Procrastination is fun!

I sorta lost the will to write, but now it's back!

Comments!

MidnightBunnyy: Fun fact: April fools was invented by the easter bunny while he was eating an entire plane full of koalas from the center of the earth. Try saying that three times fast! (IStillHopeForSophex assumes no responsibility for anyone who has a stroke attempting to read this.)

Abubble1: Welcome back! Well, you're probably gone now because I took so long but nice hearing from you anyways.

1rattle1the1stars: I'm glad you like it! Also, I think I might have had a mini-stroke typing out your name.

Guest: If they try to take out Grady, they're in some serious trouble.

A very obsessed fangirl: You're probably the only one who will read this chapter. Yeah, I like my corn bread traumatized, but it also tastes good scarred for life.

misty-sherbert: I believe they're located next to the gun that shoot flaming hamster poop.

lil sunflower: I see we think alike. If you ever wanna do a colab where everyone dies, are brought back to life, and are then all eaten by bears, let me know.

MarellaIsTheBest: Superelf: Elf of Steel would be an action movie that I would watch.

thereisaredeemer: Turtles.

Percabeth,Keeper: Also turtles(see above comment).

Now, on with the much delayed story!

Twenty-Seven

Sophie stood there, at the edge of the literal void, alone.

All alone.

She was numb. So many things had happened to her emotions. Too many. Now, it was just nothingness.

Nothing seemed to matter anymore. Nothing except somehow, impossibly getting Dex back.

But there was no way.

There was a way, once, but the Neverseen had taken that from them as well.

They took everything.

Everything.

Everything she cared about.

All of a sudden, a light drew her attention. It was coming from Dex's bag.

The bag laid on the edge of the cliff, full to the brim with the various gadgets he had created. It seemed to be glowing slightly

Sophie turned around, and as soon as she touched it, it started to whir. She backed away, watching it as the section of the bag that seemed to be encased in metal opened up, and deposited a green capsule.

Sophie opened the capsule, and saw what she immediately considered to be Dex's most insane, riskiest, brilliant plan yet. She closed the capsule, now with the slightest bit of hope in her eyes, praying that his plan would pay off, and started to contact Keefe.

After several minutes of back and forth with Keefe telepathically, he agreed to come over. Sophie didn't tell him why, since it would be easier to break the news to him in person.

Eventually, Sophie spotted Keefe making his way over. When he arrived, he looked annoyed. "First Dex leaves me to check on you, then you call me over. This better be good Foster, because I'm not exactly in a good mood after three hours of climbing on stupid rocks-" Keefe stopped as he saw Sophie's face. "Foster, what happened?"

"You're going to want to sit down."

As Sophie told Keefe what had happened, his normally cheerful demeanor immediately disappeared, replaced by shock, and finally sadness. Keefe looked like he was going to cry. "Biana was a spy... all this time. I knew her for years! She's Biana! She's-"

Sophie stopped him. "She was a spy. A very good one. And she took Dex with her."

"But-"

Keefe stopped in his tracks as what Sophie had said sank in. "No..." Keefe whispered. "No, that can't be right. Sophie, this isn't funny. He's right behind that rock over there, isn't he? This is all just a prank. A very elaborate prank. So that means-"

Sophie out her hand on his shoulder. "Keefe, stop. He died. But there might be a way to save him, but I need you to snap out of it before we do anything."

Keefe shook his head. "No, no, no, this is part of it! It's all a trick, isn't it! It's all-"

Keefe stopped as he noticed Biana's knife laying on the ground, dripping with blood. "That's Biana's pocketknife."

He picked it up. "This isn't a trick after all."

With fire in his eyes, he threw the knife into the abyss, and turned to look at Sophie. "Tell me what I need to do."

Sophie clasped his hand, and muttered a phrase under her breath. When she opened her hand, a glittering cache rested in her palm. She grinned, and held it up to the light. "It's time for you and me to take a little trip down memory lane."

Sophie and Keefe found themselves in the middle of a trial, with the full council present. As the various elves around them prepared for the proceedings to begin, Keefe leaned over and whispered to Sophie. "Can they hear us?"

"No, and they can't see us either. This is a memory."

"How did you have the cache?"

"I didn't. Oralie made it so that I could summon it to share the information with whoever I choose by speaking a certain phrase."

"So like the whole thing with Baker street?"

"Basically, yeah."

Everyone quieted down as the proceedings began.

Bronte stood up from his seat and began to speak.

"This tribunal has been called due to the recent findings of Mr. Dayle Mooncake." At the pronunciation of the last name, several elves sniggered across the room, but were quickly silenced as Bronte glared at them. "Due to the nature of what has been discovered, this meeting will remain absolutely secret. We will vote at the end in whether to store this in our various caches, or not. Mr. Mooncake, you have the floor."

Dayle stepped up to the podium and began to read from his notes. "About two weeks ago, my friend Teesward Forth fell into the water output plant in Atlantis, was presumed dead, and a wanderling was planted at his service in his honor. However, just a day after the planting, it turned out that he was in fact not dead and had been rescued by some human divers who happened to be scouting the area. As soon as he regained consciousness, he wiped the memories of the divers, and leapt back to the lost cities. Sadly, just three days later, he fell into the famous giant boiling pit of oil in the middle of Atlantis, and burned to death slowly and painfully."

Bronte muttered under his breath. "I told them to use acid instead, but no, apparently oil looks better. This would've never happened with acid."

"I had been experimenting with some rare materials, and during one of my experiments I encased myself in some of the said materials. It sent me into a coma which lasted four days. When I woke up, I found out that my assistant Gisela, who had been studying me in my coma, had determined that if me or my parents had drunken a certain mixture, the coma would have lasted for four years but would have had a much greater effect on me. We experimented to find out what it had done to me, but we didn't find out until I attended Teesward's second funeral. Gisela had some other business to attend to that day."

Dayle shifted nervously, preparing himself for the information he was about to deliver.

"After the funeral, when everyone else had left, I went up to his wanderling to pay my respects. I put my hand on it fondly, and a single tear fell from my eye. The tear landed on the tree, and I started to glow. Suddenly, everything went blindingly white. And when it cleared, in the spot where the wanderling previously was, was Teesward. Alive and well.