Agent Phoenix: DIVINE Beginnings (An Aphmau Fanfiction) [2]

You can't swim?

At first it wasn't so bad, like how you'd probably hold your breath a swimming pool.

But then I was running out of breathe. I felt the uncomfortableness growing in my chest, each second making it harder to hold back the reflex of gasping for air. I clenched my jaw and my hands tightened into fists, nails digging into my palm. Not breathing on its own was a challenge, but I knew about drowning.

Out of all the ways to die, drowning was probably one of the worst. It was basically suffocation, plus the burning when water filled your lungs. At least when you suffocate you can try to breathe. It won't help you in any way since there'd be no air, but you could at least try.

Here I was not just trying to hold my breath even though I desperately needed to breathe, but was also trying to go against the reflex to breathe.

My chest constricted and waves of pain spiked through me, almost causing me to gasp.

If I'm going down, I'm not making it more painful for myself.

The water was making things blurry enough, but everything started to get hazier. My body seemed to be relaxing but I used every ounce of strength to not inhale the water. Barely realizing the helicopter shook again, and again, I tried to keep my eyes open. I could only make out splotches of color along with dark silhouettes. The lack of light didn't help either.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I heard crashes, although they sounded far away. Noises muffled by the water echoed in my skull as I could make out movement. A moving figure swam in, going straight for me.

I didn't realize that I stopped holding my breath, just starting to breathe in water. My lungs burned as all I could feel was pain and uncomfortableness.

Without even registering it, something was slipped around my mouth. With the small, shallow breathes I took through my nose, the still barely conscious part of me realize there was no burning. No water. Only the sweet relief of air. As I felt my arm being over someone and a hand supporting my waist, I gasped.

Taking in breath after breath, only stopping to cough up water. My head was spinning, the tightening pain in my chest had decreased, now only slightly there. I managed to angle my head to see who had saved me and gave a weak smile as I came face to face with a familiar crown.

My eyelids still felt heavy, but it was easier to open them wider.

Shelby's ombré hair flowed underwater as she had something glowing in her mouth, a green glow stick flashlight. She took it out from between her teeth and waved it above her head before placing it back in her mouth.

Grabbing onto a rope that I hadn't noticed before, she tugged it and we zipped through the sea.

If I hadn't still been in a daze, I would've wanted to cheer at how fast we were going, it was like an underwater rollercoaster. Only a few seconds after it ended, I felt hands around my upper arms, pulling me. I felt the water rush down me as I surfaced, being propped up against the wall. The thing around my mouth was slipped off me and I coughed again.

"Get her-"

"EMERGENCY!"

"Let me go!"

"I'M GOING TO KILL HIM!"

Voices floated by as I seemed to drift in and out of consciousness. It was like my brain couldn't decide whether it wanted to be helpful for once and get up or just let the emptiness take me entirely. That was when, for the first time since I had been in the water, I had a clear and actually understandable thought.