#scalen

                                                                     sʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ᴅʀᴏᴡɴɪɴɢ.                                                                      sʜᴇ ᴡᴀs ғᴜᴄᴋɪɴɢ ᴅʀᴏᴡɴɪɴɢ.                                                                      ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ᴇxᴘʟᴀɪɴ ʜᴏᴡ.

           Her lungs filled with water and a silent bubbling scream emitted from her lips and rose above to the sky. Oh, if only she could get to the surface as quickly and easily as those bubbles. And if only she had those bubbles back just for those few extra moments of air.

           How this was happening, she did not know. The small girl could only flail her arms through the water in a feeble attempt to reach the surface. The pressure bore down on her body and made her feel as if she were being crushed from all around. Another silenced wail occurred and more seawater filled her system.

           Eyes getting bleary and peripheral vision growing dark, another attempt was made to escape this fate. But it seemed like pressure wanted to keep things on the track. Her lungs were being squeezed of every drop of air there was left and soon, the feeling of controlling her limbs was lost.

           She was feeling lighter despite the pressure that crushed her. Lighter… was she floating? Was she sinking? It was impossible to tell now that her vision went black. Her chest grew tight and it appeared that everything was over now.

           Hands grabbed onto her arms and pulled her up to safety. Head surfacing, Nespri’s eyes opened immediately and she took a desperate gasp for air, the feeling of air returning to her lungs feeling so achingly unknown.

           “Nespri! What’s wrong?”

           A familiar voice snapping her back to reality, Nespri looked up to notice that her moirail, Scalen, was looking down at her with a concerned expression. He was sitting on the floor a few feet away from her recuperacoon with her laying in front of him, her head resting in his lap.

           The tyrian blood could only stare up at him with a startled gaze, still trying to refill her lungs with oxygen. “…Nespri?” Scalen asked once more, gently this time.

           Nespri wiggled around and got herself into a sitting position in front of her moirail, immediately moving forward to wrap her arms around his torso. Her face was buried into his sweater, his familiar scent washing over her and comforting her.

           “Day terror?” he asked, returning the hug. She responded with a weak nod. The faux indigo blood let out a sigh and pressed a pale kiss to the top of her head, rubbing her back in soothing circles.

           “I was drowning…”

           “Drowning, you say?”

           “I don’t know how, though…”

           “…Nespri?” Scalen stopped rubbing his moirail’s back, prompting her to look up at him.