Author's Note- Got internet at my hotel! Hope you guys like the chapter!
Sophie was trekking through the remains of her mind. She dogged the broken shards and shielded herself from the chaos, as she traveled deeper into the wreckage.
She had managed to gather a relatively solid form, but with every step she could feel herself fading away.
If she was going to make it through this, she needed something to hold on to. She kept reaching for the memory of the blond boy, but even that seemed to grow further and further away.
Suddenly, she fell through the ground, plunging into the empty gap where her sanity had been chipped away, and into a new, much darker reality.
She saw pain and agony, betrayal and loss, all in the form of a place that could've been Hell itself.
Somehow, she knew that this reality was a result of her past.
That was enough to tempt her to give up, let alone the mental voices clawing at her consciousness.
The farther she went, the more intense the emotions were. They were dragging her down, holding her back. She was on her knees now, clawing at her ears in an attempt to block the voices, but to no avail.
She couldn't take it any longer. The agony was overwhelming, and it took all of her just to hold on.
But just when she was ready to give up, she heard a faint whisper unlike the voices of the abyss. The voice seemed familiar; "Please don't give up, Sophie."
Sophie. That was her name.
The words rejuvenated her, giving her the strength to keep going.
She looked around, searching for a way through. Suddenly, she had an idea. It was crazy and reckless, but it was all she had.
She started banging on the ground, attempting to break through the thin shard of her broken mind.
When that didn't work, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and pictured the ground as glass. After all, this was her mind. Gradually, the ground cracked, until she fell into whatever lied below.
She was relieved to have escaped that prison, but what awaited her was even more overwhelming.
Keefe, Sophie, and the Fosters appeared at the entrance to Atlantis.
Once the whirlpool opened up, Keefe got ready to jump. But the Fosters seemed a little more reluctant.
"You can go first. And if nothing else, I can just push them." Amy said.
Keefe nodded, "See ya on the other side!" he said, holding Sophie tight as he jumped.
Mr. and Mrs. Foster seemed terrified as Keefe disappeared.
By the time they all reached the bottom, Keefe couldn't wait any longer. He ran through the streets of Atlantis, using his photographic memory to find Livvy.
When they finally reached the apartment, Keefe banged on the door. But it was Quinlin who appeared at the entrance.
Upon seeing the Moonlark, his eyes widened, even more so when he spotted the humans standing behind her.
"Is Livvy here?" Keefe asked.
Quinlin nodded, still in a daze.
He led them inside, to a medical room.
Keefe set Sophie on the cot in the center of the room.
Suddenly, Livvy walked in. As soon as she saw Sophie, her eyes seemed to darken, as if she had already predicted her diagnosis.
Her expression brought Keefe no comfort.
"What happened?" she asked, after greeting Amy, and giving her parents a curious glance.
Keefe told her everything. Reveled every horrifying detail. The physician seemed to grow more weary with each word.
When Keefe finished, there was a painful silence.
"H- her mind is broken, isn't it?" he asked.
Livvy turned towards Sophie, "I don't know."
To Keefe, that was confirmation. The physician would never deliver that diagnosis without digging deeper. But Keefe could see in her eyes that she knew what she would find.
Keefe's emotions were tearing him apart; sadness, anger, despair, guilt...
He felt as if he was losing a part of himself. The part that could always make him smile, that cared about him despite the countless times he'd screwed up. A part that believed in him more than he ever could.
Sophie Foster was everything to him. Without her, Keefe had no reason left to live.
His mind flashed to the many times when he had stood on the roof of Candleshade, ready to jump. Maybe if he had taken that one step, Sophie would be at Foxfire, laughing with the rest of their friends, instead of lying on the cot that stood before him.
He wished more than anything else that he could take her place.
While he couldn't piece together the shards of Sophie's broken mind, he knew one thing: There was no way that he was giving up on her.
"Please don't give up, Sophie."