27. Forget It All

If I didn't find her... If she turned out to be at the bottom of the ocean... I'd never find her then.

I swam about, eyes quickly adjusting to the slightly murky water. Down I swam, looking for any sign. Any sign for her at all. Fish swam past me as I continued swimming down. I started losing breath and became slightly annoyed. Quickly, I swam back up to the surface and took a gulp of air. I looked around and found myself about ten feet away from Empire. I saw some movement on one side of the ship but presumed it as some ocean creature I didn't care about.

Turning away, I plunged back into the water.

Down I swam, swimming faster than I had before, when my senses kicked in. What was I doing? This was the ocean! I was never going to find her! Considering that I had neglected to look for her earlier, I might as well presume that she was d-

No.

She can't be. She won't be! I refuse to accept that!

I swam more vigorously down, the ocean darkening with every stroke. Panic started to rise through me as everything around me began disappearing from sight.

Must.. Find her.. She can't be... I made sure that I stayed away from anything dangerous. But I had a horrible feeling that I had lost her.. And my breath. Quickly, I began to swim upward. The sea wasn't getting any brighter though. No! I can't just..! I wasn't able to finish my thoughts. Everything went black.

• • •

I wasn't dead. Nor had I drowned. I mean, I did find myself in nothingness but that was for a brief moment. Somehow, I had been able to swim up and out into the storm. A wave had washed over me and forced me underwater again. But I made my way back to the surface. I looked for the Empire, a giant ship against the stormy sky. Any sign!

But there was none.

This can't be! I must get out of here! I can't... I can't stick around in the sea forever!

I didn't know how much time passed. All I knew was that I was floating on top the water. The rain had stopped and the dark grey storm clouds dispersed. The sun peeked out from those grey clouds, weak and probably tired. But what did I know?

Suddenly I heard a splash nearby and I nearly drowned again. I turned around and saw it. The Empire! Oh thank god! But where did it come from..? How come I never saw it if this where it had been the entire time!?

I began swimming towards it, but found myself swimming around it. And then I saw a head bob up.

It was Mr. Ambrose. He turned around, probably looking for the ship and I ducked out of sight, under the water. I peeked out to find him dive back into the sea again. What on earth was he doing? I swam over to where he'd been, but stayed a couple feet away. I ducked my head into the water and tried looking for him. I saw a white blob nearby and began to follow it.

The white blob was swimming downwards, and it was swimming in a quite leisurely pace. Everything was growing darker and darker. Nevertheless, I swam on, still following the white blob.

Suddenly, the blob began swimming upwards - and quickly. I somehow lost sight of it for a little while. Everything was black around me and I began to panic. I bumped into something and a short string of bubbles escaped my mouth. I felt fabric brush against my hand and I grasped onto it.

It was Mr. Ambrose! Oh my goodness! And he...

Quickly, I grabbed onto his clothes and began pulling him upwards. Come on! Help me out man! I thought as I continued dragging him towards the surface. The oceanic world around me began growing lighter and lighter now. Fish swam quickly passed me and I panicked briefly, hoping that no sharks were about.

Just..a little... Bit.. More... My, my, who knew that my thoughts would be strained as well? Everything was becoming lighter and lighter. The dark blue of the ocean was switching to a royal blue. I briefly let go of Mr. Ambrose's shirt and instead grabbed onto his arms. There would be no dying on my watch! Err... If I owned one.

I was losing the air I had and my kicks were weakening. No! You can't drown yourself! You two can't die like this! This cannot happen! Swim! Swim, damn you, swim! A voice screamed in my head.

I let him go again, grabbed his shirt once more with one hand, and used my free arm and two legs to propel us up and out of the water. Something strange happened, and suddenly I was gasping for air, coughing like mad. I pulled Mr. Ambrose out too, but he didn't have the same reaction as I. I looked around, panicky, for the ship. And when I found it, I groaned in irritation.

"Why is the damn ship so far away!?" I growled, before pulling Mr. Ambrose with me towards it.

It took a long while. I mean, why wouldn't it? I was dragging along a... thing that weighed a hundred and seventy pounds! That's a bit too much!

When we finally reached the ship, I wondered how the hell we were going to get up on it. The last thing I remembered was that there was a ladder... Which currently was nowhere in sight. I sighed and dragged Mr. Ambrose with me to the other side.

There it was! A ladder! I swam towards it as fast as I could with the body. And then I came across a tiny little dilemma.

I had no idea how to get on the ship with Mr. Ambrose. I honestly didn't. I looked at his granite, fathomless face. His eyes were closed and I intended to keep then that way. Well...

I gently patted his cheek, soft enough that he would be hurt, hard enough to wake him up. "Mr. Ambrose? Mr. Ambrose sir!" I tried splashing him with water, but no luck. "Ugggggghhhhh." I groaned before looking up at the ship's ladder. I grabbed onto Mr. Ambrose's shirt with one hand and used the free hand to grab onto the first rung of the ladder. I didn't know how I was going to do this, but it was worth the try.

I put my feet on the bottom most rung and pulled up. Well. This was much harder than I thought. Darn it!

Don't give up! You need that man you're holding onto alive, do you hear!? Get yourself up on the ship! a voice yelled at me. I took a deep breath and wondered how on earth I was going to grab the second rung. It was a dangerous prospect, one that could possibly lead me to falling into the water.

Nevertheless, I tried. Quickly, I let go of the rung I held onto, grabbed the second one and used that hand and my legs to pull me up. Where was the crew!? Where was Karim? Where was the captain? Had they all died? I hoped not.

I went for the third rung and repeated the little process. It was quite tiring, if I were to be honest. My arms were both screaming in pain. I let out a quick sigh, before going up onto the seventh rung. Just a few more... I thought desperately. I can't afford to fall back into the water! My clothes were stuck to my body and my hat probably had a ton of water underneath it as it rested on my head. Ignore that. Worry about it later! Just get onto the ship! I went up to another rung, then another, another, and then to the near final one. I almost couldn't feel my arms, they were being so strained.

Finally, I reached for the topmost rung but waited a second too long. I lost my balance and shrieked as I fell back down into the ocean with a huge splash.

When I resurfaced, I let out a scream of frustration. I hadn't lost my grip on Mr. Ambrose's unconcious body, but I might as well have! I would've cried then, feeling that all hope was lost, but I knew that was false. The hope I had was right in front of me! The blasted ship!

Suddenly I heard thundering footsteps and I looked up. I saw a turban and honestly, I couldn't have felt more relieved than I was then to see that darn turban.

"Karim!" I shouted.

"Ifrit?! It's the Ifrit! Sahib!"

"Oi, you blockhead! Your sahib is right here!" I pointed at Mr. Ambrose's unconscious body.

"What are you doing with sahib!?"

"Saving him! He'd almost drowned! Now quit asking questions and do something to get us out of the water!"

"But-"

"Karim, do it! Do you not want to see your employer alive!?"

"I do but-"

"Then help us out, or so I will cut you!" I said in a dangerous voice and he finally nodded, leaving. I returned my attention back to Mr. Ambrose's granite face. He was still out cold.

Soon I heard some creaking and looked up. A big, white, round diamond shape object was slowly being lowered. I swam out of the way and realised that it was one of the lifeboats. I sighed in relief before swimming towards it, all while dragging Mr. Ambrose along with me.

I got onto the boat first which meant that I had to let go of Mr. Ambrose for a little bit. I was afraid that he'd sink into the water and that I'd have to go after him again, but nothing of that sort happened.

Instead, I grabbed his arm and heaved him up onto the boat. And he was quite... Heavy. Either way, I managed to get him onto the boat and tugged harshly on the rope attached to the boat. A moment later, we were being pulled up to the top of the ship.

As soon as we reached the top, I got onto the ship, clothes sopping wet. I reached over to Mr. Ambrose and began pulling him towards me. I pulled him to the middle of the deck and lay him down. Karim appeared by my side.

"You could've helped in getting him onto the ship you know."

"I could have, but you were handling it just fine Ifrit." I rolled my eyes before properly inspecting Mr. Ambrose. "Do you know how to save him Ifrit?"

"No... I never took life saving lessons. But, is there a doctor aboard this ship?"

"Possibly. I shall go check." He left me with the unconscious body. I had a feeling that there was water in his lungs, considering that he had been underwater. I wondered how to get the water out of him. Subconsciously, I began to press gently on his chest. I blinked and looked down. Water seeped out from his mouth.

Well wasn't that a miracle! I continued pressing lightly on his chest, watching the water pour out from his mouth. When no more water spilled out, I stopped.

He still wasn't awake. "Mr. Ambrose? Mr. Ambrose sir?" I said, patting his cheek. I slapped him out of slight desperation. Nothing happened.

I looked around to see if Karim came back. But no one was in sight. "Mr. Ambrose, if you don't wake up, I'll.. I will..." I looked around again. And then something popped into my head. "If you don't wake up, I'll steal your money, Mr. Ambrose sir." I whispered into his ear.

No reaction. Well, he couldn't say that I hadn't tried!

I heard footsteps and my head shot up. Karim was walking towards me, with a middle aged, average looking man. I assumed he was the doctor of the ship, but I wasn't too sure.

After a moment of inspection, the doctor came to the conclusion that he needed resuscitation. As to that, well I didn't know what it was. But Karim did.

As the doctor went away, I asked him. "Resuscitation is when you give him air. And considering you are a girl, you should be the one to do it. I shall be going now." Karim began to leave but I stopped him.

"How the hell am I supposed to give him air!?"

"Figure it out Ifrit." With that, he left. I stared after him for a few moments, before reverting my attention to Mr. Ambrose. Resuscitation? Give him air? And considering you are a girl... Blast him, what did he mean!?

Karim reappeared then. "Still do not know?"

"No. What's the problem with not telling me?"

"I might get attacked." I raised an eyebrow.

"Go ahead. Try me."

"If you insist." The big burly man, walked back towards the doors and disappeared before peeking his head out. "Resuscitation is when you give the victim air... With your mouth." And then he quickly shut the door. My jaw dropped.

What in the world!? Why would anyone do that!? I looked back at Mr. Ambrose. He's better off unconscious!

But then... I remembered that I still hadn't gotten my pay check. "Oh you're making things very difficult!" I said through gritted teeth.

Taking a deep breath, I inched towards Mr. Ambrose's head. I opened his mouth and shut my eyes, before pressing my own mouth to his.

And I exhaled. I did it again and felt so utterly peculiar. I continued doing this until Mr. Ambrose began coughing. I jumped back, far away from him. I looked at him in surprise, as he sat up. He was alive! Oh goody! By Jove, he partially had me worried!

"Mr. Linton...?" he rasped between coughs. I wanted to hug him, to hold him tightly in my embrace.

But my mind was thinking of something entirely different. When he spoke again, my mind went blank.

"Mr. Linton? Is that really you?"

Forget.

"W-who are you?" I stammered, eyes wide.

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Hiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!! Early update I know. xP

My, this chapter is so long. Oh well, doesn't matter cx

I hope you liked it! As you can tell, I feel much better than Saturday! ;p

Oh yeah. Plot twist too c:

I'm listening to Dangerous Woman now. I've been listening to Work earlier and then I was like, let's see what Ariana's new song is all about.

I CAN RELATE TO IT. THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY.

This chapter was pretty intense OMA. Lol.

somethin' bout you, makes me feel like a dangerous woman!!! Somethin bout, somethin bout, somethin bout you, makes me wanna do things that I shouldn't !!! ;D

Sorry I'll stop now.

Maybe Lilly feels the same way 😏😏 xD

Foancjanfkebdkandjwnwidbwjwbigajfkwnvjajso

I need chapter seventeen

I'm literally desperate for iiiiiitttttttt OMA.

It's spring break! so I said like in the last authors note (I think) I'll have more time to updaaaateeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!! yay! huzzah!! simply marvellous!!!

ok I'll stop now, I know I'm annoying .-.

I hope you liked this chapter! Twenty-eight might come out early too, idk

Depends.

Well, anyways, please leave comments!!! lots of them!!! like, a looootttttt!!!!!! :D

Love you Flawloers! 😘

I'll...

See you later! cx