In Memoriam - An Unus Annus Fanfiction

13.01 - 01/13 - Learning to Breathe Underwater

»Annus?«
   »Yeah?«
»I'm bored.«
Unus tipped his seat backwards. Marvin had left in the early noon, and now, the sun was already setting. It was one of these days where the mind was foggy, and the body restless. He wanted to do something. Of course, they had the training room, and the garden, and almost the whole house for themselves. Almost.
He glanced over to the stairs. The image of Dark bound to the chair popped up in his head.

He wanted to confront him. Not that he'd have anything to say, or to ask. His mind was full of questions, but empty of words.
    »We could go to the danger room.« Annus suggested.
»Danger Room?«
    »Y'know, the training room. Like in X-Men?«
»We're not superheroes.«
    »It feel like it.« Annus waved his hands around. »Make things appear out of thin air, blast people with energy - that sounds pretty superhero-y to me."

Unus nodded towards the stairs. »If we're super heroes, then what are they?«
Annus huffed a laugh. »Are you kidding me? Heroes always face the most absurdly overpowered bad guys. Thanos? Galactus? Darkseid?«
A smile hushed over Unus's face. He looked over to his buddy. »You're right. We'll kick their asses.«
»That's the Unus I know!« Annus beamed. »Hey, wanna go outside and see who can hold their breath the longest?«

Unus shook his head, laughing. He followed Annus outside, and jumped headfirst into the cold water. The surface closed above his head, encapsulating him in weightlessness. He closed his eyes, focusing on the air in his body.
He stopped his breathing, knowing that Annus did the same. Still, he imagined how it would feel to breath in and out a calm rhythm of expansion and collapse.

His mind calmed down. There was no up, no down. Nothing but him, floating in an endless, open space. He managed to hold that state for thirty, maybe fourth seconds, before a pressure began building up in his chest.
For now, it was easy to ignore, but he knew that soon it would become heavier, stronger, emphasied by every heartbeat.

Given his better physical condition, Annus might just win this one. Unless he did something crazy. Why not try it out? His thoughts wispered. You can do it. It felt like a dream. No, like that brief passage between dream and reality.
He kept imaging how it would feel to breath. Not only in his chest, but his throat and the back of his mouth. He focussed on the sound it made, and on the way the air was exhaled.

The rational part of his brain told him that he was under water. Every other part however understood that there was no way that this could be true - after all, all the rest of the respiratory system told them that Unus was, in fact, breathing air.
He began to drift off. Not into unconsciousness. Rather into a state of liminality, from which he was able to observe his body from the perspective of an outsider. It felt as if he was playing a hyper realistic video game.

He opened his eyes. To his surprise, he was face to face with Ethan. At first he thought that the water had mirrored his image, but the man in front of him wasn't him. Judging from the look in his eyes, he knew that Ethan had just seen him too.

The moment only lasted for a second. Something pulled him backwards, and Ethan into the other direction. His head broke through the surface, and he gasped for air.
   »What the hell was that!« Annus scolded him. »I thought you had drowned there!«

Marvin watched them through the glass door. After he was sure that they were too occupied with themselves, he turned on his heel, and walked upstairs.
Dark winked at him when he entered he room. »Hey there hot stuff. Can't get enough of me, huh?«
Marvins face was as cold as stone. »Why her.«

Dark's eyes went wide in faked shock. »Oh my. How insensitive of me. You knew her, right? I'm so sorry.«
   Marvin gritted his teeth. »Why. Her.«
The white eyed monster with the face of the woman he loved wobbled it's head.
   »Have you never stopped to wonder if maybe your precious teacher had her own ulterior motives?«

Marvin slammed his hand down on the arm rests, causing Dark to lean back.
   »Celine would have never struck a deal with such a lowly creature like you.«
The white eyes smiled at him. »Of course she wouldn't. Your mentor was a paragon of all that's good and true. Let's stick to that story, even if we both know it isn't true.«
    »You're lying.«
»Why would you think that?«
    »Because it's what you do. You lie.«

Dark shook his head, huffing a laugh. »You know what I like about you, Mage? You're so pretentious. Such high morale, but for what reason? We've both seen your true face, so who are you trying to convince? Unus and Annus? Me?« He made a dramatic pause. »Or yourself.«

Marvin turned away. »There's no use in talking to you.«
The thing that Dark said next made him stop for a brief second, his hand already on the doorknob.
    »There would be if you listened.«
The Mages voice was bitter when he responded. »You're not worth being listened too.«
He shut the door louder than he had intended. Hoping that Unus and Annus hadn't heard it, he walked downstairs.