Free Falling - (An OUAT Panfiction)

Chapter 2 - 0

When Alette awoke once more her first sensation was a rigidness in her back. She shifted uncomfortably on the strange surface she was laying on. It felt as though she was laying on top of rough cylinders, that puzzled her greatly. Her wrists seemed to be tied to the rough cylinders with scratchy rope. That alarmed her.

Alette's light coloured eyes shot open with panic. Her eyes were met with a blue sky, it was so clear, with no clouds and the sun not in her sight. Across the edges of her vision she could see the tops of trees so green that they compared to the Pipers eyes. Nervously she looked down beside her. The sight of crystal clear water made her gasp in panic. She didn't know how to swim. Looking down at her hand she realized she was tied on top of a log raft floating in a small pool. On one side of the pool were gray and black rocks and on the other was a forest.

Alette's breathing quickened as she tried to sit up. She had to bend her wrist at an uncomfortable angle to do so but she didn't mind. How was she supposed to get out of this mess? How had she gotten into it in the first place? She groaned and leaned back down, the shadow like creature hadn't just been a horrible nightmare. What had she gotten herself into?

Alette realized her shoes and cloak were gone and sat up again. She had to find a way out of this, she had to. Shockingly her mask was still firmly tied to her face and her cap still kept her long locks hidden. She started to tug on the ropes, but after a while just ended up screaming at them. She was angry, angry because she had been enticed by freedom and taken the chance. Now she was screwed. She was stuck in the middle of what looked like a nine foot deep pool tied to a raft. She screamed in rage for a long time before a voice from the tree side of the pool spoke. "You're up I see."

The Piper's voice was smooth, and had a strange quality to it that made it sound different and enticing. Alette started to compare it to melted chocolate and caramel. As she looked up at him in fury though she realized. He must have done this, he must be working with the shadow creature. Alette was now angry with him, very angry. So she screamed loudly at him and thrashed against the restraints. Tauntingly The Piper rose his eyebrow. "Well you've got fire now don't you."

Alette silenced her cries of rage and tried to not focus on the water beneath her. She wasn't afraid of water per say, she was afraid of drowning in it. She now wished she knew how to swim. Then again she had never had a chance to learn, the biggest body of water she had ever gotten to experience was the bathing basin at the Convent. She stared at The Piper with fury and he started to pace along the edge of the pool. "If you want to survive I suggest you get yourself off that raft, it won't hold up forever."

Alette then looked down to realize that the water seemed to be rising around the raft. The raft was sinking with her on it. No it wasn't sinking, wood floats, the wood she could see was very slowly turning to stone. That's when she really started to panic. She focused her attentions on her left wrist. Tugging wasn't working so she tried to cut it on the slowly growing stone. It was working.

Alette started cutting faster as the stone increased. Water reached her legs and started to soak her pants. Her legs were nearly completely under water by the time she got her left wrist out. Suddenly the wood started to increase how fast it was turning to stone. Alette's breathing grew faster and more laboured as she turned her attention to her right wrist. It wasn't working as well on that wrist and she felt the water touch her waist.

Alette bit her lip as the water reached her ribs. She wasn't getting very far with the rope around her wrist but kept trying to cut it. Soon the water touched the bottom of her chest and she was still stuck. The rope was wearing away slowly and she could tell she was close to breaking it. Suddenly the water was at her neck and she knew she would have to hold her breath.