Always With You- SOKEEFE(unlocked)

Chapter Thirteen

Sophie grabbed Keefe's hand as they slowly levitated from the third story of Havenfield to the green pastures. Of course Keefe did most of the work because of Sophie's incapability to successfully levitate herself, but at least she tried, right? The two landed hard on the grass and Keefe had to take a second to regain his lost energy.

"You alright?" Sophie asked him.

"Yeah. Let's just get going."

They hastily walked over towards the cliff near Calla's tree. Sophie decided it'd be best to take a couple panakes, just in case the gloves didn't block them from getting burnt. She was only familiar with bottling Elementine and wasn't sure if the other stars had the same intense heat.

After gathering a couple petals, Sophie and Keefe walked closer to the edge of the steep cliff, peering down at the high tide below them.

"Have you ever realized that whenever we teleport somewhere, it's always to do something illegal or dangerous?" Keefe asked.

Sophie nodded, "Hopefully it won't always have to be that way, though."

"Hopefully."

Sophie's mind was blank with what to say or do next. Option one was to continue talking about every time they've almost been killed. Option two, on the other hand, was to jump off a cliff to illegally bottle an explosive substance that almost burnt her hands off. Sophie, being the 'smart' girl she is, decided to go for option two.

"Now." she said, and jumped off the cliff with Keefe at her side.

"Why didn't you say 'three, two, one'?!" Keefe yelled.

"'Cause that didn't go too well last time." Sophie explained, reminiscing on when they teleported earlier that day.

In seconds, the two appeared on the firefly-filled meadow of Moonglade. Sophie looked around, searching to see if anyone else was there, and thankfully there weren't. She began to set up her instruments on the top of the hill, making sure everything was pointed in the right direction to capture the light of the first star.

"Here, put these on." she said handing Keefe a pair of her dad's winter gloves and putting on her own.

Keefe took off the glove she'd just put on and sent her cool, calming breezes, "You don't have to put on a brave face for me. I'm scared too."

He wiped an eyelash away that had fallen onto Sophie's cheek, and leaned in to kiss where it once was.

Sophie gave him a small smile, squeezed his hand, and took a deep breath before she prepared the bottle for the first star, Elementine. She put her glove back on her hand tracing the lines of rings she had underneath. Through everything going on, she'd forgotten about her cognate training with Fitz. It was probably for the best though, considering how awkward and tense it'd be.

"Are you sure this is the only option? What if Jolie's... you know, bad?" Keefe asked.

"I trust her. If both the Black Swan and the Neverseen wanted her in their ranks, she must be worth something more than we realize." Sophie said, struggling to believe her own words.

Keefe sighed, "This better work then."

"It will. It has to."

Sophie wrapped one hand around the bottle, and laid the other on the switch. Keefe sat behind her and cradled his hands below Sophie's so that the bottle wouldn't slip. This was all too familiar for her, given that she'd been in the exact same position with both Dex and Fitz. Third time's a charm.

She took another breath and looked at Keefe before a shiny light appeared in the bottle.

"Which one is that?" Keefe asked.