Walking On Water PV A. Vernatis Finished

That day was supposed to be a good one. Artemis had finished that week's work early on Friday and had made sure that any detentions he had to give out were being taken over by other teachers. That Saturday morning was supposed to be just for him and Yuya to hang out and have some long-awaited father-son time. Last week was great and Artemis had loved the smile that seemed to stay on his son's face all day long that he wanted to ensure he could have another great day for his boy again. So his plan, that the two agreed on, was to start off with breakfast in Hogsmeade, and then they would floo back home to head into Muggle London and go to the cinemas for whatever kiddie movie that had just come out. After that, they would have eaten at Yuya's favorite restaurant and head back to the castle for a calming evening. It was perfectly planned out and was going to be great.

Or so Artemis thought when he woke up that morning.

Now he was running through the school, calling out Yuya's name loudly and frantically. Why you may ask? Because his boy was missing and Artemis had no idea where he could have gone or why he would leave his quarters without him.

"Yuya!" he called again. 'Damn it, Yuya! Where are you?'Artemis thought, stopping in a hallway to lean against a wall and breath for a bit, his hair still damp and clinging to his neck and wetting the shoulders of his T-shirt. He had been running and speed walking all through the lower levels of the school, then went to the 7th floor only to not find his son. He was quite a bit exhausted and rightfully so, but he wasn't going to stop looking for his rugrat.

"Yuya!" He called again moving pass a door on his left, only to have that same door slam opened to reveal a highly peeved off Transfiguration Professor.

"Dammit, Vernatis, can't a witch get any sleep in this goddamned castle? It's six in the morning. On a weekend. I thought you liked sleeping in! What the actual crap are you doing up?"

Trying to catch his breath, Artemis leaned against the wall across from the young woman and narrowed his eyes. "I am...quite aware...of what time it is...Lian," he responded breathlessly, closing his eyes briefly to focus on breathing.

When the younger woman inquired about his son, he opened his eyes and actually focused on her, and quickly turned his head away from the woman's barely concealed form. Yes, she was covered with a robe, a kimono from the brief glance Artemis had of it, but it wasn't appropriate for him to be looking at a woman in her undergarments. He did notice that she didn't have her eyes wrapped, which probably meant that he had woken her up with his frantic calls. He would apologize but...Yuya was more important than his colleague's beauty sleep.

"Do you think that you could put on some damned clothes? It's highly inappropriate for a woman to be walking around half naked. And for your information, my son is missing...with my wand, I might add, which is why I'm calling for him. I can't use the Tracking spell wandlessly, not that it would work without a wand anyway..."

Artemis looked down the hall, almost as if he was about to call out for his son again, but then he turned and asked a silly question of the young woman. "You wouldn't have happened to hear him run through these halls, would you?"



Near the Great Lake

Yuya smiled as he waved his father's wand, holding it aloft as if it were a paper plane as he ran across the grass in front of the castle. The young boy, still in his pajamas and slippers, had woken up earlier that morning because he was too excited for the great day he was going to have with his father. Just like last weekend, he had planned on waking the man up so that they could get started earlier, but when he walked into his father's bedroom, he heard the water from the shower in the adjoining bathroom running. The mischievous boy giggled as he walked quietly into the bathroom. His plan was to sneak over to the toilet and flush it to make the steaming water turn cold on his father. It worked at his house in Bath so surely it would work here as well, right?

As he tip-toed his way over to the toilet, the boy covered his mouth as to prevent a laugh from leaking through his lips, but he stopped as his eyes caught something distractive sitting on a small ledge close to the shower curtain.

'Daddy's wand!' he thought excitedly.

Mouth opened in an "oh" shape, Yuya walked over to the wand and looked at it. He reached out to touch the piece of wood, only to snatch his hand back quickly. He knew he wasn't supposed to touch his dad's wand. He had gotten in big trouble with his dad when he was seven and he had taken it outside to play with it with his friends at the park. He remembered the talk he had with his dad and he didn't fancy having the same lecture again. But this was such a rare moment. He was sure that his dad wouldn't be as mad as he was last year. He was only a little kid last year. A baby, really. Of course he would be in trouble for playing with a wand.

But he was eight now. He was practically a grown-up and Yuya knew that he was ready to hold a wand and use one.

So, as quietly as he could, Yuya reached for the wand again and picked it up. Holding it to his chest, he left the bathroom just as the silhouette of his dad stepped under the spray of water to wash the soap from his hair.

Instead of staying in the quarters, however, Yuya felt the need to practice with his dad's wand outside on the grass. So putting on his slippers, the little boy left the quarters and made his way through the castle down to the ground floor to the large doors. Of course, the doors were closed tightly and were very heavy; much too heavy for an eight-year-old boy to open alone. Pouting, Yuya gripped the wand in his hand, forgetting about it for a moment until he remembered that he did have his dad's wand in his hand, and he remembered listening to his dad tutor a student on a spell to open doors.

With a smile, Yuya pointed the wand at the door and said, "Alomora!"

Nothing happened and the little boy frowned at the wand and at the door. 'Maybe I'm saying it wrong? Yeah...that has to be it.' he thought. Taking a deep breath, Yuya pointed at the door again and said, "Alohamora!"

Again, the door didn't budge, but the wand in his hand did spark slightly, making the child jump. Looking at the wand again, Yuya frowned.'Why isn't it working? Daddy opens doors all the time.'

Glaring at the door, the little boy slapped a hand on the heavy wood. "Open up you dumb door!" he said. The doors shuddered and opened up enough to let the boy slip through, much to the surprise of the young boy. Of course, the youngster would never realize that it was accidental magic that forced the door open for him.

And that was how the little boy found himself outside. Playing and waving his dad's wand about. Sitting under a tree to catch his breath, Yuya rolled the piece of wood between his fingers and leaned against the bark. Birds were tweeting and Yuya smiled, wondering what it would be like to be a winged creature that could fly away freely. A splash in the lake would drag his attention to the water and he smiled as he saw a creature jump from the water and go back underneath into the depths. He had never seen such a creature before and wondered if he were a fish, would he be able to see more creatures like that one.

With that in mind, Yuya stood back up. He knew that fish needed to breathe underwater. He also knew that he needed a way to swim. He wasn't that good at swimming yet and he wanted to be able to swim like the other fishes. Looking down at his feet, Yuya bit his lip as he thought about how he could do just that. Then he remembered that one movie his mother showed him with the little mermaid girl and thought, 'I can be a merman!'

Smiling, Yuya waved his dad's wand at his legs, the image of the little mermaid fresh in his head.

...Okay, so maybe that had been a little harsh. A little. And only provided she didn't know what he was running around the halls for. But for his first comment to be about her appearance - well, he was the one who'd woken her up in the first place! "I am most definitely not half naked," she began heatedly - like, maybe she wasn't in full robes and crap, but the kimono covered quite enough and the silk pajamas underneath even more - but she was interrupted by the rest of his comment. As soon as she heard it, her eyes went wide.

"Good lord, your son is missing with your wand and the first thing you criticize is my clothing? Get your priorities straight, man! He could be..." Swallowing her words and letting her sentence trail of, the young woman bit back another sentence - that his son could be dead by now, without the knowledge of how to control magic, especially with a wand that wasn't his. She knew the dangers of Transfiguration, of magic in general, firsthand, enough for her to schedule lessons just to prevent a student not knowing how to act in the case of an accident.

But Yuya definitely did not have this training. She decided to just not finish her sentence, for the same reason that she trailed off in the first place.

Anyway, Cy wasn't going to throw any shade here. Likely Yuya had been instructed not to touch Artemis's wand. Likely the kid had screwed up. Whatever the reason, it probably wasn't the Charms Professor's fault, and even if it had been, her main focus was not lecturing him about it but finding the kid before he accidentally killed himself. 

One twirl of her wand put her back in her dayclothes, another summoned a roll of parchment that dropped lightly into a waiting palm. "I'd do the Tracking Spell for you, but this is a hell of a lot more efficient," she muttered, unrolling the Marauder's Map that she'd owned since her own days at Hogwarts and tapping it, murmuring its opening words under her breath. Moving her fingers over it, she covered almost the entire map, fearing the worst, until she landed on the word in Braille: Yuya. And he was by the Great Lake. 

Whether or not he wanted her help, even if he very strongly thought it undesirable, he was going to get it. 

With an exhale of enormous relief, Cy tucked the parchment into her belt, wand staying in her hand. "Well, at least he's not dead. He's by the Great Lake. But he could be in serious trouble soon, so we better get moving." And with that she was running down the hall, robes blown back by the air behind her. 

At the Great Lake

The first clue that alerted Yuya that something was very wrong with the spell he did was that his legs immediately snapped together, causing the boy to wobble on his feet until he fell over. He tried to separate his legs on his own but it was painful to even open his legs. It felt similar to the time that the skin between his toes split from being overly dry. It was a lesson Yuya had learned the hard way and from that day on, whenever his parents told him to lotion his body he made sure to get his feet first! But this was almost five times worse than what he felt back then.

The second clue that the little boy realized that something was wrong was when his neck began to itch, which then turned painful and, dropping his father's wand nearby, he reached up to feel his neck, only noticing that he now had slits in his skin! His airways then constricted and he suddenly couldn't breathe. He started flopping around on the grass, grabbing at his neck and scratching at the skin, causing himself more pain as he would accidentally scratch at a slit and make it open wider.

'What is this?! What's going on?! I can't breathe!'

Gaping and trying to inhale some air, Yuya quickly realized that no amount of air he gathered into his mouth was going to help him breathe. His flopping around made him roll away from his father's wand, an item he didn't think to use to reverse the damage he had already caused to himself, but it wouldn't have worked anyway since the little boy didn't know magic yet and definitely didn't know how to untransform himself. But Yuya didn't think about that. His only thoughts were on one continuous sentence.

'Daddy, help me!'

Well, at least he's not dead.

Artemis stared after the retreating back of the woman he encountered, his mouth gaping in disbelief. "At least he's not dead? What the hell do you mean by that?!" He called as he ran after her. Catching up to her, he turned a frown her way. "You do realize that saying something like that to a frantic father is not comforting, right?"

The two adults race through the castle down to the first floor and stop when they reach the ground floor. Upon seeing the large, heavy, wooden doors to the castle cracked open, Artemis let out a groan of frustration. He had hoped that the map was lying, had hoped that Yuya hadn't actually run outside or was near the lake, but his hopes were dashed when the door was opened to allow someone the size of his eight-year-old son slip through. Which could only mean that the boy was out there doing Merlin knew what with his wand!

"Let's go." Artemis said as he waved his hand at the door, forcing it to slam open to allow himself and the Transfiguration teacher through. He ran straight for where the Great Lake was located and had to stop himself from having a heart attack right there and then when he saw Yuya.

He seemed to be struggling on the ground, near the water's edge. It was almost as if his legs were locked together and he was flopping around, almost like a fish out of water.

"YUYA!" Racing to his son's side, Artemis kneeled down and cradled his son in his arms. The boy's face was turning blue and he was clawing at his throat. Little scratch marks littered the boy's small neck as his little nails continued to claw at the sensitive flesh. Artemis' eyes widened when he saw his son's state and his heartbeat raced erratically. He didn't have his wand and it wasn't near Yuya's struggling body.

"Yuya...Yuya, love, you have to show me where you left my wand. Point to the area!" But Yuya's face only became bluer and the boy just continued to look at his father pleadingly and scratching at his neck, leaving Artemis feeling helpless. Looking carefully at the boy's neck, Artemis grabbed the little hands, in which Artemis just notices were slightly webbed, to prevent any more harm to the skin and when Yuya started to thrash from the lack of oxygen, the man saw them.

"Gills," the man hissed out.  

'Damn it, boy. You tried to do something and gave yourself gills! Of course you can't breathe!' Artemis thought quickly and stood up with the boy and ran to the water. He knew that Cypress was behind him and could have fixed his son's botched up transfiguration attempt, but Artemis wasn't thinking completely logically. He just wanted to get his son to breathe!

But just as Artemis' feet touched the water, Yuya's body shot out of his arms and the man was thrown back away from the water's edge and away from the boy. Yuya's body landed in a deeper area of the lake and he quickly sunk below the surface. Artemis' eyes widened as he saw his son disappear under the dark water and didn't resurface.

"Yu...Yuya," he whispered to himself as he pulled himself to his feet. Yuya didn't know how to swim yet. Yuya wouldn't be able to keep himself afloat. He would be able to breathe under the water, sure, but what about movement? There were things under the lake that could harm his son!

Eyes wide, the Charms professor completely forgot about his wand as he turned to the only other adult in the area and moved to where she stood.

"Lian! Cast the Bubble-Head Charm on me, quickly! Yuya just went under the water and he can't swim. Please! I need to go in there after him!"

Honestly, half the time the cane was just there so people would get out of her way. She'd never had a problem with navigating the halls without it. There was always a sense of wrong if she was about to run into a wall, and she'd skipped through these hallways tossing dungbombs at people enough times to memorize them. Sure, occasionally she'd get lost, and sometimes she just wasn't paying attention and smacked into a pillar, but without the gauzy fabric over her eyes and a sharp mind - well, Cy didn't have much of a problem at all.

"Vernatis, I am a crap ton less focused on being a comforting therapist than saving your kid," the young woman snapped as she ran. If she got confused along the way, she didn't show it - but she did fall behind a couple of steps to use the sound of his footsteps as a guide if she needed it. Just in case. Totally not because she kind of got lost in her train of thought and had no clue where they were in the castle right now. "In case you didn't know, magic's a b-" Her profanities were cut off as she jumped, hearing the slam of the doors opening.

Cy followed, like a normal person, at first. But when all she heard was a panicked shout of Yuya's name, frantic footsteps and a muttered search for the missing wand, she just stood there, frustrated, unsure, and extremely confused. "What the frick is going on?" the witch thought aloud, not to anyone in particular but more to herself. But clearly nobody was going to tell her, so she fixed the situation with a hard stare and tried to think.

This kind of thing was a lot harder to do without help. Certainly, blindsight was her stroke of luck, but it took an immense amount of concentration to use. She knew her eyes still worked, they just weren't connected directly to her prefrontal cortex. But they still communicated enough information to her neural system that if she guessed what was in front of her, she got it right most of the time. At the very least Cy would receive some kind of reaction to whatever it was, even if she didn't know what she was reacting to.

She'd done this for studies. She'd done this for her own benefit too, outside of the hospital, of course. But hell, it was really hard. If she thought too hard, she'd overcomplicate it and end up with something out of her imagination. But it was like reaching out into space and grabbing at what the empty void, hoping that something would materialize... and when it did, you didn't even know if it was real, because you couldn't actually feel it. Only others told you it even existed.

Yeah, being a blind person still sucked a lot. 

With all her complaints and convoluted thinking, though, only a matter of moments passed before Cy guessed. Yuya was choking, and Vernatis still didn't have his wand. Her suspicions were confirmed later with his exclamation of dismay: gills. Why the frick would someone try to give themselves gills and stay on land? Well, not the best news, but as soon as she heard the splash and the stunned voice of a certain professor with a really - what was the word? There was no fricking word in English for that! 皮，that was the word she was looking for - son, her eyes widened. That had not been smart of him to do.

His next urgent utterance turned the alarm bells in her head on again, and she worried her thumb, trying to figure out whether or not she should obey. On one hand, this was a prime example of what an immature young person would do when faces with panic and possible wounding of a loved one. On the other hand, though Vernatis was not an immature young person, she certainly was. "Idiot," she muttered, shaking her head as she raised her wand in the direction of his voice. Sighing, she warned, "I really hope I don't regret this," and flicked it, conjuring the bubble around the lower half of his face.

So now what? Now what could she do? She could look for the wand, but, well, she couldn't. Did accio work on wands? Probably now; otherwise expelliarmus would be pretty much pointless. Blindsight helped, but there was no way she'd be able to distinguish a piece of wood from all the grass subconsciously. No, until the family of two resurfaced, there was little she could do to help... at least until her eyes swept absently over the surface of the lake, and alarm bells started ringing again.

What was it? Cy narrowed her eyes, skin prickling with some sense of unease, fingers gripping her wand a little tighter. Her mind roamed again, and she focused it into a spear, piercing the right idea. And unlike normally, she had the faintest tendril of certainty winding around that thought, drawing her to it, a ghost of sense... and the unease grew, dripping venom into her panic.

Those were grindylows, making their way from the reeds on the shore toward them. And Vernatis didn't have a wand.

Artemis gave a nod of 'thanks' to the younger teacher, yanked off his robes and kicked off his shoes as he took off back toward the water. Rushing through the low waves of the lake until the water reached his waist, Artemis finally dived deep into the water and kicked off hard to propel himself deeper into the water. It was dark. Entirely too dark for the Charms professor to see clearly in the water without some form of light and the more he swam deeper into the depths of the lake, the darker it became. 

Vaguely, Artemis wished he had searched for his wand before diving into the lake. He was a Ravenclaw for Merlin's sake! Ravens always thought things through and didn't just recklessly jump into a situation like a brazen Gryffindor! But this was his son and frankly, Artemis didn't care what the hell anyone thought about him after this. He was sure that someone with a child would do the same reckless stunt he was doing right now to save their own child. But at least they would have their damned wands! It wasn't like he could just pop a ball of light with his hand. Some spells required a wand to do while others didn't, and Lumos was definitely one of those spells that needed a wand. 

'Can't even yell out for him.' Artemis thought as he swam by some seaweed swaying in the underwater currents. The water became colder and Artemis' ears popped as he went further down into the water. 'How far did the kid fall into this bloody lake?! And just how deep is this blasted thing?' 

Boulders, various fish, and more seaweed...or was that kelp? was all that Artemis could see as he continued to swim through the dark waters. There wasn't any sunlight. The Charms professor was literally blind in the water. Barely any light was given to him and he was basically just feeling around absently. 'This must be something similar to what Cypress feels on a daily basis. I gave her credit before for teaching while blind but this is truly on a whole new level.' 

A faint cry in the distance sounded but Artemis didn't hear it clearly as his ears were clogged. The man had swallowed the worried lump in his throat, which somewhat cleared his ears a bit from the clogging sensation, but just as the water pressure dared to clog them up again, he heard it. A cry coming from his right. 

'Yuya!' Artemis thought frantically as he swam in the direction of the cry. It seemed that the farther to the right the man went the darker it seemed to become, which would definitely pose a problem for his son. Not only did the boy not know how to swim well, but he was also terrified of the dark and usually slept with a dim light on at home. In their quarters, Art had installed a small group of fairy lights to hang around the ceiling area of Yuya's room so that he wasn't completely in the dark. This was just one of the worst situations his boy could find himself in. 

"Daddy!" the cry came again, this time closer and to his left. Turning, Artemis swam in that direction just as the garbled cry came again. He pushed kelp, seaweed, and various other lake plants out of his way as he kicked his legs harder to get closer to the voice. Moving a large clump of plants out of his way, he finally saw the crying form of his child, legs stuck together and webbed fingers wiping at his face, though what tears the boy was wiping away was a question Artemis would contemplate at a later time. 

A smile appeared on his lips and a sigh of relief was released as he moved closer to his boy. Gently, he laid a hand on Yuya's head, causing the boy to jump and look around wildly with a gasp. Artemis may not be able to see under the dark and murky water, but if Yuya had done the transfiguration as Artemis thought he did, he was sure the boy was able to see clearly as if he were on land. And sure enough, the child reached up for his father, not being able to move properly and swim into the man's arms himself. Artemis picked his son up and held him tightly as Yuya sobbed into his shoulder. 

"I'm scared, daddy! I want t-t-to go home! I want mu-mummy!" 

Artemis shushed the child as best as he could through the bubble and kicked up off the lake floor. "I know, Yuya. I'll take you home as soon and we fix you up, okay?" the man said, his voice sounding almost as garbled as Yuya's own. Artemis began the long arduous trek up to the surface of the water. It was a tiring task as he only had his feet and one arm to use to help direct him while his other arm was holding onto his little boy. Halfway through the journey, the father had his son move to his back so that he could have the usage of both arms which made the journey to the surface much quicker. 

Light. Art could see the light of the sun touching the surface of the water and he kicked and moved his arms vigorously to propel the two of them closer to the surface. Before reaching the top, he stopped and moved Yuya back into his arms. "Take a deep breath. Remember you can't breathe above the water," he instructed. 

Waiting for Yuya to do as he asked, and wondering slightly how inhaling water would work when the transfiguration was undone, Artemis finally breached the surface of the water. Looking around them he noticed that they weren't that far from the shore, but they were still far enough that Cypress looked like a speck from where they were at. He had an idea. He figured that Yuya wouldn't be able to hold his breath for long with his eight-year-old lungs, so he decided that he would dive under the water every minute and thirty seconds to let the kid breathe a bit before resurfacing. If he could see underwater, he would stay there until he reached the shore, but alas, he was blind under the surface. 

The journey started and it was slow as he did what he said he would do while swimming to shore. Every so often he would dip under the surface and let his son take in some 'air' before resurfacing and swimming some more. One last dip was taken before he was shoulder-deep in the water and he could stand without floating away. 

"Cypress! Over here!" he called out. He turned to tell Yuya to wait closer to the shore and take the Transfiguration teacher's hand whenever she reached him, but was taken by surprise when he felt the boy being yanked off of his back. 

"Yuya!" he yelled as he dived down to grab his son's arm. The boy's other arm was being held onto by something. Something quite strong underwater, but Artemis didn't care what it was. He kicked out with his feet as he pulled Yuya away from whatever it was and swam as fast as he could back to the surface and closer to the shore. 

"Cypress! Quickly! Undo the-" 

Artemis didn't get the chance to finish the statement as it was his turn to be pulled under the water and he struggled with the creatures that had grabbed him. Kicking and punching, Art would always manage to get free and reach the surface, only to be dragged back down again. One of the creatures scratched at his face and his bubble popped from the pressure of the creature attacking him. Artemis punch it away from him and swam to the surface again, taking a deep breath before he was, once again, pulled back under the water. He could hear Yuya's voice, calling his name,  which meant the boy was able to breathe air again and inwardly he was more happy about that fact than the fact that he was now in danger. Breaking free once again, Artemis broke the surface, barely getting enough air into his system before he was dragged under again. But before the darkness of the water could consume him again, Artemis saw something land in the water a little ways away. 

A stick? 

His wand! 

But his oxygen levels were low. He was losing consciousness quickly. His lungs were on fire and his throat was hurting. However, with the last of his strength, Artemis reached out his hand toward the rapidly falling piece of wood and thought, 'Accio'. 

At a loss for what to do, Cy froze in place, the overwhelming sense of no no no taking over her senses. She needed to warn him, but he didn't have his wand. She couldn't get too close to the shore, either, or else she'd be dragged down too, and seeing as he was underwater and mostly focused on saving his son, it was unlikely that she could shout to him... but the grindylows were waiting. She could feel them.

But years of instinct and practice had trained her well. A splash of water and an inhale of breath barely caressed her ears, crisp in the early morning air, and the sound of someone cutting through the water was enough of a sound for her to pinpoint their location - they seemed to be swimming right to her, actually, and rather quickly, too, but she'd barely took in a breath to warn them before an off splash of water took her attention.

Something was wrong. This splash wasn't like the kick of Vernatis's legs against the water, or the sound of Yuya's body dragging through the lake... it was an audible slip and plop of someone not surfacing but rapidly doing the opposite, like being sucked into a vortex. And the sound of suction on skin... well, crap. Too late.

For a second the young woman froze, not certain of what to do but considering her surroundings. The sounds were near the shore, but too large to be Yuya's struggles, not to mention that the boy in question was calling out to his father, not in time with the splashes... meaning he could breathe air now, which was a good thing. But Artemis's voice was absent, apart from occasional frenzied intakes of air. She couldn't get close to the shore, but she couldn't risk a grindylow getting ahold of Yuya...

Cy made up her mind in a with a twist of her wand. "Ebublio," she muttered quickly, blindsight and hearing working in tandem to direct her magic. Judging from the reaction, she'd hit her mark - Yuya should've been encased in an impenetrable bubble for now. Whether or not he could breathe air, the bubble had wrapped around half air and half water, so he would be protected from any attacks - the Ebublio Jinx was usually used to keep the contents from escaping, not to keep other things out, but in this case she'd use it to her advantage.

"Stay there and don't try to get out of that bubble," she ordered before her shoes landed hard in the soaked sand, carrying her to the shoreline. Cy stilled to scan the shore and listen. Sounds of struggle had mostly retreated underwater... except for the occasional noise... there. "Relashio!" she bit out, a stream of purple light accompanying the zing of magic slicing through the air... but no, that wouldn't do. There were more grindylows than she could stop and aim at, and she couldn't just rely on Artemis's strength alone - even if he had his wand, the oxygen deprivation alone might leave him with too little strength to cast.

Instead, she cut her finger down diagonally and up again in the shape of a v. "Carpe Retractum," Cy incanted, then immediately wrapped her fingers around the invisible force tugging on her tightly. Her knuckles whitened almost immediately, and she dug in her heels to avoid being pulled into the water herself. Wandless magic had never been her forte, but with Aoi's help, it had proved useful when used with certain spells. But even as more flashes of violet jumped from the tip of her wand, the force of too many water demons tugged on her arm. How much longer could she hold on?

Reducio

This is going to be a bit short. Apologies in advance.

Artemis felt a tug on his person; a tug that pulled him toward his wand and back toward shore. It was the last thought in his mind before he grabbed his wand and pointed it at the creatures trying to drag him further under the water. 'Stupefy Duo' he cast non verbally and a bright red light shot from his wand to hit the group of sea creatures attached to his legs. Stunned, they released him and the tugging he felt earlier was much smoother and it felt as if he was shooting toward the surface instead of just trudging along. 


However, before the dark murkiness of the lake could clear from his vision, Artemis' focus darkened and his world turned black from the lack of oxygen to his brain. 


Yuya's POV

The little boy sniffled as he watched the scary blind lady do something with her wand and point toward the lake where his dad was still swimming under. It was all his fault. His dad was going to die and it was all his fault! He was going to be in so much trouble! His dad always told him not to touch his wand and Yuya didn't listen and now his dad was going to be angry with him. He looked through the blurry bubble at the lake and waited with heavy anticipation for his father to pop out of the water.

"Daddy!" the boy called out, his voice sounding garbled as it came through the water bubble, as the lake shine brightly with a red light. Was that his dad's magic or the monsters in the water? It wasn't long before his question was answered as the scary blind lady made one last tug on her wand and his father shot out of the water to land on the sand. Yuya cried out once more for his father and made to move from the bubble of water, completely forgetting what the scary teacher has told him before. 

All he wanted was his daddy. 

Cy’s heels made crescents in the sand as her fingers whitened with effort on the invisible rope, the young woman moving her core back in an attempted to haul the man back to shore, but most of her strength was concentrated on her grip, stubbornly not letting go despite the blood blocked from its flow. Gritting her teeth, she shoved her wand into the holster attached to her leg, not even bothering to move her skirt out of the way and instead stabbing the wood straight through it, and let her right hand join her left. Escape would be on Artemis now, unless she could haul him out of the water alone, but she’d never been particularly strong. Still, she had to try.

Out of nothing that she could sense, the pressure on her arms and back popped, like pulling a plug on a drain beneath a tub full of water. She stumbled back, surprised, hands still gripping the rope hard, barely staying on her feet. When she registered the sound of a body hitting the earth, she scrambled down the shore, wand in hand again in a mere heartbeat.

“Vernatis? Can her hear me? Artemis?” the witch tried, taking a knee to check his neck of a pulse. “Well, he’s not dead,” she muttered, raising her wand to a switch and flick. She’d considered simply using levicorpus, but she didn’t know if she could risk jostling him that much. A levitation spell would probably be enough to move him without more complication, and at this point she might mess up a healing spell if Yuya didn’t stop screaming.

“Shit,” she swore without thinking, then froze as she remembered that small children were present. “Uh… you didn’t hear that from me. Don’t repeat that. And don’t tell your dad.” And… right, his dad was currently unconscious and he probably didn’t know what was happening.

“Yuya, your dad’s fine, okay?” the young woman soothed the boy, though firmly, setting the wizard’s body on the shore with the conduction of her wand. “He’s, like, breathing and heart’s pumping and everything. But I need you to calm down and listen: I’m going to let you out of the bubble, and you’re gonna come straight onto the shore with me, okay? Whatever you do, don’t go into the water. There are bad things in the water that you do not want to get near, because your dad here just escaped them and it would be kind of counterproductive if you got yourself back in danger again.” Cy aimed her wand at the bubble, pulling it towards her without disintegrating it just yet. He could breathe air now, otherwise he wouldn’t be able to yell as much as he was. “You feel sick, you tell me. You feel any kind of difference, you tell me, you capisce?” And without waiting for much of an answer, she lifted the bubble from the water completely, lowered it on the shore beside her, and let it pop.

“Stay out of the water,” she warned one last time before turning back to regard Yuya’s unconscious father. The witch bit her lip, thinking. On one hand, rennervate would bring him back to consciousness immediately, from what she imagined must simply be oxygen deprivation, most likely not a concussion. But what if he’d inhaled water? Could she risk him choking, or dry drowning? But his waking up wouldn’t exactly change anything; if water was in his system, it was there whether or not he was conscious. Besides, his reaction might actually help detect anything else gone awry - the body had nerves for a reason.

“Rennervate,” Cy incanted.

Artemis' eyes shot open as the spell washed over him and he gasped for the dire oxygen that his body needed. Of course, when one desperately gasps for air after nearly drowning, they tend to forget that their lungs are still filled with water, which in Artemis' case he did forget and was soon turned onto his side coughing and throwing up the excess water trapped in his body. An embarrsing site, no doubt, but the woman beside him couldn't see him anyway so it didn't matter. Memories of what happened under the lake, and the thought of his son being trapped above the water without a way to breathe had the man quickly sitting up and looking around frantically for his young child. Situated a few feet away was Yuya encapsulated in a bubble. The young lad looked over at Artemis, banging his little fists against the inner lining of the transluscent barrier. 

Coughing harshly some more, Artemis slugglishly moved himself onto his hands and knees, then manuevered onto one foot before finally staggering onto both feet.  Artemis took a deep breath and began moving toward Yuya. Reaching the floating bubble, the man looked at his son and pointed his wand at the child. "Hold your breath." Waiting for his son to nod and do as he was told, Artemis said, "Reparifarge" and watched as Yuya's gills and other botched transformation returned back to that of an eight-year-old child. Quickly, the man then moved his wand in the shape of a shield before saying, "Finite" and caught his child as the bubble popped and the water fell to the sand below. Artemis held his child tightly as the boy gasped and sobbed into the man's chest, trembling from this ordeal and the fright he had from it. 

Still clucthcing the child to his chest, Artemis turned to his colleague. "Thank you, Lian. You not only saved my life, but my son's as well. I owe you a debt."