Hello! Here's the second part of Keefe's chapter. I hope you like it! Writing from Keefe's pov is especially fun. But I do regret to tell you Keefe's not gonna have a great day in this chapter…

On that ominous note, enjoy!
-LLF

But right after, she turned, blushing and hurrying away, forgetting about Mr Forkle, who escaped with no one noticing. Everyone started shouting, Biana celebrating, Grady yelling animatedly, saying words in Ogreish that made even Bo blush.

In addition, Fitz was smiling faintly, Dex was facepalming, all twelve councilors (who had been oddly quiet this entire time) had wide, startled expressions and were taking in the whole scene while simultaneously backing up. Edaline was laughing, Marella was grumbling 'finally', and Wylie and Linh smiled at each other. Tiergan had a bemused expression, Juline was softly smiling, and Stina (who had rolled her eyes and walked away when Sophie had shown up) yelled 'Did Team Foster-Keefe happen?' When shouts of 'yes' in every emotion possible and plenty of ogre cursing reached her, she just rolled her eyes (does this seem to be a habit for her) and huffed an exasperated sigh.

Keefe just stared after Sophie's retreating figure. When she reached the front stoop, she peeked back at Keefe, and blushed the brightest red he'd ever seen. He felt her embarrassment loud and clear, but it took him a couple minutes to decipher the suppressed, overwhelming sorrow and exhaustion buried underneath. Worried, he tried to push past everyone, but they all crowded around him. "Please!" he shouted, muscling through the crowd. But Biana, squealing, blocked him, and Grady cornered him, looming over him like Death itself. Luckily, Edaline pulled his arm, distracting him and trying to drag him away. "Please!" he said again, but his words were swallowed up by the still exclaiming crowd. Finally Sandor picked him up and carried him over the mob and to the front door. "Thanks," Keefe said breathlessly, and raced up the glittering stairs, mentally thanking the god of gulons for the grey bodyguard. Always knew he was a softie, he snickered, but that thought was lost as he opened Sophie's gilded door. He heard soft sniffling coming from the bathroom. She quieted herself as she heard him walk across the room.

"Sophie?" he asked. She didn't say anything, but some more soft sobs came from the closed door. So he pushed it open, not really taking much effort to push her small frame across the tiled floor. He slipped in and shut it again, and she leaned against it.

"You ok, Foster?" he asked, trying to appear casual by slinging his arms lazily around his legs. His heart ached as the petite blond next to him sniffled quietly again. She couldn't seem to look him in the eye, and she fit her head into the gap between her knees, blonde hair cascading around her like a golden halo as she held herself together with her skinny arms, which Keefe noticed had a few tiny golden freckles wandering up and down them.

He scolded himself for focusing on that, and looked at Sophie again. Watching her be so vulnerable and sad, he could care less about Alden's wishes- even if Sophie had already-

Nope, not thinking about that right now.

"Screw it," he said, and scooted closer to her tiny, trembling body, and wrapped an arm around her too, as a way to allow her to let herself go. No need to keep herself all together here.

"Hey," he whispered into her downcast ear. "What Mr Forkle did was unfair. It's not ok to use you, no matter what anyone says." He put as much determination and comfort into his words as possible, like he could soak all her sadness and betrayed feelings up and replace them with warmness and happiness and comfort.

It must've worked to some degree, because Sophie looked up at him, tears still in her eyes. At least she wasn't crying anymore. She tried to wipe her eyes on the palm of her hand, and then turned back to Keefe.

"Really?" she said, and just the reason she had to ask that made Keefe wanna storm out of there and give Mr Forkle a piece of his mind- and his fist. But he had a feeling that everyone else was doing most of that for him. So, instead, he stayed right by Sophie's side. He laughed a bit so Sophie wouldn't see how angry he was with most of the Black Swan. He couldn't believe he hadn't seen it before.

"Yes, Sophie, yes! You are a normal elf." When she started to shake her head, he held her chin up to face him. "A NORMAL ELF! No, don't shake your head. Listen to me." He looked her dead in the eye, serious. He needed to know she understood. "You can do extraordinary things, and in ways that only make everybody more impressed and inspired. But you don;t naturally have super-energy. You can't not sleep. You don't have future sight. You can't predict everything. You can't always get everything right. No one can." he laughed again at her slightly scandalized expression. "You can't not eat. You can't not drink water. And as much as certain members of the Black Swan hate it, you can't not make your own decisions. You have to. You can't be mind controlled." Keefe shifted his hands to hers, grasping her cold, slightly damp fingers in his own. "You can't be mind controlled," he emphasized. "So don't let them control you anyways. You hear me, Foster?" he smiled at her, and she sniffled again, gratitude pouring into Keefe through their clasped hands.

"Thank you, Keefe. Really, thanks." Tiredness still radiated off her, but at least there was some peace and comfort in the mix too. And then…

…Sophie rested her head against his shoulder, and he felt his face warm up. It took Sophie a second to realize what had happened, and then, face flaming, she retreated back into a Sophie-ball.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry! I didn't mean to make things awkward, it was just Fitz said-" Before she could continue her rapid-fire rant. Keefe cut her off with his finger, which made her blush even harder than she already was.

"Woah, woah, woah. For one thing, you didn't make things awkward. It was actually…kind of nice." He hoped she didn't see how hard he was blushing. After all, when did The Keefe Sencen ever blush?

"Two, are you and Fitz broken up?" Keefe was suspicious. From the way Sophie talked… but outside… "If he hurt you, I swear…" Very nasty things and some words he probably shouldn't say flew into his head. Sophie grabbed his hand again, melting the various ways that Fitz could die (in the most painful ways, of course) from his mind.

"No." She was whispering now, face adorably painted red. "I told Fitz…that…I like you," she said, staring at the floor like it held the secrets of the universe. Keefe's thoughts mysteriously disappeared, and he barely noticed as he started squeezing Sophie's small hand. He tried to loosen his grip, not wanting to hurt her, but his empty brain didn't respond. "...and he said that he was fine and actually didn't want a relationship right now because he wanted to train and get his temper under control. It was actually… kind of sweet." It took Keefe's mind another second to regain control and pick apart that astonishingly fast-spoken sentence .

He noticed Sophie glancing at him, but he was too shocked to do anything. Was this a dream? This seemed like something out of the romance novels Biana had lent him (as a way to convince him to ask Sophie out). And it had…worked? Was this too good to be true?

"Sophie, I…" he could feel Sophie hardening herself, so he squeezed her hand again, quickly. "I don't know how to tell you this, but… I have liked you, for, like, ever." He felt himself sweating. Wow, what was it about telling adorable girls how he loved them that made him so nervous?
He hoped Sophie wasn't listening to his thoughts.

"Ever since I saw you wandering the halls, covered in alchemy gunk and hopelessly lost. I knew that you were someone incredibly special. Not just that, but just…incredible. Amazingly, wonderfully, fantastically incredible." He cringed at how cheesy he sounded. "And I really started to appreciate you and, well, care about you more and more as you proved how true that was. And this is exactly what I want. What I've always wanted, actually. DOn't think that I;m some creepy stalker that loves someone the first time they see them! But… I really believe that you are the bravest, most caring person in the world."

What was it with him and long, cheesy speeches today?
His dumb mouth fumbled on.

"And… I love you, Foster. I really, really do." He had gone too fast. All the emotions rolling off Sophie were way too overwhelming to read.

Crap.

He always messed things up.

Sophie's teary eyes sparkled, and she hugged him tight, cutting off all his worries.

"Thank you, Keefe. I really, truly thank you." Keefe guessed that gratitude was her immediate reaction to anything too shocking, and honestly, he couldn't blame her. It was nice to be able to place love on someone else, especially if you're not feeling too good about yourself.

He hoped that Sophie felt good about herself. He certainly admired her.

"I…" Sophie's voice brought him back. "I think that my heart always loved you, but my brain deluded me into loving Fitz." Keefe snickered at her fearless choice of words.

"Wow, it 'dElUdEd' you? Fitz would be offended that he's that hard to love!" Sophie snorted adorably, also crying tears of confused joy. THey stayed there until past midnight, just enjoying each other's company and leaning on the other's shoulder for support in their shaky lives.

Keefe had to sneak into the Shores of Solace that night, but Ro waited on his still messy bed.

"So, why were you out until," she checked a small clock by his bed. "2:27 in the morning?" she asked, checking her nails, eyebrows raised. Keefe winced, stepping into the shadowy room completely. Ro looked at him skeptically. "Hello? Funkyhair?" Keefe scoffed at the nickname, and threw off his shirt, pulling on a ratty gulon PJ top with lots of room to twist in (he was NOT going to risk another escape-then-call in the morning again). Ro rolled her eyes, stood up, lifted him off the ground by the collar of his new shirt, and looked him in the eye. "Updates? What had you out so late?" Keee looked back at her, unimpressed. "Hm, we're guessing, then?" said Ro, lifting an eyebrow and tossing him on the bed, passively handing him a brush. When Keefe accepted it and didn't say anything, Ro held to her threat: She started guessing, tapping a bright yellow claw on her chin.

"Mommy Dearest strikes again?" Keefe tilted his head side to side, as if saying 'maybe'. Ro raised her eyebrow. "Silent Keefie boy! Fine. The Neverseen?" He made the same head motion.

"Mr Forkle?" she pivoted. Now Keefe raised an eyebrow, and broke his silence.

"Why did you come to that?" he said incredulously. Ro shrugged nonchalantly.

"Techy Boy called you about him and Blondie, no? I just assumed as much." Keefe settled back into the bed, his fears of her silently stalking him eased.

"Mhm, that's actually how it started," he said casually. Ro's raised eyebrow traveled higher up her face, and a smug smile curled on her thin, red-painted lips.

"So, you and Blondie together, then?" The sudden change of subject made Keefe sit up, a blush on his face.

Dang.

"I'll take that as a yes," Ro said, satisfied and smirking widely. "Finally! So, how'd it happen? Spill," she said, pulling the creme chaise over to the bed and sitting with her arms propped on her crisscrossed knees and face settled into her clawed hands with a smile like a Cheshire cat. When Keefe only stuttered, Ro rolled her eyes again, still smiling.

"Please, like I wouldn't notice that blush you had when you came in! And that lovely crimson painting on your face at the moment only confirms it." Keefe glared at her and rolled over to face the wall until she poked him, hard, with her sharp talon.

"Ow! Do you, like, sharpen your nails?" Keefe grumbled, reluctantly sitting up. He knew the second he told her, it would be public knowledge, and he knew Sophie wouldn't like that. At all.

And she always came first.

So he stayed silent.

He barely slept all night.

When Keefe woke up late in the morning, Ro was still glaring.

"Ready to talk yet?" she growled, annoyed.

"Nope!" he said, and jumped out of the blanket-less bed, changing into a wrinkled tunic. He was oddly excited to see Sophie, and that thought brought both a smile and a blush to his face.

"Going to see Blondie?" Ro grumbled. "Maybe she'll tell me the drama."
Keefe seriously doubted that.

When he arrived at Havenfield, the house was strangely silent. He looked around, then walked into the house.

"Uhm… Hello? Grady? Edaline?" he called into the empty house, but a tray of treats and a note on the counter caught his attention.

Sophie, We had an urgent errand to run. Left treats for you. Love you! Have a great afternoon! See you tonight!

-Love Edaline and Grady

Ro immediately quit her plans of going upstairs when she saw the tray of Sweetberry Swirls.

"Blondie won't miss a few, right?" she said, devouring the puffy pastries. Keefe just rolled his eyes and bounded up the stairs. When he reached Sophie's room, it took him a second to notice the stack of papers and pile of trackers on the dresser.

When he did, his heart stopped.

No, he was being silly. Sandor surely must have changed her tracers. And the paper… just spare parchment, surely.

Surely.

But when he reached the desk, he found an envelope inscribed with his name.

Surely.

He opened it.

Surely.

He read it.

Surely… she wouldn't…

Surely.

He passed out.

The only thought in his head was that this was surely a joke. Because she wouldn't.

Surely.

Poor, poor Keefe. Also, I'm sure you're sick of Keefe's dramatic "surely"s, so on a funny note… Keefe totally reads the romance novels Biana lends him, no doubt about it. They're totally besties, reading each other romance novels while they fix their hair. I think it's cannon, haha.
Now, you guys are lucky… next chapter is a seven thousand read special on Quotev, but since I'm a nice author, I'm giving it to you for free- JUST THIS ONCE, THOUGH!
Anyways, thank you for reading!
-LLF out