Kai froze.
"Alice…?"
The woman in front of him blinked at him in confusion, her shoulders became tense, her posture wary like a cornered animal which shocked Kai at the level of caution she had in her.
Kai lifted both hands, palms out, voice even.
"Hey, easy. It's me, Kai. I'm not here to hurt you."
The blank look on her face told him everything.
'Right. I don't think there's a version of me in this failed universe', he thought.
"Ok look just… calm down okay," he added, taking a cautious step back. "I'm not your enemy. In fact, I'm the friendliest stranger you'll meet today." He almost smirked but caught himself. "Promise."
He was about to say more when she finally spoke, her voice sharp.
"How did you get in here?"
That actually threw him for a second. He glanced over his shoulder, ready to reply when a sudden spark of magic ripped past his face, sizzling into the wall.
"Whoa, what the fuck Alice!" he barked, spinning back toward her, but she was already sprinting toward the open entrance.
She never made it.
A heavy blow slammed into the back of her head, sending her collapsing to the floor in an instant.
Kai exhaled through his nose. "And here I thought Marina had trust issues. What the hell makes Alice so damn paranoid in this world… apart from cause of a destroyed school of course?"
He glanced down at her limp form and sighed.
"Guess I'm babysitting until Miss Trigger-Happy wakes up."
---
Later
Alice came to with a sudden, startled jerk. She pushed herself halfway up from the dusty wooden floor, eyes darting to the scattered, overturned chairs and the dark smears on the cracked walls.
A voice broke the silence.
"Rise and shine, jumpy. Welcome back to the waking world population: you and me."
She turned sharply toward it and saw Kai, leaning casually against a broken desk, looking entirely too amused.
Then she noticed her hands were free… but her body was encircled by a wide ring of what looked like chalk… or was that salt?
Her eyes narrowed.
She stood abruptly and bolted forward only to smack into an invisible barrier that rebounded her like a spring.
Kai winced in mock sympathy. "Ouuuu, yeah, sorry. You're not going anywhere, crazy-pants, not until you've answered some questions." He pointed to the shimmering air just above the salt. "That's a barrier or a boundary. No blasting, clawing, or running your way out until we've had our little chat."
In a blur of motion, he was suddenly in front of her. Alice flinched at the impossible speed.
Kai's eyes locked on hers, voice low but firm.
"Calm down. You're safe. Nothing to fear here. Just… relax."
Her breathing eased almost instantly, tension melting from her shoulders.
He stepped back. "Good."
Her brows knit. "What… what did you just do to me?"
"Calmed you down," he said simply.
"How?"
"Compulsion, dear."
Her head tilted. "You… know me. But I don't know you. Are you a magician, or… whatever?"
Kai smirked faintly. "You fire off questions before I can answer them."
"Sorry," she muttered.
He exhaled and started again. "I'm Kai. I'm a magician. From Brakebills… but not this version of Brakebills."
That made her blink. Then her eyes widened, a flicker of realization sparking.
'Smart one', Kai thought. 'Easy to communicate with'.
"You're from… another universe," she said slowly. "How? How did you get here?"
Kai glanced around the ruined room. "You wouldn't believe me but it had something to do with a button."
Her attention snapped to him. "Wait. A button?"
"Yeah…"
"The Fillory button," she said, voice trembling.
His eyes narrowed. "Alice… what happened here? Why is the whole school in ruins?"
Her laugh was humorless. "The Beast happened."
"The Beast?"
She met his gaze, eyes hollow. "He killed them all. One by one. Every magician in this school. And he didn't stop there."
Kai frowned. "How the fuck did that happen?"
"That button," she said bitterly.
He tilted his head. "How does a button—"
"You have the Beast in your world?" she interrupted.
"Yeah. But he's in Fillory right now."
"Well, the button made it easy for him to come back here."
Kai caught that phrasing. "Come back?"
She nodded. "He first appeared after Quentin, Julia, and I performed a ritual to communicate with my brother."
"Wait, wait so Julia definitely was here? At Brakebills?"
"Yes. Why? Wasn't she in yours?"
"No. She didn't make it in my world."
"That's not possible. Here, she scored one of the highest. Off-the-charts aptitude points."
Kai shrugged. "Yeah, well… that's what you get for trying to change outcomes."
"What?"
"Never mind. Didn't Penny or Kady help you?"
She scoffed. "No, Why would they?"
He raised a brow, but she continued. "The ritual opened a gateway we didn't know about. Straight into Fillory. The Beast came through and slaughtered people until we drove him back."
"Stopped him?"
"We thought so."
Kai gestured to the dried blood on the walls. "Yeah, this really screams 'victory'."
Her expression darkened. "He came back. In the body of an old student."
"Mike?"
She shook her head. "Margo's ex."
Kai blinked. "Right. Different timelines, different things."
"Who's Mike?"
"Eliot's boyfriend… or ex by now."
Alice looked genuinely surprised. "Boyfriend?"
Kai frowned. "Why do you sound shocked?"
"Because here, he and Margo are together."
Kai thought for a beat, then snorted. "Honestly, not even surprised. Those two are close enough to be fucking. Yeah, actually, that makes sense."
Alice chuckled softly before catching herself.
Kai leaned forward. "So what happened when the Beast attacked here?"
Her gaze hardened. "He tried to kill me. With an Axe of Severance. It traps your mind inside it."
Kai whistled low. "And you survived because…?"
"Quentin. And Marina."
Kai's head snapped toward her. "Wait—Marina?!"
She tilted her head. "Yes. Why? What's wrong?"
"In my world, Marina was expelled."
Alice scoffed. "That sounds grim. Here, she's practically golden and tight with the Dean, never breaks a rule."
Kai leaned back, thinking. 'Well, how about that.'
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