"I have to warn you before you enter, Keefe... Isn't... At his best..." Mr. Forkle said slowly. They had light leaped her to the Healing Center right away with Sandor, Grady, and Edaline.

"I know," Sophie swallowed a lump in her throat, "And, could I go in alone? Please?"

Grady and Edaline shared a look.

"You'll come right back out after you're done?" Sandor checked.

"If I am done," Sophie mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nevermind."

"You can go by yourself, but remember we're just on the other side of this door if you need us," Edaline said.

"Okay," Sophie whispered, so she pushed open the door and closed it behind her.

She tried to look everywhere except for Keefe at first. But then her eyes found him. And she almost threw up.

Keefe had strands of his hair burned off, and there were huge red welts in the shape of hands across his face. His arm looked dislocated and his torso was wrapped in bandages. His breathing was ragged, and splotches on his body were the color of ash. The symbol of the Neverseen was burned into his wrist, and he had a huge black eye.

"What did they do to you," She choked, walking over and stroking his burned blonde hair. Tears spilled down her cheeks and fell onto his face. And if his physical was this bad, who knew how bad his mental state is right now. Who knows if he'll even... Survive. Bullhorn is snuggling right next to him after all. Scratch that--he's cuddling him. Cuddling.

"Keefe," Sophie said softly, tracing her pale thumb across his burned cheek, "They'll pay for this. They'll pay," Sophie promised. This one, she was never going to break.

She reached over and grabbed his hand. There were bruises all over his arms and hands, the Neverseen must have beaten him too.

"I love you," She whispered, "I love you. And you're going to get through this, we're going to get through this. Because Team Foster-Keefe always wins."

It had been 3 weeks since they found Keefe, and he still wasn't awake yet. Sophie had only gone home twice when Fitz and Edaline begged her to. Elwin had managed to fix all his injuries, but there were many scars everywhere on his body and the Neverseen's eye symbol was still burned into Keefe's wrist as a permeant scar.

Sophie rubbed the white eye with her thumb. Tears pricked her eyes as she imagined Keefe waking up to that. He already felt like he was destined to be a part of the Neverseen, because of the stupid Legacy his terrible mother put him through. Sophie couldn't even imagine waking up to that.

She laid down next to his still body, and placed her head on his chest, the slow beating of his heart comforting in ways that nothing could.

"I love you," She whispered again. She didn't know how many times she had already said it. But she didn't care. She loved Keefe. More than she ever loved anyone before in her entire life. But it was too late. Too late to tell him. Too late. She was always too late. Always too late.

She traced her fingers over his splotches of white scars covering his whole body. Bullhorn was no longer laying next to him, but he was still staring daggers at him from a distance.

"I can't lose you, Keefe. Just... Hold on. Hold on. Please. Don't leave me, Keefe. Don't leave me," Tears spilled down her cheeks and clouded her vision, she grabbed onto him and sobs racked her body as she cried into his chest.

"I'll never give up on you Keefe. Never."

"Sophie?" Elwin can into the room carrying a tray of exlairs. Sophie didn't even care to move away from Keefe. Elwin already knew she was in love anyway.

"Hey, Elwin. Is it time already?" Sophie wiped her eyes, cleared her throat, and turned to face him.

"Yeah. I'm going to assume that you'd like to feed it to him again?" Elwin assumed.

"Yeah. If that's alright with you."

"It's fine. I'll... Um... Leave you two. Tell me when you're finished," Elwin set the tray down on the nearest table and left to head back to his office. Sophie gave a sad smile as he left. She brushed off a stray tear, and grabbed the first vile, softly raising the back of Keefe's head and holding the small vile to his lips.

Her hand trembled as she poured the liquid down his throat.

"There you go. Just a few more left," She choked. After she finished feeding him all the exlairs she gave a gentle kiss on his forehead and brushed his hair out of his face.

She looked over a closed window. It was just becoming night. The stars were slowly rising into the sky. Sophie bit her lip to hold back another flood of tears as she remembered...

"Hey, Foster! Nice camp out you got going on here," Keefe complemented her makeshift bed underneath the Panakes tree.

"Thanks, Keefe," Sophie rolled her eyes.

"So why did you invite me here? Not like I don't want to see you-"

"I get what you mean," Sophie interrupted, laughing.

"Okay, good," Keefe pretended to wipe sweat from his brow. Sophie giggled.

"I invited you here to show you something. Follow me."

"Um ok? Mysterious Miss F strikes again!" Sophie rolled her eyes and grabbed his hand, intertwining their fingers together. Tingles shot her hands, but she ignored them.

Sophie led Keefe through a dark forest. She couldn't wait to show Keefe this. She had told Edaline where she was going to be, and Sandor had agreed to it after a good 30 minutes of convincing.

"Ok, open," Sophie whispered. Sophie led him to a dock out on a river, there were tons of beautiful dark trees looming over the river, and it was so quiet and still. But she hadn't even shown him the best part yet.

"You still haven't seen the best part," She whispered. Then she blew out her candle. And stars lit up the night sky.

Keefe and her looked in awe at the sky, until Sophie looked back at him. He looked so innocent. He was just a sweet boy who never knew what it was like to be loved.

Sophie leaned against his shoulder and they sank to their knees. Keefe stared into her brown eyes gave her the sweetest smile she had ever seen. He tucked a stray hair behind her ear and whispered.

"This is perfect Sophie. Absolutely perfect."

And Sophie fell asleep in his arms under the stars that night.

Tears were pouring down her face and dripping on Keefe's white bedsheets by the time the memory was finished.

"I'll never give up on you Keefe. And I'll be here when you wake up, and every moment after. And maybe... The rest of our lives if you'll let me."

Sophie fell asleep clinging tightly to Keefe's chest that night, promising herself that she would never, ever, let go.