Always With You- SOKEEFE(unlocked)

Chapter Twenty

A/N: This chapter took forever to write so I hope you guys like it!!! <3

Three weeks. It had been three weeks since Sophie's mind broke, and Keefe felt like the loneliest elf in the world. It felt to him as if a piece of himself was carved out, as if he'd lost everything he ever loved and cared about.

He knew that capturing Jolie wasn't going to bring Sophie back, they all knew it... but he wanted vengeance. All the anger built up day after day, eating at his brain, putting cruel thoughts in his head— he wanted it gone. He knew that was what his mom wanted of him, to bring out the rage and hurt he felt. But Keefe couldn't let it—

"Keefe?" Grady said interrupting his thoughts, "You ready?"

Keefe looked up from where he sat, "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I am."

He stood from his seat and walked over to Grady, grabbing the cuffs and putting them in his pocket. It took a lot of convincing on Keefe's part to get Grady on board with the whole ability restrictor idea, but after he laid out all of Dex's safety precautions, he agreed to the plan.

The two of them headed out the door and walked to the edge of the pasture where the alicorns were laying.

"Glitterbutt!" Keefe said in a sing-songy voice, "We need you to do us a favor, alright?"

Silveny let out a small huff.

Keefe walked over and knelt down in front of Silveny, squeezing her face in his hands, "Someone's a bit cranky today, huh?"

"You mean the alicorn, right?" Grady asked behind him.

"Yes. Yes, I meant the alicorn." he said in an irritated tone, making a look of hurt appear on Grady's face, "Sorry. Silveny's emotions are just really overwhelming." Keefe muttered.

"It's fine, really." Grady assured him.

Things were a bit silent between the two while Keefe was trying to bribe Silveny, avoiding the gaze of her eyes. He could only imagine how much the alicorn's brown eyes would distract him from the task at hand.

"What's with that face?" Grady asked Keefe, walking over to where he stood with the alicorn.

"What do you mean?"

"I'm not stupid, Keefe. I've seen that face. I've lived that face." he leaned against a tree looking to Keefe, whose eyes were at about the same level as his, "Plus, I don't believe it'd be smart to be distracted while we go get my turned-evil daughter, do you?

"That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid— distraction." Keefe told him.

"Well if you ever want to talk about that distraction with anyone..." Grady said leaving Keefe to save the rest to his imagination.

All Keefe did was nod, but his mind was going through all the scenarios that would happen if he did take Grady up on his offer, given that that distraction was his own daughter. Definitely a conversation he wanted to avoid at all costs.

Keefe cleared his throat slightly, "We should get going. There's about three more hours until sundown."

"I really don't think this is going to take three hours."

"We can only hope." Keefe said while throwing a leg onto Silveny and propping himself up on her back, "Ready to go?"

"Are you implying for me to sit in the back?" Grady asked raising his brow.

"Are you implying that sitting in the back would bust your ego?" he threw back, giving him a smirk.

Grady rolled his eyes and swung his leg over the alicorn's back, sitting himself behind the boy.