How Did We Get Into This Mess - KOTLC Oneshots

Irreparable Part 1 | Intervention

( You make it look so easy, turn around and leave me, I'm left alone to tear myself apart )

"I thought I could make up for whatever it was," Biana had whispered, her eyes half-lidded. "That I could fix the remnants of respect for my family by doing good deeds, and saving the world. But I underestimated just how bad we really were."

Her breath caught as she tried not to look at the tears falling from Sophie's eyes.

"You don't have to leave me," she begged, voice trembling. "You don't have to give up."

Biana flinched away, pained. She struggled to find the right words, regret tingeing her voice as Sophie's pleas echoed.

"You don't understand- we aren't simply corrupt- we're impossibly wicked. There's no coming back from it."

"I can't understand if you don't tell me! We can do this together. You're not in this alone! You don't have to be in this alone," Sophie said, desperate, clutching at the lapel of Biana's dress.

"But maybe I need to be."

A cry escaped from Sophie's lips as she fell backwards, and Biana met the broken, cut-down look in her eyes.

"If you leave now, just like everyone else, don't come back," she burst out, wiping away tears with her sleeve.

Taken aback, Biana froze. She turned towards Sophie on her way out, expression beautifully cold.

"I wasn't planning on it."

After she left, Sophie could still smell her perfume, like a ghost.

Her chest heaving, breaths short, she fell to her knees, sobbing until her friends found her. By then, she had no more tears left to cry.

The memory stung, even after a year. Sophie had been betrayed too many times. When Grady and Edaline canceled her adoption. When Biana had only befriended her to report on what she did to Alden. Alvar, Brant, Oralie- Keefe, twice. Every time she saw Biana's tortuously gorgeous face on a Neverseen broadcast.

Sophie had even heard bets on which Vacker would defect next.

Fitz was in the lead, followed closely by Della, and other Vackers who she'd only heard the names of in passing. People saw Della as the problem, the woman who had married into the Vacker family, causing its ruin.

It was bullshit, all of it.

Alden would obviously be next, once he realized his reputation was irreparable.

"Sophie? Can I, uh, come in?"

"Yeah."

Dex came into Sophie's room at the hideout, looking over her shoulder at the old Team Valiant log she was decoding. After Biana left, the team had been disbanded. They kept their noble titles, and stayed Regents, but the damage was done.

"I can help you with that, you know."

Sophie sighed, pushing the screen away on her desk.

"The info waited a year, it can wait another day," she said, taking a generous sip of her coffee.

Dex's nose wrinkled as he looked at her mug. It was clearly homemade, ceramic and slightly misshapen, the glaze an uneven rainbow. It was a gift, given to Sophie by one of the little kids who adored her.

"I don't understand how you like that stuff. It's way too bitter," he complained. "Gross."

Sophie shrugged.

After an awkward silence, she spoke.

"Is there . . . any particular reason you're here, or . . ."

Ouch. Vicious.

"You know why I'm here, Sophie."

He wasn't about to play her game, skirting around the truth.

"So this is an intervention."

"No! Not really. Not so much of an intervention as a friendly check-in during a hard time," Dex protested, fumbling with his words.

"What makes you think this is a hard time for me," she asked, voice teetering on the edge of threatening and defensive.

"God, Soph, you can't be everyone's superhero all the time. You don't have to stay strong for us. It's the anniversary of when she left, we're all having a hard time, and pretending like it didn't happen isn't doing anyone any favors."

Sophie clenched and unclenched her fists.

"You're wrong."

"Am I wrong, or do you just not want to believe I'm right," Dex exclaimed, exasperated.

"You're wrong. I'm not staying strong for you. I'm staying strong for me."

She stood, eyes stony as she glared at her cousin, whipping around and out the door. The only part of her left there was the shift in the air from her departure.

Dex sat on Sophie's comforter, speechless.

Why did he even bother? 

Twenty feet away, Sophie could finally breathe.

She needed a distraction. Something. Anything. If it would shut her brain up, she was up for it.

Sandor was silent, waiting.

"You need to practice your telekinesis with throwing stars," he piped. "So you can attack while still being able to defend yourself."

Yeah. Yeah. Why hadn't she thought of that? 

"Ok."

Sometimes she wondered what it would be like to give the Neverseen a taste of their own medicine. Rip Vespera's skin to shreds with shards of glass. Stab Gethen with the same sword he had used on Mr. Forkle. Maybe acid to replicate the feeling of fire for Fintan. A melder to the Gisela's head, like the one she had tried to use on . . . on Biana.

"I'm running the simulation in five . . . four . . . now!"

Thankfully, all her thoughts melted away as she fought, laser-focused on combat.

It was a welcome sensation.

( *Laughs in doesn't know where I'm going with this* AnYwAy, I've had this idea in my notes app for a while, both eloquently and aptly named "Sophiana but Biana joined the Neverseen after learning what the Vacker Legacy is." C'mon guys. The troll hive was not the Vacker Legacy. There's gotta be more to it. Thoughts? )