[He hopes, somewhere between the panic and the sudden lack of oxygen, that Ciri hasn't gone far and he'll feel the close of her hand around his arm any second. When it doesn't immediately come, and, in fact, he doesn't see her at all, that's when he starts to think that this is over.
Viktor has lived with the specter of death hanging over him for a long time--but there is, he thinks, a difference between the looming possibility of it and an immediate certainty. If Ciri doesn't find him in the next few seconds, he's going to black out and that will be it.
The thought, fleeting as it is, fills him with desperation, but it's not enough. It isn't enough--he can't overcome his own limitations, not even to pull his way to the surface, his own body dragging him down.]
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Viktor has lived with the specter of death hanging over him for a long time--but there is, he thinks, a difference between the looming possibility of it and an immediate certainty. If Ciri doesn't find him in the next few seconds, he's going to black out and that will be it.
The thought, fleeting as it is, fills him with desperation, but it's not enough. It isn't enough--he can't overcome his own limitations, not even to pull his way to the surface, his own body dragging him down.]