Keeper of the Lost Cities: Unlocked: A Fan-fiction

Chapter Five - Sophie

Sophie's knees buckled as soon as her brain caught up. Her mind was on auto-repeat of the same words, over and over. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone. Gone.

"No!" she screamed, tears pouring down her face in buckets. "No! This can't be... You're lying! You're lying!" she screamed at Fitz, who had caught her when her knees buckled. She yanked out of his grasp. "You're lying!"

"I'm so sorry, Sophie, believe me. I... feel like I'm falling apart. You know how close we were!" Fitz said, trying to pull Sophie into another hug. But unlike earlier, he was trying to comfort her from something that wasn't real. That couldn't be real.

"No! Not were! Are! You are close! Please, Fitz, please tell me you're lying. That this is a joke. That this was a prank. That you're just mad at me and trying to get back at me. Please!" she begged, not even heeding the tears streaming down her cheeks.

He didn't answer, and that was enough.

"No!" she cried again, struggling to stand properly. "Sandor!" she yelled.

"Yes, Miss Foster?" her burly goblin bodyguard asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"Did you... did you hear what Fitz said?"

"I... did." His voice was as squeaky as always, but his grey goblin face was paler than usual.

"I need to get to the Healing Center. Now."

"Alright. But I am accompanying you! You don't go anywhere without me!" Sandor held up a pathfinder to the light.

Momentarily distracted, Sophie asked, "You carry a crystal that goes to the Healing Center with you?"

"Indeed I do, Miss Foster. Ever since that horrifying episode in the dwarven capital, I figured it might be wise to have one on hand."

"It was," Sophie said determinedly. And, taking her bodyguard's hand, she stepped into the light.

***

"Let me in!" Sophie yelled, pounding on the Healing Center's door. Why was it locked now, of all times?

"Ahh, hello, Sophie," said Elwin after a long enough time that Sophie was seriously considering trying to kick the door in.

"I've been expecting you for some time," he said, peeking out the door but not opening it up wide enough for Sophie to be able to see inside.

The way his voice was scratched, his eyes puffy, his coat wrinkled, and his messy brown hair even messier than usual, made Sophie want to throw up. This was the appropriate reaction for a death. She couldn't live with that.

"Let me in, Elwin. Please. I need to... see him," Sophie said, trying to conceal the cracked note in her voice.

"I was told not to let you in unless I knew you could handle it, Sophie, and judging from your expression, you can't," Elwin said softly, rubbing his eyes.

"I can handle it, I promise," Sophie said. She would say anything if he would just let her in!

"I – alright." He opened the door, and Sophie rushed inside.

And stopped in her tracks.

The blond-haired boy lying in the cot in front of her was still. Pale. Lifeless.

"No," she whispered. "Keefe!" she cried, running to him. "Please. Please be alive. You can't do this to me. Please, Keefe, please. You can't go! Please!"

Falling on him, tears fell down her face and onto his cold cheeks. She held him as tightly as he could, sobbing harder than she could remember sobbing in her entire life. And that was saying something. Her heart felt like it was physically breaking in two.

Then she sat up with a sudden, fierce determination. Lady Gisela didn't get to do this to her son. Sophie wouldn't allow it. There had to be something she could do.

She pulled out her imparter and held it up. "Show me Magnate Leto."

***

"This is indeed a development, and not a very welcome one, I'm afraid," Foxfire's principle said, rubbing his forehead wearily.

Sophie stared at him dumbly. "Not a very welcome one?" she repeated. "He's dead!" Her voice could barely make out the words, but somehow they still came out as a shout.

"Please calm yourself, Miss Foster. Though I hate to raise your hopes for no reason, there... is still something we might be able to do," Magnate Leto said.

Hope flared in Sophie's chest, bright and overwhelming.

"Do you mean... there's still a way to save him?" she asked breathlessly.

Magnate Leto nodded, then turned to Elwin. "May we have a moment alone, please?" he asked. Even though the physician knew the principal's secret identity as the leader of the Black Swan, some things were still too sensitive to be told to anyone but Sophie herself.

"Of course. Hang in there, kiddo," Elwin said, giving Sophie a small, sad wink as he shut himself in his office.

I trust Elwin completely, Mr. Forkle transmitted as he sat on the cot across from Sophie and Keefe, but I'd still rather have this conversation more privately, he said. Sophie nodded. She wasn't going to waste precious time arguing, especially when there was nothing to argue about.

Usually, I would explain this all much more thoroughly, but we have an extremely limited amount of time before it really will be too late. You see, Miss Foster, you have another ability that has not yet been triggered. An ability that, if used appropriately, could change this game – excuse me, war – dramatically.

Sophie gasped. She had not been expecting that. But of course. Nothing with the Black Swan was ever expected. She gulped.

Is it something that will... that could help Keefe? she asked.

Indeed it is, Miss Foster, indeed it is.

Mr. Forkle fidgeted, something Sophie had never see him do before.

Sophie tried to ignore the hope lifting in her chest and be patient, but when Mr. Forkle didn't say anything for another thirty seconds, she shifted on the cot.

Are you going to actually tell me what it is? she asked impatiently.

He sighed. Yes, I suppose. Again, I would usually give you precautions, directions, instructions, and many other 'tions' things before telling you what this ability is. But, again, like I said, we are on an extremely limited time frame. There is no room for other 'tions' things. I only hope you will not abuse the ability. So now, here it is.

He stood and paced for a short moment before turning back to Sophie and transmitting the four terrifying words that changed everything.

You are a Charger.