Chapter Three

To the guest review - Here's your update! Finally! (Sorry this story takes me so long to write, but here you go!)

This is the only story I have with any followers! TYSM! I really appreciate it, it means someone likes my writing! That always cheers me up. Hope you like the new update! It took me a while 'cause now I have a lot to do. Also, I won't be able to publish all this week, so you're getting the long story chapter earlier. - CL

News

Biana sits next to Keefe on the grass, squeezing her eyes closed. She doesn't want to see her parents, even though she knows they're coming. Sophie had hailed Dex, then Linh, which had made Biana and Keefe sorry for using the time her brother was missing to reveal this stuff. Then, for good measure, Marella had been hailed simply because she'd figure out something was going on with or without them telling her. So announcing the fact that they've accepted themselves to the gossip queen themselves seemed like a better choice at the time.

Now she thinks it would have been an even better choice to write a note, hand it to Sophie, and leap away with Elwin, hiding in the healing centre for all of eternity. But it's too late for that.

'Hey guys!' says a familiar voice as Dex glitters into existence. 'Something wrong?'

'No,' Biana, Sophie, and Keefe chorus. Elwin just smiles and sits down a few feet away, giving them privacy, but still being there in case the iconic funkyhair and Lesbiana need him. Ro's somewhere on the property, bugging Sandor about security. Or maybe the other way around? Biana isn't quite sure, but she doesn't care enough, and is kinda distracted.

'Okay. I guess I'll just wait for everyone else to show up?'

'Yup.' Sophie sits down next to Biana, and the Vacker girl turns bright red. She covers it quickly, but Keefe notices, and chokes back a laugh. Sophie looks confused, but shrugs it off. Keefe laughs again.

'Does this mean I have an annoying couple to deal with?' Marella asks when she arrives. 'Because, to be honest, I thought it'd be Fitzphie or Sokeefe or something, but I guess Keefiana is okay! I just want in on the gossip.'

'We're not a couple,' says Keefe.

'Sure, sure, sure. Waiting to announce it 'till everyone else shows up?'

'We're not a couple.'

'Okay. Sure.' She flops down onto the grass and giggles when Biana flinches at the small patch of grass that catches on fire. She slaps it out and laughs again, then stares intently at the Vacker girl.

'What?'

'Oh, nothing. You just… Seem different. Is it 'cause you're dating Kee-'

'We're not a couple, Marella!' they yell in unison, rolling their eyes.

'Who's not a couple?' Linh asks, as she appears in the grass. 'Keefe and Biana?'

'Yeah!' they say, shaking their heads profusely. 'Marella just thinks we are,' adds Keefe, smirking at the pyrokinetic.

'What's going on?' asks Dex when he arrives, and slumps over next to Sophie.

'What's up?' Keefe asks him, and Biana guesses he can feel how tense he is. Even not being an empath, she can tell that.

'Nothing. I was just trying to see if I could make a gadget to track Tam-'

Linh yelps, flinging herself down next to him. 'Can you?'

He shakes his head. 'I wish. There's nothing I can track him with right now, so I'll have to figure something else out. What'd you two wanna tell us?'

'Apparently they're not a couple,' Marella says in a way that says she still doesn't believe them.

'Oh! Hey, Elwin!' Dex exclaims, glancing over to see the physician with the funny tunic on, a few feet away. 'Wait- Is something wrong?'

'No,' they laugh, waving a dismissive hand. 'Nothing's wrong.'

'Okay? Good, I guess. Are we waiting for Fitz to talk about this? 'Cause it seems like something's wrong.'

Biana shakes her head, and has to smile at Dex's friendly face. 'No, nothing's wrong. And, no, we're not waiting for my brother. We are waiting for my parents, though, but I doubt they're coming. I think they'll act just like Fitz.'

'Seriously! What's. Going. On?' Marella asks, impatiently.

'Well, Bi and I wanted to tell you all something- WE'RE NOT A COUPLE MARELLA- but now I feel like Lesbiana doesn't want to-'

Biana flinches at the nickname, and Keefe stops short. 'Crap. Sorry, Bi.'

'Huh? Lesbiana? I don't ge-' starts Linh, but then she freezes.

'And now for the downward spiral,' Biana murmurs as she nudges Keefe in the ribs, hard.

'Sorry,' he whispers again, and she can tell he means it.

Trust

Biana watches the confusion on her friends' faces turn into recognition, and Keefe instantly pipes up. 'Hey! Just so you know, I'm also very very homo, so it isn't just Bi! Trust me! Sorry,' he hisses into her ear for the third time.

'Oookaaay?' muttered Marella, hesitantly looking over at Linh before whipping her head back towards the teal eyed girl and her apologising friend. 'I… Don't know what to say.'

'Me neither,' Linh says, staring at her shoes.

Dex just looks scared. When he sees Biana and Keefe notice, he violently shakes his head. 'No! No! I'm fine with it! I'm just… Worried about what everyone else will say. The lost cities aren't a good place for this kind of thing…'

'No they are not,' agrees Alden, and Biana chokes back a yelp when she sees her parents standing in Sophie's yard. Della doesn't say anything, she just looks sad. And then she sees it. Biana's mom is holding a bag.

'Do you trust us?' whispers Alden, as Della drops the suitcase onto the ground.

'I-' Biana knows she's crying, but doesn't try to wipe the tears away. Keefe pulls her into a hug, and she buries her face in his shoulder.

'Trust me, this isn't what it looks like. We want you to stay at Elwin's house until we can get things sorted.'

'Things?' she whispers, not looking up.

'Things like talking to the council, because we can't hide this from them, and they won't know what to do. We want to make life normal for you, as much as we can, but we can't do that if nobody understands you.'

'Nobody?' she asks, finally looking up.

'Nobody,' Alden agrees sadly, stepping closer. 'I'm afraid you might be the only-'

'She's not!' Keefe exclaims, dramatically gesturing to himself. 'Me too! And I bet loads of others!'

Marella nods. 'I mean, I definitely know they aren't the only ones. I mean- Not me- Or something- But- You know- Just- Trying to be supportive- Or whatever- Uh- I- Not me- Just saying.'

Keefe snorts, and the pyrokinetic not only turns bright red, but also lights a small patch of grass on fire. 'Keefe! Don't do that!'

'Don't do what?'

'Uh- Laugh- Like that- Or something-' she mutters, flailing an arm about as she splutters.

'Fine,' Keefe decides, leaning against the tree and glancing at Biana. 'You okay?'

She shakes her head. 'No, I'm not.'

'Do you want to go?' Elwin asks softly, and she realises they're crouched behind her, holding the bag her mom had dropped.

'Yes,' she says softly, not looking at her friends or family as she slowly stands up. 'I don't want to be here anymore.'

Keefe stands with her. 'Do you want me to come with you? My dear old dad won't mind if I'm gone for a night.' When she nods again, he grabs her hand, and squeezes it tightly. 'I'm so sorry,' Keefe whispers in her ear.

'Nuh-Uh!' Ro yelps, suddenly leaping over a large branch from the treeline. 'You're not going anywhere without me again!'

'And I'm not leaving her alone,' he snaps back, glaring at the ogre princess.

'And I never said you had to. I was just reminding funkyhair that I need to come along too!'

'Whatever,' sighs Bi, as she takes Elwins and Keefe's hands, and watches Ro complete the chain.

'Are you okay?' whispers Sophie.

'I'll be fine,' she mumbles back, not looking at her family as the four of them glitter into the sky. She does look up long enough to see Della softly crying onto Alden's shoulder, but she doesn't feel sorry for them. They're the ones who abandoned her, not the other way around, no matter how they spin the story.

Temporary

'You know this is temporary, right?' Elwin murmurs as they pull Biana, Ro, and Keefe into their glittering house and shows them around with a simple tour. 'I'd show you more, but, well, I don't want to make this seem like it's permanent. Is that okay?'

Biana nods in grateful agreement at her favourite physician and follows them into a smallish bedroom and drops her bag off.

'Do you want to be alone?'

She nods, but Keefe shakes his head. 'Nope! I'm staying until you seriously need me to go, or I get murdered.'

She doesn't crack a smile.

'Oh, come on, Biana! Smile, please? It isn't that bad, I promise. You get Ro and me and Elwin here with you! Plus, Foster and Linh and Rella and Dexy and all seem fine with it. And Foster-'

'Keefe!' she cuts him off, hurling a blue pillow at his head.

'Ah! She speaks!'

'I hate you.'

'You love me.'

'Not really.'

'Oh, come off it.' Keefe smirks harder and flops down to a seat on the bed next to her. 'We're, like, platonic soulmates or something!' At that, Ro bursts into loud, obnoxious giggles from the corner she's hiding in.

'What?' the princess asks when both elves turn to look at her. 'I can't laugh at funkyhair platonically confessing his love to Lesbiana? Seriously?'

Biana hurls a pillow at her head. She just catches it and tosses it back, seeming to purposely miss as it hits the door that Elwin had closed.

'Everything okay?' they call.

'Yeah!' Biana shouts back, giving Keefe another weak smile.

'Funkyhair is platonically falling in love!' Ro yells, and both Keefe and Biana throw cushions directly at her face. She manages to catch one, but the other smacks her square in the jaw. 'Oh, you asked for it!' she announces, tossing both back in such perfect formation that the two of them are knocked onto their backs on the bed.

Somehow, in the next five minutes, the three of them begin an epic 'Ro-vs-Keefe-vs-Biana' pillow fight that slowly morphs into 'The Ogre Princess beating the crap out of the two tiny homo elves.' But it at least makes Bi smile.

'I need to make the Keefe-ster get some sleep now,' Ro finally says, hurling one last pillow at them. 'Come on. I'll guard right outside your door so you can't go and attempt to force prettyboy to accept his sister. He's a jerk, so he has to figure it out on his own time.'

Keefe fake pouts, and Biana giggles, until she catches the meaning of Ro's words. 'Oh. Yeah.'

'I won't, as long as you prevent him from getting near her,' Keefe tells his bodyguard.

'He won't try,' the Vacker girl whispers, and Keefe sighs.

'So, my attempt to cheer you up failed dramatically.'

She shrugs, but he's not wrong. It had taken her mind off of things for a while, but she's still stuck at Elwin's place, instead of her home. Her family still doesn't want to see her. Her friends probably don't like her anymore. Nothing's the same. At least she still has the physician's words in her head. It's only temporary.

'This is all temporary,' Keefe assures her, as if he were a telepath.

'I know. It's just… It feels like it isn't-'

'Bi-' he interrupts. 'It is. Trust me. Fitzy'll come 'round, you'll get to go home, and everyone will see just how perfect you are.'

'But-'

'You're perfect, you don't need to change, and I'm getting pretty dang good at these pep-talks, aren't I?'

That incites a laugh from both Biana and Ro.

'See? Y'all think I'm just too amazing. But seriously, to quote your dad, "There's no reason to worry." Everything's going to turn out okay.'

'Okay.'

'Okay?'

'Okay.' And everything wasn't exactly okay, but it was getting there. She still for sure had one of her friends, and he could probably make the others come around, even her brother. Her parents had temporarily kicked her out, yes, but at least she wasn't staying with someone who hated her. Elwin understood her as best as they could.

Nothing was perfect, but it was getting there. Slowly but surely. It was getting there. And all of this was temporary.