Sokeefe Fan Fiction

== Some General Information ==
The world of KotLC really belongs to Shannon Messenger, and I am honored to add to this world in my own way.
I am also definitely on Team Foster-Keefe, and although I think that one day they probably will get together, for now I think that their relationship shouldn't be very serious. But even crushes can become very deep.
This is set for right after the ending of Unlocked. Keefe has not yet woken up, nor does he know what strange powers his mother has given him.
== Keefe's POV ==
Keefe could not see anything. He could not taste, feel, smell, or hear anything either, for that matter. He just...drifted. Drifted through an endless vortex of empty nothingness. If he wanted to, he could probably let go. Let go of his identity. Of his life. He could lose all sense of what had happened to him. Of who he was. But those soft, sweet brown eyes, boring into his own ice-blue ones, even through the nothingness, would not let him go. He gazed into them, his breath quickening. "Sophie..." he whispered.
Those eyes...those beautiful eyes. People had mocked them when Sophie first came to the Lost Cities, several years ago. Keefe had never done that. Keefe had never raised his voice at Sophie. He'd done his best to try and make her notice him. He'd made his best jokes, took every opportunity to hang out with her. He'd been a good friend. But that was the problem---to Sophie, to the person who Keefe's entire life revolved around, that was ALL HE WAS. Just a friend.
And then Fitz---Keefe's best friend, had become Sophie's boyfriend. Keefe didn't understand it. Fitz had yelled at Sophie. He'd made her cry. Keefe himself had comforted her. And yet...she'd chosen Fitz. She kept coming back to him. The worst part was that Fitz always seemed to be smug. Showing off.
Sometimes Keefe wished he could scream at Fitz. Sophie was what Keefe wanted with all of his heart. Fitz should be enjoying her. It was what she deserved, after all.
But Keefe had kept silent. He kept coming back to watch them together and pretend to be happy about it. That was what friends did. Even if it hurt. And it DID hurt. It was agony, watching them together. Oh, what Keefe would give...
Those brown eyes were still there. They were Keefe's solace, yes, but they were also his torture. A reminder of what he could never have.
== Sophie's POV ==
Wake up. Sophie willed him to wake up with all of her heart. But no, Keefe stayed stubbornly prone. He was as deathly still has he had been the past two weeks. And it was torturous for her to watch. Sometimes she wanted to cry. He'd always been there for her, helped her so much. And how he was in trouble, and there was nothing Sophie could do about it.
"Hey, Sophie."
Sophie turned to face the speaker. It was Fitz. He stood by the door of the Healing Center, looking very awkward. "Hi...um, how are you doing?" He asked timidly.
Sophie glared at him. "Why do you want to know?" Losing Keefe had made her realize just how much she depended on him. Fitz was not her boyfriend any longer.
As Sophie's biting words sunk in, Fitz's face crumbled. He kicked the ground aimlessly. "I'm just worried about you." He muttered quietly. "You've spent so much time in the Healing Center."
"I'm fine," Sophie told him curtly. "Keefe needs me right now. Go away, Fitz. I don't need you stirring up any more trouble."
Fitz took a step back. Sophie didn't need an Empath to know that he was hurt. "I'm Keefe's best friend. I have a right to be here." Fitz pointed out after a second. "But not 24/7. Keefe's got Elwin looking after him. It'll only take an hour or two to go home to Havenfield and get a shower and some new clothes. Maybe eat something, too. At the very least, you should have a bottle of Youth."
"It's Keefe who needs help right now," Sophie replied. "Not me. So maybe you should be asking how he's doing.
"But how are you going to help him?" Fitz challenged, his gaze growing stormy. "There's nothing you can do, Sophie, and you know it."
"I know that I can be a good friend," Sophie snapped, rising to her feet. Furious tears stung her eyes. "I can be here to support him."
"Even if doesn't wake up?"
"He'll wake up."
"But what if he's not...not Keefe anymore?" Fitz wondered. Sophie glared at him, and he held up his hands in an imploring gesture. "We're all thinking it," he said. "What Lady Gisela did to him---"
"---Won't change him," Sophie interrupted. She didn't want to believe it. No, she couldn't. Keefe was going to wake up, and when he did, he was going to be fine. ""He may be a little out of it now, but when he wakes up, he'll be just the same way he was before."
"And if he's not?"
If he's not? The question caught Sophie off guard. She clenched her fists and gritted her teeth. "We'll help him. This is Keefe we're talking about, Fitz. He can overcome anything."
"Everyone has their limits." Fitz's words hung in the air, causing Sophie more pain then she knew she could feel. She turned away from Fitz, wiping her teary eyes with the sleeve of her tunic.
"Please, Keefe," she whispered. She leaned down and took his hand. "You've got to be okay. You've just got to."
She heard soft footsteps behind her, and suddenly Fitz was standing beside her. He looked at Keefe with pity---pity---in his eyes. As if Keefe needed or wanted his pity. But Sophie held her tongue.
"He looks...different," Fitz said in a hushed voice. "I've never seen Keefe so still."
"Where have you been the past two weeks?" Sophie asked in disgust. "You haven't visited him once. Biana's come by every day. So has Dex. Tam and Linh stopped in yesterday. I think that every student in Foxfire has come over at some point to see him. Even Stina! And yet, you Keefe's so-called best friend haven't come over even once. And when you do, it's to check on me. Fitz, if Keefe could see you now---"
"He'd see me right here, beside you," Fitz interrupted. "I'm here now, Sophie, and that's what matters."
	“See you standing right next to me?” Sophie echoed.
	Fitz nodded. “It would make him happy. Remember how excited he was when we got together?”
	This time it was Sophie’s turn to flinch. Keefe had been happy. Like, really happy. Almost as if… as if he was faking it.
	Sophie pushed the thought away. She knew that it was born of a silly wish. A wish that, now that Fitzphie was officially over, she hoped might come true. She wanted Team Foster-Keefe to get serious. Sophie smiled a little. As if Keefe was ever serious! But maybe…maybe he’d be serious about this.
	Sophie’s eyes welled up with tears. Ever since she and Fitz had become a thing, she had started to realize just how much Keefe meant to her. Whenever Fitz was being a pain, Keefe was always there to comfort her and make a joke. His methods always worked. Whenever she was around him, she could never be depressed.
	But she knew Fitz was right—Keefe had been elated when Fitzphie had started. A clear indicator that he bore no ill will toward Fitz. That he wasn’t interested in Sophie. Not in that way, at least.
	All of those times he’d helped her, he’d been doing it as a friend. A sweet, amazing friend, but a friend all the same. Maybe that’s why it hurt so much to think about it. Sophie typically kept thoughts like these locked away in the back of her brain—they were too depressing to think about.
	But Fitz typically had an annoying way of bringing them to the front of her mind, where she’d obsess over them. Cognates knew each other too well, in Sophie’s opinion. Back when she liked Fitz, she hadn't minded being his Cognate at all. But now? It felt awkward and, well...wrong that she was on bad terms with the person who knew her best.
"Wake up, Keefe." She murmured, her heart breaking.
== Keefe's POV ==
Keefe could feel things again. He could feel his body, but it felt foreign and strange. He couldn't grasp how to control it. He felt rock-solid and rigid, as if it would take an incredible effort for him to twitch even one finger---which he tried to do. But even that was impossible when he tried to do it. Keefe didn't get claustrophobic---but right now he was getting pretty close. And the worst part? He was trapped inside his very own body.
Wait? What was this? Flavor suddenly began invading his world. Scent and smell were back, and Keefe drank them in, relieved to have a distraction from his nightmarish troubles.
His mouth was horribly metallic and parched, and the sharp smells of elixirs were invading his nostrils. His heart quickened. Where was he? He hoped he was in Elwin's or Physic's offices, but he had no way of knowing for sure. That was the best-case senario.
Worst case scenario, he was in some creepy Neverseen hideout. It was a very likely possibility---after all, the last thing he could remember was his mom's smug gaze, boring into his, and a sharp pain. And then everything had went dark. His mom had promised something before he was knocked out---that he was fulfilling his "legacy." Whatever that meant, Keefe guessed that she hadn't been planning to let him go anytime soon. Keefe also had a horrible feeling that his "legacy" meant something along the lines of being her weapon.
Keefe didn't feel different. Not that he could feel, at least. For now, all he could do was hope that, somehow, he'd been rescued, and that his mom's plan had somehow gone awry.
All of Keefe's friends had been there when he'd been knocked out. A lot of important people, too. He remembered seeing them laying unconscious. Sophie was awake, but she was tied up. Tam was awake, too, but he was being forced to beam some creepy Shade-light thingy into Keefe's mind (that was his mother's plan to give him his oh-so-important legacy), so he wasn't much of a help, either. Mother of the World strikes again! Everyone just loves it when her little pet Shade puts some Shadowflux in her son's head!
Keefe hoped that he had broken out of the Neverseen's control, or that maybe Sophie had manifested some cool, totally unpredictable ability and busted them out of there. Or maybe one of the others was just pretending to be unconscious. Keefe wished it were true will all his heart.
Thankfully, he didn't have to wait long to find out, because, gradually, he began making out noises. No, voices. He couldn't make out the words, but he could tell who they belonged to. He'd recognize the first one anywhere! Sophie! His heart leaped. She was here! Here right with him! It touched his heart that she cared so much. Her voice also meant---much to Keefe's relief---that they weren't with the Neverseen. They would never let Sophie be in the same room as him. Come to think about it, if they were with the Neverseen, Sophie would probably be dead.
The thought made Keefe's heart drop with pain and horror, but he tried to be optimistic. Sophie wasn't dead, and they were among obviously among friends. Still, Keefe felt strangely...cold.
To distract himself from such morbid thoughts, Keefe listened more intently to the conversation. The second voice was definitely Fitz, which made Keefe want to vomit and cheer at the same time. Fitz was his best friend, but ever since he'd gotten together with Sophie, Keefe had dreaded being around him. And now he was going to wake up during a Fitzphie love fest.
But something was different---Sophie and Fitz weren't cooing to each other in those sappy, lovey-dovey tones that Keefe pretended he liked to make fun of but really made him want to cry; they were snapping at each other.
Each word they spoke to each other was harsh and rude. Not exactly tones that a boyfriend and girlfriend spoke to each other in.
And, although Keefe knew it was wrong, he listened eagerly and intently. A feeling of ---joy, was that joy?---blossomed in his chest. That's sick, he tried to tell himself, but for some reason he just couldn't squash the feeling.
The positive feelings bubbled up and coursed through Keefe, pumping blood into long-dormant veins. Sophie and Fitz are arguing! He knew he should be devastated. What kind of friend wouldn't? But if Sophie didn't like Fitz anymore---did that mean she might start noticing him?
Elation flooded through Keefe until it felt almost unbearable. And then his sight returned. Keefe's eyes flew open and then quickly closed again due to the bright lights in the room. Eyelids fluttering, he tried again. He was starting to make out two fuzzy shapes standing over him.
At last, Keefe could make out Sophie's words. No, not words, just one word, saying his name in the kind of voice Keefe had only dreamed of. A voice full of love. "Keefe?"
== Sophie's POV ==
"I'll go get Elwin," Fitz said, turning and retreating a few paces.
Sophie barely heard him. Her eyes were on Keefe as he blinked once, twice, and then started to ease himself up into a sitting position. It was excruciatingly slow going, and he looked like it was causing him pain to do it. "Sophie?" He murmured, his voice muzzy and cracking from lack of use.
Sophie had to blink away tears. "I'm here, Keefe. I'm here. How do you feel?"
"Weak." Keefe, who was now propped up on his mountain of pillows, shifted around to face her. He looked at her, his eyes a little diluted and unfocused. He was thin and pale, and he was trembling with the simple exertion of turning his head.
But Sophie had never loved him more. Fighting a barrage of heart-wrenching sobs, she leaned forward, threw her arms around his neck, and hugged him, holding him tight. "Never do that to me again," she whispered quietly into his ear. "I was so afraid...but now you're awake and..."
"Wow, Foster," Keefe interrupted her in a rasping voice. "Those are some strong happiness vibes I'm feeling. I'm glad you're excited to see me." He winced. "But could you dial it down a bit? At first I thought the pain was your's, but now---ohhh, that's definitely me. Owwwww..."
Sophie immediately let go of him, and he fell back onto the mountain of pillows, gasping dramatically for air. Or maybe he wasn't being dramatic. He saw her gawking at him and gave her a breathless half-smirk. "Don't you always want to wake up to someone strangling you? Really loosens up the muscles."
Sophie felt her cheeks heat up. "Sorry."
"No, no, it's understandable," Keefe said, waving a hand dismissively. He still sounded out of breath. "Everyone wants a piece of the famous Keefe Sencen."
Sophie's entire face was red with embarrassment by now. "Stop it, Keefe, this is no time for your jokes." She told him. I went SO overboard! What's he going to think? I HUGGED him! "Are you okay? Do you need anything?"
"No, no, I'm fine," Keefe assured her confidently. "I feel great." He reached up a hand and raked it through his hair. He often did that in a subtle attempt to draw attention to it. But, as his hand ran through his hair, he looked the opposite of proud. 
His eyes widened. "Sophie?" He asked quietly after a second. "Do I have a bedhead?" The way he said it, anyone would have guessed the worst thing in the world had happened to him. He's the same old Keefe, Sophie thought fondly. But, the way he was looking desperately at her, she figured she owed him an answer.
Sophie considered him for a second. Keefe's hair, which was typically artfully gelled and styled, was his pride and his joy. Now, it was greasy and mussed up. And not intentionally mussed up (like he normally had it), but instead legitimately mussed up. There was actually more of a difference between the two than Sophie would ever have thought. "It's...um...pretty bad," she admitted after a second. "But it's understandable. No one cares, Keefe. We're all just glad you're awake." And still yourself, she added silently. His obsession over his hair proved it.Still, she couldn't shake the sneaking suspicion that Lady Gisela had done something irreparable to Keefe.
"I need to get home right now," Keefe stressed. He didn't seem to have understood Sophie's comment that nobody cared. "I look horrible!" After a second, his eyes screwed up, and a low exhalation forced its way out of his clenched teeth. "Except my legs don't seem to be working."
"Don't even try to move, Mr. Sencen!" The door flew open, and Elwin raced in, Fitz on his heels. Foxfire's healer hurried to the side of Keefe's cot and flashed a red orb around his head.
"That's a little bright, don't you think?" Keefe asked.
As Elwin scrutinized his patient, it occured to Sophie that she could be a lot more of a use if she wasn't just standing here. "Is there anything I can do?" she ventured.
Elwin jumped, as if he'd only just realized that she was there. "Sophie!" He exclaimed. "Yes, yes, why don't you get Keefe a bottle of Youth? They're on the shelf over there. It wouldn't hurt to grab yourself one, too. And if you would be so kind as to also grab that purple elixir from the table in the corner, it would be much appreciated."
"Sure," Sophie said, relieved to be doing something productive. Caught up in Elwin's haste, she trotted over to the shelf he'd indicated and took down two bottles of Youth. Uncapping the top of one of them, she tilted the contents into her mouth and chugged the fizzy, revitalizing liquid. Instantly energy flooded into her weary body.
"What can I do?" Fitz asked from behind her.
"You can hail Ro and Keefe's father," Elwin told him. "I'm sure they'll want to know that Keefe has woken up."
"My dad?" Keefe protested. "Yeah, like he cares. And if you let Ro see me like this?" He shuddered. "Might as well just call me Lord Greasyhair yourself!"
"Yeah, like Hunkyhair was any better," Fitz muttered, rummaging through his bag to find his Imparter.
Keefe shrugged. "I'm not going to pretend that my hair wasn't hunky. Ro told it as it was. And now that attribute of hers had turned against me. Ogres are great at getting under peoples' skins, you know. She's going to torture me with this."
"Ro wouldn't be that cruel," Elwin told him impatiently.
"Oh, just you watch," Keefe muttered. "She's vicious. You don't happen to have a shower in your office, do you?"
"No. Sit still."
Sophie tossed the empty bottle of Youth into the trash. Snatching up the remaining bottle and the purple elixir Elwin had wanted her to get, she strode over to Keefe's bed and thrust them into the physician's hands.
"Thank you, Sophie," Elwin said. He uncapped the Youth and handed it to Keefe. "Drink slowly," he advised. "Take it in small sips."
Keefe nodded. His hand trembling, he lifted the bottle to his lips and took the tiniest sip. He winced a little as he swallowed, but as the drink took effect, a bit of color returned to his face, and his hand stopped shaking as much.
Sophie was relieved that, by the time he'd downed the bottle, he looked a lot better than he had before. He still appeared to be a little sickly and thin, but at least now he looked like he wouldn't be blown over by the tiniest gale.
Fitz, who had been sitting on a chair on the other side of the room, contacting Cassius Sencen and Ro, pressed the screen of his Imparter and stuffed it back into his pack. "Okay, Ro will be here shortly," he reported. "She's just going to swing by your room to grab some stuff for you, Keefe."
"And my dad?" Keefe asked, raising one eyebrow and crossing his arms over his chest. "I'm guessing he's not coming?"
"He said he had something pressing he needed to attend to," Fitz apologized.
"Exactly! I told you this was going to---mmmfff!" Keefe spat out elixir bottle Elwin had stuffed in his mouth. It was empty, and a few drops of purple liquid dribbled out of Keefe's mouth. With obvious difficulty, Keefe swallowed, and then clutched his throat, coughing. "Really, Elwin? That stuff tastes like sea slugs!"
"Sorry," Elwin apologized. "I knew that if I handed it to you, you'd smell it and refuse to eat it."
?"
"You got that right," Keefe muttered. He began to retch. "The aftertaste is the worst part," he choked out.
Elwin watched him with a look of dry amusement. "If you're quite done...?"
"I don't know if I will ever be able to forget that," Keefe told him in a croaking voice. "What's so wrong with me that you had to give me that?"
"Nothing."
"Nothing? Elwin, I hope I heard you wrong!" Keefe looked absolutely horrified. If Sophie was being honest, she guessed he had a pretty good reason to feel that way. Poor Keefe! That seems unnaturally cruel of Elwin!
"As soon as I can walk again," Keefe promised, his voice deadly quiet, "You'll be experiencing the Great Gulon Incident in your very own office."
"Well," Elwin amended quickly, his eyes widening a little, "Nothing except all the side effects you'd have after being in a coma for two weeks."
"Two weeks?!" Keefe asked incredulously. "It's been two weeks?"
"How long did you think you'd been out?" Fitz asked.
"I don't know. A few hours, maybe," Keefe said, shrugging. "I was sort of in a trance. But two weeks? Wow, that's a long time."
"Exactly," Elwin said. "And while the Youth may give you energy and strength, it wouldn't take away all of those aches and cramps that were causing you pain whenever you move. The purple elixir did that job."
"Still not worth it," Keefe told him. "But you're right, I could use another bottle of Youth. The way I'm feeling right now, I think I'll need a thousand bottles."
Elwin smiled. "That's a good idea, Keefe, but I hope you'll understand that Youth is no substitute for food, water, or exercise. All this time in bed, your muscles have been wasting away. As soon as you're feeling up to walking, I expect you to start building up your strength."
"That's not going to be a problem, Elwin," Keefe said, accepting a bottle of Youth from Fitz, who'd grabbed it off the shelf. "Nobody can keep the great Keefe Sencen down for long."
== Keefe's POV ==
"You have the goods?" Keefe asked, his gaze fixed on a large figure clothed in sparkly pink. The figure stood in the doorway of the Healing Center, glancing furtively around, even though Keefe knew that was useless. It was too late at night for anyone to possibly be awake, and, even if they were, there was no way the figure would be able to get away dressed like that. Keefe had suggested wearing all black, but the figure had been adamant---and since she was his way of getting around at the moment, he'd decided not to argue (well, that and there was nothing he could physically do to her, seeing as he was stuck in this stupid bed). 
"I do indeed, Keefester," the figure replied, entering the room.
"Everything?" Keefe asked eagerly, leaning forward. "The lushberry juice? The mallowmelt? The rippleruffs? And---dare I say it---the butterblasts?"
The figure approached his bed with slow, deliberate steps. Keefe got the general impression that she was trying to torture him, and it was, much to his annoyance, working. All of those sweet treats...just inches away..."Your order was pretty clear, Keefester," the figure told him. "I even got extra custard bursts, just in case we ran out." At last, the figure reached his bed. Opening her arms, she let loose a cascade of packages and cartons onto his cot.
Keefe seized one of the packages and ripped it open. "Prattles too! Ro! You shouldn't have!" He paused for a second and then grinned. "Actually, never mind. You definitely should have." He dug through the caramel candies until he found a small silver pin. "A Kraken!"
"Can I have a Prattle, if you're not going to eat them?" Ro asked.
Keefe tossed her the box. "Be my guest."
After a long week in the Healing Center, full of tests and elixirs and lots of concerned Foxfire students, Keefe was finally going home. He'd depart in the morning after Elwin gave him the all-clear and instructed him about what medicines to take and what restrictions he had---pretty much a bunch of stuff that Keefe would end up completely ignoring.
But tomorrow seemed so far away...and Keefe was really hungry. After spending a week with nothing to eat or drink besides Youth and the occasional bowl of lukewarm broth or odd-tasting mush, he was craving sweets big-time. It was only hours until he was free, but Keefe didn't want to wait even that long---and the secret Mentors' cafeteria always had the best foods. Keefe couldn't leave without tasting one of their sweetberry swirls...!