𝗡𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗘 , sophiana

𝟬𝟯

"ARE YOU OKAY? Are the echoes back? Grady and Edaline said I could come over, maybe it'd cheer you up, but—" Biana rambled.

"Yeah, I'm okay," Sophie interrupted, the teensiest hints of a smile appearing on her face. Somehow, the Vacker girl's mere presence never failed to bring a grin to her face and cheeriness to her mood. "Thanks for coming over."

"Of course, Soph." Biana sat down beside the blonde girl, rubbing comforting circles on the other's back. "Do you wanna talk about it? Or should I distract you?"

Sophie swallowed. "I dunno, Bi. I guess I kind of want to talk about it." She glanced at the brunette, who nodded encouragingly. "Elwin said my echoes. . . Well, the thing is, they didn't exactly fade. They're still here." Biana's eyes shot wide open in surprise, but she made a visible strain to keep quiet, allowing Sophie to continue talking. "And I guess. . . It's like I couldn't receive everything before. I don't know. Like, I tried not to think about it. Tried hard to forget it. Like all that shit Umber did to me— never happened. What she did to all of you." Sophie gulped. "It's like I'm just registering it now."

Biana blinked, and she pulled Sophie into a warm hug. "I'm so sorry," she whispered. "I never knew you were going through all of this. I mean, this all— it affected everyone, but I guess we just coped with it by ourselves. But we shouldn't do that. We need to open up to each other."

"Please don't let go," Sophie mumbled, closing her eyes.

"I won't," Biana promised.

"Could you distract me now?" Sophie said quietly. "I could really use a distraction."

"Of course," Biana said. "You know, the thing is, I came over here to tell you— Keefe's awake now."

Sophie pulled back from the embrace, eyes widening. "He's out of the coma?"

Biana nodded. "And if you're feeling good enough, maybe we can go see him together—"

"I am," Sophie immediately said. "Let's go right now."

Biana frowned, sliding off the bed. "Are you sure you're feeling up to it? Keefe just woke up, he's not going anywhere, Soph. I can stay here with you, and we can just hang out until—"

"No, it's fine. I'm better, Biana. Really," Sophie said. "You being here— it made me feel better."

Biana smiled, linking her arm through Sophie's. "Fine, but if any of it gets too much for you, tell me. And we leave." Her tone was firm, but gentle.

"Okay," Sophie agreed, walking with Biana towards the Leapmaster upstairs, only to bump into Sophie's adoptive father, who was leaving his office.

"Where are you kids going?" Grady asked, raising an eyebrow. He glanced at Sophie, obviously concerned about earlier.

"I'm fine, Grady," Sophie assured him. "But Biana just told me Keefe's awake, so we're going to go see him now." Grady hesitated, seemingly torn between seeing his daughter leave so quickly after her recent breakdown. "I really want to see Keefe now," Sophie said hopefully. "And I'm feeling a lot better now, thanks to Biana."

"Fine," Grady relented. "But come back right after you see him, okay?" He left several things unsaid, but Sophie could tell behind that, he meant, 'Edaline and I need to have a talk with you about this whole echo and trauma thing and, yeah, you're going to see a therapist, Sophie.'

Or something along those lines, anyways.

Were there even therapists in the Lost Cities?

Elves didn't really have reasons to see one in their mind; the glittering cities were perfect and everyone was happy. Except for the systematic way they treated Talentless and the Neverseen terrorizing them, that is. Then again, maybe the elves should start therapy.

Either way, Sophie wasn't enthusiastic to what she'd be coming back to after she saw Keefe.

"Thank you, Mr. Ruewen," Biana said. "I'll make sure if she feels anything less than better, I'll bring her back immediately."

The two bounded upstairs, and Biana, grabbing Sophie's hand and squeezing it gently, they stepped into the light together.

* * *

The first thing Sophie saw when she stepped inside the Healing Center was Elwin vigorously asking Keefe question after question, pacing around his cot with a wild look in his eyes. "Keefe!" Biana exclaimed.

"Sophie! Biana!" Keefe cheered, and the two girls rushed over to his bedside, embracing him in a tight group hug.

Sophie anxiously tugged at her eyelashes. "How are you feeling? When did you wake up? What do you remember? How—"

"Woah, slow down there, Foster." Keefe held up his hands. "Okay, to answer your first question, I feel good. Pretty great, actually. I feel like I just had the world's longest nap. And I don't know, I think I woke up like an hour ago. Elwin's been here the whole time." He nodded towards the physician, who gave them a frantic wave before continuing to pace around. "He's been kind of worried about me. Been checking my vitals a lot. Oh, and he even set Bullhorn on me twice."

Biana winced. "Yikes."

"Do you remember what happened? I mean, do you still have all your memories?" Sophie interrogated him.

"I've gone through this with Elwin already, but yup! I remember everything Mommy Dearest did in that chamber." Keefe scratched the base of his neck. "Anything happen while I was asleep?"

"We'll go through everything that you missed later," Elwin interrupted. "For now, I need to finish his check up. He's been asleep for a long time, and all his body received to consume while in the coma was nutritional liquids, so he should eat."

"Yuck," Keefe said. "Nutritional liquids— that sounds gross. I'm glad I was unconscious so I didn't have to taste it. But I am craving some good old fashioned mallowmelt."

"Why don't you both get some food from the teacher's lounge?" Elwin suggested. "It doesn't matter since it's not a school day."

"Okay," agreed Biana. "Let's go, Soph!"

"Bring mallowmelt if they have any!" hollered Keefe from his bed.

The girls rushed through the halls to the cafeteria, and this strangely reminded Sophie a lot of her time at the Center when she was injured from the Neverseen attack. Instinctively, her hand reached for Biana's, and the latter twined her fingers through the other girl's, squeezing it comfortingly.

"You want some blitzenberry muffins?" Biana asked, picking through the desserts.

"Sure," agreed Sophie, grabbing one and biting into it.

They brought as many foods as they could carry back to the Healing Center, where Keefe eagerly awaited them, his stomach rumbling in loud protest. "Finally," he commented.

"Here." Biana tossed him a muffin, and it hit the side of Keefe's head.

"Ouch." Keefe looked around inside the sheets, his hands patting down the bed to find the muffin— which he did after some searching.

"You're welcome!" Biana added, grinning.

Keefe was too busy chewing on the muffin to reply.

"Hey, I think we should go back now," whispered Biana. "Your dad's probably really worried right now."

"Knowing Grady, definitely," Sophie agreed. She looked over at Keefe. "Um, have a good lunch? Or dinner, I guess. . . See you at school."

"Leaving so soon?" Keefe asked. "Didn't want to spend more time with the Keefster?"

"Grady," was all Sophie said, but it provided a sufficient explanation, because Keefe nodded in realization.

"Yeah, you should probably go," he said.

Biana grasped Sophie's hand and they ran back to the Leapmaster.