Mesmerizing: A Sokeefe Fanfiction

Empath-Mesmer Keefe's POV

Keefe pushed open the door to Grady's room. It was empty. He looked at Ro and shrugged.

The bell rang.

Grady walked. He attempted a smile. Unusual. Something was up.

He cleared his throat. "Keefe, I've been observing you. You have real talent. I thought we could look into my theory."

Keefe raised an eyebrow. "What theory? And how painful is it?"

"Your Mesmerizing is strong and so is your Empathy. I thought maybe you could mesmer emotions, sort of like transmitting emotions. Instead of making people do actions, making them feel different things," Grady further explained.

"Okay," Keefe said reluctantly. "But . . . you're a Mesmer. How do you plan on teaching me Empathy-Mesmer?"

He exhaled. "Okay, that's the . . . not really hard but . . . bad part."

"Elaborate."

"Okay, well this isn't something that I thought should be widely known. So I had to ask an Empath that was part of the Black Swan."

"Please tell me it's not -"

"It is."

Lord Cassius walked into the room and looked coldly at his son.

Grady tried to clear the tension. "I think your relationship will also help you channel an emotion."

Keefe exhaled. "Okay, let's do this."

He stared at Grady.

"How exactly do I do this?"

"Er, the best I can offer is think of it as transmitting with Telepaths." 

"Okay." Keefe stared at his father and felt years of anger and pain stir inside him. He narrowed his eyebrows.

The hurricane of emotions stayed in him. It taunted him. Told him he was a failure. Unwanted. That he couldn't do it.

It was ten long minutes before Keefe snapped.

He reached deep inside him and thrust all of his emotions at his father as hard as he could, imagining them headed for his heart. 

Keefe gave one final push before collapsing. Grady rushed to him and checked his vitals. His eyes fluttered open to see his father shaking. 

It was too much for him. He couldn't take it.

Keefe watched with a strange delight of revenge. Ro snickered.

Grady looked frantically at him. "Keefe! It could kill him!"

Keefe's eyes widened and he tried in vain to push happy thoughts to Lord Cassius.

"It's not working!"

Keefe thought of Sophie, the alicorns, and the Great Gulon Incident. His favorite things. He really focused on them and imposed a feeling of calm on his father. 

It was gentler. Like a benevolent wave of water. 

Lord Cassius sighed. 

"That was . . . terrifying," he said in a hoarse whisper. He looked at Keefe and hesitated. "I'm . . . sorry, Keefe."

Keefe ignored him. 

"I deserve that," he admitted.

"You're just apologizing because Grady's here! Otherwise, you'd kill me!"

"No! Why do you keep seeing me as a villain?"

"Because you're awful!"

"I'm not lying Keefe."

"Then why's your heart skipping three beats?"

Lord Cassius stared at his son's hand on his wrist. It was futile to argue any further.

They stared at each other: one full of hate and one caught lying.

To break the silence, Grady asked, "How did that feel?"

"Like Keefe forced a giant monster of pain, hate, rejection, and anger into my heart. It was so intense, it overwhelmed every other emotion. I just felt . . . hurt. But that calmness just washed everything away."

"Did it feel like you were going to die?"

He nodded. Lord Cassius opened his mouth but no words came out. 

Grady sighed and sat in a chair. He covered his face. 

"Is that bad?" Keefe asked.

"It means . . . that your mother found a way to make you powerful and unprecedented. At first, we were worried that you would force your will upon people. But forcing everyone to do what you want is extremely difficult. Some people are stubborn, too stubborn. If you're able to make them feel a certain way, it makes it easier for you to get them to do what you want. Possibly, you could just nudge them in the right way and they'll even make the choice themselves. And this should be rather easy for you. Your Empathy is so strong."

"Yes, all of his teachers have said that it's remarkable," Lord Cassius added.

"Just imagine the consequences. I don't know if the Council can be trusted with this. However, I know we can tell the Black Swan."

The silence was overwhelming.

Keefe stared at his hands. 

"Why is it that no matter what I do, I'm always a monster?"

"You're not Keefe," Grady assured him. "Sophie is one of the best people I've ever seen. She's good, honest, hard working, determined, -"

"Perfect," he whispered.

"Exactly. If she can love you with all of her heart, I know you are not a monster."

"Really?"

Grady stared at Keefe. This broken boy who hid behind his jokes and willingly risked his life for Sophie. He took in pain, over and over, and kept it to himself.

Of course. That's why Gisela encouraged Cassius to verbally abuse Keefe.

He needed someone. No, not someone. 

Something. 

A family. A real one. 

Grady carefully studied those ice blue eyes and realized he was more than willing to be there for Keefe. The ice blues eyes seemed to guess this but they looked afraid nonetheless. They both knew what Grady was thinking.

To be his family.

"I promise," he whispered.