Sophie groaned awake and nearly choked on the thick smoke coming from the battlefield. Sophie noticed that she fas still draped over the trees, her hair refusing lay flat against her head from all the static electricity. Her body was so weak, but she had to help. She couldn't just lay in a tree waiting for the battle to be over. Sophie tried to push herself down the tree, but the pain was so overwhelming her body just sent a painful shock throughout her body. Sophie eventually hobbled down the tree and stared at what was in front of her. Black Swan members were flying across the battlefield, knocking out Neverseen members left and right. But the Neverseen were putting up just a big fight. Sophie heard Linh battle cry and a colossal explosion of water in the distance. Keefe and Fitz were back to back, not letting the other open to the enemy. Sophie heard the slightest voice commanding at the Neverseen.
"A leader," Sophie whispered to herself. Sophie ducked into the tree cover and followed the voice barking orders.
"Do what I say, or I will scorch your ass!" The voice sounded familiar now.
"Scorch? Oh, no..." Sophie whimpered. Sophie pulled aside some brush and saw Fintan standing high above the Neverseen members, yelling orders in a panic. Sophie ducked back under the bush and tried to calm her breathing. Sophie thought the Elves got him when she managed to knock him out the night of the Elag gala barely. Sophie suddenly felt a cold shudder go down her back. Sophie tried to put her hand up to freeze or electrocute them, but Sophie's body was so frail and broken from her one giant attack she couldn't summon any more power. Sophie felt the wind lean down and caress her ear.
"Run." The voice said almost silently, in a breathy whisper.
"THERE SHE IS!" Neverseen members roared, pointing to Sophie.
"Merda!" Sophie cursed, pushing her body off the ground and sprinted farther into the forest.
"This way." The breathy voice whispered in her ear again, pulling her to the right. Sophie leaned to the right and cursed at herself. For both listening to the whispers in her head and for getting caught by the deadly Neverseen members behind her. Sophie felt the wind stop her dead, and just in time. She overlooked a deep craggy cliff that looked to be at least 70 feet up.
"Jump." The voice commanded.
"Bitch what?" Sophie asked out loud. Sophie stared over the cliffside again, the height causing her to get slightly sick. Her father jumped off skyscrapers and legendary cliffsides, but it was the one part of Sophie's training that she couldn't complete. She was a sky based Vatarian, why couldn't she just do this?!
"Jump." The voice repeated, the wind pushing her slightly towards the cliff.
"I-" Sophie was cut off by the Neverseen members starting to push there way through the brush. Sophie gulped down her a small amount of her fear and stood at the edge of the cliff. What was she doing?! She should be sparking the goons and returning to battle with her friends.
But even with that on her mind, Sophie's mind kept pulling her back to the cliffside. The wind roared louder, begging her to jump. Sophie took one deep breath, and before she tipped off the side, the wind whispered one last time.
"Spiegherò in tempo, signora Moretti." I will explain all in time, Madam Moretti. And before she could demand any questions, the wind gave her the final push to tip her over the cliffside.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fitz threw his melder forward and knocked the last Neverseen member out in a 100-yard radius.
"She isn't in the tree anymore." Fitz cursed, pointing to the tree Sophie was thrown onto.
"We need to get her a bell or something." Keefe cursed, throwing down his hands from fighting. Fitz suddenly felt an overwhelming headache pierce through his head.
"Fitz! Everyone get over here!" Keefe cried out, kneeling don to his best friend. Dex came running from the base, and everyone else came from their independent spots on the battlefield. Linh left her and Fitz's squadrons in charge of another collective member, not remembering which one in her blind panic to get to Fitz. Fitz's head felt like it was pounding strobe lights in his head, flashing random images in his head. He then realized where in his mind, this was coming from.
It was coming from his cognate connection.
His mind then seemed to slow and show him the images more slowly. It showed Sophie plummeting off a cliffside. Then another picture of her getting stopped out of Lumangwe falls by a hooded figure. And then the last image he saw from Sophie's mind, was a pair of cobalt eyes. Fitz's mind stopped running around his head and focused on his worried friend's faces in front of him. Fitz shuddered and looked at everyone dead in the eyes.
"Sophie is in trouble." He whispered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sophie gasped awake so suddenly; she accidentally froze the grass around her in her fright. She darted her head around and glanced at a hooded figure throwing dry sticks into a crudely made fire.
"Who the fuck are you?" Sophie snapped, immediately putting up her guard. The figure chuckled, his small laugh sounding distinctly male.
"Amalia, even 11 years after I met you, you are still as fiery." The man chuckled. Sophie remembered that voice. That was the voice whispering in her ear and directing her away from the Neverseen. The same whisper that spoke Inalian to her.
"Are you Inalian, or maybe a Vatarian?" Sophie asked. The man surprisingly shook his head and walked over to Sophie. Sophie put up her hands, ready to inflict.
"That won't work Sophie." The man said smugly. Sophie scoffed and tried to push her inflicting on the man, but Sophie felt nothing. Sophie stared at her hands in worry before shaking her head and switching to Froster powers in her hands. She would focus on her failing powers later.
"How do you know Inalian if you are not even a Vatarian?" Sophie asked, trying to push herself off the floor.
"You taught me some so I could get by with locals when I visited." The man said. Sophie stared at him, blankly.
"I'm sorry. Come again?" Sophie asked, cocking her head. The man pulled down his hood, and the sight immediately made Sophie drop her hands.
His mother's blue cobalt eyes.
His father's clean-cut short hair.
"Alvar?" Sophie whimpered. Alvar remained stone-faced, his hands falling back to the side. Sophie finally noticed that he was in his Neverseen robes. Sophie was suddenly overwhelmed with memories. Her teaching younger Alvar some basic Inalian so he could get by when he and Alden visited. Him eventually joining her father's meetings to talk about the Elves. But then Sophie became Sophie and cold again.
"After all we did for you..." Sophie started. Alvar's eyes went big.
"After my brother and I pulled you out of that river, after we healed you back up. After my guild protected you for years! This is how you repay us?!" Sophie screamed, pointing to the green eye patch on his arm.
"Sophie, please," Alvar begged, looking around nervously.
"Chiudi la bocca, traditore!" Shut your mouth, traitor! Sophie yelled her eyes turning hot.
"Your father asked me too!" Alvar snapped. Sophie stopped dead in her tracks at the mention of her father.
"What?" Sophie asked her voice a shaky whisper. Alvar sighed and slumped down onto a stone.
"Allesandro pulled me aside about nine months after we met and said that the Neverseen are starting to recruit young elves and that they might ask me. If they do, he was asking if I could join to work as a spy. He didn't pressure me, and he knew how big of a decision at first, and he knew I wouldn't be able to tell my family. I said no at first, and he said it was fine, and there was no pressure. But after he... died, I felt like I owed it to him. He felt like a second dad to me, and my father and I couldn't make any contact with any Vatarian city anymore. So I joined, collecting info and anonymously sending to the Black Swan. I didn't even know if Leto was still alive, much less running the Black Swan." Alvar explained. Sophie's blood stopped boiling, and she sat next to him.
"I thought all of you were dead, and I was in greaving for years. Years later, my father said he was sending Fitz out in a special mission in France to look for someone. I rolled my eyes at it, but when I Fitz walked in with you, I thought I was hallucinating, my mind taunting me with the images of the dead. You seemed to have no memory before age nine, which is when Inalia was destroyed-"
"WAIT WHAT?! Inalia is destroyed?!" Sophie asked loudly. Alvar looked startled for a moment before nodding.
"You must be still getting your memories back then, huh?" Alvar said coldly. Sophie nodded rapidly, wanting him to hurry with the story. Alvar sighed and put his head in his hands, and Sophie swore she saw a tear shed.
"The Elven council learned where Inalia was and sold them out to the Neverseen," Alvar admitted. Sophie dropped to her knees; the world goes silent with the news.
"And it was all my fault..." Alvar whimpered.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That is one big oof, huh? Anyway, remember to vote, follow, and share!
_Sibylline)