Keeper of the Lost Cities- Deathgrip

A list full of matches

That morning

"Hey Soph," Keefe said, lowering the hand that was just about to knock on the door again before Sophie had flung it open. 

Sophie smoothed her dress down a little, slightly self-conscious about her appearance like she was every time she wore a dress. "Hey, Keefe. First day!" 

Keefe whistled and wrapped an arm around her in a brief hug. "You look really good. It's so sweet of you to dress up like this for me."

Sophie rolled her eyes and stepped fully out of the door, shutting it behind her. "Whatever. Are we using your leaping crystal or mine?" 

"We can use mine," Keefe replied, falling into step beside her. "Unless you want to make a grand entrance on the first day of school by teleporting. That seems like a... Ruewen thing to do."

Sophie grinned. "No way. Having trouble getting used to my name?"

"Uh, yeah. How 'bout you change it to Sencen. That'd be cool." Keefe said, grinning. He grabbed her hand, his warm and smooth in hers. 

"No, Keefe. And was that a proposal?!" Sophie asked, faux surprise on her face as she let her hand fly up to her chest.

Keefe smirked for a second and held her gaze, but then his smile slowly faded. His blue eyes slid slightly to the right as if to avoid her eyes and his hand slipped out of hers to fidget. Keefe laughed, super shakily and tore a hand through his styled hair, mussing its careful styling. Sophie froze, her eyes widening. "Wait- Keefe. Was that... an actual proposal?!" 

Hehe I so wanna end this part here

A heavy weight settled on her throat, making it hard to breathe as a whole flurry of possibilities flew through her mind of her future. She had never considered getting married before, ever. Sure, she could see a future with Keefe and if they developed and super strong relationship, in a few decades, she might consider saying yes and even having children. But... she was still a teenager with her whole life ahead of her, this was so not happening. She didn't want to hurt Keefe, but if this meant they had to end whatever they had, then... so be it. 

Instead of getting down on one knee though, Keefe shook his head his eyebrows raising a little, but a hint of amusement in his eyes. "Sophie, I'm not asking you to marry me." He chuckled a little and put his hand back in hers. "I... I took an ability test with Grady the other night. To see if I was a mesmer."

Oh. Sophie couldn't speak again, so she squeezed his hand instead. She already knew where this was going. Keefe continued. "And... yeah. Surprise! I'm a freaking mesmer!"  

A little bit of colour rose to his cheeks and Sophie could hear his teeth grinding together in frustration and bottled-up anger. So, she wrapped her arms around him, trying to comfort him the best she could. It didn't really bother her. Grady was a mesmer, and it never really caused any problems for them nowadays, even though she knew it had been a problem in the past. The ability was scary as heck still, but she could get past that. She was an inflictor and part horse. "Keefe, you know I don't care, right? I still..." The word 'love' streaked through her mind, but she wasn't ready for that and he wasn't either right now. "I still think of you the same way I used to. And I'll be here for you."

Keefe relaxed a little in her arms, but then he pulled back, his eyes squeezed shut. "There's another thing."

"Okay, shoot," Sophie offered, even though she was still reeling a little from his last revelation. She tucked some hair behind her ear and looked at him expectantly. 

Keefe took another steadying breath. "Well, we've all heard Grady's stories about how people thought he had mesmerized Edaline into marrying him."

Sophie nodded, waiting patiently to see what he was going to say next. 

"Well, I thought that that must've been absolutely terrible if they loved each other for people not to believe them. And I really, really, really didn't want me or you to have to deal with any of those rumours really yet, so I..." Keefe trailed off, looking at her like she should know what he did. 

She didn't. "You...?"

 "I asked for my... my match list. I had my forms already filled out so I just gave it to the matchmakers and now I just have to wait. Don't freak out, okay? Even if you aren't on my list, I still wanna be with you, I don't care about that." Keefe's eyes widened in worry and he leaned down a little to be level with her.

But Sophie couldn't really speak. The mesmer thing she could deal with. But this... if she wasn't on his list, it was just a whole other world of problems to solve and she was already losing track of the ones she already had. Sophie tried to reassure him still though because this was his choice, but her words seemed to get caught in her throat, so she ended up making a sound that sounded halfway between a gasp and a groan. 

Keefe shuffled his feet and turned his head a little. "Okay. I get it. I'll give you some space, and I know you can't get your match list, so it would be entirely one-sided if that makes you feel better... sorry if it does the opposite. Ugh, I should've talked to you before..."

Sophie rested her hand on his chest, stopping his rambling and tried desperately to clear her throat. "Keefe." It came out as a rasp, but it was better than her previous squawk. "It's fine. It's your life, you have the... right to get your list of matches. I'm okay with it. But we're opening it together, okay?"

Keefe looked super surprised at her reaction, and his blue eyes were stretched wide. But he nodded and fished his leaping crystal out of the pocket of his cape. They didn't really talk after that, instead leaped to school and went their separate ways. 

* * *

"So, let me get this straight- you're a... mesmer?" Biana asked, the last part a whisper as she leaned in with wide eyes from across the table. 

It's not that Sophie was angry at Keefe, or hurt with his decision making this morning, but she thought it best to sit beside Dex and Linh at lunch instead of beside Keefe. As he said, she needed her space. 

Keefe smiled weakly and shifted away from Biana in his seat. He had told Dex, Biana, Tam and Linh the news at lunch, but Fitz still wasn't sitting with them. He actually hadn't come to the dining area at all, even though Sophie had seen him in the hallways earlier that morning. This was apparently the start of their huge friend breakup, as if a real breakup wasn't enough. 

Sophie could tell Keefe was uncomfortable, so she cleared her throat and turned the table's attention to her. "Has anyone seen Fitz?"

"He's probably off sulking in the bathroom or something," Dex offered with a scowl. Sophie didn't want to be the one to say it, but she knew this whole Fitz situation was Dex's secret dream come true.

The whole table lapses into an awkward silence, and Sophie knew immediately that this was probably not the best change of topic. Okay. Think, Sophie. It was always hard to come up with a topic change when all she could think of was the heavy news weighing them all down. "So... excited for the opening ceremonies?"

Tam snorted. "No." 

Annnnd that was all. Sophie slouched down a little, knowing that this wasn't going anywhere. She didn't try to make any more conversation and just settled into her own thoughts for the moment. But instead of thinking about her usual problems like she always did, she thought about Keefe. He was sad. And she wanted to make him better.

A plan blossomed in her mind.