KOTLC After Stellarlune-A Sokeefe Story

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After their very emotional exchange, Cassius stood to leave. But he stopped long enough to give Sophie a (slightly awkward) one-armed hug and say, "let me know if I can help in any way. For Keefe or for Will." And then he pulled out his home crystal and leapt back to the Shores of Solace.

Sophie couldn't get back to the couch fast enough. She reached for Keefe's hands. Keefe--even with fresh tears forming in his eyes--managed a soft, incredulous chuckle.

"This day is definitely not going how I envisioned it."

Sophie smiled at him. "Definitely one of the weirdest, most emotionally exhausting days we've had in a long time." She looked at the time. "And it's not even dinner time yet." Then she turned back to look at Keefe, searching his handsome face.

He looked weary, and still looked terribly sad, but also looked calmer than he had before Cassius had come.

"Do you want to talk about it? Or about your dad? Or...would you rather just sit in silence and process everything?"

Keefe sighed. "Honestly, a little bit of all of those. In terms of my dad...there's not much to discuss. You've been telling me for years we needed to clear the air, address my childhood. And he's right, he can't go back and undo everything he did to me. But just knowing that he knows it was wrong, and that he's truly repentant of it, and that he cares...that heals so much of it. It's still there, but it's not this gaping wound anymore. It's just a scar."

Sophie nodded. "And...Will?" She knew Will would be okay. What worried her was whether or not Keefe would be okay.

Keefe smiled softly at Sophie and reached up, smoothing out that worry crease between her eyes. "All these years later, and I still can't get over how cute you are when you worry about me," he whispered. "Will is going to be just fine. I've known since we got Elysian's help that this ability wasn't going to be the horrible, world-changing thing I feared it would be. It won't consume him or control him. And he's a good kid. He's smart and kind and--for the record--obviously falling pretty hard for Anna." Keefe's smirk made a ghost of an appearance at that.

"Yes, he is. She seems to be falling pretty hard for him too."

"And...my dad was right. I've been so upset thinking about how it's just more fallout, more ways my mom has screwed my life up. But this isn't actually messing anything up. Not really. Him manifesting this ability isn't ruining his life. It reminds me of my trauma, but it does nothing to Will. Not unless I let it. And I won't. He's gifted and he's going to be fine. I'll show him how to switch off the ability. Train, in case he needs to use it, but the default will be for it to be turned off. Now that he knows what to expect, he'll be fine. The trauma is my burden to bear, not his."

"And I think that will fade with time. You've long since overcome it, this is just...it's like the echoes Fitz and I had. The shadowflux was gone, only the echoes remained, and they faded with time. Well, and Flori's help. But Will manifesting that ability today--when we thought we had dodged the situation--it just brought it up again. But it's just an echo of your trauma, and I'm here to help it fade."

Keefe smirked at her. "You going to sing my echoes to sleep?"

"I was thinking more about talking, like we're doing now. Or, um...distracting you. You know, like you were clearly doing earlier, when you kissed me like you thought you might die if you didn't."

"Oh, I absolutely would have died," Keefe told her, leaning in. "Kissing you definitely fixes me."

"Good answer," Sophie whispered.

"Yes, I thought so," Keefe murmured, bringing one hand up to her face and kissing her.

After a moment, he pulled away again. "Yeah, definitely fixes me," he repeated with a sweet smile.