Team Foster-Keefe (A Sokeefe Story) #KOTLC #AfterUnlocked

Chapter 17

A/N: Guys... I just have to know... Should I get the new purple iPhone 12 or get the mint green one? They are both super pretty, but I'm honestly torn in between. 

After waiting for a few moments, the familiar faces of her teammates Wylie, Biana, Dex and Stina popped up.

"Hiya, Sophie!" Dex greeted.

"Uh... We're here, too, Dizznee," Stina said.

Dex turned his face to her and stuck out his tongue. Stina swiftly retorted by doing the same.

Biana giggled, her gorgeous teal eyes glittering with excitement. It was nice to see her back to her old self, since she looked absolutely miserable when Sophie had told her friends that Keefe was gone.

For a moment, Sophie couldn't help but wonder if Biana still had feelings for Keefe. Her stomach churned a little at the thought, before she bit her lip and shook away those thoughts.

"Hey, Lady Foss-Boss," Wylie said, a slightly mischievous smile turning on his lips. Sophie rolled her eyes in good nature at the nickname. Dex had come up with it, and it stuck.

"Hi, guys. Sorry for calling without a warning," Sophie said, scratching the back of her neck.

"No problem! It's been a while since we've seen each other, anyways," said Biana. "The last time we saw each other was when..." Her voice trailed off.

Everyone stayed silent for a second, and Sophie's heart internally broke for a second, before she cleared her throat.

"Yeah... But theres so much we have to be working on right now. The Neverseen could be plotting so much worse than they have ever. They may even be ready to make a move again. We need to be ready and find a way to get one step ahead of them. We- I mean, I already exploited their weakness once, but together we can think smarter and do who knows what?"

Biana looked sad, but determined as she nodded.

"I wanted to check in with you guys first, though. Has anyone done anything in the past week?"

Stina flipped her hair, as she said, "Well, we were kind of left in the air since... you know... but I took it upon myself to re-examine the whole situation we were in."

Sophie nodded. "That's good. We could definitely use that information. Anyone else?"

"I went to visit Tiergan for a while after I knew my dad would be okay. Mr. Forkle stayed with him while I went back to Solreef. I looked through the things with him that you brought back from the storehouse in case there was anything important. There was a lot, actually," Wylie admitted. 

"Oh! Also, while I was there, I was with Linh and Tam. Glimmer too," he continued. "Tam is still a little on edge, but he's mostly warmed up again. Linh still doesn't really trust Glimmer, but she's making efforts to trust her. And Glimmer was... actually, I don't really know. She was mostly just gossiping with Tam and playing with her cat statue."

"Huh," was all Sophie had to say. She was blown away by how much Wylie was able to accomplish.

Dex was wide eyed. 

"Dude, nice job!" he said, and Wylie smiled in thanks. 

"Did you find anything out of the ordinary from the storehouse things? Anything that could be of vital intel?" Biana asked, curious.

"There were a lot of cloaks. And there was a big stash of soporidine. We were careful while handling that. We also found some random scrolls. I wasn't able to read any of them, though. I think the Neverseen have their own runes, like the Black Swan," Wylie told them.

Sophie's eyes were suddenly huge. "Wait one second!" she called out, before dashing back to her room upstairs, coming back with a small black pouch. She couldn't believe she had forgotten about this.

Biana eyed the pouch through the crystal screen. 

"The caches," she breathed.

"Yeah, I forgot about these for a while. I feel like we have so many problems, we forget our achievements," Sophie said.

Stina whistled. "This is most definitely a victory on them."

"It is! Dex, do you think you could try to hack them with your Technopath abilities? We know these ones are real this time, so maybe you can try what you did with the fakes?" Sophie asked.

"Sure!" Dex jumped in. "This time, I'll figure something out. Maybe Tinker could help, too."

Sophie smiled, knowing for a fact that he would totally figure them out. He was a brilliant Technopath, and could pretty much overcome any challenge he faced.

"Thanks," she told him.

She turned back to the rest of the team. "Okay, so this was definitely progress. I think our next move should be to continue battle training with the goblins. I also think Ro would be willing to help us, since Kee- her charge, pulled a disappearing act on us," she said shakily towards the end. 

Sophie tried to keep the mood light with the joke, but she knew it still hit home for each of them. She couldn't even say Keefe's name out loud, otherwise she knew she'd humiliate herself by crying or choking up.

"Um... So yeah, we- we could ask Ro," Sophie forced out.

Everyone stayed silent for a while, looking downcast and lost. 

Finally, Stina spoke up. "Hey, Sophie...? I know we're all avoiding this subject, but I have to ask: What about Keefe?"

Sophie slowly looked up and met Stina's gaze. She swiped at her eyes, and said, "W-well, we can't put him out of the scene. His mom will probably hunt high and low for him once she realizes he's not with us anymore. And he clearly has a role in whatever happens next."

Stina slowly nodded. "Okay... So are we going to find him first?"

Sophie stayed silent. Of course she wanted to find him. So badly. But what would she do if they tried and it turned out to be hopeless. Even if they did end up miraculously finding him, would he really come back with them? His letter made things evidently obvious.

But no. You don't give up on your friends. Never. And Keefe meant so much to her, regardless of her new-found feelings. He never gave up on her. She wouldn't either.

"Yes. We will," Sophie said, full of confidence and determination.

All of her friends looked at her, smiling and full of vigor.

They were going to find Keefe.