OOC: This thread takes place after the kidnapping sub-plot

The red embers let out a loud pop causing Sam to jump awake his hand snapped up into a guard until he realized he was the only living thing for miles around. Even below the ice he couldn’t feel anything. Sam knew that there was fish down there and larger creatures like whales and the occasional seal but he couldn’t feel anything. He was alone. Looking to the fifth of whiskey next to him he leaned over and was about to reach for the bottle but then his hand paused just before he grasped it. The wind howled through the frozen wasteland kicking up a little snow causing it t drift towards him and his fire only to stop when he willed it to stop. The fire had been going continuously for days one of the few things keeping him tied to the outside world. He didn’t need it because he was a mutant and the frozen wonderland around him was his element. It reminded him of those he left behind and those he had hurt, it was nothing more than a comfort that reminded he was human and not the monster Amanda had tried to convince him he was.

Sam lowered his hand and decided not start the day like he had every other day for the last week, with a buzz. He decided instead he’d start with water before his morning training session. Slowly rising from the pile of snow that he turned into a soft bed he stretched his arm and started walking away from the fire. When he stepped the fifteenth step from the fire a wall of ice rose up from the surrounding snow encircling his camp and preventing further gusts of wind and the occasional snowdrift from dosing his fire.

Two hours of throwing basics and practicing with a few ice clones Sam decided it was time to go on the spirit walk that he had come here to do in the first place. Probably not the best thing to do alone in the wilderness but then again he wasn’t in any harm here. Not in his element where he was a god. No, he couldn’t keep on thinking like that, he was anything but a god. Raising the jug of the foul smelling and foul tasting concoction that Sedna had given him Sam took a sip and embraced what was coming. Sitting out a mile or so from his camp he waited for the effects to kick in.

Sitting Indian style Sam breathed slowly and in control. He waited and waited then everything started to go bright, different from his last spiritual adventure where everything went dark. “You again?” came the voice of an old man to his right. When Sam turned his head and his eye adjusted to the light that had now been dimming he spotted a lone wolf with icy blue eyes and grey and white fur. “Why are you bothering me again?” the wolf said with the voice of the old man. Sam didn’t respond but when he stayed quite the wolf slowly got up and turned and started walking away.

”Wait!” Sam called out reaching towards the wolf. The wolf stopped and turned its head back towards Sam. ”What am I supposed to do?” Sam felt utterly lost. Something he wasn’t used to feeling. Amanda did more than physical and emotional damage to Sam. He wasn’t sure of himself and his powers reflected it, even in the desert of snow.

The wolf puffed out its cheeks and let out a small and ‘woof’. “Whatever you’re doing?”[/color] the wolf responded. “I don’t have the answers, you do. You know what you need to do and what you want and while they are slightly conflicting things you need to work through everything going on in your head.” The wolf started to walk away again after giving Sam so little advice. ”Hey! This isn’t how this works! You show up and help me get through this!” the wolf stopped and started to laugh, “How can I help you do anything when you can’t even help yourself? Look at you, alone, depressed and a drunk.” The wolf continued to laugh until the form of the wolf started to flicker and change shape as it did the laughter became a crazed female voice one he knew all to well. As soon as the laughing ceased he was looking at Amanda and his fists and jaw clenched and every muscle in his body contracted. It wasn’t fear, it was rage.

Letting out a howl Sam charged towards Amanda and swung, he never enjoyed hitting any woman however this was Amanda and after what she put him through the psychological warfare the countless times she made him happy only to take it all away by revealing it was only a dream or rather a nightmare. He was going to enjoy killing her. Amanda continued to laugh as she dodged the first strike then all the others that proceeded to follow. Sam was swinging like a mad man and no matter where he aimed he couldn’t land a hit. “That’s it Sam!” Amanda laughed as she dodged and blocked, “Try to hit me! Even if you do it won’t bring little Ayrin back, it won’t stop the fire that killed her or the protesters that killed Sammy, or save Alexandra.” His swings got more sporadic and he was tiring. Every word she said was like a knife digging itself further and further into his heart.

A punch was blocked and Sam roared in anger as he tried to force his way through Amanda’s guard. She continued to laugh then threw a punch of her own causing Sam to get knocked back and land on his rear in a pile of snow. Sam pushed himself up and threw his arm upwards calling upon a snowstorm that rained down tiny needles. Hoping this would work Sam started to walk towards the white blur that now surrounded Amanda.

A chill ran down his spine, when he heard the laughter. It should have killed Amanda but it apparently didn’t. Sam raised his hands up and then quickly brought them down calming the storm of ice and snow that he had sent to kill Amanda. When his vision was clear he saw Amanda looking back at him with her evil, almost hypnotic eyes. She continued to laugh, even with the shards of ice reflecting the sun off her that was now hanging loosely on parts of her skin. “That all?” Amanda mused as the ice was absorbed into the patches where skin was no longer present.

She was whole again after using Sam’s mutation and she took a step towards him raising her own hand. “Little Sammy, is mad he couldn’t save his family isn’t he?” Amanda mused as snow from the ground started to coat her body. Trying to focus her ice armor Sam tried to will it to kill her however it seemed her control for the moment was better than his. Sam took a step back as Amanda shot an ice spike into Sam’s shoulder. He couldn’t tell where it came from but when he turned his good eye to see where the shard in his back came from he spotted a small figure in the snow.

To his horror it was his little girl, Aryin. “Daddy?” the girl asked as her skin started to appear from the snow. ”Not real, not real, not real.” Sam thought as he turned back towards Amanda who was now gone. Sam spun again on his heel and there were several figures forming from the snow. It was his wife and son now. His heart started to sink and he felt himself start to give up. Even out here alone in the wilderness he couldn’t escape them. He couldn’t escape the phantoms they had become, the shades that Amanda made them. People who once brought him joy and happiness, now only self-loathing and misery a painful reminder that what he really wanted for happiness was so far out of reach the thought of it almost seemed like a fairy tale fantasy.

”I’m sorry.” was all Sam could manage as he looked at the three figures that stood before him as he dropped to his knees in defeat. Snow melted off of them and they were as crystal clear as he remembered them. His wife standing tall and looking as beautiful as she did the day they got married, while his daughter who brought so much joy into his life stood next to her holding Alexandra’s hand. they didn’t say anything at first until he heard some laughter from his son. “It’s okay dad…. Really.”

Sam looked up as tears started to form in his good eye. They froze and fell as more formed. Sam shook his head, ”It isn’t.” he looked back down at the fresh snow at his feet the sun reflecting off it causing him to squint. Laughter formed behind him and he slowly got up ignoring his family, once again turning his back on them. “No, Sam it is. You see this is how I get to you.” Amanda said as she was covered in ice. She had his power it seemed and the family she conjured from his fantasy the one she had given him was once again her puppets.

”That’s enough.” Sam said as he slowly stood up wiping another frozen tear from his cheek. “No, I think you need to see a bit more. Maybe another house fire? Or some torture, oh yes I did enjoy that.” She said with a laugh as mounds of snow shut up behind her. From the piles of snow more copies of his wife and kids started to appear.

Each face that formed in turn made Sam angrier and angrier, she was mocking him now. He was defeated and she was kicking him while he was down. Sadly any body that gets kicked enough times start to get ideas in their head. Ideas that force them to do things they couldn’t think of before. “Now Sammy, be a good boy and just lay there. This is a good of a place as any to die right? That’s what you wanted, to have it all end? I think I can make that happen. You want your son or daughter to do it? Or would you prefer your wife? You really love her don’t you? Seems almost Shakespearian.” Amanda teased as she and three of the snow figures stepped forward.

”That’s enough!” Sam yelled at the top of his lungs in Amanda’s direction. His voice echoed for miles and the wind that started to form around him had tiny snowflakes powering them. Sam’s hair started to buffer around his face as he took a step and sent a surge of power into the ground below him. A tidal wave of snow erupted up from around him and went in the directions of Amanda and all his ‘family’ members causing them to become buried in the snow.

A sigh of relief started to exit Sam as he caught the tail end of it and pulled it back into his lungs when he saw the hand sprout up from the snow. This time it was male laughter, and the hand wasn’t iced over. As the man pulled himself out from under the snow he looked at Sam with a mad expression like he had nothing left to live for. A wolf who was alone and backed into the corner. “Aw Sam, I can’t believe you did that to your family. They loved you so much!” said the man as he straightened up and was a mirror image of Sam.

”Worst. Trip. Ever.” Sam muttered as he took a step towards the mirror image of himself, “Afraid it’s much more than that, this is the end game. You lost it all, all but one thing.” Evil Sam said as he formed a broad sword of ice in his hands. ”Not everything.” Sam said forming a blade of his own, one that matched the body style of a katana. “What do you have left Sam? Do tell? Friends? Your team? A home?” evil Sam laughed and charged Sam kicking up the snow from behind him.

Lifting up his own sword Sam blocked and redirected the swing as he grunted in the evil Sam’s way. “Your friends and team will abandon you if they haven’t already. You betrayed them Sam, you attacked them. You are nothing to them. It will only be a matter of time.” In the distance he heard the voices of his friends calling out his name filled with hatred. Gawain appeared in a body of snow and cursed at him for betraying the team. Sara appeared in another, as did Luke and Shin and a few others. All of the faces glared at him and pointed as he was busy blocking sword swings.

Sam didn’t say anything at first but continued to duck and dodge when necessary while avoiding glances of glares from his friends. “Why don’t we just end it all? Hmmm? We control ice and happen to be at one of the poles covered in ice, we could just kill them all. That way they won’t betray us.” Sam let out a howl as the broadsword dug into his leg and blood started to leak out as he pulled himself back. ”Never!” Sam yelled as ice formed over his leg stopping the bleeding, ”You forgot the promise.” “I forgot nothing! It was a silly promise a boy made one who didn’t know how the world worked. One who was naïve to the true evils of the world. We can cleanse the planet Sam. We can make the world in our own image.” Another slash on Sam’s arm and Sam drew back again.

”No. I’m no god. I’m human.” Sam said willing ice to stop the bleeding again. “We are so much more than that! We are gods we can remake the world!” then as if on cue as far as Sam could see hundreds of ice clones appeared out of the snow, they climbed out and formed faces that resembled some of his friends. They started to form a circle around the pair of Sam’s and allowed them to continue their fight. “Let me help you Sam! We can fix everything we can give you everything you want!” ”I had everything I wanted!” Sam roared again throwing his sword down into the snow next to him, ”and it was taken from me!” he raised his hands as evil Sam moved forward with his sword only to have his sword shatter in his hand.

Evil Sam looked towards the shards of ice that had once been his sword and he tried to reform it but failed. Good Sam was in control now. ”I had a childhood, friends, a wife, kids. I had a life! And you and Amanda took that away from me!” Sam continued to yell as three of the ice forms made their way to the front of the group and latched onto the evil Sam.

Aryin and Sammy his two kids grabbed on to the evil Sam’s arms and pulled him down as his wife Alexandra pushed him down by his shoulders. “I’m what you become, this is what you turn into when everyone betrays you and leaves you. You’re hated and alone. I’m your only friend!” yelled the evil Sam as he looked around hysterically at all the ice clones. ”You’re wrong.” Sam said as he walked towards the evil Sam picking up his sword, ”I might have some work to put in till everyone can trust me but I do have friends, even if I am hated. You are what I could have become!” Sam raised the sword and held it over the evil Sam’s neck.

”I made friends, I fell in love and had kids. Even if it wasn’t real, I had a life time with them several actually. Even if my family wasn’t real my friends are. You just reminded me why I do what I do. To protect them.” the evil Sam let out another laugh, “Well what happens when you can’t protect them? What happens when you meet a bigger monster than you?” He continued to laugh until his head was severed from his body then he turned into the ice clone he was and shattered.