The last thing Andy could remember was the cold depth of the water, waves pushing and pulling her body, even as she rested on the floor of the lake. The moon was shining above her, pale white light and luminous sphere blurred by the moving water. So beautiful that every man and woman fell prey to its wonders, its siren song so sweet that not even the strongest man could resist glancing towards its beauty.
At least that was what Samuel always told her.
Something was pressing against her chest forcefully at a rate so uncomfortable it was starting to hurt. The feeling of floating gently had been ripped from her, and she rather felt like she was being squished between two objects. Maybe this was death—if only she could open her eyes to see if this was true.
There was a repetitive call of her name, so muffled it sounded like the sound was traveling through a tunnel. Something soft was pressed to her lips and she felt her chest rise and fall slowly. The voices, or, rather, voice, got louder and louder got closer to her still. A blinding light came over her senses and her eyes snapped open.
Turning over onto her stomach, Andy started to cough, water coming out as she nearly vomited it up. Someone squeezed her shoulder comfortingly, retracting it once she started to shake, body giving out under her slightly.
Allowing the collapse, she stayed on the ground for a few seconds before pushing herself up, slicking her hair away from her head as she breathed heavily. A distinctly male voice asked if she was all right, for which she waved a dismissive thumbs-up to. When she looked over her shoulder, she glanced at the three figures, recognizing only one of them immediately.
Blue eyes and wet sleeves stood out to her first, being the closest with an imbecilic grin on his face. "I've got to say, you've got some sort of luck. If your friend here hadn't seen you, you would have been a goner." He said, gesturing towards the other blonde in their little circle.
Ice-cold as usual, Kaliena surprised Andy with a mixture of compassion, fear, and concern swirling in her eyes. "I hit water about three minutes after you, unknowing of the fact that you lay on the lake floor below."
A flustered look crossed her face as she reeled back, realizing that her cold and calculating demeanor had dropped for a moment. "If I had known it was you down there, I would have left you down there." She sneered, hoping that none of them had heard the "for a few more minutes" at the end of her sentence.
Smiling weakly, Andy ran a hand over her face before patting Kaliena's leg awkwardly. "Thanks anyways." She croaked, sounding nothing like she normally would. The slight Italian accent that was always in her voice had disappeared due to having swallowed so much liquid, but that could be overlooked.
"How do you feel?" Came the only other person left's voice, grumpy and surly. A hand was stuck out for her to shake—which she did—"Leonard McCoy, pleasure. Tell me, do you feel dizzy, nauseous, unwell? Would you mind if I did a minor medical examination to make sure you aren't going to die right here? You did just play poker with the Grim Reaper and come out with a winning hand."
Waving her hand dismissively, Andy felt him shift at her side, feeling her pulse and poking at her as she rubbed the back of her hand under her nose, sniffling. "Don't take this the wrong way, but," she croaked after a minute, holding herself in the freezing cold. "Why'd you all do it? Why'd you help me when you could have just left me there and completed the course."
No one seemed to know the answer, a shared look between the three. "Well," the blonde man said uncomfortably, death very obviously being an uncomfortable topic with him. "Look at it this way. We could either have let you drown, pass our examination, graduate and then serve our terms with the weight of knowing we could have saved you on our shoulders. Or, very simply, we could have saved you, failed the exam, but know that we've just saved another life. That we've prevented the death at sacrifice our dreams. And let me be the first to say, saving you was fantastic idea because you are all kinds of stunning."
Everyone seemed so impressed until the last sentence, all respect immediately dying out. Kaliena was the first to nod at him in respect. "You'll make a fine captain one day, Mr.…?"
The charming smile and wink only set him further back in her book. "Jim Kirk. Pleasure to be acquainted with you."
Kaliena glanced down at his hand hesitantly before shaking it with a grimace. "Kaliena Laurel, Mr. Kirk. I must sadly say the same."
"Jim," McCoy barks, interrupting their awkward eye contact. "Take Miss Laurel and go and finish the course, I'll stay here with her and make sure she doesn't go cold shock. Move it."
A very offended Jim stood, holding out a hand to help Kaliena (who very politely refused) and hesitated a moment before taking off running, Kaliena at his heels.
"God bless America," McCoy grumbled; flopping down next to her on the ground, scowl returning on his face. "That boy needs more help than I'm able to give him."
Andy shrugged, shivering. "Maybe he just needs a different kind of help."
"I wish I knew what."