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Alja opened her mouth to throw a snarky remark back at Graves for his criticism of the way she'd handled the fight—[i][color=d1fffc]some of us are trying not to use too much magic so we don't burn ourselves out, vampire boy[/color][/i], or something like that—but...no time. There was no time. The sound began as a distant gurgle, but swiftly filled her ears, and she only recognized a moment before she saw it what it was. 

[i][color=d1fffc]Shit.[/color][/i]

She estimated she only had a few seconds before the water hit her. Really, she was lucky she was taking care of the newbies; it put her much farther from the looming tide. It had already swept past Rael and Graves, carrying them towards her all too quickly. She had no time to grab them before the water would be on her as well. So instead, she grabbed the hands of two of the lowbies, running as fast as she could towards the precipice and hoping the rest would follow her. Stomping her foot one last time, she accreted a narrow platform of ice beneath the drop-off, where with any luck the fast-moving water wouldn't strike with full force, and nearly tossed Yasmin and the white haired girl at it. "[color=d1fffc]GO![/color]" With any luck, they'd get down there in time, and with any luck, it'd hold. That done, she turned back to the wall of water now only feet from her. No time for anything else.

Unless...

She couldn't see Rael through the swampy, shitty water, but there was Graves, careening towards her. He'd been knocked head over ass, and she sucked in a breath. He'd have a hard landing. But she...

She poised herself on the edge and sucked in a final deep breath, everything in her screaming to not do what she was about to do. Then, as Graves was hurled past her, she threw herself at him, locking him in her armored embrace as they fell towards the water beneath. She hoped for just a moment that he was conscious, or if not, that he regained consciousness soon. And then, as she plummeted towards the water, she breathed in. And she [color=d1fffc][b]Stood Firm.[/b][/color]

Her vision flickered into shades of gray and her eyes followed suit, burning with a terrible monochrome light. She turned her head—the limit of the movement that Stand Firm permitted—and counted the seconds down until she hit the water. With any luck, she'd absorb enough of the impact for Graves to walk it off. Looked like there was a ramp at the edge there that she could haul him out from. Least one thing was going right. If it had just been a cistern with no edge, she probably would've been sunk. Figuratively [i]and[/i] literally.

[color=d1fffc][i]3...[/i]
[i]2...[/i]
[i]1...[/i][/color]

She closed her eyes.

[i][color=d1fffc]Zero.[/color][/i]

The sound of the impact was tremendous as she shattered the surface of the water. Her Stand Firm broke, and she gagged as the cascade of shit-water pummeled her into the lake, squirming into her mouth and filling it with the taste of sewage. She screwed her eyes shut tighter as she forced herself to move forwards with Graves still gripped tightly to her chest, blindly kicking even as she sank deeper. Her lungs began to feel the pressure, and there was nothing beneath her still as her armor dragged her down into the filthy pool. Then the arms that wrapped Graves—still limp, and Alja feared the worst—bumped into something. 

[i][color=d1fffc]There![/color][/i] 

Slogging through the sewer water, she hauled herself up the broad ramp one agonizing step at a time until she placed Graves (unconscious for sure) on his back on the relatively safe stone next to the pool, fighting the urge to collapse as she checked him, tilting back his head and neck. A thin stream of rancid water leaked from his mouth.

[i][color=d1fffc]Oh thank God. He's breathing.[/color][/i]

She sat heavily next to him, thankful that she wouldn't need to give emergency breaths to Graves of all people. That sounded embarrassing for both of them.