Unlocked: Rewritten

Chapter 38

Sophie:

The next day was spent sleeping. After all the things that had happened in only the last ten days, Sophie desperately needed it.

Sophie woke up to streams of orange golden light flooding her room.

"Why'd you open the curtains?" Sophie mumbled sleepily to Edaline, who was standing beside her bed.

"You need to get up, Sophie," Edaline gently said. "The sun is already setting. I know you needed your sleep, but you've had the whole day."

Sophie rolled over and pulled her blankets over her head.

"Oh, and Keefe is here. He wants to see you."

Sophie threw her covers back and leapt out of the bed.

"Why's he here again?" Sophie said, still trying to get out of her grogginess.

"Well, he was training with Grady, but now they're done and he said something about a surprise..." Edaline put her hand to her mouth. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"A surprise?" Sophie said, surprised. "What kind of surprise?"

Edaline grinned. "Go see."

Sophie got dressed as fast as she could, attempted to somewhat restrain her monstrous bed head, then sprinted down the stairs.

She was not prepared to see...

"What's that?"

Keefe smirked at her dumbfound face. "Hello to you too, Foster."

"Oh, sorry. Hi, Keefe! Now what is that?!"

She pointed at the small square box Keefe was holding. "Oh, this?" Keefe grinned. "I'll show you."

He got down on one knee and pulled open the box.

"KEEFE SENCEN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!?!" Sophie screamed, panicked.

She really cared about Keefe, but... this was way too fast.

He'd only told her he liked her two days ago!

"Woah, Sophie, what's wrong?" Keefe asked gently, standing up.

"Um... this is... I'm not ready for this!"

Keefe frowned. "Oh. That's okay. I understand."

"It was sweet, really, but... marriage is too soon."

Keefe looked bewildered. "Marriage?!"

"Is that not what you were..." Sophie trailed off.

"NO! Of course not," Keefe chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, not that I wouldn't want to someday... like, WAY in the future..." His face turned red.

"Yeah..." Sophie felt her face heat up too, but she couldn't hold back her smile. "Anyway, what were you trying to do before I screamed at you?"

"Oh, right. I wasn't proposing. That's not what elves do to propose. I don't know how humans do it, but for elves, when you get down on one knee, you're asking... to, um, date that person."

Realization dawned on Sophie. "Oh, so you were... Ohhhh," She laughed. "That makes much more sense."

Keefe cleared his throat. It was so adorable how nervous he was. "Sophie Foster, will you be my girlfriend?"

Sophie grinned at him. "Yes!"

Nothing had ever sounded better. And this time, there was no pressure, no overwhelming uncertainty. It somehow felt so right.

Sophie sensed a weight fall off her shoulders and her heart filled with happiness as she hugged Keefe.

Then he leaned in and kissed her.

Keefe

After a few moments they pulled away.

Sophie smiled at him. "I care about you so much, Keefe."

"It's amazing to finally hear you say that, you know," Keefe smiled. "Even though I kinda knew that. I am an Empath, after all."

Sophie laughed, then asked, "So, what's in the box?"

Keefe smiled down at her. "You didn't see?"

She shook her head.

He picked the box up from where he'd left it on the floor and handed it to Sophie.

She gasped as she saw the picture inside. "Wow, Keefe, this is amazing!" She smiled at him. "I love it. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Do you know why I picked that memory to paint?"

"Why?"

"Because when you and I were flying on Silveny to get your abilities fixed, I finally realized how much I cared about you."

Sophie's brown eyes went wide. "You liked me back then?!"

Keefe laughed. "Yep. You were kind of oblivious,"

"Wait... does that mean you liked me when Fitz and I were together?"

"Um, yeah..." When he saw Sophie's reaction, Keefe quickly added, "But it definitely was not your fault."

Sophie sighed, staring at the floor. "I just can't imagine what you must have gone through."

"Hey," Keefe whispered. He took her hand and she looked up at him. "It was worth it."

Sophie pulled him into a hug again. Her waves of guilt and regret soon evaporated, replaced with contentment, and that warm, fuzzy feeling.

"I need to show you something else, too," Keefe said.

"Really?"

"Yep!" Keefe pulled out a clear leaping crystal.

"Where are we going?" Sophie asked excitedly.

"You'll see," Keefe smirked, and pulled them both into a beam of light.

A/N

Gotta love some Sokeefe :) Hope it wasn't super cringey lol.

Question: So far, Oralie and Alina are no longer in the Council. If there were to be an election, who would you want the new Councillors to be? *wink wink*

This chapter was written by SleepyKeefeMuffin :)