In the Future (Sequel to A.B.O.B)

Go Away

"Awwwe! Would you look at that. The beloved Sofitz is still here."

Sophie backed up into Fitz, needing comfort as he took her hand.

Keefe's eyes squinted, examining her hand. "A ring? You're engaged?"

Fitz raised his other hand, showing his ring. "Married, actually."

All color drained his face. "You didn't have that when I-."

"When you kidnapped me?" Sophie spat as a tear slipped down her cheek. "I didn't wear it to bed! But I shouldn't have been taken out of that bed. And by an illusion of my sister, no less!"

Then it hit Fitz. "How are you still here? We found you dead!"

Keefe chuckled. "That wasn't me. I knew something was up, Sophie. That "love potion" you were forced to drink? That was water. You just played along when there was no reason to."

"Wait- love potion?" Fitz looked down at Sophie.

"Stina told me-" She started, cupping her hand over her mouth.

"And so," Keefe continued. "I made someone else drink elixirs to look like me. It didn't have to be perfect, you wouldn't look me in the eyes anyways. I was there the rest of the time, however. Just not the day you killed him."

"I didn't kill anyone." Sophie said through gritted teeth. "You need to leave me alone. Leave my family alone."

"But Fitz and I used to be best friends."

"I'm not only saying him."

Confused, he leaned to the side. His eyes widened when he met a crib.

"I knew you wouldn't waste anytime." Keefe laughed.

"Well neither did you." Fitz yelled.

It hit him then. This baby wasn't Fitz's. This was his.

"Wait. No, no. Wait. You're saying-?"

"That was your son.." Sophie cried. "But he's not anymore. He has a new father. One that won't force me to do anything I don't want to. One who will actually love me. And who won't use me just to make himself feel better."

"Why you- get over here!" Keefe lunged for her.

An instinctive scream came out of Sophie's mouth as she shot her hand out.

A wall of ice blocked him off, away from the small family.

"Froster?" Keefe asked. "When did you-?"

Sophie cut him off by phasing through the ice and inflicting on him.

She huffed a heavy breath, drained by her efforts.

"Get someone."

And then she passed out.

"Sophie! You shouldn't have-." Grady yelled.

"i know.." she responded quietly.

"If you had only known what he was going to-!"

"I KNOW!" She yelled in an angry rage, slamming her hands on the table and standing up."I know...I should have known better, I should have never done this. I should have never gone on that stupid field trip..."

"Hey..." Edaline said sadly. "This isn't your fault. We're just...scared. We don't want you to end up like..like Jolie. We can't loose another daughter."

"Where is he?" Sophie asked.

"Keefe is being held in the healing center. They think another tribunal is in place. This time, they say you can exile him."

Sophie went quiet, thinking for a moment. "Is that fair? If you think about it, we're punishing him because..he loves me."

"Sophie." Grady said, taking her hand. "Keefe has done horrible things to-!"

"I know that.." Sophie sighed. "But he gave me my son. And he brought me closer to Fitz and Biana and Dex and..you guys. I just..I don't know. I don't think punishing him is right but I know he won't stop. I just..I want everything to go away! I want it to be normal, a life with no villains and no troubles and no wars. I just want my family."

Sophie started crying, all her stress and sadness finally showing itself.

Grady and Edaline looked at each other, then go the corner of the room at Fitz. They nodded towards Sophie and for him to follow them.

Fitz did as requested, picking Sophie up. "Sophie, I love you so much. I'll be right back. Okay? Try and get some sleep."

He placed her down on the couch and wrapped her in a blanket.

Fitz closed to door behind them. "Yes sir?"

"I'm not sir to you. I'm your father in law. But, we don't have time for this. Eda, would you mind...?"

She nodded, taking a deep breath. "We think we need to erase Sophie's..memories."

"What?!" Fitz yelled. "She'll forget everything! I can't try to get her to love me all over again!"

"We don't mean them all. And she isn't the only one who we're doing this to. We want her to live with no worries. We're erasing the bad ones of Keefe. And the things he's done to
Sophie from his mind. If we're right, they can co-exist. But we have to erase the bad ones."

"Sophie will know. Especially when she looks at William. He has his hair. And we don't know his eye color yet."

"But we do. William, thankfully, has brown eyes. And Sophie has blonde hair. We can pass him off as your son."

"This doesn't feel right." Fitz sighed.

Grady took the stage. "We know. But you should have seen Sophie. She broke down at the mere thought of him. We couldn't watch her  like that. We just couldn't."

"But you'll have to be careful." Edaline added. "We're going to replace their memories with fabricated ones. If Sophie is ever suspicious, or Keefe, we need to convince them they were dreams. We know this a lot, but we'd give a lot for Sophie. Wouldn't you?"

Fitz sighed. "I'd do anything."