KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Flashback 50-51 (Keefe POV)

Keefe had tried, in vain, to draw that newborn troll's attention away from Foster.

He'd have willingly been chased by a bloodthirsty troll, no matter the outcome, if only it could've saved her.

But she was a fast runner, as Keefe had seen firsthand, and he hoped she'd be okay. He tried to chase after them, to do whatever it took to protect her, but he quickly lost their trail. There was just so much going on.

Instead, he wound up back by the hive, where everyone was still fighting.

And fighting even harder when another batch, newly hatched, emerged from the hive.

He hardly knew what to think.

The Neverseen had fled.

Had left Umber where she fell, and fled, leaving a bunch of teenagers and a few bodyguards to deal with the mess they'd made.

Probably hoping they'd all be killed in the process.

Keefe was torn between joining the fight and continuing the search for Foster, whose absence frightened him more with every passing second.

Tam managed to dismantle the force field the Neverseen had put up, and pulled the door off Umber.

And it was the most grotesque thing Keefe had ever seen.

He looked away, but he knew he would forever remember the sight of her crushed skull, the sight of what could only be brain matter splattered...

No. Stop thinking about it.

The fight had spread out in all directions, but something drew Keefe into the hive.

And for the second time, he thought the sight before him was grotesque to a truly dizzying degree.

Alvar, inside one of the sealed cubbies of the hive, surrounded by orange goo.

Floating.

Not moving.

He's dead.

He had no warm feelings for Alvar, not anymore, but this was...what happened?

Fitz looked at Keefe, eyes wild. "He slashed those four membranes," Fitz said, pointing to where the newest newborns had come from. "And then...I trapped him in this one, and it started filling with that goop, and..."

Biana reached for her big brother's hand, not saying a word. She seemed to have been rendered speechless.

Keefe had a feeling that there was more Fitz wasn't saying, and felt no reason to push him. He reached out and placed a hand on Fitz's shoulder, the other on Biana's. They both felt shocked, confused, and a bit guilty.

"How can I help?" he asked them quietly. "Do you want to get back outside?"

Biana shook her head and looked again at Alvar.

Like she was watching him as long as she could, before she had to say that one final goodbye.

Fitz looked at Alvar, then at Biana, then back at Keefe, his eyes still wild with shock. "Sophie," he said simply. "Where's Sophie?"

Panic gripped Keefe's heart. In the wake of this awful discovery, he'd momentarily forgotten that Sophie's whereabouts were still unknown.

But he couldn't tell Fitz that. He just had to find her.

Fitz needed her.

"I'll go find her," Keefe said. "And bring her here."

So Keefe left and began the search again. He'd hoped to find her outside the hive, but she still wasn't there.