Awakening (a kotlc story)

Part 6: Keefe better be okay or Sophie will kill someone

"Sophie? SOPHIE!" Sophie woke up with a start. It was Elwin. "You fell asleep in the chair again." Sophie groaned and stood up. She had been falling asleep in the chair next to Keefe's bed almost daily now. Elwin, her parents, and Mr. Forkle had been trying to convince her to go home for days now, but she refused. She knew that if it had been her in the coma, Keefe would stay by her side the whole time. He had stayed by her side when she got her abilities reset and every time she had been injured. It was her turn now. Elwin headed into his office and she followed. Since she was in the Healing Center all the time, Elwin had decided she might as well be useful. When he was mixing up medicines and elixirs she would hand him vials and tools. She helped clean and stuff like that. Sophie honestly didn't care if she had to bathe in yeti pee, as long as she was there when Keefe woke up. She had to know if he was still...well...Keefe. What if Lady Gisela had somehow changed his personality and made him more compliant? Sophie went cold every time she thought of losing Keefe. And as for Keefe's "legacy"? Well, whatever that was, it didn't matter as long as Keefe was alright. If only he would wake up. He had to wake up sometime, Sophie highly doubted that his "legacy" was being in a coma. But he had shown no signs of waking up, despite Sophie having been watching over him 24/7. Ro was there every day and guarded the entrance at night. The other person who was almost always hovering over Keefe was surprisingly Lord Cassius. He slept at the Shores of Solace, but came early every morning and did not leave until late at night. He claimed that he just wanted to see what happened to Keefe because he was worried about getting side effects from the quintessence and shadowflux. But Sophie could see the dark circles under his eyes and poorly hidden worry in his face. Lord Cassius loved his son, although he did an awful job of being a father. Sophie still hated how he had treated Keefe, but softened a little seeing Lord Cassius hovering over Keefe. Elwin grumbled about how many people were in the Healing Center, but he never shooed them out. He did glare at Lord Cassius and spilled elixirs on him so that he wouldn't think he was forgiven. "How could you spill another elixir on me?!""I guess you're too good of a target." Sophie wished Keefe could see how worried everyone was. Fitz stopped by almost every day (Sophie hid in the elixir cabinet when he came because she did not want to deal with Fitz right now). Biana and Dex came daily as well, Grady and Edaline, Mr. Forkle, and the leaders of the Black Swan. Linh, Marella, and Maruca came often as well, Wylie would sometimes come with Linh. Livvy would stop by and discuss treatments with Elwin. Sophie hadn't realized it until now, but Keefe was important to a lot of people. She wished he knew that. Even Tam stopped by nearly daily, although he complained and huffed, he was concerned as well. Sophie hoped that Keefe could somehow hear all these people through his coma. She had heard of people in comas who could hear what was happening in the human world, so why not in the Elvin world?