A/N: When Keefe finds Sophie and Edaline after Lumenaria falls, he tells Sophie that he ran into Biana, who was clearly upset with him. This is how I imagined that conversation to go.
Keefe was fairly certain that he would never, for the rest of eternity, be as terrified as he was while he watched Lumenaria fall.
Until he began to search for Foster among the survivors and couldn't find her.
But of course, he couldn't give up. He would scour the entire island and every single piece of rubble. He had to find her.
He hadn't been searching for long--though the panic he felt in his chest would imply otherwise--when a sudden blow knocked him off his feet.
"What--?"
But that was all he got out, because the wind was knocked out of him.
Then Biana was there.
And he'd never seen her looking so angry.
Vanishers.
That was why he hadn't been able to see her coming. Not that it would've done him much good even if he had. That girl could tackle about as well as he could--and had been the source of multiple bramble bruises for both Keefe and Fitz. He'd always assumed that was just life as the only girl with two older brothers. She had to be tough.
But he didn't have time to think through all of that now. He tried to stand, but it was hard while struggling for breath and trying to deflect Biana's repeated blows.
"How--dare--you--show--up--here?" she yelled at him, smacking him with each word.
Well...at least she wasn't punching him over and over.
Only occasionally.
"Biana," he finally rasped.
"No!" she shouted. "I can't believe you--I never would have thought you would let them drag you in this deep! Look over there!" she pointed toward the ruined castle. "Don't you know Sophie was in there?"
"Why do you think I'm here?" Keefe finally managed to reply.
She smacked him again.
He should probably stop her, but...he deserved it.
But then...he also really needed to find Sophie.
And he'd rather do it alone, because if she wasn't alright...
He didn't need an audience for that particular discovery. And Biana certainly didn't need the nightmares of seeing what kind of state Sophie might be in.
He shuddered at the thought.
"You mean, you weren't a part of this?" Biana asked, temporarily distracted.
"Of course not, Biana!" Keefe was hurt that she'd thought so. But then...he had been unbearably stupid lately. He didn't even know the Neverseen had been planning this. "You know me," he reminded her. "I would never be involved in something like this. Didn't Sophie tell you I left the Neverseen last night?"
"You did?" she sounded shocked. And relieved.
But still angry.
"I guess I assumed she'd let you all know."
"She might have done," Biana said thoughtfully, "if she hadn't already been here for the Peace Summit. I doubt they even let her bring her Imparter with her, the security was crazy tight. Not that it mattered, in the end..." she looked back at the destruction behind them. "And I'm sure they've kept her too busy with preparations to transmit to us."
Keefe couldn't help but feel happy at that prospect.
Because she'd found time to transmit to him.
Probably only because she was worried about him, what with him still being with the enemy and in danger after his plan to save Alvar from capture had backfired...but still.
He wasn't going to think about that now. Not about the punishment he received for that. Or about the punishments he'd seen dished out to others, or the way Fintan's instability or Brant's downright insanity had frightened Keefe more than he would have thought.
He'd probably never own up to any of that. Because he deserved every moment of it.
And his friends deserved not having to worry any more about him than they already had. He'd put them through enough.
"Well, I'm back," he finally said softly.
But Biana didn't soften. If anything, the change in his tone brought back her rage. She punched him on the arm and shouted, "how could you have been so stupid to have run away like that? Do you have any idea how much that hurt? Not just Sophie, and not just me--do you have any idea what you did to Fitz? Don't you think he needed his best friend after we learned about Alvar?" Her voice cracked.
"Biana, I'm so sorry, and I'll apologize to Fitz as soon as I can, but right now I really need to find Sophie. And you need to get back off this island before someone catches you."
"Find Sophie? Is she not with the others? That's where I was headed, to go see if I could help."
Keefe shuddered. "No, she's not with the others, but I doubt everyone has made it over to where they're gathering. I'm sure she's somewhere else on the island. There are others that haven't made it over there yet, so I'm guessing they're together. I just need to find them." He sounded far more confident than he was.
They hadn't sounded hopeful about the fact that Edaline, Sophie, Mr. Forkle and Councillor Oralie hadn't made it out.
Biana gasped, and for some reason, smacked him again before grabbing his tunic. "Why didn't you start with that?! Let's go find her!"
Keefe thought about pointing out the fact that she'd knocked the wind out of him and began shouting before he could even catch his breath, but thought better of it.
"No," he said. "I will go find her. You get back to your family. They're probably wondering where you are. Let them know that I'm here and helping them track everyone down, and I'll have Sophie check in with them as soon as I find her, okay?"
Biana looked conflicted for a moment.
Then she smacked him again.
Then, with tears in her eyes, she reached out and hugged him.
And for once, he didn't avoid it. She wasn't feeling particularly swoony this time--though he suspected part of her anger was due to lingering feelings for him--so he hugged her back. And it was nice to think that at least one of his friends was maybe going to let him back in.
Two, if Sophie was okay.
If she wasn't...
No. He wasn't going to let himself think that. If she could survive being kidnapped and tortured, repeatedly attacked by the Neverseen, jumping off the top story of a building that was burning with Everblaze, and flooding the ogre capitol, surely she could get out of Lumenaria's ruins.
She had to be okay.
If she wasn't, his sanity wouldn't survive it.
He pulled back. "I'm going to find her, okay? It's all going to be okay."
Biana sniffed. "It better be. My parents are a mess. Everyone is. Grady..." she shivered. "Just go. Find her and Edaline fast and have her reach out. Grady needs them. He's...he's not okay right now."
"I'll find them," he promised. "I'll find them and I'll bring them back."
Biana nodded, then vanished so she could sneak back off the island without being caught.
Keefe's panic rose up again as he wondered how much time he'd lost talking with Biana. And now, as he resumed his search, he found himself shouting Sophie's name over and over, running faster, looking harder, until finally, finally, finally, he found her.