These Feelings Inside (How Deep Do They Go)

Chapter 12- A Greater Story

Word count: ~2.5k words

Important chapter!!! I've had the idea for this chapter thought out since the conception of this fic, and it feels so nice to get to write it. Pre-planning things have never been my strong suit, and I didn't get to hint at certain things as much as I wish I should've, but that's okay!

Warnings: discussions of "death"

"It can be broken?" Keefe asked. "Hell yeah! Let's go curse breaking!"

"It's not that easy," Linh said, "there's a location we must swim out to, but we don't even know its exact location."

"A place?" Sophie asked.

"It has to do with the nature of our curse," Linh replied. "We've always been treating it as a contract: trading your humanity and memories for "fresh start", however it seems like it's quite literally a contract."

"What does that mean?"

Marella held out a bottle that had a note in it. "Paper contracts—this paper is completely irrelevant, I just randomly found it—but the gist is that there's some secret place where the contracts are stored. I guess somehow, every time a contract is made, the physical thing appears in that location. If we can find our contracts and tear them apart, I think we can become human again. Maybe even get our memories back."

"Oh, get memories back?" Fitz asked. He glanced at Sophie, then Keefe. "Isn't that good? It means if we're late, it should be fine?"

Marella sighed. "Hard maybe. Best to not risk wasting time. But as Linh said, we don't really know its exact location. I know it's somewhere super far east though."

"East," Fitz murmured, "somewhere in the ocean?"

"Something like that."

Sophie turned to Fitz. "We don't know how long we'll be out there, are you sure it's a good idea for you to come with us? I don't want you to drown or starve or—"

"Fitzy's coming with us," Keefe said, draping an arm over his shoulder.

"You're not getting rid of me that easily," Fitz said, taking hold of her hand. He pressed his lips to her palm, looking at her with so much love she could explode. "We'll get the boat, and then we'll head out."

She nodded. "O—okay."

~•~•~•~•~•

"Y'know, it's really convenient how we all just flock here," Keefe mused. "Makes it real easy to find a person."

"I spend as much time here as I do my own home," Biana replied, not even bothering to look up at them as the three walked into the shop, more preoccupied with scrolling through her phone as she laid against Dex's shoulder. "You say all this, but the rest of us have been coming to this shop since like—middle school."

"Ooh, what was Foster like?"

"Not that different, really. More shy, though. I bet you were a menace in middle school."

"Hey! We weren't talking about me!" Keefe protested, raising their hands in defense. "I have never been a menace!"

Not for the first time, Sophie wondered about what kind of life Keefe had lived before they'd been turned into a siren. Endless creativity, a knack for making jokes, they would have definitely stood out. A baby face starting to wear off, she wondered how they would have looked. Acne from growing up? I bet they didn't have to deal with acne, I bet they would have been blessed unlike the rest of us normal people, she mused.