Keeper of the Lost Cities- Deathgrip

Decisions, decisions.

As a little girl, Sophie had been cursed with being utterly different than all the other kids her age. She had trouble being with large amounts of people and had never come close to fitting in. But even so, she had always been able to make her own decisions. Whether to tell her parents about her powers, to make friends or whether to skip grades. So having that stripped away from her would be the absolute worst thing ever. 

* * *

Keefe froze, stumbling several steps back from her. His eyes cleared a little and he shook his head, looking heatedly at the concrete. "What?!" 

Sophie could finally walk where she wanted, the invisible ropes on her seeming to have been cut. She sagged a little, relieved, and tried to make eye-contact with Keefe, who was trying with all his might to avoid her eyes. "Keefe, what the heck?"

He tore a hand through his hair, still looking at the concrete. A few moments passed before Sophie put a hand on her hip. "We should go." 

She wanted to leave before her rage boiled over. Sophie understood that he probably hadn't meant to mesmerize her and she knew that he was still new to the power. She could forgive Keefe, she always could... but someone has to apologize to be forgiven. He nodded slowly. Sophie considered teleporting away and leaving him to find his own way home but that was... unreasonable, to say the least. Sophie took his hand even though that was the last thing she wanted to do and pushed most of her remaining energy into levitating them. It was harder work than usual, she noticed. "Keefe, are you even going to help me levitate?!" 

He blinked a few times then tightened his hold on her hand. "Sorry, I'm distracted."

His face became a mask of concentration and then Sophie could feel his added force and found it easier. After what felt like forever, the got high enough, the view of the city from above beautiful, for something humans had made. But Sophie was too preoccupied with her swirling thoughts to focus on the view. 

* * *

They fell ungracefully into the center of the field in Havenfield and Sophie scrambled up and smoothed down her simple dress, trying to look as sophisticated as she could while Keefe was still lying in a heap on the ground. "Get up Keefe."

He shook his head a few times as if trying to clear away thoughts, before getting slowly to his feet. "I have to get back home, Soph. I'll see you."

Aaaand the rage bubbled up. 

It took all of Sophie's willpower to stuff it down and coil it tightly into the rest of her knot of emotions, saving it for later. A small part of her was wishing right now that that knot could be used on Keefe though. Through all his years of pestering and teasing her, even when he joined the Neverseen, she had never been this infuriated with him. At least when he joined the Neverseen he had good intentions. 

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Whatever. And my name is Sophie." 

Instead of answering, Keefe raised his home crystal into the air and shimmered away, leaving Sophie standing there, incredulous. She stomped angrily past the animal's enclosures, beelining towards Calla's tree to think. She was going to forgive Keefe. She always would, just like she knew he always did for her. What was with Sophie and relationships though?! Her friendships were nice and steady until something more happened and then everything blew apart faster than she could blink. She buried her hands angrily into her hands, holding back the tears. She wasn't a five-year-old anymore, she wasn't going to cry at any sign of conflict. No, she was going to fix this. Just as quickly as she got over there, she ran away from Calla's tree to Havenfield. Just as she had hoped, Grady was sitting on the couch reading some scroll. "Grady," Sophie huffed, out of breath. 

He looked up, his eyes crinkling into a smile. "Hey, Sophie." When he saw her face, his smile faded. "Are you okay?" 

She started to nod but caught herself. "Grady, you're a Mesmer, so I thought I could ask you about it."

A little worry glinted in Grady's eyes, but despite that, he smiled. "Alright, shoot."

"Well," Sophie started, "Keefe kinda... mesmerized me...?" 

Grady's smile was now fully gone. "To do what? Sophie, are you okay?! What did Keefe do?" 

Sophie put her hands up, stopping his hurricane of questions. "Dad, I'm fine. He made me... walk down a sidewalk to the movies..." 

When Sophie heard how lame that sounded, she backed up. "It was really scary though and I had no control of myself! I'm fine now... I just wanted to know if you can... mesmerize by accident?"

"I'm sure it was. This is a truly awful ability that has no right to be on this planet. But... to answer your question, you can mesmerize accidentally, especially when you're new to the ability," Grady replied, a troubled look on his face. She knew this was a touchy subject, so Sophie just nodded and turned to head to her room. 

Before she did though, Grady called, "Just don't be too hard on him, okay? I know better than anyone how disconcerting the power can be." 

Sophie sighed and continued up the stairs. She knew just as well what it felt like to harm someone you cared about with your powers. 

* * * 

A knock sounded on the other side of Sophie's door. "Come in..." She grumbled, burying her face into her pillow. It was probably Edaline, here to 'make sure she's okay' again. 

But when the door swung open, it was... Fitz?! "Hey, Sophie."

Instead of answering, Sophie stared blankly at him. She didn't know if it was that she was just so used to his face or if Fitz had just generally had all the life sucked out of him, but in the last few days, his teal eyes seemed less bright and he was a lot paler. More like a 'vampire-from-twilight' rather than an 'I'm-a-famous-movie-star' kinda pretty. 

He pushed open the door fully and stepped inside. "I'm really sorry, for what feels like the billionth time now, about what I said to you and Keefe."

Sophie let out a long, drawn-out sigh. She didn't stop until she felt like her lungs were about to crumple into paper mache organs. "Go on, Fitz."

He sat down on the bed beside her. "I talked to Keefe. We're... good."

She rolled her eyes. "That's great. I'm not really in the mood to talk about Keefe though."

"I know. He told me what happened. It was really crummy what he did, but you know it was an accident, right."

Ugh. "Did he mesmerize you into thinking that?" Sophie retorted. 

Immediately, she regretted it. Guilt smashed down on her heart and she covered her mouth with her hand. Fitz's eyes widened. 

She scrambled back. "Oh my god, sorry, that was so out of line, don't tell him I said that!"

Fitz nodded slowly, placing a hand on hers. "It's fine, Sophie. But he's going through a tough time right now and you have a way of always fixing him."

"He's not broken," Sophie mumbled. If anyone was, it was her. Out of all people, she was judging someone's ability?! 

"You're right... He got his match list though. He says he won't open it without you."

"Then he should try and talk to me," Sophie said, stubbornly. Even so, a wave of excitement and dread went through her at the thought of the match lists. 

A long silence passed before Fitz replied. "He's afraid he'll mesmerize you."

It was said barely above a whisper, but it was enough to send chills up her spine. "Oh."

She raised her eyes to Fitz's, who were closer then she expected. He held her gaze, leaning a little closer. Whether it was because she wasn't super strong at that moment, or because she was confused about everything, she didn't pull away.  A flicker of hope danced in Fitz's eyes, brightening them just a little. 

And he crashed his mouth down on hers. 

Why didn't she pull away?!