Andrez self-consciously glanced over his shoulder as he entered the library, as always a tiny bit paranoid about being followed. After the years in the asylum, with the shrinks all staring at you from behind strong bulletproof glass, like you were some sort of test tube subject, he'd developed a strong paranoia of such things. But after months at this school, Andrez found that it was much easier to cope with the pent up stress now. He would simply withdraw from the real word, head to the library, and read. True, it wasn't exactly like he read books that you could call 'normal' and get away with it. The novels he picked up were most about crime and serial killings. He didn't know why such dark material fascinated him, but it did. Maybe because sometimes, when he was alone, he wondered how it would feel to take someone's life. But he knew what it felt like to think that you had. He'd felt so much power when he'd tried to drown the girl, but then he'd been overwhelmed by guilt, and fear. For the few days of not knowing, he wasn't sure what her family must be going through, and her friends. And what about the guy who'd found her? Andrez hadn't seen who it was, but he'd looked distressed from a distance.

But what if it had been his uncle whose life had been in his hands? What if he could use his power to end the life of the man that had ruined his? Andrez glanced down at his glowing palms, disgusted by his thoughts, and by the way that he so yearned to act on them. He could not stoop down to that level, not again. He refused to rip someone's life away from him because his life was in ruins due to his abusive uncle. Annice had still been unbearably kind to him even after he'd tried to murder her. He'd never been faced with someone so pure, and it had shocked him, so much that his outer facade had cracked, and she'd got a glimpse into the screwed up kid that he really was. He'd locked all the insanity and negative feelings away because it had been the only way to escape the asylum. He was terrified of being put back in there... back in that place! His hand grasped the edge of the table lightly, and he clenched so hard that his knuckles started to turn white.

"Are you okay?" a girl nearby asked him with concern, flashing him a friendly smile.

Andrez tried to be convincing and smile back, but it came out as more of a pained grimace. "I'm... fine," he managed, but he didn't sound fine. He struggled to get a hold of himself, and when he finally did, he put a hand on his chest, breathing hard. His heart was hammering wildly, but other than that, he seemed to have gotten things under control. "Fine," he repeated, and his voice was flat and strong as it usually was. The girl seemed concerned, but she nodded and vanished down one of the large aisles. When her footsteps, muffled by the soft carpet, finally faded, Andrez relaxed. A few books on crime and the art of serial killing lay on the table in front of him, but he'd lost inspiration to read, so instead pulled out the black, hard-cover sketchbook which he carried almost everywhere with him now. He tugged lightly at the handcuff necklace, adjusting it, flipped his violet hair from his eyes, and then placed a shaking hand to the paper. Concentrating his powers, he slowly let heat spread through his muscles so that he could relax, and the trembling subsided. Satisfied with his new found ability to calm himself, Andrez finally started to work on the sketch, losing track of time after a few minutes.

Being a quiet person sometimes had it's advantages. Since he hardly ever bothered with conversations, and interacting socially with others, he was much more adept at hearing their conversations with each other. Sort of like how a blind person can hear things that a person who can see well cannot. Anyways, Andrez tried to tune out the conversations of others, and was usually quite good at it, but there were some sounds that his brain refused to shake, no matter how hard he tried. Like crying. He set his lips into an irritated frown and continued to sketch, but he was slowly losing his patience with whomever it was. Libraries were not a place where anyone could just come and sob to their hearts content! Andrez sometimes envied people who could show emotion, but not when it disrupted his own activities. And being interrupted during a sketch was one of his biggest pet peeves. The sketch was nothing special, just a sunset over a small forest with a river running through it, a part of the woods which Andrez often visited at night when he wanted to be alone. But even still, he had wanted to finish it today, and now, because of that sound, he couldn't.

Anger overwhelmed him in those next few seconds, and he slammed his sketchbook shut loudly. A young boy, most likely in the ninth grade, who was sitting nearby jumped up in surprise and moved a few tables farther down, obviously not wanting to be too close to someone wearing an expression like Andrez'. But the short-tempered boy couldn't care less about what other people were thinking at the moment, he was only thinking about himself, and what shutting this person up would do to benefit him. I'll hurt them, he thought darkly, his conscience buried for a moment with the weight of his rage. I'll make them regret thinking that their feelings mattered! This thought in mind, he shoved his possessions back into his bag and stood, heading silently toward the source of the sound with a violent and determined expression on his face. The girl from earlier tried to stop him and ask him what was wrong, but he shouldered her aside without a word and stormed on. Though his footsteps made little sound against the cushioned carpet floor, his expression created all tension needed as he finally spotted the table at which his target was seated.

In that moment, everything changed. His expression softened into one of severe surprise and confusion, and the hand which had been clenched tightly released in a split second. A soft gasp parted Andrez' lips, and he stopped in his tracks. "A-Annice," he exclaimed quietly, sure that it was her and yet not sure he wanted to believe it. His anger at the sobbing had evaporated, and now all he felt was a pang of pity. Still... she had helped him when he was going through a rough time, right? He was horrible with people, but he had to at least try... Wandering over to her, the eccentric boy sat down and lay a hand on her arm lightly in a gesture that he hoped would provide some comfort. "What's wrong?" he wondered. "If you need to talk..." He wasn't going to say 'are you alright?' because he knew from experience what a stupid question that was to ask someone in distress. Did she look alright? No.

Andrez noticed immediately that she didn't seem to be responding to his words, and this worried him. During his times in the asylum, he'd seen people driven mad by panic attacks, and though he recognized the symptoms, he found himself freezing up in his own fear. He didn't know how to handle the pain of others, he'd always been used to shutting himself in and locking everyone else out, so he didn't know how to help others. And Annice, right here and now, seemed to be the exact opposite. Andrez wondered what was troubling her, and as if on cue, she seemed to notice him. Whimpering his name and then sobbing something about a girl named 'Lilly', but thanks to her panic attack, she didn't seem to be able to say much else. "Annice, who's Lilly?" he asked, and he was proud that for once, he was able to sound a little less cold when he spoke. He'd been so used to speaking bluntly, using emotion in his words was nigh on impossible, but he had to try so that she knew he was genuine. He didn't want her to think that he was as mindless and heartless as the killer he'd been when he'd tried to end her life. Often, alone at night in the forest, he'd sit by that log where they'd encountered each other after the incident, and he'd remember how nice she'd been.

So, thinking of this, Andrez was shocked when she started to apologize to him about his problems, which he surprisingly hadn't been thinking about in the heat of the moment. Thoughts of his uncle's years of abuse and the horror of the fire that had been meant to kill him flooded his mind, but he pushed them away, determined not to let his own troubles outweigh hers. "The past is the past," Andrez told her pointedly, and he was surprised that he was able to say such a thing without his voice breaking. He was growing strong again, he realized, but he had more humanity than before. Because of her? he wondered. But he couldn't dwell on that at the moment -- the current situation was more important. He became aware that he wanted to jerk his hand away from her arm, but he had a feeling she needed it now. He took her hand, ever so lightly, and gave it a gentle squeeze. With his strange colored eyes, he met her gaze and willed her to understand that he was slowly facing a fear to try and help her. "You didn't force my uncle to treat me the way he did," Andrez said firmly. "You didn't force the asylum staff to treat me like an animal. You helped me get over my hatred of humanity, at least a small part of it. I might hate others, but thanks to you, I don't hate you." His sapphire-violet gaze intensified as he willed her to understand. "And I'm not upset right now. You are. And you need to talk about it." He'd never been so nice before, it was overwhelming him. "So talk... to me... if you want to."

Where all of this sudden inspiration of kindness had came from, he didn't know. But he was still worried about her. "And y-you're panicking," he went on, and his voice lost it's strength as he started to panic over her health, himself. "D-Do you need a nurse? I-I could get her for you, if..."

A brief understanding flickered in his sapphire-violet eyes as Annice shakily explained to him who Lilly was. He still didn't quite understand, but from what he gleaned, the girl was probably a child, and given Annice's motherly attitude, she might have babysat or cared for the girl in some way. Though he didn't understand feelings of love and kinship himself, from what he'd read in books on psycology, it was possible to develop familial and protective feelings over someone even if you weren't physically related. And thus, you'd wish to protect and provide for them as much as you could, and would worry for them if something went wrong. Yes, Andrez was intelligent if a little off his head, so he managed to sum this all up in his mind. Nodding to himself, he realized that a few people had looked 'round, and also knew that he couldn't allow the two of them to attract too much attention. "I-It's alright," he tried to comfort her. "Calm down, it's okay, you can talk to me if you need to."

Andrez ducked his head for a moment, silent. Then, softly, he said, "They may have been wrong about me, but their opinions don't matter now. My uncle can't touch me now. The asylum has been instructed not to touch me unless... unless I do something... stupid." It was clear from his tone that he was indirectly hinting at his attempted murder of her to fall under that 'stupid' category. But she had sworn to him that she wasn't going to tell anyone, and she was kind enough that Andrez, surprisingly enough, trusted her. Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Andrez sank down in a chair next to her, so he was more down at her level and could talk to her more freely. He'd read somewhere in one of his books that being at eye level with a person made them feel more comfortable. Unfortunately, his knowledge of human contact was purely theoretical, gained from books and never from experience. So he was sort of like a small child learning how to form words. Unsure of what was correct, but knowing that he had to at least try, experiment. Better to be wrong a few times than to never know.

"Okay, okay!" Andrez said, a little panicked when the mention of doctors seemed to freak her out. Then again, he flipped out at any mention of psychiatrists and such... maybe there was something about hospitals and doctors that worried her? Whatever it was, he wasn't going to make her suffer that fear. "Don't worry, I won't get anyone." He tried to calm himself down in hopes that she might calm down as well. "But we'd better be careful about how loud we speak," he said, and he softened his voice as he did so, "else other people might get concerned."

Even an introverted, anti-social guy like Andrez could tell that Annice was overreacting perhaps just a small amount at the moment. But to say something like that to someone in distress, he did believe they called it rude, and Andrez didn't want to hurt Annice's feelings. "It's alright," he said in what he hoped was a comforting voice, though it was still a bit flat. He couldn't help the way it sounded though, he'd spoken like this for years now. "I'm sure they'd call you if anything was wrong," he said, trying to sound confident in his words, though they were a little shaky with his concerns over Annice's health. "I mean, doesn't not hearing from them suggest that her parents have gotten things under control and she's doing fine?" He hoped, for Annice's sake, that this was the case. He had a feeling that if something were to have happened to Lilly, it would break Annice.

At her request, Andrez sent a simple glare around at the few kids who'd stuck around. As if his threatening expression wasn't enough, he said firmly, "Our concerns are not yours, so I suggest that you get on with your lives, and leave us alone. Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to stare?" This cold remark dispersed most of the crowd, and Andrez glared at the stragglers until they, too, departed. Hoping this had helped to calm Annice down a little bit, Andrez glanced at her. "Better?" he wondered.

"Your... shoe?" Andrez said, not understanding at all.

After a moment, he just passed her comment off as something normal people might joke about, and he made the smallest attempt at a smile. It wasn't much of one, and it died after a few moments, but it was the best he'd done in a while. "I won't leave," Andrez promised her. As she spoke about the different people in her life, those who'd left her, he recognized most of them were in his element. "I'm not sure about Conner," Andrez admitted, "but I know that Alex... he hasn't abandoned you. He went on vacation, you know." Being in the fire element had it's assets sometimes, you heard things. "Even caring for his girlfriend, he won't forget about you. And I won't, either. You're not a bad person. Don't take the actions of others out on yourself."

Andrez seriously doubted that the kids would stay inside of the house alone if they were starving, even if their parents were home. There were stories of even smaller children with more survival instincts than that, so he still saw Annice's response as an overreaction. "I'm sure the neighbors would do something," Andrez tried to comfort her, fighting the urge to tell her that her worries were most likely unvalidated. He was willing to bet that the kids were probably fine, and that Annice would hear from the parents soon, but once again refrained from saying so. Giving her false hope was the only defense against her sadness that he had however, and that was annoying him. Sure, maybe the hope wasn't entirely false, but he knew he'd feel bad later if it was.

He wasn't sure whether she really was better, or whether she was simply telling him that so that he didn't worry, but the giggle definitely was encouraging, even if it left him a little confused. It was probably some joke she had with a friend, and he was fine with that, as long as she was able to stop panicking. He knew how bad panic attacks could be, so he never judged others on them, and he felt awful watching a friend of his go through one. True, she was his only friend, but even still.

When she asked for confirmation with 'Really?' Andrez nodded slightly, glad that she was calming down, because he was finally able to start relaxing himself. He let the wave of heat pass through his muscles again, because even though he despised the fire for what his uncle had done with it, what it had done to him, he needed the help to help Annice now. He'd never had someone else rely on him before, it had always been the other way around, and this was strange to him. He just hoped he was doing okay and that nothing bad happened because of him. However, when she called him perfect, even Andrez knew that was exaggerating. He looked away softly. "I'm... not perfect," he objected. And he would never be perfect. She might, but he just hadn't been good enough. He wasn't kind enough.