after unlocked: a sokeefe fanfic

Chapter 87-Keefe

Faintly, distantly, he could hear voices.

Could see light.

Could feel pain.

He didn't want to come out of the dark corner of his mind, where'd he'd hidden himself during the pain.

After the pain.

Before the pain.

The voices grew louder and Keefe flinched as a piercing scream cut through the air. His eyes slowly, tiredly, cracked open, and he felt his lungs constrict as he tried to take a deep breath of air.

He choked, coughing on blood, but a soaked cloth was cut him off from yelling out and spitting out the blood.

He was gagged, he realized in a distant part of his mind.

Finally, he managed to open his eyes.

And he was met with almost the entire elvin population, staring up at him.

Well, not at him. Only some were.

At her.

"Ladies and Gentleman," Vespera motioned with flourish, "behold: the fallen state of our leaders."

She shifted, allowing Keefe more room to see now and also revealing eleven councilors, each tied—some even gagged.

The crowd shifted uncertainly, some calling for them to be released.

Others were silent, waiting to see what would happen.

Vespera smiled—the smile of a wolf. "Bring Councillor Emery forward."

The fog in Keefe's brain cleared all of a sudden, and he glanced over the crowd. That hadn't been him, and it had almost felt as if someone had... transmitted clarity to him, and strength to his body. He felt as if he could stand on his own, and when the guards saw him shifting, they hoisted him up so he was standing on his own. He stood unsteadily for a moment, and then straightened.

His gut heaved as he took in air, and he felt as though someone had punched him there. His back ached, screaming in pain, but he ignored it as the calm penetrated more of the fog in his head.

He searched the crowd again, but couldn't find her brown eyes.

Guards dragged Emery to the front of the stage, whipping the back of his knees with a spear. His knees buckled as he fell to his knees, though a defiant expression remained on his face, at odds with his position.

"Good evening," she said quietly, and Keefe watched in growing horror as she steepled her hands together, toying with the sharp ring on her finger. It cut easily through skin.

Keefe remembered the feeling too well.

"Councilor Emery," Vespera began, a distant, manic smile playing at her lips. "Do you remember your parents?"

Emery's face seemed to grow gray, and Keefe could feel the shame and the guilt all the way across the stage.

"Your parents," she continued, "the Talentless. Were you ever going to help them, now that you've reached your prestigious state? Your parents, who, despite our perfect system of funds and jobs, were unable to live in a house that is even at a human's standard?"

Keefe glanced back at the crowd, hit by the overwhelming feelings of shock and grief and rage.

He scanned the room again, rested on one blonde head of hair briefly, a girl with gray-blue eyes, and looked away.

Glanced back sharply.

She stared at him, made eye contact. A rush of relief came from the crowd, a very strong rush, and her eyes flickered with some strong emotion.