As Mat and Spring stepped off of the final step and into the Archives, Mat noticed how different it was to the Academy above them. While that was polished white walls with tall ceilings, this was much more cramped and dustier. The floor and ground were pitch black and the ceiling wasn’t far above their heads. Mat looked at Spring before walking down the only corridor. It was long and narrow and ended in a corner turning right. As they walked, they talked about normal things. Mat wondered how they could be so calm and regular while robbing one of the most powerful institutions on the planet.

  “We should do something soon. It’s getting dull staying in the tower constantly.” Spring said.

  “Well, we’re not there now. Could this count at a date?” Mat wondered.

  “Of course it does. This is the most romantic thing we’ve done so far.”

  “Are you serious?” Mat asked, giggling quietly.

  “Yeah! But next time, maybe we could do something which doesn’t put our lives at stake.” Spring remarked dryly.

  “Well, maybe tomorrow I could take you out for dinner. Just the two of us.”

  “Finally.” Spring said. “It’s been too long. No offence to George, but I can almost smell the honour radiating from him. If we brought him, he’d probably go on a speech about how tasty the dinner is.”

  Mat laughed loudly, covering his mouth to keep it down.

  “Sam would start calculating how to copy the food completely.” Mat joked back, hoping she would find it funny. Despite being with her for a while now, Mat still found himself shy around her. Worried about what she would think about everything he said and did. Thankfully, she laughed, and Mat felt his stomach f;utter. Her laugh was so beautiful.

  “I’d like that though," Spring said. “Dinner sounds nice.”

  Mat smiled at her, gathering all his courage.

  “I know I say it a lot, but I really do love you, you know.” He took her hand in both of his. “I don’t want to be without you because… you m – make my life so much more f – fulfilling.” He gently kissed the back of her hand. Spring stared at him for a second.

  “I’m sorry,” Mat said. “That was too intense wasn’t it. You’re not uncomfortable are you?” He asked worriedly.

  With her free hand, Spring stroked his hair, gazing into his eyes with confidence.

  “You mean everything to me," Spring's voice was an intense whisper. "A life without you would be infinitely worse. I love you so much.”

  Mat felt like he might explode as Spring pushed him against a wall and kissed him intensely.

  Mat helped to rearrange Spring’s messy hair when she eventually pulled away.

  “You look beautiful.” He commented.

  Spring blushed, a shy smile on her face.

  “Come on sweetness. We have a heist to finish. When we’re done though…” She left the promise hanging in the air, Mat’s heart pounding with anticipation.

  ***

  “Stop!” Mat shouted urgently, putting his arm out in front of Spring to stop her. She bumped into it, looking at him in confusion.

  “What’s wrong?” She asked. Mat emerald eyes lit up gold as he scanned the area ahead of them. Spring waited patiently for him to speak again.

  “It’s a trap," he said eventually. “The floor’s rigged to explode if anybody touches it.”

  “Then how do we get past?” Spring asked, looking around the room for another route.

  Mat walked purposefully to one section of the wall, feeling it with his hands.

  “Here we go.” He muttered, gently twisting part of the wall away. Spring watched in shock – and adoration of her love, of course – as he pulled away a small panel of wall, revealing a ventilation system.

  “After you.” He said. Spring kissed his nose as she passed by, leaving him red.

  He followed her into the vent’s, putting the panel back into place. The vent was even more cramped than the hallway, giving them barely enough space to crouch.

  As Spring walked in front of a small opening, Mat’s arms wrapped around her waist, dragging her back. As he did, the space where she had been lit up with bolts of light, burning a small hole on the other side of the vents. Spring was lying on top of Mat, staring up at the top of the vents.

  “Sorry, I didn’t sense it soon enough.”

  “Was I too distracting for you?” Spring asked playfully.

  “Oh I – you – it’s not – I didn’t -”

  “I’ll take that as a yes then.” Spring said, rolling over to meet his eyes. “Now, what are we going to do about this.”

  Mat closed his eyes.

  “You’re shield won’t block it. It’s to powerful.” He sighed. “Alright, I’m going to try something, but only if you agree.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’m going to try freezing time and drag you to the other side. If I fail though, you’ll die.”

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  “Well then, try not to fail.”

  “Spring this is serious. I can’t hold time for that long. You’re putting your life in my hands.”

  She leaned down and kissed him lovingly.

  “There’s nobody I would trust more with it,” She said, crawling off of him. He sat up, looking back at her. Fear was evident in his face.

  “I can’t lose you.” He choked. Turning back to look at the gap, he checked how large it was.

  “I don’t know if I can hold it Spring.”

  She held his hand.

  “Mat, if there were only one person with total faith in you, it would be me. I trust you with my heart everyday, just as you trust me with yours. I trust you with my life too.”

  His lip trembled slightly.

  “We could turn back. I don’t need anything anyway.”

  “I’m not leaving without your reward. Have faith in yourself Mat. Please.”

  He inclined his heads slightly. Spring gave him a reassuring smile. Her vision spun, and she knew Mat had done it.

  When her vision became clear and focused again, Spring noticed was on the other side of the vent, just past the gap. Turning around, she saw Mat lying flat on his back, wheezing from exhaustion.

  Scanning his soul, she felt that his core was totally depleted.

  “Mat?”

  His eyes flicked open briefly, but he couldn’t speak.

  “You did it.” She said gently. His face was glistening with sweat, so she pulled out a cloth and wiped his face down. “I’m really proud of you Mat. Look at how far you have come in the last couple of weeks. Your progress recently is the only reason that I’m still alive.”

  A small smile flicked across his face.

  Spring waited patiently for Mat to recover, lightly holding his hand. It took almost an hour until Mat was finally able to continue.

  “T – thank you.” Mat said stroking her hair, his eyes dripping with adoration.

  “I didn’t do anything. You’re the one who deserves all the thanks.”

  His eyes remained locked on her as she slipped past him, her body rubbing against his and she passed by.

  Looking back one last time at the spot where they could have died, he sighed and followed Spring.

  There were no more traps in the vents, and they made it out only a few minutes later. This room was much larger, no longer feeling tight and compact.

  While the roof was only finger’s length from their heads, the width of the room was greatly increased. It retained the length, and at the end of the room was a huge vault door.

  The floor was broken up into several large squares horizontally and vertically. It was much like a grid.

  “Finally.” Spring said. “We’re here.”

  “Not quite.” Mat said, his eyes glowing gold.

  Spring looked at him in confusion, a faint crease in her forehead.

  “Look.” Mat said, pointing to the ground in front of them. “Can you see how the floor has a slight red hue?”

  Spring’s eyes widened slightly and she looked across the room.

  “Great. Another trap. Any chance you can get us through this.”

  “I can.” Mat said confidently. “But we’ll have to be quick. And…”

  “What?” Spring asked.

  “I’ll need you to carry me.” Mat said, a sweet, nervous smile crossing his lips . “I can’t jump as far as you and we need to cross large swathes of the room within one jump.”

  Spring grinned.

  “How could I refuse?” Spring said, taking Mat in her arms. She picked him up with great ease. “Where to first?”

  Mat directed her to the first square she had to step on.

  Once her feet were pressing down on it, the rest of the squares erupted with a red light. Within each square the red light appeared to cut through the air. Anything that stepped inside of that would be cut to pieces instantly.

  “Gods.” Spring muttered. “Good thing my life is in your hands.”

  “I wish it wasn’t.” Mat said.

  “Have faith sweetness.” She said.

  ***

  Mat guided her through the next few easily, though he was starting to get a bit tense. He knew the last jump would be the hardest – they would have to jump from one side of the room to the other. Spring couldn’t jump far enough.

  He would freeze time and just drag her through the last square, but the exit was only on the one square. If he tried to pull he through a different square, they would be ripped to shreds. He couldn’t fight it off. It was too high Ranked. It was likely created by The High Educator.

  ***

  Spring made it to the last square; her confidence having grown with every safe jump.

  When Mat didn’t direct her, Spring peered down at him curiously.

  “Where to now my love?” She asked. They were standing by the far-right wall.’

  “The other side.” Mat said.

  “What?”

  “The furthest square from us.” Mat said, his voice calm and determined.

  Spring felt far less confident.

  “I can’t make it.” Spring said.

  “I know.” Mat said. He touched her face gently, still cradled in her arms. “You said you trusted me. If there is any time I need you to trust me, it’s now.”

  Spring felt terrified – who wouldn’t in the face of certain death – but she had complete faith in Mat.

  He would never lead her astray.

  She angled herself as best she could to travel as far as possible. The red lights in the squares next to her died down, and she jumped.

  ***

  Just before Spring’s feet hit the ground, Mat froze time. Her feet were barely an inch from the ground. Mat had almost gotten the timing wrong. They would both be dead in that situation.

  He stood up, the frozen time making her hands and stiff as a board. They were strong enough to stand on.

  Mat threw himself onto the final square; Spring had been so close. Yet one wrong move would kill her.

  Mat rolled off of the square and onto the safe side of the room. Now he had to deactivate the trap.

  Running to the other side of the room, Mat already felt his Core tiring a little. He could hold though. He had to hold. Eyes of the Tiger were scanning the room, seeing the connection point of the trap to the wall. He rushed over and ripped the panel off of the wall – clearly The High Educator never assumed anybody could get past his trap. Even if they did, they would have no need to deactivate it.

  Mat pulled on the wires, but they stayed firmly plugged in. He could sense the Toh running through them, though they were stagnant at the moment.

  Closing his eyes, he tugged on the wires again. He felt a little something, but they didn’t disconnect. Not yet.

  Mat could feel the Toh burning up in his core; he couldn’t hold on for much longer. But he would have to.

  Spring can’t die. I won’t let her, even if it destroys my core. Mat wasn’t going to let her down. Spring had put all of her trust in him. He couldn’t betray that.

  Tensing all his muscles he pulled once more and felt the wires giving way.

  With a great sigh of relief, he allowed the Toh to begin flowing through his body again properly. Sweat ran down his face and his clothes were saturated.

  Falling to his knees, he turned to see Spring land on the ground. After a second of doubt, Mat knew he had succeeded.

  Spring came to his side, helping him to his feet. She pecked him on his cheeks.

  “You were brilliant.” She said.

  “No.” He panted. “I wouldn’t have survived without you.”

  Spring smiled at him sweetly.

  “You have a beautiful smile.” Mat said. Spring turned bright red and she gave him a shy look.

  “Do you think so?” She asked.

  “I do.”

  They approached the vault door at the end of the room, almost at the prize they had been working toward. The final issue was getting through the door.

  Mat stumbled to the door, his eyes glowing golden with the Eyes of the Tiger running through him.

  “I can’t see an access panel or anything.” Mat said. “There must be a way through somewhere.”

  He looked around but saw nothing.

  “Is this -”

  He turned suddenly at the sound of the vault door sliding open. Spring had forced it open, and she was now leaning against it with a smug look.

  “You were saying?” She said proudly.

  “How?” Mat managed to get out.

  “The door just needed a good pull. No special smarts required.”

  “Oh.” Mat said.

  “Don’t sound so disappointed sweetness.” She said. “You know I love it when you get all smart and brainy on me.”

  Mat’s ears burnt and he couldn’t conceal a proud smile.

  “Shall we enter then?” He asked, taking her arm.

  “If the good sir permits it.” She said in a fake posh voice. Mat chuckled as they entered the vault.

  The sight before them left Mat in stunned silence.