TAKE TWO, kotlc

Chapter 13- Keefe

Keefe woke up to Sophie screaming.

He forced his eyes open, rolling out of bed groggily and rubbing his eyelids sleepily- his wife was probably just screaming at one of Arella's pranks, or maybe they ran out of Edaline's mallowmelt, he thought, smiling to himself.  Sophie really did love mallowmelt.

But one more of her shrill shrieks convinced him that something really was wrong.  He rushed into the Arella's bedroom to see her staring at the bed.

"Keefe! You put her up to this didn't you-" 

"Up to what?" Keefe asked, startled by Sophie's sudden enraged flurry.

"Where is she?"  Sophie demanded, holding up a piece of paper.  Keefe glimpsed at it:

We left. See you later! 

It was in Arella's messy handwriting that he'd recognize anywhere.

"Scared the heck out of me, Keefe Sencen, they're both gone..."

"Gone?!"  He put a hand on her wrist to stop her from pacing impatiently.  "Foster, I would never do that."

Her brown eyes softened.  "I... I know.  But Tam just hailed me and said that Braelynn was gone too.  Biana's contacting the Council to check their registry pendants..."

"Wait..."  Everything was happening too quickly....

Biana's face lit up the screen on Sophie's Imparter. Her eyes were red like she'd been crying and her voice was so shaky it might crumble any moment as she said, "Come to Eternelia. Your daughters have a lot of explaining to do."

"Are they okay?" Sophie asked, but Biana had already clicked away.

Sophie gave a sigh as if she was trying to steady herself and Keefe grabbed for her hand. He felt himself tap into her emotional center and flow calm green breezes, keeping everything from shaking.

"I'm okay," Sophie promised, raising her Eternalia crystal. Keefe grabbed onto her hand, hoping she was right.

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The scene in front of him was almost too... disturbing for Keefe to watch.

Oralia and Arella, his beautiful twin daughters, were being pounded with questions and accusations by numerous adults... the Council.... some of their friends...

And.. god, he was going to puke even though his heart was splintering and cracking for Tam and Biana... Braelynn looked paler than Sophie and a frazzled-looking Elwin was trying to stem the bleeding that was pouring out of her chest...

But it was the symbol on the bloody dagger beside her that caught Keefe's eye.

The white Neverseen eye that he'd only seen in the last years of his life in his office. But now everything was falling into place...

There was more important things right now than reprimanding his own children, who looked physically unhurt, but mentally shaken.

But all he could see through was fury and for once he wished there was an Empath there that could help him like he helped Foster.... But there would always be no one there. He'd learned that lesson too many times.

Keefe was tried of fighting.

Tired of staying strong.

Staying strong for Sophie and everyone else.

But he knew he had to do it anyways.

So he crouched down next to Tam and whispered, "Is she going to be okay?"

Tam just shrugged- not in the nonchalant way, but in the I-can't-and-really-don't-want-to-talk-about-it way that made Keefe's heart break even more for him.

He knew he acted like he hated Tam, but Tam had a daughter too...

And his eyes were pleading for him to leave him alone, so Keefe just gave as understanding of a nod as he could muster and stumbled over to his own daughters instead. All the other adults walked away- and maybe they were expecting them to reprimand his own kids.

But instead, he held them close and asked them, "Want to tell me what happened?"

Because he understood what it was like to... make sacrifices.

When Sophie had announced she was pregnant, Keefe had been nervous. He loved his wife, of course, and he'd love his daughters too. But he'd suffered through such a terrible childhood, it was hard not to worry about messing up like his parents had messed him up.

He was a mess up. He always would be.

But at least he could try to be more.

And as he watched Elwin, Tam, and Biana leap their daughter away, he hoped he'd never be like his parents.  Sophie sat down next to them, her gown fanning out on the grass.

And it was her golden-flecked brown eyes that he'd knew from the very first day he saw them, that she was special, that snapped him back to the present.

Boy, did his daughter's have a lot of explaining to do....