after unlocked: a sokeefe fanfic

Chapter 3-Sophie

A/N: Back at it with another chapter... so, I just realized that my chapters may seem slightly repetitive, and I promise I'm working on that... also, the actual plot (I think it's the plot?) is going to show up starting Chapter 5 or 6, so hang in there. Anyways, enjoy!

"Hey."

Sophie looked up. Dex stood in the doorway. He had bags under his eyes, his hair was messier than usual, and he held something in his hands that looked similar to a dog tag.

"Hi," Sophie said. She focused on the dog tag. "What's that?"

Dex didn't answer right away. "I heard about Keefe."

Sophie deflated. Of course he did. She hadn't expected to keep it a secret for much longer, but she had hoped she'd figure out where he was, and had brought him back first. But it had already been five days since Keefe left, and she still no clue as to where he was.

Dex continued, "I went over to see him today. But, uh, he was gone."

"Yeah."

"I wanted to test this out." He held up the chain, pointing at the tag part. "New prototype."

Sophie took it.

"I was going to make it kind of, girly, as a joke, but I figured Keefe didn't need to deal with that."

"Does it work?" Sophie asked.

Dex shrugged. "I don't know, honestly. Like I said, I was going to test it."

Sophie nodded, turning it over, and tracing a finger over the small swan shaped gem inset on the bottom. "What does this do?"

Dex shrugged. "It's encased Limbium."

Sophie shoved it to him as gingerly as she could.

Dex laughed. "Relax. It won't hurt you. I made sure of that before I came."

Sophie shuddered. "You nearly gave me a heart attack," she took it back. "How does it work?"

"Well, it's supposed to kinda block his ability, but like I said, I don't know if it'll work. I dunno. I figured that since Keefe is gone, I'd test it on Alina, if she lets me."

He fidgeted with it, finally asking, "You said I can trust you with anything, right?"

Sophie nodded right away. "Yeah. I mean, you are my best friend. What do you need?"

Dex sat down. "It's about Rex."

Sophie frowned. "The triplets?"

"They manifested."

"Oh, that's great!" She looked at his gloomy expression. "Not great?"

"They manifested," Dex said slowly, "But only Lex and Bex. Froster and Phaser."

"Oh," Sophie breathed. "So..."

"I don't think Rex is going to manifest."

"Okay," Sophie's mind raced. They weren't past manifesting age. In fact, they were just in the range. "Why do you think that? He's only, what? Twelve? There's still time."

Dex hesitated, then sighed. "I might as well tell you. It's... well, when we were testing more prototypes and elixirs for Keefe, we used the triplets. We had them touch him too, so that he could feel the emotions more intensely. When he felt them, he said that they each had a feeling. Like, Lex had a colder feeling, Bex had a, squishy, feeling, and Rex... Rex felt hollow."

She'd never heard of someone being able to feel abilities. But maybe it just wasn't well known?

After a long moment, he whispered. "He said my dad felt identical."