Warning! Keefe wakes up in this chapter, and I have read through Stellarlune. I think I covered up what his Legacy is, but read at your own risk.

When I wake up, I’m in the Foxfire healing center. My burns all look like they’ve healed, but it’s still sensitive in certain areas where they were really bad. And I’m missing all my jewelry. It’s probably gone.
“What’s…”
“Lori, you’re awake!” Elwin exclaims.
“Lori!” Sophie practically jumps on me. “I was so worried.”
“I’m here.” I say. She keeps hugging me, and I just repeat the words over and over. I’m here. I’m safe.
“Let her breathe.” Elwin says. “Drink these.” He hands me some elixirs. I drink them, and Elwin asks me if I’m up for a few visitors.
“Sure.”
“Let Grady and Edaline in first.” Sophie says. He goes out in the hall for a minute, and comes back with Grady and Edaline. They have shadows under their eyes, but they’re both smiling bigger than I’ve ever seen before.
“It’s never going to be easy being your mom, is it?” Edaline asks, wrapping me up in a hug.
“I told you I wouldn’t fall apart.” Grady says joining us.
“I love you guys.” I say with tears threatening to spill down my face.
“We love you too.” Edaline promises. After a minute we break apart, and I have to wonder who else is waiting on the other side of that door. Elwin goes to get someone else after giving me another elixir to drink.
“Lori!” Biana cries, wrapping me in a hug. “Don’t do that ever again!”
“I won’t.”
“I missed you so much.”
“I missed you too.”
“Ok, that’s enough visitors for today.” Elwin says. “You still have a lot of recovery ahead of you.”
“Alright. This might sound weird, but could I move over next to Dex?” I ask.
“WAIT, did you decide you like him?” Biana asks.
“Mhm. And, he actually told me that he likes me, right before, you know.”
“AHHH, that’s so cute! Well, that he liked you too.”
“I know.”
“Sure, you can move over.” Elwin says. Biana helps me get over, since my legs are still shaky. “Now go to sleep. You’re not ready to be up for too long. More reunions later.” I snuggle up next to Dex, and close my eyes. The nightmare is over.
oOo
When I wake up again, I’m pleasantly surprised to find that Dex wrapped his arm around me. It feels almost like it did before. Almost. I’m staring at his sleeping face when his eyes flutter open.
“Good morning.” He says, sleepily.
“Always is when I’m with you.” I reply. He smiles. We sit up, and I casually lean my head against his shoulder. Tam used to joke that we were a perfect couple because I was the only one shorter than him.
“You’re up.” Elwin says. “I’m honestly surprised you slept this long.”
“Why?” I ask.
“Well, even I couldn’t stop your whole group from visiting this morning. And when they saw you two cuddling up together…” He trails off, and Dex and I both go red, but neither one of us moves away. “Apparently there were bets on who you would date.” He looks directly at Dex.
“What? Actually, that makes sense. People kept trying to play shipping with me.” He says.
“Anyways, I have your morning elixirs.” He says, handing us bottles of I-don’t-even-want-to-know-what. After all the foul tasting mostly-liquids, we are rewarded by Edaline conjuring up a late breakfast. Then I have to try to explain in a way that’s not totally embarrassing why I’m in the same cot as Dex. He wraps an arm around me, and I lean into his embrace. We sit and talk for a while. Then the chimes ring.
“Why are the chimes ringing?” I ask.
“Because it’s lunchtime?” Elwin replies, confused at my question.
“What day is it?”
“Wednesday.”
“Oh. Right. I guess I didn’t realize how much time we lost.”
“You’re not going to like this…”
“What?”
“It’s actually been… over a week. This time last week, everyone was trying to find you guys, and it was mid term break.” I go pale.
“So… I missed midterms?”
“We got kidnapped, tortured, and rescued, and that’s the first question you have?” Dex says, with a smile on his face.
“I… that’s just what came into my head. But this is the same thing that happened last time. In my old universe. And this time, I didn’t bottle Everblaze, or transmit halfway across the world to earn good marks.”
“Hey, we’ll get it figured out.” He gives a gentle kiss on the top of my head when the whole group bursts in, running. We’re surrounded by hugs, and shouts of ‘I missed you’ on every side when they notice that we’re awake. Elwin forces them to give us room to breathe, and they all take in the sight of us together.
“You’re just such a cute couple!” Biana squeals. Everyone agrees.
“Ugh…” Someone across the room groans. Everyone whips around when they hear Keefe. I can’t see around everyone too well, but it looks like he’s trying to sit up and clutching his head.
“KEEFE!” Everyone shouts it, but I think Sophie was the loudest.
“OUT!” Elwin orders. “Sophie can stay, but everyone else is leaving while I check up on him!”
“Why does Sophie get to stay?” Fitz asks. “I’m his best friend!”
“Fine, you and Sophie, but only because you’re her cognate, and his best friend.”
“What about-” Biana starts but Elwin cuts her off.
“No more buts! I need room to work. You can all come back in later!” He slams the door and rushes over to Keefe. “I’m glad you’re awake. How do you feel? Headache? Sore? Confused?”
“Um, all of the above.” Keefe says.
“Sophie, Fitz, go into his mind to check for damage there.” They join hands and close their eyes, and I assume they’re looking through his head. Elwin rushes around, and gives Keefe a ton of elixirs. “I’m not quite sure how to treat you. This has never happened before.” He mutters. “It looks like… nothing changed?”
“What?” Keefe asks in between vials of medicine.
“The process in your cells just looks… slower.”
“Huh. Maybe that’s part of my ‘Legacy’?”
“Probably.” I mutter, drawing attention to myself.
“WHO ARE YOU?!”
“We’ve got some explaining to do. A lot happened while you were out. I’m Lori.”
“I’m-”
“Keefe Sencen, also known as Lord Hunkyhair.”
“HOW DO YOU KNOW MY NAME?”
“I’m uh, from another universe.”
“WHAT?”
“Shhh…” Elwin says. “You can freak out after I clear you to go home.”
“D- didn’t you hear what she just said?!”
“I did. But I already knew that, and I have to say, my reaction wasn’t quite like that.”
“She’s not lying. You’re not lying?”
“No, I’m not.” I say.
“Or you’re just a really good liar. Let me hold your hand, then I’ll be able to sense it.”
“You can’t already feel my emotions?”
“No, I can only sense Foster’s without skin to skin contact. Why?”
“You could in my old universe.”
“Huh. By the way, do you just get used to the fact that she says ‘in my old universe’ like it’s nothing, and already knows everything about you even though she just met you?”
“I guess.” Dex says.
“So what did you two do to land yourselves in here?”
“Ask your mom.”
“Oh. I’m-”
“Don’t apologize. Honestly, her taking us is probably the only reason we found you.” I say.
“Wait, took you? I thought she just attacked or something.”
“No, it was a full kidnapping, complete with torture and their terrible food.”
“Oh.” Is all he says. “I promise this is my last question before you can give me the full update on what I missed. Are you two, like, dating?”
“Yeah.” I answer. “It was a bit of a rollercoaster to get here, but we did.”
“Ok. And I’ll hear the story later?”
“Yup. If you want to.”
“Alright.” It’s quiet for a moment, then Fitz and Sophie get out of Keefe’s head.
“It still looks fine, I didn’t see any damage.” Sophie says. “But I could feel your emotions. What were you talking about?”
“She won’t tell me her story!” Keefe says pointing to me. “She really just said ‘I’m from another universe, but I won’t tell you anything else’.” He made an uncanny impression of my voice. Even he looked shocked that it was so good. “Just dropped that bombshell, and moved on.” He smiles at his joke, but everyone can tell he was just trying to cover up the imitating.
“We’ll explain everything later, I promise.” Sophie says, grabbing his hand. Then she realizes that she’s holding his hand, and turns red and drops it. I roll my eyes, and Elwin gives him another elixir to drink.
“I don’t know what’s in these-” Keefe begins.
“And you don’t want to.” Elwin cuts him off.
“Yeah, but I feel ready to leave.”
“If you leave, you’ll have to face the wrath of Ro.” Sophie says. “We graciously haven’t told her that we picked you up too, because Elwin doesn’t want an angry ogre princess in here.”
“On second thought, I’ll stay a little longer.” He gives a sheepish smile.
“Good to have you back Keefe.” I say.
“I’m glad to be back.” He looks at Sophie, even though I’m the one who said it, making her blush. “So when exactly do I get to hear all about you?”
“When Elwin lets me tell you.”
“When can she tell me?” Keefe asks Elwin.
“Maybe tonight? We’ll see how you’re doing.”
“Seriously? All those elixirs, and all I get is a ‘we’ll see how you’re doing’?”
“Yes. I’ve never had a student fulfill their Legacy before.”
“I think she should start explaining now.”
“No. Also, you two should put this balm on any sensitive areas.” I rub it into my arms and shoulders, and the cooling effect it has is amazing. Dex starts massaging it on his chest, and even ends up taking his shirt off. And I just happen to notice that he has some nice abs. He puts his shirt back on, and wraps his arm around my shoulders.
“I think,” he whispers in my ear, “that we need to go on an official date.”
“I think that’s a great idea. Where will we go?”
“Maybe not Atlantis.”
“Yeah. How would you like to find a little garden with a nice view, and have a picnic?”
“As long as I’m with you.” He replies. I giggle.
“It’s a date.”
“Care to explain what you two are talking about?” Keefe says.
“Planning a date.” I answer.
“Oh.”
“We can let a few people in now. As long as they aren’t too loud.” Elwin says.
“Yeah, let them in!” Keefe answers. As soon as he even gets to the door, everyone charges in. It would be impossible to hear what everyone is saying, but the general gist was that they missed Keefe, and are super glad he’s awake now. And some stuff about what his Legacy did, but I guess they thought that we could figure it out later as long as it’s not going to explode Foxfire or something.
“Now can they catch me up on everything I missed?” Keefe asks after everyone calmed down a little.
“Fine. But don’t get too excited.” Elwin says.
“Alright! Who wants to start the story?”
“Where does the story even start?” Sophie says.
“How about however you made your daring escape from mommy dearest’s evil clutches?”
“Ok, uh, a bunch of stuff happened at once, Glimmer’s actually on our side, Tam is free, I figured out that I only need speed to teleport, and height has nothing to do with it, and Nubiti is queen of the dwarves now.”
“You do realize that’s a terrible explanation, right?”
“Yeah. But it’s the best I can do.”
“Ok. Now I get to hear all about you.”
“Where should I start? Well, I’m basically Sophie from my universe. And I’m not oblivious.”
“Hey!” Sophie interjects.
“Don’t act like it’s not true.”
“I liked you from the moment you got here.” Dex says. “You didn’t even realize until I told you.”
“Whatever.”
“What do you mean I’m oblivious?” Sophie asks.
“Look at the boy sitting right next to you.” She looks at Keefe, and both of them go bright red.
“Can you get back to your story?” Keefe asks.
“Fine. Do you want me to include all the dating stuff?”
“Yes. Give me all the tea from your old universe.”
“Ok, so when I got kidnapped the first time in my old universe with the Dex who lived there, when we got rescued, he kissed me, and we started dating. I went through my universe in almost exactly the same way Sophie did here, so I won’t bother explaining all that. We were pretty much parallel until the end, and I did something wrong. Dex and I decided that it was too late for that universe, and he figured out a way to travel the multiverse. The plan was for him to come with me, but the Neverseen found us just before we left. The last thing he did was send me here. Anyways, I crashed at Everglen, Elwin helped to heal me, and I got adopted by Grady and Edaline, so Sophie is my adoptive sister. The day before I got to start at Foxfire, Fitz and Dex decided to pull a prank in your honor, but I’ll let them explain that later. By some twist of fate, I thought that there wasn’t any version of Dex here, until I saw him during study hall. I didn’t know how to feel, then there was a huge sleepover at Everglen. I had to tell him that I dated him in my old universe, which I was really awkward about. But we decided to ignore it, and be friends. Everyone in the group, apart from me and Sophie, had this nightmare with the Neverseen saying that they were about to attack. Then we found out your mom kidnapped you from Havenfield. Everyone was really worried about you, especially Sophie.” She turns red again. “Then I realized that if the only difference between our universes is me, then I was the only reason my old universe was gone.” I hold back my tears. It’s not true. There are tons of other factors. I tell myself. “It actually broke my mind, but Sophie healed it. Then I accidentally used this ability I have, which apparently isn’t one you can manifest here, Seeking, to spy on your mom. We didn’t learn much, other than that it was definitely her who took you. Dex and I went to Atlantis to go gift shopping for midterm presents, and the Neverseen kidnapped us. You don’t want to know the details of what happened there, so I won’t tell you. Everyone rescued us, and here we are in recovery.”
“That’s… a lot to take in.” Keefe says.
“That’s the summarized version.” I reply.
“You never said anything about that scar.” He notes.
“Promise you won’t apologize for it?”
“Why would I-”
“Just promise me.”
“Fine. I won’t apologize. Now what happened?”
“So when you joined the Noverseen, and I snuck along with you, they wanted to test your loyalty, so they wanted to make you burn me with my black swan pendant, and you said no. But in my universe, they held you back while someone did it to me anyways, then knocked me out, and by the time someone found me, the damage was permanent.”
“Oh.” I can tell that it’s taking all of his will not to apologize.
“Any other questions?”
“Nope. Now who wants a trip to the Mentor’s cafeteria?”
“Must I remind you that a very angry Ro is waiting for you out there?” Elwin says.
“Eh. I’ll have to deal with her eventually. Might as well be now, while you’re still here in case she feeds me any nasty enzymes.”
“If you think the worst thing she can throw at you is a few enzymes, then you’re sadly mistaken. But you’re doing ok physically, so be my guest.”
“Nice! Butterblasts it is!” Maybe he should have been more careful. But I’m excited to see how long it takes him to regret his decision.

Y'all, please give me some ideas for other things to write. I literally only have 6 more chapters written. Also, I have Sophie's POV of Lori and Dex getting rescued, but it is a little gory, so idk if I'd want to post it. It's not terrible, it just describes how they look after spending a week in a neverseen basement. So would anyone be interested? Just curious.