Someone You Knew-After Stellarlune

Chapter 19

Sorry I haven't updated in a while, I was a little busy with studying. 

Here's your chapter!

5 days.

That was how long Sophie Foster has been gone.

Keefe kept using the word "gone" because he refused to believe that Foster was...

He could not bring himself to even think of the word. If he did, that meant admitting that she was gone... forever.

He needed her to be back. He needed her to show up at her own Wanderling, screaming "I'M NOT DEAD YET!" He knew that he was asking the impossible, but the person he was asking this wasn't just anyone, she was Sophie Foster. She had survived her kidnapping, deadly allergic reactions, melting buildings of Eternalia, Exile, the collapse of Lumenaria, the Nightfall facility, and so many more near death experiences. 

Surely she could survive a goblin attack at Lumenaria.

He thought about how he used to make fun of her nearly dying all the time, saying that she had Fostered it. But he never really thoughts these kind of situations were funny, he just hid behind humor because it was the only way he could stay sane. That didn't make the process any less painful, he still wanted to tear his heart apart so that he won't be able to feel all the devastation lingering in his chest.

Keefe's eyes darted to Foster's Wanderling, a tiny tree with gold leaves and brown flowers. A symbol that she was gone.

 She wasn't coming back this time. 

His eyes welled with tears for the hundredth time today. He touched his chest, having to check if there was a hole in it.

His chest felt empty as if someone had just stole a part of him. He didn't feel complete, he felt like half of him was missing. But at the same time his heart was filled with enough emotions to explode a living being.

Fear.

Denial.

Sadness.

Devastation.

Anger.

And guilt. Lots of guilt.

Foster-no, he didn't deserve to call her by her nickname-Sophie's absence was his fault. He could have been a better boyfriend and protected her, but he was too afraid and confused to do that one simple act. His betrayal had led Sophie to be locked in a prison, and eventually it had killed her.

He had to admit it now, Sophie Foster was dead.

She wasn't coming back. Even if she was alive, why would she come back to this place? Why would she even bother to come back to the place where she had been betrayed and abandoned by her own friends?

Guilt knocked him back a step. He lost his balance but two pair of arms caught him. he turned around to see Fitz holding him.

Fitz looked like he hadn't slept in days. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and his tunic was dirty and wrinkled. His eyes were like a blackhole, empty and soulless.

Keefe looked somewhat similar to Fitz.

Keefe regained his balance as Fitz let go of him, they both averted each others eyes. Fitz had punched him the day they discovered that Sophie had "betrayed" them, and after that incident they hadn't talked or hailed each other. On normal circumstances, Keefe would have walked away, leaving Fitz, but today wasn't normal. Today, they needed each other.