Yerp, here it is. I'm copy-pasting it because i have no mental energy right now, so deal with it.
ALSO PUH-LEASE CHECK OUT MY CONVERSATIONS BOARD I'M TRYING TO GET REQUESTS FOR BOOKS TO UPDATE AND THERES LITERALLY NO ONE THERE
Warning: Spoilers ahead. Also, Warning: information may be incorrect, I apologize for the inconvenience.
What if Ro stopped Keefe before he left (after Unlocked)?
Keefe raised his hand, crystal dangling from his fingers. But before he could leap away, Ro ripped herself out of the bedsheets, grabbing onto his leg at the last possible second. All Keefe could think was I was so close.
Slowly, Ro dragged herself up, careful not to let him go, despite his fingers desperately prying at her iron grip.
All Keefe could comprehend was the panic, coming from both of them, before it overwhelmed him.
Sleep! The command formed into a monster, clawing its way up his throat.
"Please," He said, subconsciously scratching at his throat with the tips of his fingers.
Keefe couldn't remember a time he had been so desperate. With the words pushing their way up his throat, his and Ro's panic, and his goal was so close, it was all he could do not to vomit all over the floor. Spots danced in his eyes, and Keefe welcomed the darkness.
He fell into Ro's arms, limp.
_________
When Keefe could feel his body again, he had one second of blissful ignorance, before he realized what had happened.
Aaaaand then reality came crashing down. Keefe winced as a headache started pounding at his brain. Squeezing his eyes shut, he tried his best to listen to what was going on outside.
"Keefe? Can you hear me?" Keefe's body jolted at the sudden increase of his hearing abilities, and Elwin made a humming sound.
"All right, he should be able to move right about... now," While Elwin continued to talk, Keefe could feel the energy setting into his bones.
"Don't go to fa- too late" Elwin sighed as Keefe painfully pushed himself up
"What happened?" he asked in a whisper, scared to talk louder, only to realize his voice was hoarse and scratchy
"You passed out on me." Keefe swiveled his head around, finding Ro standing in the doorway. He didn't need to be an Empath to know she was worried. The creases in her forehead, the rigid way she leaned on the doorway, Ro was worried about him.
"You passed out" repeated Elwin, and Keefe could feel the pity rolling off of him in waves
Not pity, empathy Keefe reminded himself
"It was sort of hard treating you without touching you, but we managed," Livvy said from another room, making Keefe turn his head around wildly, trying to see if there was anyone else.
"How many people-" Keefe stopped himself. For them, he repeated mentally. I have to stay quiet for them. What happened can't happen again.
Running his hands through his hair, Keefe tried to find a combination of signs to ask who else was there. The best he could do was draw a question mark in the air and make his fingers walk in his palm, leaving Elwin and Ro confused.
Keefe threw himself back onto his bed, cringing when he hit his head on the headboard.
Elwin made an odd face and told Ro to stand at the door, but Keefe didn't care. He had to act like everything was normal, and the first step to that was to mentally prepare himself.
He tried to run away once, he could do it again.
__________
Sophie was surprised when Mr. Forkle took her to his hobbit-hole-of-an-office. When he said 'celebrate the victories' this was not what she was expecting.
"What are we doing here?" She asked curiously. The only reply she got back was a hum. She decided to stay quiet. He must have a reason bringing me here she thought reasonably
Surprisingly, he pulled out an imparter, whispering something onto the cool metal before chugging an elixir. He turned back into Magnate Leto, quickly slicking his hair back.
Once the mysterious person answered, Sophie rolled her eyes. It was Juline.
While they discussed something quietly, Sophie leaned against the wall. That day had been a heck of a ride. Going from talking to Oralie about the caches to realizing they forgot about the lodestar symbol to talking to Glimmer to burning down the neverseen hideout, Sophie finally noticed how much had been going on lately.
Although you could have done more if you weren't waiting for Keefe to wake up Some part of her brain whispered, and even though she knew she could have done so much more with that time, she didn't regret a thing. Keefe was one of her friends, and he deserved all the time in the world and then some. Suddenly, Mr. Forkle turned to her.
"Lex and Bex manifested"
Sophie smiled. It was a funny thing, even though she had just got the biggest victory yet, the simplest things made her the happiest.
"Can I go visit them?" she asked
"Not quite yet. I need you to do something." Something about the way his face changed made Sophie stand up straight
"I need you to transmit to Keefe. Something went wrong at Elwin's house"
All traces of a smile left Sophie's face
____________
Keefe knew Sophie would transmit to him at some point, but he didn't know it would be so soon.
Keefe?
Somehow, her mental voice conveyed her worry. Keefe opened up his mind to hers.
Sup Foster?
Keefe could feel her relief from Splendor Plains (Elwin had explained that they had moved him to a guest room)
What's wrong? Keefe hoped she didn't hear about his little... escape attempt.
I don't know, Sophie answered. Mr. Forlke just told me to transmit to you. What happened?
Keefe could feel Elwin's nervousness from behind the shelf. Oh, wait, Keefe realized faintly. That's my nervousness he realized he hadn't replied, so he gave a lame nothing much in return. Sophie's mental image finally got to him, and he could see the little crease between her eyebrows.
Give me a minute. She responded Mr. Forkle wants to talk to me
Keefe's eyes widened, but instead of shutting down their connection, Sophie noticed. Her eyebrows got even closer together (Keefe didn't know how she did it without accidentally breaking her face)
Keefe her mental voice sounded slower, and Keefe could feel his heart beating faster
Yeah? He answered, just as slow as her voice, smirking
What's wrong? She asked, with a peculiar look. For real now, Keefe. It would mean more to me if you told me
Keefe wished in that very moment he could disappear. Or crawl in a hole. Or hide in his blanket cocoon. But he couldn't, so he offered a simple nothing's wrong, hoping she wouldn't tell he was lying.
Fine, she said, looking hurt. I'll talk to you after I answer Mr. Forkle. He's been talking for a few minutes now. She tried not to let on how offended she was, But Keefe could feel it all the way from where he was. His heart started breathing even faster, and he could feel his hands getting cold. Making a fist to warm his fingertips up, he smirked at her
Who knew you were such a rebel?
Sophie rolled her eyes, but Keefe could see her twitching lips before she cut their connection.
1 minute
2 minutes
5 minutes
10 minutes
15 minutes
30 minutes
45 minutes
An hour
_____________
It was all Sophie could do to not leap over to Elwin's house and start yelling at Keefe. He promised. He promised he wouldn't do something dumb.
But he's done stupid things before. The Neverseen. The mercadir thing. Loamnore.
They still didn't talk about Loamnore. It was almost as if every time he was trying to top his latest scheme.
Every. Single. Time.
He left her every single time. Why?
He shouldn't care that much. This was HER battle. No one asked him to be part of it! He could have stayed away in Loamnore. He could have let her deal with her problem. He could have stayed away. Stayed safe, sound in his little cocoon of peace.
And she couldn't even blame him. She would run away if she could. It was a dream-like concept. She'd just... leave and everything would stop being her problem. She wouldn't have to deal with the Councilors, the Black swan, the Neverseen, the Lost Cities in general.
But the title moonlark still hung over her head, like a rock.
Weighing her down.
Hurriedly, she muttered her goodbyes to Forkle, using her home crystal to leap away before he could talk.
Rushing to Calla's tree, she tried to distract herself. Plucking petals off the floor, making a flower crown, playing with the alicorns, nothing worked to get her head off of the blond idiot she knew. Or thought she knew.
Because she wasn't expecting him to leave. She thought that she'd be able to make him stay. Make him see that other people cared about him. Heck, she expected to be able to trust him not to leave again. But yet...
Sophie sighed. He was her friend. And sure, he made a couple mistakes ( A couple big ones her brain unhelpfully provided) but she still cared about him. And that meant talking to him
But would it be such a bad thing to talk to him tomorrow?
Sophie knew only one person she could talk to right now.
Edaline
______________
Keefe knew Mr. Forkle was on his way. He knew he was at the doorway, worried about Sophie.
He also knew he was about to get mega-lectured.
So he stood up, walking to the bathroom, trying to make himself look, at the very least, presentable. His curly hair wouldn't stay still, though.
Maybe if you slick it back-
Keefe turned away from the mirror. He didn't have time for this. He had to get ready
Crash
Keefe rolled his eyes. Elwin had been trying to catch him trying to run away again since the moment he woke up, though he sort of sucked at being discrete. Keefe was also pretty sure Elwin had added a non-leaping film on his lights, but Keefe wasn't going to risk trying it.
At least, not yet.
Turning back, Keefe tried to smooth his wrinkled shirt, before giving up and heading out the doorway to go ask Elwin for one.
However, on his way to the storage room, Keefe bumped into Mr. Forkle.
Keefe sighed. He clearly remembered telling the ogre princess to stall him, but obviously, she misunderstood him.
"Mr. Sencen"
Keefe turned away, determined not to look at Forkle's face
"Mr. Sencen" Forkle repeated, grabbing his shoulders and turning him around.
"I understand you feel like you must protect everyone, but you were doing fine before. What happened?"
Keefe frowned, pointing to his lips, and mimed zipping them shut
"Ah. Is it better if I hail you?"
Keefe nodded
Mr. Forkle turned and walked out of the doorway, hand in his pocket, fishing for his imparter.
Keefe sighed, walking back to his bead and grabbing his own imparter. Staring at the cool metallic surface, Keefe suddenly realized Elwin was still in the room. Shooting an 'I see you' gesture at the shelf, Keefe turned back to his imparter, waiting until the door closed.
Finally, he whispered "Hail Mr. Forkle"
And that was where I stopped. Ideas on how to continue?