Leah somehow staggered down to the stairs leading to the League's lower levels the next night, despite being fairly certain that every muscle in her body had turned to stone.

She slipped inside the archway without anyone around, wondering how Shade would manage to get inside the League at all. It wasn't that she doubted him, it's just she didn't know it was even possible to get inside without a Displacer or strict scrutiny from the Radiant guards at the single set of gates that led inside.

"Shade?" she whispered, glancing around the room. "Shade, are you here?"

She got no reply and made her way further into the room. Wondering why the League had lower levels at all when it was built by a race for whom the sun was a daily requirement to live, Leah found the three spiral staircases that descended down into the depths. They started at different places in the room but appeared to twine around eachother as they circled a central pillar into the ground.

After a few minutes of no Shade mysteriously appearing from the shadows, Leah noticed the symbol drawn onto the crystal. It was in no way obvious, and if she hadn't all but stepped on it she was pretty sure she would have missed it.

Leah ran her fingers over its surface. She didn't have her reference journal on her--she didn't want Shade stealing it again--but she recognised the symbols. 'Light' following 'Shadow', followed by a plain 'S'.

It didnt' take a genius to figure out who'd left it.

Leah took the stairs one at a time, wincing with each movement, unable to bear the thought of the fact that she'd have to climb back up these later. The curved stairs passed several slabs of opaque crystalite doors and two open hallways leading off into the gloom, but with no Shade and no symbol, Leah continued her descent.

It was at about the fifth level with a worrying amount of rock above her head that Leah saw the symbol outside an open hallway. Lighting the crystal patterns on her skin so she wouldn't trip over her own feet, Leah took a deep breath and went in.

The hallway was made of a dark coloured crystalite, one that, even with her light, made it appear as thought she was walking into a void. The only place in it to reflect the light was in the carvings that appeared like constellations in the inky darkness of the walls.

"Shade?" she called, well aware that it wasn't the best idea ever. She just needed to hear something, see something living down here before she lost her nerve and ran. "Shade, are you here?"

Footsteps ahead. Leah hesitated, one hand on her Hilt. She'd almost forgotten it upon leaving her room.

"Here," said Shade. Once more, he was covered in his grey cloth, the large, dark sword hanging on his back. "Was starting to think you weren't coming."

"Are you ever going to take off that cloth covering your face?" asked Leah, relief sagging her shoulders.

"It's for my safety just as much as it is for yours," said Shade. He pulled a slow-burning crystal out of his pouch. "Think you can Light this up for us? Figured I'd get one to save your Light for the more important things."

Leah did as asked, pulling the Light from her own crystals as the slow-burner took over the job. "How'd you get into the League?"

But he just grinned--not that she could see it, but it was obvious from his words. "The League only has one front entrance, but there's a few ways to get around that if you happen to like spending time exploring the forgotten hallways underneath. Shall we?"

"You're the bodyguard who knows where they're going," said Leah. "I'm following you."

Shade left his sword sheathed as they continued down the hall. "You're moving pretty stiff. Take a beating?"

Leah grimaced. "I guess you could say that. Endurance and combat training. I nearly died."

Shade just laughed. "Considering what I saw of you using your Hilt the other day with the Shattered, I can imagine how co-ordinated you'd be. You should probably find someone to teach you how to use that thing."

"Can't you?" said Leah, eyeing his sword.

"I'd love to, but unfortunately we don't have a few years to spare."

Leah sighed. "I can't fault you for that."

"Oh believe me, I know," said Shade. "But hey, there's potential. You're just a newbie. Everyone is at some point, even if they aren't quite as awkward as you are."

"Thank you. That's exactly what I needed to hear after these last few wonderful days."

Shade raised an eyebrow. "Would you rather me lie and tell you you're the most graceful thing I've ever had the pleasure of laying eyes on?"

"I'd hit you for that." Leah folded her arms. "Try to, anyway."

Shade's smirk leaked into his words. "I might give you one or two freebies some day. Here we are."

They stopped in front of a doorway much like the one at the previous ruins--crystalite wall with no evidence of a door aside from the lines that marred the otherwise perfect surface. Unlike the other one, this door held only a thin string of symbols across its top, and it wasn't long before Leah had the door open.

"That 'Life in Light' symbol was on that door," said Shade. "The more I see it, the more I realise how much I've seen it before."

"Like where?" asked Leah.

Shade shook his head. "Nowhere particularly specific at the time, but I have a feeling if I went back and checked them, there'd be secrets hidden away that I'd missed. You have any idea how long I spent trying to get that door open before you came along?"

"And there I was under the impression that you'd opened it already."

"I regret nothing."

Leah glanced at him. "Did you even know about the symbols code before you saw my journal?"

"I had suspicions," said Shade. "They appeared too often to be purely decorative, but I didn't really have time to sit down and work it out enough to figure that the ancients had a language they didn't share with the rest of us."

Leah nodded. Time was something she'd had in plenty in Teridia. Time, books, and a few ruins. "Any particular plan for in here?"

"I'd like to see how big they are first," said Shade, pulling out a roll of string from his bag. "Since I don't know these ruins and I'd rather not have you Shatter down here with me when you run out of Light, I thought this might be a good idea."

Leah hardened a block of Light to tie one end of the string around, and when they were sure it wouldn't slip or give way, they started off down the corridor of the temple that ended in a simple, unglorified room filled with the most basic of murals.

"This can't be it," said Shade, lifting the slow-burner. "They did not go this far down to build a single room without a reason."

Leah crouched by a wall, running her fingers down the symbol strings. Strangely enough, each of the three murals was edged in a solid rectangle cut deep into the wall--too deep to simply be decorative.

"I think there's another door here," she said, straightening. "Though which wall is anyone's guess. See if you can find the symbol for 'door' or 'entrance'."

"What's that one look like again?" asked Shade. Leah sketched it. "Appreciated. I'll memorise them for later."

It was the leftmost wall that held the door. The crystals were active parts of the murals, covering large, flat surfaces that Leah was more than a little wary to activate. One riddle about the downfalls of pride later, and the slab of crystalite pushed back into the wall, revealing the hidden corridor behind.

"Daylight above, I hope we can get out of here," murmured Leah as they entered, the slab closing behind them. "No one else even knows we're down here."

"If we see a bunch of Shattered down here, then we start panicking," said Shade. "If it's empty, then we're good."

"You're a cheery individual, aren't you?" said Leah.

"I'm a regular ray of sunshine."

The corridor curved in a weird direction, like the first entrance had been a complete attempt at misdirection and the architects had had to severely compensate for the misguided direction. Leah couldn't bring herself to think of them as ruins. Rather, it felt like a forgotten labyrinth full of turns and twists that, after a certain point where the path seemed content in its direction, mirrored the opposite side.

Unlike the first ruins, this place felt like a shrine of worship. A temple.

She mentioned as much to Shade, who rubbed his covered head. "I was thinking that too, but it doesn't make sense. All the sun temples I know are, well, in the sun. What's the point of building one underground?"

"Maybe it's to do with this other symbol," said Leah. "This 'Life in Light' thing seems too important to just be a motto or something."

"I think I agree with you on that one."

Shade's string ran out, so they stopped for a moment to tie the end of the new one to the first, once more securing it with hardened Light just in case. When they turned to start once more and Shade's slow-burner was temporarily hidden, Leah saw the last thing she expected to see.

She grabbed Shade's shoulder, pulling him back. "Look! Up ahead, something's glowing!"

One hand went to his sword, slowly pulling it from its sheathe as he handed her the slow-burner with the other crystal. "Keep it down, stay here, watch your back. Call me if you get in trouble, I'm going to go investigate." His eyes met hers--the only part of him revealed through the grey cloth. "If I say anything involving spirits, something's wrong. You run, and you leave me. Understand?"

Leah wanted to argue, wanted to tell him that she wouldn't leave him behind, but her head betrayed her and nodded.

"Good."

Shade's steps turned light as he took the right side of the semi-circle, looping hallway, heading for the glow. Leah could do nothing but cling to the slow-burner, praying she wouldn't hear the word 'spirits' in the coming minutes, because she wasn't sure her feet were going to move. That her brain was going to work if she had to get herself out--or what she'd do if she even reached the League.

Shade's figure disappeared around the corner.

Leah held her breath. Please, please, let him not--

"It's fine," came Shade's voice. There was an odd note to it, almost like wonder. "You should probably come see this, though."

Leah's footsteps were heavy compared to Shade's and they echoed way too loud. As she cautiously rounded the corner, one hand clutching her Hilt, she saw Shade's silhouette, standing before a transparent section of crystalite wall that revealed something huge and gleaming with white Light.

Leah forgot her fear. "What... is that?"

"I think it's the Spire," said Shade. "It runs this deep... I mean, it makes sense, but I guess I'd never really thought about it. The old legends say that crystal lies at the core of our planet, that these Spires were its desire to see the sun. I guess we know where they come from."

"That's why the corridor curved so much," said Leah, placing the slow-burner on the floor and her palms against the wall, drinking in the sight of the Spire's stem. "They wanted to be as close to the Spire as possible."

"It's not just that, either," said Shade. "Look at the wall behind us."

Leah turned to face one of the curving walls she'd just skirted to reach him. It was a full, complete circle--a room, she realised. Its door lay directly opposite the Spire's window, and Leah had no doubt that when it was opened, the room would have been flooded with the white Light. The entire exterior of the room was covered in murals--ones Leah had never seen before--and on the door was that symbol again.

"Life in Light," said Leah, touching her fingertips to the symbol, like a gentle caress would get it to reveal its secrets. Seven strings of symbols. "We're onto something huge, Shade. This door looks a lot more complicated than the other one, though."

"Even more reason to get inside," said Shade. "Did you bring your reference journal?"

"Um, no. I didn't, uh, want you taking it again."

Shade placed a hand over his heart. "I'm insulted."

"It's your own fault."

He shrugged. "More than you know."

Leah raised an eyebrow at the wording, but shook it off. He said weird things too much for her to be concerned over it. "Are you any good at sketching?"

"I get by," said Shade. "You want to copy this down?"

Leah nodded. "Particularly this room. It just feels... different to everything else, and so close to a Spire like this, I can't help but feel it'd be particularly important." She allowed awe to sink in. "These murals... they're gorgeous, Shade. Look at the detail in them."

He pulled out a blank journal. "All the better to appreciate while drawing. You take left, I'll take right?"

Leah shifted on her feet. "Think we could stick together? I've... kind of had enough of being by myself the last two days."

"As you wish."

They sat down in silence. With Leah lower than usual on Light, she didn't have the luxury of creating Light sheets, but even so, they made swift progress. Shade, surprisingly, was able to keep up with her speed. His hand was sure and swift on the page, too much so for this to have been his first time.

He caught her watching at one point. His eyes gleamed. Why hadn't she noticed their colour before? They shifted, ever so slightly, between green, blue and a deep amber that reminded her of Teridian honey.

She looked away before he said anything, but she got the feeling that he was now watching her back.

His head turned away, something almost like a sigh brushing against her ears. "What's been going on the last two days?"

"Not a lot. Stayed in my room working on documenting the details from the expedition."

"Okay," said Shade. "Let me rephrase. What's been going on in the last two days that's got you looking like someone stole your teddy bear?"

Leah shot him a look. "I don't have a teddy bear."

"Not anymore you don't."

She rolled her eyes. "I don't know. It's dumb. It doesn't matter."

"Does to me."

The answer was so quick, so casual that it caught her off guard. "I... guess I just thought the League would be different."

"Different how?" asked Shade.

"I don't know if you'd understand."

"Try me. I know more about the League's workings than I'm probably ever going to tell anyone."

Leah tapped the end of her pencil on the page. "I've always wanted to be on the cure's research team, and getting this chance to the League, it felt like it was all happening. Like this was my big break--and then I'm put on an expedition team with zero experience and zero explanations and just... expected to be okay with it. I sound kind of entitled when you put it that way, but..."

"It was a disappointment," said Shade. "I know that feeling very well, trust me."

Leah huffed. "Is it dumb that I've managed to convince myself that if I can prove to Emrys that I'm worthy of the cure team, then I'll be worth something again? Because at the moment I feel like I've been cast to the side, which is completely stupid because they didn't owe me anything, but... I don't know. I feel like I'm worth nothing without my research. It sucks."

Shade had stopped drawing, the tip of his pencil drawing light circles in the corner of the page, like he was thinking. "I think that you're worth a lot more than you or Emrys or anyone gives you credit for, Leah, and I don't think you should forget that. If they decide otherwise, then that's their loss entirely. Some people are idiots, and you can't impress everyone or you're going to die trying."

"Speaking from experience?" asked Leah.

Shade glanced at her and shrugged. "I guess you could say that. The point where you realise what you're worth is when you stop caring what other people think and you start being able to come to your own conclusions, because they aren't affected by what anyone else thinks. Even if it's not the perfect system, at least you can live with yourself knowing you made the decision because you thought it was the best option, not because someone else at the time convinced you it was. Does that make sense?"

"I think so," said Leah. She chewed her lip for a moment before her next question. "What about you? What do you do in your time off?"

"A lot of things I can't tell you for safety reasons," said Shade. "But it's all worthwhile, even if it feels a little futile."

"How can it be worthwhile if it's futile?"

Shade gave her a soft laugh. "I don't know, Leah. I'm still trying to figure that part out, but it's the only thing that gets me through some of the bad days. I like to think there's light at the end of the tunnel, and that's where you're helping. You are currently my light, because without you I don't think I'm ever going to figure out the secrets these ruins have to teach us, and without them, I don't know if the Radiants are ever going to find a cure."

Shade steered the conversation to lighter topics after that, and Leah allowed it to drift, happily answering questions about her father or her life in Teridia.

There was something about the way Shade took in her answers that made him seem like he was genuinely curious, like he was tucking every piece of information away in his personal database. He was easier to talk to than any of the Radiants or mixed bloods she'd met at the League. She didn't need to impress him, and she didn't feel judgement for the way she looked. They were two people looking for answers inside ruins no mortal eyes had seen for thousands of years, hoping they'd find something they could use.

By the time Shade's timer went off, they had most of the room recorded.

They packed up their gear and, with one last glance at the Spire's Light, headed out.

"Now, the true test," said Leah. "If we can get out of here or not."

"We're going to need new conversation topics if we're stuck in here much longer."

Leah smirked. "How about what you look like under that cloth?"

Shade narrowed his eyes at her. "You can try. I'd pin you down before you reached for it."

"You can try," she said, mimicking his tone. "You're not the one who can harden Light."

"And yet, I'm still not worried about my chances," said Shade.

Leah poked her tongue out.

Shade just laughed. "You know I'm right, so don't even think about it. If you have time to start working on decoding some of this, that'd be great. Could we meet again tomorrow afternoon in the basements? I'll leave symbols again if you can find your way to the main point."

"Not like I have anything better to do," said Leah.

The cloth moved around his mouth as he smiled. "I'll see you then, then."

Leah walked to the mouth of the staircase before realising Shade wasn't following. "Coming?"

He waved her on. "I was just walking you out. I have another way out. Until tomorrow."

With that, Shade turned and disappeared back into the shadows, leaving Leah staring after him for a few moments before she came back into the stairwell room, clutching their journals close to her chest that could hold the cure to the Lightless.

*+*+*+*

A/N Eeeee. I like these two a lot. XD

HOPEFULLY THESE CHAPTERS DON'T SUCK /HOPEHOPE

Wordcount: 39,242