Sophie's POV
The cloaked figure choked when he saw her.
"What are you doing here?"
Sophie looked at him calmly.
"I could ask you the same question."
He didn't answer, just looked at the floor.
She tilted her head.
"You know, if you wanted to kill m-"
He shook his head furiously.
"I'm not going to kill you."
Sophie's eyes landed on his hands, which were shaking. She peered behind him subtly and felt her blood freeze when she saw what it was.
"Oh, so are you here with an offering to kill instead?"
Keefe's entire body stilled, and he took raspy, shuddering breaths.
In a sudden movement, however, Sophie was pinned to the wall of the cave, her back pressed against the cool rock and her arms held up above her head.
Keefe shut his eyes as the fatal blade pressed firmly to her neck, tears falling down his cheeks.
Sophie smiled sadly.
"Just do it."
He shook his head. Slowly at first, but at the end he was shaking, gasping for air as his head swiveled in protest.
Sophie swallowed the lump forming in her throat.
"Just do it, Keefe. They'll kill you if you don't."
The scarred, shaken boy looked up into her eyes, his own bloodshot and clouded with fear.
"Keefe,"
Sophie was cut off when he kissed her.
Her eyes widened as she tried to escape. She was thinking for certain that this was a trap, that Neverseen members would start to pop up and attack.
The scene didn't happen.
Sophie gasped for air as they broke apart, and her arms were lowered gently.
His eyes were wide, terrified.
"That, tha-"
Sophie closed her eyes and shook her head.
"Don't tell me that was a mistake," she breathed. "I think we both know that it wasn't."
Keefe stiffened as his hands clutched at the knife, then threw it to the ground as he looked down.
"I'm sorry, Sophie."
"For what?"
He looked back up at her and blinked, incredulous.
"For what? For what? I betrayed you, stayed away for a year, and almost killed you, and you're asking for what?"
Sophie blinked.
"Would you have actually killed me?"
Keefe cast his eyes to the rocky floor.
"No."
She smiled.
"Exactly."
His head snapped up.
"What?"
Sophie reached a hesitant, shaking hand to cup his face.
"I don't want you to apologize for anything you've done wrong. I want you to apologize for your selflessness. I don't think your mother was the only reason you left, was it?"
Keefe's eyes widened, and he felt a gentle kiss on his cheek as Sophie glittered away.
He reached up and touched the spot her lips had been.
"Why do you always have to be right, Sophie?"
Tears hit the stony of the cave, and the owner of the salty drops crumbled to the floor. "Why?"
