Keefe's POV:

Minutes. Hours. Days. 

Keefe didn't know. 

There was no time here. 

Only black emptiness. 

Even Foster's small transmissions here and there had stopped, and Keefe was worried something had happened, but maybe she had just given up on him. 

No, she won't do that. A small voice in his head argued

Why won't she? another said

Because she cares about you. You know that. 

Does she? Does she really care about me? It's probably pity or sympathy. Why will she care about me anyways? it said bitterly. 

Before he could go down in a downward spiral about this, a sweet, smooth, angelic voice cut through his consciousness. 

Hey Keefe,  it said, I'm going to get you out of here, ok? I will wake you up.

A few moments later, without warning, a lot of happy moments from fragments of memories filled his mind, emotions accompanied. It took him sometime to realize that Sophie had inflicted on him, and they kept flowing like and endless river. 

Memories swirled around in his mind, their bright and vibrant colors standing out in the black emptiness of his mind. 

He watched, Foster and him laughing, him teasing her, her adorable blush, both of them covered in Glitterbutt's sparkly poop, and many more moments of them together. There were a few of them with their friends too, playing Tackle Bramble and Base Quest, playing truth or dare during sleepovers.

A warm, fuzzy feeling filled his chest as he saw the memories go by, and all of his depressing and panicky thoughts left. 

She stopped inflicting after a while, and it was then that he realized that she was extracting the shadows that had sunk in during the "transformation" at the same time, and as the last of them left, he shuddered at the sudden lack of the chillness that had settled in. 

With a jolt he realized that he had control of his own body again, and Keefe's eyes shot open 

"Why did you let her do it?" he groaned again with his head between his hands

"You know that she won't listen" Elwin replied, doing another hourly checkup on Sophie.

It was 7 hours ago that he had woken up, only to see Sophie next to him clutching his hand in a vise-like grip and falling over if not for Tam, who had caught her just in time as she closed her eyes.

And not opened them since.

To say that Keefe was worried would be a major understatement.

He had demanded to know exactly what happened, but of course, Elwin being Elwin, made him go through a long checkup and gulp down a dozen ugly looking and even worse tasting elixirs before answering his questions.

"You should've talked her out of it!" Keefe said, glancing up slightly to see her sleeping soundly n the bed beside him.

"I think I'm gonna knock you on the head with my shoe if you don't shut up" Elwin warned, moving away from her bed. "You have said that at least a hundred times, and my ears are gonna start bleeding if you repeat it once more"

Keefe opened his mouth to argue but shut it after a while, deciding it was better not to say anything.

He glanced at Sophie again, and his lips quirked upward slightly as he saw drool collecting on the corners of her mouth. Reaching one hand out, he gently wiped it off her chin with his thumb. At least now the color had returned to her cheeks, and she wasn't as pale as before. Her blond hair fanned out below her as she lay facing the ceiling. A white blanket was draped up till her chest and her hands rested on either side of her body.

Keefe grabbed the hand closest to him, and laced their fingers together. He was scared out of his mind when he saw her fall back like that after he woke up, and most of the people present in the room became frantic too as Elwin started fretting around them. Setting Sophie down on the bed beside him, he ushered everyone except Grady out, who refused to leave until he was assured that Sophie would be fine and asking a bunch of questions to Keefe. Even Keefe agreed, denying to answer anything until he knows that she's safe. Elwin grumbled all the way through his checkup and her's, handing him vials to chug down and chiding about him "Fostering it" again. He refused to let anyone in until tomorrow morning, kicking Grady out after reassuring him that Sophie would be fine and just needed rest as the process had drained her a lot.

It was 7 whole hours after that, and she still hadn't woken up. Elwin told him that he too needed to rest but he said he'll only rest after he sees her awake. Keefe was tired, yes, but he wanted to make sure she was really okay, and honestly, just the idea of returning to the empty blackness ofhis mind terrified him. He never, ever wanted to go back there, the feeling of being trapped haunted him.

Hearing what Sophie did to wake him up, he was filled with a strange warmth, but was mainly worried that she had risked eliciting her echoes for it. He had seen first hand how terrible they were, and how much they mentally pained her, yet knowing all that she had willingly agreed to risk herself to wake him up.

Her hand in his twitched slightly, and Keefe's hopeful eyes shot up to hers to see if they had finally opened, but deflating when he saw they didn't. He sighed, rubbing circles on the backside of her hand with his thumb. Her smooth, porcelain skin soft under his thumb.

He had absolutely no idea how Gigantor would agree to this, but seeing the series of curses he grumbled out in his language after she was laid down on the bed, he probably wasn't exactly fond of the plan. He was also kicked out by Elwin along with everyone else - which he was not happy about, mind you - , so he took guard outside the door. When Keefe asked about the other bodyguards, Elwin confirmed that Tarina was still reassigned after the whole Troll fiasco in Everglen, Nubiti was crowned as the Queen after King Enki betrayed the treaty and was in Loamnore, Bo was appointed to Glimmer instead (Elwin explained all about that too) and Flori was in Havenfield.

What was more terrifying than any of this was the way Ro reacted when he woke up. She stormed up to him and practically crushed him in a hug. Elwin had to pry her away, and when he did, she yelled at him about never doing that again and about how he owed her two dares now. Sandor dragged her away before she could punch him and Keefe was glad for it, even though that didn't stop her from coming in again after everyone was gone and giving him one awful long speech about the consequences of breaking the dare and threatening to tie him up and let out her flesh eating bacteria before she sat herself down on one of the seats outside with a huff. Right now, she was filing her nails with one of her daggers.

"You should get some rest, staring at her isn't gonna wake her up faster or anything, you know?" Elwin called from his office as he ate purple goo from a bowl.

Keefe just shrugged, looking down. He knew that, but it didn't stop him from hoping that she'd wake up sooner. Oh how much he wanted those golden brown eyes to open. The last time he had seen them, they had been wide with fear and concern and worry for him. His heart couldn't help but fluttered at the thought as he remembered her transmissions, telling him that she was there with him, that she was there for him.

Something in him had changed during the transformation, he knew it, he felt it, and it made him nauseous as he remembered how the shadows had sunk in, and pain shot through him. It was only after sometime that he realized that the pain wasn't physical, no, it was all in him mind. So, trying to spare himself of the blinding pain, he fled to the nook of his mind, where he was stuck until Sophie pulled him out.

Sighing, he shook his head, trying to clear them of the awful memories and thoughts. It didn't matter right now, what mattered was for his Foster to wake up soon. 

tell me watcha think bout it

tysm for reading!!

~ booknerd0110