Winter Flowers 6: Skating [T&E drabble fic]

[aileth]

We're on the second half by now.

Title: Skating
Fandom: CCS
Characters/Pairing: Tomoyo, Eriol, Nakuru, Spinel
Rating: G
Note: Six of ten. Takes place in England during the month of March, close to the end of the winter.

"Nakuru, tell Eriol that there was a sudden rise in temperature last night so he needs to be careful because the ice is fragile in some places." Spinel told her as he entered the room where Nakuru was putting the seats straight.

"Eriol went out with Tomoyo some time ago. They took the skates, too." Nakuru answered.

Spinel stared at her and then bolted out of the room shouting. "We have to hurry and warn them in case they decide to go too deep into the lake! Come on, hurry!" He shouted from outside.

"Eh. Oh, yes. I'm coming." She left what she was doing and went to get her coat.

They had left the house some while back. They decided to go walking the short distance that separated the house from the lake and carry the skates instead of the sledge to use when they were there. That would free their hands and they could do some exercise to warm up while they went over the frozen waters. They started their way rounding the edge to test the ice with their skates, then went deeper in while they stared at the landscape around them.

"You have the scarf I gave you on." Eriol noted.

"Of course. I must protect my beautiful voice, right?" Her eyes were gleaming as she smiled at him and he answered with a tender smile.

"Over this side, you can see an old abandoned church. You can see it when you go out to the lake on a boat."

He took her by the hand and guided her farther in to the spot he indicated. At some distance from the shore, you can see the ruins of the old chapel over the top of the trees. It's not a short distance away but as it is atop a small hill you can notice the old church with its bell tower, now torn down and crumbled. The place was quiet at that hour in the morning, the wind blew through the branches of the trees and you could hear the few sturdy birds that braved the cold winter instead of emigrating to the south or the early arrivals coming back to their homes. They moved around the ice to better see the structure. Tomoyo felt something brush her hand and when she looked down she saw a strap from her trousers was loose. She stopped to fasten it better because it was long and might trip her. Suddenly, she heard a short crack, like a snapping tree branch. She looked around but saw nothing. Then another crack came. This time she looked down and saw the ice cracking right under her skate blades. She tried to move from the place but that only put more pressure on the damaged surface and the ice began to break even more.

"Eriol!" She managed to shout before tripping on the crack under her skates and stumbling on the ice that rapidly broke under her.

Eriol had drifted far from her without noticing and when he heard Tomoyo's scream and saw her falling under the ice he ran to her as fast as he could. The ice broke up and Tomoyo sank into the frozen waters kicking to try to keep herself above the surface. The weight of her soaking clothes made her sink even more and she found it hard to breathe already, as if something was squeezing her neck and then her arms. She looked around frantically and saw her scarf still around her neck, floating around her with the points upward. It looked as if the butterflies were flapping their wings trying to get out of the water. She raised her arms to where the butterflies were and when she was about to fall unconscious, hands grabbed hold of her and raised her out of the water.

Eriol had tried to get close to her but the ice was too fragile in that area due to the rupture. He was trying to think what to do when he saw Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun flying to where Tomoyo had disappeared under the ice. They pulled her out of the water and carried her to where he was waiting. Eriol took her in his arms. The girl was shaking from the cold and could barely keep her eyes open.

"Spinel Sun, take her home flying as fast as you can before she gets hypothermia. Get her wet clothes out and put her on a hot tub, Ruby Moon. I'll be right behind you." With these instructions, he placed Tomoyo on Spinel Sun's back and he took off with Ruby Moon by his side keeping the girl from falling.

When he arrived at the house some 10 minutes later, he found Nakuru bathing Tomoyo, who had recovered some of her colour.

"We managed to bring her fast enough but I think she has a high fever." Spinel informed him.

After the bath, Nakuru took her to her room. The fever didn't go down. In her delirium, Tomoyo mumbled something about floating butterflies.

"We did all we can. If her fever doesn't go down tonight, we'll have to call the doctor." Nakuru told him.

Eriol sat in his high chair staring into nothing, helpless.