Fredozy
patreon
Chapter 57: Alternate universe III
🕑 Added 2025-08-14 19:46:49 +0000 UTCKai leaned forward slightly, brows furrowed. "Then what?"
Alice paused for a long moment, her eyes shifting to the side as though pulling the memory out of some dark, reluctant corner of her mind before answering him. "He attacked someone else… while trying to get off the school grounds."
"Who did he attack?" Kai asked.
She didn't answer right away, and that alone made him press again, more firmly. "Alice… who did he kill?"
When she looked back at him, there was no flinch, no hesitation in her tone just a cold, bitter truth. "Elliot."
Kai took a second to process that. "He… killed Elliot?" His voice was lower now, the weight in it undeniable.
She nodded once.
He sighed heavily, the air leaving him like the loss of an old friend even if it wasn't his Elliot. "Who caught him?"
"Penny. And Professor Sunderland. Penny was able to teleport right to him and slap a set of magical binding shackles on before he could run."
Kai nodded slightly eerily similar to how Mike's arrest went in his own world.
"But…" she hesitated, "somehow he ended up confronted by Margo. She was grieving and was furious. And in pain after losing Elliot."
Kai's eyes narrowed. "Let me guess…"
"No," Alice cut in. "He wanted to be caught. The whole thing was a setup so he could perform a ritual to bring down the wards."
"What happened when Margo saw him?" Kai asked.
Alice's tone dropped lower, her eyes gaining that glisten again paired with that dangerous half-lidded look that this version of Alice seemed to wield effortlessly. "Somehow… his shackles weren't secured enough, we don't know how or who fucked it up. He broke free. And then… he decapitated her with them. Used her body as an ingredient for the ritual. He almost brought the wards down and he would have if it wasn't for Quentin and Julia figuring it out in time."
Kai exhaled slowly, the image lingering longer than he liked. "And Jane?"
"What about her?" Alice asked flatly.
"Wasn't she killed?"
"Not then. Much later."
Kai sighed. "Figured as much. What happened after?"
"The school went into lockdown. No one in or out without a full check."
Kai paced a few steps, muttering something under his breath about how that never actually works.
Alice went on. "The Dean changed part of the wards. And then Quentin and Julia found something about the Fillory books. The sixth one. Written by Jane."
Kai's brows lifted. "Yeah… that's what led me and my friends to the button in my universe."
Alice nodded. "We went to the Plover estate. Me, Julia, Quentin, Marina, and Penny. We got trapped in a time loop for days. Never getting the button. And we saw… what Christopher was doing to the children there."
"Yeah," Kai said darkly, "he did the same in ours." His mind lingered on how sick a man had to be to have that same fate in two realities.
"Eventually, we got out," Alice continued. "The button was buried with a dead little girl. Prudence buried her after she was killed by accident."
Kai thought grimly, 'Another divergence. In our reality, it was a boy.'
He noticed she'd gone quiet. "What's wrong?"
Her voice was softer now. "How… is he?" She didn't have to say a name.
Kai knew instantly. "He's happy. With the version of you in my world." His tone was gentle.
She gave him that same half-lidded gaze again, one that made Kai think, 'God, is she doing that on purpose? Damn, Q you are one lucky bastard.'
"That's good," she said quietly. "And… Julia?"
Kai frowned slightly. "What about her?"
"Is she happy too?"
"Yes," he said after a moment, smiling in a way that drew a small chuckle from Alice.
"That's good," she echoed.
"Margo and Elliot are alive too," Kai added. "Elliot's drowning himself in alcohol, but… I think he'll pull through."
Alice turned her back to him. Kai sighed, canceling his boundary spell and blowing away the salt circle.
She spun to face him. "What are you doing?"
"Well," Kai said, "you seem calm now. And I don't think you're about to attack me the second I turn around. So… there."
"How sure are you about that?" she asked with a raised brow.
Kai shrugged. "Even if you could, I think you know it wouldn't do you any good. So how about you get comfortable and keep telling me how it all went to shit?"
She sat back down on the ruined classroom floor. "After we got the button and figured out how it worked, Penny tried to see for himself."
"He disappeared, didn't he?" Kai interrupted.
Alice nodded. "For two months."
Kai thought, 'An extra two weeks… or is time here just different? Shit… how long have I been gone from there?'
Alice continued. "We got him back using… a particular sex magic. He was in the Neitherlands the whole time."
She paused again before adding, "After that, we thought to safeguard the button until we were ready to face the Beast."
Kai smirked faintly. "Ambitious. Also, wildly underestimating the vile bastard."
Alice gave him a look, but kept going. "We had to learn battle magic. But before we were ready, Marina was kidnapped."
"What? How?"
"Someone breached the wards. By the time we realized what was happening… Professor Lou was dead. Torn apart in this very classroom with pieces of him nailed to the walls." Her voice carried a quiet resignation.
"And Marina?"
"They left a finger. With a note: 'Come to Fillory.'" She locked eyes with him.
"The Beast?"
"Who else?"
"So we took the button against Henry's warnings and went to Fillory." She shook her head. "We thought we were prepared. We weren't. Not even close. Jane showed herself to Quentin… but didn't really help us she just gave a cryptic message then left again."
Her voice started to tremble as she moved closer to him, sitting right in front of him now.
