Back to the Future

Chapter 30

Keefe appeared, and watched her breakdown. He gave her much needed space.

When she had gotten everything out, she looked up at him, a fading crimson color in her eyes. "Hey,"

"Foster," he breathed, "Got it all out?" It wasn't an obnoxious or pretentious statement, it was a weary, tired one.

"Do you still love me?" Sophie asked, her voice raw and broken.

Keefe took a step back, rage was sketched into every line in his face. Every word was spoken with lethal quiet, "How could you ever think that I would stop loving you? When have I ever made you think my love was conditional?"

Sophie scrambled over to his feet, she sat on her knees looking up at him, "You haven't, but..." She bowed her head, "I'm not worthy of your love. I'm beyond redemption. This journey has corrupted me."

"No–" Keefe began.

"I was going to kill my mother!" Sophie snapped, Keefe froze. "I told you I knew the lines, but I crossed them with barely a second thought." Keefe brought his hand slowly to her hair, brushing it slowly, he was contemplating what she had said, "I'm the monster they've been trying to paint me as since day one. And because I came back, back to when everything was so uncertain. Because I thought I could do it better, it all went to the fiery pits of whatever you elves consider the underworld. I might as well have been a pyrokinetic, because I burned my life Keefe, I burned it."

Keefe dropped her his knees, making them eye-level. She tried to look away, but he grabbed her face and forced her to look at her, "We all have a dark spot. A dark hole that we have to pull ourselves away from every day. You've seen mine, you've seen me run. You've seen Fitz turn to anger. You've seen Grady Mesmer 12 Councillors."

Keefe paused for a moment and Sophie spoke up, "I'm not supposed to have that though. I'm genetically modified to be perfect."

Keefe shook his head, "You're not perfect though. It's clear even if you just look at a power standpoint, you had to reset your powers for them to become stronger. You had to go through an immense amount of pain to become unstoppable. You never broke when we were younger, never gave in. Who's to say that was the right thing. Now...now that you gave in, you can rise from those ashes. Sophie, you said you burned everything, then rise. Rise like a phoenix. Rise and become the Moonlark. Rise and show them, show them you won't stop until everything, every prejudice, every hateful thought is gone."

Sophie stared for a moment, then a light glimmered in her eye and a grin slid across her face, "Yes. Yes a million times, but..." She paused her eyes, sparking with an idea, "Not here, Keefe. We do it at home. We show them that it wasn't just a fight to get rid of the Neverseen. No, no it was a fight for everyone. Every child that had to wonder if they would become talentless and sent away. Every couple that was shamed because they didn't fit on some list. We will fight for them."

Keefe nodded, smirking, "That's the Foster, I know and love," He pulled her to her feet.

Sophie smiled, "Let's go home."

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It hadn't taken much to convince Glimmer and Ruy to leave, they had come to terms to go back a long time ago. They had all found the machine that Glimmer and Ruy had set up, and as Ruy was making adjustments to send them back, Sophie turned to Keefe.

"Hey, so you know how we never found out what happened to Alvar? Well, he brought me to the Neverseen that first day, but they claimed he hadn't rejoined them after he disappeared. Do you know anything about that? I don't really know why I'm asking, but it's worth a shot."

Keefe smiled, "You were planning on joining the Neverseen and gallivanting as the Lost Cities' most wanted, and I didn't want to leave you alone. So I may have reenacted a time from my past, a time when you weren't there," He winked, although Sophie knew exactly what he was talking about, they didn't have any secrets, "And I got you someone that I could trust to walk you into the enemy's talons."

Sophie grinned at him, the knowledge of her husband's love accompanying her as Ruy got the machine to work. That love kept a grip on her as they were whisked back to where they had come from.

They materialized into a world that she knew and loved. Sophie looked at Keefe and the unspoken words between them were powerful. The promise of what they were going to do to this world. Because they were finally back, back to the future.

A/N: I can't believe the story is over. I started this months ago and somehow it reached this point. Thank you to everyone that has been on this journey with me, and if you just found this and read it all in one sitting then thanks too! It was really fun to see this story "unravel" (pun intended) and this story has "unlocked" (pun still intended) a new excitement for writing in me. I will definitely continue writing, but I'm not sure when and if I will post it. Thanks so much again, to my proofreader and best friend Caspian0the0Alpaca and to all of you, my readers!