𝓟𝐫𝗼𝐣𝐞𝐜𝐭 𝓢𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐮𝐧𝐞

Chapter #33 - Keefe

Chapter #33 - Keefe

"So, Mommy Dearest, this is the first place on your Human Collection Tour? I gotta say, not what I expected. I was thinking more of a evil lair sort of vibe, but—"

"Will you shut it?" Lady Gisela asked, annoyed, "I may have unfrozen you for now, but remember. I still have this ethertine, and I'm not afraid to use it again."

Keefe sighed theatrically. But inside, he was panicking.

He looked around— trying not to focus too hard on one thing, in fear of the gravity of the situation really sinking in— at where he'd been taken, a human city with skinny buildings and a bright orange bridge not-too-far-off on one side. There were also mountains in the distance.

Hopefully, Grady would somehow figure out how to find him.

His mother explained, "The edge of San Francisco. Near Mount Tam. Perfect place to find a large sample of humans."

He almost choked in laughter. "There's a mountain named after Shady McSilverbangs? I thought he was overrated already, but this is a whole other level."

"It's short for Mount Tamalpais."

Imagine, Keefe thought, if that was Tam's full name. If it was, no doubt Bangs Boy was about to endure a lot of teasing.

If he ever got back and actually saw him again, that is...

"Now, Keefe, all you need to do is follow me into the city— and if you don't come, remember I will make good on my threats for what I could do to your little moonlark.

"Then shout a command and touch everyone. We'll take the ones with abilities." She scoffed. "And Vespera thought my plan was inefficient."

Keefe gulped, turning to the frozen humans. He didn't know Amy particularly well— and knew Alice even less— but he still felt awful when he saw them. Then he turned his head to the innocent people of San Francisco, going about their daily life without realizing they were about to be a part of a psychopathic scheme.

Could he have stopped this?

Well, of course. There were a million things he could've done— a million warning signs in front of his face— but he hadn't. And whenever he tried to fix things, his recklessness just made it worse.

So maybe he needed to do something planned, for once.

But what? He wasn't Foster, or Fitz, or anyone else. He was just... Lord Hunkyhair. That Boy. Keefe.

Lots of people care about you, Keefe.

"Okay, Mommy Of The Year. Let's do this creepy human thing." Maybe if he made a plan for once, he could to stop everything before it was too late.

***

"So you just want me to shout a command to freeze everyone?" Keefe asked, trying to keep his cool. But it was hard when he knew the fates of all the innocent humans walking by.

Make a plan.

"Yes."

But what sort of plan? He had absolutely no idea, so Keefe did the first thing he could think to do. Stall.

"Y'know, wouldn't it have been easier for you if you just gave yourself these powers? Because, you do realize that as soon as I figure out how to do the command-y thing on you, I will have no remorse with it."

Lady Gisela shook her head in disapproval, her Neverseen cloak swishing around, "Honestly, I thought you'd be better at stalling at this point. But if you must know... the fact that you'd have no remorse is the reason you can't do it on me."

What was that supposed to mean? Ugh— how hard would it be for someone to make a dictionary on how to speak Creepy Neverseen-nese?

Though maybe he did know what she was talking about.

"You're saying that my numbing or whatever only works on people if I'll feel guilty for it?"

A/N: Credit to LiteratureLover2006 for giving me this idea from their fanfic. It's honestly a great theory.

She didn't answer, and for a second, Keefe swore he could feel waves of regret wafting off his mom— like maybe she shouldn't have said that. But it quickly passed.

"All you have to do now is step out of the range from the obscurer I'm holding, and shout the command. And I'm sure you get the idea on what will happen if you don't cooperate, at this point." Her gulon-fart-deserving eyes shifted to the ethertine orb, as if he needed more clarification on the ways she could make him suffer.

Hesitantly, Keefe followed Gisela's orders— stepping out of the obscurer range so the humans could hear him when he shouted a command.

Make a plan kept ringing in his ears, but the more he thought about it, the more it felt about as probable as Lord Jerkypants saying something nice to him. In other words, not likely.

Maybe if he could somehow reverse the ability— make it so he could only numb people he wouldn't feel guilty about freezing?

It was a good idea in theory, but there was a sliiiiiiight problem: Keefe had no idea how to do it.

He sighed. He took one last look at the skinny structures and wandering humans and emotions broadcasting at him like radio signals. A small boy holding hands with his parents walked by, and he quickly looked away when he met the boy's brown-eyed gaze.

"STOP!"

He sank to his knees after shouting the command. "You know what to do next," went Lady Gisela's voice, looming over Keefe's tearstained face, buried in his hands.

He didn't even care that he was crying. It was all hitting him like a slap in the face. He really was cooperating with his "legacy."

Make a plan. There had to be a way.

But for now, Keefe had no choice.