Forced to Start Again

Preparation

Xander woke from his sleep, now alone and curled up on the hard ground. At first he was confused as to why he hadn't slept in his "bed," but then he remember Freya. Where had she gone anyhow? Mentally shrugging, he was happy to find that his clothes were only damp now. That's better than what it was before. He slipped on his flannel button up, next grabbing his leather jacket and doing the same. He left them both unbuttoned. He put on his socks and shoes, quite unsure of what he was going to try and accomplish in the day ahead. The idea struck him that maybe he could try and begin to figure out how to shift, using Freya as his example of whatever Raina said he needed. Freya was the only wolf that didn't want to kill him, and he was desperate to learn how to shift. Once he did he get begin to figure out a plan to escape, but that was surely months in the future.

Noticing that his once burning fire was now nothing but burned logs, he figured he'd have to find a way to get some firewood which was going to be hard with the numerous inches of snow covering the ground. Maybe he could get some from the leafless trees, taking some of the smaller branches and twigs. The trees were in dormant so it shouldn't be too difficult.

Dressed and ready, he ignored his growling stomach for now and tried to focus on the current task of firewood, but his thoughts were unwillingly divided. Between his hunger and thirst and he wonderment for where Freya had gone, he sighed. Her bandages won't keep clean that long, and she will get her wound infected if she doesn't come back and let him clean the wound up a bit more since last night he hardly had a chance with everything that had been going on.. and Kierra. The thought hit him and he felt grief. He knew he should've protected her, but even more important than that, he should've never cared. It was him caring that got her dead anyways.

He outwardly sneered at himself, slightly shaking his head as he snapped some of the small branches from the dormant trees. He needed to work, because working would get his mind off of everything, and that's what he needed. Forcing his mind to entirely focus itself on the task ahead, he almost didn't hear the light crunching of snow coming from his surroundinds. He tried to ignore it and act as if he had heard nothing. When a soft bark like noise erupted behind him he knew then that the noise he had heard came from Freya, and now that he was even more aware, he swore he smelt blood. He quickly set it apart from Freya's, but it was blood, no doubt. After he gathered what he he needed from the tree he was working on, he finally turned to face her. An arctic fox lay dead and still at her paws. Speechless, he tried to figure out the logical reason for this, but Freya simply answered it. "We have to eat."

Xander knew it was true, and agreed, his mouth watering. Freya picked up her kill gentle in her jowls and carried it back to their cave, sitting it down on the floor. She was about to start digging into it, but stopped, eyes locked onto Xander's frame. "Do you want any?" she questioned. "Yes, but I have to cook it first. How are we going to split it?"

***

Each had their own share, and now it was time for Xander to ask the question that had long been on bis mind, but first he should probably give some back story. "So, Freya, according to someone I know I have the ability to.. change my form." he began as Freya got the last of the meat off of the carcass. "And that includes wolves.. but in order for me to do that I have to study who I'm going to shift into.. and I was thinking that it could be you." he concluded simply. Freya looked up, seemingly in deep thought as she considered this. "Why do you want to learn so bad?" Xander wasn't expecting that. He was expecting a yes and then her resuming her meal. "Because.. it will help me.. escape." he mumbled, but he knew Freya was able to understand him. "Alright, we'll start tomorrow."

Xander nodded and mentally cheered himself on, glad that he could finally start this. The sooner he did, the sooner he would be able to get out of here. Now he should prepare for what it might bring, but the this was, he had no idea of any of the possibilites. He was told that it would hurt in the beginning, but what did he expect? He was also told it could take months. The alien thought of himself as a fast learner, so this shouldn't be too hard.