Aaaannnd I'm back! Welcome if you've read some of my other stories and if this is your first time reading me, WELCOME! Just a reminder:

Disclaimer- I don't own any of the Yugioh series or merchandise or anything else that goes with it.

This fic is rated M for a reason so please play it safe or just don't report me if something slips up.

If u see a misspelling of any of the names or if I got them wrong plz tell me, its been a while since I've actually got into Yugioh series and I'm just getting back into it so help me if you can. I'm using the Japanese names.

Thanks and Enjoy!


Tamer of Beasts

Chapter One History's Calling

"Here, kitty, kitty, kitty… come'ere little guy" Anzu cooed to the cream-colored kitten that huddled on a low branch in a tree. Its fuzzy body was bristled and shivering in alarm as it realized it had forgotten how to get down from its exploration of the tree for the first time.

"He really is a nice kitty," the little girl spoke up from behind Anzu, "He should come right down here- Goredy, come down here kitty! Come'on Goredy!" the little girl practically squawked, making the frightened kitten pin back his ears and dig his tiny claws into the bark, now more determined than ever not to let go.

"I'm sure he really is a nice kitty," the high school senior smiled over her shoulder to the girl, "He's just a little frightened right now." Turning back to the kitten and sighing as her eye caught the time on her digital watch she realized she was already fifteen minutes late for her first class period, "Come'on kitty, come over here, boy," she urged as her hand stretched to reach the kitten just out of reach.

The kittens wide green eyes narrowed as he drew back his lips and arched his back. His fur bristled as he hissed a warning to her before he swiped at her with his tiny, quick claws that snagged on her fingers in a painful way. Anzu gritted her teeth and yelped in pain, drawing her hand back sharply and clutching it in her other one. Assessing the damaged appendage, she turned her glaring blue eyes upon the spitting and hissy-fitting kitten, "Now you've done it you little twerp," she grumbled under her breath.

The kitten mewled in protest as she darted out her good hand and snagged the scruff of the impudent kittens neck and dragged him willing or not from the tree, holding his squirming body well away from her body incase he decided on a rematch. He twisted and wriggled about trying to get away from his captor to no avail as Anzu held him out for the girl to take.

"Oh, GOREDY!" the little girl squealed in delight as she snatched him from Anzu's grasp to cradle him in her pudgy little arms, "Mommy was soooo worried about you! You naughty, naughty little kitty, you! Don't you ever run away from Mommy again, you hear me? Bad kitty!" she jabbed a scolding finger in the miserable kittens nose, "Now, come on, Goredy, we're going to finish our little tea party with Mr. Teddy and Ms. Barbie." The little girl skipped off with out so much as a utterance of gratitude toward Anzu while the kitten was laying over her shoulder, moaning out his agony.

'Well, if you didn't scratch me, I'd feel sorry for you,' Anzu snorted amused. She glanced down when her watch beeped on the hour-

"AAAAH! OH MY GAWD!" she took off jogging, only to stop short, "ACK! MY BAG!" she doubled back to snatch her side bag and then took off jogging again, ".!!" she yelped as she ran through the park in Domino City for a brief short cut.


"You're late because you just had to save some kids cat?" Hana quirked a cool dark brow, "you realize how lame that is right? Considering animals hate you."

Anzu slumped pathetically in her second period class seat behind her friend Hana who leaned an elbow on her desk top as she sat sideways to talk to her, "Not all animals hate me, Hana," she retorted pitifully.

"Your goldfish don't count. They can't even remember what they had for breakfast, let alone if they don't like you or not." Hana smiled coyly.

"You're so cold, Hana!" Anzu complained, but a smile tugged on her lips. It was True Hana had a dreary sense of humor, but Anzu found it funny even when it was pointed to her failures.

"I wasn't born to be happy all the time you know," Hana shrugged, "Not all of us have that trait, Ms. Sunshine-and-Roses." She drawled out her nickname for Anzu with a cheeky grin.

"I am not always happy!" Anzu protested, but the smile was still there and she tried to hold down a giggle.

"Uh-huh, I can defiantly tell that right off the bat." Hana teased.

"Class," the teacher called to order, "Come to order, class, order please. We don't have all day you know, now let's get started with our English Language pronunciation." The foreign English Teacher ordered his class. He was the youngest teacher on the staff and was often the object of the young high school girl's affection with his British accent and golden blonde hair coupled with his green hazel eyes- he was defiantly movie star material!

"Looky, Look, Anzu," Hana sighed dreamily, "It's our future lover- Mr. Goodings!" she whispered with a wink.

Anzu's tightly held-in giggle burst out to hysterical laughter when she could no longer hold it in, startling Mr. Goodings from mid-sentence as he introduced to the class what was expected of the day.

"Ms. Mazaki," he spoke in his native tongue, knowing his senior students should be able to understand him by now as he quirked an inquisitive brow, "Am I interrupting something."

"No, nothing Mr. Goodings!" Anzu clapped a hand over her mouth to hold in her giggles as her face turned red in embarrassment, but her blue eyes started to water from trying to hold in her lustrous giggles.

Hana looked back to their teacher over her shoulder as she still turned in her seat toward Anzu behind her. She flipped her long dark hair over her shoulder flirtatiously, catching the eye of all the senior boys in the class. It was no secrete that Hana was a wild thing and tended to be a loose vixen around the boys. It was often a questionable topic why such a harlot hung around sweet, innocent, never-had-a-boy-friend Anzu Mazaki.

"Why, Mr. Goodings," Hana drawled in a throaty voice she used to flirt with as she batted her black eyes at him, "We were discussing our plans to dual-marry you soon as we're both legal. You're not opposed to the Mormon-way of marriage are you? Taking more than one wife?"

Mr. Goodings ignored Hana's flirt, "Ms. Ureno, please kindly turn to the proper sitting position of your desk and absorb something I teach you about the most-used language in the world so you can grow up to have the knowledge to communicate properly with half the world."

The class snickered and giggled at Hana's expense, but she paid no mind, turning in her chair to the proper position, crossing her legs at the ankles and her arms over her chest as she tilted her head slightly in boredom, "Oh, I'll absorb something alright…," Hana mumbled under breath as Anzu noticed her head wasn't tilted towards the board, but Mr. Goodings backside.

"Hana!" Anzu hissed scoldingly.

"A girl can window shop, can't she?" Hana smirked back.

Anzu sighed in mock-forlorn as she jotted down some notes Mr. Goodings was scribbling on the board for the up and coming exams next week, "You're a hopeless flirt."

"And you're a hopeless virgin." Hana shot back.


"Anzu, you realize that school is over, right?" Hana groaned as she followed her friend to the library on their way home from school.

"I know, but I need to check-in a few books I finished reading, then check a few out I saw last time I didn't have time to read this time. And then I need to go online and check up on some-,"

"I don't speak book-worm, Anzu." Hana groaned, cutting off her friends ranting, "Why do you read so much anyways. We just have tests coming up, no projects or research papers. And the tests are all open note- no extra book-researching needed."

Anzu rolled her eyes, "You know I always keep a book on me to read." She defended.

"A book? More like three books so you can practice your feminine-given multitasking skills." Hana scrunched her nose as she prodded at Anzu's passion, "Never really heard of an animal-loving, yet animals-repealing, book adoring, history obsessed, Dancer, musician. You don't even do ballet like most goodie goodies do- you're an erotic hip-hop, belly dancer."

"Hey, I don't belly dance! It's an ancient form of Egyptian ceremonial dance that I happen to like." Anzu blushed.

"Still involves jiggling what little belly fat you have." Hana pointed out as they approached the library door, "Alright, girl, this is as far as I go. Books and me mix about as well as you and your oh-so adored animals you naturally repeal somehow."

"Hana!" Anzu nudged her friend with her elbow since her hands were occupied with a stack of books to check in.

Hana laughed at Anzu's attempt to pay her retribution, "Do you want me to wait around and walk you home? I know you live by yourself now…," Hana looked down momentarily, silently apologizing for brining up the death of Anzu's parents.

"No I'll be fine, besides, you were so excited about that rave you heard about tonight. You should go and get ready for it." Anzu plastered a smile to her face.

"Anzu..," Hana said uncertainly.

"Go on, Hana. I've been on my own for a year now, and it wasn't like they were home much before they died. Nothing's gonna happen, just go." Anzu urged.

"If you say so." Hana shrugged, still unconvinced, "Meet me bright and early tomorrow so I can copy your Algebra II homework?"

"Sure." Anzu smiled with a roll of her eyes as her flamboyant friend sauntered off, drawing the eye of a few college guys as she sashayed her hips. Anzu watched with mild interest as the guys rubber-necked so their eyes could follow the swaying ass that was Hana and sighed hopelessly as said Hana winked flirtatiously back at the guys, "Does she ever stop her incessant 'Window-shopping'?" she shook her head at the thought and walked into the library.

A young man just out of his college years looked up from the book he was reading behind the check-out counter. His bright silver-green eyes shined vibrantly when he recognized Anzu behind her mountain of books she set on his counter to check-in.

"Done already?" the black haired boy half-grinned in his charming way.

"D-Don??" Anzu started behind her books and leaned around them to see the freshly-graduated young man she'd known since grade-school practically, "I didn't know you'd be back in the library,"

Don scratched the back of his neck sheepishly, his spiked black hair bobbing as his hand ran through it, "Yeah, Uncle needed some help around here, and I'm a history major anyways, so I decided to take some time off from career-pressuring and work around here for awhile till he can find a good few hired hands." He dropped his hand and looked over the mountain of books on his counter, "Spring-reading or something?" he looked the stack of eight books up and down curiously and mildly amused.

Anzu blushed and looked away, "I-I guess y-you could say th-that." She stuttered as her heart beat quickly in her chest. Don Deiangelo was twenty-five years old, much older than her measly eighteen-years old, but she had always had a little-girls stardom-crush on him since Mr. Deiangelo first introduced them when she was only nine and in grade school and he was sixteen and a sophomore in high school. He was her 'Edward Cullen' to put it in new-age terms…

Well, she couldn't call him her 'Edward' since she really went for the wolf-boy, 'Jacob Black' in the famous vampire series…

Wait, but 'Edward' was still hot too…

She couldn't decide… she loved them both!

'I suddenly know how Bella Swan must fell in the Twilight series.. Shoot!' she thought.

"Anzu..? Hello? You in there?" Don waved a hand in front of her eyes.

"Whaa…?" CRAP! She spaced out!

"Bookworms," Don sighed, "Always have their head in a book or up in the clouds." He joked, "I asked if you wanted help finding some other Egyptian legends and mythology books. I've noticed that's the only subjects you checked-out last time." Don offered again, grinning at the young girls' blush.

"Oh yes! Egypt!" she nodded to herself, "I don't know if the library has any more books I haven't gone through about Egypt. I've been reading about it from the books here for a while."

"Indeed she has." An old wise voice commented as Mr. Deiangelo, Don's Uncle hobbled out of the book cases with his old-world Greek-decorated cane. The white ivory of the cane was etched with ancient Greek murals tinier than a persons thumb, but the whole cane was covered with mythological gods and heroes of the Greek culture, displaying half of the Deiangelo culture, the other half was a mix between Japanese and Egyptian. Anzu had always found Mr. Deiangelo and his abroad-studying nephew, Donatello (Don) fascinating. They always had stories to share with her and worldly knowledge for her to learn from them.

"She's been here just about every other three or four days. Comes back soon as her batch of books is finished and gets more." Mr., Deiangelo grinned toothily at the pair around the counter.

"Sorry, Mr. Deiangelo, but its just that I can't stop thinking about the ancient Egyptians with the legends and myths and pharaohs and-,"

Mr. Deiangelo laughed heartily as he hobbled up to them and placed his free, old withered hand on Anzu's shoulder, "It's good to see that there's still some youth out there who turn to the books of the library and not the computers and instant internet and such." He sighed, "Think nothing of it, Anzu." He reassured, sharing a smile with the blue-eyed young woman while his nephew started to check-in her mountain of books, "Come, this way to the back, I have a book I saved just for you!" the old, willowy man who hadn't lost his impressive height with his age brightened. His silvery eyes twinkled behind his spectacles as his long white and silver beard twitched as his face tugged into an excited smile.

Anzu let the old man eagerly tug her through the enchantingly old cheery-oak bookcases to the back where a small stair case hid in a narrow hallway with the bathrooms, water fountain and two extra rooms for the library's use. He took her up the stairs to his apartment that was above the library, he literally lived at his work! Anzu sat down at the small kitchen bar that served as the penthouses' kitchen table while Mr. Deiangelo rummaged through his own personal bookcase and made a sound of victory, chuckling much like the whinny the pooh character, Tigger. She couldn't suppress a giggle of her own; the man simply was amusing in everything he did! Grinning like a proud old cat with a mouse-prize, Mr. Deiangelo set a good-sized book down in front of Anzu on the counter. The cover appeared to have once been white and made from some kind of plant, but it was now yellowish with old-age and the plant-like material acting as its covering was stitched together in haphazard patches. The spine seemed to have been redone with a tough leather that seemed paradoxical, with how it seemed so out of place with the ancient-covering of the book yet also seemed to fit it just fine. There was no title on the cover, just an Egyptian eye.

Anzu looked down at the book then up to Mr. Deiangelo, "What's this?" she tilted her head curiously, never in her life had she seen such a peculiar book like this. She was almost afraid to open it for fear of damaging something so ancient.

"It's an old Egyptian spell book filled with old records and legends of the great pharaoh's magicians and prophecies." Mr. Deiangelo replied with pride as he recognized Anzu's insatiable curiosity latch onto the book he set in front of her, "I don't plan on displaying it for public use, but you may borrow it if it will help appease your sudden hunger for ancient Egypt?"

"Really? Can I?" he could practically imagine the brunette spouting puppy ears and a wagging tail, she looked so excited.

"Really, really. You don't even have to check it out." He nodded as he leaned on the kitchen breakfast bar across from her on his elbows.

"Wow, thank you! I've always wanted to read something like this! And its written in English too!" thank god she could read English fairly well… well, good enough to get the basic meaning, "Where'd you get it? It looks like it's supposed to be in a museum or something." She ran her hands over the book with new fascination.

Mr. Deiangelo smiled, "It was written by an English mercenary long ago when he traveled to Egypt in search for the Promise Land in the ancient writings of the Old Testament in the Bible, but he ended up finding ancient Egypt instead. He studied with the priests there for fifteen years, or so it was said, and rewrote their ancient teachings in English so he could show his own country the wonders of the land sand." The old man recited as if he were teaching her a history lesson, "You do know your English enough to read it, don't you?"

"You're looking at Best In Class," Anzu puffed her chest out proudly.

'No matter that the teacher happens to be one of my favorites I've ever had and is a total sweet-heart when it comes to explaining things..' she thought.

"Well, then its all yours for now, Anzu," Mr. Deiangelo smiled as he glanced at his old coo-coo clock when the little bird annoyingly popped out and squawked the time, "Shouldn't you be at work about now, Anzu? It's nearly five."

"FIVE!" Anzu shot up, "Ah, crap, I'm gonna be late for work too!" she quickly dashed off down the stairs, completely forgetting about the book until she made it half way, "NOT AGAIN!" she dashed back up the stairs, snatched the book and bolted down stairs once more and towards the door.

"Don't you need to check it out first?" Don called to her as she ran past the check-out counter.

"Your Uncle said it wasn't a library book," Anzu said in a rush as she ran by. The bells of the doors dinged as she shot out of the library at top speed and headed for Juicy Hungry Burger for her job.

Don shook his head, "Some times I worry about that girl." He sighed.

"I do not," Mr. Deiangelo replied as he emerged from the back of the Library again.

His nephew turned to him, a black brow raised in question, "Did you tell her just what that book was?"

"It is not always the way to tell ones destiny before one finds out on their own." His Uncle replied stubbornly in his old cryptic tone.

Don gave him a blank stare, "You realize she's only eighteen don't you. Are you sure the ancient spirits claim her?"

His Uncle glared at the boy, "You dare impugn the spirits of Egypt on their choice in Anzu?!" he gruffed.

"You are more than forty-five-thousand years old, Uncle, that's more than enough time to develop memory loss." The younger immortal joked.

"We are merely messengers of the gods and spirits of this world. Who they chose we cannot argue over. We can merely show the way to the chosen one."

Don sighed, "You realize that animals hate her right? Have you ever seen her when she crosses a stray dog? The dog runs away with its tail between its legs and the GODS chose HER as their Beast Tamer that will tame the ancient Beast gods those fools released?"

"Stop questioning the gods, boy!" Mr. Deiangelo grumbled, "We'll see soon enough what the gods have in plan for little Anzu. She now is of age and has the book, it's only a matter of time before our past selves meet her in ancient Egypt, we'll guide her in the right direction."

"You were a drunk in ancient Egypt, Uncle…"

"Then I shall dream that I am sobering up,"


"Soon as I get home, I'm taking a nice looong shower." Anzu growled as she breathed through her mouth on her march home. As always her burger-joint job had left her frustrated with picky customers, flirtatious jerks that tried to cop a feel, her ears ringing from her managers barking unnecessary orders and her nose burning with burning grease and hamburger scum. She could still smell it if she breathed through her nose and even with her mouth open to block the smell as she breathed, her tongue started to get tastes of the repulsive greasy fumes.

She had put her little treasure of an ancient book in her book bag to protect it from the hazards of the greasy burger joint, and she was impatient to get started reading it. Once her house was in sight, Anzu jogged the rest of the way toward it, opening and closing the small front gate of the tiny front yard and striding up the walkway toward her porch. She jiggled her key into the lock a few times before the key hit home and clicked open the door. She stepped inside and closed the door behind her back, relocking it and sighing in relief to be home.

"Finally!" she hummed as she tugged off her jacket and tossed it over into the coat closet in the entry way. She passed by the old piano with her goldfish bowl on it. Two Goldfish and one Beta-fish swirled around excitedly inside the medium-sized bowl.

"Hey, guys. miss me?" she grinned as she bent over to peer inside the bowl while she took the fish food from beside the bowl and twisted open the top, "Eat up," she gently shook the small container until a few fish flakes toppled out and into the water. The three fish gobbled at them greedily, dashing and dodging around one another in a dance to catch the flakes that slowly sunk to the bottom, few actually made it before being engorged by the little aquatic animals- the only animals that actually liked Anzu.

Sighing once again, Anzu realized fish really didn't count as an animal that liked her. She doubted her fish even cared, but it was nice to personify them as much. She turned down the hall and preceded down to the bathroom, stripping off her clothes carelessly as she went- she would pick them up later, right now she wanted out of them and into that promising hot shower. She set her book bag in her bedroom just inside her door on her way to the bathroom, grabbing a fresh towel from the towel and blanket closet that was between her bedroom and bathroom down the hall, the only other room down this hallway was her mother and father's old room they used rarely even before they died, and she never went pass the bathroom, so it was blocked off by a small shrine she made for her parents out of respect. She paused by the shrine and bowed in her underwear, murmuring a silent prayer for them before closing the bathroom door behind her and starting the shower…


-Ancient Egypt-

"My Lord, Malik, are you sure you know what you are doing?" the dark tanned servant hidden beneath dark robes questioned his young master.

"Enough of you, my brother!" Malik quipped sharply, glancing around with violet eyes from under his own thick hood, "Do you want us to get caught out here?"

"No, Master Malik." The deep voice whispered obediently quieting down, "But do you think it wise to release forbidden beast for the sake of defeating another one?" pale, sky eyes peeked back at his younger adopted brother as the large man crowded the younger ones back protectively.

"That bastard Marik was born from my own spirit and intends to over though all of Egypt, and while I have no loyalties personally to that dumbass of a pharaoh, Atem, I'd rather him on a thrown of Egypt than Marik on the thrown of the world, Rishid." The young man snorted, "He intends to release Obelisk the Tormentor only, just so he can over throw the Pharaohs power, but if we release all three Ancient forbidden beasts, it will at least buy us some time."

"But we don't have a Beast tamer to appease the three forbidden ones, milord, what if the dragon and Ra turn against Egypt's favor for Marik as well?" Rishid was hesitant; sometimes his younger brother didn't always think-through things like their elder sister, priestess Ishizu.

"Then we'll find the Beast Tamer of this time." Malik quipped sharply, not liking how many questions his usually silent and faithful brother was hailing on him, "now silence about you!" he shushed him and they silently slipped through the shadows of the Nile out of Egypt to the Temple of the Beasts. All the while, unawares of the tagalong thief behind them that followed with mild amusement of a board thief. Red eyes gleamed in the moonlight as silver, wild hair tossed in the wind while the thief urged his camel onward to follow at a distance.

'There's loot to be had when a Tomb-Keeper wanders away from his den to visit a temple at night.' The thief thought with a wicked grin.


-Present Day-

"Ah, that's better," Anzu preened happily as she stepped out of the bathroom, fluffing her shoulder-length brunette hair with her fluffy towel while a healthy fog of steam rolled out to the bathroom behind her. A white plush bathrobe covered her being to stave-off the cool air of the house as she padded her way bare-foot back up the hallway and into her room, "No more grease in my hair, no more burger and sweat-smell and absolutely no more tensed muscles," Anzu stretched her arms above her head and arched her back backwards, wincing and then letting out a content sigh as a few good pops spiked up her spine as she completely released the tension hiding there, "Life is good…" she purred, plopping down on the bed in her room.

The book cover peaked out at her beside the door in the side bag she'd tossed in earlier, "Oh yeah, the Spell and Mythology book!" she hopped right up from her bed and crossed the room eagerly, scooping up the book, "Finally! A moment to ourselves!" she joked as if the book were her long lost lover or something. She then stopped herself and rolled her eyes heavenward as Hana's words mocked her in her thoughts, "Hana was right, I really am a bookworm…"

She retreated back to her bed and fluffed up the pillows to support her back before plopping back on them and cuddling up in her covers. She bent her knees to support the back of the book and set the treasured item in her propped-up lap. The Egyptian eye gazing up at her ominously as she once again took time to admire the ancient coverings.

"Let's see what we have here Mr. Old English Scholar," she grinned as she gently opened the book. The first page she found was created out of rice paper- that confused her. Wasn't rice paper native to the Asian range? China, Japan and all the other eastern countries? Why was an ancient English Scholar-written book made out of rice paper if it were about Egyptians?

'Well Mr. Deiangelo did say the man was a mercenary. Maybe he also traveled to the Eastern Countries and learned how to make Rice Paper?" she thought.

The inked in English writings were elegantly written as if the writer's hand were graceful and passionate about what he put onto the paper. She found it slightly difficult since she wasn't completely fluent in English, let alone OLD English, but the first line seemed easy enough.

"I bring you knowledge from a land beyond the Sands of Time. Where Heaven meets with both Earth and Hell in one City of Egypt. With the Will of Rah and the Grace of our God, I beseech your destiny…," As Anzu read out loud the first few lines, she noticed something strange, the book felt lighter than before and the words were clearer to her. It didn't just look like some pretty old writings of an Englishman, but she understood the words and characters on the page.

"I must be getting better at this than I thought! Mr. Goodings is a miracle worker!" she thought aloud.

"This book will take he who is of the spirit of the tongues. Man and beast understand and understood by he…" Anzu recognized the startings of a legend when she heard read one! Shifting more comfortably, she eagerly read on, "I bid you with the Grace of the Gods and that of your own, good luck, for the world your lead to demands great presence in you. mesneh- rek…" Anzu tilted her head at the new language. Something told her what it meant deep with in her, "Reverse time..?" she repeated in her own language, "But how did I know that..?"

The lights suddenly shut off all around her, "Black out??" she squeaked.

Her stomach started to churn in knots that tightened around and into her muscles. Her heart began to race and her breathing labored as a draft of light wind played with the strands of her hair, "I never opened my … window…" she gulped.

She could see nothing- not the light of the moon she knew was out side her window, not her window, room or even her own hand as she frantically checked if she could by waving it in front of her own face and promptly bopping herself on the nose.

"Wha-What's going on here??" the wind picked up and swirled around her in an alarming rate. Her hair lifted off her neck and waved above her head as the tornado of wind encircled her. She couldn't feel the covers of her bed covering her legs anymore as she clutched onto her plush bathrobe frantically- it was the only thing she knew she could sense around her as she clenched her eyes shut tightly.

That's when things got really FREAKY!

She felt water lapping at her ankles and slowly engulfing her body as if she were slowly being placed in water by the wind itself, "SOMEBODY, HELP MEEEEEEEE!" she cried out, but got a mouthful of cool water instead, and then suddenly, the wind was gone and she felt like she had been plunged into a swimming pool as her weightless body slowly fell down deeper in the water. Her consciousness was leaving her as she fought instinctively to regain the right to breathe air and not liquid. She scrambled with her legs for some sort of leverage until her feet brushed against some sort of bottom to this pool, it was only slightly solid, as if a layer of sand were on the bottom of this pool! She didn't care at the moment as she used the new-found base as a push-off and scrambled upward, hoping there was air there. Her torso sprang from the water with the force of her struggles as she breached the air and took a mighty gulp of precious oxygen. Her eyesight failing her as she felt her consciousness start to slip away faster and her muscles go lax at having succeeded in surviving suffocation. She only distantly heard startled screams nearby before she tilted backwards, face up in the water and fell unconscious…