(A/N HEY GUYS IM BACK WITH MORE SOKEEFE! Thanks for the reviews, keep leavin' them so I know whether you like the chapters or not! Yes I know the wait kills you and it kills me too but I gotta write my other stuff too! Anyway, I'm planning on making this 10 chapters long and then I'll make a new story or something! Requests wanted! THANKS GUYS!)
He could've sworn that that tree hadn't been black a few minutes ago.
But then again, a few minutes ago, he and Sophie had been making out (finally away from all their bothersome friends) and had noticed something was off.
His hands had wound up around her waist and her hands in his hair. Eyes were closed as they each enjoyed the moment. Tongue had moved against tongue, lips against lips, and face against face as they made out. Keefe had remembered smiling as she turned her head, and felt her hair whip against his face. He let go briefly to laugh as she stared at him in confusion. But then they noticed the smoke in the sky and the kissing stopped.
Well, now they were helpless to stop it as the yellow flames licked the trees and covered the skyline with smoke. Sophie had kept spinning around as they saw the flames begin to spread and they ran. Ran as far as they could, but it was helpless. This was human territory, and the wildfire could rage in this dead wasteland. Of course, the coughing had started out small and grew harder and more hoarse each cough until Sophie stopped running to hack up nothing.
"Babe!" Keefe yelled, running back to her to carry her in the flames. One tree collapsed in front of him and he almost went down with it. The heat burned his cheeks and his hair had embers in it as he raced around the tree to Sophie.
She waved him off at first.
"Go on, I'll… catch up!" She coughed out, pointing towards the unburning woods just ahead.
Keefe shook his head, sending dead embers flying off. "No, I'm not leaving without you!" He promised, picking her up in a fireman's carry and started running. The woods continued burning as he raced, looking for anywhere that couldn't burn. The sky became black with smoke and his mind raced, focusing on one particular memory.
"Do you really think he's with us?" Brant whispered, leaning towards the others. Keefe stalked from outside, listening from a distance.
"He seems okay," Alvar defended him.
"I don't trust him," A different voice, one Keefe hadn't heard yet, spoke up.
"If he ditches or betrays us in any way, we'll burn him and the Moonlark!" Fintan growled, his hands obviously lighting up with flames.
"He's totally in love with her!" Alvar added, trying to lighten the mood but only darkening it.
"Can I be the one to burn him?" Brant asked, flames traveling up his arms in excitement.
"No," Fintan responded sharply, pushing his chair out of the way. "I will," He laughed darkly.
Keefe zipped back to the present. In those brief few seconds, he had ventured into memoryland, the fire had spread everywhere with no escape. It soared above the trees and it grew larger and larger every second. Fear radiated from Sophie, and Keefe admitted to himself he reciprocated that fear. It was beginning to look like they may not make it out. They were surrounded by flaming trees in all directions, and this wasn't ordinary fire. You could feel its heat from this far and Keefe felt sweat beads dripping down his back. Frantically he spun, looking for a way, any way out, but he could only see one option. Levitating.
"I'm gonna have to levitate us out!" Keefe yelled to Sophie over the flames, whose eyes were slits and she was racked in coughs.
Sophie said something that Keefe missed.
"It's just like my dream," She whispered, cuddling her head between Keefe's neck and his shoulder.
Keefe felt himself faintly blush through the heat at the gesture but took it as an okay, blaming the whole dream part on her delusion from lack of water. He pushed with all his mental energy against the ground, feeling himself rise. It was harder carrying both Sophie and himself, but he tried with all his might. The flames crossed over underneath his feet, just missing the soles of his shoes. He gulped, knowing there was no way out. He levitated higher, racing the towering flames in a race to the sky. The yellow fire chased after him, wanting to win the race for oxygen. With his energy depleting, Keefe gave one last final push into the sky, closing his eyes in anticipation of what would happen next. But he felt the heat lessen, and when he gingerly opened his eyes, he was floating above the flames. A moment of glee spread throughout him but was crushed by the devastation he saw.
Miles of pure nature had been destroyed, kindling the raging fire. Green trees were now yellow, and black nothingness sat everywhere. Orange glittered the edges of his sight as he felt his heart break with every second of staring. Countless living things had been burned, ruining the perfect balance of the forest. Tears rimmed his eyes and he blinked them away.
Sophie shook in his arms, tearing her face away from his shoulder. Her eyes grew larger with every moment she looked around. Waves of emotion radiated off of her, ranging from grief to sadness to anger.
"It's just like my dream!" She repeated quietly, looking fearfully at Keefe.
"What?" He asked, confused.
"I had a dream where we were caught in a fire and all the nature was destroyed…." Her voice shook as she continued. "It looked exactly like this," She whispered.
Keefe's heart dropped as he saw the destroyed look on her face.
"How did it end?" He asked quietly, his eyes downcast.
Sophie looked away. Keefe felt her emotions go haywire as she answered meekly.
"You called Fintan to come and take us." She whispered. "You told him to only hurt you, and he could do anything to you, but to leave me alone…" Her voice faded.
Shock flooded Keefe as he realized that was the only way out. And it had been his plan. He shook his head, clearing off the thought. He needed to think straight. They couldn't run out of there, and light leaping would most likely be fatal. Sophie was injured and he couldn't levitate any further. So that left one way.
"FINTAN! WE ARE OVER HERE!" He yelled, waving his one free hand.
"What are you doing?!" Sophie yelled, scrambling in his arms.
"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. If looks could kill, Fintan would have melted into a puddle of acid from Sophie's glare.
"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. He knew it was probably word for word from Sophie's dream, but all that mattered was that she was safe.
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.
DON'T DO IT! Sophie's telepathic voice screamed in Keefe's head, but Keefe ignored it, only thinking of a way for her to live. He whispered that Elvin word that he had gotten detention for saying once beforehand before responding.
"Deal!" Keefe yelled, and Fintan laughed, snapping his fingers. Suddenly, Keefe and Sophie were teleported by a Neverseen gadget. The last thing Keefe saw before blacking out was the betrayal in Sophie's golden-flecked brown eyes.
Blackness. Pure black. Then grey. Dark grey fading into light grey, until at last there was the color of red. Strength.
Slowly, Keefe's eyelids drifted open, and he could see. A throbbing headache racked his skull, and he held his head, wanting the pain to go away before he realized the pain wasn't his.
Across the cell lay a blonde-haired young girl, who was lying flat on the floor, legs sprawled out. One hand laid under her side-turned head. The other lie uselessly at her side.
Sophie, Keefe thought as he tried to crawl across the cell, only to pause midway. His hands were handcuffed together in the front by a rope that definitely wasn't breaking any time soon. It made the job considerably harder but he managed, stopping by Sophie.
"Sophie," He whispered, leaning down to prod her side with his head. She stirred, turning on her other side.
"Sophie!" He repeated, nudging her again. Her eyes slowly opened, and no doubt she was having trouble thinking.
"Keefe?" She asked eventually, her whisper barely audible.
"I'm here Foster," Keefe pulled her into a sitting position, and, with looping his chained hands around her head and down, he pulled her into a hug. He felt her emotions slowly dissolve into nothing but then bounce back in a rage. She pushed him away.
"You let him take us, even after I told you about my dream," She whispered, looking outside the covered cell. "Why?" She asked, her voice cracking with hurt.
Keefe fidgeted. "It was the only way," He replied at last.
"But now he has us, he has you!" Sophie pushed his arms away again when he tried to squirm closer.
"But I'm not important," Keefe responded, his eyes downcast as Sophie turned back to argue. "YOU are the Moonlark. YOU were meant to save the world and to fix it. I'm just the broken boy from the messed up family," He shrugged, sitting back against the wall, barely noticing his headache through all the misery.
Sophie scooted closer. "You are my friend. My BOYFRIEND," She added, pulling his chin up with her thumb. "And even if your family completely sucks, all of your friends love you and care about you. I know I do," She laughed.
Keefe managed a smile. "Even Bangs Boy?"
Sophie smiled. "Even Bangs Boy," She responded, pulling him closer again for a hug. That moment of pure love, that moment where they melted in each other's arms, didn't last long. They both knew that this wouldn't last. They both knew that they were about to be separated, and they might not see each other again. Sophie let go, looking fearfully into Keefe's eyes.
"Will I ever see you again?" She croaked out, feeling tears slip down her cheeks.
"I don't know," Keefe admitted, "But if not, I'm going to do this,"
He leaned down and pressed his lips hard against hers.
Sophie melted into the kiss, wrapping her arms around his head and let go for a second so he could loop his arms over her head around to her waist. His lips were cracked, dry, and burned, but were still his. No other kiss had ever been like this. Not the one with Dex, not the Fitzphie disaster (as dubbed by Tam), or even their previous kisses. This was a goodbye, we-may-never-see-each-other-again kind, and it was precious. It may have only been a moment, but it felt like an eternity, and she never wanted it to end.
Their love had been rocky, and many times they were both hurt, but they were always there for each other. How could they not be together? They were made for each other. It was hard not falling for a guy like Keefe, in all his attractiveness, amazing friendship, humorous personality, and the fact he never left her. She wanted to be with him forever, to live with him, to raise a family, and to grow old together, watching the world change before their eyes. But most of all, to have him by her side, no matter what.
But that would never happen.
As Sophie finished that thought, the darkness of the room faded and the steel door melted, presenting a particularly evil Fintan, whose grin bore of pure wickedness. Keefe and her separated as Fintan laughed at them.
"Oh, you two poor youngsters, falling in love," He tut, tut, tut-ed them. "Yeah, it ain't ever gonna happen." He laughed again as he dragged Keefe by the collar away. Sophie yelled and screamed for Keefe.
"I LOVE YOU!" She yelled, wanting him to hear it if this was the last time they'd see each other.
She could barely see Keefe soon and gave up hope, thinking he hadn't heard, when she heard "I LOVE YOU TOO!" emerge from the hallway. She could now breathe, knowing that he had heard her say it, even if it was for the last time.
You will see him again! She told herself as the guilt tried to seep in. You have to.
Sophie went to turn around when she saw a figure in black standing in the shadows, holding a large black bag. All she could see was his dark blue eyes and that wicked smile on his face before she screamed and blacked out from the sedative in the gag.