TRIGGER WARNING!!!
-if you are sensitive to guns or any type of violence having to do with guns, please be aware while reading. I will put these —>( *** ) before and after that specific scene is done.
"You always were very clever, Sophie." Jolie said to her, "It's something I've always admired about you."
Jolie was standing in front of her mirror, painting makeup over the burn scars that ran down her neck. Her shiny, raven black hair contrasted strangely, yet beautifully, with her pale skin tone, and her turquoise eyes were now covered with cobalt blue lenses.
"You—you—." Sophie stuttered.
"Me? I'm still who I am, who I've always been. I haven't changed." Jolie assured her.
"Yeah, except for the fact that you've just been living a secret life with enemy for who knows how long."
"It's not as much of a secret as you think. The twins pretty much know everything up until about two years ago and I think the Babblos kid accidentally found out when he was snooping."
Sophie was shocked to hear that both Linh and Tam already knew Jolie's secret, but Jensi? She couldn't believe that she had completely forgot about him. It was even more surprising to hear that he was in on the secret as well.
"You told Tam and Linh?" Sophie asked Jolie.
"No! God no. The Forkle twins know, not the Songs."
That makes more sense.
"What about 'The Babblos kid' as you called him? How exactly did he find out?" Sophie asked.
"Apparently him and his vanisher friend thought it'd be a spectacular idea to phase into my bathroom while I was getting ready." Jolie told her.
"He's a phaser?"
"Yeah, he has been for years. I thought you knew."
Sophie felt as if she'd missed so much. She hadn't even known Jensi had manifested.
"No, I—I guess I should have been in touch with him more." she said faintly, then realized something else she had said, "Why only up until two years ago?"
"That is something I'm not allowed to say... yet." Jolie said.
"What about what you said, you know, when we were interviewing you the other day. You said the Neverseen would keep your family safe and to free them."
"Merely a lie."
"Not completely. Something I've learned is that good, smart liars, incorporate partial truths in their lie to make it more believable. You're smart, Jolie, I know you are. So what are you freeing Grady and Edaline from."
"You of course."
Sophie stepped back in her tracks, "W-W-What do mean?"
"They're trapped. Trapped in your world of danger you created for your family, your friends." Jolie clicked her tongue, "It's your fight, your game, yet... you're making making your friends play it. Putting them in harms way, just so that the Moonlark would stay safe, protected, innocent. You... you are the one our world should be terrified of, not the Neverseen."
Red started to rim Sophie's vision, "I know what you're doing, and it's not going to work."
"Do you now? Well then, if you know so much about what I'm doing, you must also know this: There. Is. No. Way. Out. Of. It."
"There's always a way."
Jolie shook her head, "Always so hopeful, you are. When are you going to learn. When are you going to grow up. The Black Swan made a mistake by putting you and a group of teenagers into battle. You should have stayed living with the humans. You left your parents and your sister, and for what?! Acceptance? Greed? Power? They deserved better anyways."
"Stop... STOP!" Sophie screamed clutching her head.
"You can't run away from me Sophie. Not now, not ever."
The red circles grew around Sophie, taking up most her vision. She pushed the burning emotions back rubbing on the knot that spread under her ribs. She wouldn't let her abilities get the best of her. Not this time.
Jolie continued, "Such a coward, you are. Too terrified of yourself to use your own ability on me. Abilities give you power, Sophie. Use it. USE IT!"
"NO!" Sophie yelled back at her, "Stop this Jolie. It's not who you are."
"Not who I am?? You don't know who I am. You haven't even met me yet."
"I know you're a good person. You'd never hurt a soul. You always wanted the best for our world."
"There it is. The truth. We. Are. The. Same. You know it. And..." Jolie motioned to herself, "Look where I am now. A presumed dead girl, covered in burn scars given from her fiancé, working for a rebel organization. Welcome to my life Soybean. I'm sure you'll hate it as much as I do."
"I'm not like you." Sophie said with strain in her voice, "I wouldn't abandon the people I love!"
"Yet how many times have they either died or gotten hurt because of you?"
"It was the Neverseen's fault, not mine."
"Keep telling yourself that. Or... isn't that what Keefe keeps trying to convince you of? That you're not the reason he almost died that day in Loanmore? You could have helped him. You could have saved him. Instead, you're weak. Can't even save the boy you love. Pathetic."
Sophie lost started to lose grip of her temper. She quickly decided it'd be best to get away before anyone got hurt.
She used her emotions to stir up the adrenaline that she'd need, and poured it out, splitting open the void back to her home in Havenfield.
But...
But.
She heard another crack of thunder after her, so, she kept running. Then again, and again, and again.
She was being followed.
The chase was continuous to the point of exhaustion. Jolie was on Sophie's tail for minutes straight, until there was no more energy left to give, and Sophie collapsed to the floor, not even knowing where she had ended up. It was as if the life had been drained out if her. But she wasn't done fighting. Not yet, not ever.
"The Neverseen can give you strength, Sophie. More than you could ever believe." Jolie told her.
"I already have strength!"
"PROVE IT!"
Sophie heard numerous, piercing voices around her, but shoved them away. She couldn't be distracted. She wouldn't be distracted.
She gathered up everything she had, and pushed the force out of her mind with a bolt. Red, glowing light connected Sophie to Jolie through the long distance between them. She felt something growing inside of her head. A searing pain in the back of her mind that felt as if her brain was splitting in two.
"HANDS UP! PUT YOUR HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE THEM!" Sophie heard a voice say from behind her.
***
Sophie obeyed once she realized where she was, and the consequences that came if she didn't listen. Her hands slowly raised above her head as she turned around to see a group of police officers with guns pointed at both her and Jolie, who was now trying to regain her balance. It took a second for her to take in her surroundings. The Smithsonian. Why would she teleport to a Forbidden City she'd never been to?
"HANDS ABOVE YOUR HEAD!" the officer repeated.
Sophie realized he wasn't talking to her, but to Jolie. She didn't know. Jolie didn't know what they were saying or that they were all holding deadly weapons that could kill them in a matter of seconds.
She switched over to speaking in English so she could talk to the police officer, "She doesn't speak English. She doesn't know." Sophie said.
"Care to explain the scenario to her then?"
"Jolie, you see those things the humans are holding?"
"Those plastic looking block things?" Jolie asked.
"Yeah, well they're these deadly weapons, that humans use, called guns." Sophie told her, but she didn't move an inch, "You have to listen to me. If we don't do what they say..."
"Then what? They kill me? I've already done my job here, Sophie. If I get killed, so be it."
And with that, Jolie reached her hand into the pocket on her hip, as a loud bang filled their ears. Jolie stepped, trying to regain her balance, but was taken back by the impact to her stomach. She gave in, and fell backwards into the comfort of the air behind her. Sophie watched in shock, as the raven-haired girl stumped warily to the concrete floor below them. Then, the redness appeared, giving Sophie the authentication she never wanted. The question she didn't want to be answered. Blood streamed on the pale grey floors, under Jolie's limp body. She was shot. She was shot and Sophie couldn't save her. She couldn't.
"What did you do? WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Sophie yelled at the officers and ran over to Jolie's body.
"We gave a warning."
"A warning that she didn't understand!"
"You were given the opportunity to explain it to her, so either you told her something different, or she just didn't want to comply. Either way, she deserved it."
"No one deserves to die. No matter what they do."
"She was reaching for a gun!"
Sophie felt helpless. No matter what she could do to get herself and Jolie out of there, would reveal elves to humans, but if she didn't leave quickly, she would be taken away and Jolie would die.
She decided upon the latter option and slowly walked closer towards Jolie's side.
"Stand still!" one of the officers yelled at her.
"She's dying!"
"And the ambulance is on it's way."
"They won't be able to save her. She's losing too much blood!" Sophie yelled at them, "Please! Let me go to her."
"Fine, but we must be able to see your hands at all times. Is that clear?" another officer said.
***
Sophie nodded at ran over to Jolie to examen her body. She had to get to a doctor before it was too late. She had to. Sophie couldn't let anyone else die in her hands. It was her fault the people she cared about died, and she wouldn't let that happen again, even if it meant exposing the elvin world.
She decided to do something dangerous. Something she could be put in Exile for. But... it wasn't like she hadn't made stupid decisions before, right? Sophie did her best to grasp all of the energy she had left, and heard a clap of thunder behind her. She lifted Jolie's blood covered body with telekinesis, making sure to obey the officer's orders, and took her into the void, watching the stunned faces on the crowd that had built up around them. But she didn't care. She teleported her and Jolie to the Healing center and quickly placed her on the closest cot.
"Hel—?" Elwin said coming into the room, "SOPHIE ELIZABETH FOSTER! WHAT IN FORKLE'S NAME HAPPENED?!?!"
"Please!" Sophie said through desperate cries, "She was shot, Elwin, humans shot her. I don't know what to do- I- I—."
Elwin held her shoulders steady, "Sophie, calm down, alright. I need you to tell me everything you know about what happened."
She quickly told the physician what had happened and explained to him what guns were. Elves really needed to learn more about the human world.
"We need to stop the bleeding before she—." Elwin didn't finish his sentence, but Sophie didn't need him too. She knew very well how deadly human weapons could be. "Sophie, I'm going to need you to call Livvy for me. I presume this is going take more than one doctor."
Sophie rang up Livvy on her imparter as Elwin got to work on stopping the bleeding, and soon, the tall, dark skinned, woman ran through the doors with bags of elixirs and medical instruments.
Livvy cursed under her breath, recognizing who the dark haired girl on the cot was. Sophie couldn't blame her, though. She would've had the same reaction if it were her.
"I've already called the Collective." Livvy told them as she put her gloves on, "They should be here for this, for her."
"Who is she by the way?" Elwin asked.
"Someone very important." Livvy responded.
"Well it'd be good to know since I need to ring a family member. We'll need a blood donor. Type A negative to be exact.
Sophie pulled out her arm and rolled up her sleeve.
"Well are you just going to stand there or are you going to take my blood?" Sophie asked, clearly irritated.
"How do you even know the blood types are compatible?" Elwin asked her.
"Have you met me?!"
Elwin took her arm, searching for a vein, and tested her blood, "Perfect match." he said looking shocked.
"You seem surprised." Sophie told him as he started to take her blood.
The door burst open again as Mr. Forkle ran through the door with everyone else behind him. And by everyone, she meant everyone.
Forkle stopped in the doorway once he realized who it was on the cot and started to push everyone back out the door.
"EVERYONE OUT! BACK THE T-REX UP!" Forkle yelled at everyone, making sure no one got the chance to recognize the person on the table, especially her parents.
"What happened." Mr. Forkle asked rushing to Jolie's bedside.
"She was shot." Sophie said in a monotone voice.
"Why was she shot?!"
"Well, you see, erm... you didn't tell me she was evil, so when I went to investigate, it turned into wild game of tag."
"What do you mean, evil?" Forkle asked Sophie.
"Are you trying to tell me you don't know?"
"Of course I don't know! I thought she was dead!"
"I'm so confused." Sophie whispered to herself.
"Will you two quit bickering!" Elwin yelled at them, "We're trying to perform surgery here!"
"Sorry." they both mumbled.
"Will you bring Keefe in here?" Sophie asked Mr. Forkle.
"I don't think—"
"He already knows about her." she said referring to Jolie.
Forkle walked out the door and called for Keefe.
"What about us!" Sophie heard Edaline yell, "That's our daughter in there!"
"Yes, more so than you realize." Mr. Forkle mumbled, walking Keefe into the room.
Keefe's eyes widened, "Who's that?" he said pointing to Jolie.
"Jolie." Sophie responded.
"I thought she was blonde... and her eyes are different, aren't they."
"She's disguised as Glimmer."
"Huh." Keefe said quietly to Sophie, "She kind of looks like you, you know."
"Yeah, I get that a lot."
Keefe sat down next to her and pointed to the tube of blood running from her arm, "What's that all about?"
"She had a hemorrhage and needed blood. We have the same blood type so..." she explained.
"Similar features and the same blood type? If I didn't know any better, I'd think she was your biological mother."
"Coincidence I guess."
"The universe is rarely lazy enough for a coincidence." Keefe said.
Sophie stayed quiet. A headache grew in her, so as a default, she rubbed her temples to soothe the pain.
"You okay?" Keefe asked.
Sophie tucked her feelings deep inside her before Keefe could get a reading, "I've been better." she said bleakly and leaned her head onto his shoulder.
Clearly she could lie to an empath, because Keefe didn't notice her shift in emotions.
In all honesty, she was in pain. A searing pain that burned her from the inside out, but there was no fire. It felt as if she was drowning herself, yet there was no water. All she knew was the pain. The pain she'd been living with for years. The pain that she had always subsided, for fear of losing herself. Her mind felt dull, yet warm. She wanted the warmth, needed it. She needed the rest.
So she took it.
She followed the warmth, embraced the pain, and begged for the rest.
And her mind went dark.
*Insert Nessie cries here*