Disclaimer: Still own nothing.
AN: ...I kinda forgot about this part. Posted by request by my friend Kya, who has been commenting on my sadism lately. Note, please, that I didn't like this segement nearly as much as the other. This one takes place immediately after the other.
"I've…almost…argh!" His fingers closed on gravel, and he plunged back, the ledge fleeing from his hands.
For an eternity, they fell, the night torn by two desperate cries that too quickly blended into the roar of the river.
The water struck him like a hammer, and dragged him down, down, into the depths. Panic surged through him in a lethal electricity, and he kicked madly, fighting to reach anything that feigned kinship to land. His exhausted limbs became leaden, and all his terror could make no progress against his steady sinking. He cried out in fear and frustration, but foul tasting water filled his mouth, flooded his throat, burned at his lungs.
I'm going to die, he realized, and once horrified and cruelly calm. I'm going to die…and so is Mayura. His panic returned a hundred fold, and again he struggled, his eyes open against the stinging water, searching through the darkness and murk for another figure. Something grabbed his hand, and for a moment he thrashed against its hold—but it became suddenly cold, abruptly exposed to icy wind.
Air!
Those same hands grabbed his shoulders and heaved up, and this time he obeyed. His head cleared the darkness, and for a few moments, he hovered blindly at the water's edge, expelling everything that had forced its way down his throat.
"Are you okay, Loki?" Mayura spluttered from beside him. He opened his eyes to stare dumbly at her. Still reeling from his fear of the water, it took another few moments to realize why he was still floating. Mayura was clinging to him, churning the water beneath them while he sank. He clung to her like a child, his panic all but consuming the once demure god. He was shaking violently, his teeth clenched so hard that he feared they would shatter. A warm, comforting hand smoothed his hair.
"You'll be all right, Loki," Mayura whispered to him, her voice only half heard through the river's cry. "Just come with me."
She held him close, directing him as they swam, speaking to him gently to soothe his fears. Slowly, slowly, they escaped the river's greatest pull, and crawled to its shore.
"Loki, look," Mayura murmured as they stumbled from the water.
In the east, the sun was rising.