Blood matted blonde hair plastered itself to her forehead. Lilly pushed herself up on shaky elbows to face the puppet of a man that had struck her. Alex strode purposely towards her, leaves crackling beneath his boots. His entire body was splattered in blood, and none of it his own. Lilly glanced frantically towards Alice, who hadn't broken her focus from The Beast, despite their unexpected guest. Locked in a battle of strength and longevity with Martin, neither seemed to be long for this world.

Stumbling to her feet, Lilly threw up a weak shield just in time to block Alex's following spell. A sadistic smirk curled his lips. The man before her may look like her best friend, but this was Martin Chatwin's doing. Alex's mind was a slave to The Beast's will, just as it had been the night he murdered her mother.

"Alex!" Ava abandoned Quentin's writhing body to chase after him. Her attempt was futile, as before she could reach him, he threw out a hand, and Ava crashed into an unyielding wall of magic.

"Alex, this isn't you." Lilly croaked, blinking rapidly to dispel the dark spots at the edge of her vision. Her arms stung from where they'd been scraped raw by tree bark. Dirt and pine needles clung to the sticky blood dripping down her forearm. "You're stronger than this. I know you are."

"You think he's still in here. That's cute, it really is." Alex quirked a brow indifferently, the electric blue flashing dangerously within his eyes.

"Lex, please, listen to me." This time it was Ava who spoke, her voice trembling with unchecked emotion. Fear and sorrow struck her as she stared at the man she loved more than any other. There was no spark of familiarity there, none of his signature warmth and subtle humor. The man before her was The Beast incarnate. "I know you can hear me. Come back to me." For a moment, Alex seemed to hesitate, his brows furrowed in an unreadable expression. But as soon as it happened, the hesitance dissolved, and without warning, he threw out a hand to blast Alice with a ball of sapphire light.

"Alice!" Lilly rushed towards her, but her path was blocked by Martin. Alice flew through the air. The Beast, who had been close to defeat, was left clutching his arm as if to keep it from falling off. He glared at his niece with a venom she was sure could burn through a cement wall. Her eyes darted from one opponent to another. Quentin and Alice were down for the count, and now it was an even match. There was very little hope left, but her mind grasped at every loose string in an attempt to piece together one final plan. "Ava! Fireflies!" Across the clearing, Ava's eyes widened with panic and recognition. There was no time for confirmation, for Martin had begun to focus his efforts on his troublesome niece.

Lilly, however, did not attempt to use force against him, and to Martin's bewilderment, she deflected attack after attack, never throwing a curse back at him. It was clear that Ava had indeed understood her words, for Martin stumbled, and his attention flicked to his puppet worriedly. Lilly monopolized on his brief distraction and folded her fingers in an all too familiar pattern.

It felt like ages since she'd cast this particular spell, but the movement came as second nature. Not for the first time, Lilly thanked Jane's rigorous training. Magic pricked at her skin like warm rays of sunlight. In the past, she'd taken the path of an Illusionist. She'd crept amongst the shadows of her prey's mind until she slithered her way between the cracks in their wards and took control. Her mission was not to control but distract. Lilly took a sharp breath and threw her magic into Martin's mental wards. Her power clanged against rusted metallic gates of pure iron, unlike anything she'd ever felt before. Everywhere she touched was cold and unfeeling, no remnants of the boy he'd been. Martin had crumbled to dust in the shadow of The Beast.

Lilly slammed into his wards over and over like waves crashing over rocks in a violent storm. The Beast stumbled back as if she'd physically shoved him. His wards wavered, the gates groaning against her power. Alice stirred and gripped her head where she lay sprawled. Lilly held her concentration and prayed that Ava was doing her part. With Lilly's magic distracting The Beast, Ava would have only a moment to steal Alex's mind from him.

Lilly pressed harder and harder into his mental wards. The blood loss took a toll on his defenses, and with one last herculean effort, Lilly opened the floodgates and breached his mind. Darkness wrapped around her, squeezing and pulling until she thought she might choke. The Beast tried and failed to fortify his defenses. She felt the emptiness of his soul, the anger and resentment seeping in like poison. His mind scraped across her own with talons of fury, and she let out a cry of agony, yet against it all, she persisted.

Images flashed by, dissipating as soon as they'd come. The Beast desperately fought against her but she was more powerful than he'd anticipated.

Lilly fought to stay afloat amidst the memories and images bombarding her. A young version of Martin, only a few years younger than he'd been when Lilly met him. He smiled, and the world brightened in response. He ran through fields of vibrant wildflowers, his small hand intertwined with Jane's. They were so happy, carefree. Yet as she watched through the lens of The Beast, the joy that should have been felt was only a cloud of apathy. The world darkened, and Martin was older, this time alone. He sat with his back pressed against the famous grandfather clock that had first transported him to Fillory.

"Why won't you take me? Please, why am I being punished?" He whispered, salty tears pouring down his cheek. He looked up at the sound of approaching footsteps. Christopher Plover smiled down at the boy and crooked a brow.

"Dear boy, what is wrong?" Martin's entire body turned rigid as a block of ice. He swiped at his cheeks in panic.

"Nothing. I'm fine." He tried to fake a smile, but his emotions betrayed him.

"Come, let us have a little chat over some camomile tea. How does that sound? Spend some quality time together." There was a slight edge to his voice, though it was not unkind. Martin seemed to withdraw further into himself. He glanced up at the pendulum as it ticked away the seconds. Martin willed it to stop, for he knew what was to come. He gulped and clenched his jaw with conviction. Plover lead him down the hall with a gentle hand on the small of his back. Fillory would not take him. His home would not take him, and while his sister went on glorious adventures, Martin remained in the Plover mansion, trapped behind closed doors, steadily fading from this world and the next.

Lilly wanted nothing more than to withdraw from The Beast's mind, to shut her eyes and live in blissful ignorance. Yet the tendrils of power that kept Alex under his thumb were still intact, though immensely weakened. If they were to free him, she would need to bear witness to the unspeakable events that carved the sweet child of Martin Chatwin into the monster she now fought. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she watched every agonizing moment transpire and felt the desperate claws of The Beast dig into her consciousness until the pain was all that remained. Martin roared, his magic flaring, shoving her back and out of his memories. Their magic grappled in an all-out war of the mind.

Ava thought back to Mayakovski's brutal lessons that she and Lilly had suffered. The game of mental chess that she would need to play against a far superior opponent. Yet, she was not alone in this fight. Lilly used all of her strength to pull The Beast's attention from Alex to his own protection. As she ran her magic along Alex's mental wards, she found that The Beast and Alex were far more intertwined than they'd anticipated. Like the roots of an ancient sycamore tree, The Beast had burrowed his power into Alex's mind until it was almost impossible to differentiate his influence from the man she loved.

As Lilly threw herself into their opponent with all her might, Ava felt his grip begin to slacken and pull back. There was no guarantee how long she'd be able to fight him, so Ava pounced on the opportunity. With great care and haste, she used her power to pull and loosen the tendrils of power, dispelling them as light does to shadow. Alex's body stalled in his advances, and he clutched his skull in pain as war was waged within him.

Blood pounded through her ears as she used every bit of power and concentration to navigate his mind. The Beast was like a plague, eating away at everything good and pure in Alex's mind and shoving it down into the darkest depths, where it would be nearly impossible to retrieve. Gradually, his grip loosened and pulled back as it took more and more power to fend off Lilly's advances. Alex looked up at her then, and Ava saw a flicker of familiarity behind his eyes.

"Please," A tear trailed down his cheek as he managed to voice the single word that had her heart-shattering. The pain in his voice, his eyes. She felt him fight against The Beast, push against the bars imprisoning him.

Lilly was inches from caving in and losing herself to the darkness of Martin's agony. Despite the white-hot pain rushing through her, she still held on. The Beast fought her tooth and nail, and she met him head-on. She felt as his power grew as he withdrew from Alex's mind to defend his own. She was succeeding. A spark of hope ignited within her chest, and by some miracle, she found it in her to push harder. Alice pushed herself up from the dirt with fury burning in her eyes. She set her jaw in determination. This time she would not fail.

"You're not even a real Magician, are you, Martin?" Alice ground out tauntingly. "You're just a scared little boy. You wouldn't last an hour at Brakebills." Fury surged in Martin's mind at her words, and Lilly felt his power stir. He lunged, and a fireball soared towards her. Lilly grinned through the pain. He withdrew further from Alex's mind, and by now, Ava was almost in control. Alice easily dodged the meager attack and screeched. She flung out an arm, and The Beast went soaring into a boulder with a sickening crunch. He slid to the ground and looked up at the two Magicians standing over him. His eyes fell on Lilly, and slowly a smirk grew on his face. Lilly let out a harsh gasp and swayed on her feet. The constant force of her power against his was abruptly silenced, and her magic filled the entirety of his mind. He no longer fought against her, instead, his magic lashed out in a storm of darkness and chaos, all directed upon his pawn in this lethal game.

"No!" The scream was ripped from the deepest part of her and reverberated through the forest. Ava felt it before anyone else. A sensation of water slipping through her fingers, a sudden unsettling emptiness that hollowed her out completely. Alex swayed, the electric blue glow fading to brown and the spark of life dissipating with it. His body collapsed with a sickening thump to the forest floor.

"Alex!" Ava and Lilly sprinted across the expanse and fell to their knees beside him. He lay on his side with one arm pinned awkwardly beneath his body. But his eyes- oh his eyes. They remained wide and unseeing. Ava let out a strangled sob and threw herself atop his body. "No! No, no, no!" She shrieked, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Hot tears streamed down Lilly's cheeks as she, too, wailed into the universe. Reaching out a trembling hand, she brushed a lock of blood-stained hair away from his lifeless face. The pain was unbearable as if someone had wrapped a fist around her heart and squeezed until it popped. Her cries intensified, and she leaned over to bury her face in his chest, fingers bunching up the fabric of his shirt. His familiar cologne still cling to him, making it all the more real that he was dead beneath her.

"No, Alice, stop, It'll--" Quentin's voice filled the clearing as he called out in despair. Lilly vaguely registered Alice's dismissive response, but she was so overcome with grief to care. "Alice, no!" Quentin screamed it this time, and Lilly looked up through the blur of tears to find Alice still facing off against The Beast, this time with shockingly uncharacteristic ferocity. She was casting the Rhinemann Ultra, but the magic was growing unpredictable, volatile, and it was beginning to consume her.

"Oh, God, no." Lilly choked out, just as Alice's body was engulfed in blue flames of pure power.

"Alice!" Quentin's cry was drowned out by Alice's blood-curdling screech as her body was burned alive. Lilly watched in absolute horror until there was nothing left of Alice but the echo of her cries. A shrill mirthful laugh filled the silence. The Beast stumbled towards them with a grin upon his lips and eyes alight with his triumph. Lilly clenched her teeth as tears slipped down her cheeks and fell onto Alex's body. Ava's hysterical sobs continued, despite Alice's failed spell.

"Oops, too far. Too bad." He taunted, shooting Quentin a false pout and turning to take in the women in mourning. "Poor boy, what a waste."

"Rot in hell!" Lilly shrieked, her eyes ablaze. The Beast sighed and rolled his eyes.

"Let's finally finish this." Quentin struggled to push himself up to his knees, and the strength it took almost destroyed him. He fought to crawl across the bed of moss and pine needles to reach Lilly. She raised her chin defiantly and stared straight into the eyes of The Beast.

"So be it." She spat and shifted so that her body shielded Ava's. The Beast raised a hand to end her life, and Lilly prepared to meet her end. But before he could, a hand reached out to clamp around The Beast's wrist. Lilly gasped at the sight of Alice, Alive and well, standing behind him with an air of indifference and authority.

"I did it on purpose." She whispered conspiratorially. The Beast turned his head to look at her. It was then that Lilly realized what Alice truly was. A Niffin. Blue and white energy surged beneath her skin, leaping out every so often in tiny tendrils of white-hot power. In the blink of an eye, Alice reappeared before The Beast, and before he could lift a finger to cut her down, she cast her own spell. The Beast choked on his words as she froze him where he stood. "Go on, something you want to say?" Alice tilted her head slightly, face void of any emotion. She lifted a finger and touched it lightly to his lips.

"Alice, we can make a deal." He choked out, and for the first time, Martin was terrified. "Think of the fun we could have together. You don't have to--"

"But I want to." She cut him off from his proposition. He was pleading for his life. But this was not Alice. She was no longer human. With the grace of a cat, Alice stepped forward and placed her hands on his chest. Then with a sickening crack and squish, she ripped his chest open, releasing a mass of fluttering moths. Lilly gagged, lifting a hand to her chest at the sight. The Beast fell to the ground in a heap and made no move to rise. "Disappointing." She sighed, like a child who'd lost interest in a new toy. Turning on her heel, Alice set her sights directly on Lilly. "Now, you." She spoke in a sickeningly innocent manner, her gaze devoid of any familiarity. Lilly's stomach dropped, and she attempted to push herself up, only to stumble and fall in her panic. "You have something I want."

"Alice, don't!" Quentin stretched out an arm as if he could stop her. He was only a yard from Lilly, but he couldn't reach her in his state. He crawled across the dirt on his stomach. A trail of dark blood stained the pine needles beneath him. Alice turned and raised an inquisitive brow. He wished she'd listened. Alice faced Lilly once again and uncurled her hand, which glowed with lethal magic. Quentin shut his eyes to steel himself for what he must do. "Quentin says go free." Smoke shot out from the tattoo on his back. The Cacodemon roared triumphantly at its freedom. It set its sights on Alice and shot across the clearing. The sight of blood seeping into earth was the last thing Lilly saw before the world went white.