Breaking Shadows // Keefe x Reader

Prologue

"I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself, Elwin." A woman said in a deathly calm voice as her husband paced around the room. "You don't think I can, just because I'm a woman? Just because I'm different? I-"

"NO! It's because it's too dangerous," He yelled, frustrated that she was even considering doing this in the first place.

"WHAT CHOICE DO I HAVE!" She screamed, before calming down again. "If I don't," Her voice shook as she spoke, "They're gonna hurt-"

"Mum? What's wrong? Who's gonna get hurt?" A small voice asked tentatively. A small girl poked her head into the room, looking anxiously at her parents while clutching a worn oddly shaped stuffed creature.

"No one is going to get hurt, lovely. Go back to bed," the mother said gently.

"But you were yelling...at Daddy."

"We were just having a disagreement. It's nothing for you to worry about," she answered kindly but with a firm edge.

"Okay...love you Mom," she said, rubbing her eyes.

"Love you too," she said, planting a kiss on her daughter's forehead and the stuffed animal who went by Duchess Diana, before pulling her only child into a warm embrace.

The girl was less than satisfied with the answers she'd received, it felt like her questions were burning inside of her. She desperately wanted answers, but she knew she wouldn't get them. At least, not in the way she wanted. She slowly crept down the hall back to bed, but still remained within earshot of her parents' conversation.

"You know what? I don't even know why I asked you. I don't need your permission to leave,"

"I never said you did. But I don't want something to happen to you, and you should know how much harm you would cause to everyone if something did happen to you."

"Don't you get it? I'm doing this for our family. If I don't... who knows what will happen? I don't want my daughter to grow up with that kind of fear hanging over her head."

"But she would have her mother and father safe at home with her."

"How do you know we'd be safe? And you're saying I'll get hurt as if it will happen. If you trust me-"

"This isn't like those other times, Elvina! This time, I don't trust you to come back in one piece,"

"That's where you've fallen short. You two will be just fine if you have each other," she stated firmly, decisively walking out of the house.

"Elvina!"

Once outside the home, the mother shook her head, also shaking away the last of her love and attachment towards the people in that house. Unfortunately, her husband was correct. It would be the last time they saw her.