The Girl From Snow Kingdom (Xanthos)

Alaska sat on the bench in the village park, enjoying the cold falling snow on her cheeks. How much she loved snow. It reminded her of her beloved home, somewhere so far away at place that she named herself after. As little girl, she was used to see snow for the most of the year. After she was forced to leave, it changed. And all she was looking forwards to were winters. Now, curled in her Ravenclaw winter robes, she enjoyed what she longer for so long. Nobody was around. People were in pubs or at home. Even Hogwarts were almost empty. And that was something Alaska dreamt about ever since she began her journey to UK.

It had been months since he had last seen his girl and Xanthos disliked not having control over things that mattered to him and with Alaska being at Hogwarts, he had no way of keeping his eyes on her like he had planned to. At first, Xanthos had thought it would be simple to just wait till she returned, but the months of not knowing what she was up to had been starting to wear him down, so he had decided to check up on her today.
It was all too simple, to apparate to the small village near Hogwarts and to track down the girl he was seeking and after only a few minutes, Xanthos was standing right behind Alaska with a calm expression on his face. "Would you mind me taking a seat?" he asked casually, as if it was perfectly normal for him to turn up here.

She didn't expect him to be there. Well, she didn't expect anyone to be there. So she jumped with surprise. "Xanthos Gamp, still not given up, huh?" she sighed, annoyed by his presence. And deep inside, also scared. She was hoping that stress from him discovering her life would wait for couple of months. But he seemed to be determined. Too determined for Alaska's taste. This way, she will lose her deal by the end of the summer at latest. And Alaska didn't like that, not even a little bit. "But sure, go ahead," she said.

At her annoyed expression, Xanthos just chuckled low in his throat, not in the least bothered by it. After all, of she would be overjoyed to see him, where would be the entertainment in that? No, it was much more interesting to stalk someone who did not like it. "I never give up, Alaska, but I don't blame you for thinking that. You will have the rest of your life to realize that when I put my mind to something, only death can stop me." He was still speaking in a very conversationally tone which was a sharp contrast to the finality of his words. Walking around the bench, Xanthos sat down beside her, though he kept his eyes focused on the snow-covered park in front of them. "I see you have been sorted in Ravenclaw, the ones that value wisdom over anything...Did you get any wiser regarding your family?"

Alaska rolled her eyes. "When will you learn I'm not win in the lotery? You simply have to dig deeper, humiliate me, just to find out what you alredy know, which is I am not worth your time and leave me behind?" she asked him, her voice not giving away how hopeless she felt in that matter. And Kain was nowhere to be found to disturb her thoughts. "I am raven because I chose to be one," she said. She in fact knew she got hatstall between Slytherin and Gryffindor but she didn't want any of the houses. "And I got wiser, but it's none of your bussiness," she added, thinking about Astoria, her little sister, she deep inside wished to get close to.

Xanthos turned slightly, so that his leg was party resting on the bench and faced her with a calm expression. "I never humiliate people, Alaska, that is beneath me and I told you before that I don't care whether you deem yourself worthy of my attention or not, you caught it and I fear it is impossible to lose it again." he told her and leaned forward slightly till their faces were only inches apart and he could stare right into her dark eyes. Xanthos could see unease in them and a defensiveness that was so strong that it almost made him back away again, but a Gamp never backed down and especially not him. "Do you take me for a fool, Alaska?" he asked her calmly, though his voice had lowered deep growl.

She didn't take him for a fool. She never would. Because he wasn't. And that's why she feared him so much. Also there was the part where all she could think about were his lips at the very moment. "What do you want from me, Xanthos? Why cannot you just leave it be?" she asked him, trying to sound as determined as possible. Even if deep down she was scared. "Why cannot you be like others? Have some fun, lots of sex and leave me alone?" she asked again. It was safer that way. Back at Alaska, her beloved place, where life was so cruel, nobody cared. She wished she could go back sometimes.

Xanthos shook his head lightly, though his eyes kept their focus on hers, his expression getting a bit gentler than his usual unperturbed mask. "I am not like other people and I don't want to be. I have fun in my own way and flirting and fucking around is not part of it." he told her, his lips curling into a condescending sneer, though it quickly turned back into an amused smirk. "Figuring someone out, on the other hand, is very entertaining, especially when it comes to such an interesting person as you, Alaska." Xanthos paused for a moment, inclining his head to the side a bit in thought. "I am no fool. My time is much too precious for me to waste it, so when I follow you all the way to Scotland, you can be sure that I believe you quite worthy of it." As he spoke, Xanthos had neared her even more till his lips were almost touching hers, but he did not kiss her, yet. "Sometimes, you have to face your fears, my dear girl. Winning is simple, keeping is hard." he said cryptically before pressing his lips to hers in a possessive kiss.

She couldn't help but return his kiss. It was different kiss than others. She kissed Xanthos differently, than she kissed Kain. Or other boys she sometimes slept with. This kiss not only made her feel small in Xanthos' arms, it also made her feel his in a way she felt like she was betraying Kain, her boyfriend for pure sex and nothing else. And that was what kept freaking her out. "Stop it, please," she whispered into his lips but didn't break the kiss.Her whispers sounded more like a plea, than order, which was how she meant them, but she simply didn't have strenght to move away, so she let him dominate her and lead the kiss for as long as he wanted to.

Xanthos smiled slightly into the kiss when he felt her kiss back and even though she seemed unsure of what she was doing, she did not pull away, so he took it as a sign of that she wanted it just as much as he did. When the girl asked him to stop, Xanthos just put his arms around her and pulled her into his lap, so she was pressed flush against him. This way, he could deepen the kiss even more and he growled into her mouth before finally releasing it. His dark eyes snapped up to hers and Xanthos simply looked at her for a few seconds without talking. Unlike the first time they kissed, something seemed to be stopping her from giving herself completely over to him, but whatever it was, it would not be with her for long, of that he would make sure. "Soon you will be mine." he told her calmly, as there was no doubt about it in his mind and he reached out to trace her cheek with the back of his hand.

She tried to ignore his words and instead got up quickly, standing now in deep cold snow, she silently let herself fall into it, staring at dark cloudy sky. Trying to forget she was no longer at home, with ocean close by and cold winter for at least half a year. It made her almost cry how much she missed Alaska. But she didn't let it out. Instead, she let snow to cool her down, ignoring Xanthos, for there was so much she wanted to tell him, but that would give him victory very quickly and easily, so she figure staying deadly silent and weird would be better solution.

Letting her get up without trying to stop her, Xanthos calmly observed Alaska sit down in the snow with an odd expression. He had seen it on her face a few times already in the few occasion that they had talked together, but it mostly came up when they were talking about something concerning her past life. He was wondering if it was just her mother the girl was missing, but the way she seemed to relax in the snow made him doubt that asumption. Leaning forward to rest his elbows on his knees, Xanthos crooked his head to the side slightly in thought. "I wonder if you draw this immense sense of freedom that you posses from the vastness of Alaska..." he pondered out loud. He was a very independant person as well even though on a different level than her.

As she heard him, it made her laugh. Dark, maybe mysterious, sarcastic, bitter but mainly incredibly sad laugh escaped her lips as she continued to stare somewhere up above her, partly still pretending she was there alone. "If I told you, where would be fun in that now?" she pointed out afterwards, but the fact her hair changed color again could be considered answer enough. And Xanthos wasn't stupid. Why would person change her name to Alaska in the first place? Who does that? Of course it wasn't only her beloved place that inspired the name. It was mainly it's meaning. But that was another thing he had to figure out himself, if he really wanted to win the deal.

"You're quite right, there is no need to tell me. I think I can see the answer before my eyes quite well." Xanthos spoke calmly, though an amused smile played around his lips as he kept on watching her. It was odd how quickly his interest had been drawn to her while he was known not to bother with most people, but even know when he knew so much about her already, her sense of freedom drew him to her. Xanthos wanted to possess her and the challenge was to do so without breaking her free spirit. That would be his aim and he was determined to reach it; soon. "When I won the deal...would you like to go back to Alaska for a bit?" he asked her curiously.

His question made her to finaly pay attention to him again and not to sky above them. Of course she looked way too fast and again in a way gave him answer before actually speaking, for which she hated herself. "That's if! You are still far from winning the deal. You think you know so much, yet do you really know anything? You have no clue what my life was like, or why exactly I picked the name I am using. You don't even know why I was working in that muggle pub during summer," she told him maybe way too harsh way, again, giving away her fear of him getting close, winning the deal. How stupid she was to make such promise. And despite of how convincing her words sounded, she knew all too well, he was closer and closer every single minute they spent together.

Xanthos chuckled, amused at her reaction, but that was just what he seemed to be looking for lately; these little tell-tale signs that he was getting behind her walls were what kept him interested in her. He nodded reassuringly. "Of course, my bad. If I win the deal, though really it only a matter of time, but if it make you happy I will use the word "If"." his voice clearly showed his amusement, but to him it didn't make a difference.

With a swift movement, Xanthos pushed her to the ground, pinning her down with his body. "You were fathered by a man who does not even know you're alive, you're mother died and left you alone with a cousin who did nothing but destroy your life as best as possible, now you are here, trying to find out more about your father's side of the family while trying to make a living by working in filthy pubs that offer you shelter in exchange for your work." he listed everything he had already discovered about her.

"You think you're not good enough for anyone to actually give a damn about you because you have been disappointed too often. You value your freedom greatly and are afraid to bind yourself to anyone for more than just a few simple fucks. But guess what? I don't care for any of that. I don't care about your past, I don't care about whomever you're fucking right now, but I do care about you and you WILL be mine, no "if" about that." Xanthos glared right into her eyes, determination shining in his dark orbs.

She was about to snap at him for his amusement, when she ended up trapped between him and the ground. Which would bother much more, if he wasn't sexy as hell. But as he spoke, she quickly woke up from her attraction and faced him with fear all too visible in her eyes. "Shut up, Xanthos!" she first half whispered, shivering not from cold, but fear of how true his words were. "Shut up!" she screamed for the second time and tried to hit him into his chest. "Shut up," she begged in the end, tears streming down her cheeks. She didn't want this. She didn't want him to know her. To own her. And she cursed herself for making that stupid deal. "Xanthos please," she whispered again.

Xanthos could not move his eyes away from her distraught ones, sucking up her fear, anger and despair before leaning down to shut her up with a passionate kiss. He did not give her much time to react and just pushed his tongue into her mouth, putting all his determination into the kiss, claiming her mouth just like he would claim her whole being soon. His hands ran up her body to cup her face, brushing away her tears while Xanthos kissed his way down her neck. With a dark growl he pulled away from her, cursing himself for losing his control for a second. "I will shut up for now, Alaska, but don't doubt me again." he said quietly, his calm mask slipping back in place.

She returned his kiss without hesitation. It felt like the most natural thing to do, despite all the fear she felt. He was possessive, but gentle. And when he kissed her, she felt like somebody actually cared. Like somebody really thought she was worth his time. And that, for some reason, scared her even more. As he wiped her tears away and continued kissing down her neck, making her shiver again, this time with undeniable pleasure, because he as hell knew how to touch woman, she realized it wasn't fear of him getting close anymore. She feared he will leave her. That when he wins, and she knew he will, he will leave her, because she will no longer be interresting to him. That he won't kiss her again, that he won't even look at her again. Alaska was falling in love with this man. Despite the fact she could tell he was darker, than he let to be seen. "Promise you won't leave," she whispered.

Although he had moved a bit away from her after letting his usually iron-like control slip enough to kiss her like this, Xanthos was still kneeling very close to her which made it easy to hear her whispered words. A gentle smile appeared on his face as he cupped her face, pulling her a bit closer to him till their faces were only inches apart. Xanthos could see the fear of being left alone again in her eyes, but for him there was no reason to worry. She was obviously almost ready for him to claim her and once he did, he would not let her go again. "I promise. When you are mine, I will be with you for the rest of our lives, for better or worse, we will have to find out, but of one thing you can be sure and that is that I will not let you go again." he told her calmly, looking into her beautiful eyes with reassuring determination.

She didn't like the thought of belonging to someone. But she hated more the thought of him leaving her. She was at the edge. And she knew there wasn't a way out. "You are one hell of a sick bastard, you know?" she said with a weak smile, which quickly disappeared again. "And you will be the death of me," she added before kissing him once again.

At her words, Xanthos had to chuckle, a slightly mad sound that was very unusual for him, but she was so very right without even knowing just how sick he could be. "That I am, but mental health is overrated in my opinion." he commented, still smirking crookedly, as he moved a little closer to her, leaning into the kiss while putting his hand behind her back to pull her closer to him. "I will do my best to keep you with me for a long time. It would be too disappointing to win the deal just to lose he prize, don't you think?"

"Well, it seems like I have bright future to look forward to," she pointed out sarcasticaly, unknowingly admitting his upcoming victory. "What are you? Some sort of dark lord of criminils and lunatics or something? Because sure as hell you just made such face," she added casually before getting serious again. "People tend to lose interrest in the prize the moment they win it. They fight so hard, just to put it on the shelf and let it be. Never turning back again," she pointed out what she feared the most. The moment she will no longer be a secret to him, he will simply leave her be for another mystery ready to be discovered.

Xanthos smiled, the expression in his eyes flashing with intensity for a second before returning to their normal appearance. She was finally accepting him as the winner of their little competition, not that there had been any doubt about it on his part, but it still filled him with satisfaction to see her realize that as well. Xanthos lowered his head, laughing softly at her comment. "No, no...not a lord of anyone, just a Gamp, but I do have my moments of madness." he told her before looking back up at her with a thoughtful expression. Countering her unasked question with one of his own, he said "What do you think makes a person interesting for another? Their hidden past? Their secrets?" Xanthos crooked his head to the side slightly.

"I don't think so, I believe that a truly interesting person is one that can think for themselves, stand up for themselves and always keeps moving forward without standing still. There is nothing I abhor more than everyday boredom, so if you think that by becoming mine you will turn into the typical housewife who only cares for her looks and her children then, yes, I will lose interest, but if you remain like you are now, a free spirit, than I will never tire of you."

She listened to him carefuly. Of course she didn't want to become ordinary housewife. She couldn't even imagine how that would happen. It simply wasn't her. "But how am I supposed to remain free, when all you want to do is to lock me in the cage?" she asked him honestly, not understanding his point in this matter. She loved her freedom. It was one of the reasons why she breathed so heavily with him so close along with the fact she actually loved him that close. And she simply couldn't see herself that free once she loses the deal she made with him. And it terrified her. It was the most terrifying thing about it all.