(A/N I realize I originally said one-shot… OOPS! Anyway this will eventually become a full book so ENJOY EVERYONE! ;P) The flaming firestorm surrounded them, the heat singing their tunics. The orange and yellow flames soared, flying high in the sky above them. The smoke clogged their lungs as they attempted to breathe. Sophie coughed insistently, and Keefe's burnt hands shook as he was torn between trying to help her, and not accidentally burning her. Sophie rested her head on his shoulder, still consistently choking. Keefe tried to look around the fire for the way out, but he couldn't see. Even if he could, the smoke was affecting his sight as his eyes stung with pain.
"We'll have to levitate!" He shouted to be heard over the thundering burning fumes.
"Won't they-*cough*-see us?" Sophie gasped out, her chest heaving with the effort of breathing.
"It's a risk we'll have to take!" Keefe shouted and focused his energy on levitating into the sky. He carried Sophie, her head on one shoulder and her legs in his other hand. She coughed and sputtered, barely able to breathe. Fear flooded his senses as he realized if he didn't get her out soon, she wouldn't live to see dawn. He levitated higher and higher, energy depleting quickly and running out of concentration. He pushed as hard as he could, desperately trying to reach higher than the towering flames. The raging fire climbed up perfectly living trees and burned them to a crisp, fueling its rage. Keefe swept his gaze across the burning land, seeing only the ash and destruction. The Everblaze flames rose higher, in a competition with Keefe. He gritted his teeth and rose higher, fighting the little voice in his head telling him to surrender, to give up.
Sophie stirred in his arms, her cough ceasing as she looked into Keefe's eyes. "Keefe?" She whispered, her eyes barely open.
He smiled. "I got you Foster!" He promised, to both of them, as a final push of energy thrashed through him and he closed his eyes, only to open them and take a deep breath of oxygen.
"We made it!" He told Sophie, relief in his voice, until he noticed Sophie still coughing and her burns.
"You're hurt!" He gasped, looking for any place to rest. The fire burned for miles, burning everything in its path, from trees to flowers to even anyone caught in the crossfire. Smoke rose from the flames, turning the atmosphere smoky black. Desperation soon crept up on him as he desperately searched for a way to escape.
As soon as he realized there was no escape, he looked down at Sophie's quivering body.
"What are we going to do?" Sophie whispered, shaking. Keefe realized he couldn't save her, the girl he loved, the girl he had always dreamt about, and the girl who was supposed to save the world. Tears threatened his eyes as he looked into her eyes. Then he knew what to do.
"FINTAN! WE ARE OVER HERE!" He yelled, waving his one free hand.
"What are you doing?!" Sophie asked quietly, which would have normally been screaming.
"Saving us!" Keefe said quickly before he started yelling again. "COME GET US!"
Silence followed Keefe for thirty-one seconds before he heard laughing and Fintan appeared, turning his head to look at all the damage to the world he created.
"Finally given up, have you?" Fintan asked, coming closer as Keefe pulled away, protecting Sophie.
"I will do whatever you want, and you can torture me all you wish, but do not in any way harm Sophie," Keefe told him, hoping Fintan might consider the deal.
Fintan paused for a moment, flames flickering on and off on his hands, before looking back up at Keefe.
"We still do need to ensure you properly receive your punishment for leaving," he admitted, the wickedest grin ever appearing on his face. "If you willingly surrender, we can promise to release Sophie alive and untampered with… BUT!" He added when Keefe released his breath he had been holding. "You also have to spill the Black Swan's secrets to us!" He added.
Keefe swore under his breath before answering. "Deal!" He said, and Fintan reached out and teleported them using the Neverseen gadget. The flames disappeared around them as they appeared in one of the Neverseen hideouts, thrown in a cage together.
"Keefe why did you do that?!" Sophie screamed, the realization of what would happen to Keefe dawning on her.
He smiled. "So you didn't have to suffer!" He told her, taking her hand.
Sophie flinched. "I was born to save everyone, not to have everyone save me!" She wailed, wrapping her arms around Keefe and sobbing on his tunic.
"I don't want you to leave!" She sobbed.
"I don't want to either, but it was the only way to make sure you can still save everyone." Keefe said, taking her hands.
"I love you." He whispered.
Sophie looked up at him.
"You do, even after all this time?"
Keefe half-smiled. "Of course."
Just as Sophie was about to respond, three figures draped in black cloth unlocked the door and dragged Keefe away, and an invisible figure restraining her.
"I LOVE YOU TOO!" She yelled, maybe too late, as she lost sight of Keefe, maybe catching her last glimpse of him ever.
Sophie jumped out of bed, sweating and her eyes red and swollen with crying. For a second she was confused, not understanding why she was in the room with Biana and Linh and everything seemed natural. The sun wasn't up yet, the stars still shined brightly in the sky yet,, and there was no fire.
"It was just a nightmare!" She sighed in relief, laying back down to sleep again, trying to ignore that feeling in her gut that something was wrong. It seemed almost too realistic to be a dream, Sophie knew, but tried to ignore that gut-wrenching feeling as she fell back asleep.
Sophie experienced what could have scored records for world's most awkward breakfast the next day. It started with the fact her nightmare had scared the living daylights out of her friends.
Sophie had apparently been screaming "bloody murder" as Linh described after she woke up. Everyone else has jolted awake at the first sign of screams and Keefe has come running, which would have been embarrassing enough without Fitz running in too and checking her mind to see what was wrong. Keefe had refused to leave her side, holding her hand to make sure she was okay. Biana and Linh has giggled profoundly and Fitz had been just watching from afar, crushed but keeping his promise of just friends.
Anyway, that had been super embarrassing just hearing about it from Biana and Linh as they prodded her awake, but breakfast had been way worse. It had been fresh on everyone's minds, and everyone was cracking jokes about it.
"Wow Foster, you were scared to be near me while sleeping!" Keefe had teased, turning her red already.
"Yeah, what happened, Keefe changed his hair or something and it scared you half to death?" Tam had snickered.
"And we haven't even gotten to the part where everyone came running! Fitz looked like he was going to pass out!" Biana had joked.
"That's just classic Foster, knocking boys off their feet!" Keefe high-fived Tam after Fitz had turned deep red.
After the humiliation ended, they agreed to play a game of base quest, which was way more complicated than necessary. Biana, Fitz, Keefe, and Dex had all called Sophie on their team. Tam and Linh had chosen each other, leaving Sophie to decide who she wanted on her team. Everyone had put up their arguments, of course. Biana claimed she was the best because she could use her Vanisher ability, Fitz said their Cognate bond made them stronger, Keefe teased because he could make her float (which called for more snickering), and Dex said him because Sophie had been ignoring him lately. In the end Sophie chose Dex because she had been ignoring him lately, and Fitz because 1.) she felt horrible about hurting him and 2.) knew they gave each other advantages. Keefe had pretended to be hurt and that had merited him a flick on the shoulder. After a long and tiring game, Sophie's team won, and everyone retreated inside.
After a few more hours of various games, everyone went home, and Sophie and Keefe were left alone.
"Hi," Sophie said quietly, suddenly fascinated with the toe of her long black boot.
"Nervous to see me?" Keefe smirked his famous smirk and came closer, fanning the air as he did. "Those are some heavy Foster Feelings! And don't even try to hide it, you can't lie to an Empath." Keefe reminded her as he stood next to her, touching her lightly, arm to arm. It took all her willpower to not *accidentally* grab his hand.
"Foster, you think I can't tell you want to grab my hand?" Keefe asked teasingly, grabbing her hand himself. Their finger entwined, and Sophie felt that rush of heat spread from her hand to her feet. Her traitorous lips began to curl in a smile as they silently walked to the Leapmaster and pulled out the various stones they needed.
Just as Sophie was about to leave, she turned her head and Keefe pecked her on the cheek.
"Goodbye Foster," Keefe whispered as he disappeared.
"Goodbye Keefe," She whispered back.
Sophie arrived at Havenfield, on her way to the front door, ignoring the fight between Verdi and Grady, oblivious to Edaline's struggles with the verminion, and not caring about the gnomes all tagging up with each other to take down the pterodactyl. She marched straight up to her third-floor, ginormous bedroom, and at first didn't notice what was so different in her room. Iggy had let out one of his Iggy farts and Sophie was more concerned about the fart before she saw the note on her pillow marked with a Lodestar symbol.
Sophie ran over and ignored Sandor's yells to not read it, tearing it open. She frantically tried to open the letter, reading quickly when she finally did.
Prepare for the sudden turn,
If not, be ready to burn.
The Vanisher stood shaking in the corner. He hadn't expected the Moonlark home so soon, so this could almost ruin the plan if he was caught. Fintan had had his "vision" in place for so long, everyone had it memorized by now. Then he went and got himself arrested, so it didn't do much good, but little did he know his loyal Vanisher was a double agent. Vespera and Gisela both knew the plan, but needed the last bit of information to pull off their plan for the best kind of world. If the Moonlark caught him, everything would fall. He had to escape. He had to break free. But it looked like Sophie would be there for a while...