After Unlocked, a sokeefe Fanfiction.

Assurance

Keefe looked around his small room as he put down his small bag of belongings and sat down on his bed. An hour ago Mr. Forkle had dropped them off at the secret hideout yet to be named. Before he had left he and Sophie had filled in Mr. Forkle on everything. Then he'd gone and they'd been escorted to separate rooms by the gnomes working there. It reminded him a bit of Alluveterre where he and his friends had stayed. However, it was smaller with only three rooms they had access to. On either side was a bedroom and in between was a dining room and kitchen where the gnomes cooked and served delicious meals, he hadn't eaten any tonight though. He'd been far too worried about the earlier events of the day.

"You still awake?" A familiar voice asked from across the room. He turned his head to look at Sophie tugging out an eyelash. With a sympathetic smile, he nodded. Quickly he patted the spot next to him and Sophie walked over quietly and sat down.

They sat there for a few seconds in silence till Sophie spoke up.

"We really got ourselves in quite a mess didn't we?" Sophie said quietly, if she'd said it any quieter he wouldn't have noticed the tremble in her voice.

"I guess it's my fault huh? Running off and meeting Kye." Keefe said apologetically, it seemed like he always got himself into things like this.

"Nah, she's a pretty cool kid, and hey if you hadn't run off you'd never have found out she was your sister."

Keefe nodded at this and Sophie offered a smile which he returned till her gaze faltered and she sighed.

"What's wrong?" Keefe asked.

"Well... it was a big coincidence wasn't it? You stole the crystal from Mr. Forkle that just so happened to lead to the sister your mom just so happened to leave behind after kidnapping her family. And how did she even know that you were going to run away, or that you'd use that crystal? It just feels like..." Sophie paused as if contemplating what she was going to say yet.

"It just feels like someone else is controlling everything. And I don't just mean your mom, but... she's the only one who could be right?" Sophie asked and turned her face to his.

For a moment he couldn't say a word as he stared into Sophie's dark brown eyes riveted with panic.

"Yeah probably, I mean we haven't seen Vespera in a while but I don't see how an empath could..." Keefe trailed off as a thought occurred to him, a thought that chilled him to the very core. What if... no. That couldn't be right... could it? He tried to push away his fears but the harder he did the more they convinced him that what he'd guessed was terrifyingly correct.

"Keefe?" Sophie's sweet voice knocked at his mind and he snapped out of his thoughts to see the blonde in a curious and concerned expression.

"it's nothing, I just thought maybe..." Keefe sighed inwardly. If what he guessed was indeed true Sophie was in far more danger if he told her.

"it's nothing, just worried about Kye is all," Keefe said with a tight smile that he doubted even Sophie could see through.

"Hah, you've only been a brother for a couple of weeks, and already she's always on your mind," Sophie said with a smile, but even without his empath skills, he'd have been able to tell her mood didn't match the expression she posed.

"Is that how it is with you and Amy? About always being on your mind?"

"A little, I think a bit less now that I don't see her very much. Is that wrong of me as a sister?" Sophie asked and the worry in her eyes almost made him want to take her hand.

"No, I get it, it's a bit like that thing humans say right? Out of sight out of mind."

"Wow, look at you repeating human sayings huh? Guess they rubbed off on you." Sophie said with a smile that was a bit more real than the last.

"Hopefully not too much though right, elves are far prettier than humans and I think we all know that by this elf right here," Keefe said jokingly clearly referring to himself in his words, but in his thoughts, all implications were towards the blonde beauty right in front of him.

Once again a smile lit up Sophie's features and he grinned, glad to see the genuineness reflected. 

For a few seconds, the light mood stayed till silence encroached, giving way to a dimmer tone when Sophie spoke up again saying,

"How long do you think we'll have to stay here?"

"I'm not sure," Keefe said, thinking.

"Maybe until someone figures out what's up with Kye and what my mom's plans are for her," Keefe said and Sophie nodded.

"I just don't want to be here doing nothing, I want to be useful," Sophie said and looked like she was biting back a million words.

"Trust me I know, Kye's family is still out there and I'm just sitting right here talking to you as if nothing's wrong," Keefe said and to his surprise, Sophie took his hand in hers.

"Let's just use this as a break," Keefe said, hardly able to speak as his nerves skyrocketed when Sophie looked at him, still holding his hand.

"A break," Sophie repeated, her voice hardly a whisper.

Keefe smiled and nodded, surprised when a second later he found Sophie leaning against his shoulder, in a moment of pure indecision he felt Sophie nestle her head onto his shoulder relaxing against his form. Quietly he reached his arm around her which she leaned into once again. Both assured they sat together in comfort, their future uncertain and the world imperfect, but in that one moment he held her in his arms and all he could think about was what she meant to him. He wasn't worried about the ever overbearing Nevereseen or Kye or even his empath powers, in that single second, he could smile and take a deep breath.