KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Training (Keefe POV)

A/N: This chapter takes place in Stellarlune, between chapters 39 and 40. Sophie has just left for Foxfire and Keefe is about to attempt training with Grady.

"Okay," Grady said as Keefe watched Foster walk back to the house. "I'll come find you as soon as I'm done helping Edaline."

Keefe nodded, but watched Sophie until she disappeared into the house. He wished he were joining her, in his level six uniform, heading to another day of boring elvin history or alchemy sessions.

It would be better than staying at Havenfield, too scared of his own power to return to school.

Better than being a burden to Grady, who now felt obligated to try to help Keefe train in an ability he desperately wished he didn't have.

Better than the pain of having to watch Foster walk away from him.

Being around her now was really confusing, but being away from her was even worse.

She never felt so far out of his reach. Maybe it was because of how badly he'd missed her, and maybe it was because he could no longer read her emotions, but...she seemed even more unattainable than before.

He was still brooding over all of that a little while later when Grady found him sitting under the Panakes, staring at nothing in particular.

"Keefe?" Grady asked as he approached him. "You ready to get started?"

"Yeah, if you really don't mind," Keefe mumbled as he stood.

"Of course I don't," Grady told him. "I know what it's like to have a scary ability. So does Sophie. I meant what I said earlier, Keefe. You're not in this alone."

He moved closer and placed a hand on Keefe's shoulder. "No amount of training will undo what your mother did to you," he admitted quietly. "But getting control will help it not all feel quite so dire."

Keefe nodded. "I just hope control is possible."

"It is. I don't know exactly what these new abilities of yours do, but I do know that eventually you will learn to control them."

"I don't know. They're not natural."

"Perhaps not," Grady replied as he moved his hand off Keefe's shoulder, "but they are a part of you, and you can master them. And I'm here to help. I don't know how much help I can be without knowing the specifics of what these abilities do, though."

Keefe sighed. He really didn't want Grady to have to protect his secrets. He was lucky Grady was even willing to have him on Havenfield grounds after how much he had hurt Foster--he couldn't stand the thought of being any more of an imposition. If Grady knew what he could do, he'd have to hide it from the Council.

Though, the Council knew about the commanding ability already. And Grady would have heard some of that from Foster already.

He could just be vague about the other one.

It wasn't like Grady could help him control whether or not Keefe triggered abilities.

So Keefe glossed over that ability and just gave Grady more specifics on the way he felt commands bubble up inside, and how it became unbearable trying to choke them down, and the sweet release he felt after giving the command.

He kept to himself the horror he felt afterwards--especially the first time when he'd numbed everyone in the Healing Center.

He kept to himself the way he'd kept Sophie from falling over, the way he'd clung to her as he cried.

But Grady seemed to understand anyway.

"It wasn't your fault," Grady told him. "It's very new, and you didn't know what you were doing, and you have fought it very hard. To be completely honest with you, Keefe, you're handling this with more maturity and strength than I handled my power as a Mesmer. For a time, I abused that power."