So, a lot of my reviewers have said "You predicted the coronavirus!" But actually, I really didn't. When I was planning this whole thing out, I was researching the most effective methods of human extinction (this week's episode of "My search history: I swear I'm a writer!"), and there seemed to be an agreement that a virus would work the best, so that's what I wrote.
I just managed the details better after a real pandemic came around and I knew more about epidemiology.
FlowerGirl15: Yes, the most deadly of them all. I mean, I don't like humans either... blech. Thanks! :)
KotlcForeverandever: I know, but it's the best fanfiction I've ever written and I don't want it to end...
Fitzphieistrash: Ooo indeed.
Lady Kiddo: Yes, FIVID-19. Get it right. We all want to murder him XD.
KotLCfan: Don't get used to it XD. Thanks! Glad you liked it. :)
IShipWayTooManyShips: Yeah, true... we do! And I totally agree lol. Quarantine has made us all stupid, don't worry. Don't get used to the cliffhanger disappearance! ;) The problem is that I have to write those chapters... blech. AHH! DON'T COUGH! HAS THE FINTONAVIRUS GOTTEN TO YOU!? Lol. Thanks!
Kotlclover: Thank you! :) :) :) Team Foster Keefe is awesome! Thanks! It's taken a lot of practice to get to this point (Legacy What Is A Legacy... *shudders*). Part of writing is sadism, sorry. But not really. Hehe. I'm glad you like my terrible humor XD. And I'm very self depricating, don't insult my self-deprication! Lol the fintonavirus. No problem- I love long reviews, especially ones that are full of compliments! :P As for Diana, we'll see... muahaha. And thank you again for the wonderful review!
Lady Kiddo: I KNOW, RIGHT!? Thanks!
thesirensong: Genocide is my favorite! (Sarcasm as well.) Mine would probably be from some sort of inside joke, because I have a lot of those, and none of them make any sense. Oof. Good luck getting to see Fall Out Boy! Off topic is my favorite. Smart villains are the best! FIVID-19 is over course canon. Thanks!
Elizabethornton: Yay, thanks! I'm glad it wasn't cliche *melts in non-cliche author.*
Moonlight: I'm sorry, I don't have ao3. But you can read it here! Thanks!
Sky: wE'rE aLL iNsAnE hErE! Lol. I know, right? It's like we're living in a dystopia... I'm a little mad that I didn't think of this, honestly. If it turns out to be just a hallucination, I'm writing a book about this and earning bajillions. Anyway. I'm glad it makes sense! I was proud of myself for that. I know, right? I'm in shock. Novel length was my initial goal for the book, but I didn't think I'd get there. Thanks! I'll try.
Mallowmelt: Yep! Climax!
MarellaIsTheBest: Sorry! Not really though. Haha, yeah. DOWN WITH CLICHES! MUAHAHA! Writer's block is endless... *dies*. Thanks!
Princess Book: tYpInG lIkE tHiS iS oCaSiOnAlLy FuN iN mOdErAtIoN! Lol. Glad you approve of the fintonavirus! Glad you approve of it. Maybe in this chapter... I do need filler stuff (I respond to reviews before writing the chapters if you couldn't tell). Never underestimate my evilness! Muahaha. I love long reviews! Thanks! I'll try.
Swiftheart1267: Lol, thanks!
MidnightBunnyy: ARGH! SORRY! Obviously there is never enough mallowmelt. We will never be satisfied! Thanks for the points! And hey, fintonavirus is a great name! And how did you know about the cliffhangers... OH SHOOT I'VE GIVEN MYSELF AWAY! SHADY BLACK BELT PROTECTION SQUAD, ASSEMBLE!
Ooh! Speaking of the Shady Black Belt Protection Squad, we have a new member! My good friend... um... we'll call her Tree (if you knew her, you would find this very funny) just got her black belt yesterday! I'm sure she'd be thrilled to hear that my internet stalkers are proud of her, so give Tree your congratulations!
Quick huzzah for 19,000 views! And 25 favorites! This is incredible, thank you guys all so much! You're the best fans a minor fanfiction author could ask for! :)
This is a crazy long A/N, so I'm just gonna go into the chapter.
Enjoy!
The buzz of chatter around the room faded, and Sophie couldn't help but tug at an eyelash when she realized that everyone was staring at her. "What?" she almost whined, sounding very leader-ish.
"What do you think we should do?" Stina asked.
"Why are you asking me?" Sophie protested. After all, Mr. Forkle was there- he was the official leader! Sophie was just a teenage girl.
"Because you're the moonlark," Glimmer answered, like it was obvious. Maybe it was.
"That doesn't mean I'm qualified to make these decisions!" Sophie pulled out another eyelash, wanting to scream. She took a deep breath before she actually did start screaming. "What do you guys think we should do?"
"I think we should fight them," said Keefe, looking almost happy about it. Sophie reminded herself that his mother's death had definitely made him more reckless and looking for a fight. She made a mental note to talk to him later.
"I think we should only do that if it's our last option," Sophie said, trying to keep her voice calm. A small part of her noticed that she was definitely acting like a leader now- it seemed like she didn't have a choice. She didn't ask to become the moonlark, she didn't ask for this responsibility, but she had it. So she might as well do a good job of acting like a leader.
Keefe rolled his eyes. "We already know that we're going to go through all of the other options, and none of them are going to work, and we're going to end up fighting anyway. I'm just saving us time."
"For once, I actually agree with Keefe," Tam said. Linh gave him an incredulous (and slightly teasing) look.
Sophie locked her hands together tightly to resist pulling out another eyelash. "You have a bit of a point, but if we fight and it goes horribly wrong, I'll spend the rest of my life feeling guilty and wishing that we had at least thought of another option." Transmitting, she added I know you're upset about your mom, Keefe, but please don't let that make you reckless again. You're mom wanted you to make these sort of decisions... and I want just the opposite.
Keefe let out a long sigh and glanced at her. She stared back. Okay, he transmitted finally, and Sophie wanted to cheer and hug him and maybe even kiss him, but she kind of had to act professional.
"So, that date that Fintan said, with the elvin calendar... you're probably all aware that I don't know much about the elvin world, so when exactly is it? Just so I have sort of a timeline."
Everyone else in the room glanced at each other, clearly uncomfortable. Sophie was just about to ask why, when Fitz spoke up. "It's... well... it's in about three days."
Despite there being adults in the room, adults who could definitely punish her, Sophie couldn't help but yell out a lot of words that she definitely shouldn't say. Three days?! Keefe's recklessness seemed a little more appealing- she was somewhat doubtful that fighting would work with so little time to prepare! Any other solution was hopeless.
She took a deep breath, realizing that she probably shouldn't freak out on the people who were depending on her. "Okay. Okay. We can do this. Right?"
With varying levels of enthusiasm- from Linh's optimistic demeanor to Tam's sarcastic agreement- the word "right" echoed around the room.
Sophie took another deep breath. She would get through this meeting, and then she would get through whatever happened with the fintanvirus,(Stop, stop, stop, you're going to take somebody's eye out! It's fintonavirus!) and then she would worry about the rest of her life... though a life where she didn't have to worry about the Neverseen seemed almost impossible to comprehend. But the point was, she would get through this.
Maybe.
"So, does anyone have any ideas other than fighting?" Sophie asked.
"You're the Fos-Bos. You tell us," Stina replied.
Sophie barely kept from screaming. "Yeah, I'm the Fos-Bos, but the point of me being your boss is that the rest of you are part of my 'team,' and that means that you're expected to contribute! Now, does anyone have any other ideas?"
An uncomfortable silence fell over the room. Dex eventually said "Well... there's a chance that his cache has some more information about the virus... and maybe we could use that information for a cure?"
Sophie shrugged. "Worth a try. Anyone have any ideas for a password?"
"Virus, maybe?" Biana suggested. "Or similar things, like disease or pandemic?"
Sophie tried all three of those, in a voice that everyone agreed sounded like Fintan's, but none of them worked. Not wanting to waste much more time, Sophie said "Dex, you can take the cache and work on it a little more later... if you want to start working on a cure, you should probably consult Elwin and/or Physic." Dex nodded. "Other ideas?"
"So, Fintan mentioned that he was going to be doing this at the Point of Purity, right?" Wylie said. "How does he expect to get there? I thought only councillors could."
"Fintan used to be a councillor," Sophie reminded him. "So he probably knows how to get there, and maybe he still has the key or whatever they use."
"Could the councillors disable the- however you get to this place I have never before heard of in my life?" Jensi asked.
Sophie considered this. "I guess I could hail Ora- I could hail Bronte and ask." Dex gave her a disapproving look, and Keefe gave her a look like Since when have you preferred Councillor Grumpypants to Oralie? She remembered that she hadn't told anyone except Dex, Fitz, and her parents of her shared DNA with Oralie, and made another mental note to tell Keefe later before pushing that thought aside.
A quick hail proved that no, it was not possible nor was it allowed to disable the giant hamster ball thing that got them to the Point of Purity. Sophie at least waited until she hung up before swearing.
The group discussed some more options, but none of them seemed even remotely in the realm of possibility. After a few hours of talking and getting nowhere, the Black Swan was forced to conclude that they would be fighting.
Keefe kindly refrained from any "I told you so"s.
For the next three days, Sophie didn't sleep at all. She only ate when Edaline forced her, and took breaks when her lungs forced her. All of the rest of the time was spent training. They had done okay at Gildingham, but this time they needed to do better than okay. They didn't just need to survive. They needed to win. Sophie's friends joined in on the training too, of course, but didn't push themselves to quite the extreme that Sophie did. After one particularly vigorous workout, Sophie asked Keefe to stay behind, remembering that she needed to talk to him.
"Hey," she panted.
Keefe gave her a small smile. "Hey."
"Can we... can we sit down?" Sophie gasped, taking his hand (AHHHH!) and leading him over to the Panakes tree. He nodded, and the two took a seat. Sophie immediately flopped onto her back, and Keefe followed suit. "How are you doing?"
"I'm... okay, I guess."
"Great, how about we try that again with the truth?"
She heard Keefe laugh. "Wow, Foster, you're turning into an Empath." Sophie wished the words didn't make her think of Oralie. With all that had been going on lately, her recent parental discoveries had taken a bit of a backseat, but rage still bubbled up in her whenever she thought about the Councillor That Shall Not Be Named, along with something else that she couldn't quite identify.
"Yeah, so answer the question."
"I'm... I'm kind of just mad. At the world. But the training and stuff is helping, actually. And I'm doing better than I was when we first got the news."
Sophie smiled, guessing that he was telling the truth this time. "I'm glad you're doing a bit better, at least. And I know I've told you a million times, but please don't do something reckless. You can hail me anytime, and I'll always be willing to talk or distract you or something, just refrain from extraordinarily stupid decisions."
"Okay, Foster. I'm not going to run off and join the Neverseen again- you can trust me on that. I may not be the smartest, but I'm really trying to learn from my mistakes."
"I know," Sophie said. "I trust you." They fell silent.
"Foster, I can still feel your emotions. You wanted to talk about something else. What is it?"
Sophie tugged at an eyelash. "Well... um... do you remember when I told you that I was unmatchable?"
"Yeah," Keefe said.
"And I really wanted to find my biological parents so that I could be matched with Fitz?"
"Yeah."
"Well... just before Fitz and I broke up... I... I found out who my biological mother is." Keefe stayed silent, waiting for her to continue. "It's... um... you have to promise not to tell anyone."
"I promise."
"Councillor Oralie," Sophie whispered.
Keefe took a few seconds to process the news. "That makes a lot of sense. And, so, I take it you told the Fitzy... and..."
"He wanted me to tell the matchmakers," Sophie said. "And I refused to ruin Oralie's life like that. So we decided that... that it couldn't work." Keefe nodded, and another worrying thought came into Sophie's head.
"What?" Keefe asked. Stupid Empaths.
"Um..." Sophie started, eloquent as always. "I know that being a 'good match' was a really big deal to Fitz. Do you...?"
Keefe seemed to get the question without her finishing it, and he laughed. "No. Foster, I know you worry about everything, but you don't have to worry about that. I mean, since when have I cared about Lord Pretentious's reputation?" Keefe rested his hand on top of hers, and his voice suddenly got softer, more serious. "And besides, Sophie, I love you more than names on a piece of paper. I love you more than elvin society can hate us. I love you more than anything, Sophie."
"I love you too," Sophie said, feeling like a ginormous weight had been lifted off of her shoulders.
"So how are you feeling, Foster?" Keefe asked. "I know you're stressed about the fight that we're getting ourselves into."
And, it felt like another giant weight had just crushed Sophie. "Yeah," she said, that tiny word not even coming close to conveying her level of anxiety.
"We're going to win," Keefe said, nothing but confidence in his voice. "For one thing, I'm pretty sure we outnumber them. And also... we have a really amazing group. Like, Biana's a queen. Remember what she did to Gemma? And Dex can make the coolest stuff for us, I bet the Neverseen can't even come close. Fitz can do his cognate thing with you, and I'm not jealous of that anymore. Marella and Linh are both, like, scarily powerful. Bangs Boy can do the weird shadowfluxy stuff- and remember how long you and Fitz were in the healing center? The Neverseen is doomed if he does that to them. Glimmer and Wylie can both do really cool stuff with light, and Glimmer probably knows the Neverseen's strengths and weaknesses and stuff. Jensi's really, really good with skills. Maruca's a psionapath- remember how them having Ruy meant doom for us? Now we have a psionopath and they don't- this is awesome! We also have like, Grady the Mesmer, and all of the other adults who are super talented. And I have the weird stealing ability thing, which means that I can have any of the abilities they have. And you, Sophie, are incredibly powerful- I have no doubt that you can defeat them all single-handedly, and you're not single-handed- you also have all of these amazing allies that I just listed. We are going to win. Okay?"
"Okay," Sophie answered.
She got a decent amount of sleep the next night, to everyone's surprise. At approximately the crack of dawn, Grady and Edaline shook her awake. Sophie opened her mouth to complain when they first came in, but as soon as she remembered what day it was, Sophie was wide awake.
"Hey, kiddo," Grady greeted her.
"Hi," Sophie replied. A weird feeling was encompassing her- a lot of it was nerves, but there was also the indescribable emotion one gets when they know that, no matter what happens, everything will be different after that day.
Whether they won or lost, Sophie had no doubt that everything would change.
"You ready for today?" Edaline asked.
"No."
"You've got this."
Sophie attacked both of her parents with hugs. "I love you, Mom. I love you, Dad."
"I love you too," they both replied.
Suddenly, Sophie felt extraordinarily confident. She wasn't sure if it was the support of her parents, or the sleep, or Keefe's pep talk, or what- but she suddenly believed that they could win. Not just that they could win, but that they would.
"Let's do this," she said.
This chapter is incredibly long- without the A/N's, it's well over 2,000. With A/N's, it's over 3K.
WHICH IS FREAKING INCREDIBLE!
This brings the total to 50,725. Something is officially novel length at 50,000 words.
THIS BOOK IS AS LONG AS A FREAKING NOVEL!
AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
In other news...
We have approached the climax, which brings on a whole other bout of screaming, but I'll spare you guys and scream in real life (my poor parents). Anyway... I have no idea how to write this properly, so don't be surprised if I disappear. My plan is basically to write the whole thing and then divide it into chapters, which means it'll be a while until the fight scene, but then you'll get a double or triple update. So... I'll say that cancels out.
Wish me luck! I have no idea what I'm doing!
That's all, please review!