Hello! It's been so long since my last update, gosh. I just published a new story, some of you might have noticed I took down two old ones. It would mean the world to me if you would go check it out! Also, I'm co-writing a story with @heeyitsm, and we will love you forever if you go check it out!! Now, on to the chapter! 

Chapter 22:

It has been a terrible week for everyone. Fitz is falling apart. He hates everything - the black swan for not letting him transmit to Sophie, his parents for staying calm, everyone for not crumbling when she;s gone. He hates himself for not noticing she was breaking. He hates Keefe for betraying them, the Neverseen for existing, and Mr. Forkle for creating this mess and then dying. Most of all, he hates himself for never telling Sophie he loves her. He was in denial.

Biana tried to get him to transmit to Keefe, to tell him what had happened, but without Sophie to boost his range he couldn't reach him.

Biana is upset beyond words. She never noticed, and she's such a bad friend. She drove Keefe away. She ignored Sophie. She TEASED Sophie. And now she's gone. She'll never get to see Sophie and Fitz married. She'll never get a sister-in-law. If only she had been more observant. If only she had spent less time talking to Tam and more time talking to Sophie. She'll never get to speak to her again. And she'll never, ever, forgive herself. She was inconsolable.

Linh was lost. Sophie had been a role model and surrogate sister to her. Sophie was the braver, smarter leader they relied on. With out her, they were lost. Without Sophie, they had no chance. The Song twins had lived a hard life. But she had never lost someone she truly loved. She was lost.

Tam was angry. He may not have know Sophie the longest, but he still cared. It was all Keefe's fault. Tam had never trusted him. And now they were all lost, stuck in a hopeless war they didn't know how to fight. He was bitter.

Dex was devastated. His best friend, his close cousin, his crush, was gone. She wasn't dead, he kept reminding himself. She was gone, but not dead. There had to be a way to bring her back. But he couldn't see it. He wore his Disneyland watch everyday kept inventing, kept trying, to find some way to bring her back. But he couldn't. He was just a technopath. He had given up hope.

Edaline hadn't stopped crying since Sophie had collapsed. She had lost her second daughter, and it was destroying her. She was a mess. Grady would scream at anyone and anything that came near him, and spoke to no one, not even Edaline. Neither has left the house. Edaline has hardly left Sophie's side. Grady spends every second with Alden and Fitz trying to find something, anything, that can save her. He was desperate.

Alden is trying so hard not to let the guilt break him. He and Della saw Sophie as a daughter, and they're hit by her loss almost as hard ad Grady and Eda. Della has been hovering over Biana and Fitz, as well as insisting that Linh and Tam stay at Everglen and keeping a close watch on them. She's trying to distance herself from the war and lose herself in a semi normal reality. Alden has spent the week at Havenfield, only coming home to sleep and change. He was desperate.

The Black Swan is hurt. There was no plan for losing the moonlark. Physic has spent every day with Amy, getting to know the human side of Sophie. Getting to know the human girl. Terigan is keeping up appearances at Foxfire. He's also helping fill in as Magnate after Mr. Forkle died. They were supposed to plant his Wanderling soon, but they won't do it without Sophie. Terigan thinks that if they can't save her, they can at least plant her real Wanderling with Mr. Forkle's. They were shocked.

The Elves are stunned. Whispers pass in the hall ways at Foxfire and around dinner tables in crystalline homes. Some insist that the there is no way she's really gone and that she'll heal somehow. Her support has nearly tripled. Sophie has become a martyr. Others are convinced that she was a disturber of the peace, and with her gone, everything can go back to normal. They all seem to think that they are unaffected either way.

The Council is insisting everything is okay and under control. Oralie and Bronte have not appeared in public since she broke, working behind closed doors and shunning guilt, trying to fix things without anyone realizing they are involved. Oralie has taken an interest in Biana, another surprisingly strong flower, and Biana has spent many hours working with the beautiful Councilor, learning truths about the Elven world and the Ogres, and discovering a lot about herself.

Everyone is surprised by Biana's response, to work and get her hands dirty. She's destroyed, yes, but she's never home. Dex and Linh have taken over Sophie's chores at Havenfield. Fitz has taken to checking in on the Alicorns. Biana has spent so much time with Oralie that she's only home to sleep.

Everyone has changed in his week. Dex has shut himself away. Fitz refuses to admit she's really gone. The adults are working constantly to recover, and the Black Swan is scrambling. Amy still has no memory of her now broken sister. Linh is helping anyone who will accept her assistance. Tam and Bronte are working on the similarities between inflicting and shadow vapor, and they hope it can help remove the darkness from Sophie's mind.

Keefe still had no idea what had happened.

But exactly one week after Sophie broke, an idea came. An idea so ridiculous, so stunning, so out of the blue, so absolutely out there it may actually work.

Fitz, Grady, and Alden were joined by Dex in the library at Havenfield, and Sandor stopped by to discuss if they had made any progress. Suddenly, Sandor, who had been grieving in his own goblin-y way, looked in from the door way and asked, out of the blue, "How are the Alicorns?"

And then everyone stopped.

And then everything changed.