damned_institute | Night 57: Test of Courage

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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?"

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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."

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Night 57: Test of Courage

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