~ Hey everyone! Long time no see. I know it's been a while, and I'm so sorry for all the delay. I really appreciate all the love this story has gotten so far! It's just been really hard for me to find the time and motivation to continue writing this story. Over the summer I found myself in a huge writers block- I spent a majority of that writing essays and such anyway for applications into programs and stuff. During the school year it's been hard, as finding time between everything I'm doing is a struggle. I also detatched from the fandom mostly. I started breaking away in March and I just kind of left it. Of course I still love the books and will probably come back to this fandom when 10 is released, but I just wasn't as interested and therefore writing this was never a priority. However, I finally have a break and enough motivation to sit down and write the long awaited finale! I'm so sorry again for all the delay and I hope you enjoy! ~
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
It was approaching closer and closer to show time, and all I can do is hold hope close to my chest that our past selves managed to figure this one out. To be honest, this entire process seemed a little too easy. I'm worried. But I always worry, so what's new? I don't want to overthink this, but the uneasiness in my stomach is growing and expanding by the passing minutes. Hopefully this is it. Hopefully this is the last thing we need. Because if not, we may just be stuck here forever.
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
Still clutching Keefe's hand, I released a low sigh that felt as though it had been building up in my chest for decades.
"Do you happen to remember what time we took the elixir at and then the nectar?"
Keefe asked, his voice a tone full of both hope and yet hopeless all at the same time.
I squinted up at the large glowing star once again.
"Probably 9:30? We took the elixir first, I know that. What elixir did we take again?"
"I think it was one for scratches- or mabye cuts? I'm not sure either."
He responded, directing his gaze to the same star mine was on as well.
I sighed once again and ran the hand that wasn't clutched in Keefe's down my face.
"This entire thing seems like a guess."
Stating that blatantly almost felt like a relief, even though I had known that all along. This was all guess and hope, and keep guessing, and keep hoping. It never seemed to actually go anywhere.
For some reason, I felt like I was forgetting something important that I meant to do.
"Lighten up, Foster. Someone has to know."
Keefe told me, drawing his eyes away from the starry sky.
I did the same.
The cold air darted in and out of my air, ruffling my blonde locks and swaying them side to side.
It was quite a bitter night, fitting for such bitter activity.
Who would know?
I gasped suddenly, dropping Keefe's hand, and catching him completely by surprise.
"Foster-"
His eyes widened and turned to me in surprise.
"Are you okay?-"
I understand why he would ask that question, considering I was standing stock-still with my eyes wide and my jaw agape.
"Oh. My. God. Keefe, we're so dumb."
"Hey, you don't have to make generalizaitons about the both of us. I'd argue that I'm just as handsome as I am smart, which would make me very smart-"
"No, shut up for a second. We have to talk to Flori! That's what I was forgetting!"
The thought had briefly crossed my mind, but it had left in a flash of a few seconds.
"Ohhh, you're right! She would know, considering she gave us the nectar in the first place! Foster, you're so smart, you know?"
I grinned and almost doltish grin, turning to face Keefe as he faced me.
"I know."
I simply stated.
And then without warning, with our fingers still entwined, I faced back out towards the unforgiving night and sprinted off towards the horizon, pulling Keefe behind me.
"WOAH FOSTER SLOW DOWN-"
I sped towards the hills, with Keefe and shaky his complaints behind me, though they quickly drowned out with the rush of adrenaline and speed that had hit me.
My legs beat fast on the ground, and my heart rabbited in my chest from my sudden increase of speed.
"To Havenfield we go!"
I shouted, and just then, since I had gathered enough momentum, the void cracked open.
I pulled myself through the blackness, dragging Keefe behind me.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't a soft or smooth landing like I would wish to be able to admit.
It was the type of fall where you think you'll land smoothly, and you expect to land smoothly, but then right as you're about to land, your knees give away and you trip and tumble.
That's only the lucky falls, however.
Sometimes you fall in a belly-flop position and immediately know that your landing will be anything and everything but pleasant.
Luckily, our fall was the luckier of the two, and we both just tumbled downhill bit, rolling down the small, blanketed, grassy hill and stopping at the flatter bottom in a tangle of limbs.
We had both managed to collide in our tumble, so now Keefe and I were a hairsbreadth away from eachother with our limbs entwined.
I shook out from the entanglement and sat up, rubbing my throbbing head.
"Ouch."
I was dizzy from the amount of somersaults I had managed to do on the way down and my head felt like it had been crushed and bashed in with rocks from the amount of times it was planted in the grass.
My hair is a knotted mess, I'm sure.
I brushed my hand through it, attempting to clear away and dirt and debris and just plain out flatten my hair.
That was most certainly not graceful in any way, shape, form, or manor, but hey, when am I ever graceful?
The correct answer is never.
Hopefully my future self finds some grace or I am going to be eternally clumsy and often in danger of tripping in the easiest places to walk.
Like I've literally tripped walking up stairs and on flat surfaces.
For gods sake, I've tripped on air.
How does that even happen? The Black Swan really neglected the grace department when they 'programmed my genetics and DNA' or whatever.
Keefe propped himself upright.
"Next time, warn a man before you drag him along with you in a racehorse sprint, and then open the void and teleport him down a grassy hill, where he will inevitably tumble for a milennia."
He groaned, rolling out his shoulders.
I snort.
"With those specificites, I doubt there will be a next time."
I tried to assure him.
"Yes there will."
He muttered anyway, stretching his legs out now.
"Alright, whatever you say. Let's go find Flori."
"Uh... sorry to interrupt...but I'm here."
A high-tuned voice squeaked from somewhere to the right.
Scrambling to stand upright and pivot on my heel, I turn my right, spotting the gentle gnome.
"Flori! How'd you know we would be here?"
I asked, tilting my head at her slightly.
"Well it is kind of hard to avoid a giant crack in the sky and two people tumbling out of it..."
She explained grinning.
"Oh...uh...yeah."
I heard Keefe snort behind me.
"Anway, there's not much time. I need to ask you a favor."
"Of course."
"What do you know about the Emerinda Priscium?"
The gnome looked slightly taken aback at the randomness of the comment.
She squinted, her face scrunching into concentration.
"Well, I mean if your asking about the properties of the flower, it doesn't have much. In my experience, the nectar is good in this great stew recipe I came up with years ago-"
"Sorry, I phrased that wrong."
I cut her off.
"I meant like..."
But I wasn't even sure what I meant.
My brain came up blank, like an empty canvas.
Then it hit me where I should start.
"Do you have any?"
I know she does, just not exactly where.
Though I feel I have a clue.
"I do. I grow it in a secluded area that only you and I can navigate. Well, future you, I suppose. In this time period, you had designated an area to me through a portal that had several illusions. The Emerinda Priscium grows far in the back of said area, however only you and I can get to it. The illusions know you and listen to you, allowing you to pass through and get to the location in which the flowers thrive. The same applies to me. The portal lets you and I in and out, but only you and I. The system, however, can be surpassed if you were to have physical contact with someone else the moment you leapt in. However, it automatically enters system lockdown and doesn't let anyone in or out if someone goes through the portal without the proper authorization, in which case, it won't listen to even you. In that case, the tunnel in which you have to travel through closes and the illusions shift so that getting back is impossible. Back when I asked to grow the flowers in a better location, you had put these safety measures in. I wasn't sure why then, and I'm still not sure why now. You erased your memory soon after the measures were put in place and the illusions were complete. No one knows why you did what you did, but you managed to erase the information from your mind completely, so that nothing could ever bring it back. I would know because I had to check by saying supposed keywords, not that I knew what they meant. I then had them erased from my mind. You know... I always found it quite ironic that you erased the memories, considering how anti-caches you were. Even then, you had no fail safe, so going back to find the answers in some device wouldn't be possible. I suspect that you came across something dangerous and either didn't want somebody to ever find that information in your mind if they probed it, which would be difficult either way, since your mind is practically impenetrable, or that, for some reason, you didn't trust yourself with the information, and didn't want to possibly exploit whatever could be exploited if the time came to it."
Flori finished her words, playing with the flowers in her hair in an almost nervous manner.
Her hands were shaking.
And so were my own.
Chills had been sent down my spine immediately, slithering down each and every vertabrae.
Several thoughts were pushing through my mind all at the same time, trying to be heard over the chaos invading my mind.
It was so dangerous that even I didn't want myself to know about it.
The flowers must be that bad.
I didn't trust myself. Why?
But one managed to be louder than the others.
The flowers seem to be harming so many others, but then why did they help me?
I shook the thought off.
I could focus on it later.
"Flori there's no time. Keefe and I need to go back to our time. Soon. Or bad things will happen. The favor I need is that we need the scratches and cuts elixir that we used a lot and two bowls of the nectar from the Emerindia Priscium flower."
At some point, Keefe had stood up and came to stand beside me.
The little gnome pondered on the thought a moment, her tiny fingers fiddling with a petal in her hair once more before dropping down to her side.
"Okay,"
She said finally, clutching the stem of the flower between her index and middle finger and directing her gaze at me.
"Okay,"
She repeated.
"I can do that."
I breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Do you need to go back in that portal?"
I asked, suddenly realizing the measures of what I was asking her for.
That place messes with your mind, and no way would I make her go back in there alone.
"No, actually. I think I might have some left over from the last stew I made!"
She registered excitedly, meaning she clearly would rather not be in that creepy place again.
"Good. Now Keefe and I have some things to tend to-"
"We do?-"
He tried cutting me off.
I shot him a glare.
"Yes, we do."
Flori snickered.
"So we will see to them and meet you later. Can we meet you under the Panakes tree?"
"Of course. See you soon, Moonlark. Be careful."
"We will."
And with that, she set off in search of the materials.
I watched the sky warily, acutely aware of how close the hour was nearing.
Keefe and I strode over to the Panakes tree, slumping down at the base and resting our backs against the tree.
"Soooo..."
Keefe's voice interrupted my thoughts.
"What is it we need to tend to? Or did you just want another excuse to kiss me?"
He quirked his brows, smirking.
I plastered on a scowl, fighting as hard as I could to avoid the grin playing on my lips.
"No. This is actually important."
"Hey! I think the kiss was just as importan-"
"Keefe. Seriously."
I intoned, focusing all my thoughts and brain power on the matters at hand.
"Oh fine, Foster. You're no fun."
He grumbled in a whiney way.
There was a game happening right now. And I didn't like it one bit. It felt like we were just juggling certain pieces of information, so close yet so far from our conclusion.
"The flowers. Do you remember what Elwin said? What those flowers did to Lotus?"
Keefe frowned, recalling the event.
"The part where he said that they were stealing the glint from her eye and mind controlling her or whatever?"
"Yes. They stole the glint from her eye and controlled her...wait...they.."
All of a sudden, my brain was working a mile of a minute and my comprehensive sense was struggling to catch up. It was like running a marathon yet my brain had gotten a two hour headstart and my understanding was now only beginning.
The puzzle pieces were fitting into place. It was all starting to make sense.
I must've gasped, but I hadn't registered it. All I knew was my hands shaking, my heart pacing, and my world trembling.
"Foster, calm down!"
Keefe clutched on to me, preventing me from tipping right over and fainting.
I guess I'd started to fall, but whenever that happened, I wasn't sure.
My eyes widened, I stared at him.
"Keefe. In that...that place where the flowers were being grown, when you got stuck outside and I was trapped inside. You know how I wasn't me right?"
"Well...I remember you knowing just what to do. But now that you mention it, it does seem weird. I wasn't really thinking about it back then because I was panicked, but I did notice that your eyes seemed...empty."
"Yes. The flower was controlling me."
"Wait wha-"
"The flower. The glint. I had sworn I was seeing things earlier when I saw the a part of the petal have a glint like metal, which should be impossible. But it wasn't. It took the glint from my eyes when it controlled me. My soul was dragged down, I was out of control of my own body. Yet my body was still moving. Because something in the flower had...possessed me. Sort of. It's hard to explain..."
"No, continue. I understand."
"Well we knew the flower was rumored to do bad things. Yet for some reason, it helped me. And it responds to me. Yet for some reason, I erased everything from my memories, meaning I must've uncovered something that wasn't meant for my eyes. The only other story we know about the mind controlling is Lotus'. Yet...it didn't seem to harm her either. She studied them and from what Elwin said, it seems that she began to understand them and connect with them. Which wouldn't make sense, since elves can't do any of that with plant life."
"So what are you suggesting?"
He asked curiously, clearly making good efforts trying to follow the story I was giving.
"It helped us, but harmed others. Meaning the flowers pick those who they want to help and those who they want to hurt. They were created by the ancient council, whose bloodlines are very popular among the current elves, as we know via the Vacker's. So, and this is just a speculation, what if these flowers are meant to serve not on whim but rather on DNA."
The words were nauseating and seemed like a mouthful now. They were revolutionary, yet also the cause for proportional destruction. They had a thick consistency and I felt as though at any given moment I could choke on them and suffocate.
"Are you saying..."
Keefe's eyes widened, suddenly coming to the realization about our circumstances.
"What if...one of my ancestors helped in the creation of this flower? In the engineering of it. And made it so it could only help one or certain bloodlines? Someone in my bloodline was either on or close to the ancient council."
I had whispered, yet it all felt too loud. The world was a garbled, oversaturated mess. Of course it was just a guess. But it just felt all too calculated to not be true. My intuition had seemed to have placed many colorful flags and symbols around this idea, pointing to it as if it were the only thing in existance that I could believe now. This felt like more than just a mere inkling.
"That..."
He started slowly.
"Would make sense."
It was too much. Too much to comprehend. My world was spinning, yet not just in the normal 360 that the Earth usually does. Instead it was spinning in every single direction and my stomach was somersaulting along its axis.
"Sophie?...Are you alright?"
I heard a small voice from behind Keefe and I. Flori.
"I have everything ready. We only had one scratches and cuts elixir available, and I checked with Grady and Edaline to ensure it was the only one that we had ever used. Many of the others had limbium so this was the one that they had resorted to after finding out about your allergy."
Keefe had let me go, and I hadn't even realized until then that he was what had been keeping me steady.
Taking a deep breath in, I propped myself up and regained my bearings, gathering up my confidence.
Focus. You've faced worse. You erased this from your brain for a reason. If it had something to do with your ancestors or with it's power, it doesn't matter anymore. This is no longer in your hands. We have no time for speculation. Focus on the task at hand.
I glanced up at the sky to give myself a full reminder of what was at stake here.
"Yes, I'm quite alright. Thank you so much Flori, we really appreciate it."
It must be around 9:20 by now.
The gnome delicately placed two wooden bowls each in front of Keefe and I- one containing the elixir, and the other, the chemically green nectar.
I stared at the odd glow and began to feel a sort of sharp resentment for it. If anything, I understood why my future self might have wanted to remove this information from my brain, if the whole bloodline thing was the case. I obviously buried these flowers to keep them extremely hidden from everyone and avoid the danger of them. But I also did my best to hide them from myself because I must have been scared of the fact that this flower chooses who it's obligated to protect and who it's willing to hurt. Which reminds me more than anything of the Neverseen.
"You ready for this, Foster?"
Keefe's voice sprang me out of my thoughts.
I laughed nervously.
"Not really. But I don't think I'll ever be ready. We should take the elixir two minutes early. I'm pretty sure that's what we did."
He nodded and entwined his fingers with mine.
Flori seemed to take some cue, as she whispered,
"I'll leave you two to it. Shout if you need me. Oh, and, by the way, here's something that Dex had gotten a while ago. Figured it would come in handy."
She handed me a pocketwatch, winked, and then was off.
Keefe turned to face me as I turned to face him.
The eye contact was enough to soothe me, enough to remind me that no matter what was ahead, we would be able to get through it.
He brushed a lock of my hair out of my face.
"We can do this, okay? Don't worry. No matter what happens, we'll be able to get through it together."
"Thanks for the positivity."
I feigned annoyance, rolling my eyes, yet truly all I felt was sheer joy and pure caringness at his words.
My heart was racing, my thoughts were running, and my adrenaline was pumping, yet everything seemed to calm down and smooth out when Keefe was near me.
He was more than just the funny, cunning boy I had first met him as. He was a comforting presence, someone I could always confide in. Someone who I didn't have to be anyone but myself around.
He laughed.
His laugh alone could ignite all the stars in my universe and set my heart aflame.
I have never thought of myself as deserving of anyone or anything. I always felt so low, too little that it genuinly shocked me when I saw the extent of someones caringness for me. Yet Keefe has been a hand guiding me out of the dark- showing me that I am worth more. I am more than just a girl who has been tasked to save our world as we know it. I am more than an emotionless punching bag, who will take the hits if it means helping everyone else out for the good of their wellbeing.
He showed me that I am a girl, too. A girl capable of emotion and allowed to have thoughts, opinions and feelings. He helped show me my voice.
I have spent so long being a warrior that I have entirely forgot what it felt like to just be a girl.
And though I am sure I will never stop fighting, as it is what I was made for, I am also sure of one more thing. I will always and forever be sure that I have Keefe and he has me.
Now all we have is to sit and wait.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
I had been watching the time specifically. I could see the eclipse perfectly.
Forever grateful that for the pocketwatch Dex had picked up so long ago. I had no clue of it's existance until Flori handed it to me.
The watch hit 9:28.
"It's time."
Was all I managed to push out, before I desperately shoved the entire elixir down my throat. I watched in my periphery as Keefe did the same.
~ Past Sophie's Pov ~
The pocketwatch struck 9:28.
"It's time."
And that's all I could choke out before I poured the entire elixir down my throat in a distressed manor, and noticed out of the corner of my eye Keefe doing the same.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
Finally, the watch struck 9:30.
"Time for the last step."
Keefe whispered.
We both lifted the bowls of nectar to our mouth and lapped up the entirety of the sweet substance.
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
At last, the pocketwatch finally hit the time 9:30.
"Final step. Time to go home, Foster."
Keefe whispered.
In synchrony, Keefe and I both brought the bowls to our mouths and downed the entire sticky, sickeningly sweet nectar in one go.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
A few seconds passed. Then a minute. Nothing happened.
I began to panic, a tremor passing through my hands and my heart picking up pace.
"Why is nothing happening?"
Only one thought invaded my brain now.
We must be to late. 24 Hours already be up.
We're stuck.
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
A few seconds passed. Then a minute. Nothing happened.
I could feel panic and fear arising in my chest.
This might be one of the few circumstances where it's alarming that nothing is happening.
"Why isn't anything happening yet?"
And yet only one thought lingered in my brain, parting the darkness and emptiness and putting my mind in absolute chaos.
We must be to late. 24 Hours must already be up.
We're stuck.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
"Sophie. Breathe. We'll figure this out."
But I couldn't quite fill my lungs.
I was practically gasping for air.
Keefe grabbed my hand.
Unfortunately, at this time his powers had been all screwed up, so there were no calming breezes.
Yet holding his hand was enough for me to grip onto something and channel my focus.
And only one thought was able to surface in my mind.
This is going horribly wrong.
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
"Foster. Breathe. We'll figure this out."
But I couldn't. I couldn't breathe.
My lungs were collapsing on themselves and my throat was closing up. Gasping for air was all I could do. My mind was moving faster than it ever had before, analyzing the situation and thinking about every wrong thing that could possibly happen.
Keefe grabbed my hand, and instantly I felt a calm.
An icy blue breeze, the same as his eyes, invaded my mind. He sent more and more until my thoughts cleared.
I needed to think. There had to be a way to fix this. But there was nothing right now. All the circumstances had been perfectly aligned. Everything had been perfectly planned.
But there's something thats missing...
There's some element...
Yet it was getting harder and harder to focus, what with all the chaos.
The timelines could be altered forever.
My thoughts were speeding, making it incapable to focus on one.
And even worse, the night was messing with my brain, I became hyperaware of the shadows and the darkness-
Wait.
Wait.
The darkness.
I untangled my hand from Keefe's and looked down at my fingers.
There is always light.
I remember my old teachers in the human world saying.
Even if you can't see it, it's always there.
And that hasn't made more sense until now.
My ring.
I remember noticing how it had the different spectrums of light on it depending on the angle on which it titled, and how I had only seen that quality in a leaping crystal.
I figured it had to be a leaping crystal, but I had no idea for what.
And to be honest, it doesn't seem like future me would just put a leaping crystal on a ring just because.
So this has to be here for a reason- and it would only make sense to be here if it was added to the timeline as potential help.
I raised my hand up to the sky and hoped that this was the right move.
The crystal lit up and the colorful beams of light shot up towards the sky, combining to a huge white hue and flash.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
Then I saw something.
A huge white flash,
A leaping crystal.
But...no one had jumped.
Instead a small circle had opened a few feet in front of us.
The hole expanded and expanded, becoming even large.
It wasn't just any hole...it was a wormhole.
A crack through space and time, opened to return us back.
Keefe and I lept to our feet, going to stand right in front of the forming opening.
I couldn't celebrate too early...there still had to be more.
Finally it opened the whole way, creating a small tunnel.
The interior of it was a coral color, yet the mouth of the entrances were a distinct cobalt blue. The entrance on the other side wasn't too far away.
I squinted at it... and that's when I saw two figures.
Us, past us, but in our future bodies.
Quite possibly one of the trippiest things I have ever seen.
"Oh my gosh..."
The girl's voice rang out through the tunnel, bouncing off every side and carrying an echo as it reached us,
That was me. Past me in my present body.
Only then did it really occur to me how weird our situation actually was.
"Oooh hi past us."
Keefe responded back, plastering on his signature smirk,
Past him smirked too, their expressions matching perfectly.
Typical of them to literally not have changed one bit.
"So...do we just walk through?"
I whispered to him, attempting to keep my voice only so that he could hear it.
"Not sure."
He whispered back.
All of a sudden another voice rang through the portal.
"Hello, I am Lotus. And you saved me."
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
"Hello, I am Lotus. And you saved me."
A girl seemed to step out of the walls of the tunnel. It was like it had swallowed her up and was now spitting her out.
So this was Lotus...
She looked young, typical of all elves.
Yet however her beauty differed.
It wasn't an arrogant type of beauty.
It was striking, but not in a way that felt like a slap in the face or cold splash of water.
It was a kind type of beauty- soft, and pixie-like.
She had kind emerald green eyes, straight brown hair that seemed to appear gold at different angles, small freckles spattered about her cheeks and upturned nose, and pinked lips in a soft smile.
Her voice was smooth and soothing.
No wonder Elwin had fallen for her.
"So you're Lotus. And you got in here because of the flower right? We spoke to Elwin and he told us...everything."
At my words, Lotus's smile started to become slowly fade and her eyes began to become slightly glassy.
"I...I miss him. It truly is a long story. I'm glad you know to save me much explanation. But it goes beyond that. When I switched places with my old body, I understood what had happened and how to save myself. Yet not because of pure intuition. I had been studying this flower for long, you see, and I knew who it would help and who it would hurt. The flower...it saved me. I let it control me because I knew it would help me. Because I am among the bloodlines it would help."
Wait what?-
"It helped me and managed to help my past self figure out what to do."
She continues her story, cutting my thought off.
"We solved this mystery, and togther we managed to return to our rightful bodies. However...there was a malfunction. And we were unable to actually get back. Meaning that in both of our respectful timelines, we are missing. Because we ended up stuck in this wormhole."
On cue, a side of the tunnel began folding and changing in the odd way it had when Lotus had originally come through the side. Seconds later, a little girl appeared beside Lotus. It was the past version of her.
The little girl's eyes were wide, and she rubbed them as if to check that this was all happening. In her hand was a little alicorn plushie.
"Wh-what's happening?"
I could tell she was absolutely frightened.
"These people are here to save us."
the present Lotus reached down and clasped the little girl's hand to comfort her and tapped her on the nose.
"We would have been stuck here forever had no one else had the same circumstances at us. Considering that would be a rare occurence, we figured we would be stuck here forever. Time moves very weirdly here, and we don't know how long its been. It was good that there was two of us to prevent either of us from losing sanity."
I wanted to applaud her honestly. The amount of strength it would take to be able to be like this for however long yet still maintain sanity and some form of optimism is hard.
"Thank you so much. We will be returning home now to fix this entire mess. Remember, Sophie, the flower always helps family."
She winked at me.
I processed her words for a second, my jaw falling open.
So I was right, the flower helps family.
And she knew my name...it's no surprise since I guess I have to admit to having a form of fame in the elven world. Yet at the same time the flower always helps family...meaning...
"So...by some relation...we're family?"
I asked, my voice reduced to a whisper.
The words richocheted off the walls of the tunnel, and I knew she had heard me.
And I got in return a nod of confirmation.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
Oh my god.
I couldn't breathe.
This was too much, a sensory overload.
I was going to have a failure.
Something had triggered and everything was rushing back.
"Sophie! Are you okay?"
Keefe whisper shouted, aiming his voice away from the tunnel as to not interrupt the conversation.
He held on to me, clutching me to ensure that I wouldn't tip right over and hit the ground.
"I...I don't know..."
Was all I could whisper back.
It all was coming back.
All the memories.
Lotus.
Everything.
The flower.
It all made sense now.
I had hidden it from myself...and now I knew why. I was right to hide it.
No one should be able to have access to this information.
"Calm down. Deep breaths. What's going on?"
Keefe whispered.
"I...I remember."
"What do you remember?"
"Everything. Everything about this flower that I hid from the world and from myself. Lotus. All the memories I had erased. Everything. I...I can't explain it. It's dangerous. I had explored and found too much."
"It's okay. Breathe, Foster. You don't have to explain any of it to me. We have to forget all of this anyway. It'll be back to normal soon, I promise. Just stay with me."
And so I did as he told.
I tried to clear my mind, yet information was constantly entering and taking up brain space.
Things I have no memory of yet are also familiar.
But like a torch through a cave, Keefe led me through it.
Finally, the memories stopped and I was able to breathe.
I concentrated on pushing all of it to the extreme back of my mind, hiding it in a void.
It was too much to take. It will all be forgotten.
All we need to do is leave.
~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
"Well I am afraid we should all get going now. Time is dangerous to tinker with. However, I will eternally be grateful for you all saving us. All we have to do is walk through these tunnels, and then we will all wake up tomorrow in bed and forget all of this ever happend. Everyone will forget everything and it will be as though nothing had ever changed. This day will not even be accounted for. Your time will actually reset back to the beginning of the day with none of these crazy effects- just how the normal day was supposed to go. However before we go, I need all of you to remember some things. Remember who is around you. Remember that your loved ones will always be there to guide you and help you, even during the darkest times. And never forget your strength."
Her words inspired something in me...a new blossoming sprout of courage.
"Well...here we are, at the parting of our ways. But we will see each other again. I wish you all the best of luck! Let us walk!"
The older Lotus began walking our way, to once again be reunited with the future timeline.
And so I grabbed Keefe's hand, and together we began our journey back to the past.
~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
"Well...here we are, at the parting of our ways. But we will see each other again. I wish you all the best of luck! Let us walk!"
The younger Lotus, the innocent little girl, began walking our way, to once again be reunited with the past timeline.
And so I reached for Keefe's hand, entwining our fingers, and together we began our journey forward to the future.
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~ Present Sophie's Pov ~
The morning light streams through my window, flaring right into my closed eyelids and forcing me awake.
I groan, not wanting to wake up, but I know I have to.
What even happened yesterday?
Everything feels like a blur and I don't really have memory of going to bed.
But I do remember feeling awfully exhausted, so it's possible that exhaustion just hit me all at once.
I'm not sure.
I get up and stretch.
I do remember something odd though...
The words,
"Remember who is around you. Remember that your loved ones will always be there to guide you and help you, even during the darkest times. And never forget your strength."
Must've been some dream or something.
And up I have to get now, time to start another stressful day.
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~ Future Sophie's Pov ~
Though the curtains are drawn, I can sense the morning light rising. I can feel Keefe fast asleep next to me as well.
The world feels oddly fuzzy and blurry.
I have literally no recollection of anything that happened yesterday.
However...I do recall feeling oddly exhausted so I guess I just collapsed and that's probably why I can't remember anything right now.
But for some reason I remember some random sentences...
"Remember who is around you. Remember that your loved ones will always be there to guide you and help you, even during the darkest times. And never forget your strength."
It was probably from some strange dream.
Oh well. The kids are probably already ready- waiting in agony to go shopping.
Time to get up now and start the day.
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~ THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR READING!!! 💕💕 This is the finale- the last part of this story! So sorry it's not the best but I hope it will suffice! I think the other one will probably unfortunately be discontinued as I no longer have any motivation to write it. I just finished writing this at exactly 1:00 AM in the morning, and it's honestly been great to be able to finish this up. I really appreciate all the views and love this story has been getting over the past few months, and I'm happy I finally get to finish it and tie up all the loose ends I left you all on a while ago. This fandom is the best and I truly will always appreciate all of you! Thank you all so much for taking this amazing journey with me, and I love you all so much.
- Your Author 💕
Signing off for the last time ~
• Word Count: 6584 •