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“Oh wow,” was really all Alex could think to say, staring down at her boyfriend half-conscious on his bed. He mustered a vague attempt at a groan, somewhere between “hey there” and “fuck do you want”. Alex preferred the former, but knew it was most likely the latter. “You look like shit, Maggie.”
After he had failed to turn up to breakfast with their hallmates, she felt it was her obligation- nay, her duty as a loving and supportive partner- to find out why. And as any caring and respectful partner, she used this opportunity to crawl under his door frame and weasel her way into his room. It was exceedingly entertaining to peruse his book collection and drab wardrobe and tease him about his taste, or lack thereof.
But right now, he kinda looked like he was dying or something.
“You look like you’re dying, or somethin’,” she stated bluntly, sauntering up next to his bed to get a better look at him.
“I feel like it,” Magnus rasped back. His face was flushed, and actually glowing like it usually was when he used his healing abilities. It was made all the more apparent in his darkened room. If he was using his healing powers, then it didn’t seem to be helping with whatever he was dealing with. Alex also noticed he was both sweating and shaking, as though wracked with simultaneous chills and fever. From where she was standing she could actually feel the brief waves of heat pulsing off him, as though he was a humanoid incandescent light bulb.
“I think you’re sick,” Alex reasoned astutely. “You got food poisoning or something? Strep? The flu?”
“Hnnnngh ,” Magnus responded, burying his face into his pillow. It did very little to dim the light coming from him.
Alex paused for a moment. She really had never taken care of a sick person before. Scratch that, she had never had to look after someone, period. The Chase Space didn’t count, there she was more like a convenient shoulder to cry on most times. “Um, do you need anything?” she ventured, leaning over her boyfriend’s sprawled form. Her abuelo usually had some home-made remedies, maybe one of those could possibly be somewhat useful. Certainly, this would be easier than the shit they had to go through during their daily training.
Easy-peasy.
Magnus huffed, then made the monumental effort of flopping over onto his back, like a fish wrapped in the waves of tangled bedsheets around him. “ Hhh water,” he mumbled back to her. “My head hurts,” he mentioned weakly.
“A water and an Advil for the spring chicken,” Alex rattled off, then turned to leave. When she got to the door, she turned to look at him one last time. “Don’t die on me while I’m gone, got it?”
Magnus gave her a shaky thumbs-up, before his arm limply dropped back down like a wilted flower. Alex smirked, then left to perform her responsibilities.
“Sam, do you have any Advil lying around?” Alex inquired of her half-sister. It took a bit of running around the hotel to find Samirah, but after checking some fifteen-or-so floors she finally stumbled upon the Valkyrie sending off another poor newbie to their accommodations for all of eternity, until the apocalypse or heat death of the universe or whatever.
“What?” Samirah huffed, looking a bit frazzled, “why do you ask?” It must’ve been a strange request, given that they had a free medic on their floor.
“For Maggie-boy,” Alex explained.
This explanation only made Samirah look more perplexed. “Huh?”
“For Magnus?” Alex tried to reiterate more slowly, “He’s sick? And has a headache?” Sam’s confusion was in turn making Alex feel more lost.
Sam sighed and cocked her hip, staring at her half-sibling with exasperation. “You’re telling me the son of Frey, god of sunlight and plants and summer and whatever, is sick. Right now? On Walpurgisnacht?”
“Walpurgis-what-now?” Alex parrotted back to her.
“It’s the end of April. It’s when a bunch of pagans celebrate doing witchcraft or whatever,” Samirah summarized briefly. “There’s a bunch of magic in the air and stuff. It’s a time when Odin’s super busy and powerful. Which is why I’m busy right now.” Samirah huffed once again with exhaustion. “I wouldn’t be surprised if these things are connected.”
“Huhhh ,” Alex drawled pensively. “So, like shouldn’t he be feeling great? If it’s summer or whatever?”
Her sibling just stared back at her pointedly. “Alex, what do you really need?”
“I- well-” Alex paused. She guessed it was kind of weird to run around looking for Sam instead of just hopping over to Midgard real quickly. “I’ve never, like, had to care for someone before… Um, help, please.”
Sam groaned. “I just told you I’m busy. However -,” she tacked on, seeing Alex’s pleading expression, “I’ll go take a look at him. Deal?”
Alex grinned, “Deal.”
“Wow, you do look like crap.”
“Told you.”
“Gughhh .”
At this, Magnus blearily reopened his eyes. The last thing he recalled was Alex asking him something… and then he replied something… and then he must’ve fallen asleep again. All he knew for sure was that his head was pounding, and it felt like he kept flipping between the Arctic and the Sahara. He couldn’t stop shivering one second, and the next he was on fire, figuratively.
Samirah was hovering over him now, her illuminated face showed signs of concern and just general stress. She moved to place her palm against his forehead, then pulled back as though burned before even making contact. “ Jeez , you’re burning up. I’m surprised you’re not a puddle right now.” The Valkyrie then pressed something cool- a water bottle, he vaguely registered- to his head, which would’ve been a relief were he not freezing right then. At that, Samirah pulled it back, having felt it chill in her hand. “What the…” she mumbled with a baffled expression on her face.
Samirah turned to look at him again as though he were a particularly complex math equation. Magnus just covered his face with his arm, hoping to reduce the throbbing migraine between his temples. If he focused on the sensation too hard he could almost feel his brain pulsing, which was highly unpleasant.
Sam hummed pensively, “I’m guessing his body is just having trouble acclimating to his powers. It would make sense cause his power source is at its peak around now. The ring dragon blood is probably not helping, either. I’d assumed this would happen during Midsummer, but whatever.” She shrugged, “nobody’s perfect.”
Alex laughed at that. To Magnus, it sounded a bit relieved for some reason. He didn’t like feeling like a burden, he wanted Alex to know he was fine.
“Alex,” he rasped, feebly grabbing for his partner’s pant leg, or something.
“Yes, what? What’s wrong, are you dying now?”
“Wuh… what pronouns are you using today…”
There was a brief pause as his friends just gawked at his idiocy, which was rarely in short supply, then Alex replied, “she and her. You idiot.”
Samirah snickered, “yeah, he’ll be fine.”
“So it’s not contagious or anything?” Alex inquired, letting Magnus grab at her hand and play with her fingers mindlessly.
“Not to you, at least,” Samirah scanned his room, turning towards the giant tree and mish-mashed garden in the center. She examined it for a few seconds. “It’s probably fine. It’s like demigod allergies, or something.”
“Pretty sure I’ve never had demigod allergies, or something,” Alex quipped back. Magnus was preoccupied with the ridges of her knuckles. They were quite fascinating, honestly, so delicate and nimble, and also dexterous.
“Your hand is so perfect,” he muttered with awe.
“Gee, thanks,” she smiled, then used her slender fingers to open his palm to deposit a pill. “Here is your Advil, good sir.”
When Magnus sat up, the world decided to tilt a few degrees off its axis, leaving him disoriented and a bit nauseous. The migrain eating at his brain tightened its grip, too. He swallowed the tablet, washing it down hastily with the water Samirah generously provided him. The cool liquid soothed his dry throat, so he downed at least half the bottle. Magnus sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“Well, I’ve got things to do now, so… Alex I’ll leave it to you,” Samirah excused herself. Her sibling waved her off nonchalantly.
“Yep, I gotcha.”
“I think I’m feeling better actually,” Magnus mentioned, then immediately regretted. Because the universe seemed to have a hardcore vendetta against him, it decided now was the most opportune time to make him feel like his skull was getting crushed in a hydraulic press. He groaned and clutched at his head, pressing his hands to it as though to keep it together, like it was the two halves of Loki’s walnut.
“Oh, are you okay, man?” Alex asked with genuine concern, though it was hard to hear her with the roaring of blood in his ears. The sensation was unlike anything Magnus had ever felt before; as if something was trying to push its way through the concrete of his skull, out of his head.
“It’s- splitting,” he tried to explain
“What?” Samirah asked, her voice rising half an octave. She gripped onto his shoulder, a comforting anchor.
Magnus tried to say something else coherent, but all that really came out was a jumbled string of vowels and consonants. There was a crack , then a pop , then a heady lightness that made him feel like he was floating in Alfheim. Magnus opened his eyes, expecting to be assaulted by the realm’s blinding light, only to be met with his friends’ shocked faces.
“Huh?” he asked.
Alex recovered first. “Nothing, it’s just, uh, not every day someone sprouts a flower from their head, is all.” Samirah nodded in agreement.
“I what?” Magnus ran a hand over his head, and sure enough met a thick stem growing from his cranium. “The fuck?” he mumbled. He wanted to get off this shitty einherji demigod rollercoaster right now.
Samirah reached over to touch it, Magnus didn’t pull away mainly because he was still too dazed to process it. “I think it’s a sunflower,” she guessed, giving it an experimental tug.
Magnus cringed, “ok, thanks for that, Sam.” He weakly swatted her away. He was not lucid enough for this.
“You’re not gonna, like, grow any more weeds, are you?” Alex asked.
“Sunflowers aren’t weeds,” Magnus glared, like it was a personal affront.
“I love how that wasn’t a no,” Alex snarked. Magnus just flopped onto his back again before the dizziness overwhelmed him. Maybe he could sleep this off or something. He hoped he wasn’t stuck with a sunflower on his head for the rest of his afterlife. In that case, he would beg Alex to just decapitate him again. At least the headache was mostly gone now.
“I really need to go now,” Samirah stated with reluctance. “Magnus don’t do anything weird, okay?”
“How is this my fault,” he huffed. He just wanted to sleep, but it was difficult to focus on anything besides the sensations of being dipped in ice then set on fire. Not to mention the lingering nausea.
“I promise not to let him do any more weird stuff,” Alex saluted her half-sister. “Sprouting flowers from your head is harmless, anyways.”
“Speak for yourself,” Magnus muttered, running his hand over his head. The more he pondered it, the more unsettled he became.
The next three-ish hours consisted of Magnus sleeping like a rock and Alex attempting to make use of the time somewhat productively. She told her floormates that Magnus wasn’t feeling well and was met with their half-hearted “get-well-soon”s and “fuck we’re losing the training match today aren’t we”s. At least it wasn’t a Thursday.
They were having another Pottery To The Death class today, which Alex hated missing out on because she was good at it, and needed to throw a few snotty bastards into the kiln as payback. Alex wasn’t going to let people insult her ceramics and get away unscathed. The artist could have lugged her own pottery wheel into Magnus’ room for boredom’s sake, but then she’d probably make a huge mess that he wouldn’t appreciate once he was lucid. Alex wasn’t an animal, at least not right then.
She glanced up from her Tumblr feed, back at her partner where he lay with his back to her. Occasionally, his shoulders would shudder as he was wracked with extreme chills, yet he had kicked off his blanket in a feverish attempt to cool down. Magnus’ thermokinesis seemed to affect the whole room like a living thermostat, putting Alex in the same boat to some degree. She contemplated, very privately, laying next to him, but the level of discomfort made her reconsider.
Just then, Magnus groaned and flipped over, so Alex could get a better look at him. He was still very… glowy , if that was the right word. Even his eyes, half-open and blinking blearily at her, seemed to have some unnatural inner light about them. That stupid flower was still perched on his head, too.
“You feeling any better?” Alex asked.
“Not- really,” Magnus mumbled back, voice gritty from restless sleep. He shimmied a bit to prop himself onto his pillows. “D’you have- water?”
She obliged and handed him the half-empty bottle next to his bed. Even though their fingers didn’t brush, there was some instinctive part of her that wanted to pull away from the hot, prickly sensation the proximity gave her that made her hair stand on end. Alex rubbed her hands to get rid of the uncomfortable residual feeling as Magnus drank the rest of the water. His eyes still had a glassy, unfocused look in them.
“Do you, like, want something to eat?” Alex leaned back in her chair. She was actually getting a bit uncomfortable just sitting in one position. Stretching her legs and getting some air would do her good. Maybe if Magnus was feeling better, she’d take him to the outside gardens or something. Surely, locking a demigod of nature in a dark room wasn’t the healthiest thing to do.
“Huh … no,” Magnus responded belatedly, tipping his head back to stare at the ceiling, “I feel- nauseous.”
“Well, if you’re gonna throw up you better tell me!” Alex didn’t care how much she cared for him, she adamantly refused to deal with puke.
“Uh-huh…” That didn’t reassure her in the slightest. His face, still glowing, seemed to drain of its previous color, replaced with an unusually verdant hue.
“Magnus,” Alex attempted a calm tone, “are you going to throw up?”
He swallowed before replying. “Think so…” he tried to focus on Alex’s face and tried to not think about all the times he had thrown up before. That time he drank so much Bud Light he puked, that time he got food poisoning, that other time he got food poisoning, the few times he had the flu as a kid…
This was not settling the flips in his stomach in the slightest.
Magnus mustered the energy to sit up on the side of the bed, despite his head swimming and his stomach feeling like Halfborn had landed a solid punch to it. Alex grabbed his shoulders to steady him. “B-bathroom,” he stuttered out. His mouth was watering, so he gulped again nervously.
“Right, okay. Excellent,” Alex pulled him to his feet hastily, and Magnus almost vomited right then and there from the altitude change.
“Ughhh - Alex,” Magnus swallowed the rest of his sentence as they stumbled their way to his bathroom. His vision flickered and the room tilted 90 degrees around him. Unfortunately, they didn’t make it far before his body finally revolted against him and he vomited in the sink. Some part of his consciousness that wasn’t puking in the sink- eyes watering and sweaty arms grasping at the countertop- was actually pretty embarrassed at the scene he was making in front of his partner. At least he wasn’t throwing up on her . Small miracles.
While focusing on the experience itself was unpleasant, and he didn’t really want to open his eyes to whatever his own sink looked like now, the sensation was… unusual . Between his own gasps for air there was some wet splattering and plaps , and even a few clattering sounds. Magnus didn’t remember ever eating rocks or whatever the hell it was. His mouth also, conspicuously, did not taste like bile, though he wasn’t really complaining about that. It just tasted… wet , and mossy.
Alex herself had actually leapt away in the form of a small fox as soon as he lunged forward to puke, and she was standing near his feet, tail bristling. Once his dry-heaving had died down, Magnus just sighed, wiped weakly at his face, and lowered himself to the floor. While the action of vomiting was shitty, he couldn’t say the physical feeling afterwards was much better. Magnus just felt drained, and icky. He finally opened his eyes when he felt Alex brush her wet fox nose to his hand.
“Thanks,” he mumbled to her. She just looked at him and flicked her ear before shifting back into her human form.
“Don’t mention it,” Alex replied, something she typically meant very literally. She hesitantly surveyed the damage to the sink, and her eyes widened with confusion. “What the… Magnus, have you been eating dirt or something?”
“Uh, no? What the fuck.” Magnus shot back, a bit insulted. She just kept looking between him and the sink. He huffed an exasperated sigh and pulled himself to his feet to take a look, as well, his abdominal muscles hating him for it. His eyes also widened in bewilderment.
The sink was covered in what could only be described as an array of plant matter. It was like someone had shattered a terrarium in his sink. There was grass and numerous small twigs, entanglements of weeds and flowers, some clumps of moss, and- disturbingly- a few odd nuts and seeds. Magnus shakily plucked out a pecan; in the mirror he saw Alex grimace.
He also caught a glimpse of himself, his pale face framed by his uneven straw-colored hair. His glowing countenance reflected the bathroom’s harsh lighting. The bags under his eyes were exacerbated by exhaustion and general unwellness. Now he was finally looking the part of Dead Teenager Number whatever-the-hell.
“Look, man, this sort of thing just happens sometimes,” Alex tried to comfort him, “I mean, when I get too nervous I turn into an elephant or alligator or whatever,” she shrugged. “Just another symptom of whatever you got goin’ on.” Silently, she was very relieved it wasn’t actual vomit.
“I’m-“ Magnus began, then doubled-over and retched again. Seaweed, bluebonnets, wildflowers, oak leaves, acorns, and an assortment of other plants splattered to the floor. He coughed and gagged again. Alex lightly rubbed his back. “I’m guh-gonna lay down…” he croaked. Magnus curled into himself in pain, his face still looking unhealthily green.
“Uh, let’s make sure you’re, like, done first. Okay?” Alex gently guided him to sit at the edge of his bathtub, which he easily obliged. He was still shaky and sweaty, ready to tip over with a stiff breeze.
“This suh-sucks,” her partner complained, “I really hate this.” His watery eyes and the way arms were folded over his middle really enhanced the “petulant child” look.
“I know,” was all she could think to say, her usually-sharp tongue failing her.
Magnus bent his head in exhaustion. Without really thinking, Alex reached over and ran her hands through his damp hair, pulling it away from his pallid face. Her cool, thin fingers navigated with a strange expertise that Magnus found hypnotic in his feverish state. Rather than words, Alex would much rather just demonstrate her intent. I’m here with you because I want to be. I’m not leaving you . Let me help you . He just gave her a glassy, weary stare as she did so, too worn out and far too grateful.
Along with the strange flower protruding from the crown of his head, Alex identified two strange bumps at his temples and tiny leaves and petals sprouting and curling where only normal human hair ought to be. It was definitely bizarre. Like he’s sprouting horns , she mused. It wasn’t that different from her shapeshifting, really, just slower…
He wasn’t turning into a tree or something, right?
Alex pulled his hair back- awkwardly given their positions facing each other- into a crude ponytail and tied it with the chongo she normally kept around her right wrist. Then, she ran her palm against his head like it was a good luck charm.
“You’ll probably be fine tomorrow,” she tried to soothe him. Magnus tiredly leaned his warm-then-cool head into her palm like a cat, and it made her own insides do a weird flip. It was the dumbest shit that made her love this idiot more and more.
Once Magnus was sure his stomach was done revolting against him (after coughing up even more vegetation into the bathtub), Alex guided him back to bed.
It took Alex a good hour and a half to dredge up the motivation to clean the bathroom. It wasn’t too difficult, she just gathered it up and tossed it into one of the flower beds in Magnus’ atrium (though, she did debate with herself whether or not to try flushing it down the toilet). Secretly, she hoped the crows would do it for her, but her impatience got the better of her eventually. The einherji just hoped they would pay forward this act of kindness. However, it also could have been payback for Alex making them clean up her room when she tore it to shreds on her first day at Hotel Valhalla.
Either way, despite it being a pain in the ass, it did allow her to channel some of her restless nervous energy into something productive. As soon as Magnus laid back down- now with a trash can at his bedside in case of another round of puking up daisies or whatever- he curled into a tight ball. Whether he was awake or asleep or somewhere in between, Alex just couldn’t bring herself to pester him.
If there was one thing Magnus hated, it was wolves.
Second to that, it was a painful death.
Thirdly, it was any time he got weird fucking dreams, like the one he seemed to be having now. Following the unfortunately recurring pattern, he was a floating head again. Magnus was surrounded by vague impressions of sensations: light, softness, warmth, comfort. It reminded him of his occasional visions of his father, yet distinctly different. Magnus felt like he was sinking or melting into whatever presence was surrounding him.
When Magnus was a kid, after he and his mom would return from a daytime hike or a long camping trip, the first thing they would do was get ice cream. She would park her beat-up station wagon, and before getting out, always lean over and wrap her arms around her son in the passenger seat. A silent gesture that said you did great, kid . It’s funny that he remembers that more than any ice cream flavor he ordered. And now, this dream was bringing up that old feeling.
It felt like his mom was holding him again.
Who are you? Magnus asked the presence, feeling small and inconsequential. Retaining a small and stupid hope, no matter how many times he’s had to stomp it down before.
Gods and mortals alike call me Yggdrasil, the World Tree , it spoke to him, not in the way a human ever spoke to him. Rather, it was like the essence of thought and intent, winding through his mind with care and ease. Many things. Hoddmímis holt, Mímameiðr, Læraðr. Silly things , it whispered, to which Magnus agreed. Those things did sound quite silly.
No other creature has given me any name. I exist, I breathe in the past, the present, and the future of all the nine worlds. The ash tree rooted into his thoughts, like how his mom would comb his hair when he was younger after getting home from the outdoors. She would deftly pick out the leaves and petals and stray dandelion seeds and place them in a row on his dresser. Look at all these things your dad gave you. Lucky you! Magnus remembered her laugh still.
You remind me of my mom , he told it without really thinking. He felt he was sinking deeper still.
Not Freyr? It asked. Magnus wasn’t sure if trees could laugh, but it seemed to be doing just that. Even though he was gifted one of my branches?
Not really. Alfheim was on the bottom of his tier list of favorite Yggdrasil branches, honestly.
Some subconscious part of Magnus believed that he could command all plants, that they would sway and dance at his, and his father’s, beck and call. Like the sun, distant and separate yet necessary nonetheless. But now in the looming and vast presence of this tree’s entire being, he wasn’t sure. Magnus had never felt so close to it, even at the time when he manipulated its branches himself. Now he was losing sight of where he began or ended, in this vast entanglement of the World Tree’s system.
Everything is connected, Magnus , it explained to him. Every second, every breath. Even beyond us .
I don’t really get it , Magnus relented.
I’m an atheist , he tacked on.
He recalled talking about something like this with Samirah once, a while ago, but it was hazy now. He tried thinking of her face when she rolled her eyes, her green hijab and her dry, calloused palms when she handed him a date. The brief liquid flashes of her slipped through the cracks like water.
Why am I here ? He questioned as his lucidity dwindled. Usually when I have dreams it’s because the world is ending .
The world is not ending.
Oh. That’s great.
There were a few moments of awkward silence. Magnus felt like he was being rocked by its swaying boughs.
The lives you lead are interesting. You are very interesting, Magnus Chase, Yggdrasil stated. Such a small and simple thing , it seemed to coil around him tighter.
Thank you, I guess.
You are all such tiny things, humans. I do not get opportunities to speak with you. The head of Mimir is no company to me. Nor the dragon that slumbers in my roots, the stags that dance in my arms, the squirrel that clambers throughout me.
You’re saying you’re lonely? Magnus asked benignly.
At that, the tree seemed to stop all of its pulsing movement, as though catching its breath. I don’t understand . Magnus could relate. It resumed its winding and coiling. I want to speak to you. I want to see you. Stay with me. It wound, pulled, tugged at him. He came here to die. Odin. Pain. Mimir plunged into me. Pain. Stay with me, little sprout. Stay with me. Stay me be me be stay me be stay stay me. Death is nothing. Death is life-
Magnus felt a pressure on his non-existent shoulder. It shook him hard, making his brain rattle around like a peanut in a bowl. Yggdrasil’s python grip relented. Magnus blinked his eyes open lethargically. A blurry face was staring at him, he felt like he should have known who it was.
“I was… having a conversation,” he glared at the smeary watery blob, trying to make sense of its features. His tired eyes burned, his head throbbed. He felt cold and hot all at once.
“Uh, what?” the person asked. Now she was coming back into focus, that was Alex. Magnus didn’t remember the last time he saw her face looking like that. Her tired eyes widened, eyebrows pinched with concern, mouth partially opened in confusion. It was kind of funny.
Magnus experimentally twitched his fingers and toes then lifted himself into a sitting position. He still felt very floaty, like his brain was just puppeteering the body. Any second now, he would be dragged back down into the recesses of that dream. If he focused, he could hear the tree calling to him, a muffled, ringing chime.
“Magnus?” Alex asked weakly. To her, he looked a lot worse. Homelessness accustomed her to witnessing an addict’s high. Hell, she’d even experienced a few herself. Now, her boyfriend’s eyes had the same blissful and faraway look. When he fixed his bright, serene gaze on her- or maybe right through her- it made her lungs seize and heart spasm erratically and she leaned back self-consciously. “Uh-um,” she forgot what she was going to ask. Why was she acting like this!? She wanted to scream at herself. It freaked her out, she was in control. She pinched her arm to get a grip.
Maybe she should have texted Samirah.
Before Alex could regain use of her tongue, Magnus moved to get up. “Oh, uh, if you’re gonna throw up again there’s this-,” the rest of her sentence died in her throat when she saw Magnus’ feet touch the ground. Instantly from the wood flooring, green sprouts burst up to meet him. “Uh,” Alex said.
Magnus stood, wobbled a bit- to which Alex helpfully held her arms out in case she needed to catch him-, then walked unsteadily, soundlessly, to his atrium. His footprints trailed by the same mess of vegetation. Alex glanced at his bed and noticed there, too, was the shape of a human body marked with sprouts and vines poking up between the threads of his bedsheets. She hoped that shit wasn’t contagious or something. “Uhhhh,” she tried to articulate again.
Alex watched as he gracefully approached the giant tree trunk protruding from the middle of his room. It was pretty unnerving because “graceful” was typically the descriptor farthest removed from how Magnus normally went about things. He placed his palms to the tree’s rough surface and touched his forehead against it, closing his eyes. Alex almost felt like she was interrupting something sacred, like Samirah’s daily prayers, but she steeled herself. Right, she had woken him up because of the pained groan and tight expression on his face. She was worried he was having a nightmare, or something worse. Alex walked up to her boyfriend, noticing the way the plants around him grew and blossomed joyfully, welcoming his presence with curling tendrils.
“Hey,” Alex started, trying to adopt the confident and relaxed tone she often used at The Chase Space, “I think you should lie down, for real.” She got no response from her fellow demigod, his expression was tense and focused. The sprouts on his head twirled longer, and the bumps on his temples seemed to spiral more outwards like the antlers of a young buck.
To Magnus, everything was drowned out save for the incessant pull from the great ash tree. He could feel its vast circulatory system humming and pulsing under his palms. A long time ago, his mom taught him about old-growth forests, how their roots would link together through fungus and they would share nutrients. Like they’re holding hands , she explained. He wondered if he could do something like that now, if he could reach out to Yggdrasil like that. Surely, it wouldn’t hurt to try.
The demigod envisioned his mind phasing through the tree’s thick exterior, travelling down its old veins and spreading throughout its network of roots transporting oxygen and water. He could hear the current pulsing in his ears rhythmically like a heartbeat, and alongside it a quiet, humming melody.
“I didn’t know you could sing,” he mumbled. It was very relaxing. He felt like he was being pulled into the tree entirely. He could sink right into sleep again and be a tree forever; it certainly beat being an einherji. He really hated fighting. It didn’t come naturally to him and he never got truly accustomed to it. Blood and pain and dismemberment and vitriol, he passed it along to Yggdrasil and it sighed back to him sympathetically.
Stay with me. Please, stay with me. Yes, he could feel it now. The endlessly deep well of emotion at Yggdrasil’s base, overflowing and pooling into his soul so profoundly his eyes were overflowing with tears. There were thoughts and experiences and feelings so beyond his mortal comprehension it washed over him like a tsunami’s wave, buckling his knees like he was back on Big Banana ’s decks. It was making him a bit sea-sick. Yet the longer his mind melded with Yggdrasil, it seemed to calm down and hug him. It pulled at the threads of his memories, and he let it do so. He was cotton candy in water, dissolving entirely.
Beyond this, he couldn’t recall who or what he was. He was just a plant, breathing and pulsing, held steady by roots and tilting towards the sun’s radiance above him. Events flashed before him rapidly, too fast to make proper sense of. The endless cycle of seasons, life then death then life again.
And then he was yanked out of it, the shock of it hitting him like he was jumping into the Boston Harbor with a hard SPLAT. The string of connection pulled taught with a thin violin shriek and broke with a sharp SNAP . His eyes shot open and pain nailed between his eyes, blinding him. Magnus felt his body convulse like his soul was being forcefully shoved back into a physical form.
Alex leaned over him as he opened his eyes in blank, mortified shock. He choked out a pained gasp like he’d been stabbed in the gut. She had panicked when Magnus altogether stopped breathing, vines circling him as though to drag him down, and pulled him away from the tree. The demigod wasn’t sure if that was the right thing to do, but it was hard to think rationally while she straddled her boyfriend’s waist as his body spasmed.
Then, before she could move to pin his arms, his hands clamped around her throat. She could feel her own jugular beat against his warm palms, subconsciously noting that his hand was covering her tattoo. Her Adam’s apple bobbed as she swallowed nervously and stared at his face. If Alex didn’t know him so well, she would think he was enraged. Magnus was breathing in hard, ragged gasps, eyes wide and eyebrows furrowed so deeply she could see his veins. The horns made him look particularly devilish.
Times like this reminded her of why she was so wary of him before; he reminded her of a dormant force of nature. So calm and steady, blending into the environment, and then one wrong step and the whole avalanche would tumble down. Alex hardly registered in her mind the vines curling around her limbs and holding her in place like chains. The demigod could have easily escaped by changing shape to a squirrel or hummingbird or butterfly, her instincts compelled her to, but she did not. He wouldn’t squeeze. He wouldn’t.
“It’s okay,” she huffed, staring down at her partner’s tear-stained face as his blank, cloudy eyes bore through her somewhere. They were reddened from crying.
Alex wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that, before his expression and hands relaxed, and his fingers roamed, first brushing against the twin snakes on her skin, then up towards her sharp jawline to cup her face. Contrary to her, Magnus’ palms were much softer, his touch so gentle yet oftentimes quite clumsy. He could hardly wield a sword properly, but give him a person's heart and he could do as he pleased with it. He wasn’t half bad at molding a clay bowl, either.
Magnus blinked slowly, and finally looked at her. Even though the coiled tension in his muscles seemed to ease, he kept his hands to her face- not that she minded very much.
“You’re like a tree, you know,” he said dreamily. Good to know he was still out of his entire mind.”You breathe like one,” he tried to explain to no avail.
“That’s very sweet of you to say,” she snarked, giving him a wry smile. He stared back at her, actually looking at her. His eyes always had an unnerving intensity to them. It made her stomach lodge into her throat. Is this the part where they kiss and it’s super romantic? Should she just lean in and go for it? She contemplated it for a millisecond, then thought better of it. The mood was all wrong.
The green-haired demigod was about to get off him, but was restricted by the creeping plant tendrils locking her in place. As a child of Loki, she could have simply broken them off, but before she was able to, Magnus wrapped his arms around her and awkwardly pulled her down into an embrace. Her head was rudely shoved against his collarbone, where she could hear his heart thumping away steadily in her ear.
“Aleeeeex ,” he blubbered emotionally, “ I lub you sssoooo muuuch ...”
“LEGGOAME ,” she tried to articulate with her face pressed against him. She pulled herself, along with her boyfriend clutching onto her, up into a semi-sitting position. Magnus sniffled and Alex pried him off. “Don’t do that again!” she snapped half-heartedly. Magnus wiped at his face pitifully, giving her that glassy, drunken look again. While the tendrils around her limbs had released her, a bed of red clover had sprung up all around them.
“Okay,” he mumbled and grabbed at her left arm with his wet hands (ew) and pulled it against him like a comfort item, pressing her hand to his fever-stricken face. He was never this touchy-feely with her- or anyone for that matter. She almost wanted to laugh at how absurd he looked. And it was fucking cute. Fuck.
Alex let him be for a moment, then stood up, “Okay, Maggie, up you get.” She tugged at the arm he was holding onto.
He tilted his head back and sighed dramatically, “I don’t wannaaaa .”
“Oh my gods. Please,” she begged him, tugging more insistently, “I will buy you all the falafel in the world-”
“REALLY ?” his attention immediately shot back to her.
“Yes!” She nodded eagerly. If there was one thing in the world she could bribe him with, it was his favorite food. He finally pulled himself to his feet, then proceeded to lean bodily into Alex, practically draping himself over her. Then, he kissed her cheek and murmured a lazy “ thank you ” in her ear. She wasn’t sure if she felt hot because of his thermokinesis or from sheer embarrassment.
“You are being- SO much right now,” Alex huffed, stumbling her way to his room’s exit. If she had to stay cooped up in here any longer, she would be the next one to lose her mind.
She maneuvered herself and the boy clinging onto her like a koala out the door and into the hallway. For a second, Alex thought they were blissfully alone and away from being perceived by her floormates, but that thought was unfortunately stamped on when Mallory cleared her throat behind them.
“What do you have there, Fierro?” she inquired like a watchful RA.
“An idiot.” Alex replied. When Mallory walked around to get a better look at the pair, her mouth curled up in good humor.
“I can see that. Where are you two headed?” Mallory crossed her arms, waiting for a response. She glanced down and took note of the plants sprinting up through the carpet at Magnus’ feet. Her self-assured look made Alex want to shout, it’s not like that! I’m being forced to do this! I can't stand this guy! In spite of her irritation, Alex also had this warm, fuzzy feeling in her chest that was making her a bit giddy and nauseous. She had an inkling that it was coming from Magnus, like getting positivity radiation poisoning.
“Anywhere but here,” she stated instead. “Getting some fresh air.”
“Well, you know training starts in about-“ just then, Mallory was cut off by the daily crowing call-to-action for the hotel’s many thousands of eternal residents. “Right now, I guess.”
Presently, Magnus was contemplating how exactly he got here.
Actually, he wasn’t entirely sure where “here” was.
Bloodshed , said a blade of grass.
Violence , echoed a dandelion.
And Magnus thought robins had weird conversations.
Typical weekday , a fir tree bellowed. Lucky to have child of Frey here .
He didn’t feel very lucky, more like he was going to pass out.
“He looks like he is about to fall over,” someone said to his right- thankfully in English- with a distinct Irish accent.
“Eh, we’ll just form a circle around him. If he dies, he dies!” Another voice said, Alex said. Ouch.
“Why even bring him?” TJ chipped in.
“You try getting a giant crow to leave you alone- but don’t actually. They’ll probably peck out your eyes.”
“Do not worry, Magnus,” a giant hand clapped his back, which probably knocked his brain loose permanently, “our Floor Nineteen pride will not allow us to lose!” Halfborn paused for some affirmations from his other floormates, which he received with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
I can’t wait to taste your Vanir blood , a mushroom said, I want to eat your marrow , Frey-spawn .
Now that was just rude. Magnus hoped he would at least taste decent, like falafel… Damn, that sounded pretty good right now. Was Fadlan’s open-
Abruptly, a loud horn signalled the start of… whatever they were doing. They were standing in a large wooded clearing of a deciduous forest. The trees were all whispering and humming, like Yggdrasil but more subdued. If Magnus focused, he could still feel the ash tree pulling at him, shaking him-
“Shake a leg, Beantown!” Mallory gripped his upper arm and hauled him forwards.
“Where are we going?” he asked in a daze.
“Forward,” the redhead pointed. “King of the Hill day!”
“Oh.” He liked watching that show. Magnus realized, belatedly, that he wasn’t wearing shoes, and he was still in his pajamas. The grass and dirt felt nice, and they didn’t seem to mind getting stepped on too much. While he was looking down at the greenery, Mallory was shot between the eyes, the arrow piercing her forehead with impressive accuracy and force. Someone said to duck. Halfborn positioned himself to absorb any more bolts.
Magnus bent down to the girl dying at his feet. The grass cheered belligerently. It could have been double-vision, but it looked like the green blades were waving at him as they wallowed in her blood.
He felt a detached peace pulling the arrow free, pressing a finger to the spouting hole in her head, letting warmth pool and fill the area. He could feel that Mallory was having more relationship issues with Halfborn. He had said something insensitive, she was thinking about her mother, remembering her father. The burn of whiskey in his throat, tang of blood, smell of rain. And then she was blinking up at him, like waking from a dream.
“Hi,” he welcomed her back, “sorry.”
“Don’t be. Thanks,” Mallory brushed him off, wiping the blood from her eyes and standing up shakily before rushing back into battle. As he was healing her, they had been surrounded, and his friends were now fending off dozens of attackers, slowly but surely making their way out of the woods and into the open. He had to heal TJ after he got sliced with a bone-steel scimitar- taste of dust, gritty and sharp - and Alex when she intercepted a particularly close-range shotgun blast to the stomach- coppery, wet, twisting and writhing .
Man, he didn’t wanna do this today. It was exhausting and painful, his head was spinning and his throat was dry. He wanted some falafel. Alex promised.
Magnus was about to sit down when he caught a glimpse of his partner, her face and body were tense for combat. He felt bad because her shirt had been mangled while trying to keep him from getting his head blown off. Magnus would have to make it up to her somehow- Oh, another arrow was hurtling straight towards her. He didn’t want her to get hit by that, and so she wouldn’t.
The bolt’s straight trajectory was true until it was a few feet away, before suddenly bending and curling like an unruly snake and flopping to the ground by her feet as a cooked rigatoni noodle. Alex just turned and blinked at it, then him.
“Well, guess you’re good on your own!” She lifted a hand and turned to help TJ fight off a few other einherjar in the form of a rhinoceros. Magnus didn’t want her to go away, he wanted to be close to her. Everyone else was in the way of that. He wanted everyone to stop fighting and leave them alone.
Magnus could recall the sensation of his dream, the melding of himself and the world, spreading out his consciousness. It was simple, really. Magic and power was everywhere, flowing through every single thing. Not seen , but felt with all your mind and body. Just like Yggdrasil told him, Everything is connected . All he had to do was manipulate it, to shape and mold it with his intent into something useful, something understandable. It reminded him of how Frigg knit rainclouds, or how Alex spun a vase from clay.
Halfborn’s corpse was slumped nearby, his skull bashed in with such violence it looked like his head exploded. Another berserker towered over his body. His mace was caked in brain matter and gore. Gross. He lifted it towards Magnus, surely intending to bring it down and crush the small demigod flat. However, the weapon jerked away from its target as though cowering back, almost being pulled out of the hulking man’s hand. Before the berserker could utter a word of confusion or indignance, Magnus spoke first.
“Stop .”
And he did, dropping his blood-soaked mace of his own volition. Wildflowers burst from it, ensnaring the mace voraciously. The man’s expression morphed to one of relaxed and passive wonder. It was the look that nature photographers typically got as they gazed at a distant mountain range or a particularly intriguing cloud formation. Other fighters in the area had the same look, too, disarmed and agape.
As the screaming and chaos came to a standstill, Magnus could more clearly hear the flora around him singing and laughing. They seemed to be having fun. It was simple, pure childish enjoyment as they rode the gentle waves of the ebb and flow of magic around the demigod. Magnus couldn’t help but laugh a bit too, breathless and giddy. He was practically floating.
The World Tree once again reached out to his mind, and all around him- an all-encompassing canopy of being- and he reached back. Around him sprung stalks of wheat, sorghum, barley, even a few ears of corn and towering sunflowers, all reaching up, up, up towards infinity. The older trees and plants creaked with restless movement. He stretched his own hands upwards along with them. It was like a big celebration. This was much more fun than chopping people’s heads off.
Alex had been in the process of charging a few emboldened einherjar who considered her, Mallory, and TJ as easy pickings in the form of a longhorn. She managed to gore a particularly annoying girl from Floor 92, tossing her limp body at her compatriots with a flick of the head. Shifting back to her human form, the child of Loki wiped the blood from her face and hair and turned to the others. She was expecting maybe some looks of gratitude and was instead met with a view of their backs.
“First of all, you're very welcome, “she said, “and secondly, what is it?”
Mallory pointed one of her daggers in front of her, “an idiot.”
Following her direction, Alex looked where her floormates stared, and was met with a very strange sight. It was Magnus, still glowing and still with a bunch of flowers sprouting from his head, surrounded by a plentitude of crops. He was moving bizarrely, almost like a mix of sign language and interpretive dancing. The tall stalks seemed to dance with him, too, rippling in an invisible wind current. Everywhere he sprang or twirled, new plants sprang up from the ground. While the vegetation swayed happily, the warriors of Valhalla just stared, slack-jawed, utterly entranced.
Alex walked forward to her partner without really making the conscious decision, side-stepping a few corpses. The closer her feet brought her, she could distinctly hear it: laughter. Magnus’ laughter. It was soft and light, maybe half an octave higher than when he spoke. It was something she didn’t hear often, something that breezed through her chest, filling that small and empty place. She could have turned into a bird with how light she felt. Closer, she just wanted to be closer to him.
Then he smiled at her, and all perception beyond that stopped. In this valley of death, Magnus was the calm oasis, extending his hand to her like an olive branch. His eyes were bright, unwavering, mesmerizing. He silently beckoned her. Automatically, she walked right up to him. This was not the same as her mother’s commanding pull, it was inviting and warm. Alex still felt like herself, she was choosing to return to him, like a bear to its den, or a cat choosing a particular sunbeam to rest under.
She grabbed his hand, gently intertwining their fingers. Usually, she hated doing that because it made her palm sweaty, but just this once was alright. In her mind, she could feel his presence flow through, brushing softly and quietly like a ray of morning light.
He frowned a bit and pulled her closer, he still looked silly with a bouquet of flowers blooming from his head. “I’m sorry I made you worry about me,” he told her.
Alex sighed, the tension headache was just now hitting her. Maybe Samirah still had some Advil on her. “I do that anyway, actually.” If he was reading her thoughts, he probably already knew that. It was still a bit awkward to say out loud, but important, nonetheless. Magnus’ bashful look at her words was also a bonus; teasing him never got old.
He stared at her for a few moments. Alex was used to his unwavering gaze by now. Typically, it made him appear… hollow, but right then he seemed to have swallowed the sun itself. The son of Frey was teeming with radiance. “Dance with me.”
“You are completely ridiculous.”
“Will you?” He put his other hand against her side, swaying back and forth minutely.
“Without any music? Some party this is,” she joked, not really trying to resist his gentle rocking.
“Hmmm , you can’t hear it?” Magnus asked her. He tilted his head with a grin- which, oh gods, she was definitely blushing now. Alex could feel her face getting hot. He leaned forward and pressed their warm foreheads together, and then she could feel it truly. It was like he was transferring sensations and feelings right into her mind. The smell of wet grass and dirt and the blissful warmth of the sun showering her, a golden ringing sound, like chimes and flutes. It felt so fresh and new, and yet so nostalgic; digging up something buried a long, long, long time ago.
“I hear it,” Alex murmured. “It’s beautiful.” Shit, her eyes were getting wet now, and when she looked at him, his were misty, too.
“Why am I crying?” She asked rhetorically, giving a breathy laugh. It just felt so stupid.
Magnus swayed her more, and she let him. They were truly dancing now, an incomprehensible routine since neither of them knew any proper way to do it. They were just moving together, it reminded Alex of when they were bowling against giants. “It’s love,” he explained simply, “loving to exist.” He paused. “I’m glad I met you.”
“Me too,” she agreed without hesitation. “I’m glad I died.”
“Well, don’t say that,” he laughed again. Alex cherished that sound, she would say a thousand shitty jokes just to hear it once. “I wish I didn’t die, but I’m thankful I could try again. I want to- to not waste this one, you know?” Magnus sighed, “I feel like- like all I do is cause problems for other people.” Alex finally glanced around, she noticed everyone had also started dancing, too. That was probably a bit worrying, right? Well, they all seemed to be having fun, maybe more so than they typically had when playing their bloodsports, so she decided not to sweat it.
“Magnus, don’t worry about that shit, okay?” She looked into his eyes. They were still glassy, but she was sure this delirium was just bringing out his deeper honesty. “The people who care about you, care about you unconditionally. And you’re the team healer, so you are useful.” This was Alex-speak for I love you . She tried shooting it to him telepathically, too. I love you, I love you, I love you, you stupid jerk .
Magnus stopped, and pulled her into a tight hug. She almost protested it, but she could feel his gratitude, his love and happiness and adoration radiating from him. They hadn’t been this close since what happened in Nifelheim, when she really thought she was done for. He felt really warm, then, too.
“You know, I spoke to Yggdrasil,” he muttered.
“Huh ? Hold on, the Yggdrasil? The big-ass ash tree?”
“Mhm ,” He hummed nonchalantly. “It seems really lonely, I guess,” They were swaying again, definitely violating the typical prom-night leave space for Jesus rule. “I dunno, I don’t really get trees.”
“Oh, me neither,” Alex concurred.
“I- I don’t wanna be alone anymore, either,” he admitted to her. She could feel the sensation of it: cold alleys, cold eyes, cold watery depths, places where warmth could not reach. Really, she knew that from her own experiences all too well. “But, I feel like I kinda get that-,” he paused for a moment to pick his words, “if I reach far enough, connect myself and stuff, then I won’t be. ‘Cause really, everything already is connected.” His face pinched with concentration, “The World Tree should know that better than anyone.”
“Uh-huh ,” Alex tried wrapping her own mind around what Magnus was trying to tell her, with both words and feelings. It was a little disorientating, honestly. Maybe this was like her trying to explain shapeshifting to him. It was probably a concept he could never fully grasp and experience like she did.
“No,” Magnus pulled away from her, even though she didn’t want him to. “Alex. Magic is everywhere,” he raised his arms again, more sunflowers bloomed, their heads were bigger than Halfborn’s ax. “It’s in every single thing, it connects us all.” He gave another airy spin, teetering and twirling like a leaf in the wind. “Holding you is magic, too.”
She didn’t really know what to say to that. Her ears were filled with cheering and laughter that was typically reserved for after-battle feasting, her chest felt so full of light and air it was choking her, every atom around her was charged with frivolous joy. As Magnus danced around her, everyone else did, too.
Right , Alex thought, in a solar system all planets revolve around their sun . It reminded her of children prancing around a maypole with their rainbow-colored ribbons. She was surrounded by Odin’s blood-soaked warriors and fields of golden wheat. Surely, this was some kind of madness, a form of shared mania that made them drop their weapons and drown their bloodlust in drunken happiness.
All Alex could really do was stare. People she recognized by chance caught her eye as they spiraled and twisted, beckoning her into the dancing. A boy missing his jaw tried smiling at her, someone tried reaching out to her with their missing arm. An older woman was trying and failing to keep people from tripping over her own intestines. Even Mallory was participating, her ginger hair was a bright red splatter flowing in the wind.
They were all so unnaturally happy and unbothered. She didn’t know what to do. This went beyond simple ridicule. It was insane. The things Magnus could do on a simple whim were truly insane.
Finally, her petrified body moved, and she caught her boyfriend by the upper arm. His head lolled when he turned to look at her. Everyone else stopped, too, many doubled-over with laughter or flopped to the ground in inebriated heaps. Those silly flowers on his head tangled into a thorny crown, the wooden horns jutting out sharply as if he were a prince of nature.
“Stop this,” she pleaded quietly to him. He tilted his head at her strangely, like he couldn’t possibly comprehend her words. She grit her teeth. “You’re always doing shit for other people. Just stop! Please, for once, just let me take care of you !”
For a split-second, his smile faltered and he stared at her in open surprise. It was so brief Alex might have imagined it, because then his face was entirely blank, devoid of anything even human. When she stared into his terribly empty eyes, she knew she wasn’t looking at Magnus Chase , but something greater than him. It was greater than them both, maybe greater than any god or jotun . It was an invisible universal force, like being momentarily possessed by the very concept of entropy .
“Please,” she asked again. Her entire body was shaking with pure adrenaline, maybe it was fear or excitement, or both, or neither. Her mouth quirked up in a small lop-sided grin due to her nervous tic. The thing before her cocked its head the other way, it smiled with Magnus’ face and laughed with his voice. Then it winked at Alex, secretively, and it was gone.
Alex felt like she had witnessed something she couldn’t comprehend. It all happened so fast, as if watching a star explode. One second it was a bright glowing mass of contained power and the next it was a giant burst cloud of scattered stardust. All that built up energy just left him, the magic dispersing around them and flowing through the air and plants and earth.
She hadn’t realized her grip loosened, which ended up with Alex swiping blindly at the air as Magnus tipped backwards. She cringed as he landed in a limp heap on top of the giant sunflowers he willed from the ground before. The son of Frey looked… desaturated was the only word she could think of. He was normal, plain-ol’ dull Magnus Chase again, swaddled by the green and golden splendor of nature. Alex breathed a sigh of relief, then kneeled down next to him, feeling very much like the prince to his Little Briar Rose.
“Hey,” she whispered and poked at his cheek. Magnus’ eyelids fluttered and he made a weak sound of protest. Alex glanced around and saw that einherjar were looking around in a daze. The ones who had perished momentarily were being scavenged by Odin’s numerous wolves, while the rest were staggering back to their rooms as if leaving the morning after a raging house party. Fine with her, she, too, was worn the fuck out. It was some makeshift semblance of serenity, and Alex would take what she could get.
All the flora Magnus had conjured remained, though; the bristling wheat and corn, the hollyhocks and honeysuckle and daisies, the rosemary bushes and Spanish Broom and wisteria vines. It was magnificent, and fucking terrifying. The fact he could perform so many miracles, yet remain so… so humble was baffling to her.
“Ugh , you drive me absolutely nuts , Chase,” Alex poked the middle of his forehead, trying to drill the message in his head, physically this time.
“What… did I do?” he rasped back. After a few moments, Magnus sat up, looking entirely fatigued. His head-flowers had withered, the brown leaves and stalks snapping, even the wooden branches at his temples broke off and fell into his lap. He turned them in his hand pensively, his sluggish brain working overtime to comprehend what he was looking at. Despite his lethargy, he looked closer to normalcy than he had all day.
“I’ll tell you later,” Alex replied, already planning a café date in her mind. She shape-shifted into a giant cassowary, “get on.”
“Not a flamingo?” Magnus blinked at her. “You always make a great flamingo.” He got up slowly, then draped himself over her feathered back like a leather saddle. That sure was one way to sit on a giant bird.
“Maybe some other time.”
Surely, Odin would get a kick out of this brief power-trip, or maybe he’d end up giving them a lecture on utilizing their demigod powers with great responsibility . Samirah would donate a few painkillers and a sympathetic look. Their floormates and other warriors would pat him on the back, tell him good job, maybe even give him a toast at dinner.
However, Alex had other plans.
She dropped him off in his room, and he clumsily made his way back to bed, but not before stumbling over the tiny new sprouts on his floor and approaching the ash tree in his atrium. Alex watched him hesitantly, hoping he wouldn’t do anything else weird.
Instead, he just placed a palm to its trunk reverently and smiled softly.
“You know, all that stuff about magic you said earlier,” Alex mentioned once he had gotten into his bed, and rolled himself into a blanket cocoon. “I do think I get it. A bit.”
“Mmm that’s nice,” Magnus mumbled, his eyes closed. “‘M still… an atheist, though.”
“Good on you,” she praised, “sticking to your beliefs. I like that in a man.”
Magnus huffed a small laugh, and finally went to sleep. He only dreamt of giant dandelion seeds, scattered to the wind.