Chapter Text
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock.
Tick. Tock. Tick. Tock.
Quentin was close. Just a few steps away. The symphony of the ticking clock trees whirled around him. Another step. Tick. And another one. Tock. Step. Step. Step. Step. His feet sank on leaves and wet soil ,again and again, as he traversed through the Clock Barrens.
“Mister Coldwater? What a surprise.”
A lean, brown-haired figure called out to him. Jane Chatwin stood before him, a crooked smile on her face. Fillory’s Clock Barrens were the Watcherwoman’s turf and he knew there was a possibility she’d be there. But regardless, time magic and especially the distortion of time in the Barrens was something he could never fully perceive. Jane’s never-changing, youthful appearance was a result of that magic. The woman who’d lived through 40 different timelines didn’t look a day over thirty-five.
It wasn’t the Jane he knew, the one that was killed by the Beast. It was a version of her, from some other timeline. Just thinking about that Schrödinger's cat situation, made him dizzy.
“I’d say nice to see you but...I don’t really know you, right?” he said.
Jane huffed pleased and crossed her arms over her chest. “I suppose not. But I do know you.”
Quentin rolled his eyes. “Doubtful.” He took a step away from her and sat on the ground, resting his chin on his knees. “Hell if I know who I am anymore.”
“Oh, I see. You’ve messed something up, so you decided to escape here.”
“I didn’t-”, he sighed, “Sure, whatever.”
She gave him a small smile and sat next to him, much to his dismay. He didn’t exactly hate Jane Chatwin but well, he didn’t like her either. She carefully tucked her black skirt over and under her legs as she settled on the ground.
“I’m not shaming you for running away, Quentin. It would be wise to say then that you don’t wanna talk about it?”
With a stone face he turned to her and sighed once more. “Which part? The part about the world possibly ending again or the part about me and my friends being the ones to suffer through a situation like this again?”
“So, you do want to talk about it.”
“Nothing to talk about. The whole multiverse is a warzone and we are, once again, in the epicentre of it all. Like, why the fuck does it always have to be us? Why do these unbelievably terrible things keep happening to us? A semi-normal life would be nice to have, you know?”
He threw his hands up in desperation. It was the first time he’d ever voiced that thought to anyone, even to himself.
“Semi-normal? Oh, you mean you want the married life, the white picket fence, the dogs, the kids but...magic as well?” Jane said sounding almost entertained and worried at the same time.
“I don’t know? Maybe? I certainly fucking deserve it. I mean, don’t get me wrong, magic is great! More that great! But why is it that others get to enjoy it and a select few of Brakebills students have to rule kingdoms, fight monsters and gods and even die for it?”
“You know why, Quentin. You are special.”
He didn’t like that. He really didn’t. “Well, fuck that. Everything is j-just so fucked up!”
“How about this. Do you want me to tell you about your other lives?” she offered.
“I know what happened in my other...lives, Jane. Spoiler alert, I die young. By being killed by the Beast. Or becoming the Beast myself.”
“True. For the most part.”
“Jane I don’t have time for games-”
“No games, Quentin,” she interupted, “I’m serious. There was this one timeline in particular...quite a grim reality. But you lived a very different life there.”
“Let me guess. I spent my whole life in a psych ward. The end?”
“Far from it, actually.”
He snorted dramatically in disbelief, holding back a bitter laugh.
“Shocker right? It’s true. Would you like to hear about it? It might brighten your mood a bit!” She seemed genuinely concerned now. “I’d be easier if I showed you, actually.”
“What do you mean?”
She propped the small pocket watch resting on her hip, in the palm of her right hand.
“This is a miraculous little trinket. As you already know by now, it helps manipulate time. But that’s not all it does. It also stores information from all the magic that it creates.”
“I--uh--I’m confused.”
“Well. Let me try to explain this. If you think of this watch as a video-sharing platform, the timelines created are videos and horomancy is the filming process. And all you need to do to replay a video is push a little button.”
“You-” he mumbled, stunned, “-can’t be serious.” Unbelievable. Jane Chatwin had just made an analogy with time magic and YouTube. Just the thought of the Watcherwoman spending time surfing on the internet between Beast-hunting and timeline resetting was enough to bring a smile on Quentin’s face.
“I most certainly am. It’s fairly simple. Although, not exactly the same thing as watching a video.”
“What’s the catch?” Quentin wondered, momentarily. He knew all too well how complicated time manipulation was.
“Not a catch, per se. You see, in order to review a timeline, you have to immerse yourself in it. And that can be a bit of an odd experience”
“I’ve time-travelled before. I know what it’s like, Jane.”
“Oh, no. That’s the thing. This is not time travel. It’s a timeline...viewing. You can’t change anything and you also can’t affect anything. I’ve used that function a lot, trying to figure out what to change each time I reset the timelines. But like I said, the analogy is a bit flawed. Because you can’t just watch from afar when viewing your timeline.”
“You said...you have to immerse yourself in it?”
She nodded. “You have to experience it through your own body. Which you’d have no control of. Your thoughts would still be yours but that’s about it. Every move, every word you say-”
“Wow. You’re right that is weird. I never liked first-person RPGs.”
Jane tilted her head to him as her eyebrows came together. So she knew about Youtube but not about games. Fair enough, that made sense.
“I wanna try it.”
“Excellent!”
“But I don’t have time for it. I have a world to save, friends to exorcise.”
“Don’t be silly Quentin. You are in the Clock Barrens.”
“So?”
“Here’s a little secret Mr. Coldwater: Time here, is an illusion.”