Tortured screams echoed through the halls, and every member of the Neverseen stopped what they were doing and smiled when they realized what was happening.
Keefe's eyes widened as the familiar voices cried out, calling for help, for anyone.
"KEEFE!"
He stilled when she called his name, and a broken sob followed right after.
Tears tracked their way down his face.
Why why why had they come for him? They should have known that they were far too outnumbered and weak, surely Mr. Forkle told them that?
So why...
Keefe raced down the halls, barely needing time to see where he was going. Ashamed as he was to admit it, he had spent so much time at the Neverseen base that he could find his way through it with his eyes closed.
When he got to the torture chambers, he was met with a horrifying sight.
All his friends were chained to the walls, and more tears welled up in his eyes.
This was all his fault.
All his fault.
They must hate him. He didn't dare think how Sophie must feel, but he remembered bitterly that he was an Empath.
As he got closer, he was suddenly hit with the combined pain of all of his friends - did he even have the right to call them that? - and though he only felt a glimmer, it hurt. It hurt like hell.
He wished he could take their places. At least he deserved it.
Fitz, Biana, Linh, and Dex were on the floor, already unconscious. Fitz's arms were twisted strangely, and though Dex had no visible broken bones, he had fresh, long scars and wounds that still hadn't closed.
But Tam and Sophie were still up, still fighting.
Keefe saw Tam spit blood into his attacker's face, and he couldn't help but think, I've never been more proud to have known you, Bangs Boy.
But unfortunately for him, the spit our blood earned him a...
Keefe squinted closer and saw that the attacker wasn't doing anything, at least, not that he could see. But Tam was thrashing, squirming, trying to get away.
With sudden dread, Keefe realized that the attacker was inflicting. So all the others had passed out from the pain...
He felt sick to his stomach, but he didn't leave. He looked to the other wall, and his eyes widened as he saw Sophie.
Their eyes met, and hers became urgent, telling his to leave. But he couldn't.
But he came to life when two arms grabbed both of his, bringing him down to his knees. And he was forced to watch Tam and Sophie suffer for what seemed like hours before both of them finally collapsed and Keefe was let go as well.
He crumbled to the floor as sobs racked his body.
The scene changed, and now Keefe was on a battlefield. He was right in the middle, one foot for the Neverseen and another in Black Swan territory.
He could hear names calling for him on both sides, but two voices called out to him the most.
Sophie was crying out to him, begging him not to leave her.
But his mom was reaching out to him, sobbing, asking him for forgiveness, promising that she'd try more.
He fell to the ground, covering his ears as both sides raged.
He blacked out, but when he came to his senses again, he could make out six blurry figures standing above him.
Words too.
"I'm so sorry."
"I swear it'll be alright."
"We'll make it up to you."
"I'm sorry."
Why were they sorry? It should be the other way around. Why were they talking to him? Him, the traitor?
He stared at the ground he sat on.
But then he looked up, and he understood.
His mother.
Fitz was holding her, eyes downcast and filled with sorrow.
Keefe's eyes widened in horror, and he reached up. As if understanding what he wanted, Fitz gently laid the dead woman in her son's arms.
He brushed her hair away from her face with a shaky hand.
"Please tell me this isn't real," he croaked out.
"It's not real, wake up!"
"No!" He sobbed, grabbing onto whatever he could.
"KEEFE! It's a nightmare, wake up!"
He felt arms pull him into a warm body, and his fingers tightened around the blanket he was holding on to.
He didn't want to open his eyes.
No matter what he saw, memories would plague him.
But the gentle hands soothed him, telling him without words that he'd be fine.
He blinked, tears still running down his face.
Swallowing, he reached up and ran his hands through familiar hair, tracing his fingers down a face he knew, sight or no.
His eyes adjusted a bit to the darkness of the room, and he saw that his sense of touch had been right - he could make out the sparkly unicorn nightgown his face was buried in.
He couldn't stop the tears, he knew that, but when he tried anyway, they seemed to build up more, until he was sobbing again as Sophie's embrace tightened.
"Shhh, it's alright. I'm here, you're here, everything's going to be fine."
The waver of her voice told Keefe that she was crying too, and she was trying to hold it back for him.
He was reminded of the time he found out that his mother could be dead, how shocked and angry he was, how he hated the world and how upsetting everything was. How Sophie held onto him like a lifeline and just kept holding on and didn't let go.
He hated how he could never seem to do the same for her.
"Another nightmare?" Sophie's soft voice asked him.
He sniffed and nodded into her gown, and she hugged him tighter.
"I'm assuming you don't want to talk about it?"
He shook his head and pulled away slightly to look at her.
"I'll be fine," Keefe whispered. He didn't lie. There was no point. She may not have been an Empath, but Sophie was smart and anyone could tell that he was not fine.
So instead he made a promise, that he would be fine sometime later. He was already halfway there.
How could life be anything less than a dream when Sophie was there with him, Sophie, who had forgiven him and held him, who had told him with complete sincerity that it wasn't his fault?
"You turned my nightmare into a dream just by being here, Foster."
Keefe heard a breathy chuckle.
"I'll do anything I can to be more."
He didn't bother telling her that she was already more than enough. He knew she wouldn't believe her. After all, actions spoke louder than words.
He smiled lightly when she kissed his hair and cradled him to her.
"I'm sorry I'm such a mess, Foster."
"You're my mess, and I wouldn't have you any other way."
