·✧•· 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝑭𝒐𝒓 · 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑪𝒓𝒐𝒘𝒏 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒇 ·✧•·

· ☾ 𝐂𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝟕 ☽ · ﴾𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒊𝒏𝒈﴿ ·

All her senses were dark. Then slowly, as if a veil were lifted, she gained them again.

Her sore eyes open to witness the darkness surrounding her.

It was cold, the girl's lips parted to take in a breath, but all she took in was a frigid gulp of water. Esmeralda's weak pulse raced as she realized where she was.

She was sinking to the bottom of a trench.

She drifted aimlessly in current, her dazed sense of direction heavily distorted its sway.

She struggled to grasp the moments that had unfolded before this calamity, the chaos had transpired so quickly, it was all a blur to her.

Tilting her head upward, she watches her whines of pain trickle toward the glittering daylight above.

Descending further into the abyss, Esmeralda was incapable of swimming to the surface. Her bounded wrists and ravaged muscles paralyzed her from even flinching at the crippling pain that pulsed through her.

Her lungs scorched as glacial waters seeped through her and engulfed any residing breath she clung onto.

Although the royal wanted to fight for her depleting life, she did not resist her demise as she was now at the mercy of it.

Slipping in and out of consciousness, all the Princess could do was watch as the warped sun rays slowly began to fade along with her.

She starves for air as an anchoring wave of slumber starts to wash over her.

As her gaze wavered on the surface, Esmeralda wondered if it was the brutal fall or a lack of oxygen that toyed with her mind.

She squints at the perplexing sight that manifests before her hazy vision. A dark mass appeared in the center of daylight's heavenly beam. Growing larger by the second, the unknown oddity crashes through the water barrier.

It lands right beside her.

Trillions of bubbles swarmed its mass. An arm protrudes from the mist. Snaking its way around the girl's waist, the specter then pulls her figure against theirs. They strive for the surface.

Sharp gasps pierce the howling rapids as the renegades emerge from the treacherous waters.

Esmeralda struggles to regain her breath, each raspy cough set her lungs aflame as she expels water.

Wincing at the blaring sunlight, the royal peers at her savior. She was far too dazed to discern who they were, only making out a distraught expression.

The mumrik determinedly swam to the waterfront. Regrettably, Esmeralda could not aid his stride as every ounce of her strength had been overcome by unbearable anguish.

Robin Hood plants his heels onto the shore, his heart sinks as he rises. The royal he carried suddenly wilts in his arms. Peering down at the Princess, her perishing expression provokes great panic.

'Oh, no. No. No. No. No!' The terror echoes in his mind.

Sweeping his arm beneath her legs, the outlaw frantically carries the fragile royal to shore.

Trudging through heavy waters, he raced against time. Gravel clattered beneath his step as he staggered onto the shore. Falling to his knees, he kneels with the woman in his embrace. Sitting her upright, Esmeralda's unconscious figure slumps between his legs. Her head rests against his chest.

Although her chest rose and fell at a steady pace of life, Robin Hood was unable to ease his heart's frantic momentum, fearing her rhythm would stop at any moment.