Chapter 1:

An autumnal gust blew through the short grass and Alex's hair as he lay, spread eagle, in the centre of Imperial Park. His bike and rucksack, both tossed haphazardly, rested a little way away. He gazed listlessly, eyes half closed, at clouds that rolled wandered through the darkening sky. No real thoughts. Only the beating of his own heart and the in and out of his lungs. A constant reminder of his continued survival. Their noise drowning out the world around him. The traffic of the busy London road at one end of the park, the water of the River Thames at the other. As well as the tell tail noises that came with the end of the school day.

Then another noise interrupted his moment of tranquillity. A small, brief splash. He would think nothing of it were it not for the heart wrenching noise that followed.

'ROSIE!'

Alex sprung to his feet and raced the short distance to where the noise had originated, along the footpath not all that far from his position. When his feet the pavement, he saw right in front of him a man with short blond hair trying desperately to scale the small fence of the river. He was held back, however, by two joggers. To the right of them, another appeared to be trying to guide a life ring out into the river. Alex got closer still and spotted the centre of the commotion. A red ball flouted gently towards the centre of the expanse of water whilst its owner, a little girl by the shouts of the hysterical man, lay just out of reach of the desperate onlookers.

Alex hesitated just long enough to pull off his shoes, tie and blazer before running forward and leaping over the fence between the two groups of people. He barely flinched when he felt a glass bottle shatter under the weight of his bear foot, simply recovered from the slight stumble and dove without a thought into the frigid vastness of the Thames River.

He gasped slightly as he hit the water. Pulling his head above the surface he spluttered and heaved in the air that had been knocked out of him. He trod water for a moment as he scanned the chilling plane for the small body as he fought desperately against the violent current. He heard more shouting behind him and turned again. The crowd had grown ever so slightly, confused as to what was going on, he was pleased to see several people with their phones to their ears. Hopefully calling the emergency services. The original onlookers, however, were flailing their arms towards the left of him. He cocked his head slightly before shifting to that direction. There. He still couldn't see that much of her but it looked like she was wearing a bright purple coat. He could follow that just fine.

He began his swim the best he could, battling the tide with every stroke. The little girl seemed to be doing a valiant job at keeping her head above the water, but even he could tell her movements were slowing. And it seemed like every time he lifted his head to check on her she was getting further down the river. Then, just when she was little more than feet out of reach, another wave reared over her little head, dragging her down. He didn't think. Only acted. Turn and shoot. No hesitation.

The water in the river was dull and brown. He could scarcely make out more than a couple of feet ahead of him and he was becoming increasingly confused as to what was up and what was down. He couldn't re-emerge now though. Else the next time he went down, he would likely be looking for a tiny corpse.

He kept his movements as controlled as possible. Conserve energy, those seconds will go a long way. Little good that it did as he searched with burning eyes and lungs. As his vision become increasingly unreliable, he turned to his other senses for help. His hearing and sense of smell did him no good. The water roared to loud, not that the child could call out. He spread his arms and prayed for a miracle. Not really expecting one.

Which is why it caught his so off guard when, just as the straining in his chest became too much to bear, his hands brushed against something. His head fizzed and rational thought was getting lost in the roar of his survival instincts telling him to get out. And once more, he didn't think. He just did. He pulled the object to him, wrapped his arms around it and kicked will the desperation that came with being seconds, less than seconds, from death. A desperation he was all too familiar with.

His head crashed through into the arctic air of middle autumn synonymous with England. The limp little body weighed heavily, not breathing but, as he brought his hand to her throat, heart still beating. Alex released a hollow laugh in relief only for it to devolve into a hacking choke as what little air he had managed to gather was lost. He heaved again and squeezed the little girl in a weak excuse for C.P.R. His heart leapt to his throat as she heaved an immediate gasp and began hacking water all down his front. He had never been so happy about being thrown up on.

That was the easy part of the rescue done.

He'd never be able to swim back to the shore like this. His muscles ached and he was struggling to catch his breath. But waiting for help wouldn't work either. No more than a couple of minutes had passed since he'd gone under and the cold was already affecting him. By the time the services arrived, he wasn't sure how good a condition he would be in. And the little girl had already been in longer than him. They were a good 15 meters out at this point. That's over a quarter the size of an Olympic swimming pool. He'd swam that far before with little difficulty. But it wasn't the distance that worried him. It was the limp child, vomiting and sobbing into his chest. He couldn't do anything with her like this.

'Hay.' She didn't respond. Just buried in further. His legs were starting to go numb. 'Hay uh… Rosie, right? I'm Alex. Hay Rosie, have you ever swam with dolphins?'

Rosie looked up in confusion at the sudden, random topic. She lightly shook her head. He heaved her up a little so they were eye to eye.

'Well it's super cool. And do you know who swims with dolphins?' Another confused shake followed by sniffles and coughs. 'Mermaids. And not just any mermaids either. Princess mermaids.' He looked her in the eye with all the confidence he could muster. She looked back as though she understood. Of course. Princess mermaids. Duh.

'Do you wanna play princess mermaids and dolphins with me Rosie?'

'Play?' She questioned quietly to him, her voice weak and hoarse. He smiled back.

'Yeah. You wanna play with me right? Then we can go back to your daddy and tell him what a great game it was. And how brave you've been.'

She looked over his shoulder to where Alex knew her father was.

'I can be brave.' She whispered into his ear without moving her gaze.

'Awesome. I'll even let you be the mermaid princess cos they have to be very brave. It's a really easy game.'

With little Rosie sufficiently calmed down and compliant, Alex's plan could get under way. And not a moment too soon. With much more patience than an exhausted teen should have been able to muster, Alex was able manoeuvre his companion into a suitable position onto his back, arms securely around his neck.

'I'm gonna let go now Rosie. You gotta hold on as tight as you can, kay?'

He felt a tiny, but certain, nod on his shoulder. They were off.

If he thought the trek out was a challenge it had nothing on the way back. The wind had only gotten stronger as the time progressed, infuriating the tide even farther. It was a strain just to swim in a straight line. Each stroke of the pathetic doggy-paddle he had resorted to was a slog. Waves crashed over their heads and the ferocious gusts lashed at their stinging faces. The audience must have doubled in size, three of the original four at the front. It seemed as though the two joggers had gone from holding the father back to holding him up. Quite suddenly, the crowd parted. Through the gap, the third jogger. And three people in large, neon green and yellow overcoats. Thank god.

Grinding on, Alex gave up of tracking his progress. He took each strake as it came, knowing if he looked up and saw the mighty distance, he might not be able to continue. There wasn't much to see anyway. The eruptions of water blocked out his view before he was ever able to get gage on the distance and twilight sky combined with the oncoming storm darkened and muted the world. He seared all over. His whole body. The lactic acid making him weak. The cold making him clumsy. One stroke at a time. It was all he could manage. One more stroke. One more stroke. One more stroke. One more…

His hand hit something hard and suddenly he was being grabbed from all directions.

Alex had scarcely comprehended what it all meant when his precious cargo was lifted from his back. After a brief moment of panic, he looked up to see Rosie being handed off to her weeping father as one of the EMTs lead them through a cheering crowd.

The bodyless arms came for him next. Doing his best to help, Alex attempted to pull himself up onto the small jetty in front of the fence. He got to about waist height when his body gave up on him.

It had happened so suddenly that the arms lost their grip. And he was falling back. Yet the moment stretched. He saw the faces attached to the arms. Saw as they reached out to catch him, only to fail. Then he was back in the water. He hadn't had time to catch his breath. No time to prepare himself for the shock. Here was no strength left in him. He simply existed in the moment. Limbs splayed around him like an eagle. Head angled up to the faint streetlight colouring the murky, brown water as it faded, steadily, to black.

It was nothing like it was in the movies. The elegant dance through clear water as the light sparkles overhead. Like heaven reaching out to take the tragic hero to eternal rest. The reality was so much more violent.

At first glance, it would appear that Alex had already given in to his fate. His body drifted without resistance; his mouth open wide. Within his body, however, his consciousness screamed. Every desperate breath invited more putrid river water into his lungs. His mind was trapped in a dying body. He was only distantly aware of the grabbing hands. Each breath a countdown to the last. As the last of the light above was blotted out, he felt the water shift.

Disclaimer: I do not own Alex Rider. This is just for fun.

Hope you all have an awesome new year.