Winnowing Galla(KOTLC a Sokeefe story)

Agreed

Keefe POV

“No!” Keefe could barely recognize his own voice as he tore from Dex’s grip and threw himself at the disintegrating forcefield as the others echoed his protest. He fell face first on the ground, but he didn’t even feel the pain. The sounds around him blurred together and his vision rimmed with red. If he had been an inflictor everyone around him would have been feeling some serious pain right now. Keefe sat up and hugged his knees to his chest and sat there. 

“Keefe,” Someone whispered “Keefe, we should go home.” Keefe looked up and saw Ro leaning over him. Keefe didn’t know how long he had been sitting there, but he didn’t feel like leaving. He looked around and saw the Vackers all standing together. Biana had wet cheeks and red eyes and she was leaning on Fitz, whose face was red and eyes misty, for support. Alden and Della looked flustered and worn out. Tam was practically shielding Linh and Marella while the Dizznee parents tried to reassure a pale Dex.

“Keefe,” Keefe looked back up to see Grady. Edaline was standing next to him and her face was pale, her cheeks red, and her eyes bloodshot. Grady’s hair was sticking out in every direction, his eyes were watery and red, and his knuckles were extremely white.

“Sorry, I’ll go.” Keefe stood, but almost fell over. Grady caught him and wrapped Keefe’s arm around his shoulder. He glanced at Edaline, who nodded, and sighed.

“Why don’t you stay with us.” Grady suggested. Keefe was about to shake his head but found it impossible to deny the request. So, instead he nodded his head and let Ro steady him while Grady and Edaline went over to Sandor. 

“Easy there, big guy.” Ro said when Keefe started to stumble. Keefe held onto her as tight as he could as she led him closer to his friends.

“Keefe.” Biana choked as she rushed over to him and hugged him. Keefe sank into the embrace and tried as hard as he could to hold back the hot tears forming in his eyes. They stood like that for a while, letting each other's tears soak the other's shoulder. 

“How did this happen?” Fitz whispered, when the rest of the group had joined Keefe and Biana. Linh grabbed Tam’s hand and squeezed while Dex and Marella went over to Biana and wrapped her in a hug. Keefe sniffed and wiped his eyes.

“I have no idea.” Keefe whispered in an attempt to fill the silence, but the silence that followed was even more suffocating.

“I just spoke with the collective.” Dex’s Mother informed them after she returned from the corner where she had been using her imparter.

“So is the council.” Alden added. The parents and children huddled together and stood quietly. There wasn’t tension in the air. It was more of an unspoken dread or fear, and Keefe hated it.

“You kids can never have a normal evening, can you?” Keefe turned to face the bloated wrinkly figure behind him. Mr. Forkle looked slightly frazzled as he continued to walk closer to them. The rest of the collective slowly appeared behind him.

“Have you tried reaching out to her?” Granite asked Fitz. 

“I couldn’t get through.” Fitz said as he ran his hand through his hair. Keefe heard someone sigh and turned around to see Sandor with a hand covering his face. He couldn’t imagine how hard it was for him. He was supposed to protect Sophie, and even though it wasn’t his fault he probably thought it was.

“Why don’t you try?” Tam asked Mr. Forkle, drawing Keefe back to reality. 

“Multiple times, but I believe that since she is drugged at the moment it will be impossible.” Mr. Forkle answered. Someone groaned but this time Keefe didn’t look up to see who it was. 

“So, where do we start?” Grady asked, standing up straighter.

“We start by getting some sleep…”

“No way.” Keefe interrupted Forkle “We are never going to be able to sleep until we find her.” When he was done talking he realized he had been yelling, and he bowed his head in shame.

“Sorry..”

“You’re feelings are perfectly understandable Mr. Sencen.” Forkle raised his hands in surrender “But, I do believe that we need time to regroup before we begin the search, and before we go the collective and I will start looking for any clues the Neverseen might have left behind.”

“The council will be here soon.” Alden reminded everyone.

“We’ll take care of them.” Wraith assured them, and Keefe didn’t have the strength to argue.

“And we’ll clean up while we’re at it too.” Juline told her sister, using telekinesis to lift an empty plate off of one of the marble tables.

“We will assist as well.” Sandor said, volunteering himself, Tarina, Flori, and Bo.

“Then it’s settled. You will all get some sleep and we will all meet back at Havenfield in the morning.” Blur confirmed, floating across the enclosure.

“I’m not sure how I feel about this.” Grady mumbled. Edaline rested her head on his shoulder and began to lead him into the house.

“See you tomorrow Keefe.” Dex said as he grabbed his Father’s hand and pulled out a home crystal.

“Take care of yourself.” Biana whispered to Keefe before she rushed off to join her family. After only Keefe and the collective remained, he decided that he didn’t want to be there when the council arrived so he let Ro lead him to the house. His legs were still wobbly and his head was spinning.

“You can sleep on the coach.” Edaline told him. She conjured up a blanket and pillow and laid them on the couch.

“Thanks.” Keefe whispered, he admired how Edaline was staying so calm during this whole thing. Sure she looked ready to cry and looked like she had been but she seemed to be taking it a lot better than he was.

“Of course.” Before Edaline left she came over and hugged him. Keefe didn’t get hugged a lot but tonight wasn’t a normal night anyway. So he hugged her back and tried not to cry. He didn’t succeed and a couple of tears leaked from his eyes. When Edaline pulled away her cheeks were wet as well.

“Goodnight Keefe.” She squeezed his shoulder before ascending the staircase. Keefe whipped his eyes and laid down on the couch.

“This wasn’t how this night was supposed to go.” Ro muttered as she slumped into one of the arm chairs.

“You're telling me.” Keefe muttered back. He sank down onto the couch, clapped his hands to turn off the lights, and attempted to sleep.

Sophie POV

Black. Cold. Nothingness. Nothing meant anything in the cold black darkness. Black. Cold. Nothing. It was an endless cycle of. . .nothing. Sophie’s consciousness was lost and seemed to be missing as she was. . .well she didn’t know what was happening outside the black cave she was trapped in. It hurt so much. . .in a numbing kind of way. Surely not being able to feel anything was so much worse than feeling pain.

As Sophie began to drift back to consciousness images of sparkling ice blue eyes were shining brightly in her vision. She used the spark from the memory to push herself awake and rise from the endless pool of darkness. She inhaled sharply and her eyes shot open.

“Now now little moonlark. You mustn't make things difficult.” A chilling cold voice cooed. Sophie strained on the bonds that held her captive to what felt like hard stone.

“What are you doing?” She asked, horrified by how her voice sounded.

“Ugh, didn’t you listen to anything I said before.” Vespera growled.

“It’s kind of hard to remember everything when you knocked me out!” Sophie snapped. But Vespera continued to write in some kind of journal.

“If I must rejog your memory then I will. I’m experimenting on you.”

Tada!! Hope you liked it and in case you didn't see my earlier announcement make sure to check out Kotlcfan07 's profile for another amazimg fanfic! See y'all soon! - Livvy