Hard Light (NaNoWriMo15)

Chapter 19 - Reconsidering

The medical ward held Leah overnight with a guard posted outside her door.

That was fine with her.

She curled up in the corner of her bed and let sleep numb her mind. She dreamt of hidden ruins and endless corridors and floors that dropped her into pits. Sometimes she'd have the sense that Shade had been there, able to catch her and let her slip regardless. She saw him rip her books into tiny scraps like all they'd done together meant nothing. She saw him laugh in her face as Emrys rejected her for the small part of her Teridian blood over and over and over until she started running away from it all, but Shade always ended up in front of her, everything but his eyes bathed in shadow.

It was safe to say that Leah didn't get much sleep that night.

In the end, she stared up through the ceiling, gazing at the stars until they were drowned out by the dawn.

She would have stayed in bed all day had Illiya not come by to pick her up for the Lightless transferring duties after breakfast was done, Leah having ignored her delivered meal.

Illiya was talking without an attentive audience as they walked. "I thought we were only going to have the captive Lightless, but apparently Emrys got good intel about a rescue mission and so he forced them into attacking early and got the slayers there in time to ensure everything went smoothly, so the Lightless numbers nearly doubled! It's the biggest batch of subjects we've ever had!"

Leah barely blinked. "Mmhmm."

"Come on, Leah," said Illiya, tugging her wrist as Leah continued to drag her feet down the hallway. "I know the med staff didn't give you that much relaxant. We're going to be late!"

"So what?" muttered Leah. "At this point, I'm thinking I'd be better off back in Teridia." It wasn't like anyone wanted her here anyway. She wondered if Asriel would have even bothered bringing her to the League had he known about her impure blood. Probably not.

"Don't be stupid," said Illiya, more than a little impatient. "Leah, they don't care that you're not entirely pureblood! The reason Emrys can't let you on the team is because the methods we use are a lot easier to perform if the blood is pure Radiant. The Teridian or Human blood mixed in with it can skew the results!"

It made sense, but Leah had heard the disdain in Emrys's words. "You heard him. He doesn't need me."

Illiya slapped her on the shoulder. "Well he's signed you up for transfer work, so he needs you for something right now, and we're going to be in a whole lot of trouble if we don't show up!"

They joined the other gathered Radiants at the Spire as Emrys began instructions. Groups of Lightless would come in. Each Radiant would take one restrained Lightless to the holding cells via the opened tunnel, and this process would repeat until every Lightless was in their cell.

"Do not be afraid of them," said Emrys. "And do not empathise with them. They are husks of a once-proud Radiant, a husk occupied by the parasite that seeks to destroy our race. Pity their loss, but remember--they are the enemy, and as yesterday's attack has shown, they cannot be trusted."

Leah was placed in a group with a few more experienced members that could handle situations if they went awry. She was told that if her Lightless got loose, to step back and allow them to handle it. These weren't Shattered, they told her over and over, but they could still do damage.

Didn't she know that already.

The first group went smoothly. The Lightless came through on their net already bound at the wrists by some metal human contraption. The Radiant group stepped forward and led them away.