He Left Me - KotLC fic (after Unlocked)

Chapter 24

We're not over yet, beans. Don't worry, I have a few more chapters planned. 

I nearly smiled. "What?"

"It's over, Sophie. There's no more fighting." Oralie spoke this time.

I actually laughed. "You're kidding, right?"

Dex shook his head. "We caught the Neverseen."

"How?"

"We were... lost, to say the least, when you were taken. We tried tracking you, but they had destroyed them. But then the night you came back, your savior—who's identity we don't know," Forkle gave Ro a suspicious look, and she shrugged.

"Some things remain secret, Fork Man," she told him. "This person didn't want the trouble or the repercussions."

Forkle sighed and continued. "They left an ogre tracker at the site where they had found you. Ro and her dad tracked it back to Chicago, in the Forbidden Cities. There was an abandoned warehouse on the outskirts of town that used to be a hotel."

"Remember when I came home in a cloak?" Grady interceded. I nodded. "We were scouting out their forces, isolating their bases. We had found most of their smaller hideouts, but no central base until you were returned." 

"The Neverseen never saw it coming," Emery cut in. "We sent in an army of goblins and ogres, all volunteers. Even the dwarves joined. It was over in a couple hours. We captured every member on site, including Lady Gisela and Vespera."

"And the prisoners?" I asked when I found my voice. After all this time, it was just... over?

"Unfortunately, each of them carried a pill with a deathly poison in it," Alina stepped forward. "We broke the minds of the leaders, and they led us to all of the hideouts we missed. Very few members made the choice to live through a trial."

I was speechless again, my mouth opening and closing. I finally settled on the most important fact. "Its over?"

Biana laughed, nearly crying. "It's over, Sophie. We don't have to fight any more."

"So... what happens now?"

"Now, Sophie, you live the life of a normal girl." Tiergan came forward, kneeling in front of me. "Princess Romhilda—"

"Ro," the ogre interrupted.

"Princess Ro and Sandor and Flori have requested to stay on as your guard, just in case. But you will go to school, and help out here, and live the life you should have if there was never a war."

He grasped my hand. "You will never be normal, Sophie, but now you have the chance to live like you are."

"I..." I was shocked.

I had never lived in a world where I belonged without war. I was made for this war, to change the government and laws and stir up trouble. I hadn't known anything else. I had grown up constantly reminded of my horrible differences, with no friends and no understanding, and then I was thrown into constant battle with a group that wanted me specifically dead, and now I was supposed to move on. As if I knew how.

Move on without him.

"I believe Ms. Foster might need some time to process." Emery stood, the rest of the Councilors following him as he thanks Edaline and Grady and stepped outside. Light flashed as they leaped away.

My friends left, too, most with quick hugs in their goodbyes. Eventually, Mr. Forkle was the only one remaining.

"I don't know what to do," I mumbled, wrapping my arms around myself.

He came to sit next to me. "Sophie, you have lived through something none of us would ever want you to. I'm not sure how much time you were awake, but I know that it was nothing I wished for you when we created you."

He gazed into the pastures. "Sometimes I regret it, and my brother did too. We brought you into a world that needed fixing, but I suppose we didn't see you as more than a tool sometimes. I understand if you don't know how to be anything else."

He turned to face me with a sad smile. "But now, you kids don't have to fix a war. You can fix the world in other ways. The people will listen to you. You have centuries to fix our mistakes, and I have no doubt you will. For today, take it one step at a time.

You can grow up now, Sophie. Not as the moonlark, but as a girl. You can enjoy the peace and be a kid." For a moment, he looked like he was about to hug me, but instead simply stood and leaped away.

I curled up, wrapping my arms around my knees. It was almost dark out, to my surprise.

Sandor set a hand on my shoulder. "Would you like some food?"

I nodded. "Thank you both, for staying," I said, looking at him and Ro.

Ro snorted. "Bo is going back to Ravagog. He's to be the next king, and he won't hesitate to call if he needs me."

"I believe Grizel will insist on seeing me quite often as well," Sandor admitted with a smile. "But you are a remarkable young girl, and I am honored to protect you."

Ro nodded in agreement with his sentiment, and I fought back more tears.

Edaline brought a bowl out to me, and the tears overflowed when I saw the starkflower stew. I ate with my family, contemplating the idea of a life without worry beyond normal anxiety.

Maybe I would get used to it. But I would never get used to living in this world without him.