a/n: i know what's gonna happen, so here's a warning beforehand:
sophitz shippers, this is not a sokeefe story. you see any story with sophie and Keefe and immediately assume it's poison (okay, i do it sometimes, too. though not as much, because i ship sokeefe and sophitz).
just read on ahead, please! hope you enjoy.
Sophie sat on her canopied bed, admiring the lace material of the canopy. She'd always loved and thought of her room to be gorgeous, but she never took the time to take into full account how stunning and large it was – a how lucky she was compared to all humans, who either had small housing, or no housing at all.
She didn't have much time to stop and think about anything, which was what she was realizing more and more each day. It was weird to look back on her life two years earlier when she was first told she was an elf, then when she was brought back and had to get adjusted to everything.
Back then, it seemed like the world had been ending and that her brain was about to crack under the immense pressure with every note she found, or every new piece of her missing past that clicked into place.
But now? Now that it has been awhile? She'd gotten more secrets to become unearthed than she thought possible - and her glittering facade of a world was unraveling like the ball of yarn Iggy was playing with. Well, more like shredding.
She smiled at the playful imp, realizing she never got to spend much time with him, either, anymore. If she was being honest, she did tend to forget him, even if she loved him. But it was kind of hard to remember Iggy when there was the Neverseen butting in and ruining her life, 24/7.
She picked how Iggy from the floor, ignoring his protests of her taking him away from his toy, and set him on her knee, staring at him. She rubbed her finger under his chin and his unhappy squeaking drowned into some sort of purr.
She really only got to see Iggy when Dex dyed him every few weeks, or even months. It actually hurt to think about how much time she'd lost with Iggy because of the Neverseen. She'd lost so much time to just be a normal teenager.
Was that too much to ask for? Couldn't she at least get five minutes to know what it would feel like to just be normal and not have to worry about a band of rebels coming after her and everything she loved?
A knock on the door interrupted Sophie from her thoughts. She stared at the wood for a second, contemplating letting the person in—whoever they were—and then she finally replied a steady, "Come in."
To her surprise, it wasn't Grady and Edaline or even Sandor, like Sophie had expected. Keefe opened the door and Sophie caught sight of Sandor standing watch outside. She was a little surprised that Sandor had just willingly let Keefe go by, but she supposed that Keefe had knocked - and whether Sandor wanted to admit it or not, Keefe was probably growing on him.
She blinked, almost completely forgetting Iggy on her knee as he closed the polished, wooden door slowly. He held his hands in front of him, lightly. She didn't have to be an Empath to know that something was bothering him or that something had gone wrong—she didn't know which one of those terrified her more.
"Keefe?" she asked, the tension in the room already rising. Her temperature was starting to increase, too, as her worried heart began to pick up its pace. "What's the matter? Did something happen?"
She was on her feet before Keefe could even react, but she didn't approach. Iggy was knocked to the ground in the process and he made disapproving, angry grunts and squeaks as he flitted over to the food in his cage. Any other time, that would have triggered at least a laugh or smile from Keefe, but he completely ignored it as Sophie gave Iggy a apologetic glance.
Keefe started to approach step-by-step, slower than Sophie thought possible. He began to put his hands out in front of him, as if to calm her like she was a frightened animal. He hadn't even explained anything yet, but with the odd way he was acting, it was only making her more stressed.
"Listen, Sophie, I. . ." He must've felt the shift in her mood, because he stopped in his tracks. He sighed and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I'm not trying to scare you, I promise, but I really do think you need to be sitting down for this one."
"What?" she asked. "Keefe, you're freaking me out."
"I know, I'm sorry. I'm kind of wrestling with this idea on my own, too, you know." He said the end part a little snappily, but his face immediately returned back to soft lines when they left his mouth. "Please, sit down. I haven't told anyone out this and I need your advice on it.
"Advice?" she asked, slowly backing towards her bed again. She sat down on the edge of it, hoping it would make him spill the tea faster.
He nodded, coming a little closer. He came in front of her where she sat on the edge of the bed and squatted down, wringing his hands. "I need you to tell me if you think this could be anywhere near correct. And you're going to freak at first, Foster, okay? But if you really think about it, it'll make sense. I promise you, okay?"
"Keefe," Sophie warned softly.
He placed a hand on her knee, looking up at her. "I hate to say it, Sophie. He's always been like family to me, so it hurts. I wouldn't say it unless it were really probable."
She held her breath, not sure she wanted to hear what he had to say. Who was he talking about? "Who, Keefe?" she whispered. "And what is going on? What did 'he' do?"
A dozen terrifying theories ran through her head, all of which she didn't like.
"Okay," he started out slowly, taking his hand away from her. "This is going to sound insane, but . . ."
He didn't continue and Sophie was aware that her lungs were burning for air—she was holding her breath, waiting for the answer she very desperately needed. She didn't like the way that Keefe was acting, or the way he spoke of the anonymous person. He also said that he hadn't yet told anyone and the he wanted to come to her to make sure his theory wasn't entirely crazy.
He took a deep breath and mumbled, "Haven't you ever wondered about a few . . . weird things that have miraculously just happened to us? Like, take the Neverseen for example—they're always ten steps ahead. They always know our plans an infiltrate them: except for when we make up something last minute and wing everything. Like, at Ravagog. Sure, that last part with Alvar wasn't all too grand, but . . . Oh, you get what I mean. Doesn't that seem weird to you?"
Sophie rose a brow. "Maybe . . . I don't know. Why are you bringing this up?" she asked, confusion sketched across her face.
He sighed, running a hand through his artfully styled hair and messing it up. "Sophie, remember a long time ago when you thought the Black Swan had a leak? It was back around the time when we were going to see Silveny at the Sanctuary. That was also before the healing on Fintan, I believe."
She nodded slowly. "Yeah . . . what about it?"
"What if we have a leak? Like, our group?" he suggested in a low tone, as if he was scared like saying it made it more real.
She didn't quite understand what Keefe was trying to get at. "So. . . you're saying one of our friends isn't really on our side?" she asked slowly. Just saying the words felt extremely wrong.
"No, no!" he replied quickly, letting her release the breath she'd been holding. His lips twitched upwards lightly. "I don't think I could ever imagine any one of them being evil or anything. Besides, we've all been hurt one time or another trying to save the universe with you, so I don't know why someone from the other side would put up with the fake act any longer, after being hurt." He cringed. "That came out wrong. I wasn't meaning hanging around you is, like, toxic or anything—"
"Keefe," she interrupted. "I know what you meant, don't apologize. What I need to know right now is what you're trying to get at. What do you mean?" she prodded, her voice more insistent this time.
He opened his mouth to say something multiple times, but he always ended the word he tried to form by closing his mouth. He sighed. "Sophie, I think Alden isn't who he says he is."
She couldn't understand what he has said at first. The sentence floated around in her brain for a couple seconds as if it were some bizarre, made-up-language that she would never be able to learn. Then they flipped and twisted into something she could understand.
But couldn't. . . Understand, understand.
She managed a little bubbled-up laugh. "Keefe, you have to be joking about this. Alden?"
Her smile faded when Keefe didn't flash his infamous smirk like she thought. In fact, he didn't respond at all. He just sat there and looked her straight in the eyes, which was all the answer she needed.
"A-Alden. . ?" she repeated in a hushed tone, her insides squirming when Keefe nodded. It didn't make any sense. Why would Keefe think that? Alden had only ever be a mentor, a guide, a sort of friend, trustworthy, kind. . . Sophie even thought of him as a kind of father-figure type person—in no offense to Grady.
"No," she said , hugging her arms around her middle. "That's not true. Why would you think that was true?"
Keefe sighed. "Sophie, we tell Alden everything. I already made the point that we only ever seem to get things accomplished when we act spontaneously and don't go according to the plan that always gets ran by and verified by Alden. Even if you, I, or Dex don't tell Alden, Della or Fitz and Biana do."
She shook her head so hard it felt like her brain was smashing against the sides of her skull. "That's not enough evidence, Keefe. I can't believe that, okay?"
"There's way more evidence, Sophie. Think about it! Please, hear me out."
His hand was back in her knee again and she wanted to do anything but listen to what he had to say. But she also needed to know. "Fine," she agreed.
He took a deep breath for courage. "Alright, so. . . Let's start with the search for you, right where it all began. Don't get me wrong —I love that Alden brought you to us, but. . . Don't you think it's slightly odd that Alden dropped everything for twelve years to find you? A girl who no one else thought existed? You think he just went behind the Councillors backs for no reason, risking getting in trouble for searching for you, when he was clearly told not to? Do you think Alden would just put his family in danger like that?
"And another thing on his family during that search: Alvar and Fitz missed months, if not years searching for you, if we add up all the days and hours they were absent. And. . . Fitz was actually pretty young when he first started going missing to run around during the day and look for you. He missed a lot, Sophie."
She swallowed. "I don't know," she mumbled. "There could be a lot of explanations as to his first true motivation for looking for me, but I don't think he'd do that to his family like Alvar did."
Keefe shook his head. "There's way too much evidence. Here, I'll show you more. Since you brought up Alvar, remember when you found out he was The Boy Who Disappeared after the whole 'flooding Ravagog' incident?"
Sophie reluctantly nodded.
"He said something about his lame family heritage or whatever to Fitz to justify siding with the Neverseen, remember?"
" 'You'll understand, someday, when you see the Vacker legacy for what it is,' " she repeated sadly, seeing the memory perfectly through her mind's eye.
"Ecactly," he continued, his own palm shaking on her knee . "Vacker legacy, as if implying there were other people—Vackers—who also joined the Neverseen."
"No," she said snappily. "It's not true! Why we you telling me this?"
"C'mon, Foster. Don't tell me this all doesn't make sense, because that's a total lie." He took her hands, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "It does, whether we like it or not. And there's even more stuff to back up this whole. . . Theory," he said , as if saying the word made it less real. Made it hurt less.
It didn't.
Sophie sucked in a shaky breath. "What else?" she whispered.
Keefe smiled sadly. "Well, what about his mind breaking? Ever thought about that?"
"No," she answered miserably, reliving all the memories in her head.
"I need you to really think back to those days. Was there anything that now seems sort of. . . Sketchy? Because, Foster, if he is a part of the Neverseen, his mind didn't break from the guilt of Prentice. It broke from something else, whether it be from feeling guilty about how he was lying to you, or. . ."
"You think he actually cares about me?" she asked, her voice cracking. "After all these horrible things I'm only just realizing? "
"He very obviously does, Foster. Even if it's only a little, it's there. And maybe that little bit of affection can turn the tides, if he really isn't who he says he is," he said, trying to give her a little hope.
It was all beginning to make sense, now, though, the more that she thought about it.
She suddenly gasped and Keefe rose an eyebrow. "Figures that means you've got something?"
She nodded. "I-In Exile. . . I tried to go into Prentice's mind. While I was in there, something really freaky happened. I saw Alden, but it was. . . Not Alden, at the same time. It was a face. Really pale and you couldn't make out any features on it, except for these two teal jewels it had for eyes. Then it whispered, 'No reason to worry,' and suddenly someone was. . . Laughing really darkly.
"Alden told me that he told Prentice that he had no reason to worry before the memory break, but. . . What if Alden was lying? I mean why would there be a laugh at the end of that?"
"Yeah, that's. . . Not the best way to comfort someone who's about to have their mind broke."
The light attempt at a joke still hit the floor of the room with a thud.
She swallowed as she ripped through all her memories involving Alden, trying to see if she could find anything else that could fit in place. She came across one of her earliest memories of him and frowned as the conversation replayed in her head.
No, this didn't make any sense. . .
"Keefe," she whispered after a spell of silence. He squeezed her hands, which she only then noticed she was still holding onto, as he awaited her answer. "Cyrah is the only elf on record to fade away with people having seen her."
"Mhm," he confirmed.
"Only two people saw Cyrah die: her son, Wylie, and her murderer."
Keefe blinked. "And you're telling me this because. . ?"
She didn't want to have to explain it all to him, so she simply transmitted the memory to him.
"My concentration can hold three people, which is why Sophie isn't even a little bit faded and you know it," said Fitz.
"Only fools overestimate their abilities, Son," said Alden. "If you've watched someone fade away before, you might not be so quick to do so."
Fitz lowered his eyes.
"What does it mean to fade away?" Sophie asked.
A second passed before Alden answered, his eyes far away as if looking into a memory.
The memory ended and Keefe looked at her. "That was from the first day I met Alden," she said. "Fitz lept me to Everglen without a nexus. . . Alden looked like he was remembering something. And he literally mentioned watching someone fade away. "
Keefe swallowed. "So. . . You're suggesting he killed Cyrah?"
Sophie's stomach soured at the way he said it. "Well, it actually makes sense. If I was also right about the Prentice thing, that means that Cyrah got involved, too. Maybe Prentice had been trying to warn me about Alden that day in Exile.
". . .Maybe Alden ordered the memory break purposefully because Prentice had been investigating him. Maybe he thought Prentice was aware that Alden was searching for me, and that Alden was most definitely not on the Black Swan's side."
"He's also the only one in his family besides Alvar who hasn't sworn fealty to the Black Swan, which is pretty convenient, if you ask me," he pointed out.
Sophie took her hands out of Keefe's and burned her face in them. "I bet there's a lot more evidence we can find," Sophie mumbled .
Keefe sniffled, much to her surprise. Alden had been like such a father-figure to Keefe, and she knew this was going to hit him hard.
She peeked through her fingers to look at him and his heartbroken expression only made a sob bubble up in her own chest. She dropped her hands and stared at him as her vision grew blurry with tears.
This couldn't be happening. . .
~ Fin! ~
a/n: hope you enjoy heartbreak. see ya'll in therapy.
(by the way, there is way more evidence for why this theory could legitimately be canon, but there is so much that i couldn't fit it all in this one-shot. keefe and Sophie would have been talking forever.)