"So-" Elwin started, trying to make the awkward silence a little more bearable, "I bet you want a brief catch up of what's happened in the last three years."
Keefe looked up from the small plate of food he was supposed to eat and nodded gratefully.
"Well, to start," Elwin said, "we haven't had any attacks from the Neverseen which can either be interpreted as good-or really bad."
Keefe picked at his food, knowing way too well why the Neverseen hadn't been attacking. They were waiting for him to wake up.
"Your friends have all finished their studies, of course, and have been getting exceedingly talented at not nearly-dying. Well, the fact that there have been no attacks have helped the situation, but your little Blondie doesn't seem to know the definition of safe."
Keefe tried–and failed to hide the rush of color painting his cheeks at the mention of Sophie but Ro clearly noticed it with a knowing smirk.
To hide his increasing embarrassment, he stood up and pushed away his plate, gesturing to Elwin that he wanted to go to his room.
Elwin raised a doctorly eyebrow at the untouched food and got up, feeling at the large shelf for a certain elixir, taking down a very bubbly purple fluid.
"Drink this," he ordered, thrusting the elixir into Keefe's hands, looking at the young man sternly when he tried to protest.
Keefe sighed and drank the brightly colored fluid, which tasted surprisingly nice for one of Elwin's concoctions.
"Come on, then," Elwin said, gesturing to Keefe to follow him, "I'll show you where you'll be staying."
*
The room was a huge, unoccupied glass room, quite similar to his one at his house, but lacking the intimidating neatness and general vastness that he was used to.
For instance, his father would have never let him add quite so many hanging glass beads from the ceiling, each one reflecting off a different beam of light.
"If it's too much we can move you too another room tomorrow," Elwin told him, "but for tonight, I thought it would be good to have you sleep in here. Because the best part about the prism is..."
He snapped his fingers, causing the chandeliers to dim and eventually turn off, transforming the room into a midnight paradise. Each light was now a miniature star, lighting up the room with little pulses of gentle glowing light.
"Oooh," Ro breathed. "Now these are my kind of sparkles." She stood there, captivated, until she ran her hand gently down the wall, watching the lights shimmer on her skin. "This reminds me of my father's palace. Some of the microbes he cultivates there look just like this."
On a normal day, Keefe would've teased her about sounding slightly choked up, and he wasn't going to pretend he wasn't curious if anything had happened between her and Bo, but he kept his mouth shut.
"Okay, this is officially freaking me out!" Ro shouted, taking one of Keefe's hands and shaking it violently, which Elwin did not seem to like. "Stop looking at me all sappy like that! And stop with the thoughtful silence! I know three years have passed and you may have supposedly matured but it's time to be you again. Bring on the insults. Bring on the rhymes. Bring on the bets!"
Keefe just shook his head and pressed his lips firmly together. He wouldn't talk. He couldn't. It was simply too dangerous.
"He'll get there," Elwin said when he saw Ro's angry-and slightly concerned face. "He just needs some time to process. And sleep will help. So I'm going to leave these elixirs with you and trust you will drink them."
He took out five vials in various shades of blue and set them on the round table next to the bed. Then he added a deep purple one, the color of fresh Mimgii flowers in the spring. A deep violet shade like the dusky skies just after sunset.
"That last one's a sedative, since I have a feeling you're going to want one-but I'll leave that up to you. The other's aren't optional, but that one is. And if you need anything else, I'll be in my lab for the next few hours, which is the third door on the other side of the hall."
Elwin turned and gave an awkward little wave as he began to leave.
"Wait."
It took a second for Keefe to realise that the whispered voice had come from him, and when he did, he squeezed his eyes shut, mentally cursing himself for speaking.
"Everything okay?" he heard Elwin ask.
Keefe released the breath he was holding and nodded, peeking out from his eyes, and seeing nothing wrong he fully opened them, letting them adjust.
"Thank you," he managed to say and Elwin nodded with a smile.
"Tell Dex," he added, as a quick afternote, scared of saying too much, but yet not managing to express his ideas in so little words.
"Tell Dex what?" Elwin asked, frowning.
"Actually, that's a good idea," Ro said, "your techy friend made something to help Blondie with some of her abilities, right?"
Keefe nodded, glad for once that Ro knew him so well.
"Tell Dex," he repeated, and that time Elwin got it.
"I will," he promised. "Now take your medicine and go to bed. "
*
Keefe would've like to have said he followed Elwin's instructions but there was simply to much to think about to go to bed, and he was putting off drinking the sedative unless it was absolutely necessary.
He lay on the impossibly soft mattress and stared up at the starry sky, wondering what had happened during the last few years.
Yes, Ro had told him he briefs of what had happened, but that wasn't enough.
He wanted to see their faces and know what they were feeling at the time. He wanted to join in with whatever they were doing. He wanted to be there.
He wanted to see Foster's gorgeous face light up and to hear her wonderful sunny laugh. He wanted her to smile at him, to tell him things she would tell no one else.
But their relationship-if you could even call it that-had always been shakey. It seemed like each time he managed to get closer to her, something came up and he was forced to push her away.
And now three years had passed.
What had changed?
Did he still have a chance?
Keefe yawned and turned over in the bed, his eyes slowly closing and the world gradually dimming until he fell asleep, no sedatives needed.
YOU ARE READING
Foster | sokeefe
Fiksi Penggemar*discontinued Keefe has been in a coma for three years. Nothing anybody tried would wake him up. But just when everyone had given up hope, his ice blue eyes fluttered open. Now, Keefe Sencen must try to find his way in a world that he had involun...
