December 23: "Breathe! For God's sake, breathe man!" (from Hades Lord of the Dead)
A/N: This one wanted to be written in a weird, fragmentary style. I hope it works.
Cold.
Dark.
Where was he?
Agony.
Holmes became aware that his abdomen was cramping and his lungs were on fire.
Confusion.
Panic.
Anger.
He was not sure if the world was dark and silent or if he was trapped in his mind like an impenetrable steal box.
Vertigo.
Disorientation.
His thoughts were a jumbled mess, and he could not remember what had led up to this moment.
Then,
Flashes of events:
A chase through the woods.
The river.
Ice.
Then, ice giving way to water, pulling him under.
Then nothing.
Cold.
Dark.
The pain became sharper somehow, at intervals, but his thoughts grew more muddled.
Something was pushing, no pounding his chest.
Then, from the nothing, a voice:
"Breathe!"
Was that Watson?
"For God's sake, breathe, man!"
It had to be.
Then, all at once, Holmes felt his body seizing up to expel the water from his lungs, then at last letting in that first breath.