after unlocked: a sokeefe fanfic

Chapter 7-Keefe/Sophie

She hit him earlier that night. But when she transmitted, somehow, her voice was filled with grief.

"I don't know what to do, Keefe. If Edaline doesn't survive..."

Keefe sat up, panic filling his brain. It wasn't only Sophie's panic. It was his. What had happened to Edaline?

There was such a long moment of silence before her next words that he wanted to scream.

Please don't stop.

I need to know what happened.

She did not answer his questions.

"Do you remember the day, the day you met me? You were ditching. You asked me if I was lost."

He remembered that day. He had been sitting in his favorite ditching spot, when all of a sudden–boom! Emotions hit him. He'd only had time to think, "That's new," before Sophie rounded the corner.

"I was. I was lost in so many ways. But you helped me. Even though I was the new brown eyed human girl.

"When Mr. Forkle died. You, you just held me. You comforted me, ever though you were hurting just as much as me."

He had been hurting, definitely not as much as Sophie, though he had felt every bit of grief she had felt. Mostly, he has been mad at Forkle for putting her through all of that.

"Then when we found out the truth, you still asked me if I was okay.

"Then when I was unmatchable, do you remember what you told me?"

His cheeks heated up at that one.

"You said, 'You being Unmatchable doesn't matter, at least not to anyone who actually matters—'"

Keefe hadn't been talking about himself that day. Well, he kind of had been, but in general, if the person who loved her only loved her in certain conditions, that person didn't deserve her.

"Whenever I feel like crying again, I go to my safe place. Riding on Sylveny with you. That's one of the only places I ever felt truly safe. I'm trying to be there right now, but you're gone and I don't if Edaline is..."

There was Edaline again. What had happened?

"It's just really hard to stay there."

"That's my safe place, you know. My happy place. A happy memory."

It flashed across Keefe's mind, the feel of her waist, the smell of her soft hair. The peace he felt next to her.

"We don't have very many happy memories. Because we all got wrapped up in this. When you get back, we'll make our own happy memories. We'll pull pranks on Magnate Leto, just for you. And, and you'll draw more amazing pictures. And all of us, we'll all have sleepovers. We'll be normal teenagers for once."

"Normal teenagers."

After several heartbeats, she transmitted again, softly, each word more painful for him than the next.

"Look, Keefe. I need you still. But... I know you can't hear me, so... after tonight, I'm stopping. I'm done. I can't do this every night. I don't even know if you're alive still. Edaline and Grady need me right now, and I need to focus on the Neverseen, so... I guess you're getting what you wanted."

That's not what I want, he wanted to scream.
And in that moment, he decided.

"Foster?" He tried.

She didn't answer.

"Foster, come on." His heart sank as he realized that she wasn't hearing him.

Why was he such a failure?

Why did he always manage to mess up?

He layed back down.

That was when his forgotten imparter lit up.

***POV Change***(Because I couldn't figure out where to fit this.)

"Hey Kiddo." Grady sat down at her side, making Sophie face him.

"How's Mom?" She whispered.

Grady gave her a weak smile. "Stable. Elwin said if there aren't any complications, then she'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"With luck, Sophie. No complications." He hesitated. "I know this is hard for you. So... I have something for you."

He held out an imparter.

"An imparter?" Sophie sat up.

"I called someone for you. Just... don't hang up on him. You'll need him." Grady kissed her forehead.

Hoping against hope, she accepted the imparter, staring at the blinking screen.

She swallowed.

Hard.

Blue eyes locked with hers, the person smiling warily at her.

"Keefe?" Sophie whispered.

Uploaded: 12-3-2020