Across the Wasteland

As soon as the kid was gone, Xavier sank down to the ground, his head hitting the wall. Reaching up, he covered his eyes with a hand, trying to rub the stress from his body. Groaning, he tried not to think, 'I could've just sent that kid to his death.' Instead, he let himself try to remember things from before the snow had fallen. That normally made him feel better, whenever he felt like he just couldn't deal with anything anymore. However, it was hard to remember anything important from then. He knew he went to a highschool, and had a few friends, but that was about it. He guessed, if he wasn't ever going to have children of his own to send off to school, remembering that wasn't important.

'God,' he thought to himself. 'Why do I feel so guilty about sending the kid away?'
 
((Becauseyouwantthebootycoughcough))

The wolf just out of nowhere ran back inside, took the branch he had left before and paced outside again without allowing a single thought, and since outside the boy was still sitting on the rock even if he was freezing, the beast just thought of showing him the branch, thinking he'd make a fire or something. It didn't know what fire was, but it did know it kept his "brother" warm. However when the boy saw the branch hanging between his wolve's fangs, he thought nothing of it and just looked away.

"... Out here anyone can do anything to us, shaggy wolf... " he said, caressing his partner's ears "... We've always survived and lived peacefully... right?" he asked, almost expecting an answer he knew wouldn't come. ".... No one wants us.." he replied to himself before standing and fixing his scarf, taking his bow "Let's go Vaughn, I'm well enough to walk now" he commented and began walking, the cracking snow letting it know that he was slowly walking away, even if he was uncertain of any real shelter in miles, and even if he could bury himself and remain warm during the night like the wolves did, he wasn't so sure anyone wouldn't just find and kill him along with his wolf brother... Still, this man was not listening, so he wasn't going to try anymore.
 
About an hour passed before Xavier finally stood up, shaky as he knelt down next to the remnants of the fire. Making sure the embers were all out, he put the twigs next to the lighters. Pulling his jacket further around his body, he sighed before poking his head out of his home, examining the sky.

Immediately, his eyes widened. The clouds hung low and dark against the sky, meaning only one thing. Snow. And by the awful look to the sky, it was probably going to be a white out blizzard. Paling a few shades, he thought, 'Shit, shit, shit. I've just killed a kid,' as the first snowflakes fell from the sky, a sharp wind cutting through the air.
 
He looked p to the sky, an hour had passed since he had begun walking and he kept kicking the snow out of his way, but when he felt the cold wind he frowned and turned to his wolf whom was completely unnerved and trying to dig under the softest snow "We need a shelter Vaughn, find one" he asked, the wolf barked and tried running back toward Xavier's shelter "No! Not that one, he could kill you" the boy warned and the wolf only paced closer to him, the snow began to practically rain down and the sky only but got darker.

"... Can We dig a hole deep enough..?" he asked, but the beast just sat down and looked down whining, the boy sat down as well this time, on top of a bunch of rubble. "... what do we do... The storm will hit us any minute..." he touched his scarf, looking at his partner, whom only whined in response, biting on his scarf to pull him toward Xavier's shelter, but he ignored the insisting beast. "Stop it..." he turned away. The wind was only getting stronger "... Let's try to dig at least a little" he said, and the beast instantly began to dig with the help of the boy, who used a metal plate as shovel.
 
By the time Xavier had gotten back outside, the snow was coming down hard and fast. He had dressed in all the clothes he owned, even draping his sleeping bag over his shoulders. Shivering as soon as he got out, he tried to keep his heart from racing.

Which direction had the kid gone? If Xavier went out blindly, he could never find the kid, he could get lost, he could die. And yet here he was, preparing to run out into the wasteland to save this kid who had caused nothing but trouble. 'He's just a kid,' he reminded himself, before bending down to check around for footprints. Quickly finding a pair-one belonging to the kid, the other unmistakably lupine- he began running in that direction, wanting to find the kid before visibility was at zero.

"Kid!" He shouted into the air, the wind carrying his voice as he ran, stumbling several times as he tried to see the forms of the kid and his beast.
 
It was almost violent when he and the beast were buried in a not very deep hole on the snow, squeezing his arms around the beast's fur, and his eyes shut, it was by far the very first time this had happened to him, since he was a child. "...Va..ughn... run..." he mumbled, but the beast refused to move, pushing itself toward him to try to warm him up, but both of them were far too cold. "...Run.." he whispered and let go off the beast, now frost bitten enough not to be able to move very much anymore and just curling up in the small area he had, the wolf's first instinct was speed off toward Xavier after he heard his voice, carried by the winds.

Arriving at where he was not much after and barking, jumping and trying to heed his attention.
 
As soon as Xavier saw the wolf, he quickened his running, going into a full sprint. Tripping on his feet, he landed with his face in the snow, a lot getting into his eyebrows. Blinking away the snow from his eyes, he coughed before forcing himself to his feet. Shaking away the chill that was getting to him, he raced past the wolf, stopping when he found a disturbance in the snow.

Brushing away snow until he could feel cloth beneath his gloved fingers, he pulled up, straining with the weight of the kid. Shoving the sleeping bag around the kid's body, he pulled him into his arms, turning to find his footprints again. "Come on, Vaughn," he said as he passed the wolf, not stopping. The kid could already be dead, but Xavier was hoping that he would just barely be alive, at least enough so he could survive.
 
The boy was practically ice cold and limp, but he wasn't all that heavy, probably because of the bad nutrition, and the wolf was no different, instead this time it kept leading Xavier toward his shelter with it's expert black nose, barking at time for them to keep moving.

However among the noise the younger male woke up, opening his eyes and staring at the man for a moment, gripping a weak hand onto his jacket and passing out once more, letting his hand just fall down.
 
Feeling the kid grab onto his jacket, Xavier glanced down just in time to see his hand fall. Sighing softly, he forced himself to keep moving, adrenaline keeping his blood running through his veins. Letting out a relieved exhale when he saw his home, he sped up, muscles screaming for him to stop.

It was a struggle to get the kid's limp body inside, but once he got him in, he wasted no time in taking off his clothes to the bottom layer--a grey sweater and faded jeans--before putting his clothes on and over the kid, trying to get him warm. Getting most of the snow off him, he shivered in his thin clothes as he struggled to make a fire, his fingers fumbling on the lighter. 'Don't be dead,' he thought to himself.
 
((Sorry for the delay I was delayed at work, and omg this was so cute))

The beast's first reaction was that of jumping and lying on top of the boy even if he himself was freezing because he had no clothes but fur to protect himself, and even so there he was, trying to warm up the unconscious child, even tough it had precisely been Xavier who had kicked them out not much long ago, reason for which the wolf seemed to now be ignoring him and now growling each time he got closer to the boy.
 
((It's fine. School is killing me))

Frowning as the wolf growled at him, Xavier withdrew slightly, before busying himself with trying to keep the fire going. After a few minutes, he sighed before turning to the kid again. Very slowly, so the wolf wouldn't snap at him, he placed his fingers near the kid's nose, feeling for his breathing. When he had determined that the kid was doing okay, he pulled away again before moving a bit closer to the fire, wishing he had better clothes.

Sighing heavily, he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to get out the snow that had lodged itself there. Closing his eyes for a moment, he rubbed his arms as he tried to get rid of the goosebumps, the hairs standing up there.
 
((Work is killing me as well...))

Some time passed before Vaughn was pushed out of the way as the boy stood up, lips and nose and cheeks looking bright red, not so say that he was sweating, he probably had caught a fever. Even so he still pushed himself up with the help of his arms and got rid of the extra clothing, despite his wolf's attempts to keep them in place for him to remain warm.

He turned his face toward Xavier, a little surprised at first but then his expression went serious once more. "... why?" he asked, loudly as he could, for his throat was burning and itching at the same time. "I thought... you ... didn't want us... no more..." to this comment the wolf also turned his head toward the man, almost asking the same question.
 
Xavier let a sigh of relief out as the kid sat up, glad that he wasn't responsible for the death of a fifteen year old. When he took off the extra clothes, he immediately put them back on, freezing as the snowstorm raged outside. Shaking his head at the question, he replied truthfully, "I didn't...I didn't want to kill a kid." Wincing at how selfish it sounded, he frowned slightly.

Zipping up his jacket, he blew on the fire, making sure it stay lit. "Let's just go to sleep. We'll have to share the sleeping bag, but I'm too cold to care about it. Flattening the sleeping bag, he unzipped it, glad that some of the warmth from the fire heating him.
 
((I wanna do something during the night but I need Xavier to fall asleep as soon as possible and about 3 hours to pass, thank you in advance))

He stared into the man and shrugged, moving closer to him but also the wolf got in the middle, growling at Xavier almost as a warning while the boy just pulled the sleeping back and the rest of the clothing that he had removed from himself, staying in just his scarf, a long sleeved grey shirt, his boots and his jeans, pulling a hoody he found randomly and placing it on. He then laid down by Xavier, the wolf lying down on it's stomach, to his entire length, being almost the child's size just in height, and staying beside him, probably inviting Xavier, but if it could speak, it'd probably tell him not to touch the boy or he'd loose the hand...
 
((Fine with me :) ))

Xavier fell asleep quickly, the wolf next to him acting sort of like a tiny furnace. Turning his head away from it so he couldn't smell the musk coming off the wolf, he was soon asleep, oblivious to the outside world, though he kept a metaphorical eye open, not wanting to be surprised by anything at all.

A few hours later, the snowstorm still screaming, Xavier was still sleeping, occasionally letting out a groan or sigh as he dreamed. Turned on his side, arms kept as close to his body as possible, he shivered as a chill went through him, his eyelids fluttering a bit as the shudder passed through his body.
 
The boy only sniffled at times, his face hiding much stronger emotions to what he was actually showing, soon beginning to beg in the middle of his dreams, his voice flooded in stress and despair, clutching onto his beast and the next thing he found beside it, Xavier's jacket.

"Stop..." was the most constant one of his muffled cries, among other things such as "don't do this" "please" and "I won't do it again" and the worst of all, the most pained cry was that of "help me".

His body was cold and it ached all over, he was already burning up in an uncontrollable fever he couldn't seem to handle very well, despite the fact that he was indeed, fast asleep. His hands however kept reaching out for something to hold, something to make him feel safe, it constantly being Xavier's back, or the wolf's body.
 
Xavier was woken by the kid's cries. Thinking someone had gotten into his home, and was now hurting the kid, he reached for his knife, spinning around to stab whoever it was. When no one was standing over the kid, but was still crying out, Xavier felt him grabbing at bis jacket. Getting up, he moved to the kid, shaking his shoulder before shouting, "Hey, kid, wake up. You're dreaming." Feeling how feverish he was, he frowned, wondering how he should treat a fever in such cold conditions. "Wake up!" he shouted, shaking him harder.
 
"..." No sound came from him at first, but then he opened his eyes slightly, hard to see because of his hair but he reacted, letting out a single groaning sound, and rose up a little, his wolf only staring as if it were worried, but the younger male only remained there, his body practically cradling aimlessly with no real energy to support himself up, tired and dizzy.

"... what..?" he asked, raising his head toward the man.
 
"You were having a nightmare," Xavier answered, pulling away. "Screaming and shouting and..." he frowned slightly. Did the kid not remember his nightmare? Deciding that if that was the case he wouldn't mention what he was saying in his sleep, he stifled a yawn back before saying, "We should go back to sleep...there's still a couple hours of nighttime left..." Lying back down, he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hands before yawning again, feeling the wolf settling next to him.
 
The younger man didn't even reply, he just shrugged and hugged his wolf lying down again, not really paying attention to anything Xavier had just said, but the nightmare part, and the fact that he felt like he was freezing right now, squeezing his eyes shut and shuddering constantly in pain and cold. "... I think I have a
fever..." he thought, but did not speak it up, since the older man probably already knew this and wasn't going to pay any attention to what could be happening
to him. After all, he did kick him out before a storm.
 
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