damned_institute | Night 57: Test of Courage

Entry tags:

Night 57: Test of Courage

[From here.]

When Guy's vision cleared and that bright light had faded away, he found that he was somewhere else entirely. Luckily, it was nothing at all like that coliseum, except for the fact that it once again seemed to have switched to day -- or the illusion of it, at least. Granted, not much of the light from overhead was getting through due to the fact that they were now in a forested area, dense with trees and surprisingly tranquil. Was this somewhere out in the wilderness surrounding the institute, or was this all in their heads, like when they'd thought they'd been back in Baticul?

Guy couldn't help noticing that he was still soaking wet, so transporting hadn't changed that much. He was relieved to see that he was still armed, though. Even if everything seemed calm now, he wasn't going to assume that would last for long.

He saw some ruins up ahead that seemed to be the focus of the area; his instinct was to head there. First, though, he had to check on his friends.

As he turned, he saw Claude was there at his side, just as he'd thought, but... "Where's Anise?"

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

It became immediately clear that this was fresh water, not salt water. That should have been assumed considering they were in the middle of a forest and not near the ocean, but Guy was still relieved for it. He could actually open his eyes without it burning, which he needed to be able to do if he was going to free Anise.

He could tell that the cage was almost entirely underwater now, which meant that Anise was also holding her breath now. His lungs were larger than hers, though, so he couldn't use his own level of comfort as a measuring stick for hers. He'd trained to be able to hold his breath for long periods of time, on top of it all.

Guy couldn't help noticing the massive form in the distance. His vision was too blurred to make it out particularly well, but he could tell that it was lingering near the surface of the water. He'd just have to rely on Claude to keep it distracted.

With a few powerful kicks with his legs and some directing with his one free arm, Guy eventually swam over to the cage. He found the front of it, where a lock of some sort should have been, but there didn't seem to be anything like that. Forcing himself to concentrate, Guy grabbed onto one of the bars with one hand and then brought his sword forward with the other. He moved it hilt first toward a gap between two of the bars and then rotated it, putting all of his strength into trying to push them apart from each other.

It was a good thing that Anise was so small. He wouldn't have to make that large of a gap for her to slip through.

The light from the torches above was growing more distant. The only thing Anise could be thankful for at the moment was that the water wasn't as cold as the previous room's. In fact, going from such a cold body of water to one that was merely cool made the latter much more bearable than it would have been otherwise.

That still didn't mean anything if she couldn't breathe, though.

Through the haze of the dark water, Anise could see someone approaching fast. Guy! He came to save her! She'd never been so happy to see him, though it was hard to show it when she was struggling to hold her breath. Anise used one hand to hold her nose and mouth shut, and one to hold her down against the bars opposite from where Guy was, to keep herself from floating up or around.

It looked like Guy was trying to pry the bars wide open. Anise had tried that herself, but Guy had a lot more strength and a weapon at his disposal. She could only hope that he'd have more success than her.

Her lungs were burning, and she felt like she was choking. Anise was doing all she could to fight against the urge to breathe in, but it was a losing battle. She couldn't hold on much longer...

Trying to do a job like this when the cage was still falling was making it that much harder. The buoyancy of his own body was fighting against the way that the cage was sinking like dead weight, but Guy still did his best to brace both himself and the sword against the metal, putting every ounce of strength into it.

However, after another few seconds the cage settled against an outcropping of rock well beneath the water's surface. Now that it was stationary he had a better chance of actually pulling this off -- not that there was any other option. His lungs were starting to burn, every instinct screaming at him to forget all this and go back to the surface. He could have taken a moment to go take a breath, but it wasn't as if Anise had that luxury, and so he couldn't.

He felt a large displacement of the water even this far down, which he realized probably meant that that monster was on the move. Guy hoped that Claude could handle it on his own...

As he continued to apply pressure, he finally felt one of the bars giving way under him, and could even hear a fainting creaking sound as it started to move. If he just kept at it, if he forgot about the pressing need to breathe and just worked at this, then he'd be able to save her.

Anise winced when she felt the cage hit the ground, but it looked like it made things easier for Guy. The bars were moving...! She couldn't give up yet. Even if her body reached its limits, she just somehow had to hold out long enough for Guy. How horrible would it be for both of them if she drowned while he was just inches away? That just couldn't happen.

She watched Guy work without moving from where she was floating, though it was becoming too hard to hide the pain in her expression. It hurt. Her throat, her chest... There was a burst of bubbles from behind the hand she held over her face as the last of her air escaped. She just couldn't hold it in anymore.

Pain was becoming the least of Anise's worries, though. Since it had been so long since her last breath, she was starting to get dizzy. Her ears were ringing and her sight was dimming... but she knew it would all be over if she let herself lose consciousness just then, so she tightened her grip on the bars behind her and did her best to focus on where Guy was. Just a little longer...

The pained expression on Anise's face was surprisingly clear from where Guy was positioned, and it only added to the adrenaline coursing through him. He had to do this, he had to save Anise and relieve the agony that she was going through. And more than that, he had to think about himself, about how his body was going to give in before long. His time was running dangerously short.

But continuing to add pressure to the hilt of his sword as he pushed against the bars caused the gap to widen even further. That had to be large enough for Anise's head to fit through, didn't it? And if her head could clear it, then she would probably be able to squeeze the rest of her body through too. Her small frame was really going to work in their favor this time.

Dropping the sword to his side, Guy pulled himself closer to the gap and then stretched his free arm through it, reaching out for her. And at that moment, his phobia wasn't even a part of his thought process. He just needed to get her out and back up to the surface of the lake before his strength left him completely.

The gap widened, and while Anise's vision was growing darker, she could see Guy's hand reaching for her. Her head was getting fuzzy, but she was able to push herself forward and reach her arm out in return. Her reach was clumsy and slow, and it took an extra second to find his hand and grab hold of it. Despite all the pain and terror she was feeling, that moment of contact brought immense relief.

As their hands touched, however, the reflex Anise had been fighting for so long finally overcame her, and she involuntarily took in a mouthful of water. Now she really was choking. The pain was unbearable, but she didn't even have to the strength to do anything about it. All she could do was weakly focus on her one lifeline.

Her grip was weak, but she held on to the extended arm with all the strength she could still muster, knowing it was her only way to safety. Guy would get her out. She had to trust in that.

Even with all of the odds working against them, their hands managed to meet, and for once touching Anise was a blessing rather than something he had to recoil from. Still, he could tell how weak her grip was and realized that she wouldn't even be able to move herself forward and out of the cage. Instead, he was forced to pull her himself.

As he'd guessed, her head made it through the gap without any problem, although trying to maneuver the rest of her body through was proving difficult, especially since he only had one hand to work with.

In the end, he had to be rough, yanking her further out and hoping that the momentum would be enough to twist her body the way it needed to be positioned in order to squeeze through the open space. He wished he could apologize to her then and there, but all of those words could be exchanged when he got her to safety.

Anise tried to cough up the water that had made its way into her airway, but she couldn't. Any attempt she made only let more water in. She realized she wasn't going to get any relief until she reached the surface.

Though completely disoriented, Anise could feel her body being pulled forward, the bars brushing past her. One of her boots was caught on the edge and was knocked off her foot, but Anise was fine with that. It would make it easier for her to move... or for Guy to move her, as was becoming the case.

She couldn't see anything clearly now, but she tried to pull herself closer to Guy, if only so her limbs wouldn't slow them down by flailing outward. Her consciousness was fading, but she knew Guy would take her up to the surface. Everything was going to be okay. She was going to be okay!

The second that Anise's hips cleared the gap, Guy realized that everything would be okay. Her legs followed with no problem and while she may have lost a boot in the process, it hardly mattered. She floated toward him as both of them pulled toward each other desperately and she finally reached his arms.

He quickly moved himself around so that she was nestled in against his side, his free arm wrapped around her shoulders tightly. And then, all he was focused on was getting the two of them to the surface as quickly as possible.

It was that instinct to survive that allowed him to move, kicking his legs with a fierce strength. He stared up at the light from above, only noticing when he was close to the top that some of the water nearby was stained red with blood. What--?!

But then they breached the surface and he took in huge, greedy breaths, coughing and sputtering. He still had Anise with him, but he didn't know if she was even aware enough to breathe in anymore. Some water had probably gotten into her lungs --

And so, even though part of his panicked mind was worrying for Claude, he had to take this one step at a time. He started to swim toward the closest collapsed column. Hang in there, Anise...

Somewhere between the rocky floor and the surface, Anise's consciousness slipped away. Her grip loosened, and her body fell limp. Her throat had already closed up, preventing more water from entering the airway... but it also kept the air out, and she remained unconscious after surfacing.

By the time that Guy reached the dry platform that he'd been aiming for, he could tell that Anise had passed out. He'd taken too long, though he knew how to handle this sort of situation too. He just needed to get some oxygen back into her system and hopefully after that she would have the strength to cough up most of the water in her lungs.

Guy dragged himself up onto the column, pulling Anise with him, and dropped his sword before he carefully laid her down. His adrenaline was still pumping through him to the point that he wasn't even thinking of her as a female but simply as someone to be saved.

But then he remembered Claude and the blood in the water and sent a panicked look around him in search of his friend. When he didn't spot him immediately, he yelled out: "Claude?!"

He couldn't take the time to wait for a response, though, not when Anise was probably not breathing at this point. He hoped that Claude would hear him and come in search of them, since the good news was that the serpent was nowhere to be seen. Maybe that meant --

But he couldn't think about it now. Instead, he leaned over Anise and pressed his mouth to hers, starting to breath fresh oxygen into her system for her. Anise was strong, stronger than a lot of people gave her credit for. She had to come back from this!

Fortunately for both of them, that was just what Anise needed. Before she was even aware of what was happening, Anise started coughing. Each cough was followed with a gasp, which brought enough air into her body to clear her head, little by little. Grabbing on to the nearest thing in reach (which turned out to be Guy's arm), she turned her body over to the side and continued the violent coughing fit, spitting water out onto the ground.

By the time the coughing began to lessen, Anise more or less figured out what had happened, even if she didn't remember anything between being pulled out of the cage and that coughing fit just then. Guy must have pulled her out of the water, and then... from the way he was bent over her when she came to...

Sitting up, Anise delicately touched her fingers to her lips, as if expecting to find some sort of evidence there. Did Guy just steal her first kiss!? That was definitely the last person she'd expect to try something like that.

Well, she could harass him about that later. Right now, there was something more important to say. Managing a wide, though weary smile, she cried out, "You did it! Oh, I knew you'd save me! My hero!" Since he was still close by, Anise threw herself at him, embracing him in a big hug. Since he was touching her just a few seconds ago, it was probably fine, right? Hey, maybe he was cured!

Her celebration was cut short by the realization that they were missing someone, and that she could smell blood in the air. Still holding on to Guy, but lifting her head away, Anise tried to look around. "Where's Claude?"

((Continuing from here (http://damned.livejournal.com/1150773.html?thread=79336757#t79336757).))

He wasn't sure how long he stayed still in that place, but it hadn't felt like much time before he thought he heard someone call his name. Not only that, but a girlish voice reached his ears as well. That must have been Guy and Anise. Claude let out a shallow breath in relief.

His head swam, and his blood burned like fire, but at least he hadn't been turned into snake food, and nobody drowned. When he looked at it that way, tonight could have been a lot worse.

"I'm fine," he called after a brief delay -- well, it must have sounded more like a croak with the way his voice grated in his throat. Picking up his sword again, Claude used the blade to try to give himself enough leverage to sit up a little more. His left hand wouldn't move, so the effort was more taxing than he would have liked.

Either way, he managed to catch sight of two figures further down the lake. His vision was a bit blurred, the light much brighter than it had been even a few minutes ago, but those were definitely people. Claude leaned against the stone wall beside him and brought his sword up into the air.

...Which would have looked cooler if he hadn't promptly dropped it, letting it clatter onto the ground. "Ow," Claude hissed under his breath. Suddenly angry and frustrated with himself, he gripped onto the stone with his uninjured hand and forced himself to stand.

That turned out to be easier than he'd expected. The moment that Anise started to cough, Guy pulled away, wanting to give her the space to get as much of the water out of her lungs as possible. He'd told himself that she'd be all right and that had turned out to be true. He credited that more to the girl's strength than his own swiftness, though.

Though it didn't take long for Anise's eyes to clear as she touched her lips. Had she felt that...? Guy hoped that she wouldn't bother mentioning it, since it had been done purely out of necessity --

But then she threw her arms around him, and while he knew that she was doing it as a way of thanks, he couldn't help tensing somewhat at the contact. He managed to not scream or shove her back, at the least, but he knew that this wouldn't last. By tomorrow his phobia was probably going to be back in full force, unfortunately.

When he heard a voice from behind him, Guy took that moment to carefully push Anise away from him and turn toward the source. The first thing he saw was the body of a huge sea snake -- how had he missed that?! -- and the second Claude's sword waving in the air. "He's right over there," he remarked to Anise as he smiled. So they had all made it!

And more than that, Claude had taken down that monster singlehandedly. Guy wasn't about to deny that he was impressed. "We're over here!" he called out as he waved back to the other blond. "And we're both fine!" More or less, anyway. He doubted that Anise felt one-hundred percent right then, but she'd be all right.

When she heard Claude reply, Anise turned to face the direction of his voice. Guy had gently pushed her away, which was a little disappointing, but at least she'd had her little moment of celebration. She moved to stand up, but found that her legs were wobbly, and so she remained sitting on her knees just to be safe.

Luckily, she didn't need to stand to see what she needed to; that serpent's body was pretty hard to miss. And there was Claude, sword in hand... well, it was in hand... but most importantly, he was still standing! Wait... did he beat that huge thing all by himself!?

"W-wow!" she gasped, looking from the beast to Claude. Anise knew Claude was strong, but she never thought he'd pull off something that cool! And she missed the whole thing! It didn't seem fair.

Anise joined Guy in waving, trying to look as healthy as possible, even though she still felt pretty awful. "Heyyy!" she shouted with a big smile, "We made it!"

Well, they certainly seemed energetic, Claude thought to himself with a half smile. Then again, they were likely trying not to act too bushed for his sake. When he thought of how things could have turned out, a cold chill settled in the pit of his stomach. Man, they were so lucky to all make it out of that alive. If something terrible had happened to Anise or Guy...

Well, they didn't have to dwell on that, and so they needed to bask in the moment. After slowly reaching for his sword with his right hand, Claude stumbled into the water and dragged the blade behind him. It was shallow enough in some places where he could wade most of the way, though his blood-soaked clothes provided more resistance than he wanted. As tiring as it was, and as much as it aggravated his wounds, the water also felt oddly refreshing now that no one was in danger of drowning.

Funny, how near-death experiences could change someone's perspective in the blink of an idea.

Eventually, he drew close to where Guy and Anise were perched. Heaving in a tight breath, he brought his sword up onto dry ground and began hauling himself up. It hurt, but he just told himself he wouldn't have to move anymore once he settled down with his friends.

Guy got onto his feet to keep an eye on Claude while he made his way over. The man had to be exhausted after what he'd just been through; while Guy hadn't seen the fight, he couldn't imagine that it had been easy on his friend. That became even more certain when Claude got close enough that Guy could see his torn shirt and the wounds at his side, not to mention his hand.

"Here," he said, drawing forward and grabbing for Claude's good arm to help him up. "I can't believe you took that thing down on your own." He glanced over Claude's shoulder at the monster once more, marveling at the sheer size of it. He would have asked Claude how he'd pulled it off, but all of them were probably too exhausted for a long story like that.

Besides, it wasn't like Claude had come out of it completely unscathed. Once Claude had both feet on the platform, Guy moved back, giving him the space to sit down. "Thanks for dealing with that. If that thing had come after me while I was trying to free Anise, we would have had a serious problem."

It was a little worrying to look at the way Claude moved. He looked like he was in serious pain. Once he made his way over, though, Anise had to admit it was a relief to have the three of them together again.

Anise wanted to stand up to meet him too, but she felt sore and weak all over. If she wound up toppling over, it'd just worry everyone. So like a good girl, she remained sitting and waited patiently while Guy helped Claude over.

"That's amazing, Claude!" she chimed in when Guy mentioned the monster's defeat. "You're so cool!" She wanted to hug him too, but his clothes were stained with blood and he looked like he was in bad shape. She didn't want to aggravate any unseen injuries while trying to show her gratitude, so for the time being, she stuck to showering him with praise.

Claude gave Guy an appreciative smile as he helped him onto the platform. His breath hitched in his throat for a moment from the pain, but it passed, and he gently eased himself onto the ground. "Thanks..."

Everyone looked like they were in fine spirits, even up close, so that was a bit of a comfort. When they both remarked on his fight with the monster, though, it took a moment for their words to register in Claude's fevered state. He turned a bleary-eyed gaze onto the serpent's large corpse, and the tendrils of blood that stained the once-clear water.

He could scarcely believe he'd killed that thing himself, in all honesty. But failure hadn't been an option, and so he'd only done what he had to do. Unsure of how to adequately handle the praise, Claude rubbed at the back of his neck with his uninjured hand.

"Nah, I-I was just lucky," he slowly said after a pause, his ears burning, though his face still managed to light up in such a way that it was easy to tell he appreciated the compliment. It had been a clumsy fight, one that he could have easily lost if that serpent hadn't missed his first strike, but he was happy he'd been able to help his friends. "I'm glad you're both safe. You must be really great at swimming, Guy."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Night 57: Test of Courage

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject