Team Foster-Keefe United✔

Part Two

Sophie's POV:

Was Keefe okay? What's going on? How will everyone react to my "death"? Will Grady and Edaline be okay after this? How will they cope with losing another daughter?

All the questions running through my head made me dizzy, my head going in circles until Mr. Forkle came down from the cave.

I opened my mouth to ask a few question, but he beat me to it.

"In order to remain under the radar, your name will change to Mileen Monue, and you'll have to take an exilar every month to cancel the effect that the alicorn inspired DNA had on your eyes. Your brown eyes are too recognizable and will draw too much attention. We will send you to Exillium to resume your schooling, which is in the Neutral Territories. You will know where we're staying when we get there. Edaline and Grady will know that you're alive, and you will be able to talk to them in person every two weeks. Have I answered all of your unspoken questions?"

I blink several times, processing all the new information.

"Why not change all of my appearance? What if someone sees me?" I ask, my hand twitching, pleading to pluck out an itchy eyelash.

"No one from Exillium knows about you or anything resent that happened in the Lost Cities. Also, all of the students and teachers wear full face masks to prevent students from being too close to one another," Mr. Forkle said in a reasurring tone.

I could sit here and ask questions all day, but there was work to be done.

~

Going through Alden's mind was like swimming through a river of glass. Moving made the pain worse, sharp jabs piercing my brain. Nevertheless, my mental barriers held up. Other than that, Alden's mind was blank. No memories, thoughts, emotions, or awareness for the matter. I called his name, over and over, hoping he was hidden away in some corner, hoping that I wasn't too late.

When all my words were swallowed into the blank darkness, I face palmed myself. I needed to inflict positive emotions to actually heal him.

I focused on love, seeing myself flying with Silvany, seeing Iggy eat a custard burst in one bite, seeing Keefe make me snort lushberry juice out of my nose in laughter, remembering the first time I called Edaline and Grady Mom and Dad, trying to study with Dex to only end up pranking his little siblings, remembering Fitz's-

No. I wouldn't think of him.

I blasted the positive emotion inside of Alden's mind, transmitting images of his family. What really hit home, which surprised me, was the image of myself, glaring at Keefe as he laughed his guts out.

When I saw his mind start to piece itself back together, I sighed in relief, drawing my conscious out of his mind. I stayed for a minute to make sure that Alden was completely okay before raising my new home crystal to the light. The Black Swan gave me it, saying to leave immediately after healing Alden. Out of the corner of my eye, I see an elf with a level 4 Foxfire uniform. Before I could look fully at him/her, I was whisked away into the light.

~

My new home was like paradise, complete with clear, ocean waters and a life sized tree house with mini waterfalls. The air itself had a tropical tinge to it.

I met a knome named Calla, and immediately liked her soft spoken character. As I lay in my new bed, which had flowers on the headboard to chase away nightmares, I realized that I would have a new life. Again. But, hey, maybe it won't be so bad.

~4 years later~

My god it was terrible! Exillium was torture, the exilar for my eyes tasted like a gulon, and I missed everyone from the Lost Cities. Even Fitz, although I forgave Biana before I forgave him. Biana needed her grieving time, and so did Fitz, but he was harsh, even by grieving standards.

Keefe has been sending me letters every day, not that I could reply. He was the one who saw me heal Alden's mind. In the beginning, everyone sent me letters. The Vackers lasted three weeks before they stopped, and Dex lasted three months before his letters slowly began to come less frequently.

Presently, I was scarfing down dinner (Exillium made us practice how to suppress hunger). Keefe's dove flew through the open window, landing on my shoulder. In the Lost Cities, they had doves that tracked down who the letter was for. The person who wrote the letter had to have something that belonged to the person they're writing to. The dove would smell that something than track down the person from there. At first, it takes a few weeks for the dove to find the person; after they find them, the dove can fly to the same person within one day now that they know the scent and surroundings of the said person.

I take Keefe's letter out of Snowball's beak and pet the dove's wings as I opened it and walked to my room, tripping on thin air a few times on the walk.

Mysterious Miss F,

You should've seen the prank I did on Fitz this morning! When he opened his mouth to say hello, I threw in a gulon for the anniversary of the Great Gulon Incident! Fitz was so shocked and disgusted, I had to draw it for you to see.

I looked at Keefe's drawing of Fitz and let out all my giggles. His eyes were bugging out of his sockets, his cheeks inflated with air, and his nostrals were flared. I do not want to know just how horrible a gulon tasted

Foster, please- help me out here! Where are you? All of us miss you. Bianca isn't as confident and doesn't talk as much, Dex is an absolute workaholic, Fitz buries reality under all the fantasy books he reads, and I- well, I'm not the same without you. We need you Miss F. I need you.

K

There was another picture at the bottom. It was me. I was laughing, the winds blowing my hair into my face. I looked happy, beautiful even.

I wasn't supposed to write back. But, my friends needed me, and I'm sure it's time to reconnect with the world I was supposed to be in. It was time to be my own person, not the person the Black Swan wants me to be, not the person who followed every order like a soldier. It was time to be me, Sophie Foster, not Mileen Monue, not the Moonlark. Me.

Keefe

I miss you too, Keefe. I'm sorry that you got no reply for 4 years, but the Black Swan wouldn't let me write back.  I can't tell you were I am, but I can tell you this.

Go where you don't want to go.

-Foster