And here's the second chapter, sorry about the wait. Also, thanks go to Croatin for Beta'ing part of it.

Disclaimer: Avernus and Leto belong to me, the rest belongs to Bethesda.

It was the pain in his leg that woke Avernus. It wasn't a sharp pain, and it wasn't even particularly strong, but it was of the variety that slowly built up and accumulated over time, making it harder and harder to tolerate. Sitting up, Avernus grabbed the blanket and threw it off his legs. He then tried to manoeuvre his leg around into a better position. After several moments of repositioning himself, the pain gradually started to decrease. Once the pain in his leg had receded to a more comfortable level, he turned and swung his legs over the side of the bed.

The room was illuminated by several Dwemer lamps mounted on the walls which gave off their eerie greenish-white light. Avernus immediately noted that Leto was nowhere to be seen. His automatic reaction was to panic, thinking that she had run off and left him, but then he realized that the satchel and her bow were still present. She'd probably be coming back then. Maybe she was just scouting ahead or something.

Avernus swiped his improvised cane from the ground and shakily pulled himself to his feet. He limped over to the satchel on the adjacent bed, and began rummaging through it to see what Leto had packed, as well as to perhaps get some food, provided there was enough. In it, there Avernus found an extra set of clothing – probably for him when they reach the surface, he thought – some rope, a couple knives, extra arrows, and some potions and solutions whose natures Avernus could only guess at. He also found enough food and water to last the two of them about a week and a half, he noted with great delight, even if he allowed himself a generous one ration per day! Satisfied, he pulled out one of the wrapped up bundles of food, discarded the toxic fungus, and began to eat the rest.

After he finished his meal, Avernus realized that the room had a mirror in it that wasn't entirely destroyed; there were a couple cracks in it and it was a little dusty, but it still produced a reflection. His curiosity got the better of him; he wondered what he looked like now, and he hadn't seen an actual mirror in such a long time. So he pulled himself up again, slowly made his way over to the mirror, and gazed into it.

A corpse stared back at him.

He had no hair or beard, for his captors had constantly shaved him, and so he was able to see his face without obstruction. (He wondered why they shaved him but going off what Leto told him yesterday, perhaps their social codes about men not having hair also applied to him; if he were blind and had always used the presence of hair as one method of distinguishing between the sexes, hair on another male, even a prisoner, would certainly throw him.) His cheeks were incredibly gaunt and his skin seemed thin enough so that he could easily distinguish his cheekbones, his jaw, and several other bones that formed the structure of his face. The flesh around his eyes had sunken so that his large, blood-red Dunmer eyes sat deep in their sockets, which were also clearly outlined. His pointed ears each had a notch in them, in the same position in both ears, where his captors had removed his earrings by ripping them out.

His body almost resembled that of a draugr, as his muscles were so wasted away that he appeared as a skeleton draped in a thin covering of skin. He was dressed in only a couple of rags attached to a rope-belt to provide him some semblance of modesty, and so was able to examine most of his body. On his torso, the thin layer of sandy-limestone-coloured flesh, an odd hybridization of his Cyrodiilic mother's olive skin tone and that of her Dunmer rapist (for he refused to think of the scumbag as a father), was sunken and formed little valleys between his ribs, which stuck out prominently. In fact, he was so thin that he could actually see his heartbeat, appearing as a small area of flesh between his ribs that twitched with each beat. His arms were thin enough that he could wrap his thumb and middle finger around his biceps, and the flesh around his waist was sunken enough so that some of the bones of his pelvis were visible. I could teach an anatomy class and use myself as a model, Avernus mused wryly.

Numerous scars and long, thin burns (almost like branding marks, he noted) covered his skin, appearing as silver or pinkish streaks that twisted and curved along his skin. Strangely enough, they appeared to be symmetrical, and formed intricate patterns, almost as if his captors had been using his body as a medium for some sort of demented art form. The elaborate and extensive patterns were … beautiful, oddly enough, in a horrific sort of way. He had never noticed this before, but then the pain from his torture would have shut down the part of his mind able to recognize the patterns being carved and burned into him.

And then there were his ruined hands and feet. On his right hand, his captors had cut off his last two fingers, as well as cutting out the metacarpal that attached to his little finger. On his left hand, they had lopped off his last finger but left the rest. He would never play his flute again, that much was certain. And on his feet, they had cut off half of his toes. On his right foot, his big toe as well as the fourth toe remained, while on his left foot his last two toes had been severed. How hideous his extremities were, now.

His body was ruined.

It was too depressing to keep peering at his reflection, so Avernus hobbled back over to one of the beds and sat back down. He lied down and was just about to pull the blanket over himself when he heard a noise off in the connecting hallway.

It was the familiar sound of bare feet padding on the hard stone floor of the Dwemer ruins. Relieved, he sat back up again right as the figure reached the end of the hallway, which ran perpendicular to the direction the door frame faced, and thus came into visible range. Avernus immediately froze. Oh shit.

It wasn't Leto. The Falmer pursuer, dressed in rags rather than armour and clutching some crude weapon consisting of a spike fashioned from chaurus chitin and mounted perpendicularly on a shaft, paused in the doorway. He titled his head around to different angles and his ears twitched ever so slightly, no doubt trying to pick up any sounds that might betray Avernus's presence.

Avernus made sure to remain completely still and kept as quiet as he possibly could, breathing through his mouth and letting the air simply diffuse in and out of his lungs in as quiet a manner as possible. Please don't let him hear anything.

Then, much to Avernus's horror and dread, he heard the unmistakable sound of air hissing sharply through nostrils as the Falmer began to sniff for traces of his scent. The Falmer would probably be able to find him, Avernus realized, since his sense of smell was far more acute as a consequence of his blindness. But how could he protect against that? He couldn't just make his scent disappear on command.

Avernus tapped into his magicka, drawing on just enough power needed for a small telekinetic field. It wouldn't do for the Falmer to die in a manner that might alert any nearby comrades, so he would have to be killed quietly. Using telekinetic forces to crush his throat would be quiet enough, Avernus figured.

But before he could proceed any further with his plan, another figure slammed into the Falmer and tackled it to the ground with such speed and force that all Avernus could make out was a tangle of limbs and flowing black hair. No screams were let loose since the tackled Falmer already had its throat slit, Avernus realized, when the tangled pair came to rest. His protector was, of course, none other than Leto. Avernus then extinguished his spell and let the magic sink back into his inner reserve.

Holy shit. "Um, thanks," Avernus muttered lamely, shocked by what he saw. The Falmer's body lay in a crumpled heap in the corner of the hallway. Its head was bent at an unnatural angle and dark blood began to pool around it as it flowed in a constant stream from its slashed throat. The wound was deep enough that Avernus could just make out some of the bone from the creature's vertebrae poking through all the severed blood vessels and ligaments. He briefly wondered how the Falmer hadn't noticed her. Maybe he did notice, but assumed it was an ally coming to help him out, and not the traitor that's helping the prisoner escape. That would make sense, he thought, since one wouldn't be able to verify the identity of another from only the sound of their footsteps.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Yea … yea I'm fine," Avernus replied. "But where did you go?"

"You were still asleep when I woke up," Leto began as she made her way over to her supplies, "so I went ahead to scout out our path, check out it's condition and see if anything's changed. But I heard other people searching for us, so I came back. I might need your magic to help deal with them though."

"How many did you hear?" Avernus queried.

"Not many," Leto answered, "it sounds like just a small scouting party, so only a handful. But more will eventually come."

"And how far are we from the surface?"

"At the rate we've been going? About another waking-cycle, perhaps."

"Alright, let's get going then."

As soon as Leto finished gathering up her supplies, she went over to Avernus and offered him her arm. He grabbed it, picked himself off the bed, and the two set out once more.

Like before, the going was slow due to Avernus's ruined leg and the subsequent need to rely on Leto for physical support. The arrangement also wasn't particularly silent either and several times the pair drew the attention of one of the scouts that Leto had reported. But, as with the first one that stumbled upon Avernus, they were usually quickly disposed of by Leto. The odd pursuer that she couldn't deal with, Avernus took care of with his magic. The pair would only ever encounter a hostile Falmer on its own, or occasionally in pairs, which seemed to confirm Leto's description of them as scouts. But that meant that larger parties were sure to follow. The pair would have to find ways to slow their pursuers down, or else they might eventually get overwhelmed.

Avernus noticed that about half the time, he and Leto were proceeding through individual Dwemer buildings and complexes, while the other half of the time, they seemed to be making their way through large, open caverns on old cobbled streets that passed between buildings. The buildings they passed through seemed to join these individual caverns with each other.

The duo were in one of the open caverns, near the end, and were making their way to a large, particularly grand looking building that had several storeys and was built into the cave wall. It was no doubt one of the large connecting structures that linked the caverns. Avernus noticed that the second storey had a sort of balcony area with a door that led to it, which was situated directly above the ground-level entrance. None of the other levels, however, had any balcony areas or openings. They made their way to the face of the building, but then Leto stopped them all of a sudden.

"Why are we stopped?" Avernus asked, "Aren't we going through?"

"The way through has collapsed," Leto informed him, "we have to go through the upper level."

"But how do we get there? I don't see any stairs or ramps that lead up to it."

"I have a way," she grinned, "but I need you to wait here for a minute."

"Alright," Avernus replied. He wondered what Leto would do though, how she could get up there if there weren't any stairs or ramps. However, his question was immediately answered as he watched her start to actually climb up the surface of the wall!

Avernus saw her walk up to the face of the wall and begin feeling around it, on an area above her head. She then shoved her claws in the gaps between bricks made by the crumbling mortar. Then she brought a foot up and wedged the claws of her foot into another space. She then pulled herself up off the ground with her claws and began to slowly but steadily climb up the vertical surface of the wall, dragging herself up the wall in exactly the same manner.

Avernus was impressed. He had always wondered why Falmer had such sharp, strong looking claws. He never would have imagined that they'd be useful in climbing. Falmer claws must be quite tough in order for them to support their weight on them, he realized. The whole sight was rather fascinating.

Before long, however, Leto reached the top of the stone railing and disappeared from view. He heard a few muffled movements and before long, a rope was thrown over the balcony and fell down to Avernus. He then watched as Leto reappeared and began climbing down the rope. She wasn't wearing the satchel, or any of her weapons, Avernus noticed.

"I don't suppose you're strong enough to climb up on your own," Leto implored once she reached the bottom.

"Probably not," came his reply. Avernus was pretty sure he knew how this was going to work, now.

"Alright, then you need to climb on my back and I can get us up there," Leto informed him. She then turned her back to him and squatted down, leaning forward slightly. Avernus did as he was instructed and climbed onto her back, wrapping his feeble arms around her neck. Once secure, Leto straightened somewhat, grasped the rope and began to climb once more up the face of the wall, pulling both herself and Avernus up. She used the claws of her feet as support, jamming them in the gaps between the stones like on her initial climb up.

Avernus simply dangled from Leto, holding on for dear life. His arms were frail and lacked strength, but then the rest of his body was quite light as a result of being starved as well, so it wasn't an impossible task to hang on. He felt mildly ashamed, though. He was completely helpless, a useless dead-weight, and was relying entirely on Leto to get him up, while contributing nothing.

It didn't take long for Leto to reach the top, not even a minute of steady climbing. She pulled both herself and Avernus over the top of the stone railing and let him climb off her. She then proceeded to untie the rope from the railing, coil it back up and stuff it back into her satchel. She reequipped her weapons and donned the bag before once more offering Avernus her arm as support. The pair then proceeded onwards through the open doors and into the building.

The first part of the interior simply consisted of a very long corridor, lit by the same lamps mounted on the walls in little alcoves. Between the alcoves, long stretches of wall were covered in panels of metal bars that almost resembled gates without any hinges. The panels were far longer than the corridor was wide. He had seen this kind of metal paneling before, often covering various pieces of machinery built into the walls, or occasionally acting as walkways or bridges instead of stone. It got Avernus thinking.

"Leto," he stopped and asked, "is this the only way to the lift?"

"No, there are other ways" she answered, "but this is the most direct; the other paths lead into different caverns that are out of the way so they take much longer. Why do you ask?"

"I can do something to slow down our pursuers then," Avernus said, with a grin, "these walls have a sort of metal paneling on them. See?" he said as he reached over and tapped one of the panels with his knuckles, producing a faint metallic ringing noise.

"I can use magic to bend them and pull them out of place to seal off the corridor behind us," he finished explaining.

"That would be quite helpful actually," Leto said after a moment of thought.

"Alright, one moment then," Avernus said as he began to prepare himself. While there was no doubt it would be effective in slowing their pursuers down, reshaping the wall panels would also require considerable energy. His magic was certainly returning since he no longer had to drink the poisoned water, but he wasn't sure if he was strong enough to be able to accomplish such a feat yet. But he had to escape this place and if this would help slow down his pursuers and therefore give him a higher chance to reach the surface, then he'd damn well try!

Avernus turned around so that he was facing in the direction he came from, selected a metal panel and began to form the telekinetic fields necessary to move it. Carefully, he applied a little force and was rewarded with a creaking sound coming from the panel. He gradually applied more and more force until the bolts holding the panel in place at the end nearest Avernus snapped. The other end was still firmly fastened in place, which was what Avernus needed. Now all that was needed was to bend the panel and pull it across the corridor to block it off. Dwarven metal was strong, but it wasn't brittle, so it could be bent if enough force was applied.

The problem, however, was that snapping the bolts had already consumed a significant portion of Avernus's magicka, so he wasn't sure if he'd be able to bend the panel enough to completely block the corridor. Nevertheless, he had to try.

Avernus then reshaped the telekinetic fields and applied more force, pulling outwards on the section of panel that had been separated from the wall. The metal creaked and groaned as it slowly bent outwards, inch by precious inch. But it was taking too much force to move and Avernus was quickly running out of magicka. He strained harder, putting in more effort to bend the panel as much as he was able to. But he knew that if he pushed himself too hard, he would injure himself.

If stamina and endurance can be thought of as properties that arise from one's muscles and physical strength, then magicka could be thought of as a property of one's magical strength and overall talent with the use of magic. Like endurance and stamina, it can't be thought of as a finite quantity of something that one expends when working with magic. Rather, it represents one's abilities and how much exertion one is capable of, and, just like with one's muscles and physical strength, one's magical strength can atrophy with time and disuse. Since Avernus had been cut off from his magical talents by his captors, his magicka had atrophied and weakened as a result and so bending the metal panel, a task he would normally have been capable of, was proving to be more difficult than it should be.

Avernus was forced to stop, lest he injure himself. The bent panel was sticking out from the wall at an angle and almost blocked off the passage, but unfortunately there was still enough space between its edge and the adjacent wall for a person to squeeze through.

"All done?" Leto asked.

"Not quite. There's still a space left, but I don't have enough strength to be able to close it fully," Avernus answered her. What could he do? He had to think of something. Every problem has more than one solution, he told himself. Then, just like that, the answer came to him.

"Leto, I need you to help me," he said.

"But how?" she asked him, "I don't know the magic you used to bend the metal. What can I do?"

"You don't know the magic, but I do and that's enough," Avernus began, "what I need from you is access to your magicka. Think of magicka as potential. If we combine our potential magicka, then I can finish blocking off the passage."

"It's possible to do that?" said Leto, "but how? I don't know how to do that."

"I know how to form the channel between us that will allow us to share our magicka," Avernus informed her, "what I need from you is to not fight it and to allow me access. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes," Leto replied, "I'll help you."

Avernus then wordlessly got started on forming the necessary connection between Leto and himself. As soon as he finished, he could instantly feel her magicka through the connection. It was calm and quiet, a dormant, untapped pool of potential. Avernus himself wasn't necessarily stronger or better, now that he created a link with Leto; he simply had greater available magicka to draw upon now.

And with this greater potential, he then resumed applying the telekinetic force to the panel. He found that he was able to bend it further than before and it creaked some more until it met the metal paneling of the adjacent wall with a clank. Avernus then dismantled the telekinetic fields that directed the forces and severed the connection between himself and Leto.

"All done," he informed her.

"Great," she answered, sounding pleased, "there is a place at the end of this corridor where we can sit down and rest for a bit, if you need to."

"That would be appreciated," Avernus said, "thanks Leto."

Avernus took Leto's arm once more as she led him down the corridor. At the end, the narrow corridor widened into a circular room, and off to the sides were a couple tables and chairs. The pair made their way over to one of the tables, unloaded their supplies and sat down beside each other. Leto reached inside the bag, pulled out two rations, and handed one to Avernus.

"Two meals in one day?" he asked as he raised an eyebrow in mild surprise, "You're spoiling me, Leto," he joked as he accepted the proffered bundle. She chuckled a bit and smiled at him as she unwrapped her own food. Most, if not all, of her teeth were jagged and sharp, Avernus noticed. She had the dentition of a predator. But her teeth were fairly typical amongst Falmer and after spending ages as their prisoner, he was no longer bothered by it.

"You need to build up your strength," she told him, "and we're almost at the lift anyways. We'll be there by the end of the waking-cycle "

"That's good then," was all he said as he unwrapped his own bundle of food. He sorted through the pre-packed contents until he found the toxic fungus, which he then discarded. He noticed Leto had discarded hers also. He was glad she was following his advice regarding the toxic food.

But then he realized something: when she had smiled at him, her eyelids seemed different from how they looked when she visited him back in his cell, he remembered.

"Leto," he said.

"Hmm?" responded Leto.

"May I examine your face for a moment?" Avernus inquired.

"Why?" she asked.

"I noticed you stopped eating that fungus I advised you about," he informed her, "and now your eyelids seem different. May I examine them?"

"Sure," she acquiesced.

Avernus placed his hands on the sides of her head and gently positioned it so that her face was fully illuminated by the Dwemer lamps. What he saw was fascinating. Her inflammation seemed to be significantly reduced. Her eyelids were still inflamed, of course, but much less so than before. And the pinkish colouring wasn't as intense as before either; instead here eyelids were much closer in colour to the rest of her skin now. Could it be that the effects of that toxic fungus were only temporary? That the Falmer remained blind only because the fungus remained a staple in their diets? It was very interesting.

Avernus wanted to test something though. Even with his eyes closed, he would still be able to detect the presence or absence of light. He remembered that if he looked at the sun or a bright flame with his eyes closed, he would see a sort of fiery darkness, but then if he closed his eyes and covered them with his hands as well, he would see pitch-black, total darkness. He wondered if something similar could happen with Leto.

"Leto, I'm going to do something and I want you to tell me if you notice anything different, okay?" he asked, to which she simply nodded in reply.

Avernus then conjured a white light. It was small but quite bright, much brighter than the wall-mounted Dwemer lanterns. He moved the light until it hovered right in front of Leto's face. He was rewarded with a small gasp from her.

"Something's there," she exclaimed, "I…I don't know how to describe it, but something's happening."

"Cover your face with your hands," Avernus instructed. Leto did as she was told.

"Now it's gone!" She removed her hands, and then covered her face several seconds later, before removing them once again. "Avernus, what did you do? The thing goes away when I cover my face, but comes back when I lower my hands. What is this?"

"That was light, Leto," he explained, grinning nearly from ear to ear as he did so; he was quite pleased, "I conjured an orb of bright light and held it in front of your face. You couldn't see it because your eyelids are still swollen shut, but for you to be able to detect it means several things. Firstly, your eyes do work and so can't be the proximal cause of your blindness; and secondly, your eyelids are recovering."

"They were damaged?" Leto asked.

"Yes, they were inflamed and swollen shut," Avernus explained, "they still are, but less so than a couple days ago. Think, do they feel any differently?"

"Yes," she replied after a moment of thought, "they feel…cooler, and more sensitive. This isn't a bad thing?"

"No, this is good," Avernus said, "they feel more sensitive likely because you would have gotten used to the feeling of them being constantly inflamed."

"Oh," she said, "so does this mean I'll be able to see?"

"It's impossible to say for sure, but it seems like it so far," Avernus assured her, "hey, I noticed earlier that you packed some potions. I assume some of them are healing potions, aren't they?"

"That's right," she answered.

"Good," Avernus said, "drink one tonight before you go to sleep and tomorrow we'll see what happens. Maybe it'll speed along the recovery of your eyelids and you'll be able to see."

"But we need to save the healing potions in case one of us gets injured," she protested.

"Leto, if a healing potion can help bring you vision sooner, then it's worth the loss," Avernus countered.

"I guess. Thanks for this, Avernus," she said, with a particularly radiant smile.

"Not a problem, Leto," he replied.

This is quite exciting, he thought as he resumed eating his meal. He genuinely hoped Leto was able to get her vision back. He could only imagine what it would be like to suddenly have access to a whole new sense that was previously unavailable! And besides, sight would be an invaluable ability once they reached the surface. Underground, Leto was able to navigate around because she had lived here her entire life and no doubt had the layout of the caves and ruins committed to memory. But the surface would be an entirely alien environment to her and she would be unable to navigate with just hearing and smell. Sure, he could still see, but how hopeless they would be, then, with a pathetic, starved cripple as Leto's only means of navigation!

Yes, Avernus was excited, but not nearly as excited as Leto was apparently. She was positively giddy as she finished eating her meal! When she was done, she got up, made her way over to one of the Dwemer lamps on the wall, and sat directly underneath it. He watched her gaze at the source of light, cover face, uncover it, and then giggle with excitement. The whole spectacle was rather amusing, Avernus thought; it reminded him of playing peekaboo years and years ago with his infant sisters. It was amusing, but also heart-warming at the same time, he thought.

Once Avernus was done eating and Leto was finished amusing herself with the lamp, the two then resumed their trek to the lift at the end of the Dwemer ruins. It was a fairly long march and Avernus was exhausted by the time they reached the lift but he didn't mind. Perhaps it was the fact that he was almost guaranteed his freedom now, or perhaps it was due to the fact that Leto's fantastic mood was contagious, or maybe it was a combination of both, but Avernus just couldn't be bothered to feel negative about anything.

The two of them settled down in a small antechamber right by the lift. Leto drank a healing potion as per Avernus's suggestion, while Avernus magically enclosed the room in a field of silence before exhaustion finally caught up with the pair and gently drew them into the oblivion of sleep.

I'm eager to know what you think of this chapter so as always, reviews are greatly appreciated!