The surface closed above his head, encapsulating him in weightlessness. He closed his eyes, focusing on the air in his body. Ethan closed his eyes, feeling the warm water seep through his clothes. Usually he hated the feeling of wet clothes on his skin, but being fully submerged was a different story.
Soft bubbles tickled his face. Mark had managed to stay under water for a little over sixty seconds, so he had to beat that.
His heart rate sped up. For now, it was easy to ignore, but if he wouldn't want to panic and swim back up prematurely, he would have to keep int under control.
He shifted his attention to the water surrounding him. His mind calmed down, and he relaxed his muscles. He spread out his arms like wings, keeping himself afloat. Simultaneously, he focussed on not pulling his head up to much, so that he would stay submerged.
If it weren't for the edge of the whirlpool touching his fingers, it would feel like floating in an endless space, with no up- or downside.
Did he pass the sixty second mark already? For some reason it didn't feel that important to him anymore.
Ethan wanted to keep himself in this calm state forever. If his body wouldn't have the need to breathe, he could stay like this for hours, if not days.
He opened his eyes. The blurry surface of the pool mirrored his image.
It took him a second or two to notice that something was off. His mirror image had his face, but something just felt...different. He looked into his own eyes, mesmerized by the familiar, yet alien image staring back at him. The person was him, but at the same time, it clearly wasn't. He tried to reach out to the other Ethan, but before he could do so, the moment was rudely interrupted by his body screaming for air. All of his senses focussed on the burning in his lungs.
He pushed himself off the ground, breaking the water surface and gasping for air. It filled his lungs, the coolness flowing through his whole body.
»You good?« Mark had a worried expression, grabbing him under the shoulder and pulling him up.
»How long did I manage?«
»Over 90 seconds, pretty impressive.« Mark responded.
»Really? Damn!« Ethan tried his best to sound like nothing happened.
Mark glanced down into the water. He wasn't quite sure if he saw what he thought he did. But if he did, things would certainly become interesting quite soon.
He did a bit of mental math. If he was right, Unus Annus had 302 days left.
Ethan pulled himself out of the water, sitting down next to him. He seemed lost in thought.
»You good?«
»Yeah, why? Just thought about today's episode.«
»I see.« Mark scanned his face, trying to figure out if his friend knew, or rather understood what he had just seen.
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In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction
Fanfiction365 days. Unus and Annus have one year left until their death. Trapped in strange machine, relentlessly hunted by Blank and Dark, a fight against the clock begins. Will they be able to find their way out, or will their story be lost in the sands of...
