Because There Is a Future

Chapter Nine

Although Charlotte discovered a lot of her new aunts and uncles (or so she said) she never once said "dad" to anyone, which Sophie thought was a bit concerning. 

But what was even more depressing was that Keefe refused to show his face, at least not to Sophie and Charlotte. 

"He was here, I saw him," Tam said when Sophie asked him if he knew where he was, "but don't worry, he'll show up. No way he can resist you, certainly not after you came back looking this hot. But Soph, watch out. He's changed." 

He winked and grabbed a glass of bluish drink, drinking it all in one big gulp.

Sophie found herself talking mainly to Fitz, who proved himself to be such a lovely gentleman. He had grown over a foot since Sophie last saw him (which meant he was constantly towering over Sophie's petite, slim figure) and his smile couldn't get any more gorgeous. His suit seemed to be made just for him, and it made him look stunning. Regal. Wonderful. Seriously, there were no words to describe his looks. 

Sophie found herself admiring the boy more and more, from the way he talked to the way he laughed. 

Her thoughts on Fitz abruptly stopped when she saw another figure leaning casually on a grand tree, holding a reddish drink. The piercing ice-blue eyes quickly averted when they met the brown ones. 

But too late -- Sophie was already heading in his direction, mumbling a short "sorry, Fitz. Keefe." to Fitz who was rambling on about his successful career as an Emissary. 

Keefe turned and walked away, each step getting faster than the last. 

"Hey, Keefe, wait!" Sophie yelled. He made no attempt to slow down his pace. Sophie found it hard to catch up, because like Fitz, Keefe had grown a lot and the difference in the length of their legs was affecting the speed of how fast they could walk. 

After all these years, Sophie's clumsiness refused to go away. Because she was looking straight to Keefe's lean back, she didn't notice the huge root sticking out and tripped. 

The forest floor collided with Sophie's body, and she let out a yelp of surprise. She let out a sigh, hugging the forest floor, aka her best friend. 

Oh well. She'll talk to Keefe another time. 

"Are you alright?" A deep unfamiliar voice said from above. Sophie grunted. That dark voice cursed, and before Sophie could say anything, warm, big hands grabbed beneath her shoulders and pulled Sophie upright. 

She found herself face-to-face with Keefe Fricking Sencen. Or maybe more like face-to-shoulder, because she was short, and he was tall. 

"Hi?" Sophie blurted. 

"Listen, I..." Keefe hesitated. He cleared his throat. "Are you okay?"

Sophie looked up at Keefe. He had a perfect face -- perfect jaw; perfect eyes; perfect skin; perfect nose; perfect mouth...

He's asking you a question, silly.

"I'm... perfect!" Sophie sputtered.

A bit of a smirk peeked from the corner of Keefe's mouth, but when his eyes met Sophie's again, it disappeared. 

"The fact that your legs are bleeding tells me otherwise." He said, eyeing it. Suddenly feeling self-conscious, Sophie scolded herself for not wearing dresses that came out longer. 

She felt too bare. Too exposed. 

ANSWER.

"Oh, that's fine." Sophie said. "I should've worn- er, never mind."

She conjured a gauze, water, and bandages, quickly wrapping it around her leg. 

Keefe didn't say a word, but he had his eyebrow raised when Sophie looked at him. "Conjurer, huh?"

"Yeah..." Sophie said, tugging on a loose eyelash. Keefe immediately reached forward and pulled her hand away from her eyes. 

The point of connection between skin and skin seemed to buzz with electricity, but Keefe quickly took his hand away. 

"My bad." He muttered. 

An uncomfortable silence stretched between them. 

"You can conjure water too?" Keefe questioned, breaking the silence. 

"Yeah. Basically, everything except, you know, humans and animals." Sophie answered. 

"So you can conjure elves too?" Said Keefe with a raised eyebrow.

"No! I guess it's humans, animals and elves then." She exclaimed. 

"Impressive. Makes sense, too, because if you were able to conjure anything, like us, you would've conjured me in an instant, because I know the separation anxiety killed you." Keefe joked, winking. 

Sophie was a bit startled by the change in Keefe's behavior, which allowed her to see a glimpse of the Keefe she knew and loved. 

"Definitely not." Sophie smirked back, poking Keefe. He poked her back, and then he found out Sophie was ticklish. 

She knew she had gotten herself in the doom of tickling.

Worst. 

Thing.

Ever. 

But apparently not to Keefe. He laughed while Sophie shrieked and begged him to stop. 

"Oh. There you guys are." Fitz said, poking his face through the space between two trees. "The wedding's over." He shot Keefe a look. 

Keefe sighed, pulling Sophie upright (don't ask how she got on the ground) and walking away, looking downhearted. 

"Do you want to come over to Aquaglint?" Fitz asked. "Everyone's coming."

Sophie didn't know what he meant by everyone, but she agreed. She had a lot to catch up on, anyway.

"What's Aquaglint?" Sophie asked. 

"Linh and Wylie's new home. You'll love it." Fitz said. 

"FITZ?" Biana's voice screamed. "WE DON'T HAVE ALL DAY FOR YOU LAZYHEAD!"

Fitz rolled his eyes, took Sophie's hand, and ran over to where Biana was. 

Her scowl was replaced with a dazzling smile as she rushed over to Sophie. "You're coming! Nice job, brother dear."

She smiled sweetly at Fitz and pulled his hand away from Sophie's. "But you don't have to do that. Come on, everyone else already left."

She pulled out a leaping crystal from the ruffles of her dress and screamed, "Aquaglint!"

Can you all do me a favor and name all the reasons why you like/dislike Fitzphie?

Tysmmm!

Love you all 💕

Silverfox out