Board Thread:Short Stories and Fanfictions/@comment-43589463-20190825003309/@comment-43589463-20191027213258

'''Hey guys!!! I know I can't leave you on that evil cliffhanger too long so I'll update now!'​​​​''

I feel like I'm getting better at doing Keefe.

___

"When you guys didn't have a solid plan for how to contact Tam, Linh and I decided so go undercover in the Neverseen," Marella explained. "But when we ran into Tam and Gisela -"

"Lady Gisela, if you please," Lady Gisela interrupted coldly.

Marella huffed. "Lady Gisela. When we ran into Tam and Lady Gisela, we discovered they weren't with the Neverseen after all - they were with the Footprints. We altered our plan to be double agents here, but then they explained their cause about changing legacies and had us right after promising twins and pyrokinetics would be looked up to."

"My trust was still a little wobbly when I was kidnapping Rex as leverage to get you to attend that meeting that you​​​​​​ didn't show up to," Linh admitted. "But when Fitz brought up the twins thing, I realized Angie was right. The only way to change things was to force it. We each have planned to leave a different footprint than originally planned for us. And Gi- Lady Gisela was pushing Keefe about his legacy, she was trying to show him that he could use his talents at scheming to be a troublemaker who teachers hated, or a mastermind who even the Council looked up to. He could use his smart tongue to manipulate his way into anything he wanted, instead of ticking everyone off. But Keefe joined the wrong organization." Linh rolled her eyes. "Fintan found him before Lady Gisela. But if she'd gotten there sooner, maybe enough of you guys would join us for the Black Swan would realize hiding in the shadows and trying to change things without people knowing isn't going to work. You have to step up and demand attention."

"If have have to burn anybody, I promise to spare your lives," Marella swore. "I still like you guys. You're my friends. But playing with fire isn't any use if you never use the power. If I want people to see me, I need to show them Everblaze, not just a couple sparks."

"Now that you guys have unwillingly attended our meeting," Linh added, "you can have Rex back." A scream echoed off in the distance. Linh feigned guilt. "Oops! I'll have to tell them to stop torturing him. There'll only be some blood and broken bones - nothing Elwin can't handle." She smiled a sick smile as she ran off into the darkness. Tam's eyes were tearing up. He was the only one there who didn't seem to care about the Footprints' cause. Then the Imparter went dark.

Yet he was the reason everyone was joining.

"Whoa, Foster, you look like you're having a panic attack," Keefe said, backing up a little. "What's going on?"

"Tam doesn't want to be there!" Sophe blurted. "I could tell. He doesn't want to be there. He doesn't agree with Linh, yet she speaks for them both. And two of the Black Swan ran off to join them to save him, and they didn't save him!"

Edaline approached with a tray of mallowmelt. "Hey, you guys okay?" She held out the tray, but nobody accepted. "Wow, you won't even go for mallowmelt. That's how I know something's really wrong."

"Linh and Marella joined the Neverseen," Fitz explained, his fists curling up. Sophie put a hand on his shoulder to help him keep his rage together. "Well, it's not the Neverseen. It's Lady Gisela's version - the Footprints. About legacies and stuff. And this girl named Anjolia - wait, I'm sorry -"

Sophie gasped. Fitz had forgotten who he was talking to.

Edaline's eyes widened. "What - Keefe? Is this what you go through every time you uncover something your mom hid in your head?"

"If it feels like a thousand mini-headaches heading outward from the center of your brain, then yes."

Edaline clutched her head and dropped the mallowmelt. Dex caught it. "We can't waste the mallowmelt," he explained.

"Jolie's sister," Edaline said. "Is that right?"

Sophie nodded.

"Twin, I think... She's a froster..."

"And she wants to be queen," Dex said. Sophie elbowed him.

"She often played princess. She dressed up in a little blue human costume dress and braided her hair. She said it made her look like an ice queen from some sort of human princess movie. She completely froze her room three times. She was the most powerful froster I knew."

"Elsa? Really?" Sophie couldn't help it.

But it helped Edaline think of something else. "Who?"

"She's an 'ice queen' in a human movie called Frozen​​​​​​​. That's probably what she was trying to do."

Edaline smiled. "I loved Anjolia. She disappeared one day, and then I forgot who she was."

"Well, if Anjolia plans on being an evil version of Elsa, the Lost Cities are in grave danger."