NOTE: This takes place right after Unlocked!!! Also feel free to play the music if you want to get into the spooky tragic villain mood.
TW: Death, mild violence, yelling... ANGST.
Advice?: Get some tissues. And maybe a pet to cuddle with for comfort.
***********************************************************************************************
Keefe was pretty sure that life couldn't get any worse from this point. He sat in the corner of Sophie's old house. Thinking that there had to be some other way he could keep all of his friend's safe.
There wasn't.
He had been in the house for about 2 weeks, and he already had back aches from sleeping on the hard floor. He hadn't exactly thought this all the way through. Then again, that's what happens when you flee the Lost Cities on a whim in 5 minutes. He knew that. But it still sucked.
He was also having trouble finding food. He was to the point where the grass growing on the lawn of the old house was looking very tasty. But based on the human's eating habits, he was pretty sure they would be calling for the police or whatever they had to protect them in the Forbidden Cities if they saw a very attractive mute teenager in front of an abandoned house eating grass like a goat.
That was another thing, it was harder than he thought it would be getting out of the house without being seen when he needed supplies. He wasn't raised by humans like Foster obviously, so he had no idea how many humans lived on the same stretch of road. And they were always staring at him. Like, hadn't they seen a super attractive teenager walking around before? Or maybe he was just that handsome. He wouldn't doubt it. Keefe smiled at that thought. That was the first smile he had since he got to the Forbidden Cities. Keefe pulled out his Imparter that Grady gave him when he had caught Keefe sneaking his letter into Foster's room. He was hoping there were no emergencies while he was gone, that Keefe going into hiding solved his mom coming after him.
Ever since he left, Keefe had been trying to figure out how to control his powers. But it had mostly been a bust. He had gotten a spider crawling around the abandoned house, and put it on his head. He could feel it's tiny legs weaving around in his precious hair. He got goosebumps, he wanted it to go away. To get out of his hair. He needed it to get out of his hair. The command burned in his throat.
" Go away!" he yelled and the legs he'd felt in his hair vanished. Keefe had flipped his head over, shaking his hair, seeing if the spider fell out. It didn't it just... Vanished.
The spider incident happened a few days ago. And he vowed to never share that tale with anyone else. EVER. Not even if someone had mesmerized him. Some things should never be shared. Keefe blinked the creepy crawly flashback away. He stared at the Imparter for another minute, then stuffed it back in his bag. He got up from the floor and stretched his back. Keefe walked to one of the boarded up windows, there was a small crack where he could see outside. As Keefe peeked through the small crack, he saw the street. He didn't see anyone around. Perfect. Keefe got his bag and quickly left the house.
As he walked down the street, he saw a woman walking on the sidewalk. As thunder clapped in the sky above, she pulled out an umbrella and held it above her head. She saw Keefe with a of course this would happen to me face as it started to pour.
" Hey, you! I have an extra umbrella. Would you like to have it?" Keefe was startled that he could understand what she was saying before he remembered that he was a Polyglot. Courtesy of his mom. He jogged across the street to the woman.
"Thanks. But, how will I return it?" He asked as the woman handed him the extra umbrella.
"I don't need it back. You can have it." She said with a smile. Keefe thanked her and walked down the street with his new umbrella. Foster had made him rethink a lot of things that elves looked down on, one of those things being humans. Elves thought that all humans were power hungry, and mostly had no good morals. But thanks to Foster, Keefe now knew that not all humans were bad. Like elves and all other intelligent species, they weren't perfect.
By the time he had this thought, Keefe had turned left at the stop sign and gone down a road that led to a series of restaurants. It may not be a very clean way to get food, but Keefe would starve otherwise. He stopped next to a bakery called The Cookie King, and instead of going inside, he turned down an alleyway. It led to two big trash cans. He made sure no one was around before he opened it. There were plastic wrappers, old squishy cupcakes, and an abundance of stale cookies. Keefe dug for a bit before he found what he was looking for. Two large, long, loafs of bread wrapped in plastic. Keefe didn't know what these things were called, but apparently some guy named Baguette always baked them and threw them away. He knew that because there was a sticker on the plastic that had it written on there. Whoever Baguette was, they always had some of these extra long breads left over and threw them away. What a waste! Keefe pulled them out and put them in his bag. They always tasted dry, which he didn't like. But he didn't exactly have much of a choice. He may be adventurous, but he would never eat a once living animal. He forgave Foster, since she was raised on meat and veggies and it wasn't her fault she didn't know any better, but he wasn't a fan of meat.
He left the alley and started back toward Foster's old house. His hair was soaked even with the umbrella. It was starting to really storm. After a big boom of thunder that was so loud that he felt his body tremble, he booked it to the abandoned house. Not that he was scared or anything.
He was about halfway there when he felt a vibrating on his hip. The Imparter. He sprinted inside the abandoned house and snatched the Imparter out of his bag. Dripping wet, he answered it.
" Hello? Grady?" He said.
" Keefe! You have to come. Now." Grady said with a dark voice. A crash behind him made Grady start shouting.
" They're in the house!!! Sophie! Inflict!!!" He screamed. All Sophie answered with was a scream. Keefe heard a high pitched battle cry that sounded like Sandor, But then he also heard a high pitched groan. Keefe's heart stumbled as the Imparter's picture swayed and Keefe could see the house, and four black cloaked figures stood in a face off with a bleeding Sandor, and another figure stood with arms holding Sophie in a vise. Keefe's eyes watched in horror as another black cloaked figure held a cloth up to Sophie's nose. The Neverseen. The picture started swaying again as Grady yelled,
"Get away from her!!!" Keefe heard a thud and the Imparter dropped to the ground, all he saw were feet. He heard shuffles and commotion. A bloodcurdling scream made Keefe desperately tear through his bag, looking for a crystal. He found one and quickly leaped to Havenfield.
The scene Keefe saw as he glittered in front of Havenfield was straight out of his nightmares. The house's front windows were broken and the door lay in splinters. He saw a hand in the doorway. He ran inside, ready to command anyone and anything. The Neverseen were gone. Keefe's eyes took in Grady and Edaline's and Sandor's drugged bodies, as they laid by the staircase, with Sandor laying in front of them protectively.
" SOPHIE!!!!" He screamed as he ran up the stairs. He hoped and prayed with all his might that Sophie would be okay. And that they didn't take her captive. Keefe burst in her room, he looked everywhere. No one.
"SOPHIE!!!! ANSWER ME!" He screamed again as he searched Edaline's office. Then Grady and Edaline's bedroom. When he got to Jolie's room, he saw her. Sophie lay crumpled in a corner, her skin as white as snow. Keefe dropped to his knees and put her in his lap. She wasn't drugged, he realized with sorrow. She.... She was gone. The cloth the Neverseen put up to her must've been poisoned, not drugged. Keefe held Sophie in his arms, crying. He buried his face in her hair and wept. The girl he had been in love with for the past three years was dead. He never even got to tell her how much he loved her. His brain didn't work. He screamed and cried.
" Sophie... Please wake up." Keefe cried. He wanted her to wake up. Needed her to wake up.
" WAKE." He said in a command. Nothing happened. Tears streamed from his eyes. Nothing he would do could help. Sophie Elizabeth Foster, was dead.
" You never would've been able to save her." The voice behind Keefe set him off. Without thinking, he yelled,
" SLEEP." And he heard a thud. Keefe turned and saw Lady Gisela slumped on the floor, In slumber. He hated his mother so much in that moment, and he realized that any love he felt for his mother was gone now. What she had allowed to be done was unforgivable.
Keefe didn't know how long he stayed with Sophie, weeping and cradling her in his arms. A yell snapped him back to the present.
" Sophie!!" A voice said. Keefe heard thumping footsteps up the stairs. Then many more pairs of footsteps. He didn't turn to look. He kept weeping into her hair.
" Keefe?... What are you doing here?" Fitz's accented voice said as Keefe heard several gasps behind him.
"Grady hailed me." Keefe said numbly. He heard footsteps and saw figures in front of him. Biana, Dex, Tam, Fitz, Linh, and the Collective stood with eyes on Sophie.
"How are Grady and Edaline?" Keefe asked, still staring at Sophie's closed eyes. He would never see those beautiful brown eyes again.
"Wylie leaped them to Elwin. How bad are Sophie's injuries?" Dex asked as he panted anxiously. Keefe had no words. He just looked at him with his tearstained face and dark eyes. Dex's face twisted in sorrow. And he fell to his knees.
" Sophie.... I came too late." He held Sophie's hand, twisting her panic ring. Fitz fell to his knees next. Realization dawned on his face. Biana stood staring at Sophie, stiff as a statue. The Collective heaved heavy gasps. Mr.Forkle stared at nothing, his eyes leaking with tears. The room was quiet. Each friend and ally mourned. But no one felt the way Keefe felt. He knew that as an Empath. He let more tears run down his face and tucked a strand of hair behind Sophie's ear. He buried his face in her hair again, and cried.