The Realization (A SoKeefe/Keephie story)

Chapter 15 - Sophie

The whisper was a cruel dream, haunting her consciousness. Images came with it. A Panakes tree. A soft breeze. Ice blue eyes.

Sophie.

But this time, it wasn't just a dream. It was a relentless reality, tugging her out of the murkiness of sleep and forcing her back. But back to where?

"Come back," A cold voice said. Her eyes opened, and the monster inside her reared at the sight of the piercing blue eyes.

Gethen Ondsinn smiled cruelly at her. "It's time for what we brought you here to do."

"No!" Sophie yelled hoarsely. She backed away from the edge of the forcefield. "You can't make me," She told him steelily. She realized that the weight around her head had disappeared, and began to stretch her mind. Maybe I can transmit to Fitz and ask him to come to save me, she thought hopefully.

"I wouldn't try that if I were you," Gethen drawled out, staring at her. "Without their brave little moonlark, we could abduct both your friends and your family and bring them to their knees right before you. But we'd prefer you cooperate."

Sophie wanted to argue, wanted to defend herself with what little she had, but she had no choice.

No, she reminded herself. There's always a choice.

Well, I'm choosing to take this one. Her tired, defeated mind thought back.

She raised her head and looked at Gethen, trying not to shudder. "So if I do this, my family and friends will be safe?"

"Oh, I'm not so sure about that." Gethen looked casually at his fingernails, which were practically nonexistent since Squall froze them off. "Isn't it exhausting, always looking after your loved ones, when, in reality, all you need to do is focus on yourself?" He fixed his gaze on Sophie. "Love is your weakness. You could've been so much stronger if you teamed up with us, but because we harmed your loved ones, you decided not to trust us."

"I'm not in the mood for your long, elaborate speeches on why I should join you," Sophie snapped. "J-just do what you want with me. But keep my family safe," she whispered.

He sneered. "We'll see." He stood up, beckoning for Sophie to follow him.

"What are you waiting for?" He snarled as she stayed sitting there.

Sophie lost her patience. "There's a forcefield there, don't you see? Oh, I see how it is. You want me to get burnt into a crisp, don't you?" She yelled at him.

He muttered something that sounded a lot like, "Too feisty for her own good" before shouting back, "Just walk. You'll see."

She gritted her teeth, then stood up slowly. She took one step forward. Then another. Until she was at the very edge of the force field. She hesitated for a second and debated just staying there, refusing to obey their orders. But what good would that do? That one treasonous action would probably cause all of her family and friend to get slaughtered.

Sophie lifted her foot, squeezed her eyes closed, then put it down, one step ahead. She expected to feel sizzling pain, but when she opened her eyes, she realized that her foot went cleanly through the force field. It sizzled and then was gone.

Gethen jeered. "It was a shadow trick all along," he said, laughing. "Isn't there something so... hopeless about the fact that you could've escaped all along and didn't?"

Still chortling with laughter Gethen swaggered towards the cave exit without bothering to see if Sophie would follow him.

She stood there, slightly speechless. But then she stepped forward,  trying to match his confident strut.

I won't let this get to me, she thought, trying to emulate the resolve of a rock. I'll just pretend like everything's perfectly fine.

However, as soon as she stepped outside of the cave, ropes shot toward her, binding her immediately and setting her on a rock.

"Telekinesis can be powerful, huh?" Gethen said, appearing before her. "Ruy used to be the best at it, but I think my telekinesis for lifting living things is also pretty strong."

Sophie ignored him, trying to show that he didn't get to her. Until that is, a new figure appeared.

Umber. (a/n: I know, I know, Umber died in Flashback. But this time, she's not dead. Instead, Ruy's the one who died. In my version of the story, at least.)

The monster inside of her reared once more, stronger than when she saw Gethen. Umber. Umber. Umber. The name repeated itself in her mind, driving a whirlwind of torture. Sophie glared at her, trying to maintain some control of her body as the black-cloaked figure stepped forward.

"Remember me?" She rasped, flipping back her hood to reveal... nothing but a pair of blue eyes. Though even those were murky. The rest of her face was obscured with...

Sophie gasped, then swallowed what little food was still in her stomach back down as she gaped at her face.

The rest of Umber's face was unrecognizable, teeming with tendrils of shadowflux. As soon as her body saw those inky threads, it paralyzed, afraid to keep on breathing.

"Ah. So this is what terrifies the moonlark," she said, seemingly grinning. Sophie returned to her senses and squeezed her eyes shut, barely caring about how weak and vulnerable she must have seemed.

"Don't worry," the Shade cooed. "These won't hurt you. It's great to have a constant supply though." She held her hand up, revealing her long, jagged fingernails. A bit of the shadowflux coiled from her face into her hand.

After a few moments spent reveling in Sophie's fear, she closed her hand and the wisps disappeared, little bits streaming back to her face.

By now, Sophie was trembling as she imagined the little strands of shadowflux crawling over her.

No, she thought again, fighting to remain conscious. You're better than this. You can resist. She thought of all her friends and family... but then they slowly transformed into mangled corpses, shadowflux streaming out of them.

Sophie whimpered as the visions washed over her. The other members of the Neverseen standing on the edges watched on, relishing her pain.

"As much as I love torturing you, Gisela told me to get on to the good stuff," Umber said, sighing like a child's whose playtime was over. With a snap, her hood went back on, and the swarming trails of shadowflux are gone.

It's fine, Sophie tried to convince herself. I'm fine now.

But she spoke too soon. Umber raised her hand once more, and she saw more wisps of shadowflux gather towards her hands. These were different. Unlike the ones on her face, these ones were aggressive, as if eager for a fight, while the others were peaceful for time being, restful.

"It's time to carry out our ultimate plan," Umber told her, her tone carefully controlled. But Sophie could sense a sort of primal excitement rearing inside the Shade. The other Neverseen members didn't hide it as well, and Gethen seemed to be trembling in excitement. Whatever their "ultimate plan" was, they had probably been working towards this for a very long time.

Sophie squeezed her eyes shut and gathered all of her mental energy for one last transmission. She could tell that Gethen was probably too excited to monitor her mind. Besides, even if he caught her, it didn't matter. She would be good as dead anyway. It wasn't a call for help, nor was it a good-bye. All it said was this:

I'm sorry.

a/n: Mwahahahaha! A cliffhanger! Sort of? I'm not as good at them as Shannon is. And lucky for you guys, it will probably be a couple of days before I update. *Behold the evil-laughiest of all evil-laughs!*