EDITED: no proof-reading done

Keefe's POV:

I smiled softly, watching a beautiful Foster swimming over to the the sand of the shore.

How she looked even cuter than usual when she swam was a mystery to me. Though being cute all of the time must have played with the situation as well.

"Come onnnn, Keefe let's go," a whiny Foster complained, with her head only slightly poking out of the translucid water.

Giving in, I obliged and paddled my arms to move forward over to her side.

Just as I looked at her beautifully wet and shiny blond hair, Sophie shivered. Confused, my eyebrows creased in worry. Today, the water was as warm as ever. How could she be cold?

My worry deepened even more when Foster looked around her saying "What is it, Keefe?".

"I didn't say anything!" I replied. raising my hands in the air to prove my innocence.

My feet were now touching the soft sand underneath the water, though that wasn't enough to calm my trembling feet. If Foster was hearing voices, the dread I was experiencing in my chest might as well have turned into an earthquake.

"Hey Foster, you okay the-?" Before I could finish, I interrupted myself as Sophie's eyes glazed over. I froze when it came to me that Foster was barely conscious.

I stood in the Healing Center, right next to Sophie's cot. I hadn't come back here since our victory against the Neverseen. I shivered at the thought.

That had been the worst day in my whole existence. The day I had killed my own mother.

I shook my head, trying to get rid of those thoughts.

I realized Foster hadn't been here since she had gotten out of Foxfire, and neither had I. I guess winning the Neverseen had calmed things a bit until now.

Elwin was too busy flashing colored orbs around Foster's head, heart and whole body to answer my numerous questions.

I didn't know why I was this worried. After all, Foster had gone through a million times worse than this. Maybe it was Or maybe because I had felt her emotions: a mix of fear, confusion and light-headedness. Or was it the fact that she had just fallen unconscious because of a non-existent reason?

Maybe had someone figured out how to infiltrate Sophie's brain and put Fitzphie's threats over the years by finding a way to knock her out by the inside?

Or had she suffered from too much guilt which cause a Mind Break?

A glint at Foster's wrist paused my horrifying train of thoughts. I looked down at her hand to see a large Leaping Crystal sitting in it.

I frowned. I could have sworn it hadn't been there before, but that wasn't the real thing that was confusing me: I had never seen a purple Leaping Crystal before.

Its violet color looked like Dex's eyes, and tiny whisks of gold swirled on the inside of the crystal.

My hands ran over it. Maybe if I held it in my hands long enough, I would discover its secrets or even its emotions. The purple Leaping Crystal was buzzing with emoji, as if it were going to explode any second.

I felt a tugging on my sleeve.

"What?" I asked, my head snapping to the side. I hadn't meant to be agressive, but this whole thing with Foster was kind of freaking me out.

I saw the same small girl who was being treated by Elwin earlier. Her hair was a blazy red and her eyes were a deep navy blue. She was quite small, which resulted in making me believe she was a Level 2.

I saw her slightly flinch at my outburst. My features softened when I realized I had scared her. This girl reminded me of Foster when I had met her for the first time, she had looked so frail when I had seen her in the hallways, completely lost and covered in Alchemy goop.

"Sorry about that," I excused myself, looking down at my Foster.

"What's you name?" I asked her, trying to make my phrases as short as possible. My throat felt like it was on fire.

Her navy blue eyes seemed to bore into me.

"It's Aurelia."

She looked hesitant for a second.

"So, you're Keefe Sencen, one of the people who stopped the Neverseen, aren't you?" she repeated once again, her voice was slightly in the highs. It looked like she was afraid I would stab her any second.

I chuckled lightly, gesturing to the beautiful blond-haired girl with her closed amazing brown eyes. If her eyelids had been open, I would have seen those beautiful gold flecks swirling around the center like sunshine.

"Yeah, I was one of them. But Foster here was the main reason. I only killed the leader." I answered.

Suddenly, I stood. Foster's breathing was becoming hitched. Though that wasn't the main reason I had gotten onto my feet: the Leaping Crystal was glowing an insanely bright gold.

• • • • • • • •

A/N:

Okay, so FYI:

Purple leaping crystals normally lead to Alluveterre, but we're just going to ignore that right now. ?

~Ellie

Worcount: 995