+He couldn't escape her this time, Biana made sure of it. Keefe had to visit Candleshade every now and then for some time to keep the Council from being suspicious of him. She was waiting in his room- she had vanished to get inside without being detected- just behind the door so he couldn't see her, but when he was in the room, she could finally trap him. She knew that this was something a petty girlfriend would usually do, but for the past week she had been trying to find him. Apparently he stopped going to school, and whenever she went to Candleshade before, his mother had told her he wasn't home. She went to his usual brooding spots, and asked around, but no one had really seen him but his parents.
Now, you must be wondering, how did Biana finally find out that Keefe visited Candleshade sometimes, and even more importantly- when. You see, Keefe's father had sent her a message the other day describing his worries for the well being of his son. He thought that if anyone could find out what was wrong with him, it'd be Biana. Quickly, she agreed, wishing it wasn't so far away, and had dreamed of what she would say the night before.
Biana held her breath as footsteps drew near the door. She could hear a voice muttering- Keefe's voice- but she couldn't make out what he was saying. As soon as he was far enough in the door she closed it when a bang, holding her hand over it to show that she wasn't letting him escape this time. Her heart thumped loudly in her chest as he turned around, his icy blue eyes hard on hers, but she still kept her game face on. Now was not the time to let fear take over. "We need to talk," she said as levelly as she could.
Her boyfriend sighed, clearly annoyed, "About what?" He practically spat the last word, and anger bubbled in her chest.
"Um, hello? Where do I begin?!" Biana began to count of on her fingers, "You've been avoiding me, you're not going to school, and you missed my Winnowing Gala."
"So?" He raised an eyebrow and she couldn't help herself. She snapped.
"So? So? Keefe, what is going on with you?" She demanded, trying to focus on keeping light from passing through her body, giving away how upset she really was, "I'm your girlfriend, but I sure don't feel like it."
Exasperatedly, he made a gesture that displayed his shortening patience, "What do you want me to do then?" Biana swallowed, she hadn't expected this. "Well?" He asked her, rage boiling in his eyes.
She took a few more seconds to think before declaring her answer, "To take me out on dates, to smile with me, laugh with me... to talk to me." Biana balled her fists as a thought crept into her mind: Why did she have to tell him how to be her boyfriend? Shouldn't he just know how to treat her right? "To think of me."
"Would you like a glass of champagne with that as well?" Keefe rolled his eyes rudely. "I don't think Sophie-"
Biana stopped him right there, "Are you serious? I don't think I'm asking that much. I'm just asking for you to be part of my world and for you to let me be part of yours. And also, what does Sophie have to do with any of this?!" A sickly feeling washed over her as he started to laugh. Why was he laughing? She didn't mean to be funny... so why- Her heart dropped down to her stomach as she realized that he wasn't laughing with her, he was laughing at her.
"Do you know- Do you know how busy I am? Do you really think I have time to love you?" Her boyfriend said in between laughs with this icy, wicked air about him- or that might be because of the fury boiling in her stomach, Biana wasn't sure. She was too busy trying to sort out the raging hurricane of emotions whipping around inside her. "And Sophie-" Keefe calmed down slightly, "Sophie's different." Biana's jaw almost dropped. Was he still in love with Sophie?
"Well you seem to have time to love Sophie," bitterly, Biana tested him. She had to know.
"I do," answered Keefe, his tone hard and serious, clearly telling the truth.
"But not me?" Biana had tears in her eyes now as she clarified the ugly truth.
Keefe shook his head no, "I've never loved you, Biana."
She absorbed the words like a sponge, but would later find that what would hurt worse would be the boyish cheer radiating from his voice as the sounds rang from his mouth, and the soft caressing way he said her name. He sounded like he use to- the old Keefe. The Keefe that had been gone for a long time now, and she had chosen to turn a blind eye. She knew Keefe, but she didn't know who the handsome boy with the starlight eyes. Fitz had been right after all.
"Then why did you ask me out in the first place?" Demanded Biana, realizations flooding into her brain one after another, but she didn't let it overwhelm her. No, Biana weaponized it, determined to get a definate answer in this moment of crisis. Instead of taking one for herself, she needed to take one for the team. So she did, "To get a foot back in the door of our group? So you could try to overhear us talking about the Black Swan's plans and feed the information to the group that really has your loyalty?"
His eyes narrowed and he clearly pretended to be baffled, "Whatever do you mean?"
Her balled fists began to flicker like a light, turning invisible gradually then solidifying again to an even one-two beat, "You know what I mean. You're a spy for the Neverseen."
"What? No way! Besides, I'd be wearing the arm band if I were," Keefe laughed innocently, which soured her expression further.
Sophie had said that the Neverseen had tattoos now. Biana had one shot to test this theory. She glanced at each of his arms before picking one, grabbing it, and wiping up his arm quickly, removing a layer of messily applied concealer to see a teal green tattoo of a ring of dots around his arm, with a circle bearing an eye as the center focus of the design, right in the middle of the side of his arm. She gasped sharply when she saw the iris flick around like an actual eye, dropping his arm.
As he frowned, the rest of the starlight in his eyes dulled into a slick oil glimmer, his voice a dark hum instead of a welcoming song, "You know, I was going to be nice and give you a chance to pretend you didn't know... but now... " A heartbeat passed before he lurched forward for her, but before his hands could close around her wrist, she vanished and fled, ditching her shoes so she could have a chance to escape. They were old, uncomfortable, and out of season anyways. Now she finally had an excuse to get rid of them.
He was close on her heels as she ran down the hall to the elevator. Fearfully, she glanced back to see how close he was, and decided that to be able to get out of here, she needed to move faster. Pushing herself to pick up her speed, adrenaline screaming in her veins, she finally got some good distance. When she reached the elevator, she ran inside, pressed the button for the ground floor, and ran out, pressing herself against the wall tightly as Keefe began to run by. He ran into the elevator just as the doors closed, and the mechanism started to move.
Not wasting her time to watch the elevator sink down to the ground floor, Biana ran to the nearest room and soundlessly closed the door behind her. She was breathing hard now, but she still opened the nearest window and stood on the ledge, fumbling her pathfinder out. She could hear a frustrated growl from somewhere below her, but Biana put her focus to light leaping off the ledge to somewhere safe. Though she didn't have any specific place in mind.
---
=Dex was setting up a display outside of Slurps n' Burps that same evening, enjoying the quiet and lively buzz of Mysterium around him. He had been working at the shop all day, and while business had been on the slower side, it had been peaceful... too peaceful. So peaceful that his mind drifted to the gorgeous Vacker with teal eyes... no, not Fitz, but his captivating, enchanting, rapturous sister, Biana. Her name sounded like a poem for Cannoli's sake! A poem that lived in the forefront of his mind, that he knew every word to... The shape of her lips as they unleashed a jovial laugh. The gleam in her eyes as she schemed something- Anyways, it was a pretty calm day until a flash of light appeared before him as his arms were outstretched , setting vials on a shelf.
Suddenly the light was gone and he instinctively wrapped his arms around whatever was falling in front of him. He soon felt a weight around his shoulders, and though he couldn't see anything but wavy brown hair that smelled like lavender, as soon as his hands were around her waist, he knew that Biana Vacker had fallen into his arms at the blink of an eye. Her arms were around his neck/shoulders, and his arms were wrapped around her waist tightly. Dex didn't know what was happening, but he could hear his ears turned bright red.
After a few seconds, Biana pulled backwards, tears shining in her beautiful eyes as she looked up at him in confusion, "How did I get here?"
"I- I don't know," Dex frowned, now confused as well, "you didn't come here intentionally?"
"No, I was running and-"
Cutting her off, he asked, holding her tighter on instinct, "Running? From what? What happened?"
Biana sighed a little with a small smile, "Why don't we go sit down inside first?"
Once he considered this for a moment, he nodded, and let her lead him inside, though when his hand found hers, he didn't let go. It was a small gesture, but he hoped it made her feel safe.
Though he didn't know it, it did.