KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Flashback 8-10: part 1 (Keefe POV)

Keefe really wasn't sure what Alden expected.

He'd asked Keefe to let Sophie and Fitz be happy.

But...he was already doing that. He wasn't getting in their way.

He was staying out of the way so much it made Ro angry with him.

Deep down, he knew Alden was telling him to cut his losses and move on. To stop dragging out his own pain by holding on to hope.

And he knew Alden meant it kindly, but that didn't mean it didn't hurt. Either Alden was convinced Keefe didn't stand a chance, or he was so worried about the current state of his family that he had gotten hyper-focused on securing their happiness.

It was probably a little bit of both. And he couldn't really blame Alden for that. He knew how hard Alvar's betrayal—and subsequent capture and tribunal—was on all of them.

Not just because of what it was doing to the Vacker name, but because how much they all loved each other, still loved Alvar, despite everything.

But Keefe also had information that Alden didn't.

Foster didn't only want Fitz.

She wanted Keefe too. Her head just hadn't accepted it yet. But her heart knew.

Somewhere, deep down in her heart, unacknowledged on a conscious level, she loved him.

Her head just refused to understand that the love she felt for him went beyond the platonic.

And as much as it hurt him, that was okay. As long as she was happy.

He was already trying to let Sophie and Fitz be happy.

However, he was also refusing to give up hope.

But maybe he could keep that promise to Alden in small ways—he did sometimes intentionally interfere with Fitzphie alone time, and he didn't have to do that. They were inevitable at this point. Hopefully just temporary, but...inevitable.

So when Fitz stormed off after Alvar's tribunal, Foster clearly expected Keefe to come with her to cheer him up.

Reluctantly, he told her she'd do a better job alone, and went back home to the Shores of Solace. He realized he was breaking a rule he'd set for himself after Sophie and Dex's kidnappings—that he'd never let someone he cared about walk away upset—but he reasoned with himself that Fitz wasn't alone. Foster went with him, along with their bodyguards.

And it wasn't like the Neverseen had any way to find them.

He was hiding in his room, avoiding his dad and thinking back on everything that had already happened that morning.

His talk with Alden. Showing up at the tribunal and talking through things with Foster. Witnessing the tribunal of Alvar, his former hero, and seeing how badly it affected Fitz and Biana.

Then his Imparter lit up.

It was Elwin.

"Keefe, I think you need to get to the Healing Center. Don't freak out, but Dex just hailed me to let me know...Sophie has hit her panic switch and—"

"No!" Keefe jumped up and ran for the Leapmaster, ignoring his dad's questions.

"Pretty sure I said don't freak out," Elwin said when he arrived.

"Not an option," Keefe said, tearing his hands through his hair. "Did Dex tell you anything else? Like...where they are?"

"No, and I swear if that boy makes it back alive I will kill him," Juline fumed.