KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Legacy 5 (Keefe POV)

Foster didn't much care for Keefe's idea to just slip Forkle a sedative and let her and Fitz unleash their Cognate power on his vulnerable mind.

To be honest, Keefe didn't much care for it either.

But he absolutely would do it if that was what she wanted. He might feel bad about it, but it wouldn't stop him from getting the information they needed.

That was the difference between her and him.

And he appreciated that about her.

He'd told he'd he had a serious dark side. She just didn't realize how much she kept him from crossing any lines.

She also didn't much appreciate his joke about her being related to Fitz.

She actually freaked out about it, leaning against his bedroom wall looking pale and clammy.

So he walked over and told her, fully confident, that there was no way she was a Vacker.

Forkle might be withholding information he had absolutely no right to withhold from her, but Keefe was certain that Forkle would draw the line at the potential for some creepy, incestuous relationship.

Forkle was perfectly aware of how Foster and Fitz felt about each other.

In fact, Keefe was fairly confident that Forkle knew how Keefe felt about her too, since he had apparently sometimes monitored Keefe's thoughts in Alluveterre.

And Forkle would have told her if she was related to Fitz. Maybe not the big who, but he definitely would have told her that she was distantly related to Fitz. He'd have told her ages ago.

Sigh. If only.

But then she got very wobbly and Keefe was afraid she was about to faint. He was able to carefully guide her to his bed, insisting that she sit down.

He felt awful when Sandor told him that her conversation with Tam had disturbed her echoes. No wonder she was so exhausted.

"You need water," he told her, looking around his room. He spotted a mostly full bottle of Youth and handed it to her.

And it helped. And of course...she apologized.

This girl.

She apologized for the strangest things.

She had freaked out. Of course she had. This was a huge thing, trying to find her biological parents.

She wasn't happy about it.

She didn't want to know who they were.

Keefe briefly considered having a long talk with Fitz about priorities. To try to convince Fitz to approach Foster about simply not registering so she wouldn't have to put herself through this.

But he wasn't sure he could handle that.

So he brushed the thought away and reached for her hand. "I definitely know how it feels to have a not-so-awesome family," he told her gently. "But like you're always telling me, that doesn't change anything about you. And...I have a feeling your biological parents signed up for this because they knew Project Moonlark was going to create something amazing, and they wanted to be a part of it, even if they had to do it secretly and trust the Black Swan to keep their daughter safe."

"I hope you're right," she whispered.

After a moment, Keefe started to pull his hand away, but she surprised him by holding on tighter.

And he felt how much she needed him close as she asked, "do you think I already know them?"

He really didn't think so, and he told her as much. But he absolutely understood why that thought was so abhorrent to her. To have met them and them have just repeatedly lied to her?