I was really suprised this chapter took me so long, then I realized it was the length of two easily! Makes a lot more sense now! (Also man I hate editing hahaha!) Soooo, enjoy this double chapter, and I hope you all love the end twist as much as I do! ^.^ (Also don't worry too much. 3 Love you guys! 3 ) Ps. To all of you Sofitz fans, Fitz will be in the next chapter a bunch! So don't worry! :)

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"No, Keefe, no!"

Laughing, Keefe stood behind her and gave her a push, forcing her to step through the doorway and into a world of thousands of fabrics she could never even begin to remember the names of.

"You need clothes Iz, and be very glad it's me taking you instead of Della. Plus, I've got an eye for these kinds of things!"

As annoyed as she was that he had tricked her into a clothing store, or should she say dress shop, he was kind of right. His clothing, the two times she had seen him, was always perfectly pressed, thick, ornate fabrics in undisputed harmony as they sat perfectly tailored on his body. It looked stuffy and expensive and so not like Keefe, but somehow he pulled it off amazingly.

"This is where my mom and dad always take me." He started, grabbing her around the upper arm and pulling her forward. "Don't worry, at first I was like 'you've got to be kidding me,' but then you'll see how great it is. Plus, it's actually really comfortable!"

She still wasn't sure, and the severe lack of pants around her was worrying...

But, she didn't have time to make up her mind before he handed her off to some woman, a barrage of dresses quickly following suit. Blue, teal, red, orange, green, every spectrum of the rainbow, and every nook and cranny in between, was covered by the massive amounts of fabrics. She could be buried in the piles of cloth and drown before anyone ever found her, and then there were the styles. She never realized so many kinds of dresses could be made from bits of fabric, but they were real and they were many. And she had to decide which ones she liked best, which ones she hated, which ones she might actually wear one day.

Of course, Keefe made it into a fashion show…

"This is embarrassing." Izzy groaned as she slid a hand down her face, another poufy dress hanging from her frame and making her feel way too much like some bird with a feather disorder.

"It looks great! Don't be ridiculous!" Keefe happily grinned.

"Hey! I'm being nice and helpful! What did I do?!" He cried as a pillow from one of the stupid over stuffed, plush sofas that lined the room hit him square in the face.

"Wow, it actually hit. I didn't expect that!" Izzy smiled brightly.

Keefe just pouted.

And then came more dresses. And more. And more. How many dresses were even in this stupid shop?

No matter how many she put on, they made her feel, strange. She didn't belong in things like this. She belonged in blue jeans and crumpled t-shirts a few sizes too big from the local thrift shop, eating pizza in a dark apartment. Now she was surrounded by crystal buildings, and enough gold to crash the stock market. And these stupid dresses.

She tried to meet her eyes in the mirror, tried to pretend she was happy, but it was like staring at a stranger. She looked like some princess that had stepped out of a fairy tale, too beautiful and doll-like to be real. It also didn't help that the first time she looked in the mirror she almost had a heart attack.

"KEEFE!" She had screamed, her voice echoing through the boutique.

The woman helping her and Keefe sprinted in, Keefe holding a hand over his eyes.

"Are you decent, should I, should I even be here? Umm, you-screamed-my-name-so-I-came-but-now-I'm-wondering-if-I-should-"

Izzy ripped his hand off of his face, glaring daggers at him. "What the hell did you do? It was that freaking potion wasn't it!?"

Keefe took a large step back, hands up in defense. "Woooah, just hang on a sec Soph-Iz. Iz." He smiled hesitantly.

The woman looked back and forth between them, unsure whether to intervene or not. "Is, everything alright?"

"Oh, yeah," Keefe reassured her. "Everything's fine, I just gave her an eye color changing potion. She wasn't exactly expecting it."

She gave a large, slow nod back. "I'll go get some more dresses for her to try while you two... talk, Mr. Sencen."

"Thanks."

Izzy stared back at the mirror, sky blue eyes looking back at her.

He paused for a second, like he was trying to come up with some stupid joke to fix it all, but eventually he just sighed. "Sorry Izzy, I should have told you, but with everything going on, I totally forgot. It's just, a precautionary measure. You see, elves don't have brown eyes. Which is amazing that you do, but-"

"Is it permanent?" She whispered. Unsure how she felt. It was so different, so not her, but it was really beautiful…

"No, definitely not! It's got about an hour or so left before it wears off. Don't worry, you'll get your old eyes back!" He patted her on the back before walking through the curtain. "You should try on that blue one next." he smiled.

Izzy just nodded, trying to pretend she wasn't disappointed, though relief was the largest emotion to wash over her. She still felt, upset. Looking at herself was, wrong. Her big, chocolate brown eyes were such a large part of her, and she couldn't imagine not having them. But she didn't really want to be herself right now either… Then something he had said, something about no one having brown eyes, finally hit her brain, but he was already gone, and a barrage of dresses kept her attention away from asking any further.

A dress flew over the curtain, almost hitting her in the face and knocking her out of her thoughts. "Try that one!" Keefe's voice audibly held a smile.

Rolling her eyes, she tore it off the ground and tried on yet another cloth monster. Keefe was having fun with this…

Stepping forward, arms pressed to her side like every other dress she showed off, she nervously took a breath and pouted.

"Here it is."

Keefe frowned. "You're too stiff Iz. Loosen up a bit!" He made himself an example as he waved his arms like spaghetti.

Rolling her eyes, she began to walk back to the dressing room, only to be stopped by him as he grabbed her arm. Izzy jumped, ripping her arm away and shoving the skin against her stomach.

"Woah, hey, sorry." He quickly defended, his face contorting with apologetic guilt and suprise, "If you hate it this much, we don't have to keep trying on things. We can leave, or-"

"No Keefe, it's, not that. I don't, totally mind this… It's, kind of nice, getting to try on different clothing." She blushed, wishing those words didn't have to leave her lips. Something like this was only a dream a few days ago, and admitting she kind of wanted to do this, after years of convincing everyone she only wanted to wear her jeans, it wasn't exactly easy.

"Then what is it?"

Pulling on an itchy eyelash, she tried to decide if she should tell him. She flicked it to the floor and grabbed another one.

"Umm…" Keefe began, like he was trying to find the words.

"I," Izzy sighed, his face making guilt tear at her stomach. "Fine, let's just get this over with." She muttered.

"I, what? Hey!" He yelled as she shoved him behind the curtain.

"Tell anyone and you're dead." She stared at the floor as she steadied herself for his reaction. Would he even want to talk to her after seeing them? It had happened before…

"What exactly are you planning on showing me?" Keefe all but squeaked, his face scarlet red.

Then it dawned on her, she had just shoved him into a dressing room. That was, weird. Really weird. And as he was staring at the wall, pulling on his collar like he couldn't breathe, she wished a random sinkhole would suddenly form underneath her and swallow her up.

"Not that!" She whisper squeaked back. "Whatever you're thinking! It's not that!"

"Ok, because normally when I go shopping with a girl they don't shove me into-"

"Yeah, I get it." She facepalmed. "Wait, most times?" She pulled her hand down, gawking at him. "This has happened before?" Her face contoured. "Gross, too much information!"

"NO! That's not what I meant! I mean- That is-"

"I have some stupid scars, alright! On my arms! That's all! That's it I swear to god, so can we just pretend this isn't awkward and never happened, because I'm about five seconds from running away very far from here and using brain bleach!"

"Brain, bleach? What's bleach?"

Fighting the impulse to face palm again she shoved him out of the dressing room, hard, and covered her bright red cheeks with her hands.

"Gah!"

Izzy pulled back the curtain, only to find Keefe upside down in an armchair a few feet away.

"Oops..."

"What just happened?" Keefe mumbled, frowning.

Izzy tried not to laugh, she really did, but the way his messy hair fell in his face, his frown literally upside down, and the fact that she was shopping for dresses, with a boy, a very cute boy, was too much to bear. Bursting out laughing, Keefe sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I'm the one supposed to be messing with you." He said, though he smiled slightly. "At least I made you laugh. You've been such a bummer lately."

"Well, you kind of kidnapped me at a bad time." She said through laughs as she sunk to the floor. The happiness was bittersweet, and each side of it made her want to cry, but at least the happiness was starting to take over the sadness. Maybe she could get through this after all. She hadn't been so sure before.

"So," Keefe managed to wiggle out of the seat like a caterpillar and land on his feet, not a hair out of place. "You said something about scars?"

Izzy's smile flew off her face faster than she had been ripping off dresses.

"Woah, touchy subject?"

"Yeah, a bit." No, a lot. She stared at the ground again, hugging her arms to her stomach and sighing, wishing the sea of light blue tulle surrounding her could cover them up too.

"Well, can I see? I mean, if there is something bothering you… I'm not good at serious, but I can make some mean jokes about it."

Sighing again, and fighting the urge to pull out another eyelash, she laid her arms out, watching his face as it twisted in horror and disgust.

"Woah! Like, how? I've never seen anything like that! Oh, wait, never mind I have. But that's a looong story."

Izzy's lips curled downward even lower.

"Umm, so, how-"

"I don't know." She muttered. "I just know that all of these dresses show them off. I don't know what to do…"

"Okay… Um, there are probably some potions that could cover it up, or maybe Elwin could do something. There has to be way, don't worry." He forced a small smile, though she just felt even more subconscious. His reaction wasn't bad, just… not great. But, she wasn't really sure how she wanted him to react, and at least he didn't just stare at them like Fitz did. Maybe she wanted him to take them seriously though, but for Keefe, that might be asking too much, and he was trying to help her. But, more prevalent in her mind, thinking of Fitz made his sparkling teal eyes show up in her head, along with an image of that café and how hurt he looked. Suddenly she wondered what he must be feeling right then, and if he was mad at her. She could feel her heart sinking into her stomach, almost making her forget that Keefe had been talking.

"Just, don't worry about it know, alright? Anyway, they aren't that bad.

"You don't have to live with them." She grumbled as she tried to decide what to do next, and if she should leave.

He didn't say anything else about it after that, but he started finding dresses for her with sleeves. The only problem was the sleeves drove her crazy. They rubbed against the scar's ridges in a way that made her spine craw, and she was always roasting.

Maybe, maybe she could try to get used to short sleeves…

After they had figured out what colors worked on her, and what dress styles looked good on her, and took all of her measurements, she ended up with five dresses for her efforts. Five. Five of the nearly hundred she had tried on.

Collapsing on the sofa as Keefe talked to the woman she still didn't know the name of, she tried to recall them in her head. One was a wispy, Greek goddess styled lavender dress with tiny amethyst blossoms decorating the neckline and bottom. Sheer sleeves ran down to the waist line, covering her arms just enough to hide the scars, but not actually touch anything. Another was a red dress with a small slit in the side that ran to just below her knee. Blood red garnets dotted the increasingly dark skirt as it went down. And then there was the teal ball gown, the only fluffy, princess type of anything she got. Keefe mumbled something about "Wonderboy" having an influence on her when she insisted on the teal dress, and not the sky blue or navy blue or lapis blue version he tried to introduce. But she loved it, and even though Fitz's eyes were an amazing teal color, her love for it had existed long before she knew him, filling her dreams with a feeling of hope. But the dress, as poufy and swishy as it was, was like something out of a movie. It bellowed out from below the sash on her waist, which was an almost black with sapphire blue stones swirling around, sparkling like waves when she moved. The sweetheart shaped bodice and half sleeves were even better, with more of the stones running along the neckline.

And then there was the emerald green dress. It was beyond over the top, encrusted with peridot and emeralds in elaborate patterns that made her head spin, and the layers upon layers of fabric made her feel like she was trying to walk in bubble wrap.

"Why do I even have to get this? I'm never going to wear it." She complained as she waddled around the room in the matching heels he insisted she got. "And heels, really? This is beyond what a normal person should wear. I'm going to fall into a mud puddle, I just know it."

"Biana says that every girl needs a pair of heels, and if you're going to get some, it might as well be for that. And, let's hope you don't have to ever wear this. This last time I wore green… Let's just say you don't want to wear it."

Izzy stared at him in confusion as his voice caught. "Why, what does it mean? Is green a bad thing?"

Keefe didn't answer, so with a floooosh of her dress on the sofa, she sat down on next to him and pouted.

"Hey, so next dress." He jumped up and started walking to a rack of dresses.

"I told you about my scars."

Keefe didn't move, and seconds ticked by before he finally spoke. "The last time I wore green, was to your funeral."

"Oh." She stared at the floor, about to apologize for asking about a sensitive subject, until it actually sunk in. "Wait, what?!" She jumped up. "But I'm not dead!"

"Don't you realize why everyone is so careful around you Izzy? We didn't think you were missing, we thought you were dead."

Something about his eyes showed a sadness, and annoyance, like it was a bother to bring it up. It probably was.

"So, this dress." Keefe said as he tossed her another one. The tension in the air was suffocating, and as much as he wanted to ask more questions, something about his actions made it very obvious he did not want to talk.

Sighing, she shook herself out of her thoughts and resolved herself to ask Fitz when she got back, if he wasn't too mad at her…

Keefe walked back towards the sofa, holding a bag up to show he had bought the dresses, and once again pulled her away from her thoughts. "They have your information on file, so next time you can just buy dresses and not have to try them all on. Sounds pretty good, huh?"

Izzy groaned.

Laughing, he pulled her off of the sofa. "Come on, we've still got more things to do!"

"No more dresses." She cried. "Or clothes."

"Agreed." He laughed, handing her a familiar looking potion.

Cringing, she sighed and held it up. "Why do I have to drink this?"

"So we don't get in trouble, and so no one recognizes you. Plus, when Golden Boy finds us, it will give him the shock of a lifetime!"

She went to open her mouth, to ask why she needed to hide her eyes, but the dresses had sucked the energy out of her. She swallowed the foot potion as quickly as possible before handing him the empty bottle.

He smiled. "Good, now we've got a while! Hey, and your eyes now match your dress!"

Izzy glanced down at the sky blue dress she had just bought, and decided to wear. It was much more casual than the others she had gotten. Sapphires formed flowers across the bodice and dotted the short sleeves like raindrops, and it swished with every step she took. She still wore the black boots Keefe had stolen from Biana, and she had to admit it would be very hard to give them back. If all shoes felt like clouds wrapped around her feet, she would collect them too!

"Onwards!" Keefe cheered before grabbing her hand and pulling her out into the street.

She lost track of the number of places they went to after that. Even the scorpion things were beginning to grow on her. The one thing she couldn't understand were the signs many of the shops boasted. Mushed together letters that spelled words like elven food looked seemed to be displayed in a proud manner. It made no sense, but this was Atlantis. It didn't have to.

Keefe chuckled as he grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her along, interrupting another one of her staring at the world sessions. She jumped as his fingers touched her scars.

"Geez, we've been here for like what, six, seven hours now? I've never seen someone so memorized by a bunch of buildings!"

Keefe smirked and looked back, only to notice her rubbing her arms nervously.

"Ah, are you ok?"

"Yeah, fine." She forced a smile. "I'm alright. Also, seven hours?! Will Fitz be mad?"

Keefe seemed to notice, but he didn't press her any farther, instead he just rolled his eyes. "You worry about what he thinks waaay too much. Careful, he's a bad influence. Plus, worst case scenario you can always crash at my place. I've got a few guest rooms."

Izzy sighed. "Thanks, but I'm really hoping it won't come to that."

"Suit yourself." He smiled. "I make an awesome host for, well, everything! And at the Keefe House, fun is our middle name!"

She rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that was bad. I've been spending a lot of days all stuffy and serious. It's wearing on y jokes big time. But hey, at least I can say I own a house, unlike Captain Perfect!"

"Why are you always in competition with him?"

Keefe shrugged. "Long story, buuuut, where to next?"

Sighing, Izzy gave up. Cocking her head slightly and frowning, her eyebrows wrinkled in thought. "What haven't we got?" She asked, looking to make sure he still had her music box.

Keefe made a humming noise in thought as Izzy's stomach loudly growled. Laughing, he pointed a finger at her. "That."

"Right. You kidnapped me before I could even get breakfast. There seems to be a lot of that going around." She grumbled the last part.

Keefe just laughed. "Well, unless you know something I don't, the seed incubator isn't where you get food from."

"What, but I was going to the frig…"

"The what?" Keefe raised his eyebrows before shaking his head. "Well, whatever that is, you were staring at the S.I, so yeah, no food there. Well unless you want to pretend to be a giant monster destroying a super tiny baby forest, but that would just be wrong. Face it Fos-um, Izinator, I saved you from starvation. You owe me your life." He smirked at her as they walked down a busy square.

"Yeah, right." She sighed, shaking her head as a smile to creep up her lips. "Well I guess that makes us almost even. You did nearly suffocate me."

"Hey," he laughed, "that was your own doing. Mostly. But sure, even sounds good."

"I said almost even, though today does make up for it. I actually had a really good time today. Thank you, Keefe. Minus the Tunnel of Death, it's the first time since I came here that I haven't had to worry about anything. This really meant a lot to me."

Keefe stopped for a second, causing her to almost crash into him. He turned, a hint of, something, in his eyes. As he opened his mouth the slightest bit, like he wanted to say something, he looked… lost, and vulnerable, but he just shook his head and it vanished, a bright smile covering it up. "Glad I could help. Sounds like my mission was a success, right? You really are lucky to have me around." He shot her a wink, causing her to roll her eyes yet again.

"So, how about this café?" He pointed towards a restaurant only a few feet from them. Izzy wanted to ask further, but she did barely know him, and the calming fragrance of honeysuckles and orange that wafted through the air told her it could wait. It was weird how elven things affected her, not that she minded it this time. Pushing the thought out of her head, she nodded and followed him in. The blue ivy twisted around the café's red exterior, releasing a wave over them as they walked under the arched doorway. It made everything seem ok, even happy.

When they finished their meal of what tasted like the best Tilapia, buttery mashed potatoes, and a bowl of something so amazing and smoky sweet that no human food could compare, Keefe sat the holographic disk on the center of the table and pressed a small black button on the side. The map jumped to life, and he spun it a few times to show her how cool it really was.

"So," He rested his cheek on his fist as he scanned the map out with two fingers. "We should have enough time for a few more stops. Golden Boy is probably freaking by now though, so maybe one or two. Your call."

Izzy felt very much like laying her head on the table and falling asleep right there. When they were moving, she had all the energy in the world, but now that they had stopped, mixed with an over stuffing of food, she was more exhausted than ever.

"Umm, do any of them involve sleep? Because I could use some of that…" She muttered.

"Hey, come on! Sleep is not part of the Awesome Plan! We've only got so much time. What should-"

Keefe's eyes grew as he muttered a choice word.

"What?" Izzy whispered, turning to follow his stare out the window.

"Vacker Attacker." Keefe muttered.

Izzy scanned the crowd. "What did you do to make them not like you? Or is it the other way around?"

Keefe shook his head. "Looong story."

"You always say that."

"Because it's true."

Izzy couldn't see anyone that stood out as a Vacker in the sea of people, but it wasn't like they had giant neon labels slapped across their foreheads. Even though she couldn't see them, she knew something was happening. The crowd gathering outside seemed, anxious, excited, a buzz like a million honey bees sweeping through them with enthusiastic anticipation.

"Why are they acting like that?" Izzy muttered to Keefe as a young boy ran out of the restaurant, pulling his mother along to join the crowd.

"The Vackers are as close as it comes to royalty here. Fitz and Biana's ancestors created the government that our society runs on, and when the humans were planning to break the agreement and attack us, they were the ones who saved us."

"Woah, that's… wow. Wait, agreement? The humans were going to attack? But-"

Keefe pointed back to the window. Izzy sighed at the weight of the quickly gathering questions and looked out just in time to see the crowd split. A figure that seemed even larger than life walked forward. His familiar dark hair and bright smile were only accentuated by his ankle length cape which shifted between purple and blue, never quite stopping on one or the other. Every swish of his cape seemed to separate the ever-growing crowd. One child pointed up at his circlet, which matched the gem encrusted cape.

Keefe groaned and face palmed as he walked straight towards the café, his intense cobalt blue eyes staring right at them.

Izzy could feel her own eyes growing as she turned towards Keefe. "You think he saw us?"

"Yeah, he saw us." Keefe grumbled. "And he's coming right over."

Izzy groaned. "This doesn't seem good."

"It's not." Keefe put one plate onto another a bit too hard before standing up stiffly. "And we're, no, I'm in a lot more trouble than I thought."

The door made a bell like noise as it opened and shut. The woman at the counter began stumbling over her words, a dark red blush covering her cheeks as she tried to offer the man a menu. He raised his hand, and said a few words back, somehow refusing her and making her almost swoon. Within a few seconds, he was in front of them, Keefe swearing under his breath.

"Is that any way to speak in front of a councilor?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Izzy, this is Fitz and Biana's older brother. Councilor Alvar. And he's here to ruin the party." Keefe frowned. "He lost all of his coolness when he left the ogres and took up the crown.

"Hello, Sophie." Alvar smiled, reaching a hand out. "Don't listen to him, I just grew up. You probably don't remember me, but we met a long time ago, albeit briefly. It's nice to see your safe."

Izzy shook his hand, unsure how to react. "Umm, thank you."

"We'd better go find Fitz, he's been looking for you both for a while now, and he is beyond furious."

Keefe gave a laugh and rolled his eyes as Izzy almost audibly gulped.

"Don't worry, he's not mad at you." Alvar reassured her. "Neither am I. You didn't know any better, and Keefe, an emissary, should know much better." He threw Keefe a halfhearted glare, like he didn't really want to berate him but had to at least be upset.

Keefe just shrugged. "Well, as an emissary, I was taking care of the mental health and sanity of a long lost elf who was locked up with your brother! The council should thank me!"

Alvar just shook his head and sighed. "We'll come up with a better story than that."