KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

The Fight

"Don't blame Grady. He was just trying to do the right thing."

Sophie looked away. "I don't blame Grady."

Silence.

Then...

"Oh."

She looked back at him. He looked conflicted. Apologetic, but also...defiant, somehow.

She could feel it bubbling under the surface. They had talked a little bit about his time in the Forbidden Cities. He'd told her how he'd passed the time, how he'd missed her so much it physically hurt. And she'd told him that things had been hard, but that she'd refrained from trying to find him because she figured he'd probably been right to go into hiding until they took Gisela down.

But this?

He'd asked her own father to keep a secret from her. Even something as simple as Keefe having an Imparter.

It wasn't just that he didn't want to be found.

He didn't want to talk at all. No communication.

He didn't want to hear from her.

She supposed that had been part of the healing process, but she'd never really been okay with it. With knowing he'd ignored her so thoroughly without even giving her a chance for a goodbye. But then she'd been so happy he was home, and so excited for them to finally be together, that she'd pushed those thoughts down.

"Did you hear me transmitting to you too? And just ignored me?"

"Sophie...."

"Did you?"

He sighed. "Yes. But Sophie--"

"No." She jumped up. "I understand you thought you were doing the right thing. But it worries me, Keefe. What if something happens again? Can you really promise me that you won't just cut and run the next time things get hard? You've made it clear before now that you're more than willing to lie to me if you think it'll be 'for the best'. I need to know that those days are over."

"Hey now," Keefe said indignantly, looking hurt. "It wasn't exactly a good time for me, you know. Do you have any idea how hard that was? Why are you bringing it all back up again now?" He stood up, crossing his arms, and looked at her. "You're making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be, and I don't appreciate it."

"And when I transmitted that I missed you, and that things are better when you're here? Did you hear that too?"

A shadow crossed Keefe's face. "Stop. This isn't helping. I'm home now and I already apologized for the pain my leaving caused you. It was agony ignoring you. But please give me some credit. I was going through something horrible. I'd been experimented on by someone who should've cared, and you know the trauma that comes with that as well as I do. I'd think you of all people would cut me some slack here, you understand what it's like to feel like an experiment."

"I do understand. That's why it's so hard to cut you some slack. Didn't you realize that this shared trauma could have brought us closer together?"

"You were always too busy making eyes at Fitz for me to think you had any interest in being closer to me."

Ouch.

Oh, ouch.

Sophie's eyes stung as she fought back tears.

He was standing, arms still crossed, looking away from her, stony faced.

She'd never seen him like that before, so closed off, and it scared her.

This was her fault, all her fault.