Forced to Start Again

Unwillingly Rescued

A picture of the character mentioned later on above.

He couldn't stop shaking and it was getting harder and harder for him to get the required breaths he needed to live. He didn't have one clue on how to swim so he was lucky on how he had even managed this. There was nothing for him to grab on to and he was beginning to lose all the feeling in his body from such freezing temperatures, and even though he knew that the ice was useless to him, he still kept trying to hold onto it as if he was thinking that maybe this patch here would be stronger than the rest and it would hold him hope, but it never did.

Ready to just give up, he spluttered and gasped, screaming and shouting for help, but he was in the middle of no where. What was the chance that someone would come and save him now? It was clear that Raina only said all that to make him feel better, because if he knew that they weren't actually planning on saving him, he wouldn't have been so quick to go along with their plans. He hates when he's tricked like that. A lot. And if he ever makes it out of here alive, he's going to kill her, kill all of them. It isn't like he hasn't killed before.

His thrashings became weaker as he grew more tired and his cries for help turned into quiet pitiful whimpers. This was it. This is how he was going to die. Already beginning to sink, he grasped on to a new found hope when another voice broke out above surface. Gaining energy, he pumped his legs and tried his best to reach the top, and he knew this person was talking but he was unable to focus in to what they were saying. He could tell by the pitch of it that it was most likely a she, but that's all the information he could get from that one piece of wisdom.

Still helpless in the water, he was beginning to feel the urge to cry, but he know that he wasn't going to allow himself to do that. He couldn't. He wasn't going to die crying, he was going to die fighting for his life, not just giving up because it got too hard. All of a sudden the end of a large stick was prodded right in his face, surprising him, but out of instinct, he grabbed it as if his life depended on it - and it did, really. It was hard to maintain a strong grip, his numb hands sliding off of the slippery surface multiple times. Finally he reached a point where he could sorta feel the ground below him, and using his remaining energy, he lunged himself forward, practically praising the dry land.

His entire form was shivering and he didn't have the power within him to stand. Trying to cough up all of the water he inhaled, he jumped back when he felt a hand rest itself on his shoulder. Since most of the contact he's had with Humans ended with him being put in some kind of pain, the feeling of someone touching him in anyway didn't appeal him.

"Hey, I'm not going to hurt you. Are you alright?" she questioned and just then he looked up at her.

She had shoulder length white hair and grayish blue eyes and a ring in her lip which confused Xander quite a lot, she stood about the same height as Xander which was about 5'7. She seemed to be younger rather than older, early twenties most likely, and she was staring straight at him as if was a child who needed to be cared for. He hated when people looked at him like that. He can take care of himself.

"I'd be better if you wouldn't touch me and you'd shut up," he growled out, his voice rough and hoarse.

She was about to speak again but then he stared daggers at her, sitting in the same position you would apply if you were going to play leap frog. Sure, not the most intimidating posture, but the way he was using it made it seem all the more terrifying. He didn't really want to scare her away, but he also didn't want to be caught off guard. He didn't want to trust her and then get left to die. He's learned now not to trust anyone, they'll only stab you in the back when you need them the most. Just like Raina did, and just she will if he doesn't do anything to stop her.

"Leave me alone, okay?" he spoke, his voice shaky and teeth almost literally clattering together from his excessive shivering, but even then it didn't hold any place for arguing.

"I can't leave you alone to die! Plus.. I'm got lost out here so I don't really have a place to go.. and you look like you need a hand, and you're freezing cold and you're soaked! You're gonna get hypothermia or something. So, please, just let me help you, and answered what happened.. you don't really have a good reason as to why you're out here. I just told you why - I'm lost, but that doesn't explain why you were that far off shore, drowning. You should be happy I was all the way out here."

Xander would've interrupted her, but she had a point, and he was the tiniest bit scared. Here he was, weak and unable to defend for himself where someone else has to go and save him. This seems like a repeating scenario, and he doesn't like it. He doesn't want to feel weak all the time, he wants to be the one who would be watching everyone else struggle while he holds the power. He doesn't ever want to feel weak again, he refuses to feel weak again, and starting now he needs to show her that and prove it to himself.

Standing up on shaky legs, he breaths hard, nostrils flared and eyes as cold as stone. She stayed in her place, crouched in the snow as he neared her with threatening steps. "Leave, and don't come back. I'm fine." he stammered out through shivers but immediately he straightened out his back to appear stronger than he felt. "Now!" he barked out and this time she flinched back, falling on her back in the snow. "I don't need you! I don't need anyone!" he continued and she scrambled back, "Your eyes, they're -" she trailed off and he began to calm down for a second in confusion as the rave of rage passed, swallowing.

"What? What about them?" he asked in a normal tone, clueless himself to why he had the sudden urge of unexplained anger and need for power, but what was she talking about his eyes? THey were a normal rusty brown, nothing strange about them, at least that he was aware of. "They flashed red when you started yelling." she explained in a soft tone and Xander looked down, knowing exactly why they had done that. Raina told him that now that they unlocked so much more about him the "voices" in his head may have more control over his actions and emotions and thoughts, and he guessed this was just a side effect. He didn't want to be like this, randomly bursting out in anger.. he was going to kill her without thinking twice about it, hell, he wanted to.

And part of him still wants to.