───THE WATER OF THE TANK WAS COLD ENOUGH TO STOP TIME as Tyne found herself submerged against her will. Stripped of her clothing to add further humiliation, she was dragged through the camp of the circus by Actaeon himself. He showed no mercy to his wife as he had a firm grip of her hair and pulled her along. The other members of the circus all looked on with fear and pity on their faces, thankful that it wasn't them but fearful that Tyne would not survive. It was clear that she had gone to a point of no return and it didn't matter if she was still Actaeon's wife or not, she was as good as dead to him.

Tyne did attempt to fight though, wriggling her body as hard as she could, dragging her feet against the ground, but nothing worked to delay the time. Actaeon was by far stronger than she was and reminded her every inch of the way to the tank. As they came to stand before it, he dropped her to the ground, taking it upon himself to give her a swift but strong kick to the stomach. Immediately, all air escaped her lungs to the point where she gasped violently for any bit of air.

But before she knew it, Actaeon lifted her up and tossed her right into the tank. She wanted to scream as soon as the water touched her skin, the opposite feeling of being set on fire, but causing every bit of the same panic from the experience. There was little to no time to react as her body sunk under the force and her bottom hit the glass. But it was the shock that caused her to react quickly, kicking off the bottom of the tank, to reach the surface.

She was already shivering as she took her first breath at the surface, just as Actaeon closed the bars over the top, sealing her in. Her hands gripped around the iron bars, attempting to pull herself out, but there was nowhere to go. The water was up to her neck and she could only keep herself above it by holding onto the bars. Without her seal skin, she could not venture under and wait long periods of time or sustain the cold temperatures. 

"Skender has no use for you if you don't have your coat," Actaeon said, " without it, you might as well be dead. So you can either save yourself, sweetheart, or find yourself counting down the moments where you have to let go. Your choice."

"How can you do this to me?!" Tyne called out to him. "After everything you've put me through, how can the two of you just keep doing this to me? Haven't I been through enough, why not just kill me and be done with it? You had no problem doing it to my mother!"

"Your mother made the wrong decision multiple times, she got what she deserved!"

No matter how cold the water was, it didn't stop the fire that sparked in Tyne's chest when Actaeon had the nerve to put any sort of blame on her mother. She took a mouthful of the water and spit it over the top, hoping that even just a drop would come to fall on the bastard.

"My mother deserved so much better!" she screamed. "She deserved better than my poor excuse of a father, he took her against her will, and you and Skender are no different. We were not property to be sold, my mother was a person, I'm a person. I was a child! But that didn't bother you at all, did it? It didn't bother you that I wasn't of age and yet you made me marry you against my will, you even made me carry your child before you...before you..."

Her grip loosened around the bars and Tyne couldn't stop herself from sinking back into the water again. She had once heard that mermaids were creatures incapable of producing tears, but she wondered if that was true or if it was simply due to the fact that the water they lived in consumed all their tears rather than letting anyone see.

She didn't even know why she bothered trying to fight or yell at Actaeon, he didn't care about her feelings or how she felt. He never did when he did so many unmentionable things to her, how could he? No apologies were offered on his behalf, instead, as Actaeon went to leave the area, he threatened the others around that if anyone let Tyne out from the tank, they would suffer a worse fate.

Tyne remained on the bottom, turning her head and watching the blurry image of Actaeon leave. She stayed under until her lungs were begging for mercy, aching for just a breath even if it was just a short one. Once more she surfaced and made her way back down, moving around the tank to keep some warmth. It was her own little technique of trying to wait it out, but Actaeon was right, without her coat, she was of no use to them, which means if she didn't confess, they were just going to leave her to die.

Each time she sunk to the bottom, Tyne's thoughts were overtaken by horrid memories, every single one that led her that moment in time. All starting with how her father had sold Tyne and her mother, all because he realised that Nineve would never truly love him. He had fooled himself into believing that taking a selkie's coat meant that he would gain her love, but that was not how it worked.

He only had her against her will and as soon as she had the coat in her hands again, she would take the first opportunity to free herself. Nineve had taken to apologising one night after being sold to Circus Arcanus, telling Tyne that it was all her fault that they had landed in such a situation. She had been hellbent on retrieving her coat, along with Tyne so that they would be free from Fraser, but he had found her and it had led to him losing his mind knowing that his wife was attempting to leave him.

He figured it would only be a matter of time before Tyne attempted to do the same thing, so he decided he would get the head start on them and get rid of them on his own terms. That was only the beginning of the hell that the two would be put through.

Since their capture, Nineve did whatever she could in order to protect Tyne, meaning she took the worst of the punishments. Often bringing attention to herself in a negative way so that her daughter was left alone. But eventually, Tyne's "luck" would run out and Skender didn't want Nineve causing any more problems, so he decided to separate the two the best he could. By marrying Tyne off when she was only sixteen years old. Although in the eyes of Skender and Actaeon, marriage was not a union of love, but just exchanging ownership of the two females that they considered to be property.

How much Nineve begged that they just leave Tyne alone, that she would perform during shows, but to leave her as a child. They didn't listen, of course, Actaeon didn't consider age, taking her as he pleased, and he loved rubbing Nineve's face in it every second that he had.

The people and creatures of Circus Arcanus knew that it was wrong, they had been appalled when the mother and child arrived. But there was nothing they could do, the majority of them were weathered and beaten souls, looking to not get in their own sort of trouble. They would turn their gaze in another direction, keep their heads low, and try to pretend that nothing was wrong. It was the only way they could get through the rough days ahead.

Tyne remembered when Nineve had enough, she wouldn't let Actaeon's hand touch her daughter any longer. They decided to make a break for it, attempting to earn the trust of Skender and Actaeon by being on their best behaviour. And when they were finally given some freedom, they tried to make a run for it. But unfortunately, they didn't make it very far. Years of being beaten down had left Nineve weak and she couldn't make it very far, especially with no magic on their side.

It was during those desperate times that Tyne wished she had her wand on her, she would have done anything to protect her mother, but there was little she could do. It didn't take long for Actaeon to find them before they ever reached the waters, and he was furious. Nineve had done so much for Tyne and when she needed help, Tyne was unable to do anything. She had been easily cast aside like a rag doll by Actaeon to get her out of the way.

And in a fit of rage, Nineve's life came to an end by Actaeon's hands.

There was nothing crueller than being married to the man that killed her mother and Tyne spent so many nights, crying and wishing that she had done more, that she had been able to do something. Tyne wanted to get away, but they had merely placed her in her coat and kept her locked away in her tank. The only time she was removed from the tank was when Actaeon wanted to "make use of her."

Tyne's days of "luck" had run out eventually as all the times she came to lay with Actaeon only resulted in the natural order, she fell pregnant.

Surfacing again, Tyne was finding it harder and harder to find the strength to keep holding onto the bars. Her feet were nearing complete numbness and her fingers were reaching the same point as she could barely grip, but if she did not surface, she would surely drown. And maybe, just maybe that would be a good thing. She liked to believe that after her death, she would be reunited with her mother and she would only find peace after a life that was filled with the majority of suffering.

And what was left for her anyway? The life she had once known was long gone and if she retrieved her coat, she would go back to a life she didn't want. She knew that Theseus would be happy, after all, he had gone on to greatness just as she believed he would back when they were children. He had someone who loved him and from what he told her, he loved Leta just the same. They were good for each other, both beautiful and successful.

Then there was Garrick and while he claimed to have no friends before her, she was sure it wouldn't be the case for long. After all, he was such a sweet gentleman, he deserved the world and others would soon see that. He would have friends lining up at the door, all willing to be around him. He would find his happiness too, she knew it.

Another gasp of air before she sunk to the bottom and Tyne found herself surrounded by silence. Her body was beginning to shut down, not able to withstand the cold any longer, her heart was struggling to keep a proper heart rate and it felt like her blood was frozen inside of her veins. It was not the way she wanted to die, but Tyne didn't know what other sorts of freedom there was for her.

After a minute or so, her lungs started their usual ache, urging her to surface but Tyne fought against it. She was so tired, she didn't have any fight in her, at least none that she could feel. And besides the dull ache in her chest, it seemed like a peaceful way to go, better than the way her mother went. Her eyes closed and Tyne pretended that she was somewhere nice, back in Hogwarts when she was only a child.

She was back at the Quidditch pitch, dawned in her gear and ready to take to the skies. The sun bathed her in warmth and all she could do was smile. Then she found herself back in the castle itself, running through the corridors, having a merry old time as she didn't find herself scolded by any professor. There was a shift change to Hogsmeade and she walked past the beautiful little cottages that were lined up side by side. The shops that sold little treasures that she would find on weekends when she and Theseus travelled there together.

And of course, Theseus was there and so was her mother. He was younger, Nineve was happy and all was right with the world. That was what Tyne wanted to see during her final moments, not the sadden expressions that surrounded the tank as the others knew what she was doing. They knew she had abandoned her will to fight and they couldn't blame her.

Many of them could tell her that her mother wouldn't have wanted her to do such a thing, but would Nineve really want her to live a life of suffering either? To them, she was doing something that none of them were brave enough to do.

Finally, the ache started to fade, her lungs were no longer screaming for mercy, they were accepting defeat. A sense of peacefulness overcame her and Tyne allowed it to take over. There appeared to be a smile on her face during those moments and she swore she could hear her mother's voice calling her name.

"Tyne...Tyne...Tyne..."

She was ready to greet Nineve with open arms, and maybe her mother was ready to gree her too.

"TYNE!" a voice called her name much louder and within seconds, a hand wrapped around her wrist and pulled.

It pulled her right to the surface.