Torment-A KOTLC Fanfic

Chapter 4

This section is a but longer, so I wont post more again for probably a few days. Enjoy though!
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She didn’t tell Linh what she had seen, not wanting to add more fear the distraught twin’s now growing pile. So they began the long trek to the Leap Master in silence, and they stood in front of the glowing crystals, neither one quite ready to give the command for Everglen.

"I'm scared." Linh admitted, with such sincerity it made Sophie's heart hurt. She squeezed her friend's hand and offered her most reassuring smile as Linh sighed.

"Everglen." She said, they both took a deep breath, then stepped into the light that would carry the bad news to more places.
When they glittered back to reality it gave Sophie a bit of a shock not seeing the glittering gates greet them. Then she remembered that they had been torn down to prove the Vackers have nothing to hide. The two girls stalked their way to the front door, their dragging feet leaving marks in the lush grass. Sophie knocked twice then stood back, grabbing Linh’s hand to help stop the shaking, shaking coming from both of them. A few moments later the massive doors swung open and revealed the pair of teal eyes that Sophie always viewed as a father figure.
  
  "Sophie, Linh. What brings you here?"Alden asked, his precise accent matching that of his son's perfectly. He moved aside to let the two pass and as soon as their capes swished inside behind them Alden shut the door. "Is everything alright?"
   
"We don't know." Sophie admitted, not bothering to disguise the defeat in her tone.

"Where are Fitz and Biana?" Alden led them to Fitz's room and pushed open the door to reveal the siblings sitting on the bed together chatting away.
   
"Sophie?" Fitz asked, confusion slapped across his expression. Linh and Sophie walked over to where the two sat and Sophie climbed onto the spot closest to Fitz, as he wrapped his arm around her shoulder. Once Linh and Sophie were all situated (Linh choose to sit at the corner of the bed close to Biana) the two exchanged a look, and they silently decided Sophie would be doing the talking.
   
"Sorry for showing up without hailing you first." She began, she reached into her pocket and dug out her imparter. Flipping it around and around trying to decide what to say next. "We..we have something to tell you. But it would be best is Keefe is here too. I would have Dex come but I'm pretty sure he is busy with Tinker." Fitz and Biana nodded in reply. Sophie hailed Keefe and a few minutes later he was sitting on the bed with the rest of them.
  
"So what was so urgent I had to end Daddy, Son empath bonding time? Don't get me wrong: I'm glad. But seriously. Wait! Let me guess. Emergency Foster Fan club meeting?" He winked at Sophie and flashed his famous smirk. When no one returned the gesture worry crept into his features. "Is everything okay?" Linh's jaw set and Sophie could see her fighting back  tears, so she reached out and placed her hand over her friend's knee.

Fitz must have seen the way Sophie was forcing a reassuring smile to comfort Linh, because he used the arm that was wrapped around her trembling shoulders to give her forearm a soft squeeze. She stole a glance at him and her stupid heart fluttered when their eyes met. It seemed give her the confidence she needed to relive the story.

Once she was done everyone in the room went dead silent, even Keefe. Especially Keefe. Sophie assumed he would have a few choice words about Tam, but the expression on his face was that boy in the tent in Exilium. A boy she had not seen in a while.
   
Are you okay? Fitz transmitted, making Sophie jump just a little.
   
I honestly don't know. You have no idea how bad he looked. The defeat in her tone had returned and she closed her eyes to stop the waterworks from spewing. What about you?
   
I'll get there.
  
You're handling it better than when Keefe came back.

Keefe was not forced into going, and he was nowhere near Tam's condition.

Keefe had left the room, and what she could see though the crack in the door he was sitting in the hallway, head leaning back against the wall. Sophie excused herself and walked out to the hallway to him.  "I should have stopped him." He sighed when she reached him. Everyone else had a sad haze in their eyes, but Keefe's eyes were displaying an array of emotions. Fury. Determination. Defeat. But the one that shone the most was guilt.
   
"There was nothing you could have done." She reminded him, her tone as gentle as she could make it. "It's not your fault."
  
"But it is my fault." He pushed off the wall and stood directly in front of her, but looking through her. Not at her. "I could have done more. I should have gotten the Alicorns away from that gun when I had the chance. Now...now Tam could die."
   
"Tam won't die." She replied, turning her words to steel and making herself believe them. "We have to believe that. Besides you did everything you could. The only person at fault is-"
   
"My mom?" He snapped. The words dripped with disgust. "Don't deny it. UGH! I just hate her. Why is everything a game with the Neverseen? Why is everyone just as disposable as a pawn? Why is it that no matter what, we lose?" He spoke the words with such hate, it sounded like it knocked the wind out of him. "DO YOU HEAR ME MOM? HOW MANY PEOPLE WILL WE HAVE TO LOSE BEFORE THIS GAME IS OVER?" He leaned back against the wall, sinking down to sit. His breaths were shaky as he tried to regain is calm.
   
"Keefe..." Sophie could find no words, so she just knelt down and placed a hand on his knee.
   
"I don't want to play anymore." He whispered. Sophie felt like someone was stabbing her on the chest as she pulled off her glove and placed a hand on his temple. Before she could change her mind she closed her eyes and entered Keefe's thoughts and started inflicting the only emotion she thought would help. Peace. She knew that if she kept going his mind would go under, but she decided it would be fine to let Keefe rest. Especially since it didn't require a sedative. Once his mind quieted she opened her eyes and pulled her hand back to her side. Keefe's shoulders looked more relaxed with his head hanging to the side and he was drawing even breaths that came with sleep. Sophie stood and walked back to her conscious friends sitting on the bed.
   
"What now?" Linh asked, her cheeks were red and judging by Fitz's soaked sheets Sophie could tell crying had taken place. Sophie turned her head to the wall of windows in Fitz's room, frowning at the setting sun.
   
"If it’s okay with your parents, I think we should stay the night here. That way we can all go see Tam together first thing in the morning," She suggested. Her friends nodded and Fitz left to find his father.

He returned 10 long minutes of more silence with his father in tow. The three girls stood and walked out of Fitz's bedroom, Alden not far behind carrying sleeping Keefe. Sophie was led to the room she always stayed in when she had to spend a night at Everglen, and Linh got the suite right next to her. Keefe's room was a few doors down and a bit smaller. Biana brought Linh and Sophie nightgowns to change into and left to go change her clothes as well. Sophie laid in the bed that she only seemed to sleep in when bad things happened, and situated herself under the covers. Just when she was about to drift away from reality her door creaked open and she sprung upwards ready to face whatever passed through that door. But as the figure grew closer she saw the girl with long jet-black silver tipped hair and grey-blue eyes, and she looked so much like her brother.  
   
"Umm, is it okay if I sleep in here tonight?" She asked shyly, creeping closer to the bed. Sophie scooted over creating enough space for Linh and Linh curled up under the covers. "I'm sorry I'm being a bit of a baby. At Tiergan’s, Tam and I share a room and in there it felt so… empty." Sophie met Linh's eyes, and there was only one word to describe them. Lost. Sophie reached for her friend's hand, offering a sad smile when Linh didn't pull away.
   
"No one thinks you're a baby." Sophie retorted. "We found Tam, your twin, in the woods badly injured and barely breathing. I can't even imagine how hard that must be." Linh started shaking her head, hard, and scooting into a sitting position.
   
"You're joking right?" She asked, pure confusion in her gaze, melting in with the lostness. "You have been kidnapped, tortured, and you almost died like 5 times. That's even only in the first month. You have gone through so much more than I have." She looked away, trying to hide her quivering lip. But Sophie saw it.
    
"There is no competition when it comes to trauma." She replied, dispising her voice for shaking. "We have both been through things no one should go through, and they will leave their own scars. We just have to have hope we can make it through. Because without hope, we give up; and if we give up they win." Neither one seemed to know what to say after that, so when Linh laid back down and her quiet snoring filled the room Sophie let herself drift into the calmness of sleep.