-Sophie woke up to Elwin yelling at Fitz in the infirmary. "You could have gotten seriously hurt! I found you leaning against the cot frame, clutching your head! I left you for two hours, Fitz, only two hours! You were suppose to identify the problem and tell me about it when I got back!"

Her first thought was, "What?" Immediately, Elwin was quiet and the two turned to face her. Oops, she must have said it aloud.

Elwin didn't say anything as her cognate wrapped her in a tight hug. "Don't scare me like that," he said quietly, "not out of the blue."

"Even though she's awake, you shouldn't have tried something like that while I was gone. That was dangerous, Fitz." Elwin sighed and ran his hands through his hair, clearly stressed.

"Dangerous?" Sophie raised her eyebrow and pulled away from her cognate slightly to look at him. "Fitz, what did you do? What happened? When did I get here?"

Fitz stayed quiet and looked away, but Elwin spoke up. "We don't really know what happened. Keefe and Dex said that you just sort of spaced out and fell. Keefe brought you here while Dex got Fitz. He went inside your mind and discovered an unclear memory that somehow was harming you, and he moved it to your suppressed memories."

"What's so dangerous about that?" She asked, suddenly afraid, knowing that there was more.

Elwin suddenly spoke quietly instead of at a normal volume, which was never a good thing."It was so painful for you to process that it caused for you to pass out, and almost did the same to Fitz while he was supressing your memory. You guys basically share everything, so it makes sense that it would hurt him too."

Sophie looked at her cognate in horror, and he turned his head away, not looking at her. "You what?" Elwin mumbled that he was going to go check the storage room and left them alone in the infirmary.

"I had to do it, no one else can get into your head." Her cognate said quietly, eyes trained on the floor, but she didn't take hers off him.

"I know, but I would rather stay like that than you be hurt. Mr. Forkle could have fixed me."

Fitz was quiet for a moment before hugging her tightly again, his face in her shoulder this time. "I got scared, Sophie. I got really, really scared. I didn't know what else to do, but I knew that I had to save you from that. You would have done the same for me."

It was her time to be silent. Her eyes were filled with tears, she didn't know what to say. She only held him tighter, knowing that he still felt scared, even though she was okay. Everything seemed fine until she heard his breath catch. Suddenly, he held her tighter, and she felt warm tears against her skin. Fitz was the kind of person who rarely cried, in fact, Sophie was sure that she had only seen him cry twice.

Quietly they sat there, with Sophie stroking his hair gently, when Dex burst in with Keefe. Her cousin was about to run over to them until Keefe stopped him with his arm. She looked up and smiled, but Fitz didn't move.  "Whoa, is everything okay?" Keefe asked, looking slightly annoyed.

"Yeah, thanks for bringing me to the infirmary," she smiled wider.

That made Dex's eyes were watery and he walked around Keefe's arm and tapped her cognate on the shoulder, "my turn. I'll give her back in a second, I promise."

Sophie was surprised, Dex originally didn't like Vackers, especially Fitz, but she supposed that they had grown on him over the years of being friends with Sophie. Fitz nodded and took a breath before letting her go, and leaning away, covering his eyes, his ears red with embarassment. Dex hugged her gently, like she was crumbling glass, which was also strange. Usually he gave her bear hugs. Did she really scare him that much? Did he really depend on her that much? As soon as he backed away, Sophie handed Fitz her handkerchief. He covered his eyes with it silently, but didn't get up.

"So what was the problem?" Keefe asked, making his way over to the now formed group. He patted his best friend on the shoulder in brotherly manner. "Hey, man, you okay?"

Fitz nodded and took the cloth away from his face, having pulled himself together. "I-I'm not sure what it was, but it was like a blank memory. It was just pointless sounds and colors put together, almost like someone tried to take the memory away from her. Whatever it was, it hurt."

Keefe sucked in a breath quietly, and all eyes fell on him. "What is it, Keefe?" Sophie asked worriedly, "do you know something?"

Smoothly, he waved her off, but she wasn't convinced. "No, I was gasping at the hurting part, that's all. Did it seriously hurt you too, Fitz?" Fitz nodded, and Keefe continued, "man... That's messed up."

Sophie nodded and sighed quietly. Immediately, Dex was at her side, "are you okay? Is something wrong?"

She shook her head no and smiled a little, "no, I just wish I knew what happened with that memory..."

"We could always try to send a message to the Black Swan," he suggested. "They've always known what to do before."

"That's a good idea," Fitz agreed, "we can leave it in the cave like last time."

Keefe frowned slightly, "they didn't really respond last time, they just kind of shoved us off, you know? I think we should just ask Tiergan instead, you know, not freak out the entire rebel base. Besides, we haven't heard from them in a while."

"They'll answer, I know they will." Sophie said faithfully, "and any information at all will be a help."

She locked eyes with her friend, engaging in a wordless, telepathyless battle that she refused to lose. He looked away for a moment, rubbing his temples, "they might be locked in a war with the Neverseen right now for all we know, and we have no idea what they're up to... but if you're so set on contacting them about this, then I guess we can give them a chance."

"Excellent," Elwin walked in with a smile. "That's what Sophie and Fitz can work on after I send them to Havenfield."

"What? Why does Fitz need to go with Sophie?" Keefe frowned.

"Because he's the only one who can see if the memory comes back." Dex spoke before Elwin could, "he's the only one who can check to see if she's okay. Besides, "

Everyone was silent, shocked that Dex just vouched for the 'Wonder Boy' until Fitz spoke up. "Dude, not that I'm being ungrateful, but I thought you hated me."

"It's more of a dislike, but I have priorities."

Elwin clapped his hands together, "well, Dex and Keefe, you should say goodbye. I'll write you boys passes."

Dex nodded and hugged Sophie as Keefe patted her shoulder gently, "bye guys."

"Come back soon, okay?" Dex smiled a little, "I promised mom that I'd help manage the triplets, but I'll call after school."

Sophie nodded and waved them goodbye with Fitz. Her cognate stood slowly, and held his hands out to her. "Try standing, I'll catch you if you fall."

When taking his hands, she blushed, and followed his example, sliding her feet over the edge of the cot. Carefully, she stood, though her knees wobbled. Before she could even start to fall, Fitz's arm wrapped around her waist, and his other went behind her knees. Cautiously, he lifted her up bridal style, and she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Are you sure you can carry her, Fitz? You almost went out yourself." Elwin asked worriedly, "I can carry her."

"No, that's okay, I've got her." Fitz adjusted her in his arms.

"Are you sure? Because-"

"I got her, don't worry."

"Here's a radial idea, I can walk by myself!" Sophie laughed as Elwin and Fitz just gave her a look, "I'm kidding. I know the drill by now."

Elwin chuckled and shook his head, "oh Sophie, you make my job an adventure. Now let's get you to Havenfield."