very unedited but you're gonna love me trust me on this 

Chapter Sixteen

"So," Edaline prompted, walking into Sophie's room where Sophie sat on the ground looking through a sketchbook. "I hear you and Keefe have a date coming up on Saturday?"

Sophie frowned, looking up. "That we do," she stated. "What about it?"

Edaline grinned. "Oh, nothing. Just wondering what you guys were planning to do and how late you're planning to stay out. Your father and I were thinking of doing something ourselves while you go."

"That sounds nice," Sophie commented, standing up and placing the book on the desk next to her bed. "I don't really know what's going on, actually. It's Keefe's turn to plan the day, all I know is he's picking me up around noon and I am supposed to be ready to have the time of my life." She rolled her eyes at the last statement. "He's a dork, but he's my dork."

"Well, update me if you figure anything out," Edaline said. "Your father and I don't want to plan anything to harshly if your plans change up."

"Well, don't plan around me," Sophie stated. "I'm a big girl, I can handle myself if you want to go out or if you plan to stay in I'll make sure to stay to myself or maybe I can chill at Biana's place considering it's been forever since I've stayed there anyways."

"Are you sure?" Edaline asked, worried. "We don't want to make you feel unwanted or anything."

Sophie almost melted. "I would never feel like that for a night out. Besides, soon enough I'm gonna be out of your way completely so it's better you get more used to that, anyways, I guess."

"What is that statement supposed to mean?" Edaline questioned, a knowing look on her face that made Sophie blush. "Is it what I think it's supposed to mean?"

"Maybe," Sophie replied, her voice a pitch higher than she wanted it to be. "What exactly where you thinking?"

Edaline laughed. "Oh sweetie, I love you too much to torture you like this. You can tell me if it happens. I promise not to say anything to your father." She winked before walking away, making Sophie feel a bit lighter. 

After a moment Sophie checked the time and realized she only had a few minutes to finish getting ready, but she got sidetracked by the sketchbook she found in her drawer. Keefe had left it there the last time he came over and she had been meaning to give it back. She couldn't help but go through the drawings he had made, which made her smile. She was so proud of where he'd come, and no one thought out of all the things Keefe could have become, an artist would be his calling. But it suited him, and Sophie was just glad he was doing something he loved and was able to express himself in the work. 

She quickly finished getting ready and grabbed her own notebook and writing utensils before lightleaping to the Forbidden Cities. Upon arriving at the building Forkle was waiting outside and quickly let her in, staying beside her which usually meant he had something to say. Usually it would be asking for her to join in on a project or it meant something big was to be announced at the meeting they were about to have and he didn't want her finding out with everyone else. She was hoping it was the first one, but the look on his face said it was the latter. 

"What's going on?" she questioned immediately once they stopped in a random doorway. 

"Just wanted to let you know that all your friends will be at this meeting and we're going to be doing our annual follow up on the Neverseen," Forkle told her, and she almost let out a sigh of relief considering she had been expecting far worse. "This meeting won't be getting transferred to the council, so don't worry about notes. Just worry about your friends and making sure nothing too traumatic for you guys is brought up. We don't want to trigger any of you by bringing anything too painful up." She noticed a look of eyes and was reminded of what he had lost through Neverseen as well. 

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked him. "You're just as affected if not more by this." 

He smiled at her. "Time works well on the heart," he simply stated before turning his attention to making his way to the small meeting room where multiple adults sat around a table, her group of childhood friends sitting in the seats. 

"Hey guys," she whispered, taking the open seat next to Keefe. "You didn't tell me about this."

"We thought you knew," he whispered back to her. "We do come here once a year, Soph, you should've expected it." 

"True," she acknowledged, turning her attention to Forkle who was gesturing for everyone to be silent. 

"Thank you all for coming, you know it's not exactly required so it's means a lot you all still come back each year," Forkle started off, smiling at Sophie and her friends. "As all of you know, everything said in this room is not to be shared with anyone outside this room unless they were somehow attached to the situation on a personal basis." 

After more of an introduction, a few other chimed in with their stories and then Forkle was presenting about the situation and all the successes made since the last full battle with the Neverseen. Even after the Neverseen's defeat many years before, the organization still was not completely destroyed. There were still members that remained anonymous and the Black Swan was working on getting rid of them, putting them in exile, or having them rehabilitated back into a life without the Neverseen name attached to them. 

Sophie was in charge of reporting a lot of these things to the council, but reporting it to her friends and everyone involved was reserved for this annual meeting. "Recently we've ran into some trouble with one specific body, we found her first name to be Yoni but the last name has yet to be revealed. She has been hiding since even before the Neverseen organization was revealed, apparently she had been trying to escape it but was in too deep so instead she found herself where it was even harder to get out but behind the scenes. After the organization was destroyed, she was still stuck in the faculty since it was kept hidden and she's spent years trying to send us messages to find her and get her out and finally just last week Linh and Tam were able to get in and out safely. The negative sides are she has been seriously traumatized by her situation and even getting her first name out of her was hard. She's been close to mute since coming out of her hiding, but once we're able to get through we're hoping to close down the faculty. We have reasons to believe once we shut down that faculty we'll be able to reach and close down every other."

Despite already knowing everything and offering her talents to try and find out more, Sophie still felt a slight guilt for not doing anything. Forkle had told her it was too much for her, especially with how long it took for her to stop having panic attacks after just hearing the word Neverseen, and refused to let her spare her gifts. 

The meeting continued with her old adviser telling stories from the past year and asking questions and updates from everyone in the room, as well as going over the events that took place years before to make sure they weren't missing any key information to make sure the all the advances they were making now were the best they could be. 

Eventually the hours passed and it was time for the meeting to be wrapped up. "Thank you all for your time, it will be another year before I see most of you and I hope we can come back in a year and say that everything we've needed to be completed is finished and that will hopefully be our last meeting." With that everyone made their ways out the door and back to their homes. 

Sophie found her hand wrapped securely in Keefe's as they made their way down the hallway. "Oh, Sophie and Keefe, before I forget I just wanted to wish you guys a happy anniversary," Forkle stated, catching up with them in the hallway. "You are both like my own and I wish you both the most happiness in all the years to come."

"Aww, thanks Forkle," Keefe stated, his free hand going to right above where his heart would be. "You really touched me."

Sophie grinned at Forkle's words. "Thanks so much, you have no idea what that really means to me." She locked eyes with Keefe, and the two smiled at each other in a way that showed how much the two really cared and loved each other. No one could look at the two and question whether they were really right for each other or whether they were really in love. It was obvious with those small glances and with the way they always found themselves near each other in a crowded space. 

"I won't keep you guys back too long, I actually have to go meet with a few others about the Yoni situation."

"Are you sure you don't want me and Fitz to work on that with you?" Sophie questioned. 

"You're retired from Black Swan work, Sophie. I've told you many a times that you shouldn't have to worry about this stuff anymore."

Sophie frowned, but accepted his answer. "Well, I'll see you next week." They stated their goodbyes before Sophie and Keefe lightleaped back to Sophie's home. "I still have some paperwork to be done, but do you know what time you're coming to grab me tomorrow and what time we're getting back?"

Keefe nervously scratched the back of his neck, which Sophie took note of but didn't question. "I- uh, actually I won't be picking you up until noon and for the getting back thing I'm not quite sure yet."

"Oh," Sophie replied back simply. 

"Probably late," he estimated, trying to at least give her something to go off of. "Just, not too late I guess."

"Okay?" Sophie grew confused but instead of asking him more she simply gave him a small kiss. "I guess I'll see you then. I love you."

"I love you," he echoed before making his exit. She made her way back to her room, on the way passing Edaline and informing her what Keefe said about the dates timing. Once she reached her room she noticed the sketchbook on her bed and opened it back up to the page she left off, smiling at the picture he drew. She flipped it to the next page and realized it was a quick sketch of her, and she realized it was a sketch of the moment they first met. She noticed the date stamped on it and immediately knew that it wasn't the date the picture was drawn, but the day that she had met Keefe. Something inside her stomach turned and suddenly she felt butterflies in her stomach. 

Because suddenly she realized why Keefe was so nervous. The next day, the day of their date, was on the anniversary of when they first met. And she knew he'd have something big planned. 

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sjksjksjsksjk it's fine i'm fine we're fine it's all fine

please don't hate me for leaving it off on this

also hi i meet colleen ballinger + two of my best friends (internet friends) on Saturday and i wanna puke thinking about it like wow what a thing that's happening. spring break is wild. 

chapter questions:

1. are you on spring break? mine is technically 4/2-4/6 but in reality it's 3/31-4/8 with weekends included. i mean i'm still busy all week and like i'm legit going to school on tuesday for a volunteer rehearsal but ya girl needs work i was def not born to be an actor

2. what grade are you in? i'm a junior in high school and i legit feel like a grandma with everyone in the kotlc fandom

3. what do you think about the chapter? just a filler but hey... the ending hmm ;) promise to update soon xoxo