’t reply. Imp chirped louder.

Hordak continued, strained. “I may have... overreacted to your request. You approached me at an — inopportune — moment.” He swallowed. “And I...”

Entrapta set down her gadgetry and lifted her mask. She turned to look at him, still not having finished his sentence.

“...had already written my speech for the assembly.” He was holding the datapad she’d left behind with the crinkled map of the Crimson Waste folded neatly on top. A lock of blue hair had escaped his slicked back style and fallen across his forehead. His armor twinkled in the glow of the soft purple lighting she’d recently installed. She bit her lip.

With a screech, Imp jumped off Hordak’s shoulder into Entrapta’s arms, thwapping him in the face with his tail as he did so. “Entrapta,” he said, softer than she’d ever heard that voice say her name before. She giggled.

“Imp, that is hardly dignified.” Hordak stared at the two of them, his eyes a little bigger, as Entrapta embraced Imp and kissed his cheek. His skin was peculiarly smoother than a human’s but still baby soft.

“Have a seat, Hordak.” She gestured toward her purple couch. “Let’s talk.”

“Emily!” Imp said, with Entrapta’s voice.

“She’s helping Scorpia with something before the mandatory assembly - I wasn’t planning on going!”

Using her hair, Entrapta retrieved two fizzy drinks with straws from her personal cooler. Fizzy rations were one of the changes she'd been able to implement to the Horde menu, though her old chefs had refused her offer to come work at the Fright Zone. (She'd even tracked them down with the Sanctum communicator and everything.) The Horde drinks were green without much flavor, but still: fizzy.

Hordak looked at the beverage she placed in his hand the way Scorpia looked at small buttons. He hesitated to sit down, as if he’d never touched anything soft before in his life. Had she ever seen him sit in a chair other than a throne? It was times like these that Entrapta felt better about her own social shortcomings.

“So.” She sat cross-legged next to the caped warlord, whose winged toddler leapt off her lap to perch himself at the highest point on the back of the couch. Hordak’s cybernetics were right there, close enough to touch, but she couldn’t let herself get distracted. First Ones tech (and Catra’s life?) was on the line. “What’s your solution to our tech problem?”

“Since the Crimson Waste has a reputation almost as foreboding as Beast Island...” Hordak handed his own bottle to Imp, who seemed to have a better idea of what to do with it. “I will allow you to send Catra there on a mission to retrieve First Ones tech.”

Entrapta smiled. “Thank you.” Her pigtail draped itself over the back of the couch, curling around Imp, inches from Hordak’s shoulder.

He didn’t smile back. “It must be alone, no other lives at risk,” he grunted. “If against all odds, Catra returns with what we need - she will be pardoned for proving her worth. If she does not return after an allotted period of time, she will be presumed dead and a failure. You will have to come up with a contingency plan should that happen.”

She took a sip from her fizzy drink. “Why do you think she won’t return?”

His ears wiggled, just slightly. “I lost a whole faction to that wasteland 20 years ago, including my most fearsome and competent warrior.” He bowed his head angstily, somewhat undercut by the soda sipping toddler next to it.

“Huntara. I have her file right here.” As difficult as it was to find anything in that archaic filing system. She hair-grabbed a stack of Horde folders from nearby, which Commander Cobalt had assisted her in locating. “However, I’ve noticed more than a few discrepancies between Shadow Weaver’s reports and my own research. Are you sure that her version of events can be trusted?”

“As long as the others believe what she told them, it will serve the purpose that I need.” He furrowed his brow and looked away from the photograph clipped to the inside of the folder. “But your skepticism is not unwarranted; Shadow Weaver did have something of a duplicitous side.”

Despite her difficulty with social signals, Entrapta had picked up on that fairly quickly. “Yet you kept her around for 25 years?”

“The sorceress proved her worth to me with the role she played ending the first Rebellion, but I let her ride off that goodwill for far too long. If Scorpia had shown any connection to the Black Garnet, I would have rid myself of that treacherous witch long ago.” He narrowed his eyes at the tall stack of manilla folders. “For her insistence on paper recordkeeping alone.”

It was almost a joke, but not. “So what are you going to do about her escape?”

“It is too late to do anything.” First Adora, now Shadow Weaver - apparently walking out of this place had less consequences than staying. “The only thing to be done is punish the person responsible, as a message to the others that such failures will not be tolerated.”

Entrapta took another sip. “By sending her away?”

“It is harsh, I know.” He gestured with his big metal arms, the ones she was forever yearning to go to town on with a hex-driver. “I am not a charismatic leader, Entrapta. I cannot inspire love and devotion the way others can. Fear and pragmatism are all I have.”

“And robots.”

“Yes.” His scowl fleetingly turned to a smile. “Had Catra been truthful to me, it would have allowed me to be lenient, as I have been with her before.” Hordak seemed to believe what he was saying, in that moment. He was easier to read than most people. “But I cannot abide both a failure and a liar. It would be repeating the same mistakes made with Shadow Weaver.”

“You know…” she said, after another sip. “There are more efficient ways to execute someone than banishing them to a hostile location.”

He blinked. “What do you mean?”

“Firing squad, lethal injection, hanging, electrocution, decapitation.” Entrapta mimed each of these with her hair. “A few more minutes in your atmospheric variable remover would have done it.”

He was making that face again, where his eyes were bigger than his little red mouth. “I thought you wanted me to spare Catra. Are you suggesting that I… cut off her head?”

“I’m just curious, why not? It would be easier. More cost effective. And I’m no social scientist, but I would think it might inspire more… fear?”

“No—” he scoffed, raising a finger. Was that a hint of red on his cheeks? She would have to log this. “—Beast Island is a fate worse than death. Those condemned there have only their own failures to blame for their… failures! It is a much MORE terrifying punishment than… than...”

“Heads on spikes? I’m not sure that’s coming across to your soldiers, though.” She downed the rest of her drink and pulled up the datapad. “78% of cadets over the age of 13 believe Beast Island is a fabrication told to keep them in line.”

“...where did you get that number?”

“Commander Cobalt gave me the statistics from his semi-annual survey.” The Horde school teacher asked a lot of good questions. “He said Shadow Weaver refused to take any of it into account for the cadet curriculum.”

“Beast Island is real,” he growled. His hand grazed her hair as he pushed the datapad away. “I have been there. I will say nothing more.” He folded his technologically advanced arms and looked away.

Entrapta had seen that file as well. The record of the only Horde expedition to Beast Island wasn’t very detailed, but it mentioned Huntara as one of the soldiers who had accompanied Hordak there. She was given the highest of accolades for her service there, only to perish on a mission to the Crimson Waste two weeks later, along with ten other soldiers. Cobalt had some soft science theories about the psychological effects of the trip, but that was far out of Entrapta’s field of expertise.

She inched closer to him. “But we’re sending Catra to the Crimson Waste.”

“We are,” he sighed, giving her a wry smile. “Though I do not expect her to return.”

“I disagree.” She strummed her fingers on the datapad. “My research gives her a good chance of survival.”

“Yes, she may survive. She is more capable than most...” He tilted his head, squinting. “But it doesn’t mean she’ll be back.”

This stung in a way she wasn’t prepared for. “You mean — you think— she’ll abandon us?” Entrapta flipped down her mask. Imp squeaked and bopped Hordak on the head with his tail.

“It is what I suspect others have done.” His ears drooped. “That is why I didn’t want to send her there in the first place. It would be a waste of resources to hunt defectors down in a deadly wasteland!”

Her breath fogged up the inside of the mask. “But then we won’t get the First Ones tech!”

“Entrapta...” he said softly, holding up his hands. “I had rather thought saving your friend from a fate worse than death would be your top priority. I thought that is why you were upset with me.”

“...” A more charitable reading than most people would have given her, but not wrong. She flipped up her mask. “It was. But I wanted the tech too.”

His ears didn’t know which direction to go. “Is there something else you would have me do?”

She thought it over. It was touching that he was willing to let an untrustworthy prisoner go for her, though not entirely surprising given past trends. “No. Catra will come back, if you give her the chance. She’s my friend.”

Hordak pursed his lips skeptically, then nodded. “I will give her the chance, but I will not be kind about it.” He stood, adjusting his cape, then looked at her with a tiny smile. “Will you come back to the lab with me?”

“Yes.” She grinned back. “But first you have to go to your assembly.”

He looked at the time, scowling, and smoothed back his hair. “Let’s get it over with then.”

“Heads on spikes?” Imp said, with a belch.

“No.” Hordak pointed a talon, then offered his arm. As Imp jumped on him, the fizzy drink slipped from his tiny hands. Entrapta’s hair caught it before it could spill all over his cybernetics (somewhere in an alternate universe, the war came to a swift end.)

When they got to the door, Hordak suddenly stopped, turned, and held out his other (Impless) arm to her. Entrapta was halfway to cracking it open to analyze his circuitry before she realized he was offering to… escort her? He seemed just as surprised about it as she was. His ears drooped again, with a hint of pink across his cheeks.

Beaming, she wrapped her hair around his armored forearm, mentally noting every bit of feedback.

“I still need to choose a new second-in-command,” he said stiffly, as they entered the hall.

“Ooh, how about Commander Cobalt? He’s served you faithfully for 25 years and has a degree in military science.”

“I was thinking of Force Captain Scorpia. Someone who would never betray me...”

* * *

Notes:

Presumably, Emily was helping Scorpia hide the body of the prison guard she threw into the abyss (with no consequences.)

Commander Cobalt is the blue fuzzy guy who trains the Horde cadets and also the secret mastermind behind everything.

I'm surely headcanoning against authorial intent with Hordak acknowledging Catra has a chance of surviving the Crimson Waste, but I feel like this whole storyline was a bit of a mess in canon ... so here's me trying to clean it up.

[malecsecretsanta]

Merry Christmas, @alineppenhallow!

Read on AO3

*****

No Stopping the Zombie Apocalypse

 “Oh calm down Alec, it’s not a big deal.” Isabelle said as she made her way deeper into the dense forest.

 “Really? Leaving Idris and walking straight into a      land full of zombies     in the middle of the night with nothing but a couple weapons isn’t a big deal? Good to know I’m the only sane one in this family.”

 Jace sighed in exasperation. “Alec, we love you, but you worry too much. Loosen up, it’s not like we’re defenseless. We’ve been training in that damned institute since we were, like, 5 just in case a zombie magically walks into Idris. I think we know what to do if one of those beasts come at us.”

 “I love you too, but all of your ideas are stupid.”

 “Look Alec,” Isabelle said turning to look at him, baby hairs sticking up that were too short to be pulled into a ponytail along with the rest of her long black hair. “It’s been 20 years since the zombie takeover happened, I was born in that stupid place and I’m      tired     of it. They keep saying we can’t leave until we are given the all clear from the generals but do you really think it takes 20 years for trained armed soldiers to kill off some brain-eating science experiments? I’m not going to spend the rest of my life cooped up in there!”

 “So you’re just going to leave and walk head first into the zombie infestation? Everyone has been evacuated the only people out here are military personnel that will bring us back to Idris the moment we’re spotted and zombies who want to      eat    us.”

 Isabelle smirks. “That what makes it fun.”

 Then she turns on her heels and struts through the dense forest as if a zombie couldn’t just jump out of nowhere and bite her head off.

 Alec wonders why he even tries.

 It isn’t long before they arrive at what looks to be a small town.

 There were old papers and pieces of trash littering the floor, road signs bent and rusted with old age, streetlights fuzed and broken, and the buildings were run down and obviously abandoned.

 It looked like a ghost town.

 Alec knew this was something to be expected, every civilian was evacuated into the safe zones 20 years ago, but he envisioned military personnel patrolling the areas and maybe more zombie guts on the floor.

 Being a place so…      bare    made Alec’s skin crawl. He hoped Izzy and Jace would have their fill of ‘exploring’ soon so they could leave.

 He had a bad feeling about this.

 “Wow,” Jace said, “it’s a total wasteland.”

 Alec looked around in distaste. “Well this was a waste of time. Let’s go.”

 Izzy wasn’t having it. “Are you kidding? We just got here. Come on, I want to go into that abandoned hospital.”

 “Why would you want to go into an      abandoned hospital    .”

 “Um because if the government is experimenting on people to create zombie hybrids or whatever then an abandoned hospital is our best bet?”

 Alec rolls his eyes. “If the government was experimenting on people wouldn't they be doing it in one of their top secret laboratories underground instead of an abandoned hospital literally in the middle of nowhere?”

 Isabelle shrugs. “Still our best bet.”

 Alec shares a look with Jace but after a moment the blond simply shrugs before following Izzy into the deserted hospital.

 After adjusting his bow and arrows he begrudgingly follows after his younger siblings.

 The hospital is exactly as Alec thought it’d be: filthy, rundown, and completely vacant.

 “I told you there was nothing here. Now let’s go before we get caught by the patrols.”

 “Wait,” Jace murmured, “do you guys see that?”

 Alec glances to where Jace is staring at and freezes.

 One the other side of the hallway the decaying corpse of a zombie lays up against the wall with dead unblinking eyes that appear to be looking right at them.

 Isabelle takes a step toward the dead creature but Alec grabs her wrist before she can go any further. “Izzy wait.”

 She turns to him with a kind smile gracing her features. “It’s okay Alec, I’m just going to take a look. It’s already dead and I’ve never seen a zombie up close and personal before. I’ll be careful, I promise.”

 Going against his better judgement Alec lets go of Isabelle’s wrist and anxiously watches her get closer to the unmoving body.

 She’s about a foot away from it when the thing suddenly comes back to life and latches onto her foot, making her fall to the floor in the process. “      Fuck    !”

 Alec quickly grabs hold of his bow and shoots the arrow straight into the zombie’s forehead.

 “Run!” Alec shouted.

 All three of them sprinted out the hospital heading back into the forest.

 There were loud grunts coming from behind them and Alec didn’t have to look back to know the zombie was right on their tail.

 He almost trips on a branch. “Shit.” he curses under his breath. He thought zombies were supposed to be slow but judging by how loud the grunts are getting the thing is practically right behind them.

 Alec fucking      knew     this was suicide!

 He’s panting, they all are, he’s not sure how long they’ve been running but it’s definitely been long enough that Idris should be just within their line of sight.

 But it isn’t. There’s nothing but trees, so many fucking trees. Where the hell are they? Fuck he can’t recognize anything. It all looks the same!

 Gun shots resound in the darkness of the night and Alec nearly gives himself a concussion as he trips over nothing and falls to the floor. Jace grabs him to haul him up to his feet again but before he can a loud voice yells out “Nobody move!”

 Great. The military fucking found them. This is perfect.

 A man wearing all black emerges from the shadows with a gun pointed at them, his pale face illuminated by the light of the moon as his dark eyes glare at them with so much force Alec is surprised he hasn’t shot at them yet.

 “What are you doing here?” he says, “Where are your tags? How the hell did you amateurs survive this damn long?”

 “Raphael! Leave them alone and help me kill this thing once and for all before the shock from the gunshot wears off.”

 The man -Raphael- reluctantly turned to help dispose of the body while muttering to himself in a language Alec couldn’t understand.

 He looked back at where the zombie now laid on the floor, devoid of all signs of life, and saw another man standing right in front of it -surely the same one that got Raphael to back down- and felt his breath get caught in his throat.

 This has got to be the most beautiful man Alec has ever seen.

 His skin looked like it had been kissed by the sun, his hair was styled in a mohawk type look with electric blue streaks coloring a bit of the front, his clothes were completely black but hugged his body like they were specifically tailored for him, and his eyes, fuck, his      eyes    , they were a gorgeous shade of green with yellow specks sprinkled in that gave him a cat like aura that was emphasized by the black eyeliner he was wearing.

 Before Alec could gain proper control of his breathing again the man look out what appeared to be a type of thin metal wire and wrapped it around the zombie’s neck before yanking it upward with a single sharp tug.

 The wire sliced through the flesh seamlessly, decapitating the creature in an instant.

 Alec was pretty sure he’d never been more sure of his sexuality in his life.

 He’s known he was gay for a while now but this was the absolute guarantee, he was definitely gay. Very gay. For this man. This beautiful, beautiful man. This beautiful man that is now making his way toward them and Alec is still laying on the forest floor trying to remember how to breathe normally.

 Shit.

 He quickly scrambles to his feet and dusts himself off. Isabelle bumps his shoulder while mouthing ‘smooth.’

 Alec rolls his eyes and prays to every living deity in existence that he’s not blushing.

 Then the man is standing right in front of them and, yep, he’s even more gorgeous up close. How is this even fair?

 “Sorry about Raph, he tends to overreact a bit. I’m Magnus by the way, and you are?”

 “Alec.” he replies, sounding way too breathless for his liking.

 Magnus gives him an appreciative once over before looking back into Alec’s eyes, his ethereal green-gold orbs sparked with interest.

 He can see Izzy smirk from the side of his eye, he’s so screwed. “I’m Isabelle, but you can call me Izzy.” she announced while offering her hand to Magnus.

 Magnus didn’t miss a beat and graciously took the offered hand into his own and kissed the back of it gently. “A pleasure to meet you Isabelle.”

 “And I’m Jace.”

 Magnus goes to speak again but before he can manage to make a sound Raphael speaks up again.

 “Now that we have the pleasantries out of the way, mind telling us how you idiots are still alive? You don’t even have your tags on you.”

 “Uh,” Alec says while sharing a look with his siblings, “tags?”

 Raphael raises an eyebrow at them. “You’re telling me none of you have tags?”

 Jace scrunches up his face in confusion. “Why would we have tags? We’re not military personnel.”

 “No shit.” Raphael deadpans.

 “Look,” Jace says with a glare, “we’ve been in the confines of Idris since we were pretty much born so give us some slack for not understanding your military terminology or whatever.”

 Both men freeze.

 Magnus looks at all of them before speaking. “Did you say Idris? As in Idris the New York Zombie Apocalypse Safe Zone?”

 After a brief moment of silence Isabelle answers. “Um, yeah?”

 “Well fuck.” Raphael says before turning his gaze over to Magnus.

 Magnus sighs and turns on his heels marching deeper into the dense forest. “Come along, we’re taking you three back to Idris before someone realizes you’re missing. We’ll have to make a quick stop at the campsite though, Clary and Simon will worry themselves into oblivion if we take too long.”

 As the group makes their way through the woods Isabelle walks beside him with an annoying smirk on her face. “So, Magnus, huh?”

 “Shut up.”

 “Oh I’m just teasing.” she says with a playful eyeroll. “Seriously though, he’s cute, you should go for it.”

 Alec doesn’t have anything to say to that so he keeps walking and tries to ignore his sister to the best of his abilities.

 It’s not as easy as just ‘going for it’ as Isabelle so casually puts it; there’s a reason he kept his sexual orientation a secret from everyone besides his siblings.

 Not only that but Magnus is so… he’s so…      god     Alec can’t describe it! He’d just met the guy and he was so fucking gone on him already.

 Alec would feel embarrassed if Magnus wasn’t so breathtaking. There was no way any one could see a man like that and not fall head over heels at a moment’s notice.

 When Magnus and Raphael stopped at a random patch of dense forest the Lightwood siblings looked around in confusion. Why would they stop here? Did they hear something Alec and his siblings missed? Was there another zombie around?

 All the questions flashing through Alec’s head came to a halt as two shadows jumped off the nearby trees, startling the three Lightwoods into a defensive stance.

 “Where have you two been?” a high pitched voice asked, well, more like demanded, “Me and Simon were beginning to worry.”

 The figure quickly stalked over to where Magnus and Raphael stood and Alec finally able to see who was speaking.

 It was a young girl, probably a few years younger than Isabelle, with fiery red hair tied into a loose low pony tail and pale skin. She must be Clary.

 Magnus was quick to comfort her. “We’re fine biscuit, no need to concern yourself about us, we can handle ourselves.”

 The girl huffed but didn’t argue. She spotted the trio in that moment, her stance shifting into a more guarded one.

 “Who are they?” she said, her tone sharp and defensive.

 Magnus puts a calming hand on her shoulder as he answers. “Clary, this is Alec, Isabelle, and Jace. We found them being chased by a class E on our way back from our mission.” he paused for a moment. “We were going to take them back to Idris but we figured you two would work yourselves into hysteria if we didn’t return soon.”

 She gasped, eyes wide as she heard Magnus’ words.

 “They’re from Idris?!” this time it was a different voice that spoke out, the second figure that Alec didn’t really notice until now. He was pale and around the same age as Clary. His eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

 Alec deduced him to be Simon.

 “That’s fucking awesome! How did you guys even get here? Was the safe zone breached? Did the sanctuary get overpopulated and so they kicked out the ones most likely to survive into the open? Did Idris become, like, a dictatorship or something and you guys escaped for hopes of a better life even though there’s a full blown zombie infestation all around the globe and it's practically hopeless but you guys decided that anything was better than the constant oppression you were under!?”

 Alec blinked. What just…      what    ?

 Izzy was the one that broke the stunned silence, her laughter loud and light as it resonated through the trees.

 “Oh I      wish     it was that exciting.” she said once her laughter calmed into small chuckles. “I never would have thought military personnel had such wild imaginations. Don’t you guys, like, get reports and stuff? You’re acting as if Idris is this strange unknown world.”

 “Because we’re not part of the military.” Raphael said offhandedly.

 Jace’s head snapped to look at Raphael from where he was previously staring at the redhead. Alec has to physically restrain himself from eye rolling. Jace has always been a womanizer. “What do you mean you’re not part of the military?”

 Raphael gives him an unimpressed look. “I mean we’re not part of the military.”

 Isabelle spoke up again. “If you’re not part of the military, then, what are you?”

 “Well if you want to get technical,” Magnus said, “we’re bounty hunters but we’re really just survivalists.”

 “Wait,” Isabelle says, still processing, “you guys are bounty hunters?”

 Simon is grinning from ear to ear as he says, “Yeah! We kill zombies, it’s awesome!”

 Alec doesn’t buy it. Magnus and Raphael definitely, Clary... maybe, he hasn’t really seen what she can yet, but this kid? No way he’s a zombie hunter.

 “You sure you’re not their honorary mascot or something?” Alec said, giving Simon a bored look.

 Simon gawked at him. “What? Why would you- I’m a badass zombie hunter! Why would we even need a mascot? And if we did have a mascot, wouldn’t it be like, I don’t know, a cartoon gun or something? A knife? Some type of weapon? I’d be a horrible mascot!”

 Alec doesn’t look impressed in the slightest. “Let me guess. You talk the zombies to death.”

 Magnus snorts at that and Alec feels his heart skip a beat. Fuck he was so gone.

 “Actually Simon is our weapons master.” Magnus informs. “He modifies our weapons for maximum precision and efficiency. He doesn’t do much field work but we wouldn’t be able to get such a large body count as quickly as we do without his help.”

 Simon is visibly preening at Magnus’ praise. “See? I’m a badass!”

 Isabelle chuckled next to Alec. “In that case you’re certainly the cutest badass I’ve ever seen.”

 Suddenly Raphael was standing very close to Simon. “Well, he does have a nice ass, wouldn’t necessarily call it cute though.”

 Simon’s face turned bright red. “W-what?! Raph! What the hell?”

 “What? I can’t say my boyfriend has a nice ass?”

 “Not in front of so many people you asshat!”

 Alec watched the exchange completely perplexed. Huh. He didn’t see that coming.

 “So, what, you guys, like, kill zombies for money?” Jace said, “I thought that was the military’s job?”

 Magnus scoffs. “Please, those troops haven’t so much as      seen     a living zombie, let alone know how to kill it properly.  The only reason those assholes are still alive is because of people like us, regular civilians that weren’t important enough to be kept in the safe zones and are stuck in this hell hole trying to eradicate these monsters so we can live to see another day.”

 Isabelle looks over at Alec in concern before turning her attention back to Magnus, her eyes filled with worry. “That can’t be right, the safe zones are meant to keep      everyone     safe.”

 “Everyone with a shit ton of money.” Raphael quipped. “Everyone else was left to fend for themselves. It’s why we wear tags, it’s our only form of identification. You basically don’t exist without one.”

 Jace shock his head. “That makes no sense. There’s a bunch of safe zones. Idris is huge and pretty packed, there’s at least a couple dozen more just like it, there’s no way they’re all filled with rich people. The rich only make up 10% of the population.”

 “Yeah no that’s not how it works either.” Simon said. “I mean, yeah, there are a bunch of safe zones but only one or two in a each state. There’s only one in New York, Idris, which we should probably get you back to considering it’s only a matter of time before they realize you’re missing.”

 Alec can’t believe what he’s hearing. All this time they were taught not to worry about the zombie epidemic because ‘everyone was evacuated’ and ‘the military have it under control’ only to learn that everything he’s known has been a lie?

 And to think there are people fighting for their lives while he sleeps soundly in a king size bed. People like Magnus.

 “We can’t just go back to Idris and pretend this isn’t happening. We need to do something, this is a crime against humanity.”

 Isabelle nodded. “Alec’s right, this is, this is completely unacceptable.”

 “And what exactly are you three going to do about it?” Raphael inquires. “It’s not like anything will change.”

 Alec sighs. “Maybe not but we have to try. Besides, doing nothing doesn’t change anything either.”

 Magnus looks at him then, his face looking softer around the edges than before and Alec can’t think of any other way to describe the look in Magnus’ eyes besides fond. Alec is pretty sure his heart is going to pop out of his chest at any moment.

 Soon they’re making their way back to Idris, Magnus leading the way as Clary, Raphael, and Simon stayed behind to protect the camp site and get some rest.

 The trip was spent mostly in silence and Alec couldn’t help but let his eyes sneaked glimpses of Magnus.

 Izzy was sending him knowing looks and he could just imagine how ridiculous he looks.

 It seemed like not even a minute had passed by before they reached Idris even though Alec new they’ve been walking for about an hour.

 Isabelle and Jace quickly say their farewells before sneaking back into Idris.

 Alec hesitates. It feels wrong to just leave knowing that Magnus and so many others have to stay out here, in constant danger of an attack.

 Magnus must have seen the guilt on his face.

 “No need to worry about me darling, I can take care of myself.” he says with a wink.

 Alec huffed in amusement at that, he was      very    aware of just how well Magnus could take care of himself, but still, there was a nagging feeling in the back of his head keeping him from leaving.

 He must have remained silent for too long because now Magnus is looking at him with concern and those eyes of his are probably going to be the death of him because      who even has eyes that gorgeous?  

 “Alexander?”

 He takes it back, his voice is going to be thee death of him. Alec has always hated when people called him by his full name but when Magnus says it makes his heart do freaking back flips.

 “Just… be careful.”

 Now Magnus is giving him that small private smile that just radiates warms and Alec needs to catch his breath for a minute.

 “I always am.”

 Neither of them move. They both stand there in silence not knowing what to do, well, at least Alec doesn’t know what to do. Magnus is probably waiting for him to leave, which he should be doing before someone notices he’s missing.

 He looks back at Magnus, ready to say goodbye and follow after his siblings, but the intensity of his eyes stop him before he can even make a sound.

 Alec gets lost in them, the golden green color looks almost like it’s glowing in the midst of the night. He’s not sure how long they’re staring at each other but all Alec knows is that one minute he’s entranced with those luminous eyes and the next he’s moving forward and      kissing Magnus    .

 It doesn’t last long, probably no longer than three seconds. A simple press of lips. But Magnus’ face is the picture of surprise and Alec feels like his face is going to burn off of his skin with how hot his face is.

 “I- Magnus I’m so sorry. I have no idea what came over me I just-”

 But then Magnus’ lips were on his again, this time firmer than the last but still gentle.

 When they pull back Alec is dazed and he judging by the expression on Magnus’ face he’s not doing much better.

 They both stood there, chuckling softly as they continued to exchange feather-light kisses and Alec has no idea where this was going to lead but he realized, he doesn’t care.

 At least not as long as he had Magnus.