Broken

Confession?

A boring elfy meeting was being held at Havenfield. At least it was here instead of that glittery Vacker palace.

Ro was too excited to be bored, though. No, today was the day. Keefe's deadline. If he didn't tell Sophie tonight that he liked her, then Ro would finally get to spill the beans. And very, very delicious beans they were.

Ro tuned in as Blondie opened her pretty little mouth. "Alden placed guards at the tree, but I think we should send a research team to see if anything suspicious is happening."

Mr. Wrinkly Fork Dude nodded, and Ro twirled her hair as Linh, Wylie, Dex, and Grady were selected to investigate. He said that Alden would join them as well, although he wasn't present at the meeting. Then they talked about more elfy stuff, blah blah blah, until finally Mr. Wrinkly Fork Dude dismissed everyone.

It was late. Keefe had better speak up soon.

***

Keefe knew he was running out of time. He was fidgety and apprehensive, staying silent throughout most of the meeting. He had met Fitz's gaze once, and had felt chilled to the bone with the glare he had received. As everybody stood up, though, Keefe panicked.

"Sophie?" Fitz's head shot up to look at Keefe as Sophie looked at him and asked "Yah?".

***

Fitz was furious with Keefe. How could he do this?? Looking over at Sophie, he decided for once to break the law of Telepathy. He needed to know what she was thinking, how she felt about Keefe. It was killing him, not knowing.

Maneuvering his way to the chink in her mental barrier, he slipped in unnoticed by Sophie. What he found made him want to cry and scream and yell and punch.

Instead he turned to Keefe. His friend was making eye contact with him, his gaze questioning. Using every ounce of goodwill he had left in his body, Fitz swallowed down his anger and pride to give Keefe a small nod. He transmitted, She's all yours. Treat her well. And with that, he light leaped home.

***

He couldn't believe it. Fitz was stepping down for him. Keefe would finally get to tell Sophie how he felt, and even though he could tell Fitz was bummed about it he knew that his friend understood. Everything would work out.

That is, if Sophie felt the same way.

Clearing his throat, he said, "Can I talk to you for a second?" She nodded, smiling as they waited for everybody to light leap away. Then she took his hand, leading him outside to the panakes tree. Even in the dark the leaves were bright, glimmering in the moonlight.

"What's up?" Her voice sent a shiver down his spine, and he wanted to hug her, to pull her against his chest and kiss her cheek and her forehead and her lips and call her his and know that she would never disappear. Now wasn't the time for that, though. First he had to tell her that he loved her. Another shiver down his spine, this one from fear.

He could feel her confusion and curiosity as to what he was going to say. He also felt her heart full of warmth, performing little acrobatic tricks, and wanted to do a happy dance in response.

Swallowing, he opened his mouth to tell her how much she meant to him, how much she had always meant to him. His vocal cords froze, his voice trapped inside of him.