YOU GUYS I DID NOT REALIZE WE HIT 300K IM ACTUALLY SCREAMING WHAT-
YALL ARE THE BEST THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!
hahahahaha... i realized i forgot what happened in this story and subsequently noticed i set up a plot arc that i just totally ignored last chapter. actually there are a lot of arcs i set up (thanks, past me...)
ok lets get to it! enjoy the next chapter!
~anna brooks
Keefe:
I wake up to weak rays of line shining in through the window and mouthful of hair, which I promptly spit out. And obviously it's not my hair, because while The Hair is, of course, amazing, it's not long enough to be in my mouth. Which means...
Right. There's Sophie. In my arms.
I'm surprised the sheets haven't caught fire yet given how hot my face seems to be burning right now. I carefully remove my arm from her waist, being careful not to wake her. She grumbles, but I slide out of the bed silently and eventually she turns over and settles.
I sigh to myself in relief - that's one crisis averted. Who knows how Sophie would have reacted if she woke up to us like that?
I mean... maybe it wouldn't be as bad as I'd expect. But more likely I'm just getting my hopes up. Sophie would never go for a guy like me. I hurt her over and over and over again, and even if I try to make up for the things I've done for the rest of my life, I'll never feel like it's enough.
Well, enough lamenting. We have children to take care of - children we've abandoned for probably too long to be normal, if I remember correctly. (And isn't that weird, that it seems so normal now to have to take care of kids?)
(And isn't it awful to think that when we have to go back to reality, we'll have to leave them behind?)
"Favian, it's time to wake up!" I say loudly, knocking on her door. No response. "Favian?" I ask, opening his door. The bed is empty, the sheets made up. He must be downstairs. Did I really wake up that late?
I check both Naomi and Malik's rooms before determining it must be at least late morning, because they're nowhere to be found. Stumbling down the stairs and stifling a yawn, I poke my head into the kitchen and nearly fall flat on my face.
Three faces turn to stare at me with probably the most intense glares I've ever seen. And I've faced Councillor Bronte. And an angry Sophie. The Foster Glare is not one I'd like to be on the receiving end of ever again.
Well, it's just my luck that they seemed to have inherited that particular trait from her, and I swallow nervously. "Uh, hey guys..."
"Excuse me, where have you guys been?" demands Favian, not even bothering to greet me with a good morning.
Naomi chimes in with a, "Yeah, daddy, you two were supposed to go on a date and then you just disappeared!"
Malik's eyebrows do a weird thing that convey his displeasure perfectly well.
"Well, you see, Mommy and I had a little problem we had to fix, but we're all good now!" (I hope, at least. There's still so much we have left to talk about.)
Favian looks unimpressed, to say the least. "So it took you guys three whole days to take care of your 'little problem?'"
"Three days?" I ask incredulously. "I didn't realize we were gone that long. I'm so sorry, Favian."
So much for being responsible parents. Sophie and I clearly aren't cut out for this - how could we leave these three on their own? Do they even know how to cook?
Well, granted, it's not like we can do a much better job. Thank God for Biana, Dex, and restaurants, or we'd be going hungry more often than not. Who knew cooking was so difficult?
Then, to my complete and utter horror, Naomi and Favian burst into tears. Malik looks relatively unaffected, but that's about typical for him. Naomi sprints at me full-force, and I take a step back in fear before she crashes into my arms and hugs me so tight I can't breathe.
"We thought you were dead!" Naomi sobs, clutching me tighter. I choke on air instead of responding. "I thought you just left us and you were gonna be gone forever and ever and I wasn't ever gonna see you again!"
"H-hey, Mimi, you know that will never happen. Mommy and Daddy love you guys so much and we'll always find our way back to you, right?" I don't think I've ever sounded more awkward in my life.
It's becoming increasingly obvious that these kids need their real parents. Sophie and I aren't ready to care for children - we're still kids ourselves! We're not going to be able to be the responsible adult figures they need.
We need to find our way out of this alternate universe, and fast.
How long is it going to take Elwin to come up with a cure? You'd think they'd be throwing everyone in the Lost Cities into waking up their precious Moonlark.
But for now, there's no way to know anything. Sophie and I are left in the dark, and there's no way to know what will happen next.
So I wrap my arms around Naomi, Favian, and Malik, and sink to the floor.
What are we going to do?
oof i'm aware that this was boring. but i think we're gonna need a brief interlude from the action while i wrap up some arcs - and also i couldn't keep neglecting the kids for any longer.
this was relatively short, so i apologize for how long you had to wait to get it! i'm clearly not good at keeping promises. keep commenting at me to update!! i promise i look at every comment and they really do help!!
see you next time,
anna brooks
p.s. some notes to myself for next time (so i have an idea what to start with): what will happen when sophie wakes up? what is going on in the canon universe? so much to think about...
WORD COUNT: 1052