Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

PREFACE

Keefe didn't do as his mother said. He'd done it hundreds of times before, Keefe don't do this, Keefe don't do that. But now he didn't want to.
His father cared too much about people thought to ever send him to exillium, this time he had the upper hand.
His mother looked at him one last time before leaving out the door. She had left to convince his father to send him to exillium which would never happen. He wasn't worried.

Chapter Text

Keefe stared at his father in disbelief. He had never thought his father would allow him to be banished, let alone contact the council and have them send official letters.
From his father, he looked down at the letter the council had sent, then to his mother who gave him a sympathetic look, and then to the black Exillium uniform and Exillium acceptance form. He was now no longer a prodigy but a wayward, and he was registered a talentless wayward at that.
He looked at his father one last time before running to his room, Keefe still had one more day, and he wasn't going to waste it by feeling sorry for himself or looking at his parents faces as they packed his bag. He wanted to let his parents know that he didn't want them, he could survive on his own. He decided he would run away.
Of course if he wanted to run away he would have to be prepared, so he made a list of all the things he'd need.
1. A place to live
2. A leaping crystal of that place.
3. A leaping crystal of Foxfire as to be able to contact the healer Elwin when needed.
4. His stetch-book and pencils.
5. Clothes he could run in
6. A weapon
7. Something valuable
Keefe was old enough to know where waywards lived, the neutral territories. It would be very dangerous, and he'd need money since his birth fund wouldn't work everywhere for him.
He decided that if the council didn't want him to be a part of the elvin world, then why should he care about any of the council's rules. He'd live in the forbidden cities, that was his final decision.
Now where was he going to find the crystal, the knife, and the valuable something? and how to do merge it with something to get his parents in trouble?
After some thinking, he reached a conclusion. But first he needed to pack his stuff.
He picked his Foxfire satchel and filled it with his stetch-book, pencils, the leaping crystal for Foxfire, most of his elixirs, a pair of clothes he thought would fit human clothes, and some healing elixirs from the stash his mother kept in the room on floor 78.
Once his stuff was packed Keefe heard his parents start their usual arguing on the first floor and snached the opportunity to go inside his father's office. Keefe gagged at the statue, drew a whole lot of things on it and wrote, "YOUR'S TRULY, KEEFE" and signed next to his name with some paint, he realised he was here for something really worth stealing and walked to the pathfinder his father tok so much pride in having, he removed all the other crystals except the blue and pocketed the pathfinder and grinned. Instead of his original plan, taking his mother's jewelry, he decided to take his fathers medals, they'd be worth alot, all being made of gold. Then went to look for the dagger his mother kept inside her pillow. He examined the dagger and felt something swell inside him, guilt for stealing, then he shook his head and ran back to his room.
He couldn't hear his parents! they'd probably find out if they were looking for him. Then after 5 minutes the arguing continued and he let out a sigh of relief.
Now it was time to wait till midnight. He had his wayward uniform set on the bed, the gnomes doing, and the whole other bunch of files along with a bead on it. He assumed the bead was for leaping there since there didn't seem to be any other way.
He took a deep breath and went through his stuff again. When his fingers touched the cool leather handle and metal of the dagger, he remembered something. He'd heard a goblin once telling another goblin how important it was to name your weapon, and how you needed to bond with it to trust it. Keefe looked at his bleak dagger and took out his art supplies, then he painted the dagger with a beautiful design of gold and green leaves from a tree. Keefe looked at his dagger again and thought of a name, something he could be but wasn't, something this dagger would be for him.
And then it occurred to him, Excellence. He smiled as he put Excellence in his satchel, then realised he didn't want to put it away, so he made a belt for it and hung it at his hip, then he placed Excellence in it's place and put on his Exillium uniform.
It was time to run away.
Keefe left the house at midnight with his satchel slung across his chest and Excellence at his hip.
H eleaped in the light of the moon and for the first time in his life, Keefe spent the night under the stars in a city where there were huge buildings, machines making noise and awful smelling air.
For the first tie in his life, Keefe felt free.

Chapter Text

Keefe took a deep breath as he stared at Exilium school for the exiled. Trying his best to keep his breath under control, he took a step forward and immediately felt a tug at his ankle followed by him dangling in the air.
He felt so confused. Why was he dangling in the air? What the heck? As he was pondering over who could have laid the trap, 3 cloaked figures in red, blue, and purple stepped forward.
"Welcome to your dividing."
Keefe tried to make sense of what was going on. The one in blue spoke,
"You must find your own way to freedom, light leaping is not allowed. Choose wisely for this will determine which one of us will be coaching you."
Okay, calm down, he told himself. He had to stop thinking why and start thinking how. The first thought that came to him was to wring his way out, but then his mind went to Excellence at his hip. He grinned under the mask and reached for it with his arm. Now all he had to do was swing himself so his arm could reach the rope.