and you think it'll be fine, but not this time around; [au & rw]
Brandon had never been much of a romantic at heart, despite the fact that he was a fan of the classics, flowers and candy and chocolates and surprise dates and all that fun stuff, but if he was going to be honest with himself, having Laura up and disappear without a trace along with the others over the last however long it had really been had taken its toll on him. Most of it was likely psychosomatic and really, he shouldn't have let it get to him as much as he did, but nothing struck him as particularly amusing anymore, he'd gone back to wearing hats of one nature or another, something he was only doing of late whenever he was feeling insecure or disappointed or otherwise depressed about something, and he'd taken to toying with his fire again, a somewhat-nervous or otherwise distracted habit he'd dropped some time ago. All because Laura had vanished into thin air. But in Brandon's defence -- and he thought it was a damn good "in my defence" at that -- they had been a couple for over a year now, and while her going off to college was one thing, having her drop off the face of the planet was quite another. It didn't sit well with him, not at all, and he didn't like that they didn't know what was going on, or that there were no signs of progress.

It wasn't like Brandon to be short with anyone, not unless they were someone like Eudora or Jack, the school bitch and jerk who just asked for it most of the time, and so when he found himself turning on his partner and all but snapping at them for a harmless remark about one meaningless matter or another, it had caught him well and truly off guard and, more to the point, come as something of a wake up call. If nothing else, he needed to clear his head. So it was off for a walk, mumbled and hasty apologies offered to said partner, hands shoved deep in his pockets and the peak of his cap pulled down low over his brow.

He hadn't meant to walk as far as he did, feet carrying him with a little too much speed on and on, further and further away from the school. Brandon hadn't intended to go so deep into the grounds, walking forward and forward until he realised, with a blink of surprise and confusion, that he was at the shores of the lake. A look to the left, a look to the right, a lengthy peer back over his shoulder and Brandon remained in place for over a whole minute, debating what to do. Stay where he was, go back, run back before he could vanish in a puff of smoke? In the end, through the simple act of not deciding one way or the other, Brandon made his choice to stay where he was. More or less. Around the shore of the lake he wandered, mind doing the same thing of its own accord, trying to put together the pieces that were scattered all around; who had disappeared and when, how could said people possibly be connected, had they done anything similar before going poof? His brain came up blank on all fronts, hitting the proverbial walls that just left him staring into space with his feet coming to a stop as they pleased. They weren't wet, there was no water seeping in through the sides of his Converse, so he was far enough away from the water not to have to worry about accidentally stumbling in and giving himself a good soaking. On top of everything else, the last thing he needed was to be soaked to the skin with cold lake water in October. He might have had a greater tolerance towards the cold than most, but even his abilities couldn't protect him against icy water, especially when he was naturally weak to that element.

Vision glazed over in his mental wanderings, Brandon at first thought it was a trick of the light, the movement in the trees across the way and dismissed it without a second thought. It was the motion off to his left only a few seconds later that had him turning his head, quickly doing the math; if he had seen something that first time, and the same thing the second time around, then they were too close together, time-wise, to be the same thing. No animal could move that quickly. He was so busy trying to figure out what he had seen that he didn't realise there was someone -- something? -- behind him until there was a powerful, solid shove between his shoulder blades propelling him forward and, briefly, into open air before he was dropping down. His hands struggled in vain to be free of his pockets, arms fighting to reach out for purchase that didn't exist even as he hit the water and his own momentum carried him under. He had the briefest flash of blonde hair before he went down, hands finally coming free and scrambling to push himself up through the water around him. It was deeper than it should have been. Much deeper. By all rights he should have either hit the deck at the same time as splashing down, or been able to touch the bed with his foot and push himself right back up. The former didn't happen and he couldn't do the latter, no matter how many times he shoved down with his feet. He was sinking.

Panic hit him then, full-force and like a hurricane, only building as it felt like he kept going down, down, down, despite the push and shove of his limbs against the water that should have carried him up, back towards the light from above the surface that only seemed, perhaps in his fright, to be fading, growing smaller and dimmer. Oh god, where was the lakebed? Why was he still sinking? Precious air left his lungs as frustration joined the growing terror and Brandon could have cursed then. Wasting his oxygen when he had so little. He should know better. But he was sinking, still deeper, and he couldn't breathe. Why couldn't he swim? Why couldn't he rise to the surface?

Down and down he went, further and further, as though something strong but intangible were pulling him closer and closer to the belly of the lake, keeping a firm hold on him like iron fists, clutching ever tighter. Brandon couldn't struggle, couldn't fight, couldn't use his powers and didn't know what else to do but keep trying in vain, using up his strength and the thinning air in his lungs until they screamed and burned in protest, his chest seeming to shrink and compress, closing up. Everything darkened like the light from above, that tiny orb growing smaller and smaller until it was little more than a pinprick, and then, like all the air, it was gone. Brandon was alone in the dark with nowhere to go, no one to turn to. What else could he do? The water was stronger than he was, he was overwhelmed. So he let it in.

And then he woke up. It was with an awful choking, coughing, gasping fit that he jerked back into consciousness as though he was fighting desperately to expel water from his lungs that had never been there to begin with, his weakened body complaining sharply, telling him to just lie still and take his time. But Brandon's mind was still in the depths of the lake, struggling to come around to the real world, and in his mind, he had drowned.


[ open to laura ]