"You broke it!" Judal shouted at Leon as we all watched the water's flow come to a halt the moment the mapmaker touched the cup.

"I did not, idiot. You know as well as I do that some artifacts refuse to respond to just anyone. Especially the stronger ones. Anneth will figure out what this one requires. She always does," Leon said firmly, pulling the Artifact from its hiding place before carefully placing it inside his pouch.

We slowly made our way back to the surface, escaping the cavern thanks to Judal's Artifact. At first, he had used it to create a stairway up, although we had to be very careful on the slick surface. He'd tried to do what he could to make it safer, creating guardrails, but even those had been rather slippery to hold onto.

In the end, it was only because Judal followed behind, Artifact at the ready the entire time, that kept me from falling and hurting myself yet again when my leg suddenly gave out from under me. His quick reaction had ice forming around me, catching me when I would have fallen. Moments later, I found myself in his arms, being carried upwards by a slowly rising pillar of ice.

"Judal, if you could do this, why didn't you just do it in the first place?" I questioned, not understanding why he had tried to make us climb ice stairs when he could have simply lifted us up on a pillar.

It was when I looked back from gazing down at the ground growing further and further away from us that I noticed the exhaustion on his face, the light from above finally reaching his face and shining upon the shadows under his eyes. I had no idea just how much time had passed, but I knew it had to be nearing time for the evening meal, based on the empty feeling in my stomach. Add to that, him and Leon must have spent time searching for a safe way down, either that or Judal had used his Artifact to make a temporary way down here, and he had every right to be tired.

I might not understand how the Artifacts worked, but I was beginning to wonder what the cost of using one was. After all, nothing in life came without some kind of cost.

"Hey! Stop trying to leave me behind, you idiot! And be more careful with her! You should have done something to keep her leg straight! We don't know why it collapsed like that and if it's injured, we need to make sure it doesn't get worse!" Leon's voice echoed up from the stairs below, the worry in his voice growing with each sentence he spoke.

A small part of me whispered inside my mind, wondering how two people who had started out as my enemies had ended up feeling like they were some of my closest friends in such a seemingly short amount of time.

--------

"What do you mean it's broken? That's ridiculous! If it was broken, I wouldn't have been able to walk on it," I said, trying to laugh off the words Ahiru had spoken. Not because I didn't believe her, but rather because the idea of being unable to freely walk or run if the need arose terrified me.

"That was only because you were in shock and didn't feel the pain. You're lucky you didn't actually cause it to fracture more than it is. Walking on a broken leg risks causing the break to become worse, doing far more damage than most think about," Ru's words had me freezing in place, starting to panic over the thought of being unable to walk by myself for an unknown period of time.

What was I supposed to do now, unable to defend myself properly if something happened? And how was I supposed to prove my worth to David if he decided he didn't really need me now that this new Artifact had been found? I couldn't even run away from him if the chance arose! All I was going to be able to do for weeks, maybe months, is trying to hobble about on a pair of crutches! How was I supposed to get through the mountains on crutches?! I could feel my chest beginning to burn, not able to take in as much air as I needed as the panic set in deeper and deeper.

"Breath," Leon whispered gently into my ear, his hands coming to rest on my shoulders as he shifted to stand behind where I sat on the lightly cushioned counter that they used in place of an examination table.

Feeling myself hyperventilating, I tried to slow my breathing down, relaxing a bit as I felt a warm hand running up and down my back soothingly. My chest still hurt and I still worried, but it didn't feel as urgent with one of the people David had sent acting like things were still okay.

Maybe we could afford to take things a little slower, now that we had what we obviously had been searching for.

"Hey, Leon? What was it you and Judal found, before the floor collapsed under me in the tunnels?" After all, they must have found something, even if it wasn't what they were looking for.

--------

"But what does it do?" I asked again, looking at the strange object sitting ever so innocently upon the piece of cloth that Judal held. They had made me wait until we were alone before they were willing to bring it out, not out of distrust for Ru, but rather so that she wasn't dragged into the path of David if he worried someone might learn of his ever so valued Artifacts beyond just rumors or legends.

"We don't actually know since the idiot touched it and it shut down before I could examine it for visible tells. I mean, I doubt it would have been as obvious as the Cup, but it might have had something that hinted at what it did. Without anything to go off of, all we can really do is see what Anneth can find out. That or test it with random people and see if it reacts to one of them, and I really don't think David would approve of that method," Leon said calmly, ignoring the shout of outrage from Judal as he was once again called an idiot.

"Huh... So what kind of tells did your Artifacts have? I'm guessing some kind of frost or ice effect for Judal's, but what about yours, Leon? I mean, I'm still not even really sure what your Artifact even does?" I peered towards the young man as his hand shifted toward his hip, the tip of his Artifact barely peeking out as his hand dipped into a pocket.

"Sorry, I'm afraid I can't talk freely about that. David's orders," he mumbled, obviously not liking that he had to keep secrets from me, but understandable with the kind of man David had shown himself to be.

"Ahh, don't worry! I get it! He doesn't like anyone finding out about this stuff because it could throw a wrench in his plans," I said, waving my hands at him before lowering them and shifting the blanket over my heavily bandaged leg, the metal brace holding it still uncomfortable as it rubbed lightly against my skin. "Gah, I hate this thing so much already! I hate being so... so helpless!"

I squeezed my eyes shut, face caught somewhere between anger and anguish as the two men looked at each other for a moment. Wrapping up the small mass of metal that made up the unknown artifact, Judal shoved it into his pouch and moved to stand beside me.

"Hey, you're not totally helpless. If nothing else, you can always verbally assault someone until me or Leon come in and take care of them for you! Besides, you talk as if one of us won't always be at your side while you are healing," the dark-haired male mumbled, frustration clear in his voice as he glared at a spot on the floor.

"Yeah, we aren't going to let anyone even get close to you until you are back on both feet and able to defend yourself properly again," Leon leaned in as he gently whispered those words into my ear, the feeling of his arms wrapping around my shoulders protectively filling me with an unexpected warmth.

A feeling that only grew when I felt another set of arms wrap around my waist.