The loud click and the sound of the shifting chains were the only warnings Claude got before he saw the cage begin to plummet toward the deep water below. He gasped without realizing it, horrified at the thought of Anise, trapped, sinking to the bottom of the lake. His heart suddenly felt like it was lodged in his throat. "No! Anise!"

What he needed to do next became clear. With his friend's phobia, that really only left one person who could get close enough to open the cage and bring Anise to the surface. Claude was about to shrug off his jacket so he could dive after her, but the other blond's voice stopped him dead in his tracks. "G-Guy? But...!"

The rest of the words caught in his throat, and Claude realized he didn't know what else he ought to say without potentially insulting Guy. The other man was competent and trustworthy, there was no doubt about that, and he didn't want to insinuate otherwise. But the fact remained that his phobia had the potential to flare up in a bad way, especially since the rescue would require coming into close proximity with a girl.