𝙴𝚌𝚑𝚘𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝚄𝚜- ᴀ sᴏᴋᴇᴇғᴇ sᴛᴏʀʏ (𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕊𝕠𝕞𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕡𝕙𝕚𝕥𝕫)

Explanation

<Fitz POV>

I walk out the bedroom doors, leaving a befuddled and inwardly conflicted Sophie, sitting on her bed.

I whisper not so secretly to Rayni, Tam, and Stina, "All good. She wants me to stay. You guys can go,"

Tam and Rayni roll their eyes simultaneously, and Stina looks confused.  But they make their way to the Leapmaster and tell me that they'll be heading over to the search site and that Blur and Mr Forkle will be there. Then they leap away as I run my fingers through my hair.

Then, suddenly, as I walk back across the third floor to Sophie's room, I feel like I've been kneed in the gut and crumple to the floor in pain.

As my teal eyes glaze over, I look at the transparent crystal ceiling, opening my mouth to shout for help.

Then I hear a voice in my head - totally different from telepathy - and a million times more chilling to the bone.

It says demonically, "STEAL SOPHIE BACK STEAL SOPHIE BACK,"

Then a quieter voice, a clear voice with an accent not unlike mine and my father's says, "No. Don't. She'll never forgive you. Think about your family, your friends, Keefe, your life. Don't do it. You're being manipulated. Your emotions are stronger due to what they did. Find the counter potion to reverse the love potion. The ingredients are"

It gets interrupted by another round of "STEAL SOPHIE BACK"

Then, as quickly as the voices appeared- they disappeared. The pain in my gut and chest reside subsequently, too.

At last, I get up from the polished oakwood floor, dazed, and suddenly aware of things.

It's like my eyes have really been opened for the first time.

I bought a love potion.
I threatened my sister.
I poisoned my friend, my ex-girlfriend.
I ghosted my parents.
I caused Keefe's current state of self.
I have been manipulated.
But by who..?

I stumble to my feet and run to Sophie's bedroom double doors, slamming it open so suddenly that Sophie herself jumps.

She glares at me but then quickly replaces her expression with a moony, honeyed smile. But she looks inwardly horrified.

I stride to her urgently, grabbing her shoulders and shaking her gently.

Then I kneel down in front of her, "Sophie, can you hear me? Sophie? It's me, Fitz, your friend."

She blinks hard and stares hard at me to concentrate, rubbing her eyes.

"Yes, I-I'm here." Her glare reappears on her face.

I take a deep breath as I open my mouth to confess what I did and why I did it.

"Sophie, I put a love potion on you and -"

She interrupts me impatiently, "Yes, I know," she says sharply, her gaze cutting and unfriendly.

My heart sighs, she knows.

"But do you know why I did it?" I ask.

"Because you want ME for yourself, and KEEFE shunted aside into the background, hurt and -"

"No," I say, my voice hollow at the thought that she was thinking this of me, "I was.. ugh, you wouldn't believe me."

"What is it?" She says urgently.

"I was manipulated. My emotions were.. tampered with. Against my will. I was being... controlled.... by... something," I hastily tried to explain, recalling what the accented voice said to me.

She nods her head slowly, lost in thought, "I believe you. The Fitz I know wouldn't do this."

I breathe a sigh of relief, "Thank you, snd most of all, I'm so sorry,"

She looks at me intensely, "Fitz, I know that inside there," she gestures to my heart, "You still love me. And I accept that. But, you're just not the right person for me. And, I would love to he friends, best friends even. And I forgive you,"

She stretches out to give me a hug - a friendly "friend" hug. And it felt like coming home as I hugged her back. Now I just have my family and literally everyone else in my life to out straight with my actions.

I stand up and say quietly, "But we.. we still have Keefe,"

Sophie jumps up, thoughtfully tapping her chin, "Have you noticed the common theme with all these problems?" She asks.

"No.. what..?" I reply, feeling rather dumb.

"Emotions!" She says, like it's obvious.

"Keefe is affected by emotions, heartbreak. And you, Linh, Wylie, and I too. We've all been thinking this is some stupid messed up love triangle; but what if it actually was done to us on purpose?"

I ponder it over, and it actually makes sense, "Yeah.. Sophie, you're a genius!"

She smiles and gives me a fist bump.

I start to pace, digging out my imparter, "Shall I call the rest of them? They should know our theory. I feel kinda sorry for them, as they have literally no leads except Phoenix and the garden they were in."

She nods her head vigorously, "Yes,  you do that,"

Then we hear a resounding crash from the floor below- Jolie's room, where Keefe is resting.

Sophie leaps to her feet, "You wait here - and call the others. I'll be back. I'm going to check on Keefe,"

I nod my head uncertainly, "Call me if you need any help,"

She agrees, and runs out of the room.