The Beast Within

Quentin Coldwater walked underneath the trees swaying in the breeze and pretended that they were applauding him towards victory, the Scorpio Blade clenched in his fist. He tried to recall what exactly the blade did.

"Quentin, come on, pay attention," Alice grumbled, waving a decaying piece of parchment in front of her boyfriend's face.

"Sorry. What were you saying?" He had been caught up in staring at her lips as they pursed and explained about the blade they had finally obtained. He had been dreaming about her legs wrapped around his waist and the taste of strawberries on his lips.

"Quentin!" Q shook his head, his long brown hair, swinging helplessly around his face.

"I'm not going to watch yourself get killed simply because you weren't listening." Alice crossed her arms across her stomach, trying to contain her anger.

"Yeah, well, you aren't going to have to either way," Q mumbled, turning his attention back to the old book between them.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Her eyebrows were drawn together, creating those lines on her forehead that Q wanted nothing more than to run his fingers across.

"It means that this is the 15th time loop. It means that I'm the only one who can defeat him, so why even bother bringing you guys just to watch you die? What if this is the time I beat him and the time loop is broken, huh? I'm supposed to go on without all of you? I don't think so."

Alice bit her bottom lip, sucking in air.

"No one is going to agree to this," she said, her large eyes filling with tears.

"I'm doing this alone. It's my destiny, not yours."

"You don't know that."

"We all know it."

"And if you die?"

"Then time gets reset and none of us will remember this anyway."

"But..."

"No. Now what were you saying about this blade?"

Quentin would love to say he paid attention the rest of the time, but that would be a lie. He'd kept up his fantasies of her skin pushed against his, flushed and hot. And now here he was. Alone. In Fillory. The one place he had always thought he could escape his problems.

"You'll never escape us," he heard a voice niggle in the back of his brain. That ever constant voice which reminded him that he was never truly alone, because his depression was always there. Second guessing him, making him feel as if his worth was questionable at best, nonexistent at worst.

"Poor, poor Quentin." The voice snickered, and Quentin brought his hands up to the sides of his hands, angrily pushing on his temples. The hilt of the obsidian blade gently brushed his skin and light exploded behind his clenched eyes. He forced the blade away from him again, but not before seeing it glow with a bright white.

"Ugh. What was she saying again? She... she..." But Quentin couldn't remember her name. He couldn't remember the color of her hair. He stared at the blade again, wondering what had just happened. 

"DAMMIT, QUENTIN!" Q jumped, dropping the blade into the grey-tinged grass.

"What are you doing here?" He mumbled, still staring at the shiny black knife.

"She didn't think you could defeat him. Because you're nothing," the voice whispered, every syllable lined with with derision.

"Alice came to me. Told me about your genius plan to face The Beast alone. What the hell were you thinking?" Julia moved out of the woods, coming to stand in front of him, the blade between them.