From tender years you took me for granted

It had been so long, so long since she had first fallen asleep. There were memories, vague and blurry; children, a lover, heartache. Names that lingered just out of reach, taunting her, teasing her with their memory. The more she tried, the more they faded, a deep pang striking through her heart at the revelation.

The pain awakened her, in a way, forcing her mind to pull from that hazy dreamscape only to rise to the sound of rushing wind and the unique feeling of falling. It was a feeling she knew, somehow, and the memory of falling from a cliff into the ocean fuzzed into view. At this, teal eyes fluttered open, brow wrinkling in her confusion. The vertigo was no memory, however.

She was falling

falling

fallen

Into the water below with a splash.

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his soul had been opened. the lock had been pulled, ripped from the seams of his chest, and lying broken in the nimble hands of his wife. a loyal man, koa had grown. a dedicated man, he'd fallen. it was faith in his love, faith in her hands, faith in her touch. devotion. sensation. passion. everything supple. everything sweet.

he could taste her on his tongue, still, as his physical body lay upon the field of battle. he could feel the hush of her breath over his cheek, the tears she'd weep into his palms. he was here, could she not see? could she not feel his love, feel his touch as he caressed her tear-streaked cheeks?

she was gone, just as he, spoiled rich and rotten with a love tried and true. their children may mourn him, she may never forget, but he would be gone all the same. mementos would disappear, too painful to bear when the warmth of the home was gone. when the love and light had been left. but when she was laid to rest with the hope of seeing him all she could bear to hold onto, it was not him that would welcome her with a warm embrace.

punishment, perhaps. a blessing, some may say. koa was given a new life, the fiercest fire breathing into him a purpose that demanded of him fur and paws. a purpose that tore from him everything fae.

santiago awoke with a start, breathing into him his own life as he selfishly gulped down the air he'd been left to. drenched by what he could only assume was the efforts of a downpour, he shook from himself everything holding him down. his past included.

he hadn't heard her fall, hadn't felt the rush before he'd woke, so he remained clueless. his head turned either way, dark brows furrowing. “Hello?”

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the dice gods said she had to keep drowning sorry

---

This was no ocean. How did she know?

There was no taste of salt as she choked on water, no burn in her eyes as she flailed for a moment, shocked and terrified of whatever great beast could be lurking below the surface. Panic made her movements useless and heavy, the water making her muscles work harder than she had to to stay even partially afloat.

Already, she began to tire...
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how had he missed it? he had not so quickly lost his senses, but this, this was something out of a storybook.

his movements were haste when he'd heard, limbs wild as he submerged himself beneath the surface that lurked behind him. she was weightless, pale against the darkness that threatened to consume her and strong. she fought with a fervence that still fell short beneath the weight of the water, reaching, reaching, reaching for something.

anything. he realized.

but in this moment it was him. though he was larger, the body he'd found himself in was unfamiliar, the movements foreign despite his overwhelming need to help her. fight. he would will her, desperate, pleading. he was rough with her, he would realize, but he would bestow her with apologies when they found themselves on land again.

instead, he tugged, maw pulling at her scruff as he pulled them both ever so closer to the surface. his will was strong, but was hers? how long had she been struggling? had she given up? a growl ripped from santiago's throat as he hauled her onto the bank. breathless and haggard, he wasted little time in pulling the rest of her soaked frame away from the water's grasp—almost frightful it might reach for her again.

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pain

it reminded her what life was. so long she'd been hanging in limbo that the quicksilver dame had forgotten almost everything. being dropped here felt like chaos, her insides jumbled and tossed around, her mind scrambled so that she only knew how to do the most basic of things.

pain jolted her with a shock of memories, quick, fleeting before they were gone. a lance to heart and mind both while his teeth lanced her neck, a shock of red spreading in the freezing water around her. it was as if he'd freed the chaos of her existence into the air so that she could finally focus; the flailing ceased and instead figured out how to push her legs through the water, trying to help him help her.

and then... air! delicious, fresh, open air!

she sucked it in too fast, her throat catching to cough and splutter as what felt like the whole lake burst from her jaws. “th--” she tried to say, before hacking again, fur clinging tightly to her lithe form.
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