invincible- a kotlc story

Chapter 13

They ended up meeting Amy at the desert place that Biana had mentioned. When she first saw her little sister stood outside the elven store, her arms bundled with bags, and Alden stood beside her, all Sophie could notice was the fact that Amy had grown.

Which, yeah. Obviously, as that was generally what children tended to do, but suddenly her little sister didn't look so little anymore. Sophie was acutely aware of just how much time she was missing with Amy, and of the distance between them.

There was a small moment where the two of them paused, both looking at each other, before the ice broke and Sophie hugged Amy tightly. Part of her wondered if she'd grown as well, if her sister had noticed how she'd changed.

"Hey," Amy said. Her grin was audible in her voice. "It's really good to see you, Sophie,"

Sophie smiled, and pulled back from the hug. "Same. And you're so tall now!"

Amy laughed. "I know, right? I'm outgrowing all my clothes at the moment. It's kind of ridiculous," her face softened. "How's your friend? Keefe, right?"

"It's like I told you," Sophie said, sighing. "It's hard for him, at the moment. I'm just worried about him,"

"As are we all, Sophie," Alden replied. "But situations like this always have a way of working themselves out in the end,"

Sophie wasn't sure that she agreed. Things couldn't just fix themselves if you let them be. Sometimes, it took work to make things better, and you had to get your hands dirty to make a better future for yourself and the people you loved. She was willing to do what it took, but it took that first step, that first decision to do something about what was happening. Hope wasn't something that grew by itself. But she didn't say any of that, though, because she wasn't willing to get into an argument with Alden in Atlantis.

"Here, lets go order," Biana suggested. "I am desperate for Amy to try Elven deserts and to see what she brought from the Forbidden Cities,"

Once they were inside, Amy stood entranced by the counter, staring at the menu like it was the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen. Sophie helped her to order by explaining what everything was. It took a while before the three of them were seated at a table, with Alden and Sandor sitting not-so-subtly at a table nearby, keeping an eye on them.

"How have things been?" Sophie asked. "Since I last saw you,"

Amy shrugged. "Not much has happened, really. It's kind of been boring. Not that boring is bad. Just quiet,"

"It's kind of been anything but, here," Biana said, her expression almost wistful.

Something that looked a lot like worry flashed across Amy's face. "Right, yeah." she said, staring at the ceiling.

Sophie could hardly remember what boring and quiet felt like. Even when it was less eventful for her, it was never calm. There was always that fear hanging over her regarding what the Neverseen would do next, who would get hurt next, and that feeling had only quadrupled since Keefe had been attacked. The Neverseen were wielding a weapon that they knew nothing about, but the proof of the damage it could wreak was right in front of them.

She knew that Tam was training with Lady Zillah to be able to control Shadowflux - and to control it in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone - but it didn't feel like enough. The next time that the Neverseen attacked, would they be prepared? Would the people she cared about be safe?

Boring. Quiet. A life like that felt so far away. She had to wonder if they'd ever get anything like it.

"Can you show us what you brought?" Biana asked, which promptly snapped Sophie out of her spiral.

Amy's face brightened significantly, and she pulled the massive bag onto the chair beside her. "Well, to start, a bunch of candy and chocolates. I told mom and dad that it was for a school project, so they bought pretty much all of it. Though, I don't know if they'll be as good as what you have here," she said, eyeing the Butterblast on the plate in front of her.

"Then, this fluffy hoodie that I own. It's massive, so don't worry about sizing," she continued. Sophie caught a glimpse of fluffy, bright purple fabric covered in penguins, and had to stifle a giggle. Keefe would love that. "And some board games, which I will need back at some point before mom and dad get suspicious. I was going to bring Monopoly, but then realised that would probably be too hard to explain,"

Biana glanced between the two. "What's Monopoly?"

The two sisters started explaining at the same time: "It's a human board game, the aim is to-" "It's the most annoying game ever, Soph always cheats-" "The aim is to earn money - I do not cheat!" "Yes you do!"  "I am above cheating, thank you very much!"

"Forget I asked!" Biana exclaimed. To her credit, she only looked slightly overwhelmed. "You sound like me and Fitz, honestly,"

Alden smiled from the table beside them. "Sibling relationships tend to be a thing that stand the test of time," he told them

Sophie knew that he didn't mean any harm, but the comment only enforced the feeling of distance between her and Amy. It had been a while since she'd seen her little sister, and while in some ways, it felt as easy as it had always been, she knew that there were ways in which they'd pulled apart from each other - permanently. Their relationship would never be the same as it had been.

Clearly, Amy felt similarly, as she fidgeted with the edge of her T-shirt. An awkward silence settled between them, before she cleared her throat. "Can we go over there, now? I want to show Keefe what I brought,"

"That sounds like a great idea," Sophie agreed, standing up quickly. Anything to disepell some of the awkwardness. "You ready to light-leap?"

Amy nodded. They must have looked like a funny group - a human girl, the brown-eyed elf, two of the Vackers, and a goblin making their way out of a small cafe in Atlantis. It sounded like the beginning of some weird joke.

Alden pulled out his pathfinder, and chose a clear crystal. Sophie took Amy's hand in her own, and when the beam of light appeared, stepped into it with her.

To the Healer's Centre.

Word Count: 1095

Bit of a shorter chapter, but I wanted to split it here before the next once, which will hopefully be up soon-ish? Whenever I get it written, that it is!

Thank you so much for reading <3