Danny was drifting in and out of consciousness, coming awake through the shaking of his body alone, the shooting pain through his nerves from the sheer force of the cold. When he was in the waking world, he was struggling to grip the rope between his fingers, push his back up against the wall and stand, to struggle and fight his way out.

The other side of consciousness was much kinder. Memories flitten through his mind as though they were dancing, coming in flashes quicker than Danny could grasp them. There was the sound of gunshots, Rachel's laughter, Steve's chuckling, and most of all, his daughter yelling out "Danno!" All of these things echoing through his mind as he dipped down from blackness back into blackness, from painful memories into painful reality.

With a loud cry of pain, Danny woke once again, his mind full of fog and pain. All he could hear was the echoing sound of water splashing, and it made Danny's head spin. He couldn't tell if it was just echoing in his mind, or if that was reality, that he was growing closer and closer to drowning in this hole. Blinking his eyes open through the dark, Danny realized that it was indeed reality, as every shift in the water was now splashing up against his neck. It was all he could do not to scream in both agony and fear, struggling to push himself further up against the wall, take his mouth higher above the water.

But he couldn't move, he couldn't even bring his arms up above the water. He couldn't feel his fingers, much less move them to grab for that rope one last time. It was as though the parts of his mind that controlled motion had gone black, and all that was left was pain in his chest. There were no words to describe how difficult it was to breathe, with the cold water constricting the muscles in his chest.

Danny had sworn that the time between consciousness had been no more than a minute, and the water had gone from his stomach to his neck. And even now as it lapped around the collar of his shirt, he could feel it rising, growing closer and closer to his chin. He struggled back, but his body wouldn't move, all he was able to do was tilt his chin back just a bit, the will to live fighting back the grogginess just a few moments longer.

Why was it that it was now that Steve was failing him? Why was it now, in his final hour, that he was so utterly, desperately, painfully alone? It was Steve's words that had driven him here- no, it was his pride- and now he was alone. No one to hear him shaking, groaning, whining at too high a pitch. Nothing coming to his ears except for the miserable echoes of rushing water and his own cries.

He had lost the ability to hold his phone long ago, and now, fighting back the urge to just pass out once again, he tried to hold the image of his daughter in his mind. There was nothing more than he could do, nothing more that he could physically push his body to, so he held on to the slipping fragments of his fuzzy sanity.

Why couldn't he hear Steve's cries? Why did Grace's face blur and mar when he tried to hold it tight in his mind? And most of all, why couldn't he move, why couldn't he succeed, and why couldn't he manage to save himself?

More so than the physical pain, it was the fact that he had lost the chance to be his own savior, and this time around, Steve wasn't here to be Danny's messiah. He was without his best friend, without his family, without anything or anyone to comfort him.

Danny assumed that what he was feeling, this blinding whiteness, this fogginess in his mind, this is what death felt like. The water splashing at his chin, the cold overwhelming his senses to the point where he was utterly numb. Death, this is what it had to be, loneliness, quiet, cold, and no adequate words to describe it other than 'defeat.'

Just as he swore he was going to go out for the last time, Danny's ears picked up a sound over the water, over his own pitiful whimpers. The sound of voices, of people calling out, of people crying out. They echoed just like the water, splashing around the walls of the cavern to Danny's icy cold ears.

"Danny! Danny are you here?" are you here are you here…

If Danny hadn't been nearly delirious, he would have sworn that it was Steve's voice, his partner's cry calling out to him in this hell, some last and final degree of comfort. All that Danny wanted to do was chuckle at irony, that the very voice that had led him to this place was now greeting him in his final moments.

After the laugh, he cursed that it wasn't Grace, that the last thing he was going to hear, even if it was only in his mind, wasn't his gorgeous and wonderful daughter. That voice calling out to him, asking where he was, begging and pleading for Danny. Why was Steve here now? Why?

Just to take a final shaking breath, try and spit at death before the water splashed over his lips and into his mouth, Danny opened his mouth and gasped for air. Body shaking and trembling as the breath rattled in his lungs, Danny pulled the last of his strength together to shout.

"Steve, I'm here goddammit! Help me! I'm here…" he managed to choke out, then resumed his gasps for air, struggling to tilt his chin up above the water just a little further. The water was close now, too close, and the blackness in his mind was just about ready to take over and claim him for the last time.

Fuzziness overcoming him like a wave of exhaustion, Danny gasped for air, tilted his head back farther yet, and slipped out of consciousness, blackness overcoming his mind like the water had overcome his body.

Thanks so much for reading! I hope you enjoy :)