She was falling, right before his very eyes; she was falling away from him and there was nothing that he could do to stop her from falling further. James threw off his coat, just like he had done last time, but this time there were no rocks to stop him from following her to the depths.
Synnove hit the water backwards, her eyes never leaving James' as she fell. She could see the look of pure horror etched onto his face.
Somewhere amidst the confusion she had lost her grip on Antanasia as well as losing any sight of her or Yulia. As she struggled to move towards the surface she felt something wrap around her arm. At first she tried to brush the item away but it only held her tighter. She forced her eyes to open in the stinging sea water and she saw thick black netting all around her. The nets entangled themselves around Synnove's limbs, much like they do during her nightmares. They dug deeper and deeper into her skin cutting her and spilling her red blood into the ocean. Each time James came close to grabbing her, she was wrenched away by the motions of the nets. His failure did not deter him though and he reached out to her again and was finally able to get a strong grip onto her much smaller hand. He felt the same vicious tugging on the nets which was threatening to rip Synnove from his grip once again. Every time he tried to drag her sinking body closer whatever was on the other end of the net was stronger than him and if he didn't find a way to free her soon she would surely drown. If only he could find the weights that were dragging her downwards he could cut them lose. There was little breath left in his lungs and he knew Synnove would be far worse off. Her eyes were slowly drifting closed as she lost consciousness. James dropped her hand and propelled himself back to the surface. He forced his starved lungs full of air before plunging back down to Synnove.
Now that she had stopped struggling against the nets the violent tugging ceased and she slowly began to sink. James had left her, there was nothing that he could have done to save her and she would rather him live than risk his own life to save her. A strangely comforting darkness began to creep across her eyes and she realised that she was dying. Synnove closed her eyes and went limp, allowing whatever fate had in store for her to occur, essentially, she was giving up.
James watched as her limp body sunk delicately deeper into the water, salt water and tears stung his eyes as he felt helpless to save her. He had promised to keep her safe and now he was failing miserably. If she survived this encounter, she would never trust his word again. He struggled desperately to swim down to her, but the buoyancy of his body wouldn't let him sink down that far. With nothing to grab onto and pull himself down further he was rapidly running out of options. The nets which wrapped around her body sliced into his fingers drawing blood and forcing him to let go, it was strange for a net to be so sharp, but he did not have time to ponder the ramifications now.
One of the dolphins Synnove had been admiring earlier butted its head again James' arm. He had never heard of these creatures being vicious, but he was wary nonetheless. All around him more of the dolphin's pods were swimming about, there had to be at least twenty of them nearby. Only one persistent dolphin kept coming back closer to him and butting him with its head, the rest stayed back and made strange clicking sounds amongst themselves. James tried to push the beast away and focus on the task at hand, but it was proving to be impossible. Each time he pushed it away it returned clicking louder each time and becoming pushier with what it apparently wanted. James looked at the dolphin with a raised eyebrow before throwing an arm around it and grabbing on tightly. It seemed to be exactly what the dolphin wanted because as soon as James had a firm grip the dolphin sped towards Synnove's limp body. It moved with ease, suffering from none of the problems which James had encountered moments before and within seconds they were within reach of her. The sapphire teardrop necklace around Synnove's throat was emitting a light blue glow which reflected into the dolphin's eyes as it made its approach. James feared that the nets would cut into the innocent animal as well and was about to let go of it and send it away when the nets seemed to dissolve before his very eyes. Her limbs were free, but she was still sinking and no longer conscious enough to fight against her imminent doom. With his free hand he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her body flush against his own. With his arm still partially around the dolphin James cupped Synnove's face in his hands and pulled her closer than he had ever dared to do before. He pulled her face closer to his and pressed his lips to her own. He did not have time to savour the moment as he would have wished to do under different circumstances. James forced what little air he still had in his lungs into Synnove's open mouth. Her eyelashes fluttered slightly but other than that there was no movement. Every second that she did not move felt like an eternity to James and panic quickly rose to the surface of his always calm façade. He moved his arm back down around her waist and pulled her in closer before making his way to the surface.
James was so preoccupied with getting Synnove to the surface that he almost missed the fact that he was flanked on all sides by the dolphins. It was a magnificent sight, but it was still unnerving being so close to such strange aquatic animals and having them apparently helping him and Miss Synnove.
When he finally breached the surface of the water he began frantically looking around for something to place Synnove on so that he could try to make her breathe again. They had drifted many meters away from the ship by now, too far away to make out if anyone was still on deck. The ship only had one lifeboat to begin with and that he could see was being used to carrying the other two women who had fallen at the same time. He could see the small boat getting further away from him and closer to the ship, but he had no voice with which to signal where he was. The salt water had made its way into his lungs and robbed his voice from him as well as making it difficult to breathe properly. His clothing was getting heavier, beginning to weigh him down in the water and Synnove's limp body was also making it difficult to stay afloat. There was nothing he could do but try and stay afloat for long enough for the lifeboat to make its way back over to them, that was, if it even saw them in the first place. This entire ordeal was getting worse by the second and there was nothing that James could do now but wait helplessly.
Synnove's skin was ice cold to the touch, almost as if she was already dead, but the slight rise and fall of her chest gave him hope, however slight the motion was. There were lacerations all over her arms from where the nets had been cutting into her pale skin and her blood continued to seep from her into the sea. There was nothing he could do to stop the bleeding; he just wished that her injury would not attract any other sorts of less friendly aquatic life. Although with the dolphins still circling around James was somewhat reassured.
"Please wake up Synnove!" James pleaded with her still unmoving body. He cupped her face once again, trailing his fingers down her cheeks and over her blue tinged lips. He was amazed that she could still look so beautiful even when she was in a state such as this.
"Please wake up Synnove, I refuse to believe that destiny entwined us just to rip us apart later," he said to no response. Her body was getting heavier in his arms, but he refused to let go for fear that she would sink away from him again.
"Why is it every time I get a grip on something, it is ripped away from me?" he asked but knew he would receive no answer.
"Please Synnove, please wake up," James chocked back the painful feeling rising from his heart, he was a man and men do not cry, James would not cry for her while there was still hope.
Moments passed by like hours as they drifted further from the ship, moving helplessly along with the motions of the tides.
"I am sorry that I could not protect you like I promised, but if you wake up now I promise nothing else will happen to you. I will take care of you," he told her unhearing ears. "You know if your Father won't have you back in his house after you return I want you to stay with me. Of course I want you to stay with me anyway Synnove, but I cannot allow myself to be that selfish. I just want you to know that you will always have a home with me, you will not ever have to worry about being alone," he told her trying to keep his mind occupied on the future rather than the grim present. He told her things he had been thinking about for a while now, but had never said out loud because it was crossing the fine line he had set for himself. Now that no one could hear him, he finally felt it was alright to tell her everything he had been thinking about her future, with him. "Perhaps we could go to England, I think Mother would find you delightful; you would have to forgive my Father though, he dislikes all manner of foreigners greatly. My two older sisters take after Father though, so you will have to forgive them as well, but at least you are not French." He said with a slight laugh, slowly losing his grip on the situation at hand.
James was losing the energy to fight against the ocean any longer and with that realisation he allowed a tear to slip from his eye and fall onto Synnove's pale cheek. He wiped the offending tear from her skin and lowered his face to hers once more. "I love you Synnove, please wake up," he said so close to her lips that they brushed together for the briefest of moments. "I know the way I act doesn't show it, but I do love you. I want to marry you, make you Mrs. Norrington, if you would agree to it. Then after that we could have children of our own, a little boy and a little girl, would you like that Synnove?" he asked once again receiving no response. James' words came out sounding like a drunken slur, his head was aching and stopping him from curbing his words like any sensible man would do. He knew he would have never spoken these words if Synnove had been conscious and he would never speak them again, he had no right to ask these things of her. He knew once they arrived in Sweden she would be safely home with a family that loved her and then they would part ways forever. James would not look back and she would never think of him again, that was the way things had been in the past and how things would be in the future. Still at the moment he could not contain his traitorous words as they spilled forth, "I love you," he said again before lowering his lips to hers properly and kissing her. He kissed her repeatedly while whispering his love over and over again until he felt himself falling asleep. James knew that he was not falling asleep, he was losing consciousness.
So I have been fretting ever since I wrote this chapter that maybe James was a little out of character… hopefully he isn't though.
Thank you to all who have added me to your alerts or favourites!
-my-forgotten-rose- here is the kiss you have been waiting for, what a shame a certain young lady wasn't conscious to enjoy it (I'll enjoy it for her though).
Norrieo – if you go to my profile page and click the 'Homepage' link it will take you to my photobucket account where you will (hopefully) find the picture you are looking for.
