Dedicated to ledledled1 for just... that theorycrafting. And guessing the universe Hard Light is in ^_~

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Leah raced up the spiral staircase.

She tripped. She skinned her knee. It didn't crystallise.

All she felt was relief.

The Mark had locked up her mind. It had shut her down. The responsibility was too heavy. She couldn't handle that--but this? This was what she lived for. Granted, the possible death aspect wasn't usually quite so prominent, but figuring out a problem? Proving her theories? That, she could do.

Her heavy footsteps echoed down the empty corridors, so loud she was sure someone would come out to see what the fuss was about. She slowed her steps, quietening them a little and glancing at the wall.

She had to make her story believeable, right?

Sucking in a breath, Leah hardened Light into a jagged shape, closed her eyes and scraped it across her bicep. She swallowed the pain and did the same across her thigh, ripping the pants but not breaking her skin. Was it convincing? She had no idea. She just had to make sure Asriel didn't get a chance to figure out any holes in her story.

It took her another few minutes to reach Asriel's room, and upon arriving, Leah didn't give herself a chance to back out.

Leah burst in through the door, clinging to the frame, pretending to scrabble with the handle in a frenzy to close it. The adrenaline was making her fingers shake, her legs wobble, and where she would have fallen to the floor in a pile, a strong arm caught her.

A Slayer.

Her mind was racing, Emrys's words circling her head. Something is straining my control of the Slayers. Do not trust them. The further they are, the harder they are to control. But Asriel hadn't said anything about his own ability to controlling the Slayers, which meant--

Leah threw herself back in a panic that wasn't entirely faked. She opened her mouth in a soundless scream as the Slayer recovered from his surprise and twisted one arm behind her back.

"Asriel! There's a Slayer in--" was all Leah got out before the Slayer clamped a hand over her mouth.

"We have an intruder," said the Slayer calmly, showing no signs that her struggling was paying off.

Asriel emerged from his bathroom--he had a personal bathroom?--with his hair damp and his fingertips covered in a paste of the same pale blue.

She knew it.

Leah saw the glint as Asriel assessed the situation in the heartbeat he had to let the act seem natural. His eyes went wide, rushing forward as he wiped his fingers on a towel and giving Leah a good view of the white roots of hair that he hadn't got around to yet.

"Release her, she's fine," said Asriel, and the Slayer obeyed.

Leah played her part. She staggered away, flicking her gaze between Asriel and the Slayer. "I thought you said Emrys controlled the Slayers. We can't trust them."

"This one we can," said Asriel quickly. "We've known each other for a long time, and I've used that bond and other Light techniques to be able to break Emrys's control over him. I--" He hesitated, looking at Leah for the first time. His eyes went wide. "You--you're injured. Your Mark, it's--"

"Gone," said Leah, flustered. Flustered was good. "I... I thought about what you said, that Kieran's running out of time, so I went down to the temple and Emrys was there and I tried to fight him but he was just too strong and--"

"Where is the Mark?" demanded Asriel through clenched teeth.

"Emrys took it," said Leah, shaking her head. "I don't know how. He just stripped it off me, but I managed to get away when he was distracted, I hardened some Light and got him through the shoulder but--"

"He's injured?" said Asriel, glancing up at the Slayer, who shrugged. "Is he still there?"

"I--I don't know," said Leah. "I mean, I think so, I got him pretty good but if he has the Preserver Mark it won't matter anyway, right?"

Asriel clucked his tongue. "This might be the best chance I have."

Leah shook her head so violently the world started spinning. Just a little more. A tiny, little bit more of a push. "No, Asriel, you can't! He's too strong! You can't possibly hope to take him down. We need to leave the League, right now! I know a way--"

"I don't think so," said Asriel. He threw his dye-stained towel aside and waved the Slayer forward. "Let's go. Bring the girl with us in case we need to put that Preserver Mark on her again."

This time, Leah's reactions weren't faked. "What? No! Let me stay here, I--I can't really walk with my leg--"

"Tir, carry her," said Asriel, not even bothering to glance back. "Keep her quiet by whatever means necessary. Tell Iyarin to bring Kieran down to the temple. If possible, I'd like the Preserver Slayer to be someone useful."

Fear rose up Leah's throat as the Slayer picked her up and followed Asriel. She could barely wriggle without pain shooting up some part of her body. The hand under her knees pressed them together so tightly the bones felt like they were rubbing. Her wrists were crossed and trapped between her chest and the Slayer's other hand, and a slender shard of Light pressed under her chin convinced her that screaming wasn't going to be healthy for her.

This wasn't part of the plan. The plan was to send Asriel down to Emrys where he'd deal with it while she went after Kieran, to make sure they couldn't use him as a bargaining chip.

She forced herself to breathe. It didn't matter. Asriel would go down there, and Emrys would take care of him. If proximity was so important, Asriel wouldn't be able to influence the Slayers with Emrys right there. Emrys was a master of Light--his silvery white hair proved that.

So why was Asriel so confident?

He thought Emrys was injured. Weak. That had to be it. He was relying on Emrys being half-dead when he got there, and he knew Emrys couldn't take the Preserver Mark. Not without dropping the Command Mark first. Either way, in Asriel's mind, he was going to win.

Still...

Leah stopped struggling, closing her eyes and letting her mind run through the scenarios. Now more than ever, she needed a backup plan, in case Asriel really did have an ace up his sleeve.

By the time they reached the winding path linking the dead-end room to the temple, the Slayer had removed the spine poking the soft underside of Leah's jaw, which was nice. When they stood at the temple threshhold, Asriel stopped and looked at Leah.

"Where is Emrys?" he said in a soft voice.

"Inside the ritual room," said Leah, a little louder, letting the hysterics seep into the syllables.

Asriel looked to the Slayer holding her. Leah was sure she saw his heart flare and burn a brighter white than usual. "Tir, nod."

Tir nodded.

"Tir, bow."

Tir bowed.

Asriel smiled. "Put the girl down, keep her close. Be prepared to back me up. Do not hesitate to kill Emrys if my life is in danger. Obtain the Command and Preserver Marks. Inform the other Slayers of these objectives."

With that, Asriel hardened Light to his Hilt, a red-filtered, arm-mounted crossbow with bolts of yellow Light loaded. Leah found her feet on the ground as a shove in the back sent her following.

Asriel rounded the ritual room, making his way slowly, crossbow aimed at the doorway.

Leah heard Emrys's quiet voice before she saw him. "I had truly hoped she was lying, Asriel."

Asriel just smiled. "And I was sincerely hoping she wasn't. You seem a lot more uninjured than she implied."

"Why?" was all Emrys said.

"Because every year you remain leader is another year the Radiants waste away," said Asriel. "Because every year, we fall a little further into decay, and our former glory becomes that much harder to obtain, but don't worry. I'll fix it in the wake of your tragic demise, when the Teridian Radiant tried to destroy everything you stood for. You trusted her enough to come down here alone with her. I tried to save you, but I was too late. She'd hidden her true ability well. An assassin, you could say."

The Slayer pushed Leah far enough to see Emrys. Disappointed didn't cover the scope of his slumped shoulders, the pain in his eyes. Devastated was closer to the mark.

"Gloating doesn't suit you, Asriel."

"No?" said Asriel. "I rather think it does. I'm rather proud of my Pride and what I've done with it."

"We are not meant for what you call glory," said Emrys. "Our race was misguided. We were not the divine beings we believed ourselves to be, and the parasite was spawned of our arrogance. Harmony is the only way--"

Asriel scowled. "Our lands prospered when--"

"They did not!" said Emrys. Three words that sent a shiver down Leah's spine, that she felt the power behind. The Slayer behind her straightened, but didn't otherwise move. "We killed our lands, Asriel! Our homeland, uninhabitable, all because of our hubris! We conquered the humans and the Teridians when we had no right! We abused our power!"

"We did not--"

"Are you one to tell me what I do or do not know, Asriel?" demanded Emrys. "I have mastered my Light! I am the one who built the League's research facilitys from the ground up, the one who struck a bargain with the humans to use their tech, all while you stayed in the background!"

Asriel sliced the air with his hand. "Enough!"

But Emrys continued. "Your only achievements have been to hinder the path of progress, and in command, you will be no different!" Emrys's attention snapped to Leah--no, the Slayer behind her. "Tir! Release the girl and restrain Asriel!"

At the same time, Asriel called out, "Ignore the Mark of Command! Remain where you are!"

Leah turned, managing a few steps away from the Slayer as the conflicting orders warred on his face. Both Emrys and Asriel glared--but a few seconds later, there was a winner.

The Slayer remained still.

"Well, would you look at that," said Asriel. "It was a gamble, but being right near the Spire, I knew I wouldn't lose." He turned back to Emrys. "Because I am the true chosen of the Sun. I will light the way to our destiny, removing shadows like you from our path!"

Emrys's head was bowed as he crumpled to his knees, his fingers clenched to fists so hard that his knuckles were white.

"I yield," said Emrys, lifting his head. There was a strange measure of peace to his gaze, a calm to his words. "I yield."

Asriel said something, but Leah wasn't watching that. Though Emrys lifted his right hand to the wall inside the ritual room where she'd found the Preserver Mark and unleashed a near-blinding beam of Light in its direction, completely drawing Asriel's attention, it was his left hand that had hers.

A piece of hardened Light in his left hand, just small enough to fit in a closed palm, was resting on the ground just in front of his fingers, right beside the same piece of Light Leah herself had hardened--the one she'd put the Preserver Mark on.

Emrys stood, his foot kicking the pieces of hard Light ever so slightly to the side. The wrinkles lining his face were somehow shallower than ever as he raised his Light-filled hands towards Asriel.

"Tir!" called Asriel. "End him!"

This time, there was no fight.

The Slayer raised his hand. The glow of Emrys's heart increased tenfold until Leah had to look away, but she heard the sound of shattering crystal. She heard the gravelly roar of a Shattered. She heard the dull thunk crack as Asriel fired his crossbow and caught his target straight through the head.

When Leah looked back, there was black crystal everywhere. Asriel's bolt hadn't just pierced the Shattered form of Emrys's head, it had exploded it, too.

The smug grin on Asriel's face was almost enough for Leah to walk right over and punch him.

"Well, that was fun, wasn't it?" said Asriel, glancing inside the ritual room where something large and bright had appeared. He glanced at Leah, still grinning. "It might take a bit of a story to explain how you Shattered Emrys, but I'll come up with something. Tir, how do I get this Mark off the wall?"

Tir advanced to the doorway of the ritual room as Asriel walked inside, leaving Leah free to move.

Curious, she spared a glance for inside the ritual room. On the wall, right where Emrys's beam of Light would have hit, was a giant, blazing insignia that had Asriel completely enraptured.

"Do you think I need to absorb the Light to get the Command Mark?" Asriel asked Tir. "How do I know it's not the Preserver Mark? I really don't want to keep Kieran waiting when he gets here."

Leah scrambled forward, searching for the small piece of Light among the crystallised remains of his head. She found it--a metre or so away from where he'd kicked it, under one of the larger shards. As soon as her fingers closed around it, she knew.

And she didn't want it.

Sprawled in the shards cutting at her legs, Leah looked to Asriel. He was still occupied with the blazing Mark, but it was losing intensity. She didn't have long, and Emrys hadn't given her a choice.

With tears in the corners of her eyes, Leah opened her heart to the Mark imbued on the hard Light in her hand.

It wasn't like the Preserver Mark. It didn't feel natural. It didn't fit into place. It was bent and forced, refracting the Light within her heart on itself in impossible ways and flooding her being with a strange sensation--the sensation of five others. Five other spots of Light, some brighter than others in her vision.

Leah blinked her tears away. In the doorway, Tir was glowing. Asriel hadn't seemed to notice a change, and Leah knew she was the only one who could see it.

"Tir," she whispered under her breath. "Shake your left hand."

Tir shook his left hand.

Any hopes Leah had that she was hallucinating dissolved in a wave that crashed against her mind, threatening to Shatter her right then and there.

Yet she stood. Among the shards of Emrys, Leah got to her feet. She clutched a hand over her heart, well aware of the second spot of Light that was growing closer, brighter in her vision. She knew what she had to do.

Leah reached into her pocket to make sure the shard of Light, the one she'd hardened to scratch her arm and show the impossible to Emrys, the one he'd trusted her with, because as he put it, he had no reason to do so. Asriel would never have guessed.

"Asriel," said Leah, unable to stop her voice from shaking. "That isn't the Command Mark."

Asriel turned slowly on his heel. "Oh, really? I don't suppose you'd like to help me find it?"

Leah held up Emrys's final piece of Light. "He put it in this before you Shattered him."

Asriel raised an eyebrow. "And why would he--" His eyes went wide and snapped to Tir. "Tir, kill her!"

"Tir," said Leah quietly. "Restrain Asriel."

Tir walked deeper into the ritual room, straight towards Asriel.

It was so easy. With three words, she'd won. 

Yet it wasn't. Three words had never come so close to breaking her before. 

Asriel backed himself into the corner as the Slayer approached, Light hardened and ready to meet any resistance. There was none. Asriel knew better.

"I should have killed you when I had the chance," snarled Asriel, throwing her a hateful glare. "When you were in my room, I should have Shattered you right then! You would have been mind, Teridian blood or not!" His face blanked out, like he was listening to something, far in the distance, when his lips curved into a smile. "And it looked like one more person might be Shattering today if you don't yield the Command Mark, Leah."

Leah didn't need to ask who he meant.

She knew Kieran was standing behind her.

She didn't turn around. 

She just kept standing there, fists clenched and shaking, her eyes squeezed shut like somehow, it'd make the whole thing go away. That she wouldn't be able to sense the five points of Light tied to her, completely bound to her will. That she wouldn't know that it was only Kieran's body standing behind her because someone else had led him here. That she didn't already know it wasn't Kieran who was moving his body. 

The silky voice spoke with Kieran's mouth. "You can't ignore me forever."

It took everything Leah had not to collapse right there and then.

"Let him go, Asriel."

"Asriel?" said the voice. "Leah, please. Give credit where credit is due. Asriel doesn't have the power to do this."

Leah opened her eyes, finding Asriel still bound in the corner. He was on his knees, and Tir had a firm grasp on him. He wasn't using his Light.

And that was the point that Leah knew she'd been wrong about the parasite.

She turned around to face the thing in Kieran's body. It was his face framed by that snow-white hair. His arms, folded over his chest. His hands. But it wasn't his smile--his smirk. It wasn't his eyes. Even in the previous days, it had never overtaken his eyes. Not like this.

"Kieran, please--"

"You aren't speaking to Kieran," said the thing in him. The sheer confidence behind it, the arrogance, made her want to shrink to the corner and apologise. This was the thing that had taken Sef so suddenly. "You may address me as Pride."

Asriel's words bounced inside Leah's skull.

I'm rather proud of my Pride.

Leah just stared, unable to take her eyes away from Kieran's face.

Pride grinned with Kieran's lips. "You assumed I didn't exist, didn't you, Leah? In your arrogance, you never considered that you were wrong--not once your mind was made up. Perhaps you should have listened to Emrys, but alas."

Leah swallowed. "You're the parasite. You're in Radiant blood."

"I don't particularly like the term parasite, if you don't mind."

Pride strode forward, close enough to reach out and touch her face. It studied her, Kieran's eyes flicking back and forth between her own for a long, eternal moment.

"The Ancients didn't call me a parasite. They called me their deity. Their saviour. They were so desperate to win the war. Still so proud, even as their civilisation was crumbling around them. It wasn't hard to convince them to bind their blood to me. I gave them the power they craved. I took away the pain of using Light and ascended them all, far beyond the scope of their prized warriors. They became a race of gods. My race of gods, to conquer this pathetic prison of a planet."

"Prison?" asked Leah. Anything to buy her more time. To give her another few seconds to think of a way out of this that didn't involve killing Kieran. She only had one idea. One insane idea that might get them all killed.

Pride sneered. "The Titans thought they could hold me. I intend to be their greatest shame."

Leah gave it a shy smile. "I can't imagine a prison that could hold you for long."

"Because there isn't one," said Pride, tilting its chin up. "You can aid my ascension, Leah. You have the Command Mark. I don't need the other Radiant if you wish to co-operate. You have proven yourself more than capable to share my victory. You are far too intelligent to for me to waste."

Leah dropped her eyes. Submissive. She had to be submissive. Scared. "What about Kieran?"

The thing lifted Kieran's fingers and grazed her jawline.

It took everything she had to not pull away.

"This Radiant I possess will be my vessel," said Pride. "Don't fear, though. He is still with us, with you. His mind is strong enough to host me for a long time. Together, you and I will bring the Radiants back. You will have the cure you've always craved. The recognition. No one will be able to stand against us. Everyone who has ever hurt you--they will not have a place in our new world."

Leah dropped her chin to her chest, squeezing her eyes shut against the tears.

It scared her, how Pride knew exactly what it had to say. It scared her just how much she wanted to listen to him. What it was telling her--she could have Kieran, she could have her cure, she could save the Radiants. It knew her. It was on her side.

But no. She had to be strong. Her body might never be able to lift twice her own weight, but there was a different kind of strength. A harder strength, one that only took a moment to gain or lose. 

One leap of faith that could save Kieran, because she knew he hadn't lost his true strength to something as petty as Pride. 

"All you have to do," said Pride, running Kieran's hand up her cheek, threading his fingers into her hair. "Is yield the Command Mark to me. Be my Preserver Slayer, and together, we will save this world."

Leah made her lips move. "Okay."

Leah reached into her pocket. Her fingers curled around the piece of hardened Light with the extra sharp, blood-dipped tip. She withdrew it, held it out, resting on her palm.

Pride's gaze flashed. "Do you yield?"

"Yes." No. 

Pride's other hand picked it up.

He stepped away from her, holding the piece of Light up before him.

"At last," it said. Leah didn't breathe as Kieran's heart glowed, as the piece of Light before him flashed and went dim. As the orb of white Light appeared just over his shoulder, the same one that had followed her for days, watching. Learning. "At last, the Command Mark is--"

Kieran's eyes went wide with Pride's shock, with its fury.

"You--"

Leah held Pride's furious gaze as it realised she'd tricked him.

"You have the Preserver Mark," she said softly. "You lose. Let him go."

Pride screamed. "No! No, I do not lose!" He took the the now-dim shard of Light that had held the Preserver Mark and slashed it across his arm. Blood welled. The orb flashed. The damaged skin crystallised. "No!"

"You can't kill him," said Leah. It was Kieran's body. Not Pride's. Pride couldn't self-inflict the damage to drop the Preserver Mark, and Kieran would never take the easy way out. "The Preserver Mark will stop you. If you Shatter him, he'll be a Slayer and under my command."

Pride slashed at Kieran's arm again and again. His howls echoed off the walls.

"No! No! I do not lose!"

Leah just watched Kieran's blood turn to crystal before it could well up and spill down his arm. "I'm going to take Kieran to the Chamber, and I'm going to let him run out of Light. Without Light, you can't control him. He'll be Lightless again, and he'll be free." She hardened her gaze, a nervous, powerful feeling coiling in her chest. "Save yourself the embarassment and let him go now."

Pride glared at her. The shard of Light dropped from his hand and shattered on the ground as Kieran's feet stumbled backwards, right until his back hit the transparent crystalite wall.

Pride lifted Kieran's hand and pressed it against the crystallite, the only thing between him and the Spire. Strangely, it still seemed composed, if completely outraged.

"You may have been clever this time," said Pride. "But your victory will not be clean."

Behind her, Asriel screamed. Leah turned to find a gaping hole in Asriel's chest where his heart had been, his skin turning black and hard as the roar of a Shattered filled her ears. She didn't have to give the order--Tir took care of it, and a heartbeat later, Asriel's black, crystal head rolled away from his body, separated by Tir's blade of Light.

Leah whirled around, fear drowning out everything else as Pride grinned at her.

"I do not lose."

Leah's scream echoed with Kieran's off the walls as Pride snapped his mind. Kieran's face became Sef's in her mind, the agony that twisted his features ripping at her conscience as he roared and clutched his head, sinking to the ground as he Shattered.

The Spire flashed, bathing the room in a white Light so bright it drowned out the world.

Leah staggered through the Light, following the sound of Kieran's dying croak. The Light receeded. It was several moments before Leah's eyes adjusted enough to see again, and when she did, she wished she were blind.

A sixth point of Light, tied to the Command Mark.

Kieran was on his hands and knees, his head curled to his chest, his entire body shaking. Glowing. The orb was gone. Leah stopped a metre from him, waiting, hoping, begging him to look at her. As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Kieran did exactly that.

She'd kept standing when Pride had spoken through his mouth. She'd endured the touches, the caresses intended to seduce her, to win her loyalty, but the pain behind Kieran's eyes brought her down.

She'd done this to him. Her arrogance. Her own pride.

"I'm so sorry, Kieran," she whispered. "I tried."

Kieran didn't reply.

He just sat there, staring at her with blank, empty, tortured eyes. 

*+*+*+*

A/N - Please don't kill me.

This one kinda gives away what universe Hard Light is in ^_~

One more chapter left.