KOTLC Sokeefe One-Shots, Alternate Endings, etc

Splotching Championship (Keefe POV)

A/N: @Phoenix9563 requested this one, and it was really fun to explore the early days of Keefe's growing crush on Sophie!

It had been a few weeks since Keefe first met Sophie, and they'd rarely come into contact since then. He spread the news of the Great Cape Destruction, and her popularity grew practically overnight--as he'd known it would.

She seemed more comfortable, and the other prodigies were accepting her more--and asking less questions about who she was and where she really came from.

Keefe had assumed he'd have more opportunities to get to know her. Fitz had been the one to find her--had even been secretly searching for her for ages--so he'd been the only person she knew when she started at Foxfire. Fitz had seemed surprised to see her sitting with other prodigies at lunch those first few days, but he hadn't really said anything.

And a couple of times, Keefe noticed her looking wistfully in their direction--but always at Fitz, never at him.

He wished he knew why she didn't ever come talk to them. He was still extremely curious about this cute mystery girl, and didn't stand much chance of making sense of her if he couldn't get closer to her.

So far, all he'd noticed was that she had made her own friends--and that she was kind of clumsy.

They may be in different levels, but PE sometimes gave him the opportunity to glance over at the Level Twos and search for her--and it always paid off well when he did. She seemed to have a really hard time adjusting to training in their elvin skills. But he could never stare for long. When he did, he wound up making mistakes and struggling more than normal--which drew the attention of his mentors. And since he was in constant friendly competition with Fitz, he knew he had to keep his head in the game.

But when the mentors announced the Ultimate Splotching Championship, Keefe knew he wouldn't be beating Fitz that day.

No one ever beat Fitz.

Not even the prodigies in levels five and six.

Still, Keefe cheered along with everyone else when it was announced. It was always fun seeing how many other prodigies he could splotch before he lost. Then he'd cheer Fitz on to the end.

By the time they'd completed the second round, Keefe wasn't the only one to notice all the cheering going on by the Level Twos. He looked over and his eyes found Sophie pretty quickly--he was getting good at that--and saw her standing before Stina Heks, who was covered in blue slime.

Well, that explained it.

The Heks family wasn't very popular or well liked, so naturally the other prodigies were happy to see Stina taken down a notch.

Then, surprisingly, Keefe watched as Sophie was moved over to the Level Threes.

Was she too good at telekinesis to be with her own level?

Interesting.

She'd been struggling with everything else.

Keefe added that to his mental list of mysteries surrounding this girl.

He tried to focus on the task at hand--who knew, maybe she'd make it far enough to go up against him, which he would thoroughly enjoy--but he found he kept looking over to where she was.

So he managed to win a few more rounds, but finally ended up losing largely because of his distraction.

But he didn't mind, not this time.

Now it was easier to watch her.

And maybe spare a few glances Fitz's way, but really, he knew he didn't need to. He knew Fitz was winning.