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bookwyrminspiration · 2 years

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 24: The Walls Want to Love You

word count: 8.0k

chapter summary: Some of Sophie's questions are answered, some are more confusing than when she first asked, but there's something--no, someone--who wants to communicate with her.

warnings: blood, implied death (of background characters), the word spider (no actual spiders), some mental spiraling, and I think that's it!

taglist: I’ll reblog with it! let me know if you want to be added or removed!

ao3 link here or read below

Right and wrong are simply a matter of perspective, nothing in the world able to decide which is which and prove themselves beyond a doubt. It’s not a black and white scale, like whether or not you’re alive; you either are or aren’t, no in between.

But right and wrong all comes down to the individual, what they can convince others is true and how they should perceive the world. What arguments they can make and how eloquent their explanations, all an amalgamation of self thrust onto others who agree to see eye to eye. There’s no way to prove it either way.

Yet Sophie Foster knew without a doubt that whatever was happening to the being, to this facility, was wrong. The screams, the terror, the cracks, the noises, the raining dust, the pain coursing through the room so strongly she didn’t need to be an empath to feel it writhing along the porous surface of her bones, all of it was so incredibly wrong.

“What is that,” Maruca whispered beside her, horror dripping off the words as she flexed and unflexed her fingers, hands seeking for something to do but brain shutting down.

Sophie couldn’t figure out how to respond for a moment. “I…I don’t know what happened.” her words were just as quiet, but they echoed through her ears and tore her apart inside.

The being’s scream lingered in the space, a heavy weight as disdainful as the sticky blood oozing down its sides. Its head had made it to Keefe and Dex now, the latter of which looked like he wanted to be absolutely anywhere but where he was at the moment.

He shot a few pleading glances to Sophie, as though she could do something, but what was there to do? What did he want from her? For her to charge down and whisk him away?

Keefe, however, worried her more. He had that same dazed expression he’d worn too many times throughout his life, when something something something was brewing beneath the surface and she’d always figure it out too late. Too late to stop him, but always there to clean up the damage.

They’d danced to that rhythm more times than she could count, but they’d gotten past it. They’d moved forward. He’d started to trust her and he’d included her and…and she couldn’t stand the idea that he’d be so reckless again, not after all that work.

She watched with bated breath as Keefe stepped towards the being, free hand outstretched as Dex was helplessly pulled closer.

He pressed his palm to its head, fingers curling in the sticky, downy feathers as a bolt of lighting white color spread from where he touched, shifting the formerly black splotch to near blinding pearlescence.

A similar shift spread through his own wings, warped marble patterns of glistening white curving through pitch black feathers, the resemblance between the two of them undeniable and uncanny now that they stood side by side.

Keefe’s heartbeat faltered for a moment, and Dex sent them both another pleading look she didn’t understand. But maybe Maruca did.

Silently, focused, she lowered herself down to the floor to get closer to the ledge, the sudden drop off filled with undulating flesh below. Hands pressed together as she observed, she reached down, bracing a hand on the edge of the stone so she could hop down to an area of open ground.

At least, she tried to.

Sophie could do nothing but watch in mute horror as the room exploded into motion the moment Maruca’s good palm pressed into the floor, the stone surging up around her skin and melting into it, encasing her skin halfway to the elbow as the ground sunk beneath her, gooey quicksand swallowing her braced feet as she shrieked.

Keefe and Dex’s head whipped towards them, Dex stepping towards them to help--but looking back sharply as his hand remained firmly in Keefe’s, and Keefe remained in the center of the room.

His knuckles were white, hand holding onto Dex’s as though a lifeline, holding him back and holding him still.

Sophie’s brain stopped understanding words, silently lifting her legs off the ground and letting that buzzing on her back take over as she skimmed over the fluid ground contorting and distorting around Maruca and freezing her in place.

“Fuck,” Maruca spat, hissing at the ground as she tugged against the moving stone, trying to free her good hand and wincing whenever she tried to use her bad one to pull it out.

Sophie came up behind her, trying to avoid getting hit by the frantic flapping of her starling wings as she hooked her arms under Maruca’s and pulled, trying to get her out. If it was like quicksand it was useless to struggle, but this didn’t look or behave like quicksand and she had the horrifying feeling that if they didn’t get her out they’d lose her to this place for good.

Another shudder coursed through the building, another far off shattering explosion ringing through the air as the creature opened its mouth and screamed screamed screamed again, its body writhing in the pit around Keefe and Dex.

Ripples and cracks tore through the walls, making their way from the top of the chandelier all the way to the center of the pit, though it left the middle stone untouched--the one Sophie’d stepped on when she was here before. As they passed beneath Maruca, the stone became more languid, less sticky, like whatever was happening had been interrupted.

“What is happening,” Dex demanded, looking between Keefe and the two of them trying desperately to pull Maruca out of the floor. Sophie didn’t bother to give him an answer, not knowing one and preoccupied with not losing her friend to this violent phenomenon.

Her efforts to help Maruca were fruitless, and she remained just as firmly planted in the floor as she had been when Sophie’d wordlessly rushed over to help.

“At least I’m not sinking anymore,” she muttered, mirroring Sophie’s own thoughts. If Maruca wasn’t actively being eaten alive by the floor, that gave them more time to figure out how to free her from it and keep it from happening again.

Footsteps caught her attention, Dex rushing up the stairs and coming to stand by her, though she was a good head taller than him in the air. He dropped to his knees, frowning as he pressed a hand to the hardened stone, tapping at it and the surrounding area.

It’d traveled nearly to the elbow on her good hand, taken over the entirety of her left foot and her right leg up to the knee when she’d dropped it to try and catch herself.

“Switch with me, Sophie,” Dex said, pulling out some device from a storage compartment in his wing she didn’t know he had, taking it apart and starting to reconstruct it.

Sophie looked to him, confused. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I don’t know what the hell is wrong with Keefe, but that’s your territory. He’s always responded better to you than the rest of us.”

“Wait, what’s wrong with--” she repeated, cutting off as she turned back towards the center of the pit. She’d been so focused on Maruca, she hadn’t paid any attention to what happened down there, where Keefe and Dex were--now only Keefe.

He’d fallen to his knees, hunched in on himself as he pressed his hands to either side of his head like he would crush his skull between them, a painful tautness to his position.

A statue of agony, rigidity clawing through every bone as his breath hissed in and out of his teeth, nearly as fast as his heartbeat.

“Oh,” Sophie whispered, already moving and letting Maruca’s body fall from her arms, forgetting about the two of them and the floor trying to eat her friend alive. Because this was more important, more vital. Maruca was annoyed, but presently unharmed.

Keefe was not.

Zipping through the air, Sophie landed beside Keefe, crouching down to place a hand on either of his shoulders, the shades in his wings turning violently chaotic as she made contact with his skin.

“Keefe? Keefe.” she asked, a panicked waiver in her voice as she shook him gently--then harder--from behind, leaning forward so she could see over his shoulder and view his face.

His eyes were moving back and forth and back and forth beneath his eyelids, brow creased and teeth clenched as tight as they could go; he might chip a tooth with that kind of pressure, shatter his smile into splintered smithereens.

Debating with herself for a moment, Sophie eyed the creature on the floor, which had slowed its writhing, now racked with pained shivers as its head wove in between various parts of its body and blew that familiar smoke.

Something was wrong, and yet still Sophie wasn’t afraid, had never been afraid of this being. Maybe because it had subconsciously reminded her of Keefe, of someone she loved so dearly his pain was hers.

And that was why she let her eyes fall closed in the pit stinking of inhuman blood, positioning herself in front of him and bracing a hand on either side of his face, cradling his head as she reached out her mind and connected it with his.

Keefe! She called out, traversing the vast expanse of void between each of the individual networks of lights of their minds. She could feel the entire mindbubble, each person a different universe within all that emptiness, but tethers between them all, her and Fitz in the center, holding it together.

She called out for him again as she followed that path towards his mind, unusually far far far away, a frozen wasteland of nothing blasting against her impenetrable mind as she called again and again.

Keefe. Keefe! KEEFE!

He didn’t respond, but he didn’t need to; Sophie’d found him, found his mind, and found herself robbed of breath at the horrid whirlwind his thoughts and self had become.

Memories flung themselves by, whipped about in a mental wind that would’ve knocked her off her feet if she had any. Jagged shards of incomprehensible thoughts spiked through the air, all curling curling curling around themselves, the eye of the storm nowhere near but she knew it existed.

She pressed forward, and faintly she could feel her physical body flinch with each jab against her defenses as Keefe’s mind reacted to something she couldn’t see, couldn’t understand.

Keefe’s hand nudged against hers as he strained, and a deluge of what could only be described as feeling flooded through her body.

Her mind may have been impenetrable, but her heart wasn’t.

Emotions so vast, so all consuming she couldn’t name them rendered her speechless and immobile both outside of and within his mind, the resounding boom of lightning, the splattering of colors of all shades, an eternal quiet of the night sky, a bomb in her hands.

Words that didn’t make sense crammed into her mind as she got swept up in the storm, circling around and around and around amid all the memories and pain, the chaos of Keefe’s inner thoughts.

Keefe? She asked, the message whipped from her mind as the hurricane tore her asunder, her voice so quiet she thought she’d imagined it.

She could no longer feel her body, no longer understand what she felt and what had been forced into her heart by the empath in her hands.

The more the storm whipped her about, the stronger the sensations grew, the pain and the terror and the anger. So. Much. Anger.

Confusion. Doubt. Anger. That’s what made the storm, that’s what made Keefe.

But there, so faint she nearly missed it, was something different.

Helplessness.

As she focused on it, the feeling wrapped itself around her heart, burrowing in deep and taking root, an ache so profound she could feel her muscles tensing in the physical world.

The physical world. Her mind took a breath of relief as the realization sunk in. She was real. She existed outside of this mental hurricane, and her friend desperately needed her help.

Sophie rallied her energy, drawing some of those knotted feelings from beneath her ribs, the sensations that weren’t hers hammering against her heart. Containing her own maelstrom of consciousness, she let it build and built within her own mental forces so nothing was scattered to the sounds and winds.

Then, when she could hardly bear it, she shoved her own hurricane from her mind alongside a single transmission: IT’S ME.

Immediately, her hurricane in all its force smashed through Keefe’s mental hell, pushing all the memories and thoughts away from her, making her own eye of the storm as it spread and spread and spread, leading nothing but a flat expanse before them. If she focused closely, she could see the thin webs underlying it, building it, the foundations of the connections knotted together and holding the whole thing afloat. But the moment you stopped looking for them, they melded into the background of the mind, both hers and his.

It took her a moment to gather her confidence to speak once more, to pierce this dead nothing that remained after she’d forced everything away. But she did it, and not for her own sake.

Keefe, it’s me, she sent once more, tentatively moving forwards and turning around in slow circles, scanning scanning scanning the space. He was here somewhere, if only she knew where to look. This was his mind after all; it’d be very concerning if he wasn’t inside it.

“I know,” his voice responded from behind her, and when she whirled back around there he was, the same boy she’d seen in the physical world in frozen agony.

Only now his face was serene…too serene, entirely blank. No expression at all, Keefe sat criss-cross applesauce in the now-quiet expanse of his mind, back rigid as he stared down at a memory in his hands.

Gently, he cupped it in his palms, the memory strangely crisp and luminescent, entirely still within his grasp. She couldn’t tell what it was though, the contents distorted from the distance away.

“I always know you,” he added matter of factly, though his eyes never strayed from that memory. It pulsed once, sending a ripple through his consciousness that shuddered through Sophie--though she realized in that moment that she didn’t have a physical form he could see, was instead just a presence in his head.

After a moment of concentration, she pulled the energy of her thoughts together into a person, a recreation of her physical self, though she was now wearing the soft fabrics she’d favored after the Black Swan had won the war--or thought they had, before everything had come crashing down around them. Creamy grey pants flowing loosely before tapering at the ankles, a dark blue blouse fitted enough to avoid getting in the way when she helped with the animals lined with gold embroidery.

As she moved to sit across from Keefe, curling her knees to her chest, she realized the wings--her wings--were there, too. She’d conjured them up as part of her. Huh.

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly, unsure what else to say. You’re scaring me I don’t know what to do I don’t know what’s wrong I can’t find you I need help.

She voiced none of the thoughts. She wasn’t important right now.

Keefe blinked as he watched the memory, the one she still hadn’t looked at. “Is anyone?”

“We can try to be.” The words surprised her, but she realized they were honest. That was all they could do right now, wasn’t it? Try their best to be okay, to love each other, to be there for each other. Because so much was out of their control, was a mystery, was devastatingly terrifying when she thought about it.

She’d gotten used to the monsters everywhere, to stifling her screams, to bracing herself at every corner. It was too much to comprehend, to ever be truly okay, but they could try.

“I don’t know how to try anymore, Foster,” he admitted, a dimming weariness settling over the calm she’d conjured.

“Yeah. It’s hard. But you have me. And all our friends. We can try together.”

He smiled slightly. “Like we always have.”

Sophie nodded, scooting a little closer. “Exactly, we’ll try like we always have. What else is there? To give up? That’s not like us.”

“No, it isn’t,” he mumbled, a hint of life sparking behind his eyes. “We never give up. Right?” He lifted his head then, staring at Sophie and waiting for a response.

She nodded again. “Right. That’s why I’m here. Because something is happening in the physical world that shouldn’t be, and we’re going to figure it out and we’re not going to give up. We’re going to keep going together, we’re going to go until we can’t and then go a little further.”

“The physical world,” he repeated. “That’s where we’re supposed to be, isn’t it? I got a little lost.”

Sophie frowned, fiddling with her fingers as she said, “Well, ideally we’d be there. But it’s not an emergency--unless something bad happened to the other two groups. But where we are, it’s more like it’d be useful if we weren’t here, but there’s no time limit. Whatever happened that made you do this,” she continued, using both arms to gesture to the inner workings of his consciousness all around them, bare as it was, “the being or something else, we have time to take care of it. Dex will help Maruca out of the floor and then he can do his thing with the device I found.

“I mean…this is what you came here for, isn’t it? To figure you out?” she asked. She’d gone along so easily with his plan to visit the thing, she never bothered to ask what it was that he actually wanted to gain from the experience.

Keefe didn’t respond, his expression frozen again as he looked back down at that memory in his hands, the one she still hadn’t looked into. She didn’t want to pry, and whatever was happening wasn’t worrisome enough she felt she had any reason to violate the rules of telepathy.

“That,” he murmured. “Threat.”

“I--what?” Sophie asked, caught off guard. “Is there a threat?” Briefly, she cast part of her mind back towards her body, following along those thread-thin filaments tying everything together until she was part there and part next to Keefe, not opening her eyes but just feeling.

Nothing felt amiss, but maybe something was wrong.

“Look,” Keefe urged, and Sophie struggled to bring the two different parts of herself back together, feeling lopsided and disoriented as she finally focused on Keefe in front of her.

He was holding out the memory, a small little sphere hovering over his palms, revolving and rotating about itself, flashes of sounds and pictures and thoughts jolting through it like lightning, convoluted and incomprehensible.

“What about it?” she asked, looking between the memory in his hands and the boy attached to them.

“Look,” he repeated, more urgent but a gentleness to the words, a vulnerability. He’d shifted it to one hand, the other reaching towards Sophie, towards her own hands.

He took her hand in his, drawing it towards the middle of them, gesturing with his head until she brought the other one forward. Letting him rearrange her hands until her fingers were cupped together like his had been, Sophie stayed quiet.

Finally, he seemed satisfied, bringing the memory to her cupped hands, the little orb floating above his own revolving about itself and pouring into her palms, a confusing flow of consciousness that shouldn’t have worked, but then again by all accounts brains really shouldn’t work at all.

With each drop pressing against her skin, another flicker of the memory shoved itself into her mind, distorted and unintelligible and all out of order until the last bit of it had been poured into her awaiting hands.

Then it hit her, shocking through her skin and straight to her mind, shutting out everything Sophie was and could be aside from this memory.

__________________

It shoved her into the middle of a forest, trees and fauna marking the space as untouched, as alive.

Sophie didn’t recognize the place, but she didn’t need to. Keefe knew, and so she knew through his memory. This was near the village, a part of the forest she’d never ventured to. But that wasn’t what he focused on, instead, a strange sort of…essence, floating through the air has caught his attention. Information shocking him through the air the same way Sophie’s emotions always had.

He couldn’t translate the information, and was breathing steadily to try and work through the overwhelming sensations.

It grew stronger for a moment, then faded just as quickly.

When he opened his eyes, a faint trail of shivering blue could be found along the ground, but he knew without a doubt that if he tried to point it out to someone else they’d see nothing. They wouldn’t know that something had been there recently, not like he suddenly did.

The scenery changed without warning, warping her through time and space until she was standing on the edge of a balcony, leaning over the edge and teasing the anxious blonde girl curled around her imparter.

“Is everyone just totally cool with this? Why is everyone so...so…” Sophie said, waving her arms about in an attempt to find the words. The question made him think, a dangerous venture for someone like him.

But he began to wonder…why was everyone so cool with it?

Something pulsed through him, convoluted and incomprehensible and contorted as it crawled through his body. Like another sense had turned itself to the max, and that information assaulted him again, but he could feel the difference between it this time, sense the distance, sense the distinctions.

Off in the distance, someone pondering and going over things, a steady thrum to their heart. Another faded and hard to catch, as though they were disappearing, already out of the way.

A third, a feeling of chaos and so many things at once it might’ve been an entire world contained in that one sense.

And another much closer than the others, a dull ache pulsing against his shoulder, a feeling so tangible he swore he could see it hovering around the elf the sensation belonged to, an angry purple haze.

“Well, most of us can just avoid him, you know? Fitz and I don’t need to see him. We’re not immediately dying, unlike some of the more chewed people. And of the people who do need to see him...most of you can hide it if you need to. Oh and Dex is just being Dex. He’s distracted right now,” he answered, shrugging like it was obvious. He didn’t know how he knew, but he did. He knew that other world was Dex, that the disappearing sensation was Tam, that the steady thrum of thought was Linh.

Part of his charm his ass.

Sophie couldn’t keep up with the memories, left floundering behind when the surroundings suddenly warped once more, throwing her…into the middle of a meadow.

Purple grass mixed with seafoam, a faint steam gurgling in the distance and a sense of nothing nothing nothing in the air.

At least, that’s what she would sense, what she had sensed when she’d been there with him that day. The alicorns in the sky had been her focus and she was so grateful the space was clear, that they could just exist together, all of them in the sky and tumbling around together as though nothing had ever happened.

She wished that meadow still stood, wished she hadn’t burned it to the ground. Again and again, she tried to remind herself that it was the dragon that had sparked the flame, that had destroyed that precious little field of peace.

But the dragon wouldn’t have been there if she hadn’t brought it there, and it was trying to protect itself from her. The blame was hers.

A rush of loathing so consuming washed through her brain at the sight of that perfect little meadow, what it had been before her.

Enough so that she missed the dialogue of the memory entirely and the feelings associated with it nearly slipped past her notice just as easily.

But there, just at the edges of her--no, Keefe’s--senses was this…pressure. This knowing. This tangible understanding of something something something, and as he looked around while Sophie sat on the ground communicating with the alicorns an unsettling pink haze caught his attention.

Hidden in the trees, he nearly didn’t notice it. But as soon as he did, it was all he noticed. Pink and faded and crystalizing against the bark, dissipating and lingering like a cold exhale in winter.

Something about it shocked him, shook him to the core enough so that he needed several deep breaths before he was composed enough to hide it, and even as the two of them flipped through the skies alongside the alicorns his eyes occasionally drifted back to that tree, watching that haze of information dissipate.

I don’t understand, Keefe, Sophie interrupted, watching the scenery meld itself into something new. How many of these were there?

“No!” his voice called out, faint. Sophie was too lost in the memory to hear him clearly, but she knew he could hear here.

As he cried out, the memory suddenly vanished and remade itself. Like there was something in it he hadn’t wanted her to see and had skipped through it instead. Like his mind and had been giving more than he intended.

But she could’ve sworn the memory had been constructing itself into Havenfield, the destroyed Havenfield she’d come to mourn these past months.

“I’m sorry,” he said again, and it was closer this time.

Why? You haven’t done anything wro--

She gasped as her words cut off, the memory in her palms sinking deeper into her skin and shoving itself further into her mind. She wasn’t just watching the memory, she was living it. Breathing, thriving, dying within its walls as she stopped understanding the difference between Keefe and Sophie and it.

A thousand seconds compressed into one, a million worries shoved into one, an eternity of thoughts in a single moment.

Her body wasn’t hers and her mind wasn’t hers and there was no distinction between anything except for friend and foe. The beloved and the burned.

__________________

Friend, it had thought as a new hand had pressed into the walls. There hadn’t been friends in an eternity, perhaps ever. The people within its walls had been torturous and curious and destructive, pushing and pulling and reaping.

It hadn’t controlled the doors then, hadn’t been the doors yet.

But that was before, and then it had happened, and it could no longer stay quiet with such suffering happening so close. And so it became the walls, the doors, the halls, the stairs, the cells, the stone, the lights, the entire facility.

And it shut the doors.

And those things within the walls, their heartbeats picked up and their voices grew as they pounded at the stone.

And it opened the cages, released the chains.

The stones that had become part of it ran red, stained and echoic and suddenly so so quiet.

It had been quiet ever since, the threats within the walls quelled as the cages were abandoned, everything leaving it behind as cracks to the surface were found or made, as it let everything go.

It was all that remained, and it was everything here. It could feel a few had lingered in the shadows, either unable or too afraid to understand it could leave. That it would let it, should it ask.

It never asked.

And then one had come back instead of leaving, had crashed into the caverns of its body and scrambled into the depths it had never seen with the body it’d been before it became the walls. It was hurting and screaming and fumbling, crashing into walls and scrambling through doors and tearing at the locks, gouges left through them.

It had disappeared into the dark to bleed, and its walls could do nothing but watch and savor the feeling of another. The warmth of an existence beside itself, the spark humming in its chest. They were not the same, but they were both other.

The familiarity of a time long since passed had come back to visit.

Then someone new had.

Friend, it had thought, and curiously opened the doors, though the sounds it made within the walls made no sense. It sounded like the foes it had purged from the facility it had become, but it wasn’t like them.

She seemed confused, a hand held in front of her as she looked side to side, passing through the hall and moving for an eternity. It watched her through the doors, through the floor, through the fire on the walls as she held her own flame forward to reach past the light it cast for her.

She kept moving in that path forward, never stopping, looking side to side and then back and it realized she didn’t know.

So it opened a door for her.

She stopped then, the rustle of air and the crack of flames echoing through its halls as it peered into the space, the room. It watched her step through, watched her search the walls, and so it opened another.

She looked around the room then, looking for it. She could not find it, as it was everything and she did not know.

But it could feel it within her, the spark, the warmth, the love.

Another just like her had crawled into the depths of its caverns just a small fraction of eternity before, and for a moment it wanted her gone.

Because that other was a friend, that creature that had come back and finally ended the lifetime of solitude it had chosen for itself to save all the others hurting here. If not the same, they were one in the same.

But the other did not belong to it, and more than it wanted her gone it wanted the other to be at peace.

So it opened an entire path just for her, set the lights ablaze and averted its gaze as she walked through and down and down.

The two of them, the girl and the dragon, were one in the same, a kind of kin it longed for. It couldn’t take that away from the two of them.

And so it was all there was once again, observer as she returned time and time again, trying to understand the dragon she was drawn to that wouldn’t let her get too near, was afraid of her despite the kindness of her touch.

Until she’d brought a creature along with her, a creature made of time and unbound by space, glitching quietly in her arms.

And two others followed behind.

The two were similar to her in a way he hadn’t known possible, and it watched them through the walls. Watched them squint into the dark as the lights illuminated so little. They weren’t as calm as she had been, rushing through the hall until one of them reached out to touch the wall, tracing fingers along the scratches it had forgotten it bled from.

Equal, it had called her, this new creature within its walls. It was neither friend nor foe, but they were one in the same, they were equals. She stood unaware of the power, the connections cast about by her mind, the threads of silk tying her to everything and everything; one day she’d learn, but for now she stood scared within the hall of its body.

It didn’t interfere, didn’t need to. It watched from afar as she closed her eyes and moved further and further into its depths.

The second was touching the walls now, and with that touch it understood her. It watched her flicker in and out of sight, and it knew something wanted her. Not it, but something lurking within it that it had long since forgotten.

That was why, as the two found the cavernous hole within its form it stole her away, thickened the darkness and took her, pushed her into the tunnels and the hidden paths.

If she found her way, she may be worthy, may prove herself.

If not, it would return her to her friend, let her be in peace and remain unaware of the potential it’d already noticed within herself.

And so it sat back to watch, to watch the girl enamored with fire and dragons, the girl with a spider’s web for a mind, and the girl who could slip between worlds if she tried.

It watched the girl run through the tunnels, dipping and weaving and unlearning and remaking herself, a whirlwind of light around her body as she screamed. It watched the dragon, the other, taken from the caverns and brought back to the light. It watched the girl of fire and pain walk the halls in search of that scream, heart beating too fast in her chest as she followed the glitch through the stone until she came upon the otherworldly girl who’d come after her and now needed saving herself.

It watched the girl unaware of her role reappear and run down the hall, utterly lost.

It watched her run, could feel the building of a glitching void and knew it would lose her if she went though, she’d never find it. So it locked its walls and kept her there.

It watched her travel the hall, lights springing ahead of her. And it watched her press her hand to its walls once more, and it felt once more how equal the two were.

And it had the strangest urge to meet her.

It was everything, but it was mostly hidden in the room at the end of the hall, that was where it had kept its old body, the one it had forgotten how to use. As she pondered the doors with that heartbeat of hers, it cleared the way, letting her fall through and closing her in.

She stood then, holding a light against the dark it had forgotten how to live without. It breathed light into the world for her, to see her clearly, to know her.

And it saw the moment she saw it back.

Awe. Understanding. Recognition. Equal, but she didn’t know it.

An instinct it had buried deep resurfaced in that moment, the need to be known. It was so incredibly lonely down here, and it wanted her to know. It wanted her to know everything, if only so someone would.

So it guided her, pointed her to the stone in the floor it had watched all the others stand upon, others that looked so much like her and yet were a world apart.

But the others came back before she could learn it all, before she could get past the beginning.

And it resigned itself to wait, to stay as it always had and to be patient.

It guided them away, guided them out through the caverns. They were urgent, needed, moving and fighting the way it once had. It had won, but it had cost all it was.

It watched them go, having taken both the dragon and the reason the girl had come. None of them had a need to come back again, nothing to draw them back to it.

But the girl with a spider’s web for a mind, she would come back. That it knew. She wouldn’t realize it, but it had planted the seeds, it had given her a glimpse.

She’d come back, and it could tell her. It could show her and make itself known. One person would be left to remember it, and it had chosen her.

It waited and waited, lingering in those walls that had become its body, convoluted and frightening, watching the dust settle and the darkness descend.

No friends but itself, no others except for those in the tunnels, and those were not friends but a necessary evil it had sealed away and made itself forget until now. Except for that girl, the one blinking in and out of the world. She had faced them. Had she proven herself?

Time slipped by as it existed solitary in the earth, waiting for her to come back like it knew she would.

And then a hand had pushed the doors open and stepped into the hall. Footsteps had followed, more than had echoed through its body in a long time.

The girl had come back though her dragon wasn’t in the caverns anymore, and she’d brought the other two with her as well. It knew them, knew them through their palms. They’d brought others, though it wouldn’t know them until their touch united them and it could glean what it needed to know. The girl of other worlds and the equal it’d been waiting so patiently for.

No. Not now. Why now? It had been so eager to meet her, to know her. But not now, not with the creation below. It had slipped in alongside its creature, as creatures were always given free roam. But it had been there too, and it hadn’t seen it as it thought over the girl again and again. It had become lax.

And now she was back, but it was not what it once had been here.

There were ten of them moving down the hall, no rush. This was calm, peaceful, this was as it liked it. She was so close now and it could finally tell her, finally be known after a life of solitary existence.

It felt two hands press against the walls and let the doors open for them, let them through as it had come to know them. One returning again and again, the other back for the first time.

And then the most peculiar sensation pressed against the walls, a sort of deadness so profound it couldn’t understand it. Like it was reaching out, trying to get through--but not to it. And it was all that was left, nothing else to contact. It was everything here, the floor beneath their feet, the stone walls creeping over them, and the lights beside their heads.

The sensation disappeared and she replaced it, it’s equal, so it opened the door for her. It didn’t know why she wanted it open, but it wanted her back.

Now. There wasn’t enough time, not as that creation in the depths tore another stone from its body.

She stayed stationary, her and the three it didn’t know standing in the same spot as it watched them. Then they began to move, but the girl was using the webs of her mind and reaching out into the world it couldn’t understand.

And then the sensations came.

A girl with lightning beneath her skin and a calm facade, a boy with a spectrum of possibilities brewing in his mind.

Two it couldn’t understand, a strange empty echo through their bodies. It was as though it couldn’t feel them at all, had to look at them to see them. One with teal eyes, the other silver bangs. It had never needed to resort to the physical before. It turned its attention away from them, the need to be known growing more urgent now that she was here.

She had stopped, was talking to those she’d brought with her. And then another tried to open a door.

The sensation took a moment to register, then alarm hissed in its mind, an instinct buried so deep it’d forgotten it existed burning through its body.

Strong enough to overpower the pain wracking its form, the fear of the things in the depths of the tunnels. The tunnels it had sent that girl of other worlds through, the tunnels no one dared brave.

Alarm strong enough it was whole for a moment.

No. It would not let that door open.

Foe. Danger, enemy, threat. It couldn’t allow her through, this girl with such cunning in her heart, this girl who could change a war with her presence. But it couldn’t destroy her either, not with its equal right beside her.

It settled for a warning, watching with satisfaction as she stumbled back, shaking her hand in pain. But aside from that moment of contact, it couldn’t feel her. She was another being in its walls, but it couldn’t feel her the way it felt its equal’s steps across the stone.

It didn’t like that.

The girl was using her infinite mind to talk to another, the boy with teal eyes with such a strange echo in his heart, and she watched as another stepped towards the walls to press another palm to the stone.

Its mind went blank, every facet of its existence narrowing to that point of contact, that palm pressed to its walls.

You. You. You, its mind sang, and it could no longer think over the longing.

This new hand, this new boy, he was neither friend nor foe, equal or echo, he was it.

A new word came to it in that moment, before his hand had even left the wall: kin.

It needed to meet him.

He needed to meet it.

Before the creation killed it.

It could feel the moment he felt it, stumbling back from the wall, a fraction of the sensation it was feeling as it tried to touch its mind to his. But he was too far from its original body, and its mind wasn’t the spider web of power and possibilities it had come to recognize in its equal.

It didn’t care about who was with him, it contorted and twisted its body, undoing and redoing the walls, rumbling through the floor. Tearing through space, it pulled them closer and closer, needing to know them, to see them, to make them understand.

The boy made of history and the girl with power written in her blood, in that spider’s web of her mind.

It stopped moving, stopped contorting, let them set themselves down. Anxiously, it waited for them to take the next step, to come to meet it.

Its form shifted, crawling down the walls in the darkness, the few moments of darkness it would have before lighting the room for them. Before illuminating the mess its body had become under the hands of that thing in the tunnels. It’d come back, it wasn’t supposed to come back.

It had never seen it for more than a day at a time, the echo of its tiny footsteps passing by enclosure after enclosure, stopping for hours at a time in a select few.

But when it had taken over the facility, when it had become the walls and the floor and the stone and the lights and the locks, the creation hadn’t been here and had no reason to come back. So why was it back?

The creation was going to kill it.

The girl it had waited so patiently for pressed her hand to the walls, but it didn’t open them for her. Not this time. Not so close, not when it had brought them here, to meet them, to know them, to be known.

She seemed to realize, and unafraid stepped through first, the others following behind. A leader, its equal. As she should be, as her mind allowed her to be. Perhaps one day she’d realize who she could become, but it couldn’t care when they were so close.

It cared too much about them, more than something like it was supposed to.

They were here, its kin and its equal.

It had waited an eternity for them.

Now that he was here, the boy with wings just like its body, it could reach out with its mind, as familiar to it and its own.

Faintly, it could brush against his mind, inviting him down, inviting him closer.

Smoke poured from its mouth as it sat in the pit, letting the light drift up to illuminate the chandelier above, and it could hear them talking. Could hear them through the haze of the creation tearing its body apart in the caves.

And then he was running, closing the space between the two of them until it could see him, see the feathers on his back akin to those on its own. It took the last step, bringing the stairs to life and drawing him closer still, hardly noticing when he grabbed another and brought him down with.

The creation in the tunnels attacked then, more than a tearing of stone from the walls, a brutal blast of chaos against the floors and walls and labyrinthine caves that had become its body.

It screamed then, agony previously unknown to it coursing through its bones.

Him, it had to get to him, the boy just like it. It pressed its head close, eyes focusing on him, the ice blue of his eyes as he reached out a hand and it became known.

It poured the molten gold of its mind into his, into the cupped palms of his consciousness to let it sink in deep, so he wouldn’t just see but would be.

Every moment, every instance, the loneliness and desire to find something just like it, the things it had done to save every other creature that had once been trapped in these halls, an offering between the two of them.

Then a hand brushed the floor, and alarm rushed through the two of them, the duty of those who decide who lives and dies calling louder than ever before.

And this time it could answer. The boy just like it was before it and the girl with a glitching spider’s web for a mind was far enough away.

The two of them turned the stone to tar, watching with visceral satisfaction as she sank, shrieking as her limbs were engulfed and the threat contained.

Foe. Burned. Danger.

They were going to bury her alive, let her rot in the stones and disintegrate into nothing but a foul memory. This protector, this thing that destroyed life so precious. She couldn’t be allowed to continue, as she’d surely take more than she was worth.

They would stop her here, compensation for all the lives she’d taken, the lives staining her hands.

No. Another shudder wracked the building, another blasting ripple of power into the tunnels and caverns, that creation tearing its body apart from the inside out. It lost its hold on the molten stone, writhing in the pit as agony danced through its bones.

It was being torn apart and could do nothing but watch.

It wasn’t allowed to hurt her.

__________________

Sophie’s hands shook as they dropped from Keefe’s shoulders, breathing loud and labored in the pained quiet of the room at the end of the hall.

Glancing side to side at the being surrounding the two of them, almost in the center of the room, she saw it bordered them on all sides. Protected them. Trapped them. Loved them.

“I--I’m…sorry,” Keefe whispered, swaying slightly as he blinked, dazed, before her. “I couldn’t…stop it.”

She didn’t respond, quickly standing and looking around the room, to the questioning looks Maruca was giving her--one hand now free--as she set her eyes on where the doors should be.

Memory after memory of Keefe’s had turned itself over to her, unfolding before her like a stained mosaic as she pieced together who he was, what he’d become.

But that last memory wasn’t his, wasn’t even close.

That was the being’s. It’s memories of when Marella had found the place, when Sophie and Biana had followed, strange interpretations of who they were but she knew enough to identify who it was talking about. A girl enamored with fire and dragons, a girl of other worlds.

And a girl with a glitching spider’s mind.

It’s equal.

Sophie didn’t have the luxury of time to figure out what that meant, instead reaching reaching reaching within the spider’s web of her mind and hoping that it’d find everyone, all ten of them that had come through that door.

Ten in the front, two through the back.

She sent a simple message: Someone else is here.

#this has a bit of a different perspective #so if anything is confusing or too conceptual you're more than welcome to ask about it!!#or if you just want to talk about it #because I had a lot of fun with this one #and love talking about the au #if you say anything about it I will respond tenfold in both enthusiasm and character count #you could probably pry some secrets out of me that way tbh #but anyways!!#please enjoy #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc wings au #shattered upside down chapter #shattered upside down #kotlc fic #kotlc fanfic

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solreefs · 3 years

Text

Kotlc kids (+Wylie) as things I’ve said

Sophie: My headphones just haven’t been the same since part of them fell off.

Fitz: What if we just didn’t have kneecaps? Like, what if they just disappeared all of a sudden?

Biana: Be sad. But be sad and sparkly.

Dex: I like to think that at some point my best friend would have noticed I was gone, but I don’t know at this point.

Keefe: I hate everything about this, but I’m laughing because if I don’t, I’ll be sad.

Tam: I’m technically not allowed to have crayons anymore.

Linh: I’m gonna go home and watch Cars 2. Why? Because I love it, that’s why.

Wylie: I’m not good at following advice, and I’m not great at giving it either, but I think you should do that.

Stina: Shut up gmail, no one cares.

Marella: I can feel my teeth bending.

Maruca: You can’t tell the moon what to do.

#sophie foster #fitz vacker #biana vacker #dex dizznee #keefe sencen #tam song #linh song #wylie endal #stina heks #marella redek #maruca chebota #kotlc #there’s a weird story behind almost all of these

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that-glasses-dog · 3 years

Text

two idiots and a turtle

hi there! this is the first chapter of my kam fic for the 2021 kotlc collab! (@kotlc2021collab) and yes, the title is “two idiots and a turtle”-

the art that @doodlesofams made for this chapter is here!

anyways, I hope you enjoy! the chapter will be under the cut!

***

chapter one: in which someone is going to die

tam

“Yes, of course I have a crush on Keefe.”

Linh’s delighted grin fades, her silver eyes dimming as she registers the sarcasm in my voice, and then she pouts, trying to defend her side of whatever this was.

“But you two would be so cute together!”

That’s- that’s her defense?

I lift my head from the table, glaring at her through my silver-tipped bangs. “So?”

“Just- just because we look cute together didn’t mean we would be good together. How could we? Keefe probably still hates me from when I put him into a coma, and. . .”

I don’t speak the rest of my thought aloud. And I would never forgive myself.

Linh drops the subject with a sigh, looking mournful for a moment, before she stands up, brushing herself off. Oh, I hope I didn’t upset her. I don’t like it when she’s pouty.

She holds out a hand to me, which I reluctantly grab before she drags me out of bed.

I step out of the beam of light that had light-leaped us to Foxfire, begrudgingly heading to my locker and collecting my things, before heading to my first class - The Universe. Ugh, we had a test today.

Did I want to or need to know the location of every star? No. But they teach it anyways. And I learn it. Foxfire is somehow better and worse than Exilium at the same time.

I wince as the shadowflux twinges painfully under my skin, reacting to my negative emotions. I wish I could get it out of me, but I’m stuck with it just as much as Keefe is stuck with his new powers.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t seen Keefe yet today. Where is he--?” I murmur to myself.

A sudden hush falls over the room as Keefe quietly walks in. Everyone’s heard about what’s happened to him, his new powers, and his inability to control them.

He sits down next to me, his ice blue eyes having lost their usual sparkle, dark circles underneath. Is he okay?

No- why do I care? Why should I care? He hates me.

I don’t look at him, instead staring resolutely ahead as we each get our papers and start the exam.

Keefe hesitates as he stares down at the paper, pulling a mug of cinnacreme out and pouring something strong and bitter-smelling into it - coffee, I think?

He glances at me with a wry grin and murmurs, “I’m going to die,” before drinking the whole thing.

My eyes widen as I watch him gulp it down. That didn’t seem like it was going to be good for him.

The time passes monotonously, as I fill out my test, finally standing up and passing it to Sir Astin, the Universe teacher.

I sit back down at my seat, glancing over at Keefe. He’s still filling out the test, eyebrows scrunched up in concentration as he stares down at his paper.

Hopefully he does well.

I glance at his hand, at the way his fist is clenching the pencil as he roughly scribbles down answers. He must be nervous.

After several tense minutes in which I try to not stare at him, he finally stands up, knocking his chair back with a screech and passing the paper to Sir Astin.

Shortly after that, the class ends, and we all stand up, about to file out of the classroom.

“Mr. Sencen, Mr. Song, stay behind.” Sir Astin calls for us in his whispery voice.

I turn around, glancing over at Keefe before heading in front of the teacher. He stands up from his desk to face the both of us.

“Keefe, you didn’t study very much for this test, did you?”

Keefe rolls his eyes, muttering something about how he had a photographic memory and how he’d be perfectly fine.

I wince as Sir Astin starts scolding him for not studying. Finally, he turns to me, looking at me with a slightly approving gaze.

“Tam, I’d like you to tutor Keefe for the foreseeable future.”

My eyebrows raise at his idea. Tutoring Keefe? Was that really such a good idea?

And besides, what if Keefe didn’t want me to tutor him at all?

After a moment, Keefe nods, assenting to this, and I gulp nervously. This wasn’t going to go well.

The school day moves slowly, but at the same time, incredibly fast. I barely pay attention to my other classes (leading to me getting scolded by my Mentor, Lady Zillah), instead focusing on what was to happen afterschool.

I’d be tutoring Keefe. Alone. At one of our houses, presumably. I tug on my bangs again, trying to ignore the strange, twisting feeling in the pit of my stomach.

Ugh, I don’t want to do this.

The bell rings, signifying the end of the day, and us students filter out of our classes, getting our things and leaping back home. I gather up my supplies, lagging behind so other people can leave.

Where is Keefe?

I search the halls for him, quietly calling out his name and hoping that I wouldn’t need to argue with him for anything. I’m already tired enough as is.

I finally spot a figure at the end of the hall, recognizing it as Keefe from the messy golden hair.

He turns to me as I run up to him, but I’m shocked by what he’s holding.

I stare at Keefe.

“Why do you have a turtle?”

Keefe gasps, affronted, hugging the undeniably adorable turtle closer to his chest. “Excuse me! This is my emotional support turtle right here!”

I stare at him yet again. “...Care to explain why?”

He smirks, his ice-blue eyes seeming to glow with mischief. “I’m planning a prank. Want to help me?”

I tug on my silver-tipped bangs nervously, considering this, before I sigh. I’m supposed to be tutoring him, not aiding him with another one of his infamous pranks.

But as I look at him, I can see a glimmer of something underneath his joking exterior. Pain. Fear. Desperation. He wants this to happen - needs something normal in his life again. And who was I to take that away from him, that control over such a small aspect of his life?

This was going to be a bad idea, wasn’t it?

“Fine.”

#kotlc 2021 collab #kam kotlc #keefe sencen #tam song #two idiots and a turtle

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slozhnos · 3 years

Note

so i have a request for a kotlc ship oneshot - linhella/marellinh vampire thing (super descriptive, ik) thanks!

Here it is! ------------------------- Marella had always known exactly who she was, and what she was meant to do. Of course, everything seemed to change when she met her.

She had been passing through a nearby town, and she had heard whispers of strange going-ons in the nearby castle. At first glance, you would most likely think that it was abandoned. But that was during the day. At night, the windows blazed with a cheerful yellow glow, which mystified the townsfolk. Many had climbed a castle wall to see what could be causing the castle to be lit up, but none had ever figured it out.

That was until Marella decided to put her time tested skills to work. The first thing she noticed was an abundance of bat droppings.

“Vampires.” she murmured to herself.

Reaching into her small bag, she felt her garlic and wooden stakes. Marella let out a sigh of relief. She still had her stuff. Before the incident, she had been fascinated with vampires, and other similar creatures, but then her mother was almost fatally injured by one, and Marella had sworn to herself that never again would a vampire hurt those she cared about.

Pushing lightly on the oaken doors of the castle, Marella was shocked to see that they were unlocked. That can’t be a good sign. She thought to herself, with a worried twinge in her side.

Running a few fingers across a table, she soon realized everything was coated in a thick layer of dust, almost like nobody had lived here in centuries.Suddenly, she saw something move out of the corner of her eye.

Gotcha! Marella chased after the dark figure, and kept falling farther and farther behind. The figure stopped all of a sudden, standing in front of a wall. Then in the blink of an eye, the dark figure was nowhere to be seen.Where did they go? Could there be a secret passageway? “Of course there would be, It’s an old castle.” Marella muttered under her breath. She dashed over to the wall, examining it closely. She saw a rock that looked less dusty than the others, so naturally, she pushed it. The floor opened up, and she fell.

She had been bracing for impact, but nothing came. Marella didn’t know how long she had been falling, but if she were to compare it to something, it would probably be like falling into the pit Tartarus. According to the philosopher Hesoid, it took nine days to fall.All of a sudden, the stone walls stopped rushing by, but she still felt as if she was falling. What in the name of everblaze is going on? “Oof,” groaned Marella, landing on something soft. “Where am I?”

“My lair.” a soft voice said calmly. “I was hoping you’d come, you seem interesting.”

The dark figure stepped out of the shadows, still wearing the dark cloak. A pale hand reached out of the cloak and removed the hood, revealing a girl with long black hair and rosy cheeks. There was something strange about the girl’s hair, the ends were silver, and glimmered in the warm light.

“Who are you, and why do you seem to know who I am?”

“Well, people like me tend to know a bit about people like you. And by that I mean vampire hunters.”

“You don’t look like a vampire.” Marella blurted out, feeling flustered for reasons she couldn’t even begin to comprehend. “You’ve never actually seen a vampire, have you?” responded the girl. “I have. One hurt my mother when I was like, five.”

“I’m so sorry that happened, was she okay?”

“Not really, she was never the same afterwards, which is why I became-” “A vampire hunter?” finished the girl, cutting Marella off mid-sentence. An awkward silence followed, neither of them quite knowing what to say next.

“Oh, I guess I never properly introduced myself, my name is Linh, Linh Song.”

Marella smiled, “Well it’s nice to meet you Linh, you seem really nice.” And pretty, really, really pretty. Marella added internally.

Linh looked startled, and Marella couldn’t remember for the life of her why that might be, then she remembered. Some vampires could read minds. Shoot. She just heard that I thought she was pretty. And she heard me think it again just now.

Marella felt her face grow as red as a ripe tomato. She had to stop thinking about how pretty Linh was or else, well she wasn’t really sure of what would happen, but she panicked anyways.

“For what it's worth,” Linh said, snapping Marella out of her panic. “I think you’re really pretty too. You seem nice too, which is always a plus.”

Marella felt her cheeks flush even redder if that was possible, but the two girls kept on talking and laughing. Eventually, they were sitting beside each other, and Linh put her hand over Marella’s, and squeezed it tight.

“I know we haven’t known each other for that long, but I really like you Marella, I hope you know that.” she said earnestly, gazing into Marella’s icy eyes. “I know, and if you couldn’t tell by all my ridiculous blushing, I really like you too. Of course, you probably knew that already from reading my-”

“Marella?”

“Yeah?”

Linh leaned in close, smiling in her awkward but adorable way, and asked a simple question. “Can we kiss?”

#my writing #marellinh #linhella #julia writes weird stuff #vampire au #I hope you like it

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colossalsummer · 4 years

Text

KOTLC book one READ ALONG part 3 of 5

I read the first Keeper of the Lost Cities book and annotated every page. Here are the highlights. (Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3/ Part 4/ Part 5)

Chapter 21

Sophie… picked up a huge clod of mud and nailed the verminion in the gut. LOL This isn’t a very good nature preserve

She placed a hand on Sophie’s shoulder and Sophie straightened. “Sorry. Do you mind?” “No… it’s nice,” Sophie whispered. It was the first time Edaline had touched her.

*sophie splotches the living tar out of Stina* Had she pushed too hard? If she still has a pulse, not hard enough

Chapter 22

If she was going to beat Fitz, she was going to have to give it everything she had—and then some. Don’t kill him… just maim him

Chapter 23

I feel like there’s some talk about Fitz being all jealous of how much more powerful Sophie is than him, but he was really classy about her winning here. Like, just real happy for her, even after getting his melon smashed on the far wall of the gymnasium. This boy is concussed and he still accepts his loss with dignity. Say what you want, but I think Book 1 Fitz is a real lil gentleman.

Chapter 24

Dex: “I’d love to see Wonderboy’s face if a Dizznee broke his precious record.” just kiss already

Chapter 25

Biana: I know you like my brother. OH NUTS BACK OUT BACK OUT

I really appreciate that Sophie is this bridge between the popular kids and the weird kids.

...Dex moved their practice experiments to the caves that lined the beach at the base of Havenfield’s cliffs. Oh, you mean the Make Out Caves

Rock couldn’t burn and the ocean was nearby if they needed it. And they needed it. A lot. Dex sprinting into the ocean, screaming his head off, trailing flames, is a great image. Any fanartists that aren’t drawing their OTP kissing please get this on my desk ASAP.

Chapter 26

Sophie kept her eyes on her hands as she confessed her crime.

I like that Alina’s like “Maybe possibly we should give her detention?” and Tiergan’s like "NEVER." Some of these clowns would throw their coats over a puddle for Sophie but Tiergan would throw his whole body in front of a bus.

Keefe notices Sophie in detention and just gives her a thumbs up I’m dying

Tiergan to Alina: “Everyone knows how you favor him.” Eww

Her mind wandered automatically to Fitz. Someone cleared his throat. Sophie locked eyes with Keefe. What if Keefe thinks Sophie likes him? He must’ve noticed her thinking he was cute when they met.

Galvin: “You might want to brush up on iron purification.” AW OH MY GOSH SHE PICKED THE EASIEST ONE THIS IS SO SWEET

Honestly what is even more emotional for me than Sophie falling in love with all these boys is all these adults in her life that are really, truly trying to help her. I really like this book as, like, the story of Sophie trying to rebuild her life and support systems in the rubble of this massive personal tragedy. She’s learning to fall in platonic love with all sorts of different people in her life like Galvin and her foster parents, and I think that’s just nice.

Chapter 27

It sucks so bad that their finals happen all in one day.

This tradition of putting the caps in the lockers and filling them with presents the next day is so, so cute. I wish we did that in human school because it would seriously take the edge off.

Chapter 28

Keefe’s dad: “This must be the girl who was raised by humans.” And you must be a gigantic butthole. Charmed.

Every time Edaline holds Sophie’s hand I die and come back to life.

I’m so proud of Keefe for thriving with a vengeance in this terrible environment. Good boy.

There’s a lot of candy in this chapter, and I like that when kids integrate into a new fantasy society like Harry Potter, learning candy names is very important.

Tiergan: “...But do you think I could be tempted back by a little girl? Especially one performing so unremarkably in her sessions?” *crying* Ugh hold herrr

I just realized, is Biana just hanging out with us to get intel or something? She took a very sudden turn, and she seems guilty all the time now. Every moment this book shatters my trust.

Keefe teasing Sophie because he knows she’s stressed is *chef’s kiss*

*Dex getting the Disneyland watch* thank you Shannon I needed to see that

*Dex freaks out about Sophie’s “boyfriend”* Keefe: “Interesting.” Dex: “What?” L O L

Sophie runs to hug her foster parents and for a second wonders if that was okay BUT THEN THEY HUG HER BACK

Dex fixing Sophie’s iPod so she can have human music somebody help me I can’t

I hope Keefe hasn’t been associating her feelings for Fitz with himself. She gets all gaga when he just happens to be around and I just want to keep his little rascally heart intact.

Keefe: If you don’t relax, this candy will always taste bitter—so snap out of it!

The candy turned sour. Lol u got anxiety

Chapter 29

Alina: “Be prepared to be pushed much harder in ability detecting from now on.” I mean if you can’t, you can’t, right? Kids don't just squeeze new powers out

He didn’t like her— O yes he do honey

Sophie: “There are forbidden talents? *reaches for ever-growing file on things that are questionable in elf society* here we go

Sophie: “That still seems wrong. It’s like they’re not allowed to be who they are.” Marella: “Oh, relax. There’s only been like twelve—ever—so it’s not exactly a huge problem.” It doesn’t impact me so I do not see it 🙃

Sneaking into Edaline’s office and finding it just completely overturned. This woman needs some help.

Chapter 30

Dex took her to Moonglade: a wide, round meadow filled with thousands of fireflies flickering in the darkness. Mmm hm hmmm :)))

He came up behind her and used one arm to level the scope. Hello

Dex: “Sorry, is this okay?” Sophie: “Sure.” Mm hm mm hm go on

*sophie burns her hands and Dex rushes to examine them* aw man this trope gets me every friggin time. I'm so weak to that "hold still let me see your wound" stuff

You guys I think I’m team Sokeefe

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axels-corner · 4 years

Text

First chapter!

So this is chapter one of my council leadership camp au.

So the main characters that will be in here are Emery, Dareck, Noland, Kenric, Terick, and Oralie makes an appearance towards the end. The other councillors will come in and be introduced later.

Also the rivalry is based off some enemies to friends headcannons I have skater au style. They're at the frenemy stage currently.

So I don't know when I'm going to update but I hope you enjoy

Fic under the cut

October 14th 2008

"I wonder when we're going to get there" Dareck says looking up from the new htc dream and leaning back against the seat.

"We'll get there when we get there" Emery says without looking up from his book. This had been the 5th time Dareck had asked in 10 minutes

"But I'm bored." Dareck says.

"Then play on your phone." Emery suggests

"But it's almost dead." Dareck replies

"I'm also bored." Noland contributes. Emery realizes that if he wants to finish this chapter he'll have to find something for them to do because he was the only one out of the three that realized that they should bring their entertainment on the bus instead of leaving it in their bags. He sighed

"Maybe you co-" he was cut off mid sentence by one of the other students yelling

"Heads!" Just as he and Dareck scooted opposite directions an egg lands between them. Dareck turns around and yells

"What the fric-" a marshmallow then bounces off his forehead.

"Sorry, I'm aiming for the guy that's in the seat in front of you two." Suddenly a head pops up in front of them with light brown hair, cobalt blue eyes, and hair that covers the left side of his face and hangs down while the right side is shortly cut pops up.

" You'll never be able to hit me Kenric give up for I have the power of God and anime on my side!" Noland leans over to Emery and Dareck

"Did he just quote a vine?" Emery nods. All of a sudden the guy's face is covered in flour and a girl pokes her head out from one of the rows

"I told you forgetting about me would be your downfall." She swings her arms over the seat and Emery sees she had a super soaker filled with flour.

"Nice going Oralie!" Kenric says and holds out his hand for a high five.

"Don't think I forgot about our rivalry. I will take back my crown of the skateboarding champion." She says as she high fives him. This went on for a little longer and it was also when he knew this was going to be interesting 2 weeks. Just then the bus arrived at their destination so they all got off.

"Well let's go find out what cabin we are." Emery says to Noland and Dareck and they walk towards the circle

Tag list (if you want to be added or removed let me know):

@loverofallthingssmart @impostertamsong @make-kotlc-gayer @keeper-of-the-lost-queers @geekandnerdworld @dragonwinnie-kotlc @an-absolute-travesty @a-lonely-tatertot @everyonehasthoughts @io-of-the-fandoms

#kotlc fanfiction #councillor terik #councillor emery #councillor kenric #councillor oralie #councillor Dareck #councillor Noland

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svtellify · 6 years

Text

KOTLC: Flashback Review [WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD]

Keeper of the Lost Cities: Flashback by Shannon Messenger ★★☆☆☆

That little blurb/intro in the beginning? Hmmm, intense. Like, way more directly and upfront intense than the rest of the series has been, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad thing.

Alvar’s sentencing was a really interesting choice, but I feel like bringing in all the Vackers was a little unnecessary. There were just too many opinions to follow, and it did make Fallon Vacker a little less of the interesting enigma that he previously was.

Fitz’s outburst wasn’t totally uncalled for, but he could have definitely dialed it back. I mean, he wasn’t as close to Alvar as Biana was, and his younger sister wasn’t reacting as explosively. This does show that Fitz is consistent (his outburst in Exile), but it did feel a little repetitive when he kept yelling out about how much he hated Alvar. We get it dude, Alvar sucks. But so do Lady Gisela, Quan Song, and Mai Song. And let’s not forget that Wylie’s just scarred, after what happened to Prentice and his mom.

Whom the heck is Luzia Vacker? Why bring in another Vacker only to make them relevant for a little bit and then take them out again? We, as a fandom, already went through that with Kenric, and trust be we’re all still sobbing about that. Not to forget Marella, who is suddenly relevant again?

Dex’s technopathic skills. Goodbye everyone else’s abilities, Dex is a genius who is finally, getting some sort of credit, even if it’s from the council, and not his friends, I am desperate and will take it, at this point.

Speaking of Dex, it was nice to see him standing up for himself against Alvar.

And Fitz is mad again, and yelling at Dex and then Keefe, and then Sophie, quiznak, dude, anger management and a therapist will do you wonders.

Also, why didn’t Sophie stand up for Dex? She did *technically* side with Alvar’s sentencing, she spoke with Keefe and Ro about it. Besides, Dex is her best friend, who was there for her when Fitz and Biana definitely were not. Dex was also her first friend and they’ve been through a lot together.

This would’ve also helped with fixing their relationship a little after the events of Nightfall, and would’ve been a stronger argument for women and men being friends without having to make things romantic. (This can *technically* be said for Fitz or Keefe, but they’ve both been hinted as the possible end games.)

“‘Don’t even get me started on Dex,’ Fitz muttered.

‘I know,’ Biana said quietly. ‘I can’t believe he knew for a week and didn’t tell us.’

Sophie opened her mouth to defend Dex but swallowed back the words. She could tell Fitz and Biana weren’t ready to hear them.

Fitz must’ve noticed, though, because he reeled toward her. ‘Don’t tell me you’re okay with this.’”(Shannon Messenger, Flashback).

This just disappointed me so much, because Biana had finally come so far in getting to know Dex and so had Fitz, but they just couldn’t see any other perspectives.

The little Ro and Keefe bet was super cute. It was nice to see Keefe goofing around again, and Ro’s personality is just so fun.

Alden and Della wanting to get to know their son again? Valid, they are completely valid for that, except for the fact that they seem a little too interested in getting to know Alvar and a little less in oh he was a murdered and he kidnapped my son’s girlfriend and her best friend and tortured them, but he doesn’t even remember now, so that’s okay.

Keefe defending Sophie was cute, as always, but what was that whole thing with “Especially Foster” and the look he and Alden shared? I’m calling shenanigans. Let’s break it down:

Theory: Keefe knows about Fitz’s crush on Sophie and doesn’t want him to hurt her. ( See Exile. )

Easily possible, so easily possible. And this is aside from Keefe just generally defending Sophie regularly.

Theory: Fitz knows about Keefe’s crush on Sophie and he knows that Keefe knows about his crush on Sophie.

Also not that far fetched, they’re best friends and probably talked before Keefe joined the Neverseen.

Theory: Alden asked Keefe to back off.

It would explain the whole look thing but Alden’s never really showed particular interest in that kind of thing. My shipper heart wants to agree with this, but realistically? Probably not true.

Theory: Alden and Keefe are both remembering the events of Exile.

This is probably more likely, considering that Fitz threw a huge tantrum there too and both Alden and Keefe tried to calm him down. This is my best bet about what that whole looking thing was.

Quiznak, who actually believed Alvar when he was whining about being innocent? I have to give it to Fitz, he had a good point about Alvar’s acting being intense. As it turned out, Alvar wasn’t acting, but he did join the Neverseen again. No surprise there.

This was a pretty polarizing event. If you ask me, it didn’t make sense for them to capture Alvar and not gain anything from it or for him to claim innocence for an entire book only to regain his memories and rejoin the villains. The two actions cancelled each other out and left it so that it was as if they’d never captured him in the first place.

Weapons? Uh, quick question, what the heck? Sophie’s spent this entire time ( like six books worth of time ) wanting to be different from the Neverseen, Vespera, and Lady Gisela. She’s even concerned, at one point, that Project Moonlark made her a natural killer, but she just throws all of that out the window and starts up an initiative to fight back?

This seemed really out of character. I don’t know what else to say, especially since elves’ minds can’t handle violence? And Sophie proposed an initiative centered around violence?

What was that entire fight scene? Sophie inflicts, but whoops, there go Fitz, Grizelle and Sandor? Sophie’s outnumbered, so she calls Dex and Wylie? I’m sorry, did we miss something? Wylie wasn’t really a main character prior to Flashback, which is fine, but how is hanging out with Dex all of a sudden?

Side note, Wylie was great, he kicked some Neverseen butt and gave it to them, it was probably one of the better moments in the book.

I feel like we had more of Sophie getting all hot and bothered over Fitz rather than actual plot.

The death of Umber was very anticlimactic, but I have a theory that she’s actually Lady Zillah, Tam’s Shade Mentor. Call it a hunch, Shannon Messenger hasn’t introduced characters to Sophie and/or Mr. Forkle and more of the gang unless they’re important to the plot.

Lady Gisela, Marella, Brant, Magnate Leto, Tiergan, Quentin, Physic/Livy, Amy, Vika, Stina, Luzia, Tarina, Cladfael, Wylie, need I go on?

BUT the majority of the book was just Sophie and Fitz flirting while on bed rest. They spent way too long recovering, and I preferred Nightfall’s way of handling an injury in one half of the love triangle, even if Keefe’s my favorite character. Nothing happened while they were lying there, which is so unreasonable, because when Keefe was out of the picture, they went to Nightfall, but when Fitz got injured, Sophie insisted on being bedside the entire time?

There was also the matter of Fitz choosing Sophie over his family which, yeah, was kind messed up. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Biana was hurting too. Alden and Della were hurting too. Honestly, Sophie was probably the least affected here, especially considering that she pitied Alvar and believed that he shouldn’t be punished for things he didn’t remember doing.

How was Sophie more injured than Fitz when he needed to be on bed rest and sedated constantly? I know she’s the main character and all, but it’s okay to let the other characters develop too. In that sense, Fitz has had the least development, while Biana was injured and got over it, Keefe lost who he was and is still trying to find himself, Linh got over her fear of her powers, Dex acknowledged his crush on Sophie and got over it, and now Tam is starting to get over his hesitance when it comes to using his powers. Even Stina’s getting over her prejudices, but no such development from Fitz.

He’s still focused on being cognates and solely that, but he has so much more potential! He might not be my favorite character, but I know there’s more to him than “I’m in love with Sophie now,” and “I want to be Cognates” and “I hate Alvar, ra-ra, now I’m mad.”

I was hoping to see more development especially since the book seemed to focus on Fitz so much, but I guess not.

Sophie has a bodyguard from every single intelligent species? There was a tumblr post that seemed to describe this perfectly, about how by the end of the series the entire Keeper crew will have at least 98127354392 bodyguards.

Not going to lie, that’s a bit extreme. Five bodyguards? One from each species?

It’s also definitely not helping the idea that all of the species are equal, it makes the elves seem far more superior, and that’s not in Sophie or the Black Swan’s favor. In my opinion, that was unnecessary. ( Especially Bo, but that’s only because he was a huge jerk. )

Whenever Keefe was there, it seemed like everyone was hating on him or he was moping. There’s more to his character than the screw-up troublemaker, hasn’t he proved himself yet?

The monocle pendant was a mistake, and I’ll say that for the people in the back. He didn’t give it to her so they could track her on purpose. The poor boy’s smitten with her, he would never do that. He just didn’t think it through, and it resulted in this.

“...and then I wasn’t even there to help you fight, because I promised Alden . . .’

‘Promised Alden what?’ Sophie asked, glancing between the two of them.

Keefe shook his head. ‘It doesn’t matter’”(Shannon Messenger, Flashback).

Guys, I have no idea what’s going on here, but I really don’t like it. They shouldn’t be sidelining the one person who worked with the Neverseen.

Shadowflux. The seemingly unnecessary introduction to an already complex plot. Thoughts:

Unnecessary. The plot was already complex enough, and it didn’t even touch on the Lodesar Initiative that two books spent worrying about. Not to mention it didn’t help connect the title to the plot in any way either.

Not to mention the fact it focused on the echoes way more than the rest of the plot, which has been built up for so long now.

There were barely any interactions with the whole gang, or really any other characters other than Fitz. We didn’t even get much time with Edaline and Grady, who bonded with Sophie in Nightfall and every book prior to Flashback.

“‘Cool. Now how about you try that again with the truth?’”(Shannon Messenger, Flashback). This was really cute, and honestly, I was so glad that they brought Keefe back in. He (and Dex) have a really great way of reducing the stress and tension and just grounding these larger than life characters. I would’ve loved more Dex and Keefe time, but I’m not writing the series so…

“‘Did you let Fitz win?’

‘Psh, like I’d ever do that!’

‘I don’t know . . . ,’ Ro told him—and he sent her a death glare.

‘That’s different,’ he insisted.

‘Not really,’ she grumbled. ‘But it’s your call.”(Shannon Messenger, Flashback). What could this possible mean? ( could you hear the sarcasm? ) I really don’t like the idea of Fitz or Keefe just giving up like that, with zero communication. They were supposed to be best friends, but instead, Keefe’s avoiding Fitz and Fitz is blaming Keefe and just being a total jerk about his mom. Get your act together!

I was disappointed that Silveny asked for Fitz before Keefe, considering that she knew about Keefe first.

Theory: Silveny can pick up on Sophie’s feelings, and with Fitzphie canon now, she probably sensed Sophie’s feelings for Ftiz and responded.

“Keefe flashed the smuggest of smiles. ‘It’s because I make everything better.’

‘Like giving Sophie the pendant that helped the Neverseen find her?’ Fitz snapped back”(Shannon Messenger, Flashback). So no best friend bonding then?

Ro standing up for Keefe slayed me. It was so nice to see her taking Sophie’s place as moral support and being there for him whenever Fitzphie go too intense or Lord Pretentious started acting up.

Not to mention Tinker, who was brought up once and then never really mentioned again, with the exception of the null. I hope she’ll be back, otherwise that entire section/chapter would be unnecessary.

Okay, this is the end of part 1! Wow, that’s a lot longer than I’d planned, guess I just had a lot to say. Let me know what y’all think in the comments below! And remember, there is more to come, this is definitely not over. Also, feel free to tag be in any Flashback posts, I’ll definitely check them out!

-K

#kotlc #kotlc flashback #kotlc flashback spoilers #flashback spoilers #flashback #shannon messenger #flashback review #mine #@k-e-r-b-e-r-o-s #k-e-r-b-e-r-o-s #honest not hateful #flashback review part i #keeper of the lost cities #keeper of the lost cities flashback

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shatteredsisters-blog · 5 years

Link

Chapters: 3/? Fandom: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger, KOTLC Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Keefe Sencen, Tam Song, Linh Song, Fitz Vacker, Biana Vacker, Sophie Foster, Dex Dizznee Additional Tags: Kidnapped, Missing, kinda mean, i feel bad doing this to keefe oops, Angst Summary:

How broken do you have to be before you’re shattered?

Keefe Sencen has been taken. Snatched from what was meant to be a prank, he struggles to find his way home. The question is, where is home?

Tam Song is cracking. He’s the cause of this, or so he believes. He’s convinced he’s the reason Keefe is suffering, and it’s awakening feelings he’s so desperately shut in the depths of his mind.

Sophie Foster is panicking. One of her best friends is missing and his blood has been splattered. She wonders, what would happen if there is no blood left by the time she finds him?

Time is ticking. Hour by hour, there’s a chance Keefe will never come back, and the gang is scrambling to crack the clues and ominous hints left by the mysterious thieves.

Chapter 3 beneath the cut.

Chapter 3: The Storm

Sophie had never felt more panicked. She shared a fearful look with Linh before asking, “Fitz, what’s wrong with Biana?”

The handsome face on the imparter’s screen twisted with terror, “I don’t know! She just stopped responding and began to cry when she read it!”

Fitz had called a few moments ago, talking about Biana receiving a letter that left her in shock.

“Have you read it yet?” Linh questioned worriedly.

“No. I can’t get it out of her hands.”

“We’re coming over,” Sophie said, sitting up so fast her head started spinning. She grabbed Linh’s hand and barely noticed how the hydrokinetic’s face flushed adorably with red. “C’mon!” Sophie called, pulling her toward the cliff. Linh flailed for a moment, startled, but got her footing and the two girls ran and jumped.

The fall was always terrifying, even after literal years of doing this. A crack split the air, and the duo fell in a heap. They scrambled up—blushing, obviously—dusting themselves off. A sudden noise caught their

Loud, shrill

Without uttering a word, the elves took off and shoved open the doors, running into the room.

“What’s going on?!” Sophie asked as Fitz came running down the stairs.

“I already told you!”

“Well where is she?” Linh said, glancing around the room.

“In the kitchen,” Fitz said as he darted away with Sophie and Linh on his heels.

They entered the kitchen area, where Biana kneeled on the floor, her shoulders shaking. She kept vanishing, her abilities reacting to her emotions.

“Biana? What’s wrong?” Sophie asked.

She looked up, tear stains racing down her face.

They stood quietly, waiting.

Biana stood, wiping her face roughly with her sleeve. Sophie had never seen her do such an inelegant thing.

She looked at it briefly, only spying messy handwriting. Her main concern was Biana, whose eyes were red and puffy.

“It’s okay.” Linh murmured, pulling the girl into a

Biana smiled sadly, but sniffed as she glanced back down at the note, “Read it. She said the words so softly, Sophie had to strain to hear them, but she obliged.

The boy of sadness has wandered away. To a place that only him and I could find. I’ve sent him there on a fake quest,

to a place where he can make no calls of distress. If you want him back, give me what I desire. Respond quickly or he shall be gone forever. Fear not, for my request is simply human currency.

The boy of sadness…

Realization struck Sophie harder than a bullet train. Her heart thudded against her chest as thousands of vivid scenarios raced through her brain.

“Keefe?” Linh gasped before Sophie could open her mouth.

Biana averted her eyes, another tear rolling down her cheek, “I-it has to be.”

“Who sent him on a fake quest?!” Fitz asked, the disbelief strong in his tone.

“Fitz, stop asking stupid questions and start asking why they want human money!” Biana shouted, her mood suddenly turning angry.

Nobody knew how to react.

Sophie curved her mouth to form words at the spark of realization. “Wait… there are lots of different types of human money! They don’t all use the same currency…”

And then it dawned on her. “Is this a prank?”

Linh’s eyes widened.

Fitz wheeled on her. “A prank? Sophie, no! Keefe is missing!”

“But it’s a fake quest. And whoever wrote this probably doesn’t know much about humans because they didn’t specify what kind of money they want.” Everyone was looking at her now, which made Sophie reach up and tug and eyelash out.

“It’s just… a maybe,” she mumbled, looking down.

Fitz took back the note. “Let’s call someone from the Black Swan, run for Keefe’s pendent. For all we know Keefe could be messing with us,”

Biana looked at her brother in horror. “Fitz! He could be kidnapped and you think this is a joke?!”

Fitz turned to look his sister in the eyes. “Biana, it’s Keefe. What would anyone want with him?”

Biana’s eyes blazed, “Fitz,” she said lowly.

“Not like that! I mean, who would take him? We took out the Neverseen ages ago. We demolished the rebellion. There is no more enemies, and there hasn’t been for well over two years.”

Sophie’s stomach rolled. She remembered the horror of being with Brant and the others. She remembered it quite clearly.

“We should take this seriously until we’ve confirmed it’s a joke.” Dex said, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. “Sorry, Linh called. I uh... she thought I should come.” He fiddled with a gadget on his wrist. Sophie looked at Linh questioningly.

“Fine. I’ll call Magnate Leto and tell him that we need to track Keefe,” Fitz said, snapping her back to attention.

“No need! That’s kind of why Linh called. I uh, developed a way to track our pendants? I know, random, but I just… I started the project after we first got kidnapped and I found it recently and thought it’d be funny to use it to mess with you guys. But now I should probably use it to track our missing friend,” Dex said quickly.

“Do it!” Biana jumped in, “Find him, please,”

Sophie found herself smiling, and when she glanced over, she saw Linh smiling as well.

It was obvious that Biana cared for Keefe, and Sophie had to admit she was a little jealous.

But that wasn’t important at the moment.

“Hey, where's your parents?” Dex asked as he pulled a small device from his pocket.

“Away on business,” Fitz answered automatically, watching him switch on the tech.

Dex placed his thumb on the black panel. “Keefe Sencen,” he whispered. The device pinged for a moment, before zooming in on a globe, then to a country, and then to a giant forest.

Located, Heller Kern forest, 48-18-8-9.

“Why is he in Claralux?” Fitz said, looking at the map.

“What?” Sophie glanced at him, confused.

“It’s the proper name of the forest,” Dex explained, “Claralux is a forest with bioluminescence in the core of it. The trees also sing a powerful, ancient song that even we can hear. It allows us to hear the voice of the one we truly desire, but it can be a lot of things based on the book,”

“Oh.” Sophie said. “How do we get there?”

“With this!” Linh said, fumbling to hold up a crystal, “I’ve kept it since we lived there. It’s true, though you can ask the trees to stop if they trust you,”

The crystal was a pale green, one that Sophie had never seen before. “How did you get that?”

Linh blushed. “I made it,”

Wow. That… Sophie didn’t know what to say to that.

Dex eyed it, the amazement clear in his periwinkle eyes. But thankfully, Biana saved her from having to respond.

“C’mon!” She cried, racing over to Linh.

The small smile that cracked across the hydrokinetic’s face caused a series of emotions to spring through Sophie’s heart, but she shoved them away.

Linh held the crystal up to the light, motioning to follow, “Let’s go!”

The forest was unlike anything that Sophie expected. In all honesty, she didn’t know what’d she was expecting.

But a strangely warm, glowing forest was not it.

The trees were tall and welcoming, and even though they loomed over Sophie and her friends, she didn’t feel threatened. They went on for miles, never seeming to end.

“Woah…” Fitz said, gazing at the forest with his mouth hanging open.

Dex and Biana stared at it with the same awe, but Linh was hurriedly shoving the crystal back into her pocket, then glanced at them, “You all ready?” They snapped out of their trance and nodded.

Linh turned to look at the forest as well, and she heaved a deep sigh, “Okay… Follow me.”

She took one step towards the woods, which encouraged Sophie to do the same.

Their walk went slowly at first, as they all were distracted by the pure, natural beauty of the place. They quickened their pace, with Linh and Dex in the lead.

Sophie admired the forest from behind them, but ahead of her she watched as the two elves shivered as they set foot into the woods.

“What is it?” Biana asked worriedly.

Linh turned to look at them, her pale blue eyes glazed over.

Worry sprang through Sophie, seeping through her bones. “Linh?” she whispered.

“It’s… just the trees. They’re louder this time. Urgent. Can’t you hear it?”

Her voice was soft, distant, even. How she sounded when Sophie enhanced her for the first time.

Sophie shook her head. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Then listen.”

Sophie was confused. How does she listen to something she couldn’t hear?

But she closed her eyes anyway, and focused on the forest.

“Help him,”

Sophie looked at Linh. “Did you say something?”

Linh shook her head, focused on something else.

How could Linh have said something, but not actually say it?

“Help him,” it repeated.

Sophie looked up. It wasn’t Linh. Was this the forest? Was this was she was talking about?

“How?” Sophie whispered, earning some bewildered looks.

“Sophie?” Fitz said, stepping forward.

And suddenly, light shimmered into the air, and it then elongated into a long line, stretching and winding into the forest, to places they couldn’t see. They all gasped, staring at the glow. But then they took deep breaths, and listened to their hearts.

And so they followed the light.

It was easy to say that Sophie wasn’t scared. But she was. The deeper she got, she swore the shadows grew longer and seemed to move unnaturally.

Something about the way they moved felt so… familiar.

Step by step they walked through the forest. Fitz stayed near the back, while Dex and Linh led them. Biana stayed close to Sophie.

The trees suddenly ended, the thick trucks seeming to curve around a single clearing, an area that bright light emanated from.

It took her breath away.

Linh started forward, walking in powerful, confident strides, before a shadow appeared and disappeared, forming the familiar face of Tam. He was grinning maniacally.

“Ha! Got you!” Linh stepped back in surprise, while the others jumped at the sudden noise.

“What?” Biana said, confused.

Tam looked at them apologetically. “Sorry, I had to make it believable. I made Keefe come out here in search of Sophie, but I haven’t seen him yet... I was gonna fake kidnap him, but I guess that’s failed.”

Dex paled. “The tracker says he’s within one hundred feet of us,”

“Not possible, I’ve covered every inch of this forest looking for him.” Tam said. “But to be sure…” He spread his arms out, and shadows went racing over and around all of them, and Sophie shuddered.

It was hard to remember exactly how powerful the Shade had gotten in the last few years.

“He’s not here,” Tam said.

“That.. no. This device is tracking his registry pendent.” Dex said, holding up the device.

“Maybe it’s wrong?” Fitz suggested.

“It’s getting the feed from the Council. I see what they see. So if it’s wrong, then it’s not my tools.” Sophie looked sideways at him, remembering how The Black Swan would mess up their registry pendants every so often so they could slip to a place unknown or prohibited. Maybe Dex forgot that?

“Guys?” Linh said, suddenly standing a few feet away from them, holding up a piece of paper in one hand and an empty, uncapped bottle in another.

She read it, and handed it to Fitz.

Sophie’s heart dropped as she saw the look on his face.

Horror. Fitz slowly handed the note to Dex, with the others watching carefully.

They looked at Dex, watching his skin pale and his hands fidget as he processed the words.

And then Sophie took her turn. The words were harsh, like it was written by one very, very, very angry person.

Revenge is best served on a silver platter.

The shiny pendent fell with a clatter.

In order for you to pay for your misbehavior,

He will have to SHATTER.

Her hands shook as it dawned on her what was happening.

Biana took the note from Sophie’s gloved hands, falling to her knees at the possible loss of her… friend.

“Guys?” Fitz said, his voice coming out choked. “You need to see this,”

Sophie’s eyes followed the disruption in the grass, a pathway made by a sled or something large.

Or someone being dragged through it.

And then she saw what he was looking at. She froze as her heartbeat thundered in her ears.

Keefe’s silver registry pendent.

Covered in blood.

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bookwyrminspiration · 3 years

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 6: The Beasts

word count: 6.1k

chapter summary: Sophie is beginning to question her own resolve to her cause, but she doesn’t have the time so think it over before a new threat emerges.

warnings: lighting storms and chaos, being trapped (not the main characters), swearing, intentional misuse of grammar for dramatic effect, let me know if there’s anything else /g

taglist: listed in the replies. let me know if you want to be added or removed!

This chapter feels chaotic to me but I promise there’s some good moments peppered throughout it. Also it was a lot of fun to write so hope you enjoy! And yes there is a cliffhanger. Like always.

ao3 link here or read beneath the cut

Brrrr.

The hollow echo of a creature sat itself down among the vines near what had to be its head, a thick snare of sticking foliage wrapping around its skull, down its neck. Empty, beaded black pits wide as its mouth distended, no sound emerging.

No.

They weren’t empty.

Terror. Absolute, fucking terror clawed its way down its face, enough to still her in place, hovering above it. Tremors shook its emaciated body, bones visible through grey flesh, tearing as it thrashed--to no avail.

Time became fluid, lucid, viscous, and Sophie couldn’t stop it as it dripped down from the trees, seconds ticking away as she sat there stood there froze.

No. Not again.

Desperately, she forced herself forward, swooping closer to the vines, able to move more freely with this new agility, this strange body full of great terror. This monster was...enormous grotesque painfully distended.

And entirely helpless.

“Okay okay okay,” she whispered, easing down, reaching out and making contact with the veins of thick vines, strung so tightly between the trees she could rest her full body weight upon them, slowly setting her feet down.

She crouched down, trying to ignore the stick against her skin, similar to that of your thighs on a leather chair in thick summer heat. The bucking and thrashing of that thing didn’t make it easy, sending tremors through the entire web of deadly vines, upsetting her balance.

Those empty white eyes watched as she slipped, tilting backwards, gasping as her hands flung out behind her, catching her. She breathed. Too close.

Brrrr.

The echo creature was just ahead, and it leapt directly onto the terror-struck monster, rubbing its face against the other--comforting. The erratic movements calmed, enough for Sophie to resume her crouched position, slowly making her way toward that creature’s head.

Wait. What the fuck am I doing?

She slowed, and it was as though she’d broken a trance. Everything pounded against her senses all at once, like she hadn't been awake and all the sudden she was living living burning alive.

The stagnant air filled with the stench of the vines and the creature assaulted her mind the old sweat against her skin like a film and coating every inch of her and she hadn’t showered in days and was wearing old clothes and hair tickled the back of her neck and her fingers were coated in sopping sticking wet from the foliage and she could feel the vibrations in the air and hear the movements of the grass and her own heart screaming in her chest.

Brrrr.

Breathe. She couldn’t freeze, not now--not again. She wouldn’t freeze again.

“Talk it through, Foster,” she said, holding tight to the vines. “You’re in the forest. There are vines everywhere--they’re all jumbled together around the trees. There’s a monster stuck in them--and you were led here by another creature. Why are you here? What are you doing? It stuck and--”

She paused. Something...caught. In her mind. The monster was stuck.

The little echo had found her and brought her here.

“You want my help, don’t you,” she whispered, momentarily too awed by the intelligence of this tiny creature to comprehend the request. The moment didn’t last.

Her tongue soured, and the shudder of revulsion that spiked it way down her vertebrae had the wings shivering. No no no no no. Why had she done this. Why did she follow the echo? Why why why did she never think things through and why why why was she sitting here in these vines and why why why was it staring at her like that.

She’d never seen eyes so dark before, deepened by the dimmed light, the myriad of vines reaching above them, devouring the sun.

Vines coiled around its face, reaching down it’s rib cage, branching out along its upper limbs, thick bundles of muscles ending in--it had wings too.

Angry red veins pulsing bulging bursting beneath its skin reaching up out down around branching across those membranes growing maiming spreading from its back. She stopped. She couldn’t think.

All she could do was sit there, look, unhearing of its silent screams as her eyes remained fixed on those wings.

No.

Not again.

She wouldn’t do this again. Sophie pushed herself forward, fists clenching, nails digging into her skin. She wouldn't do this again. She wouldn’t.

Gritting her teeth, she climbed through the vines, all those human years at play places coming in handy, dancing her way up to its head--its head alone was nearly the size of her entire torso, each dripping fang longer than her fingers as it snapped its teeth--she flinched.

No. It wasn’t snapping at her. It was trying to reach the vines.

“Think, Foster.” She wouldn’t freeze. Okay. Think it through.

The monster jerked, but she held tight to the vines, allowing her knees to absorb the shift. It’s neck. That was most pressing. At least, it was in people.

Thick ropes curled around its skull, snaking their way down its flesh--that was the most urgent.

Her body moved as if she’d already made the decision, nothing but clear adrenaline flooding her veins as she moved, barely noticing the ick coating her fingers as she made her way around the side of the head, reaching out and running her hands along its skin.

It jolted beneath her touch. “Shhh shh shh; I’m helping, dumbass,” she consoled, then paused.

“I'm...helping you.” Why? Why was she helping it? She shouldn’t--she really really shouldn’t. This horrible, despicable creature before her was suffering--good. She should be glad. Creatures just like this one had torn everything from her, wrenched it limb from limb and scattered the pieces in the wind of its own screams.

Just like this one.

Sophie should sit here and watch it wail and cry and hurt like it had hurt her, a twisted vengeance of some sort. Or she should turn around a leave, pretend she’d never been brought to this place and had never found it. Let it die.

Monsters just like this one killed her life. Were slowly killing this new one.

She should hate it for that. Curse it out and scream at the sky and watch it writhe and suffer. Didn’t it deserve it? Retribution for the suffering it brought to her family, to her?

Sophie exhaled.

This monster--it could have done any number of things. It could’ve been the very one to first break through the fields of Havenfield all those months ago. It could’ve been the one to tear Eternalia to its knees.

It could’ve been the one to devour the gnomes that built those homes.

Could’ve could’ve could’ve could’ve could’ve could’ve.

She’d never know.

Slowly, deliberately, she braced both hands on the creature, skin coarse against her fingertips in a way that made her nerves tingle, vaguely painful. Something something something burning through her veins; she closed her eyes. Inhaled.

She curled her fingers around the vines, slipping her hands beneath that tight suction, the viscous syrup clinging to its flesh.

“On purpose,” she whispered. “Oh purpose on purpose on purpose. I’m going to help you on purpose.”

And

she

pulled.

The vines stuck to her palms, grating and slipping and sticking all at once and it was burning her alive but she refused to freeze. She wouldn’t.

With a grotesque, wet pop the vine released, giving as easily as the crystal grate had burst when she’d first decided to run away from herself. Easier than he knew it should’ve been.

“You’re okay,” she whispered as the creature flinched. Carefully, she ran her fingers alongside the opening she’d created in that seal, vine ripping away from its skin. She followed it around, and the creatures pitch black eyes followed her as she moved around it, carefully untangling it.

It panted heavily against her skin, rancid air brushing her legs as she worked. Deliberately. Intentionally. She was choosing to help it.

Each touch sent shivers and goosebumps raving across her skin, but she wouldn’t freeze.

Slowly, each vine fell away, and the creature gained more and more mobility, but it still didn’t move. It did nothing until she stepped back, panting and sweaty, palms red from whatever substance coated these vines, pollen dusting her skin. She hadn’t showered in days.

Then it shifted. Slowly. Deliberately. Carefully crawling up the vines, maneuvering through the spaces and sending tremors through the foliage--Sophie tightened her grip.

Brrrr.

The echo followed it, glitching towards the open sky alongside it, rubbing affectionately against its side as they moved in tandem so so carefully.

Sophie tilted her head back, palm pressed against the stitch in her side as she watched them move further and further away.

Her eyesight could pick up the way each muscle moved beneath its skin as it worked its way up up up towards the sky, towards release.

She stood there and watched. The vines thinned enough that it began to spread its wings, flapping them slightly as it prepared for takeoff, the echo beside it moving so quickly too and fro in place it was like a hologram she couldn’t concentrate on.

Then it looked back.

They both did.

They looked at her and they saw her.

For a few, eternal moments, they saw each other.

And then they were gone.

And Sophie was here.

Burning.

On purpose.

Pollen crusted her bare feet, accumulating and redistributing itself who knew where with each step Sophie took. She could’ve flown home. The wings had cooperated twice now, maybe they’d do it a third.

But not yet.

She needed this time.

The time it took her to walk back, using the faint presence of her friends to guide her way home to them, tracking them subtly. Hopefully they didn’t know she was gone.

They were used to her being alone, but they’d become such a part of her that maybe they’d sense something was different. Different different different.

She blew lightly across her palms--to ease the burning. Her feet and hands and legs and arms were coated in whatever those vines secreted and it irritated her skin, turning it faintly red.

Quietly, the forest seemed to hum as she passed by, flowers curling and leaves shivering and the air buzzing with something heady. The foliage beneath her feet began to thin and reshape itself, flattening out into a path that wound its way through and under the trees--it seemed to be leading back to the gnomish village.

So she followed it, followed until the trees opened just enough for her to glimpse the faint edge of a wooden patio up in the canopy.

She was back.

And exhausted. Climbing up the trunks a second time seemed like so much work--how had they done it the first time?

There was too much too many all the time going on around in her mind, so she did the first thing she could think of.

She took flight.

It shouldn’t have been this natural, this effortless. They shouldn’t have worked alongside her so easily--they should be fighting her tooth and nail against her every wish. They weren’t supposed to act like a part of her.

But she coursed through the air, curling around and around in an almost perfect spiral upwards until that platform was moments away and her dirty feet made contact and the wings folded themselves neatly against her back and those dozen and dozens and dozens of feet had turned to seconds and it had been over before it began.

On purpose.

She’d saved that creature on purpose and had the bruises the itching the scratches to prove it.

Now what.

An unnaturally cold breeze brushed itself against her skin, and she closed her eyes. Now what? Right now her skin was coated in something icky; right now her friend was hurt and she didn’t know how to help him; right now her parents didn’t know where she was; right now she hadn’t showered in days; right now the sun was setting and the sky was burning itself alive.

Right now the world was filled with monsters.

She opened her eyes. A shower seemed like a good first step.

“Sophie! There you are!” Fuck. Marella nearly crashed into her with her impatience, Sophie throwing her hands out for balance. Marella’s tiny braids were frazzled around her face, nose scrunched with vague annoyance, the light squeeze she gave her arm betraying her affection.

“Sorry--do you need me?” If something had happened and she’d been gone she’d never forgive herself for--

“No.” Oh. That...she didn’t know how she felt about that. Marella had turned, starting to walk away, gesturing for her to follow. She made a face, though, shaking off her hands. “What is that? Where were you?”

Ah. The one question she was hoping not to answer. Fuck. “Not sure,” she ventured, choosing her words oh so carefully. “It does burn though--I should wash it off before it gets worse. There’s a lot of unkempt plants in the area--I guess with my luck I happened to run into the wrong ones.” She’d technically answered the questions, but she hadn’t given the information she was unwilling to face quite yet.

Marella laughed slightly, shaking her head as she moved with determination, choosing bridges to cross and houses to walk through with intention, faint laughter sounding up ahead.

Finally, they curved around a particularly large tree and everyone came into view. Dex leaning to Keefe alongside a flowered bench, bandages wrapped around his back; Fitz at their feet beside Linh who was speaking animatedly about something. Wylie had suspended a dull ball of light in the center of the group, emanating rich yellows and oranges and pinks like some kind of faux campfire.

“Lose a fight with the forest, Foster?” Keefe called out when he saw her, raising a brow in amusement.

“You could say that,” she answered, smiling back slightly. Tension drained from her muscles, providing enough relief that she momentarily didn’t notice the itching. Something about other people just being there made it so much easier to exist. She wasn’t the only thing to exist anymore.

Maruca snorted, walking into the area from a bridge on the opposite side of the platform they’d gathered on, Tam and Biana a few steps behind.

Sophie flushed slightly, smile turning to a full-on grin to try and hide it. She never should’ve walked away from these people. All the time alone in her own mind had created monsters that weren’t even there, fantasies to scream and run from when there were people right here who loved her and she loved back.

She briefly met Dex’s eye and he shrugged slightly--alright. He was alright right now. She didn’t press for details; he’d provide them if he wanted. Maybe that episode had just been a fluke, maybe he’d just get better and better with time.

“Seriously though, what happened to you,” Fitz asked, bewildered, looking her up and down. Sophie brushed some of the pollen off her arms, but it just smeared in that vine ick.

“I haven’t showered in days, Fitzroy, and the plants are mean.”

Linh leaned forward, an uncharacteristic grin slicing her face. “Here, let me help!”

“Help with wha--” Sophie asked, starting to move back.

A torrent of icy water blasted her from head to toe as Linh slammed her wrists together, fingers closing hypnotically until her hands formed a mock spout--aimed directly at Sophie.

It lasted for a few brief moments, absolutely soaking her all the way through. She was left standing, sputtering, dripping water onto the patio.

Linh was grinning, flushed and suppressing her laughter, as if embarrassed by her own joke. Keefe took one look at her, stilled with shock, and snapped his hand to his mouth--it didn’t do anything to mask the giggles. And he wasn’t the only one.

Biana laughed openly, Tam shaking his head with amusement right beside her.

“Hnnng thank you Linh,” she breathed, voiced unnaturally high from the overwhelming cold, shivering slightly. “I love you so much I just can’t believe how helpful you are. Really, uh, really appreciate that. O-oh” She braced her hands on her knees. “Cold water was uh--that was a choice. I’m so, I’m--really appreciate you.” The last syllable lasted a lot longer and a lot shakier than she meant for it to.

She gave a thumbs up as she stood, gently pulling the fabric of her shirt away from her skin as she did so, shaking it out a little. Now there were smiles all around the circle, everyone enjoying her comedic suffering.

“Want me--want me to--” Marella couldn’t even get the words out, trying to force her face into a neutral position of superiority as she raised a hand and snapped, sparks flying.

“Set me on fire? Go for it--sounds nice.”

Before she got the chance to, Linh reached out, drawing the water out of her clothes and hair, sending it floating around her in tiny dew drops, dispersing into the air.

Sophie shook herself off--as humorous as it had been, it had actually gotten rid of most of the substance and helped the burning. But it seemed it had been even better for morale.

She didn’t know what the atmosphere had been like before she’d arrived, but now there was an undeniable air of ease, a lightness. It reminded her of Keefe in a way, the effect he tried to achieve through his humor.

“Sorry,” Linh said, still smiling. “You just set it up so well. I had to.”

Sophie smiled back, lowering herself down to sit around the faux-fire--Linh had even cleared the water from the wood.

“It seemed like she could use it,” Dex mumbled, eliciting a few laughs that had Sophie flushing. Maruca shook her head slightly, smile tugging at her lips.

Now seemed like an excellent time to change the subject. “What’s everyone doing out here?” She’d just been brought here by Marella, she didn’t actually know what was going on. Which...wasn’t great if she was supposed to be the leader. Although everything was more of a group effort most of the time.

Biana stepped forward, sitting on the bench on the other side of Keefe, who put his arm on her shoulder and leaned against her like she was a counter. As she did so, she spoke. “Why not, you know? We can’t exactly go anywhere right now, and there’s no one to boss us around--so why not have a little fun!” She swatted at Keefe’s arm with annoyance, but he just stuck his tongue out at her. “Also, just a little check-in, see where everyone’s at--although I wasn’t expecting anyone to be fighting plants, much less losing to them.”

Had she lost, though? The question screeched painfully through her mind, catching her off guard. They’d made a mess of her, yes, but she’d technically gotten the creature out. Wasn’t that a victory? Or were they all losing, fooled by their own misguided wants that they tricked themselves into believing otherwise.

“I live to surprise.” She didn’t want to be thinking about it either way; she’d had enough moral quandaries to last at least the rest of the week. Propping her head against her hand, she surveyed the group. Chatting amongst themselves and sitting and existing peacefully--Biana was right. They didn’t have moments like this often. In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time they’d existed so carelessly.

Biana smiled at her, then turned away, attention caught by Tam as he leaned in to say something. She could hear it if she wanted, knew there was so much more to each of them than they'd ever have time to discover.

She didn’t. She tuned it out and let the moment be. Biana pushed lightly at his arm in mock annoyance, and Tam’s eyes caught the light of the fire, reflecting it back like a cat. Maruca flicked her fingers a few times, messing with the faux-fire in little spikes of flashing force fields. Marella leaned over, asking Wylie a question.

He nodded and the fire shifted colors, turning a rich magenta and melting into purples and blues and aquamarine and cycling through the whole spectrum of color, bathing all ten of them in faint rainbow light.

This is nice, Sophie thought, watching the colors play across her skin. A brief reprieve. A few moments stolen from time. A few moments where none of them worried about anything except for who could talk the loudest. A few moments where their world hadn’t ended and they weren’t so alone.

Where they were nothing but a group of teenagers enjoying each others’ company in the fading sunlight, content to stay with each other eternally.

Sophie’s eyes caught on a fraction of movement off in her peripherals and she blinked, trying to find it. Strange. She could’ve sworn there was something there. Something hollow and white staring at her, through her.

Then Fitz laughed and the moment was over.

This wouldn’t last, but it was nice to imagine it would.

“Did Linh show you what she did in that house near the outskirts?” Tam asked, walking beside her. The group had dispersed as the night got darker, Biana, Linh, Marella and Maruca disappearing somewhere; Fitz, Keefe, and Dex discussing something animatedly, Wylie straight-up vanishing--which left Sophie and Tam together.

Their arms were interlaced as they walked about, ensuring the other didn’t wander off somewhere. Despite his adeptness in the dark, Tam didn’t seem to be seeing very clearly.

He kept squinting, the shadows only thickening in his presence--luckily, there was enough moonlight that they could glean general awareness of the area.

“No, what did she do?” She grabbed his arm, pulling him along so he stopped straying to the edge of the bridge; she didn’t think he’d walk off it, but she also didn’t know how well he could see. Whatever had happened to his eyes, they way they reflected light, it had clearly affected his night vision. Not that she had the energy to think about that right now. Her head couldn’t take much more, she could feel it.

“Rerouted some of the old irrigation systems into a functioning shower system.”

“Ah. I see.” It seemed she was the dirtiest among them, everyone else changing clothes on a reasonable schedule and such. And they loved to bring it up.

He smirked at her slightly when she glanced back, amused suspicion written all over her face. She wasn’t going to make this easy for him. “You’re mentioning this because…” She raised her eyebrows at him and he gave a sort of half-laugh.

“Just thought you should know.”

She rolled her eyes, then looked out around the scenery. Fragrant flowers curled against the edges of the porches, leading into those quaint, decaying homes. She hadn’t been out this way before--then again, she’d spent the better part of the day untangling a monster from a snare of vines. But damn she’d love a shower. After this little moment, this calm, then she’d shower. Reset her mind and prepare to face herself in the morning.

Maybe even check her imparter.

Just the thought sent a pang of something so strong and repulsive through her gut she nearly stumbled. Accompanied by all the hairs raising on her arm, she couldn’t resist the urge to rub the sensation away, scouring her skin quickly, small poofs of pollen floating into the air.

Tam sneezed a few times. “Sorry,” she mumbled, trying to shake off the sensation.

He squeezed her arm, glancing around uneasily in a way that made her pause. “Do you feel that?”

“What?”

“That.”

Sophie glanced around, the unease oozing through her skin growing with each second, and the realization curdled her blood--this was not just her nerves.

Each pollen-coated hair on her arm raised, something deep, instinctual buzzing through her veins, wrapping its vice around her heart, squeezing squeezing squeezing her tight and lighting her cells into pyres, eating its way through her sanity.

Then the rain hit.

It descended like a sheet; it hadn’t been there, then it was everywhere. Droplets pelted her skin, the downpour so heavy she couldn’t see anything but the blurs of them falling in front of her face, could barely see Tam a foot away, arm still wrapped around hers.

Shit.

Petals and leaves whipped their way through the air, torn from their stems and trees, flailing about in the gusts. The bridge beneath them shuddered, their weight upon it the only thing holding it slightly steady--they had to move.

Sophie reached out blindly for a few steps, recalling those memories from a few moments ago when she could see the railings, and grabbed hold. She clung tight to the railing of the platform, other arm interlocked with Tam’s as they stared across the crossing paths of bridges waving and completely unstable in this torrent, barely able to see more than a dozen feet in front of their faces.

Rain mixed with the wind, chilling her to the bone as it whipped her hair back and forth, pelting those delicate wings at her back.

WHAT’S HAPPENING, several someones screamed, and Sophie winced, hand shooting to her temple to massage the ache forming there. She’d already been low energy, but--every few weeks or so, the strain of maintaining the mindbubble gave her a horrid headache; the more it was used the worse it got.

Everyone.

Everyone was talking. Yelling. Trying to find each other through the storm, shoving images of locations into the space to try and find each other. None of them could see through the rain--the rain that had fallen like a thick sheet, suddenly there all at once.

Cacophonies of Who started it and Can you feel that and Where are you and What’s happening and--

Quiet. Tam sent an aggressive streak of shadows alongside the scathing message, shocking the others enough to shut them up.

Thanks, Sophie and Fitz whispered as one, voices strained enough that an immediate wave of guilt washed over the others, detectable even in their minds.

Her head pounded, her neck scrunching up instinctively to try and force the feeling away. She needed to concentrate. Why did her head have to be such a bitch now? Each pulse of blood reverberated through her skull. She was so tired. She’d had such a long day, why couldn’t she just have a little break. A few hours where nothing went wrong.

Tam’s arm snaked its way around her back, drawing her closer to his side as she pressed her face in his shirt. The sudden humidity and change in air pressure hadn’t helped. Why was this affecting her so? What even was this?

Something prickled in the back of her mind--Linh. Linh was drawing her hands up towards the sky in a great sweeping arc, drawing the rain out of the air and suspending it above her, above all of them.

The incessant pelting against her skin stopped, the water drawn out of her clothes and hair, all of the moisture flattening out into a slightly curved circle, a lens held above them.

She’d blocked the rain.

Sophie turned her head, watching as Linh stood in the center of that circle, tiny droplets floating rhythmically to join the configuration. They could see again.

Linh turned, surveying them all, skin unnaturally alight, almost iridescent, dew drops coating her limbs and running down her arms. Why hadn’t she taken the water off herself?

The wind still whipped violently at her face, pollen dusting off her skin and scattering in the wind, Tam holding her tight as she massaged her temples. Everyone was scattered, but with their eyesight they could all see each other, all the panicked faces down to the dilated pupils.

Linh and Marella both stood in the center of her shield, the latter staring vacantly into the sky, an almost entranced look creeping over her face. The former was more stoic, seemed to see, no, sense something the rest of them could only imagine.

The fuck is happening right now, Maruca hissed, but quietly so as not to hurt Sophie and Fitz. Considerate. Sophie had to search for a moment before finding her off to her left, covering Wylie’s back with a cloak--the wings.

Fuck. The wings at her own back buzzed with a phantom pain--could the insect wings get wet? Would that damage them? Why did the thought frighten her so?

Some of her panic must’ve gotten through to the others, enough to pick up on the source.

Both Keefe and Fitz, the latter massaging his temples, took up a stance on either side of Biana, shielding her back despite Linh’s cover, and Tam shifted her so that none of the stray droplets tossed by the wind could hit her back.

There’s something up there, Marella whispered, voice too light too soft too steel. She drew everyone’s attention.

What do you mean? Sophie asked, but she received no response.

Marella? Multiple voices echoed throughout their minds, then out loud. She didn’t respond to any of them.

Sophie eyed the bridges between them--no way in hell were they going to be able to cross those. The vines were shredding themselves, stray flowers whipping about as the area self-destructed. A window somewhere behind her shattered, the sound of falling glass shocking her to her core.

Wait.

There was a shattered window in that room she’d claimed. What had broken it so thoroughly?

“Marella what are you--” someone screamed, and Sophie was snapped back to this horrid reality, Tam at her back, wind pelting her body, thoughts that weren’t hers clouding her mind.

Marella had crouched down--

“What the fuck,” she whispered. Tam inhaled sharply behind her, hands tightening on her arms.

Glowing. Each of Marella’s veins was luminescent beneath her skin, crawling beneath her flesh, lighting her up from the inside-out as she stared vacantly into the sky. You could trace the map of pulsing blood, everything leading back to the center of her chest, a concentration of light glimmering there.

That’s cool and all, Dex said, voice shaking. But what are you--

Lightning struck, ravenous thunder shuddering through the sky. Again. Again.

Shit. Lightning like that--they were literally in the trees, this was not a good place to be.

Something boomed high above.

The rain flickered.

It was gone for a brief moment, completely halted before it crashed down twice as hard a moment later. Everyone’s hands were pressed tight to their ears, the torrent of rain drops pelting to roofs, the platforms, the shield of water above absolutely deafening.

Yet...Linh and Marella stood in the center of them all, staring through the sky.

“I don’t like this!” Tam yelled by her ear. She agreed. But she didn’t know what this was. Much less how to stop it.

Another resounding boom came from overhead, halting the rain for a few seconds more.

Sophie watched as Marella’s head cocked, tension lining her muscles as she stayed crouched there, eyes half-lidded as she tuned into to some frequency far beyond her own understanding.

Brrrr.

The breath caught in her throat as Sophie froze, gaze whipping around, trying to find it--that little echo. She knew she’d heard it.

There.

Barely, across the clearing, she could see it for a moment. Watched as it glitched it’s way across the dilapidated roof of one of those gnomish houses, seemingly untouched by the downpour.

It made eye contact with her, those empty whites piercing her as it blinked once, then was gone.

Another flash of lightning struck, the hairs on her arm raising, dread coiling in the pit of her stomach. Goddammit. That echo was here again, but why? What did it want with her?

Wait, did that mean--

Sophie Foster wasn’t known for thinking. She was known for doing.

There was strength beyond her understanding lurking beneath her skin, ripping through those vines had taught her that much. Breaking the grate had taught her just how far it could go.

She flexed her biceps, jerking her arms out on either side, breaking Tam’s hold. He wouldn’t let her go any other way, she knew. And she loved him for it.

Using the adrenaline she’d generated, she rushed to the edge of the platform, there in an instant, everything around her so so so painfully slow as she did not think.

She jumped.

And the wings snapped open.

Clear, unadulterated determination spurred her forward, over those unstable bridges. Levitation too risky with this wind, walking an impossibility. They’d thought themselves stranded, unable to reach each other until the storm died down--no. They weren’t bound to human--or even elven--limitations anymore.

Rushing towards Linh and Marella, the center of that water shield, she aimed her trajectory upwards, all that practice from earlier today, weaving in and out of the trees giving her just enough knowledge on how this body worked to twist backwards in the air, face to the sky as she adjusted course.

The apex of that curved lens beckoned her, growing closer and closer as she aimed up up up.

Something snapped in the mindbubble, echoes and reverberations sounding out like something irreversible had broken.

She glanced down.

Marella took flight, Linh a moment behind.

Marella’s eyes shone with something ravenous, her movements unstable but forceful as she propelled herself after Sophie, the same determination written in the lines of her face. Linh rushed to meet them, swaying slightly in the wind.

And as a group, a unit, they burst through the top of that shield, shooting up up up into the sky, rain pelting their skin, Linh suspending it away from the delicate insect wings just in case, ever so considerate. And they charged.

Right into the center of the storm.

Sophie couldn’t hear the buzzing of the wings at her own back over the crackling lightning splitting the sky. She couldn’t hear the screaming in her head, a solid wall of power clamped around her, Linh, and Marella so thick not even Fitz would have a chance to get in.

Thunder rumbled through the sky so powerful so close so everywhere she could’ve sworn she could hear her bones crunching, her brain rocking, the nerves screaming in her body as the world reoriented itself, her body only a fleck of dust amongst the storm.

The others gasped alongside her, senses overwhelmed by the sheer force of the chaos.

What now?

Oh fuck what now?

What the hell is your plan, Foster! Marella ground out, teeth gritted. Her hands were clasped over her ears, trying to block out that deafening scream, nature’s fury.

Plan.

She was becoming woefully negligent when it came to planning.

That echo had shown up and suddenly she’d been flying through the trees not thinking anything through just living breathing doing on purpose on purpose on purpose. She’d seen the creature and thought maybe maybe maybe this was--

Something bellowed above them. Screeching deep and pained and hollow and angry and alive alive alive.

That wasn’t thunder, Linh said.

That was living breathing alive. There was something above them, something screaming it’s mind into this echoic sky.

Each passing heartbeat reminded her just how bad of an idea this was, just how much she hadn’t thought it through and now she’d dragged two of her friends alongside her into this chaos. Linh was holding another shield around them, water droplets pelting an invisible sphere and collecting, distorting the image beyond.

Lightning flashed, setting her eyes burning as the electricity sizzled and popped through the air, a continuous arc from one dense cloud to another.

Wait.

Marella surged from her stagnant hover, something inhuman in her face as her lip curled, eyes set solely on the origin of that lightning. That unnatural lightning.

“MARELLA--” Linh screamed, moving after her, tearing at the clouds the mist the storm with her hands, rending the world to shreds in an instant.

Linh

tore

the

sky

apart.

All the condensation clouding the sky shredding and dissipating, leaving everything else remarkably, unbearably clear.

Sophie could see everything. Linh just ahead, reaching desperately for Marella; Marella, wings on full display behind her, hypnotized by the beasts in the sky; the beasts--

No.

The wings at Marella’s back beat behind her, glistening red against the dark storm, scales crusting the thick muscles, leading out to taut membranes and wicked talons, scratching against the fabric of the night.

As they moved something swarmed beneath the surface, glowing hot beneath her skin.

No.

Marella continued her advance, eyes focused only on those beasts in the sky, like calling to like.

Lightning crackled against the scales of one, its teeth at the other's throat as electricity lit its eyes. Smoke curled from the mouth of the other, wings beating furiously as it scratched and clawed and bellowed.

Two dragons battled for dominance in the air.

And Marella was drawn to them, carried by blood-red dragon wings.

#that was fun #how's everyone doing after that #was kinda worried too much happened in one chapter when i wrote it but i've decided eh #why not #anyways feel free to scream about this in my asks #/g #I have many thoughts about the wings au all of the time #spectacular #i'll stop now but hopefully you enjoyed that as much as I did #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc fanfic #kotlc fan fic #kotlc fanfiction #kotlc wings au #shattered upside down #shattered upside down chapter #do i need anymore tags or was that all of them?

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bookwyrminspiration · 3 years

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 9: The Little Reminders

word count: 7.1k

chapter summary: Sophie and her friends are in the Lost Cities. The broken down, monster-infested Lost Cities. And they only have a certain amount of time to do everything they need to before something bad shows up. But monsters aren't all that comes to try and get them.

warnings: monsters, blood, implied death (of a character never met or mentioned again, who died a long time ago, it's not as bad as it sounds), arguing with parents, fighting, buildings collapsing, brief medical mention, swearing

taglist: I’ll reblog with it. let me know if you want to be added or removed!

Y'all ready? We're tying in some little details from earlier, so that's fun! Enjoy the chapter! Apologies if formatting is a little weird. Tumblr did a thing so I don't know what it'll look like when I post it!

ao3 link here or read below

It was so quiet a pin drop could’ve shattered the world.

Not that it would’ve made a difference. Colored glass and cracked gems littered the ground, an entire city brought to its knees. Mold and mushrooms crawled painstaking through the cracks, condensation crying down the sides, water marks left in their wake. Building after building as far as one could see was destroyed, damaged, some even reduced entirely to rubble.

Sophie didn’t even want to breathe as they moved, the stench of monsters and rotting flesh and decay permeating the area.

They hadn’t seen anything, not yet. But she knew they were there. Somewhere. Watching. Gauging. They’d entered the monsters’ territory, and now they could only try to do what they needed before those things decided to respond.

Their scent was thick enough Sophie wished she’d remembered to bring that mask she’d had before she’d run away, the same one they’d worn on that damning mission. It was supposed to be the end. They’d bring down the facility and clean up the aftermath and everything would get better.

A bright pink hair ribbon fluttered in a breeze, stuck beneath a cluster of broken crystal on the side of the path. A hand print beside it, frozen in the mud. A small hand print. It was gouged through with claw marks. She didn’t want to know what had happened. She knew.

Where do you think they are? Fitz asked, just to her. She gave him a mental shrug in response. She didn’t want to know. No amount of preparing would be enough for whatever happened.

Part of her, a surprisingly large part, didn’t want her parents to show up. She didn’t want to confront them and explain herself and lie her way through the conversation. And she knew she’d be at the center of it. The Moonlark. Sophie Foster. Always in the middle of things. Not that they were wrong, it was just tiring.

Yet another part of her remained horrified she’d even presented this ultimatum. She could risk herself; she’d had more experience with monsters in the past week than she’d had since everything started. Sure, it wasn’t much. But it was something. One of them even saw her as a...friend.

This group, she didn’t want to risk. But they wouldn’t let her do it alone and they’d planned this out beforehand. They weren't going in with their hands tied. And they could all easily escape, rely on those wings if it came to an emergency.

Maybe they’d even leave them alone again, like that creature in the tree the night they ran.

But their parents? They’d been stuck underground for the last several months. And they weren’t even fighters in the first place. They were painfully elven and she loved them to death. She couldn’t stand being responsible for anything that happened here today.

It was so horribly cruel of Sophie to have picked this place, to have given them so little choice. The place was infested. The stench made her eyes water, rips and tears marks littered the buildings everywhere you looked.

Something darted through her peripheral and she flinched. The creatures knew they were here. They just hadn’t attacked. Maybe they’d gotten lucky, were in a part of the city with some of the more docile ones, although all of them were threatening.

Let's get a head start. So they don’t catch us off guard. It seemed forbidden, intrusive to speak aloud. Like there was this careful illusion held together by the silence. None of them were willing to break it.

The others nodded, breaking into two groups.

Sophie, Linh, Biana, and Wylie in one; Dex, Tam, Maruca, Marella, Fitz, and Keefe in the other. Those that could hide the wings, and those that couldn’t. And Dex, who was going to grab some supplies.

Sophie pulled her cloak closer, checking it was secured as a breeze passed by. The wings buzzed in response, the open sky beckoning her. She’d have to be extra careful they didn’t make a noise if their parents showed up.

Wylie nudged her, raising his brows in question.

Right. She was supposed to find them. Track them. She was the telepath of their group.

Everyone reeked of anxiety, muscles tensed as she leaned back against a nearby building for stability, raising her fingers to her temples.

Starting with a blanket sweep, she scanned the nearby area, searching for any presence she could find. The wave spread from her like an explosion, rocketing outwith her at the center. She could feel Fitz stumble, perking up as the wave washed over him, faintly hearing someone ask him what happened. She didn’t bother to hear the reply.

There were pockmarks scattered throughout, empty holes moving within the web she wove. Monsters. Since that day in the facility she’d learned what they felt like, the hollow space they left behind. Like looking for a blind spot. They were...everywhere. But none attacked.

Reaching further, she kept scanning, about to give up.

Someone smelling of cherry blossoms placed their hand down on her shoulder, shaking her slightly. Sophie jerked, inhaling deeply, keeling forward and nearly toppling over if it weren’t for that hand.

Not here yet, she whispered, trying to reorient herself. The sudden change from concentration back to reality had been jarring--unintentional on Biana’s part, but a large stressor nonetheless.

Move!! Biana hissed in her mind, pulling Sophie along.

Oh.

Her mind lagged a moment behind as she was dragged, shaking her head to try and comprehend the enormous, gaping shadow that had fallen over their group.

She covered her mouth to try and slow her breathing as they ducked around a corner.

Biana hadn’t shaken her awake out of impatience or question. She’d jarred her into reality to escape.

Now that she was aware of it, the pungent odor of breath and smoke coated her tongue. Just how distracted had she been? How far out had her mind been reaching that she didn’t even notice the thing right beside her?

It’s claws made a horrid screeching sound against the crystal as it moved, talons sinking into the wall several feet above where they’d just been, its enormous barbed tail swinging lazily, thwacking into that very spot she’d been leaning against, leaving cracks and scratches all down the side.

C’mon, Linh called, gesturing from where she was tucked away on the other side of the road. Let’s get away from here.

There was no way they could get past that tail, sporadically swinging around and blocking that path to the rest of their group. Goddamnit. How had they gotten separated so quickly?

“There’s no way we’re getting through there,” Biana groaned oh so quietly, speaking Sophie’s thoughts aloud, shaking out her hands, trying to dispel the nerves.

Sophie absentmindedly nodded in agreement, surveying the area, looking for the least dangerous, quickest path. She didn’t even need a destination, just away. Biana’s fingers closed around her wrist, drawing energy from her skin as they both sporadically faded in and out of view. Huh. When had Biana grown so powerful?

The thing shifted its weight, tail thunking around and sinking into the wall, using it as leverage to crawl further up the building, staining it red wherever its skin grated against the crystal.

Wait.

Now, Sophie urged, pulling them both back. Use this moment. Take advantage of every single second you’re granted and wring every inch of progress you can from it. With the tail momentarily occupied, you’d think she’d go forward. Dart through the danger and emerge victorious.

No. Sophie Foster didn’t like to do things the way people expected her to. It made her eyelashes itch.

She whirled around, Biana attached to her wrist. They’d backed themselves into a corner, but just how far back would this corner go? What would it give them if only they had the keen insight to ask?

Its eyes made contact with hers and its mouth dropped open just as they turned their backs, the sound of the ground trembling behind them as it dropped itself down, starting the hunt.

Rock slammed against the soles of their shoes as they stumbled through the rubble, tripping over colored pebbles and ducking under collapsed pillars, buildings rising on either side of them like they were trapped in a maze with no end. No solution.

Growls and screeching claws echoed around them, and she knew they were surrounded. She couldn’t see them but she knew.

They’d caused a commotion and now everyone was coming to see what all the fuss was about.

Cursing, they rounded a corner only to come to a screeching stop, a mound of crystal pieces blocking their path. Turning, they looked over their shoulders.

Something skidded down the side of the building, the narrow gap between walls, claws scratching as it descended, something unpleasant in its eye. It’s mouth gaped, no teeth in sight but a hissing noise emerged nonetheless. It was large enough it nearly didn't fit in the space, but it contorted and slithered and narrowed its gaze onto her, mouth falling open with a mechanical click.

Well, fuck. It’s too early for that. The morning chill hadn’t even dispersed yet.

Both their heartbeats hammered in their chest, adrenaline surging as she realized this one was very much not friendly, it wouldn’t even try to be. Leave leave leave leave leave she needed to get out. They needed to go somewhere anywhere else.

Where are you going? Linh asked, somewhere from beside Wylie. It seemed Biana and Sophie were the only ones in danger. Great. The others didn’t even know they were being hunted, stalked, tracked, assessed.

Um. Good question, she responded. I’ll let you know when we figure that out. Biana glanced at her sidelong, seeming to realize Sophie actually didn’t have a plan and groaning. Then grinned, laughing with her hand over her mouth to stifle the sound as she threw herself into their escape.

They turned on their heels, putting their backs to this new monster once more, and ran. On hands and knees, rocks and pebbles shifting uneasily beneath them as they climbed over the pile.

Their cloaks with the chaotic movement and Sophie caught a single glimpse of the vibrant orange against Biana’s back before she was bumping into a corner and moving again.

It crashed into something behind them, the haphazard destruction providing a dangerous terrain it couldn’t quite navigate. Good. Good. This was good.

Run. Jump. Avoid. Disappear.

It roared behind them, screeching in pain as something heavy crashed down. Maybe it’d gotten caught on a building. Good. That was good, right?

Sunlight shone through the gaps between buildings, spastic as they channeled extra power into their legs, dashing darting dancing through the destruction until she saw an opening, looked up and remembered that flash of orange and realized she was not burdened to the ground and she grabbed Biana’s hand.

“JUMP,” she screamed, her voice echoing through the walls and reverberating back to her against the crystal.

They jumped, pushing all that channeled strength into their legs and leaping higher higher higher until they crested the walls and could see for miles for everywhere for eternity.

And they caught themselves.

Those wings snapped out, flinging themselves from beneath the cloaks and smoothing their descent. She blinked and that film dropped over her eyes.

Biana moved jerkily yet somehow smooth in the sky, letting go of Sophie’s hand as she flitted to and fro, movements that would’ve made Sophie undeniably nauseous.

It took her only a moment to locate the others, to find Wylie’s exasperation and Linh’s concern. To change course and point Biana in the right direction and swan dive down, curving around crumbling spires and rods.

Risking a glance backwards, she couldn’t locate that creature, it seemingly lost within that maze of buildings and halls and paths that would’ve trapped them too had the sky not beckoned so loud.

Clear. They were in the clear. It was behind them. They were fine.

Vaguely, she could see the other group in the distance, the rest of their friends pointing and waving as they watched them soar in slowly descending circles, growing ever closer to the ground. They’d gone off to find Dex’s supplies, just perusing through the city. It’d take several people to get everything he needed, maybe even more than one trip.

Biana began lowering herself, but Sophie couldn’t help but linger in the sky just a few moments longer, taking in the destruction. Reminding herself of everything they were fighting for, why she needed to step out of her own skin and remember all the people she’d left behind.

She shouldn’t have.

Something glimmered off in the distance, only visible with this new eyesight from this vantage point, but she dropped like a stone.

The void let her through, jumping between places and glitching through the air like she had when she’d grabbed Marella, falling atop Biana in the sky and wrapping her arms around her, jerking them through the void and onto the ground, sprawling a few feet away from the rest of their group.

Shit.

Biana sat up, shaking herself off and covering her wings, drawing that cloak close. Everyone’s hearts were hammering, echoing in her ears as her throat went dry.

Sophie got to her feet, bracing her hands on the back of her neck. She couldn’t dare speak it out loud, didn’t know what was still listening. If that creature had truly gotten itself caught or if it was just waiting to continue the chase. She didn't want to bother with it, just thinking it a minor nuisance as the real shit came to fruition.

Huh. Her world had devolved into such chaos that a monster chase was just a brief interruption, nothing to be thought over.

She shook her hands out, Wylie reaching down to help Biana to her feet.

There was no use putting it off any longer, so she spoke into the entire mindbubble. They’re here.

Sophie couldn’t pull her wings close enough; they were so conformed to the shape of her body she worried they’d bend that way permanently. But still, she wanted them closer. She’d buttoned up the front of her cloak, prepared her lies, but it wasn’t enough. Nothing would ever be enough.

She scratched at her arms to try and distract herself, but that just pulled at her damaged skin, leaving lacerations and blood stains behind. She really should’ve wrapped them. Why hadn’t she wrapped herself up? That’s what she’d gone with Tam to get.

Linh's skin was covered in bandages, her legs and arms tightly bound. It hid some of the incandescence, and in the morning light she almost looked completely normal. Sophie should’ve done the same to herself. She’d gotten so distracted she hadn’t even thought to, and none of the others had remembered to remind her.

Strange. Usually they were so on top of her injuries. It was...unsettling to imagine why they weren’t this time. Not that--not that she wanted them to focus on her. She just--

“Is everyone prepared?” Wylie’s voice was so loud in this silence it made her physically jump, taking all of her energy to keep the wings from shooting out in fear, giving herself away. She did get some impressive height, though.

“Nope. Let’s do this anyway.” If they didn’t do this now, didn't confront their parents and convince them to stop trying to find them, they’d just have to do it again later.

They were fine for now. They were relatively safe and unharmed. Their injuries were from themselves, not the forest. The forest. The forest only she had access to.

If you can, grab the stuff to make a temporary crystal or find a pathfinder of some kind, she sent out to everyone. So you don’t have to rely on me.

Nice try, Foster. I like relying on you. But yeah we’ll look.

She rolled her eyes. Of course he was joking. He knew she was anxious and the little fucker was trying to make her feel better. And it was fucking working. She scowled.

Alright. Now or never. Do or die.

Live with it.

Sophie couldn’t see through the tears falling from her lashes, the wet getting caught up in those films. The world was made of fragments and smears and it was all she could do to hold herself together as she saw her father climbing over a mound of rubble.

Grady. Dad.

There were others beside him, an entire group who had come out to try and get them back, but she couldn’t stop herself from desperately reaching out one last time. She saw him and her legs were moving moving moving and she just had to get to him to let him hold her to feel him alive beneath her fingertips.

He was moving too, eyes widening as he sprinted forward and then he was right there and his arms wrapped around her and held on so so tight and his chin rested on her head and her face was buried in his chest and he smelled like soap and feathers and warmth and home.

She’d missed this so much.

“Hey, kiddo,” he whispered against her hair, the braids she’d woven them into on the walk over, trying to tame the mess. She’d have to do that when flying. They rocked back and forth, just holding holding holding each other.

She’d missed this.

Eventually, he stepped back a bit, holding her out by the shoulders and looking her over, gnawing at his lip as he saw all the blisters, the lacerations, the burns. The scratches.

It’d been a rough couple of days.

“Are you okay?” he asked, bringing her in close again, this time oh so gentle. Like he was afraid one wrong move would tear her apart.

She just shrugged; she couldn’t get her throat to work. She exhaled, the breath shaky and uncontrolled, wiping at her eyes to try and compose herself. She didn’t even know who else was here. Did she care?

Sophie stepped back, but Grady reached up to pat the top of her head, smoothing down her hair. She leaned into the touch. She’d missed this.

He stepped to the side when he saw her leaning to try and see around him, glancing around the area now that she was here and there was something to protect.

There were so many people. Any number was many. She didn’t know why she thought she could do this. She could do this.

Taking a deep breath, she counted who’d come.

Ro and Sandor--Sandor--stood on either side of the group, weapons out and noses lifted to the wind. Protection. Della was wrapped around Biana, fussing over her and feeling the bandages on her arm. A pang of guilt hit her, but she pressed it aside. Mr. Forkle stood beside Wylie, the two of them in some sort of discussion she hadn’t expected. Elwin had rushed to Linh just beside Wylie, and was now carefully lowering her to the ground, Juline giving a helping hand.

Juline. She looked up, making eye-contact with Sophie, holding it.

“Everyone else is in a different part of the city,” she said, clearing her throat. “But they’re fine. They’re okay. Well--” she cut off, eyes glazing over as she reached out to Fitz.

Grady’s hand tightened on her shoulder, but the sensation faded as her mind reached away from her body.

I’ve...they’re here. She said, unsure how else to put it. Are you all doing alright?

It took him a moment to respond. Yup. Just a little--shit. Just a lot of unwieldy things. I just dropped something. Dex seems to be having the time of his life, though. None of it makes sense to me.

Okay. Reach out if you need anything. Or just to interrupt...because this conversation isn't going to be fun.

He laughed slightly, hollow. Yeah. I definitely don't envy you right now.

Wait, have you envied me before?

Good question.

She waited for him to answer it, but it was silent on his end. Well you can’t just--

Take care, Sophie. I love you.

He severed their connection.

“--Sophie?” Someone was shaking her--Grady. That was Grady. His hand was on her shoulder and he was shaking her back into her body.

“Mmm. Yup. That’s me,” she slurred, shaking her head slightly to regain her stability, to ground herself. She rubbed at her eyes, Fitz’s words echoing in her mind. I love you.

She wanted to say it back. Why hadn’t he given her the chance to say it back?

Sophie found Juline once more, directing her words in that general area but addressing the whole group. “Yeah, they’re all fine.”

“Tell them to come here, please.” Ah. Okay. Right into it, then.

She shook her head. “They’re busy.”

Sandor stepped forward, fist tightening on the hilt of his blade. “They can un-busy themselves for this.”

Wylie took it for her, and she nearly leapt forward to hug him right there and then, but it didn’t seem like the right time. She didn’t want to be the only one they addressed.

“Unfortunately, they cannot. But anything you need to tell them you can tell us and we’ll relay the information.” He crossed his arms, glancing towards her as if in question.

She inclined her head slightly. Yes, it was okay that he stepped in.

“We’ll need all of you in one place for this,” Sandor said, and Sophie’s stomach dropped.

“We’re not going back.”

Grady’s hand tightened on her shoulder, flexing as if he wanted to pull her closer and just leap away with her. But they were separated. If they stole the four of them away now, they’d never find the other six.

She hated that they had to strategize like this.

“Look,” Ro began, pointing a dagger at her to emphasize her point. “I don’t know what kind of idiocy has infected your group, but you can’t be up here. You and your little fucked up elf brains have to come back with us, to the underground. And we’ll take you by force if necessary.” Everyone flinched, Juline frowning at her like they’d had an agreement beforehand, a plan, and Ro had gone completely off the rails.

Sophie just shook her head. “No. We’re here to see you. To let you know everyone’s okay, and that you don’t need to worry.” Ro rolled her eyes, and Sophie was tempted to flip her off. “But we are not going back, and that is final.”

“This absolutely is not final, kiddo.” Grady contradicted, turning her around slightly to face him. The movement sent her cape swirling and for a moment she thought the wings would become visible, but they remained hidden. Thank fuck.

This would never end. They’d only go round and round and round in circles and neither would ever concede and their parents would never understand why. They’d just sit here until--

“While we’re...discussing that, how about you sit down and let me look over you, that sound good?” Elwin waved her over from where he sat beside Linh, whose bandages had been peeled back. Biana sat by Linh’s side, looking over fresh, better wrapped bandages over her cuts. He must’ve gotten to work on the two of them while Sophie had been talking with Fitz. Right. His little farewell would haunt her the moment she had time to think...which didn’t seem to be anytime soon.

She nodded, walking over and placing herself beside Linh, bumping her arm with her elbow in greeting. Linh bumped right back into her, smiling as she winced. Something about this light made her look almost normal. She wondered why no one else had commented or asked about the patterns on her skin. Could they even see them?

He inhaled, sucking the air in through clenched teeth. “I bet you two were exposed to the same thing, huh?” He asked, gently pulling Sophie’s arm and inspecting the peeling skin.

“Yep,” she answered, unsure how much Linh had already said.

He doesn’t know it was Marella, she whispered into Sophie’s mind.

What did you tell him?

Run in with a weird creature and a stray explosive? Sorry, I was thinking on the spot.

Sophie nodded. She could work with that story.

“I’d tell you to be more careful around fires and those kinds of things, but I don’t think you know how,” he teased, but his frown didn’t fade as he gently observed the visible skin, pulling serums and creams and bandages from his bag. “I guess that’s why you specifically requested I come.” Sophie nodded, then realized she should probably say something.

She cleared her throat. “You don’t know that. Maybe we just missed you.”

He laughed, gently rubbing a thin layer of something over her arm before covering it with a light gauze. She sighed with relief, leaning against Linh. She hadn’t realized how much pain she’d been in until she felt the cooling effect of the balm.

Both Sophie and Linh were given several elixirs, luckily none too soured or rotten. Biana;s injuries were light enough that she only took a pain reliever.

Unfortunately, the brief peace couldn’t last. The adults seemed content to just keep watch, the scent of sweat and anxiety overwhelming as they surveyed the area, eyed the tree line, the mounds of rubble, just long enough for Elwin to do the basics of what he needed.

Probably because they expected him to be able to continue the treatment once they’d gotten to the underground.

They didn’t seem to understand that they were not coming back.

She wanted to. She didn’t want to leave.

Mr. Forkle approached her on the ground, offering her a hand to help her stand. The gauze across her palm rubbed strangely as he hoisted her to her feet, the sensation off-putting enough that she shook it out slightly as she found her balance.

Linh tugged at her cloak as she stood, readjusting it so it sat against the wings properly, hiding them. Elwin had tried to get her to take it off, but she’d refused. Told him to just do what he could see right now and worry about the rest later.

He’d also told them all he’d want to look at their backs, see what had happened after he’d left them for a short time and returned to find them gone.

He’d told them he’d forgive them if they apologized for scaring the shit out of him, that they didn’t have to do it now. They could deal with all of that later.

There wouldn’t be a later. She just had to convince them to let them all go.

They’d never agree to let them all go. This was an impossible task, doomed to fail from the start.

“You kids just love getting in trouble, don’t you?” He asked, stepping back to let the others come forward. The groups condensed, kids (and Wylie) across from the adults, the line seemingly already drawn.

She shrugged. “That tends to happen when you give children the responsibility of fixing a broken world.”

Linh winced, but this time it wasn’t from her injuries.

“That responsibility was meant to be shared and eased with the help of the Black Swan, help we cannot provide with you as runaways.”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “No. You’re still part of the problem. You weren’t helping anyone, certainly not us.” Oh. Okay. She was doing this now.

“We know you think our ways are too traditional, that we’re not making progress--”

“No. Let me talk.” She held up a hand, silencing them. She’d let them silence her into submission when she’d burned down that storehouse; she wouldn’t let them do it again. “The first time the Neverseen were defeated, how did that happen? Us. We--my friends and I--took the fight to them. We didn’t sit at home waiting for approval from the council, waiting to fight ‘legally.’ There was a problem. A problem that got people killed. And you’d been fighting for decades and got nowhere until I tracked Gisela across the globe and found her myself. Until Dex hacked their trackers and trailed them. Until Biana infiltrated their base on her own to plant bugs and get us intel.”

They looked like they wanted to stop her, but she pressed on. “Your complacency has gotten you nowhere, and I am not at all sorry to be fighting to get results. The Neverseen were gone. My friends brought them to their knees, and you said you’d support us, take it from there and pick up the pieces. Well, guess what? Those pieces scattered in the wind because they weren’t properly disposed of and now they're out in the world, causing even more trouble than we ever could have imagined. You didn’t do your part, so I don’t trust you to support us now. You’ll have to earn that back, and if this”--she gestured to their little group, the people they’d sent to try and convince them all to come back, to tug at their hearts and play into their guilt--”is any indication, you are only getting further and further away from that.”

She crossed her arms, trying to keep herself in check. She hadn’t even known she’d had all that bubbling beneath her skin, but now that she’d open that part of herself she could feel it frothing, foaming to escape. There were so many ways she’d been disappointed, so many mistakes people had consciously made, it felt like her veins would burst.

Ro’s mouth had fallen open, torn between anger at her stubbornness to come back and loving Sophie’s disregard for those in charge, the disobedience.

Biana glanced at her out of the corner of her eye, raising a brow in question. Sophie nodded, imperceptible. They needed someone to cool the situation down, someone good in social situations.

Juline opened her mouth to respond but Biana cut her off, stepping forward. She was never afraid to be blunt and Sophie loved that about her.

She smoothed out her clothes, her scars on full display. “You seem to misunderstand why we’re here. We left abruptly, we know. It was necessary. Now that things have calmed down, we agreed to see you again--to give you some peace of mind. To let you know we’re okay in person. Not just the four of us, all ten.

“We didn’t come here to debate returning. We’re not coming back, not right now. So stop trying to convince us, and don’t try to justify your actions against valid criticism.”

There was silence for a moment, then Della spoke.

“You’re not safe out here,” she said. Smart. Begin the conversation with an indisputable fact in their favor. But Sophie could do that too.

“We’re not safe anywhere.”

Sandor sighed, but it sounded more like a growl, not even looking at her, still scanning the perimeter. They were fairly out in the open; for some reason, they hadn’t moved to better ground.

“You’ll be much safer where we, your bodyguards”--he gestured to himself and Ro--”can see you and protect you. That’s what we’re here for. This is a massive nest of monsters; we’re lucky we haven’t been attacked yet. This is a mess.” He gestured around the area, the cracked crystal and claw marks.

He was right. Which was why they needed to end this quickly. Get them out before they were hurt. She needed to go somewhere else, to cool off. She could feel Linh and Wylie’s eyes on her, wondering if she’d explode at their parents like she’d done with Biana.

Sophie nodded in agreement. She was nodding a lot during this conversation. “You’re very good bodyguards, but we’re staying up here. Besides, our location isn’t here.”

“Then tell us where you are,” Juline cut in, a hint of panic in her voice. Glad to see the four of them safe, but none of them the person she’d specifically come for. And she didn’t know it, but that one person’s body wasn’t working the way it should.

Combined with her outburst, the realization that they were completely out of power in this situation was settling in. She could read it in their widening eyes, the shifts in their stances, like they were rearranging themselves.

“We can’t. We literally can’t.”

“Please, Sophie--” Grady began, running his hands through his hair in frustration, looking like he wanted to grab her and shake some sense into her, but he froze.

They all did.

Because they all heard it.

A horrendous screeching noise, like metal grating against metal. Or claws against the ground.

SOPHIE. GET OUT OF THERE. Fitz’s voice pounded into her mind, panic and terror following.

What? Why?

MONSTER!

“Move,” she hissed, shoving Linh to the side, noting Biana dragging Wylie the other way. Away. They had to get away.

She looked over her shoulder, seeing their group scramble, glancing around frantically, trying to find where the noise had come from. Sophie hadn’t bothered to figure it out, just moving away.

Something crashed to the ground, a great plume of smoke and dust arising from the area, whipped around by a sudden wind, like something was beating its wings. It must’ve been a tower, building, the sound so horrendous she stumbled, hands pressed to her ears as it ripped through her.

Wylie was panting on the ground across from her, eyes closed as his hands covered his ears.

The building took eternity to fall, seconds of time dripping past like a deluge, one after another until she couldn’t tell the difference and someone was screaming her name or maybe that was just the ringing in her ears but something was coming coming coming it was after them they’d overstayed their welcome and everything was crashing apart around her.

Think, Foster, she reminded herself.

Next step. Find the others. Find everyone.

The few precious seconds it took her to gather herself enough to reach for her temples were too many. She was out of time.

“I said MOVE!” Fitz was yelling at her, sprinting from a nearby alley, a pathway through the mess. He was moving lopsided, his limp aggravated by whatever the physical labor had done to his knee. Oh.

That’s why he’d warned her.

His group was heading their way, a monster in tow, screaming at them to get out.

The other six were close behind, Keefe darting around corners, Dex leaping into the air with channelling. Marella’s hands were glowing, Tam’s fingernails stained black.

Their cloaks fastened tight but something something something still looked off if you were focusing. No one was focusing on them.

They were occupied with something else.

It screamed.

Sophie stood there, frozen, as it crawled over a mound of rubble, jerking and frantic, several eyes littered over its body, claws digging into the crystal as all its sight narrowed in.

On the other group.

Where her father was.

“NO!” She didn’t know who said it, who screamed. But her throat stung and her body was trying to move without her permission.

“Dex,” Juline yelled, a strange relief washing over her face as she saw him, quickly vanishing as the creature tumbled forward. It moved so inhumanly quick, limbs upon limbs emerging and cycling as it danced uncontrolled toward their vulnerable parents.

Ro had drawn her sword, a maniacal grin slicing her face as she laughed, widening her stance.

No no no nonono. She couldn’t kill it. She didn’t stand a chance and she’d go down trying and it would be all Sophie’s fault because she’d frozen and wasn’t doing anything when if anyone deserved to pay it was her.

Grady’s face had hardened, a weapon in his hand she didn’t recognize pulled from somewhere as he stood back, eyes on that charging creature when his face went slack and he whirled, another one emerging from behind.

She couldn’t get to him, an eternity between them, rocks and debris and a wall of hurt throwing them further and further apart with each step she took forward. Linh was tugging at her arm, Maruca at her other. Trying to get her away.

It was impossible to fix this. They’d doomed themselves from the start.

He was still wildly searching the area, searching for her.

They made eye contact, his face softening as he saw her, saw how far she was. That she could still get away, wasn’t being directly attacked.

“No,” she whispered, watching him turn away, steel settling over his skin. A calm acceptance

No.

She wouldn’t do this, wouldn’t watch him die.

Sophie lunged forward, breaking from her friends’ grasps with that new ease,

and

she

glitched.

She was dancing through time and space, here and there and everywhere in a single instant. There was no distance too far, nothing she couldn’t be in this one moment in time. This one moment that she’d make last an eternity. This world was hers to command.

She appeared, just at his side, shoving him away, letting that prowling creature descend on her instead, sinking its teeth into the skin of her shoulder, ripping through fabric and darting away.

She didn’t care. She didn’t care at all. Because Grady was fine just a few feet away. He was fine. That’s all that mattered.

His eyes widened as he watched her, trying to stand amongst all this chaos and rubble, and she didn’t understand didn't understand the fear, the pain in his eyes. The screams and gasps echoing behind her, the way the world seemed to pause for a moment.

Not until she saw the tattered remains of her cloak fall to the ground.

“Go home,” she whispered, backing away from him. “Go back. It’s not safe up here.”

He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t talking; no one was.

But the creatures were still screaming, eyes condensing and coalescing, observing her and the people around her.

“Get them out of here, Sophie” Maruca screamed, force-fields flickering into place around the creatures, caging them in. But she wasn’t steady on her feet. Why hadn’t she raised the shields earlier? Maruca nearly fell, her hold flickering. She was buying Sophie a few seconds, but that was all she could give. Who knew what she'd given already.

Sohie steeled her nerves, letting the wings buzz behind her, keeping the attention. Let them see her, let them focus on her and not notice the things on her friends backs too.

“I’m sorry,” was all she said, darting forward faster than Grady’s eyes could understand, glitching the two of them just a little bit away, beside Della. She grabbed the two of them, and vanished.

The clearing was just as she remembered it. The crystal grate sat crooked on the ground, the trees around as menacing and uninviting as ever. Last time she’d been here it was raining.

It was supposed to be the last time.

She let go of the two of them, ripping through the void back to the Lost Cities. Another two. Juline and Elwin. She brought them back.

Went back and forth until they were all back, all away, all safe. Safer, at least.

“Sophie, wait--” Grady was reaching for her. He scrambled for his pocket, telling her they'd just come back. She couldn’t leave, she had to stay. Let the adults go back and handle it.

She twirled the pathfinder through her fingers, listened as he fell silent.

It’d been right there in easy reach when she’d grabbed him. So she’d taken it. They’d needed one, and taking it from him kept them from coming back. At least for a little bit.

He was reaching for her.

She didn’t look back.

She vanished.

The shields fell just as Sophie arrived. There were monsters loose in the Lost Cities, chasing her and her friends. She didn’t care.

The world had ended years ago.

Nothing. That’s what she felt.

Everything was numb. The echoing screams of the creatures, the grating of their claws against the ground, the sweat and fear of her friends. None of it registered. It would hit her later, she knew, but not now. Not yet.

Sophie dug her nails into her scalp, watching the creatures explode out of their containment, finally set free. They laughed, animalistic, bodies thrashing rhythmically as they slithered forward.

Apparently physics didn’t matter anymore.

Thoughts and plans filtered through her mind, the mindbubble alight with chaos. She tuned it out, just watching from the center of it all. The eye of the storm.

Someone was in the sky, unused to flying but moving with enough precision she knew they’d done it before.

One of the creatures locked eyes with her, maw falling open with a haphazard grin. A mechanical creak came from it’s neck as it twitched.

It scrambled forward, close to the ground, crossing the clearing in just a few short moments.

She didn’t care.

It was going to tear her to pieces.

She didn’t care.

The ground rumbled, trembling and bucking and weaving into new positions, throwing them all the ground, the scent of thunder and terror rolling over her, knees buckling beneath her.

The stench hit her first, the watered down rot, a dying perfume of withered roses and rotten fruit. Cloyingly sweet, deceptively undead. Her eyes began to water, like she’d been physically hit. She couldn’t see through the tears, but she didn’t need to.

It made itself known.

Dark and decay seemed to slip through the cracks of the stone, falling upwards like unnatural rain.

It crushed that creature beneath its gargantuan paw, cracked and molten.

It was right in front of her.

She looked at it and it looked back, nearly four times the size of the thing it’d just killed like it was nothing.

Monsters vs monster. It’s eyes glowed a deep gold, dripping down the midnight blue of its face, its body vaguely bear shaped.

It looked away, charging towards those other monsters, the movement accompanied by a jingle.

There was a collar around its neck, tags clanging against each other as it moved, killing--destroying--each of those creatures her friends ran from one by one.

An intelligence lingered behind its eyes, its movements. This was...even more unsettling than the creatures, than the destruction littered around her.

It blinked at her like it knew her.

Sophie forced herself to her feet, to take in absolutely everything she could about this thing before it vanished. It could be the difference between life and death.

It lowered it’s head to the ground, and

her

heart

stopped.

Behind it’s head, hidden by the whorls of curls decorating its stocky body, was a little girl sat atop it.

A little girl in a chaotic, elaborate gown, something human’s thought princesses would wear, frizzy red hair tangled around her face.

The little girl she’d seen in the facility.

#thank you to pyro for inspiring part of where this chapter went #he's incredible and I love him lots /p #anyways...how we feeing?#that was a lot #i'm not sorry though :)#come back in two weeks to figure out what the hell happens next #okay but thoughts?#this one was a lot of fun for me so I'm curious if it was for you too #kotlc #keeper of the lost cities #kotlc fic #kotlc fanfic #kotlc chaptered fic #shattered upside down #shattered upside down chapter #kotlc wings au #quil's quill

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bookwyrminspiration · 3 years

Text

Shattered Upside Down

A kotlc wings au: masterpost here

Chapter 7: The Outside

word count: 8.2k

chapter summary: Everything seems to be crashing down around Sophie, so she had to try and figure out how to clean up the aftermath.

warnings: explosions, injuries, burns, panic and numbness, theft, desire to pull out hair (no actual pulling), collapsing, swearing, intentional misuse of grammar

taglist: in the replies. let me know if you want to be added or removed!

I had a lot of fun with this one, so hopefully you'll enjoy it even a fraction as much as I enjoyed writing it. And I don’t want to keep you here, so enjoy the chapter!

ao3 link here or read below

The world ended years ago.

Left in haphazard chunks littered across the sky, cracked glass sunken and molding at the bottom of a lake, stone pillars crushed into ash.

So why was it still breaking?

Why were those shards of glass splintering into dust, why were the pillars scattering in the wind? Why did every single day wake a new horror from the shadows.

Sophie’s ears rang hollow, each and every second stopping as the mist parted. Marella and Linh were moving so slow, each fork of lightning visible and trackable, the nothingness building to a roar in her mind and then everything was happening all at once.

Creatures had abilities now.

Lightning struck and something screamed and the thunder cried and her hair whipped about her face in a frenzy the winds were agonizing the air pressure pressed against her ears her shirt stuck to her skin the air yelled its fury and dragons fought fought fought in the sky.

When had she last breathed?

Air rushed, choked into her lungs as the world broke around her. Focus. Choose a fight and win it.

Marella.

That would be her fight.

Far below, the assortment of friends she’d dragged into this hellish world watched as Marella glowed hotter and hotter, a light against the storm. Sophie took the single moment it took to find her amongst the rain, pinpointed her location, and moved.

The dragons were not the priority, getting Marella away from them was.

Distance ceased to exist before Sophie as she darted forward, carried by those wings. She jumped through pockets of space, teleported through around and out of reality, blinking through existence, each jolt taking her closer and closer to Marella.

Marella, who had nearly reached the origin of the storm.

Sophie was mere feet away now, a single glitch away from grabbing her.

Her fingers wrapped around Marella’s wrist; Heat boiled against her skin, the glow of the flames simmering beneath her skin scorching her eyes. Don’t let go. She couldn’t.

Energy drained from her fingertips, dispersing and scattering and leaving and powering and enhancing.

No difference existed between the two of them.

Her eyes were alight with flame and pain, the very core of her power thrumming outside her skin, her gaze focused on those beast above, the lightning crackling all around them, the boom of smoke curling through the air, the harsh rasp of teeth and talons on scale as they fought just above the two of them.

Marella and Sophie were the only two people in the entire world.

And then it ended.

Pure heat exploded out from Marella in a shock wave, turning the rain to steam, lighting the sky as though the sun had gone out and she was the only thing left to replace it. Something bright white flashed around her, enveloping her for a brief moment as the sky shook. Sophie’s skin screamed, but she did not let go. She would not freeze. She couldn’t.

Sophie glitched away, dragging Marella with her.

And the void did not let them out.

There was nothing everywhere as far as the eye could see. Infinite empty for eternity. The everything in between.

And they were ablaze.

Sophie’s eyes were pressed closed against the deluge of dry heat and light emanating from Marella, but she just couldn’t bring herself to let go. She couldn’t now, would lose her forever if she did not hold tight for all she was worth.

“Marella!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

Marella. No response. All she could find within the web of consciousness around this void was the--

MARELLA.

Something snapped, and a downpour of something aqueous crashed through their minds, sizzling and popping against the flames. Streams of multi-colored thought flowed, flooding their minds until they were completely submerged, sinking down down down into the depths of an ocean, bubbles rising above them as they descended, utterly helpless.

Down

down

down.

Until the fire went out.

An ocean surrounded them, infinitely deep, the surface trickling further and further away. Smoke curled against her skin, the taste poignant on her tongue as she drowned her fury, her pain, seeing nothing but everything.

They hovered there, time meaningless as it ticked past, suspended in those watery graves, that space between.

Distantly, she became aware of ragged breathing, uneven and pained rasping against her ears. The sound was so far away, yet she began to follow it, chase it through those depths until it became clearer and clearer and she could hear it and she was aware and the ocean parted around her and she erupted into her own mind and body and she was alive alive alive.

Sophie’s hand remained clenched tight around Marella’s wrist, the flood of adrenaline dancing through her veins masking the pain for now, but eventually it would fade and she’d have to face the consequences of playing with fire.

The breathing continued, harsh, uneven.

Marella. She needed to check on Marella; there was no way she was alright after an event of that scale--

No.

That wasn’t Marella’s breathing.

The pained breaths were coming from the figure beside her, draped over her shoulder, holding tight like the world was in her hands and it was made of glass and she couldn’t dare break it.

That was Linh.

“Don’t let us out,” Linh grunted, fingers spasming as her breathing quickened.

She had followed. Sophie had been reaching for Marella, but Linh had been too. And now her fingers clenched in Marella’s clothes were red and raw and bruised and peeling and her skin was cracked and dry and nothing but pain pain pain caressed her face. No. There was fear there, too.

Not for herself. No, she was staring down down down at the figure she held so tight, so fragile. She had come to save her and she would not stop until she had.

What? Her mind was moving too quickly to make sense of what Linh had said, to remember to respond, or what she meant--out of where? Don’t what?

“The void,” she said, having heard her confusion. Sophie didn’t bother raising her mental barriers now, the thought not even occurring to her. “Give her--Marella--a few minutes to cool down. Don’t let us out yet.”

Oh.

Marella’s eyes moved beneath shut lids, the rhythm of her moving chest hypnotically slow as they drifted through the void, waiting waiting waiting. Light continued to pulsate out of their unconscious friend, a glimmer of bright against this endless dark, pressing in like an ocean of inevitability around them.

Her gaze darted back and forth between all the space around them, the tiny threads she could feel, the places they would take her. Memories of when she’d been here before, the places she’d gone, the places she could return to.

The Lost Cities, the underground.

Home.

It was foolish to even think about--Havenfield had one of the first places overrun with all those animals around. And the people she wanted so desperately to hold her wouldn’t be there anyways.

She needed to stop thinking so hopelessly about the past. It was gone. Remembering it did nothing but propagate heartbreak and regrets.

Linh inhaled sharply, jerkily, and Sophie’s shot to her, the crease between her brow, the gritted teeth, the--

“What the hell,” Sophie gasped, leaning forward involuntarily with disbelief, the sudden movement sending them spinning as they floated along.

Linh grimaced, offering a shy, embarrassed smile as she flexed her hand. It was...iridescent. The surface of her skin was separated into small, chaotically organized sections, reflecting the light from Marella’s skin off her own. The effect was not local, instead spreading up her entire arm, across her chest, over her face--every inch of skin.

Rainbows of faint color refracted, lighting her up and setting her aglow, a muted complement to Marella’s intense blaze.

Linh’s muscles spasmed, disrupting the brief serenity as she glanced down at Marella, exhaling heavily. Shit. How badly had she been hit? How close had she been to Marella when she’d gone off like a bomb?

Close enough that she tagged along on Sophie’s teleportation. Close enough to make skin to skin contact. Shit.

How badly was Sophie hurt? Adrenaline still buzzed through her as they floated, but it became less and less with each second, even as Linh’s clear pain marred her determined face.

Dammit. What was she supposed to do in situations like this? Burns--how did you treat burns?

“We need to leave now,” she said, gentle. The next step was to get them out of here. They couldn’t do anything just floating around in the void, and they’d left their other friends behind.

Fuck.

It hadn’t even registered until that very moment. How long had they sat here, what had happened back at the gnomish village? Were they all looking for them? They’d just vanished out of the sky--

“Okay,” Linh whispered, and it broke Sophie. Whatever happened, she had two injured friends on hand, alongside her own injure body.

She conjured up the clearest picture she could of the village, the one she knew by heart, had stared at so solemnly she could tell you how many flowers dripped down the shattered window even without her photographic memory.

The void ruptured, the intricate web parting before her as she pulled them all through, into that bedroom she’d claimed as her own.

They needed to be with the people who could care for them when the adrenaline faded.

Hard wood and poignant petals grated against her skin, tearing down her arm as she skidded slightly. The echo of the thunderclap lingered in her ears, haunting as that nothing was replaced with everything.

Move.

Forcing herself to push upwards, propped on her elbows on her back, she allowed herself a few moments to observe before taking action. Marella was still unconscious, sprawled across the floor, petals and glass curled in her hair. Linh lay beside her, still conscious but fading quickly, flush with Marella’s back.

Okay. She could do this, she could think this through.

Sophie?! Sophie where are you--

Never mind. A cascade of voices barraged their way into her mind, the mindbubble screaming with activity the moment she’d left the void. Every single friend howling and scrambling, their minds hives of thought and panic.

They’d heard the thunder, heard them return, now frantically running about trying to locate them.

My house. She responded, unsure how else to describe it. It wasn’t hers, but it was the one she’d claimed. Gingerly, she sat up fully, pressing her hands to her temples, fingers tangling in her hair. It was so loud--

“Sophie. There you are--wait, what? Hang on--” Fitz had burst into the room, cutting off as he saw the prone figures on the floor.

Over here. His voice echoed through her mind, reaching out to the others and giving them a sense of direction to follow, a way to find them. He winced slightly as he did so, the cacophony overwhelming for him too.

All at once, the adrenaline faded and reality came crashing into her, the scrapes on her arm the burns across her skin the dryness of her lips the crackling simmering skin coating her body.

Fitz caught her as her muscles went limp and tensed, sagging to the floor. He set her down, and it was all she could do to breathe breathe breathe and hold her eyes closed as footsteps approached, as the door was tossed open and voices whispered and screamed and panic and sweat and indecision coated the air, dripped down her tongue.

People were moving talking singing crying, yet Sophie’s world was painted with deep blues and hurt reds and all she could see was nothing.

Cool water poured over her head, gliding down her hair and back, soothing the burns, the ache, the regret. Tam had told her Linh rerouted the irrigation systems. He hadn’t told her she’d redone the entire goddamned room. Rich greens frothed and bloomed from every available surface, overwhelming the pots and creeping up the walls. The open wall to the side showed off the night sky, starts blinking overhead, moonlight reflecting off the glass pots and decor scattered around the space.

There was no way she could’ve done this on her own in such a short time.

Sophie sat, curled in a raised bath, water spilling over the edge into other pools, sprawling through the room until it eventually drifted off towards the open wall, spilling towards the ground below. It reminded her of those natural hot springs she’d visited as a child--although this one was chilled, reminiscent of a pool on a summer day.

Stop. Stop remembering what’s past.

Her fingers clenched and she pushed off the edge, drifting back until that silent pour of water from the top hit her in the head once more. Carefully, she made sure the wings were held above the water line. Linh wasn’t here to keep them dry anymore.

Linh.

No, as talented as Linh was, she couldn’t have done all this. What purpose this place used to serve the gnomes, she couldn’t even begin to guess, but the overwhelming scent of pollen and nectar pressed against her mind, a heady lull that wouldn’t fade. The flowers were unnaturally bright, the way white glowed under a UV light. That’s not important.

Cool water to soothe burns. That’s how it went. That was important. So she sat here.

Tam had taken her here, pushed her gently through the door, and left. To give her privacy. Fitz had stopped by a few minutes later, dropping off a thing of water, along with an elixir or two he must’ve grabbed from Elwin’s office before they’d run. Smart. Thinking ahead. She’d have to ask him how he did it.

Cool the burns, replace lost fluid. That was the procedure. So she did.

She was the only conscious one, that’s why she’d been left here. Marella was unconscious, Linh too, so they were being cared for elsewhere. She shouldn’t be so calm.

She should want to be by their side, wait with them till they woke, hold cold compresses to their skin and wait wait wait for them. So why was she so unbothered?

Her friends--

Oh.

Her friends, the ones she trusted so entirely, were taking care of the situation. Sophie had got the three of them out of the sky, held them till they mellowed and brought them back. She’d done her part. Everyone else could handle the rest. For a brief moment, she could breathe easy. Delegate.

So what was she supposed to do? What was next?

Faint rain pattered against the roof, splashing through the open wall the water fell from. But it was...natural. Where had those beasts gone? What had happened to them after the three of them tore the sky apart and vanished into it?

There was so much information she was missing--

No. Not now. That was a problem for the future, for when her skin didn’t peel from her bones and her tongue didn’t grate against the roof of her mouth.

It was like a river, the flow of the water around her, constantly in gentle motion, running against her skin. But she couldn’t follow it, couldn’t linger and tip over the edge to see where it led.

Her friends had covered where she faltered, but she still had a responsibility to them. Sophie belonged with them, beside them, leading them.

Grabbing an elixir and downing it like a shot, she rose from the water.

Fatigue pulled at her each step she took, bare feet thudding against the wooden bridges as she moved. Twigs and flower petals pressed against her skin, but she ignored it. She’d tracked the others with her mind, now all she had to do was get to them. The rest she’d figure out later.

Fitz had left a change of clothes alongside the elixirs, a simple pair of black drawstring shorts and a blouse to match. She’d torn slits in the latter, wings protruding through the loose fabric. Mindlessly, she pulled her hair back, braiding it out of the way as she went, wet strands sticking to the back of her neck. Vertina had taught her how. She wasn’t sure, but Vertina might be broken now. In her destroyed bedroom.

It didn’t matter, don’t think about it.

She wasn’t as tired as she should’ve been. Wasn’t in as much pain as she knew she should’ve been. They were completely without the resources to properly treat burns, yet she was walking and talking--well, she could talk, she just hadn’t yet--perfectly fine, if a little loopy. Whatever fragrance those flowers gave off was strong.

None of this matched any of her past experiences with medicine, and she had plenty. What was going on with her?

One of her friend’s presence flickered close by and she paused, looking around for them. They weren’t with the rest of the group, the others who were clustered around one space, the place she was heading. She assumed that’s where Linh and Marella were.

Her ears were better than her eyes, and the telltale creak of a swinging bridge off to her right had her pivoting in place, turning to see--

Dex. His pace quickened when he saw she’d noticed him, but he winced slightly, holding a hand to his chest as he came to a stop beside her. When had he gotten so tall?

“You...alright?” he asked, but it clearly wasn’t what was on his mind. Like he was expected to ask and he just wanted to get out of the way. He seemed...distracted, fidgety--more so than usual.

“I’m not dead. You?” He laughed slightly, then winced again, the movement jarring to his injuries. She didn’t know what else to call it; none of them knew what was wrong with him, but at the very least it seemed to be improving with time. Maybe. She couldn’t tell if it was the lighting, but he seemed unnaturally pale.

“About the same.” Okay, so he wasn’t going to make this easy. Whatever was eating at him would have to be drawn out then.

“I was going to go check on Linh and Marella, need anything?” That seemed a good place to start. Open the conversation for him.

“Oh. Cool. I’ll go with you,” he said, turning alongside her as she resumed her stride, much slower with him beside her--not that she minded. She’d prefer he take things slow until someone could figure out what was going on with him. Not that any of them were qualified to do that. No, that was something for--

“I have a request,” Dex blurted out, uncharacteristically formal.

“What is it?”

He wouldn’t make eye contact, looking around the trees, surveying the flowers. “I…”

Sophie nudged him slightly, playfully, trying to encourage him. “I can’t do anything if you don’t tell me, dumbass.” He smiled slightly at that, although he didn’t stop wringing his fingers. She’d take the partial win.

“I want you to take me back to The Lost Cities.”

What. She’d stopped moving. Clouds drifted by overhead, wind swayed through the leaves, time ticked onward. But Sophie had stopped moving.

“What.” Her voice was dead flat, shocking even to her.

Dex bit his lip, holding his hands up, placating. “It’s not what it sounds like, I promise.”

“I hope not. Because it sounds like you’re saying you want to go back home, you know--where there are hordes of creatures. Creatures that drove us underground. Just...roaming around. Everywhere.” Shivers trembled down her spine at the mere thought. That one day, when they’d crushed the gates and shattered through crystal walls, looming and gaping and towering over her--

“Okay so maybe it’s a little bit like that.” She could feel her eyebrows raise, and the color staining his cheeks reminded her that he was a friend a friend a friend. She should be nicer. She didn’t have the energy left to be nicer. “Just for a quick trip. To...pick up some things there. And I’d go on my own but--”

“Nope. You cannot go alone to the monster-infested Lost Cities--”

“I’m not going to! I can’t! The pathfinder cracked, remember? You’re our only form of long-distance transportation.” Fuck. He had a point. “I literally cannot do this without you! And I don’t want to, either.” The last part was so quiet she would’ve missed it could she not hear every single sound screaming through the night.

“Where exactly in the Lost Cities do you want to go?” She wasn’t agreeing, not yet. But dammit she was curious. And he was her friend. She trusted him, wanted to hear him out.

Dex shook his head slightly, as though trying to keep himself awake, hand shooting out to catch himself on a nearby tree trunk. She reached out as if to catch him, but he wasn’t falling and there was nothing for her to do. Her hand dropped back to her side.

“I’m fine,” he said. She didn’t believe him. “I need to stop by Slurps and Burps, where my old lab is. Just...Eternalia in general.” Right. He’d said he needed supplies; there’d be a plethora of things for him to work with there. Whatever project he was working on, clearly he hadn’t brought enough when they’d run away.

Run away. Huh. They were runaways now, weren’t they?

“I’ll think about it. I can’t...too tired to think through all the details right now, okay?” She rubbed at her eyes and he nodded along. “I’m not saying no.” She wanted to. “I just…” she trailed off, exhaling heavily.

He nodded even more, looking slightly off kilter and pallid after doing so. He really shouldn’t be moving around so much without treatment for whatever it was. But they didn’t have anyone who could do that sort of thing. Or properly treat her and Linh’s burns.

“I understand,” he said. “Thanks.”

For what? The world had ended already. She wasn’t doing anything.

Dex had left her a ways away from the clustered mass of minds she’d been approaching, most of them in some sort of lull. Worn and tired. She glanced towards the sky, the stars on full display--Dex hadn’t seemed even remotely tired. Fatigued? Yes. But that was from his healing injuries, not any kind of natural exhaustion. She’d forgotten how late it was despite the ache in her own bones.

He seemed...better. Like it was just a matter of time before whatever had happened yesterday--holy fuck was that just yesterday? Why was everything moving so fast? Life had been so much more peaceful, even boring when they’d been underground. She supposed this was why they were down there in the first place. Just a few days above the surface had tossed them into absolute chaos so consuming it felt like the last few hours had lasted weeks.

And now she sat on the floor of an old dilapidated cottage, flower petals scattered beneath her, two friends unconscious before her, other’s resting around her. They’d made the most out of what they had, cool water poured over burns and pressed against feverish foreheads, torn clothing wrapped around blisters. But they hadn’t anticipated this. Any of this.

Their world had only shifted underground a few months ago, how could everything above be so chaotic, so frantic? Beasts could have abilities, control the weather, breath smoke and scream ash. She still didn’t know what had happened to those two, the one’s battling up above, the one’s Marella had tried to join as if entranced.

She didn’t want to ask.

And now Marella lay sleeping before her, skin pulsating and gleaming with sweat, uneasy even in rest. The blankets had been thrown to the floor, damp sheets sticking to her exposed skin--entirely unblemished from the blast.

Linh hadn’t been so lucky. Her skin was angry angry red, shining in this dim light. And not the way her new iridescence sparkled, no, this was hurt, damaged skin coating her body. And still...it didn’t seem bad enough.

Marella had exploded, each of them mere feet away at most. They should be coated, covered, dying from these burns. Instead she was only aching, wincing, awake. What had happened?

“It was Maruca.” Tam’s voice took a moment to register, but she looked at him. He was perched beside Linh’s bed, sitting absolutely preposterously in a chair--how hadn’t he fallen out of it? His lip was red and raw, chewed over and destroyed. How had he made such a mess of it? Sleep appeared to elude him, and he tugged at his bangs as he shifted, eyes darting towards her. Wait, right, she was supposed to respond.

“What was Maruca?”

“She happened.” This was a very productive conversation. Tam exhaled, tugging harder at his bangs, like he was trying to gather the proper words. “You said it into the mind bubble,” he continued. “What happened? Maruca did. That’s why your injuries aren’t as bad as they should be--or at least part of it.”

Oh. She checked her mental barriers and sure enough, most of them were down, her consciousness standing exposed within their shared network. She fixed it.

“What did she do?”

He took a moment to respond, looking down at Linh. “It was hard to see what was happening because of all the rain and storming, but Marella was easy to track. She lit up the sky like a beacon. Whatever was happening with her...it clearly wasn’t good. So Maruca threw up a shield, trying to isolate her, but she wasn’t quick enough. It only blocked some of the explosion. But it was enough to help.”

Wait.

“Wait I saw it,” she responded, talking mostly to herself. “There was a...like a white light just before she went off. It wrapped around me--that must’ve been the force field.” Oh. Okay. Problem solved. She wasn’t as hurt as she should’ve been because she’d been shielded. So why did the question still irk her?

Turning, she searched for Maruca; she had to be in here somewhere. Ah, there she was, asleep against a wall beside Biana. Everyone had passed out from stress and exhaustion, littered around the room like they couldn’t even muster the energy to make it past the door. She could see Keefe and Fitz cuddled on a couch in an adjacent room, haphazardly draped over one another. Wylie was nowhere to be seen, and Dex hadn’t come into the room with her.

It was just her and Tam awake against the world.

Neither of them spoke, falling into an anxious, taut, comfortable silence. Pain buzzed along her skin, and she lowered herself backwards onto the floor, staring into the ceiling. She hadn’t thought ahead enough to take any elixirs from Elwin’s office when they left, and none of them had grabbed nearly enough. She didn’t even know what they had and she still knew it was insufficient.

What the hell were they going to do?

She sat up. Tam looked at her and she stared back.

An idea struck. A stupid one, but those were the best kind. “How do you feel about petty theft?”

“I can’t think of any possible way this could go wrong,” Tam whispered, and she resisted the urge to shove him over.

“I can. I can think of several.” They stood just outside the cottage, the others’ sleeping forms still visible through the window. She pressed her hands together in thought, trying to think through as much as she could in the next few minutes before all reason left her.

Tam crossed his arms, looking down at her with faint amusement. She scrunched her nose at him.

“Okay. Okay okay okay,” she repeated to herself, shaking her hands slightly to get her mind working. “We need to stay hidden. So who would...” She glanced back inside, looking towards the couch. Who out of their group would be the most prepared when they’d run away, specifically…

“What are you doing,” Tam hissed as she crept back into the building, stepping over Biana’s legs, hoping she could muster just enough agility to make it through without waking anyone else up. She already had Tam on her side, but she didn’t know if she had the energy to convince anyone else.

The wings at her back shivered in agitation. “Something smart.”

Silently, she crept towards that couch, the one Fitz and Keefe had collapsed upon. She was looking for--there. Fitz’s bag was discarded towards the end, spilling out various elixirs and fruit bars and water bottles and an old shirt. Hands ever so gentle, she pried open the top as she crouched down, the sound of the shifting floorboards grating against her ears.

Keefe’s breath caught. She stilled, not daring to move a muscle. Tam pulled at his bangs in her peripheral vision, face planting.

She eyed Keefe; his hand tensed in Fitz’s shirt, the fabric riding up his back. He relaxed, turning slightly.

Sophie exhaled heavily. He was still asleep. For some reason, the idea of anyone else knowing what they were doing was absolutely unacceptable. She rummaged through the bag for a moment--aha. Perfect.

She held the obscurer close, rising fully and making her way back to Tam, moving around cluttered floors and unconscious friends. Fitz’d had the foresight to bring an obscurer along when they’d run away to join the Black Swan, wandering through Florence. If anyone would have one, it’d be him.

She pressed the gadget into Tam’s hands, and he looked at her in question

“I don’t know how to use it” she explained, hooking her arm through his and dragging him away. The longer they were near those rooms the more anxious she became that someone would wake.

He fidgeted with the thing for a moment before a faint ripple marred its pristine surface, and she knew he’d turned it on.

“And what’s the next step in this brilliant plan of yours?”

She glanced around the area, then pointed to the near straight path of bridges laid out before them.

“I’ve gotta be honest, I’m mostly winging it,” he glared at her unintentional word play, but she just ignored it. “But now we run really fast.”

“We what--” his words vanished into the night air as Sophie charged forward, building speed with each step, the trees a blur around her and she pounded over the wooden bridges and platforms, darting so quick her feet barely grazed the ground. Tam, to his credit, tried his best to match her pace, but she was mostly dragging him behind her.

And then she could taste the void on her tongue and they vanished.

Sophie always forgot how much the Forbidden Cities stunk, but the gas fumes and humidity was home. Tam’s face was apprehensive, lip curled as he adjusted to the poor air quality.

She just stood there a moment, observing the scene--she hadn’t seen humans in months. Tam’s unease propelled her forward, shaking her out of it, ignoring the people on the street who ignored them. They couldn’t even see the two of them, obscurer clutched tightly in hand.

She glanced to the sky--the sun was just beginning to set, late afternoon. Good. That meant a few select places would still be open. It was disorienting, almost, to jump that quickly through time zones.

“Okay. This is good. This is fine.” Sophie grabbed Tam’s wrist, pulling them along the street, past the rush of the cars.

“You don’t sound confident.” She ignored him. She could hear the faint whine and compress of each individual engine as it shot past, and she made a mental note that they’d all need earplugs if they went literally anywhere ever. Especially the Forbidden Cities. They’d been loud before, but now…

They both winced as a motorcycle revved a few streets away.

A few minutes passed in relative silence until the building Sophie was looking for became visible as they rounded a corner, narrowly avoiding some family out for a casual stroll. It was so...normal. She’d known that the Forbidden Cities had been left unaffected, had been untouched by the ruin, but to see it so clearly--

“Wait for me to say it’s okay, Tam!” she screeched, jerking on his sleeve, hauling him back with a burst of that new strength. He’d been inching out into the road, Sophie so lost in thought she’d almost let him walk into the intersection.

He nearly toppled over from the force, and she mentally scolded herself for not giving him at least a basic rundown of how to not die.

“You can’t just walk in the street,” she began, trying to calm her pounding heart. “The cars won’t stop for you, and they can’t even see us right now. See that little red hand over there?” She pointed to the street light on the other side of the crosswalk and he nodded, confused but sensing her distress. “When that turns into a white figure, then we can go, okay?”

He fiddled with the tips of his bangs and nodded, face flushed beneath. His eyes were too bright, too reflective, and he looked away.

“Anything else I should know?”

“I…” Huh. Everything human was so deeply ingrained in her mind she didn’t even know what was useful to share, what she just assumed was common sense and didn’t need explaining. “We’ll see.”

Tam’s attention shifted and he pointed across the street, to the white figure now on display and the countdown that had just begun.

“See, now the cars are all stopped,” she gestured as they hurried by. She wasn’t comfortable with the idea of crossing the street when no one could see her, so she moved a little faster than necessary.

Once they made it to the other side with no trouble, she began to cut through the store’s parking lot, holding Tam close. No cars could see them and he didn’t know what to look for, so she was not taking any chances.

The more she thought about this, the more she began to realize maybe she should’ve come on her own--but she’d already snuck off once today, she wasn’t pushing her luck.

She was hoping she’d never have to tell them about that creature she found in the forest, about what she’d done.

A couple walked through the doors just ahead of them, and Sophie dragged them in behind. She didn’t think the automatic doors would be able to detect them, and even if they could, it might draw attention.

“What is all this?” Tam asked, glancing around. Aisles of overflowing shelves filled the space, everything from scented soaps to candies to old movies to vitamins to books to prescription medication counters.

“A human store,” she whispered--she knew the obscurer covered any noise they made, but she didn’t want to give it more work than necessary. She could hear the pounding of each of their hearts as they moved, beating a fraction too quickly to be comfortable.

Their bodies were so close they nearly bumped into each other with each step, slipping through aisles and around humans, each of them none the wiser to their presence. She brought them towards the back of the store, the rows of human medications and ointments and creams--this was what they’d come for.

Tam had been willing for this reason alone. They didn’t have any useful medication, hadn’t thought to bring any--aside from Fitz--so this was their next best bet. Sophie eyed the shelves, grabbing bottles of pills and tubes of cream at random, just looking for key words--she’d figure out what to actually use later. Burns, irritation, pain relief, blister, you name it, she grabbed it.

Footsteps sounded as an elderly woman wandered into the aisle, moving with surprising agility. A family approached from the opposite way, two young children in tow. Shit.

One of the kids screamed, throwing a fit as they tossed themself out of their parent’s arms, running down the aisle directly towards them.

Neither Tam nor Sophie dared breathe as they searched for an escape; they couldn’t get caught between the two. Tam’s hand clenched around her arm as he hauled the two of them back, narrowly avoiding the kid as they skirted by.

Shit, he hissed, and her eyes darted to him, widening as she saw him fiddling with the obscurer, tapping it frantically. Fuck. Shadows condensed around the two of them, but they wouldn’t do much in the middle of a well lit store.

Panicked, she turned back to the scene--that little kid. The parents were chasing after the kid, the old woman’s eyes following. They had a few seconds at most before they were noticed, two beat up, ragged teens with fucking wings just appearing in the center of a store.

“Woah!!” Her heart constricted, head whipping around to the source of the noise, mind on high alert, only to see the other kid, no more than three, pointing directly at her over their parent’s shoulder, eyes wide.

“In a minute, buddy,” their parent said, but Sophie couldn’t think over that pair of too-brown eyes boring into her own. She stepped back almost instinctively, the urge to run overwhelming, the tapping of Tam’s finger’s against the obscurer incessant.

The movement jostled her arms, and a bottle slipped, careening towards the hard tile floor. No no no no no no no--

Got it! Tam breathed, and Sophie watched as the child’s mouth fell open in shock as the two of them vanished once more.

Desperately, her mind reached out towards the bottle, jerking and clenching around it as she stopped it midair, levitating it an inch above the floor. She didn’t dare move. Only slowly directed it back towards her, sending out other little tendrils of energy to the bunch she held in her arms, a preventative measure.

“Here,” Tam mumbled, shuffling the two of them over and away from the people. She had severely overestimated the number of things she could hold at one time.

They paused for a moment in a vacant section of the store, adrenaline lingering in both their systems. Neither said a word, just breathing until they stopped shaking.

“We need a bag,” Sophie whispered, barely audible even to her own ears. They should’ve thought of that before they left. Dammit, there always seemed to be one little detail she was missing when he planned something out and it always came back to bite her in the ass.

“Umm...there’s a few over there. Does this work?” He handed her a cloth backpack from a shelf after they shuffled over a little.

She dumped all the contents of her arms into the bag, pleased to see there was plenty of room left over for anything else they could grab once the aisles were a bit more vacant.

“Sure. This works,” she said, grabbing the handles. “We could put the obscurer in there too.” He seemed to consider the suggestion for a moment before he shook his head.

“If it stops working again it’ll take too long to get out and fix.” She hummed in agreement, looking around. They might as well circle around the entire store while they could. Fingering the straps on her shoulder, careful to keep the wings from brushing against them, she glanced at the display Tam had grabbed it from.

Her heart stopped.

It was a local artists display, filled with various embroidered backpacks and totes and hats and anything cloth, vibrant threads of red standing out against browns and rich purples and electric teals. She took the backpack from her shoulder, flipping it around to run her finger along the design. It was a bird of some kind, a peacock or a phoenix, golden tail feathers spilling down the black fabric of the bag. It came to life with luscious greens popping white, layer upon layer of stitches running together in such a deliberate, careful pattern she couldn’t breathe.

There was someone, somewhere in the world, who had the time, the safety, to decorate a backpack. To painstakingly carve the details into permanence, to render it exactly how they wanted at their leisure.

“It’s like nothing has changed here,” she whispered, and Tam’s hand came to rest on her shoulder. He had no connection to this past of hers, but he surveyed the people mingling in the store, the smiles and laughter and idle chit chat. No, these people were unaffected.

The world had ended for them, but it flourished here.

He glanced at her fingers fisted around the backpack handles. “Are you okay?”

“No.” How could she be? “But let’s finish this first.” He squeezed her shoulder in reassurance, and she threw the bag over her shoulder once more, that embroidered bird out of sight.

They started moving again, shadows condensing around their feet as Tam added to the obscurer's power, Sophie scanning the shelves for anything that could be useful. She grabbed bars of scented soap, washcloths, fancy water bottles, heart pounding pounding pounding.

This had been her idea, so why was she so goddamned nervous? Her intestines squirmed and wiggled within her abdomen and she ran a hand through her still-wet hair, gripping it tight. She wouldn’t pull it out. She wouldn’t. It was braided anyways.

A hand intertwined with hers and gently began tugging at her fingers, untangling them from the strands. Tam’s face was blank as he pulled her hand away from her head, smoothed out her hair, and pulled them forward.

She couldn’t do this. There were so many people everywhere she looked, so many people living completely ordinary lives unaware of the creatures that roamed their Earth, wreaked havoc upon the delicate ecosystems. They didn’t know it yet. But they would. Eventually. When the ocean spoiled with more than just crude oil, when the animals vanished entirely, when the bees fell from the sky like rain.

“Breathe, Sophie,” Tam’s voice slammed into her, dragged her from the depth of her mind and suddenly she was breathing she was processing she was dying. She didn’t know where she was, blurs of shadows and nothing fuzzy in her peripherals and she was inhaling faster than she was exhaling and there was everything in her lungs and her heart was trying to implode, to scatter itself into pieces.

“I said breathe, dumbass.” His voice was so so soft, so gentle, a damp cool stone against the night sky of her imagination. She inhaled. She exhaled. She did it again.

The first thing she saw was her knuckles, white. Her fingers were wrapped around Tam’s wrists, gripping him so so tightly. She inhaled again. His hands were on either side of her body, holding her by the shoulders. She exhaled.

Slowly, she raised her gaze, meeting his eyes for a prolonged moment. They shone red, reflecting some far off light, oh so wide. Fear and concern lined the soft edges of his face, relaxing slightly as she held eye contact, as she breathed, as they both listened to her heart slowing, the race of her blood calming.

“Sorry,” she whispered, vision going blurry again, sagging beneath the weight of the world.

“There’s nothing to apologize for.” She nodded instinctively, not even fully registering what he said. Time ticked by, the sky darkening in silence.

She released his wrists, the skin red where she’d grasped him so tight, and he dropped his arms back to his sides. Carefully, she wrapped the guilt that sparked into the knot beneath her ribs, pressing her palm against it.

Tam noticed, but didn’t mention it. “Are you ready to go back?” She debated for a moment, taking stock of her body, all the signals and alarms beeping in the background. They stood a ways away from the store, off in a shadowed segment of the parking lot. She had no idea how he’d gotten them out here.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “Let’s go.” Her limbs were made of lead, her brain an amalgamation of dense fog, but she’d be okay.

He just nodded, retrieving the obscurer from wherever he’d set it before they turned back to the illuminated store.

“How are you so...awake,” she slurred, rubbing at her eyes. His brow creased for a moment, glancing down at her.

He wiggled his shoulders, drawing her attention to the movement, the things behind them. “I haven’t been able to sleep since the mission.” They flared under the attention, and she realized somehow she hadn’t taken notice of them this entire trip. Just how oblivious was she?

The wings protruded sharply from his back, bones spreading, membrane stretched between each section. Charcoal blacks textured like leather melding into fuzzy browns near his shoulder blades. Sharp talons graced the top--wait, were those talons? Her mind was too mush to tell, but it was painfully obvious what they were.

Bat wings.

It made sense, she realized. The reflective eyes, the alertness this late at night, the--wait a minute. Curiously, she looked to his face.

“Open your mouth.”

“What?”

“Just do it, real quick.” Something had clicked together in her mind, and she just couldn’t find the energy to be cordial about it.

Hesitantly, he opened his mouth slightly, bewilderment and embarrassment written plain across his face. Her own mouth fell open as she leaned forward, trying to get a closer look.

“What are you doing--”

“You have fangs,” she whispered, cocking her head to the side as he clamped his lips shut, hiding those sharp canines. That’s how he’d bitten through his lip earlier, chewed it raw so quickly. It might’ve even been an accident.

She shook herself off, backing away slightly, skirting towards the doors of the store once more. Just a quick, final lap, and then they’d head back. Nothing could go wrong this time. She’d hold it together, as long as it took. She wasn’t doing this just for her, although the longer she moved the more each of her muscles begged her to stop, the more her skin chafed against her clothes.

Tam’s face flushed as they snuck back through the aisles, heading straight for the pharmaceutical section. Her determination was just enough to get her moving. She knew the moment she stopped her body would give out, collapse, but she couldn’t allow that to happen.

She was Tam’s only way back and none of the other’s even knew they’d left.

They grabbed items in relative silence, more alert of their surroundings. Sophie was the only one between the two of them who could read the labels, and Tam was the only one with any energy. They made quick work of it, that embroidered backpack stuffed so full she could hardly close it.

As they made their way out of the store, weaving around people, Sophie stumbling along, eyes falling shut, she spotted one more thing she wanted. It was stupid and nostalgic, she knew.

But goddammit if she was going to commit crimes, she might as well enjoy it.

Tam said nothing as she swiped the items off the shelf, only smiled exasperatedly as they emerged into the dark parking lot.

The streetlights seemed to flicker above her, and Tam gripped her tight, more prepared for what was to come.

She took off at a sprint, fueling every last drop of remaining energy into her run as she cracked the void open before her, the lingering sweet scent of the memory fogging her mind.

Hard wood met her skin, her palms, scraping against fragile, healing skin.

And she collapsed.

She couldn’t see herself.

She was supposed to be here.

That wasn’t her.

That wasn’t anybody.

Water rippled pulsated groaned over an endless expanse of everything, echoing the sky and screaming. Delicate. Inescapable. Never.

The hallway stretched on for miles upon miles upon forever and ever and she couldn’t find her way back and this. was. not. her.

The choice was not hers. It hovered there, taunting, before plummeting and vanishing beneath the surface, leaving not even a ripple in its wake.

Wake. Wake up.

No. She couldn’t. She wasn’t asleep.

Focus.

Everything shattered.

It rained down in heaving whorls and coasted through her consciousness and broke and broke and splintered and caved and cried and screamed and she was screaming too. It was not her and she was not dreaming and she was screaming too.

Wake.

Up.

Something was breaking--no, broken. Something was going to break.

It was her.

Commotion. Everywhere. Everything. Slammed into her all at once and she was choking she was breathing she was thinking the sun was burning her alive and her skin had turned to ash and her mind was fog and--

“Sophie? What do we--” Keefe hissed beside her, uncharacteristically tense, but she eased. Okay. Everything was okay. Keefe was right there and everything would be fine and--

Something buzzed and vibrated. Several somethings, all in sync.

Keefe supported her by the shoulder as she jolted upwards, that familiar tune gravel grating against her ears. She fumbled, the floor dancing and her stomach swimming, reaching for that bag, the one she’d taken from home not the one she’d stolen.

She slipped the device out of its pocket. Saw everyone else present in the room look towards their own. Their imparters, each buzzing with an incoming call.

Sophie tilted it towards her so she could read the screen, the words taking a few seconds to sink in.

An incoming hail, one for each of them.

Hers was from Councillor Oralie.

#i just think they're neat #i have so many thoughts about this au #it has taken over my life #/pos #yours is next /j #but like sophie and tam my beloved #everyone's a dumbass your honor #if you have any thoughts about this au feel free to scream in my inbox /g #i love hearing your thoughts #kotlc #kotlc fanfic #keeper of the lost cities #shattered upside down #shattered upside down chapter #kotlc wings au #quil's quill

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shatteredsisters-blog · 5 years

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Chapter 2: The Calm BeforeThe wind tugged at Sophie’s blonde hair, whipping against her face, making her scrunch her eyes. She sat criss-cross among Calla’s roots, waiting for Linh to show up. Sophie hadn’t expected to wait so long but was appreciative for the time she gained to sort out her maze of feelings.It was slightly refreshing, to have a moment to just think, to just breathe… And especially, refreshing to just live.“Miss Foster,” a familiar voice said from behind, “are you alright?”Sophie smiled and adjusted her head to see the small gnome. “I’m fine, Flori. I’m just waiting for… a friend.” A friend. Yes. Of course. Only a friend.“Would you like for me to sing to you? I recently composed a new song,” Flori questioned as she made her way to sit with the elf.“I… sure, while I wait.” Maybe she should wait just a little longer? The gnome opened her mouth for a melody to pour out, and almost instantly, the female Song twin appeared with a soft zap of light. Sophie almost leaped off the root she sat on, startled by the sudden appearance. Flori stopped singing and began to study the dark-haired girl. The blonde’s hands shot down from her lap to the ground so she didn’t fall over.Linh gazed at the other elf, a small smile flashing across her lips for only a moment. She then met eyes with Flori and beamed.“That’s a beautiful song,” she whispered, her words flowing like soft waves on a summer day, and which made Sophie’s skin tickle.Linh looked… Majestic, with her multi-layered white-and-blue dress that clung to her body, and little teal slip-ons that Sophie absolutely adored. And what else did Sophie adore? Well, of course— “Sophie! I… Uh, hello…” Linh stuttered as her silvery blue eyes met Sophie’s. Sophie looked away and blushed. The blue-eyed girl smoothed a hand down her dress and slowly walked over to the elf. “You, uh, look great today,” Sophie murmured awkwardly, glancing up at Linh’s face to see her reaction. To her relief, Linh smiled and looked down. “Thanks,” Sophie wanted to peel layers of skin off her face to try and hide her blush. She settled on nervously pulling out eyelashes. Linh sat down next to her, and Sophie felt a smile edge onto her face. Flori laughed softly, “I’ll be going, have a good time, you two.” The two girls smiled at the gnome and waved good-bye as she wandered away. After a moment, Linh turned to Sophie. “So… Want to meet Merla?” There was a hint of glee in the hydrokinetic’s pale blue eyes. Sophie tilted her head to the side, her brow furrowed, “Merla…?” “My murcat!” “Oh!” Sophie’s eyes popped open, “Oh… Of course!” A huge, adorable grin appeared on Linh’s face as she whirled a large, blue-stained glass tank that had large, graceful images of waves crashing down from what seemed to be thin air.Inside, a purple-blue scaly cat swirled around, it’s wide yellow eyes sparkling. Sophie couldn’t help but smile back at Linh.The fish-like feline blew a few bubbles and rubbed its scaly head against the glass. Linh beamed and turned her gaze back to the blonde elf.“Would you like to hold her?”Sophie smiled, “Sure.” A blonde empath stared wide-eyed down at the piece of paper he held in his hands. It was written messily, scrawled down like it was a last moment thing, with quick, non-rhyming words. But right now, Keefe could ignore that sad fact. This note might not even be by the Black Swan… It could be by whoever… Maybe even Sophie? Writing in the third person? He…doubted she would do that. Keefe ran a hand down the side of his face, fear coursing through him as his heart thrummed against his chest. He read the note again, and again and again and again, just to make sure what he saw was correct. The moonlark needs your help Where the forest shines brightest, Follow the Path of Petals, That most try to avoid,To where she shall be. Keefe had to breathe. The Moonlark was obviously Sophie. The few years spent with her had given him that bit of knowledge. Where does the forest shine the brightest? What does that even mean? And why did she need his help? Was she hurt?Keefe put his hand against his chest and sat down on the nearest chair, sinking into its cushiony haven. He racked his brain for any possible source of information, and absolutely nothing came up. He ran his hand through his hair, letting the oh-so-familiar motion calm him and let his mind relax.A hint of a memory, a spark, ignited in his brain, exploding into a vivid image of a book that he remembered reading not so long ago. Heller Kern, a majestic forest with a mysterious bright glowing light in the center. Multiple paths lead to the core, many dangerous and often a perilous trek. However, if you know where to look, there are a few that are safe, breathtaking, even. Many say that if you get close enough to the luminescence, you will hear the voices of those you love, those who make your heart sing in happiness. However, should you venture into the trees when you don’t love anyone, the light shall drag you in and your soul shall be at war with itself for all eternity, condemning it to never find peace.Heller Kern, a forest that was known only in whispers and the most ancient of texts.Keefe stopped reading after that short passage. He wasn’t supposed to have those books, and the English was especially hard to read. From what he understood, it was a shady place, and the images that decorated the pages where haunting, yet so… inviting. He’d never willingly set foot in that place, but if it means it’ll help Sophie, then he’ll fall into the darkest pits that only humans could conjure with their imaginations. He shook his head, shoving the off-topic thoughts to the side. Hopefully, the ‘path of petals’ wasn’t one of the ‘perilous treks’ and more of an easy one. But maybe the information was so old that the forest has changed and adapted since then? Keefe took a breath and walked through the familiar halls of the Shores of Solace, the place he still lived per his annoying father’s wishes, even after he graduated. He’ll stay here until he finds the perfect place for him to live out his life with whomever he ends up with. Even if it meant dealing with his arrogant, cold father. Keefe wrinkled his nose. Heller Kern was a human name, as the book was a human one. He wasn’t sure where the name stemmed from, but he vaguely remembered the name of it in the Enlightened Language. He stopped once he found the Leapmaster 5000. The glittering crystals began to spin around, and he called out, “Claralux!” The crystal lowered, and a beam of light shone next to him. He didn’t hesitate to allow the light to whisk him away, brushing him across the globe, dropping him right at the line of trees.The forest was just as creepy as he expected. The trees started small, but from where he could see, they grew thicker, taller, bigger, as the woods got deeper. There seemed to be a gentle light pulsing from the distance, calling for him, wishing to wrap him in its soft embrace. A familiar voice whispered to him; “Follow.” A voice he was supposed to hate. A voice that made his heart flutter and made a ghost of a smile appear on his lips. A voice that resurfaced some of the dumbest, yet happiest memories he could think of. A voice full of hidden anger and hurt, yet so much love and caring. “Follow,” it repeated, more insistently this time. So Keefe took a breath. And he followed.Chapters: 2/? Fandom: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger, KOTLC Rating: Teen And Up Audiences Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings Characters: Keefe Sencen, Tam Song, Linh Song, Fitz Vacker, Biana Vacker, Sophie Foster, Dex Dizznee Additional Tags: Kidnapped, Missing, kinda mean, i feel bad doing this to keefe oops, Angst Summary:

How broken do you have to be before you’re shattered?

Keefe Sencen has been taken. Snatched from what was meant to be a prank, he struggles to find his way home. The question is, where is home?

Sophie Foster is panicking. One of her best friends is missing and his blood has been splattered. She wonders, what would happen if there is no blood left by the time she finds him?

Time is ticking. Hour by hour, there’s a chance Keefe will never come back, and the gang is scrambling to crack the clues and ominous hints left by the mysterious thieves.

Chapter 2 below the cut.

Chapter 2: The Calm Before

The wind tugged at Sophie’s blonde hair, whipping against her face, making her scrunch her eyes. She sat criss-cross among Calla’s roots, waiting for Linh to show up. Sophie hadn’t expected to wait so long but was appreciative for the time she gained to sort out her maze of feelings.

It was slightly refreshing, to have a moment to just think, to just breathe… And especially, refreshing to just live.

“Miss Foster,” a familiar voice said from behind, “are you alright?”

Sophie smiled and adjusted her head to see the small gnome. “I’m fine, Flori. I’m just waiting for… a friend.” A friend. Yes. Of course. Only a friend.

“Would you like for me to sing to you? I recently composed a new song,” Flori questioned as she made her way to sit with the elf.

“I… sure, while I wait.” Maybe she should wait just a little longer?

The gnome opened her mouth for a melody to pour out, and almost instantly, the female Song twin appeared with a soft zap of light. Sophie almost leaped off the root she sat on, startled by the sudden appearance. Flori stopped singing and began to study the dark-haired girl. The blonde’s hands shot down from her lap to the ground so she didn’t fall over.

Linh gazed at the other elf, a small smile flashing across her lips for only a moment. She then met eyes with Flori and beamed.

“That’s a beautiful song,” she whispered, her words flowing like soft waves on a summer day, and which made Sophie’s skin tickle.

Linh looked… Majestic, with her multi-layered white-and-blue dress that clung to her body, and little teal slip-ons that Sophie absolutely adored.

And what else did Sophie adore? Well, of course— “Sophie! I… Uh, hello…” Linh stuttered as her silvery blue eyes met Sophie’s. Sophie looked away and blushed. The blue-eyed girl smoothed a hand down her dress and slowly walked over to the elf. “You, uh, look great today,” Sophie murmured awkwardly, glancing up at Linh’s face to see her reaction. To her relief, Linh smiled and looked down. “Thanks,” Sophie wanted to peel layers of skin off her face to try and hide her blush. She settled on nervously pulling out eyelashes. Linh sat down next to her, and Sophie felt a smile edge onto her face. Flori laughed softly, “I’ll be going, have a good time, you two.” The two girls smiled at the gnome and waved good-bye as she wandered away. After a moment, Linh turned to Sophie. “So… Want to meet Merla?” There was a hint of glee in the hydrokinetic’s pale blue eyes. Sophie tilted her head to the side, her brow furrowed, “Merla…?” “My murcat!” “Oh!” Sophie’s eyes popped open, “Oh… Of course!” A huge, adorable grin appeared on Linh’s face as she whirled a large, blue-stained glass tank that had large, graceful images of waves crashing down from what seemed to be thin air.

Inside, a purple-blue scaly cat swirled around, it’s wide yellow eyes sparkling. Sophie couldn’t help but smile back at Linh.

The fish-like feline blew a few bubbles and rubbed its scaly head against the glass. Linh beamed and turned her gaze back to the blonde elf.

“Would you like to hold her?”

Sophie smiled, “Sure.”

A blonde empath stared wide-eyed down at the piece of paper he held in his hands. It was written messily, scrawled down like it was a last moment thing, with quick, non-rhyming words. But right now, Keefe could ignore that sad fact. This note might not even be by the Black Swan… It could be by whoever… Maybe even Sophie? Writing in the third person? He…doubted she would do that. Keefe ran a hand down the side of his face, fear coursing through him as his heart thrummed against his chest. He read the note again, and again and again and again, just to make sure what he saw was correct.

The moonlark needs your help Where the forest shines brightest, Follow the Path of Petals, That most try to avoid,

To where she shall be.

Keefe had to breathe. The Moonlark was obviously Sophie. The few years spent with her had given him that bit of knowledge. Where does the forest shine the brightest? What does that even mean? And why did she need his help? Was she hurt?

Keefe put his hand against his chest and sat down on the nearest chair, sinking into its cushiony haven. He racked his brain for any possible source of information, and absolutely nothing came up.

He ran his hand through his hair, letting the oh-so-familiar motion calm him and let his mind relax.

A hint of a memory, a spark, ignited in his brain, exploding into a vivid image of a book that he remembered reading not so long ago.

Heller Kern, a majestic forest with a mysterious bright glowing light in the center. Multiple paths lead to the core, many dangerous and often a perilous trek. However, if you know where to look, there are a few that are safe, breathtaking, even. Many say that if you get close enough to the luminescence, you will hear the voices of those you love, those who make your heart sing in happiness.

However, should you venture into the trees when you don’t love anyone, the light shall drag you in and your soul shall be at war with itself for all eternity, condemning it to never find peace.

Heller Kern, a forest that was known only in whispers and the most ancient of texts.

Keefe stopped reading after that short passage. He wasn’t supposed to have those books, and the English was especially hard to read. From what he understood, it was a shady place, and the images that decorated the pages where haunting, yet so… inviting. He’d never willingly set foot in that place, but if it means it’ll help Sophie, then he’ll fall into the darkest pits that only humans could conjure with their imaginations.

He shook his head, shoving the off-topic thoughts to the side. Hopefully, the ‘path of petals’ wasn’t one of the ‘perilous treks’ and more of an easy one. But maybe the information was so old that the forest has changed and adapted since then? Keefe took a breath and walked through the familiar halls of the Shores of Solace, the place he still lived per his annoying father’s wishes, even after he graduated. He’ll stay here until he finds the perfect place for him to live out his life with whomever he ends up with.

Even if it meant dealing with his arrogant, cold father. Keefe wrinkled his nose. Heller Kern was a human name, as the book was a human one. He wasn’t sure where the name stemmed from, but he vaguely remembered the name of it in the Enlightened Language.

He stopped once he found the Leapmaster 5000. The glittering crystals began to spin around, and he called out, “Claralux!”

The crystal lowered, and a beam of light shone next to him. He didn’t hesitate to allow the light to whisk him away, brushing him across the globe, dropping him right at the line of trees.

The forest was just as creepy as he expected. The trees started small, but from where he could see, they grew thicker, taller, bigger, as the woods got deeper. There seemed to be a gentle light pulsing from the distance, calling for him, wishing to wrap him in its soft embrace.

A familiar voice whispered to him; “Follow.”

A voice he was supposed to hate.

A voice that made his heart flutter and made a ghost of a smile appear on his lips. A voice that resurfaced some of the dumbest, yet happiest memories he could think of. A voice full of hidden anger and hurt, yet so much love and caring.

“Follow,” it repeated, more insistently this time.

So Keefe took a breath.

And he followed.

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