Arcadia's Love (Book TWO)

Drowning

Sera:

I was drowning.

My head stuck beneath the water, trapped by the ice as my lungs were burning and I banged on the surface above me, trying my hardest to break through.

But I couldn't hold my breath any longer, my lungs filling with the murky water, making me cough and take in more as the darkness closed in around me....

And then I woke up.

I wasn't in bed with my Doctor. No, whenever we did go to bed, I waited for him to fall asleep and then sneaked out, going to the library, or the labs. This time, I was in the observatory, looking at the photo's on the projector again. I was looking at the Academy, the place I had called home for 150 years.

The place that had nearly killed me on my first night.

The Harlequin, Ysandre. I hated her, she was my nemesis as much as the Doctor was for my brother, except she wasn't mad. She just didn't want the competition.

Really, I'd been over doing it recently. The pregnancy scare, the idea of being stuck in that horrible place, unable to see, being forced to sleep. I didn't sleep. I couldn't. Every night I was plagued by these dreams, dreams that were so, so real. I'd even woken up with bruises before.

The Doctor was probably going to wake up soon, so I switched off the projector, turning out the lights as I started to walk back to our room, now even bigger, ready to have a crib when the day eventually came. I'd found the perfect one. There was a store room, full of the last remnants of Gallifrey. Inside... was his and Arianna's crib. Their first stars.

The walk was a long one, and I had to go past the swimming pools, next to the pantry. And there was a voice coming from inside. It was someone calling for me. And I knew that voice. "Koschei? Kos, is that you?" I stuck my head inside the door, not wanting to go in. That dream was still fresh in my memory, I didn't want to be stuck in it.

There was no one inside, but for some reason the slides were on at the far end of the room. "Oh, Doctor, when will you learn?" I muttered, moving carefully along the edge of the room towards the shut off valve. Once it was off, I started back towards the door, but stopped, hearing a different voice now. One that couldn't be here.

"Seraphina.... Sera, where are you?" I turned, but no matter what, there was no sign of Arianna in here. But then I tripped, over a pipe that hadn't been there a moment a go, and I was being dragged backwards towards the water.

"NO! Doctor! Amy, Rory, help!" I screamed, clawing at the tiled floor, trying to stop myself from falling. But then I was under, and I was kicking, clawing and just trying to get back to the surface, but it felt like there was something around my ankles, keeping me tied to the bottom of the pool. And then... Then the darkness found me again.

Rory:

Where was she, I heard her screaming, sounding like she was fighting against something, but where was she?

I stopped, seeing the door to the pool was open and the lights on. No. She never went in there, she was terrified of it, and she sure as hell never went in the water. She couldn't swim!

Running in there, I saw her under the water, hair floating around her head, her eyes closed and she'd stopped fighting, looking so serene, so peaceful. Not even thinking, I dove into the water, easily pulling her up and throwing her onto the side of the pool. She wasn't breathing, but her hearts were still going so I started mouth to mouth, knowing that she needed to get air.

"Come... On... Sera.... You.... Don't.... Die.... Now!" And then she was up, coughing and spluttering. "Oh, thank God!" I dragged her further away from the water, getting her out into the corridor where she curled herself up against the wall, shivering and crying. "Hey, hey, you're fine, you're out of the water, Sera..." I told her, wrapping my arms around her, letting my sister in law hide her face in my shoulder as she just shook.