Mesmerizing: A Sokeefe Fanfiction

Fostered It Keefe POV

Keefe realized how bad they looked as soon as they reappeared at Havenfield. Sophie had collapsed from exhaustion and he was sorely tempted to do the same. He ended up having to carry her to the front door. 

He knocked weakly and hoped that someone would come quickly because he wasn't sure how much longer he could stand and carry Sophie. They had both exerted themselves while in poor shape. 

To Keefe's relief, Edaline opened the door, eyes red and puffy making it evident that she had been crying earlier. She briefly stared at them, wide-eyed, before hastily helping them get inside the house. Edaline snapped her fingers to conjure two couches.

He set Sophie down on one before collapsing onto the second. Keefe's eyelids flickered just enough to give him a glimpse of Edaline leaving them, hurriedly. Then everything went black. 

When he awoke, he found himself in the Healing Center for what felt like the umpteenth time. 

Keefe groaned, "Why am I always here?"

"Maybe you should stop nearly dying all the time," a deep, feminine voice replied. 

He had never been so glad to see his irritating *but accurate representation of the entire Sokeefe fandom* bodyguard. 

"Sorry Ro, but I'm just naturally gifted at Fostering it," he smirked. Ro rolled her eyes and, surprisingly, gave him a hug. Keefe was about to open his mouth to say something when she squeezed him harder. 

"Alright! Alright! I'm sorry and I won't ever go anywhere without you! Would you please stop trying to break my ribs now?"

She let go of him.

"Speaking of Fostering, how's Sophie?" Keefe's eyes wandered over to the other cots.

Ro shrugged and made a so-so gesture. "She's in another room. But you're in no condition to walk."

He scoffed, promptly getting up to prove his point. "Please, I can walk." Taking the first couple steps, Keefe felt so nauseous that he probably would've thrown up. 

She gave him a smug look that read I-told-you-so.

He sighed and went back to sitting on the cot, drumming his fingers on the mattress. 

"I was really hoping to talk to her."

Ro sat down on the other end of the cot. "Why do I feel like it's more than a 'I-just-want-to-make-sure-you're-okay' talk?"

He ran a hand through his hair. "Because a lot more happened than that."

"Hunkyhair, you were gone for a month."

"Damn, well, about that." Keefe felt the wave of nausea. "Do you know who kidnapped us?"

She nodded. "Some girl that beat all of Blondie's bodyguards. Forkle said she was like the original Project Moonlark, gone bad."

"Yeah, Evelyn Pyren. She was our captor . . . but she wasn't a bad person."

Ro stared at him. "She kidnapped you and held you captive for a month."

"Well, yes, but she's a lot like Foster, but she's more conflicted about morals," he tried to explain.

"My stupid, stupid, stupid Hunkyhair. Did you actually like her?" Ro gave him a glare. "You know you have a girlfriend."

Keefe paused and thought about it. "Initially, I thought I might've but no. Evelyn comes off as pretty aromantic. She doesn't even come off as looking for a platonic relationship."

"Elaborate."

"It's . . . she just wants to please her father, okay? She's next in line to rule the Neverseen. But the only reason she stands with the Neverseen is because of her father. And I know from experience that the Neverseen aren't the most friendly. She doesn't act like she wants friends because she's never had any."

Ro gave him a look. "And you learnt all of this from her in month?"

"I'm an Empath," Keefe shrugged.

She sighed, shaking her head slightly and pinching the bridge of her nose. "Alright. Anyway, why did you bring her up?"

"Because she could be a valuable asset!"

Ro gave him yet another look.

"I'm serious!" Keefe swore, holding his hands up earnestly. 

"Did you, by any chance, hit your head?" She grabbed him by his ears and examined Keefe. "She freaking kidnapped you and Blondie and held you as prisoners for a month. Why did you become friends with her of all people?!"

Keefe pushed Ro away, forcing her to release her grip on his ears. He rubbed them gingerly. "Evelyn is the best agent of all of them. She's the most valuable of the Neverseen. If we can get her on our side, do you have any idea of how much information we could get from her?"

She looked unconvinced. 

"You'd get along great with her. She can be sarcastic, snarky, and violent," he offered. "Plus, Evelyn beat Bo in like 2 minutes without even breaking a sweat."

Ro's eyes lit up. "She might be evil, but I like her," she grudgingly admitted. "Kind of."

Keefe rolled his eyes at his ogre bodyguard. Seriously, had it always been this easy to convince her?

He wondered if by bribing Ro with a dagger or some particularly fun amoebas, she wouldn't have shut him inside the Shores of Solace because of Bangs Boy's dumb warning.

Speaking of Bangs Boy . . . 

"Hey Ro. How have the others been?"

"Who? Your bestie squad?"

He groaned at the name.

"Alright, I guess. I mean everyone's kind of been in a frantic panic. All your friends were pretty out of it but they didn't stop trying to look for you guys. The Black Swan was trying a lot of things to find you. I bet Forkle was a bit surprised and annoyed that after a month, you both just decided to show up at Havenfield."

"Did nothing work?"

"Nope!" Ro replied, a little too lighthearted for the tense mood. "Nothing helped, we couldn't find you guys. It was like you disappeared."

Keefe stared down at his hands. "We almost did."

*Damn guys, I'm updating at like 3 in the morning for y'all. Please ignore any typos I made because . . . well, I'm tired. About Evelyn, yep she's aromantic and asexual! Sorry not sorry about freaking all of you guys out. I exhausted my creative juices writing this chapter so I'm going to go take a nap, see ya*