The Immortal World - Ikaris

Xavier stood in Bella's bathroom, staring at the unfamiliar face looking back from the mirror; blue irises with faded golden rings surrounding it, dark-brown hair that tended to randomly shift towards blonde, and an ever-increasing height due to his growing physique.

The soft light cast a warm glow on the tiled walls.

The Eternal felt a rare sense of peace as he undressed, his movements slow and deliberate, savoring the simple act of taking off his worn, dirty clothes, almost as if shedding the anxiousness of the hours past.

By this point, Xavier's headache had faced completely and the bouts of weakness surging in his body had been quelled into the dying embers of a flame.

The cool air kissed his skin as he stepped into the shower, his fingers fumbling slightly with the knobs before turning the water to the coldest setting.

Cosmic Energy made him highly resistant to heat but it was not the same for cold – which he could feel, and more than anything, now, Xavier wanted to feel something.

The icy stream hit his skin, sizzling as it fought against the subtle heat his cosmic energy was emitting; the sensation of literally being cooled sent a jolt of exhilaration through The Eternal's body.

Xavier loved the cold; it provided him with a sense of clarity only deep space could bring.

As the water cascaded over him, Xavier's eyes wandered to the steel bar above the shower where Bella's undergarments hung to dry; the sight of bear patterns on her womanly clothes made him smile.

Angela once wore the same, if not simpler, panties and bras once upon of time but after the third time she stayed over at his house, the girl had grown self-conscious, maturing her style of undergarments practically overnight.

'Fond memories,' Xavier thought, enjoying the bath.

Every sound was amplified in his mind: the rush of the water, the shifting of his feet in the bath, the quiet rumble of the water rushing through the pipes, and even the rubber rubbing against the street as a car passed by Bella's house.

Usually, Xavier was able to contain just how much of the world his senses were attuned to but this time, everything flowed into him, not all at once, and it was more soothing than anything was.

It was a simple technique learned over the centuries – if unable to stop everything, merely enjoy it.

Xavier reached for the soap, lathering it into his hair, his fingers massaging his scalp; the cold water streamed down his face, washing away the grime and fatigue of the night.

The Eternal brushed a hand over his chest, bruises disappearing where Cosmic Energy concentrated, sparing him the pain of a couple more minutes of natural healing time.

Amidst applying cosmic energy to a wound on his lower back, Xavier noticed something odd – bubbles began to rise from the tub.

It had been happening for a couple of minutes but he had not thought it abnormal until he realized that he had not used nearly enough soap to create bubbles, especially when the water was draining away twice as rapidly as the shower was functioning.

Suddenly, his heart skipped a beat.

"Something's wrong," he voiced.

No sooner had the realization come than the water around The Eternal started to float, droplets lifting from the tub and hanging in the air like tiny, shimmering pearls.

"Calm," Xavier reminded himself.

The Eternal extended a hand, tapping the gravitational waves dancing in the air as if he were trying to coax a disobedient child; what he didn't expect was for the child to become even more displeased.

A moderate wave of gravity slammed into Xavier, causing him to drift backward a couple of inches.

Panic surged through him, as he understood that his emotions, the sense of contentment at being near Bella, were disrupting the gravitational field around him.

Gravitational waves were rebounding, combining, and splitting apart in rapid succession.

Xavier's feet lifted off the tub floor, and he began to float…

Of course, levitating, floating, and flying were not new experiences to The Eternal but this was one of the few times, since learning how to fly, that he was floating without any clear intent to do so.

His heart raced as he struggled to regain control, his hands flailing to find something to anchor him.

The water droplets swirled around him in a chaotic dance, his panic only making things worse; his mind raced, desperately trying to focus, to calm the storm within him.

Emotional control was one thing…

Emotional control when control was lost was another thing…

"Stay calm, stay centered, stay relevant," he muttered to himself, his voice a strained whisper amidst the turmoil.

For some reason, the panic of being discovered by Charlie was at the forefront of his mind; perhaps, because the old sheriff was the first to accept Xavier in all of Forks' community.

The Eternal closed his eyes, taking deep breaths, willing his body to settle; the bodily control of an Eternal was nothing to scoff at, though, admittedly, Xavier's control was not as well-honed as he would have liked it to be.

Slowly, the water began to obey, falling back into the tub with gentle splashes; his feet touched the bottom again, and he let out a shaky sigh of relief.

"In more extreme circumstances, Charlie's house would be floating," he joked, recalling a time in the distant past when an entire island crumbled under the gravitational waves of one of his flights.

Opening his eyes, Xavier surveyed the bathroom, now soaked from his unintended display of power.

The walls were wet, the floor puddled with water, and the once-dry undergarments now dripped; a perverse thought suddenly entered The Eternal's mind, almost causing another surge of gravitons.

Xavier ran a hand through his wet hair, a cramped smile forming on his lips; ideally, he should have felt guilty but The Eternal's expression was tinged with a sense of annoyance.

Almost as if it was more the bathroom's fault than it was his…

Additionally, he did not like to confront the fact that his control over his abilities was becoming more and more lax; the consequences, in the wrong situation, could prove catastrophic.

While he didn't like to imagine it too much, Xavier knew a large enough surge in gravitons or cosmic radiation was bound to get some random government agency looking.

If this was a world of Immortals and Vampires, then there were bound to be a couple of agencies specialized in dealing with anomalies like a reincarnated Prime Eternal.

"I need to clean this up," Xavier groaned, looked around, and added, "I need to clean this up tomorrow… definitely, tomorrow," knowing fully well that he was going to leave the job of explaining to Bella.

He dressed quickly, his movements purposeful and efficient; he pulled on the clothes Bella had given him, ignoring the dampness that clung to his skin.

The Eternal didn't bother trying to clean up the mess, knowing it would only draw more attention to his mistake; with any luck, the water would be gone by morning.

With everything handled, he marched out of the bathroom with the confidence of a thousand men about to conquer a woman; though, he was not nearly as confident as his expression suggested.

In fact, paranoia was crawling at the edges of his consciousness.

Every shadow, dark crevice, and uncertain picture frame brought with it a fear of the unknown birthed from the weakness currently residing in his body.

Xavier knew the world was much scarier than the average person thought, so to him, walking around without his Cosmic Potential was akin to a soldier in WW2 rushing into battle in his boxers.

The door was pushed open and Bella snapped to attention…

Confusion marred her face as Xavier entered the room, somehow pretending not to notice that his clothing had wet patches.

Bella's eyes grew inquisitive.

Her reply was a tight smile from Xavier, his mind too occupied with the close call in the bathroom so he could not fully cloud his expression.

Contrary to her clumsy nature and innate innocence, Bella was brilliant for her age, especially when it came to identifying the shields others put between themselves and the world, and for some strange reason, the greater the shield, the greater her interest.

"You look like someone guilty of something," Bella commented, eyes darting between Xavier and the window, wondering if she had been kind enough to allow him to take a shower so that she could now request he leave without enduring a moral dilemma.

As if reading her thoughts, The Eternal allowed his exhaustion to show. "So, where am I going to sleep?" he asked, his voice rough as he examined the small bed with a critical eye.

Just as Bella was about to point to the window, Xavier answered his own question. "I suppose I can sleep on the floor," he added as if Bella had agreed by default.

Bella hesitated, glancing out the window…

Xavier, sending her reluctance, pretended to raise his voice as if to wake Charlie up. "I could ALWAYS—"

"Alright, alright," Bella interrupted, her eyes wide with alarm. "You can stay, but you need to be gone by morning."

"I will be so thoroughly gone, you will wonder if I ever existed," Xavier promised.

Bella frowned at his bluster; the more he bragged, the more concerned she became.

The next second, Bella felt Xavier maneuvering onto the bed, forcing her to one end, and after some back-and-forth shuffling, she managed to kick him off the bed.

It surprised her how easy he was to expel, not that it stopped him from trying again, and this time, he succeeded.

Bella huffed, stuffing a pillow between them as a makeshift barrier. "Xavier, I swear… if you cross this," she warned, her tone half-serious, half-anxious.

"You have a mansion and you want to sleep in my small bed," she complained.

The Eternal did not reply, shifting his position on the bed to partially cross the pillow acting as a symbolic barrier between them; suddenly, they were close enough to hear each other's breathing, the quiet of the room punctuated by the occasional creak of the house settling.

They lay there in the dim light, the space between them feeling both vast and nonexistent.

"Xavier…"

"I understand, " The Eternal backed away, measuring the distance to make sure he was at the edge of the bed without falling off. "You know, I understand things much better than you do."

"Then, you should know…" Bella insisted, her voice carrying hints of anger and blame.

Xavier directed a gentle smile at the girl, changing the topic. "You know, it's been two weeks," he said softly.

Bella tilted her head, losing her train of thought and the blame that came with it. "Two weeks?" she was confused.

The conversation had shifted too fast, too unexpectedly.

"We made a deal," Xavier voiced. "If you still wanted me to kiss you after two weeks, we would date."

Bella scoffed. "Thankfully, I got to know you in that time," she said.

"What's so bad about me?"

"What's not bad about you?" Bella retorted. "Remind me again; just how many girls at school you have slept with?"

"Touché."

Bella sighed. "Angela is like a sister to me now," she added. "Besides, you stole my first kiss… twice."

"I got a slap for one of those efforts," Xavier complained.

"You deserved more than a slap," Bella groaned, her voice already showing traces of sleep. "Honestly, I'm trying to forget all the memories that will have Angela murder me in my sleep."

"Sad…" Xavier mock sighed. "I happen to be your best memories as well."

"As if," Bella scoffed though internally, she was panicking at the truth of such a statement.

"Why try to forget?" he teased, rubbing his arm where Bella was continually elbowing him. "Our front yard kiss was something of epic, wet—"

A stronger elbow this time. "You're impossible," Bella rolled her eyes, a frown tugging at her lips.

"If humanity had not spent their lives attempting the impossible, I would not be alive," The Eternal admitted.

Their conversation continued for another hour.

"You know, I had some weed-smoking adventures with Angela while you were gone," she voiced, a tinge of exhilaration to her voice. "I mean… she's fun?"

"She kissed you didn't she?"

Bella shook so hard the bed shook alongside her. "How? I mean… wow! You know your girlfriend too well."

"I have five parties a month. Do you know when that started?"

Bella shook her head.

"After I started to date Angela," Xavier explained, chuckling under his breath. "She kisses everything when she's drunk. I started throwing the parties because it was safer for her to get drunk where I could see her."

Bella's eyes sparkled with amusement. "Looks like we have both been kissed by your girlfriend in common," she provoked.

"And kissing each other," The Eternal added, a sharp look flashing in his eyes.

Bella went silent, throwing a few more elbows in his direction.

Their conversation flowed naturally, each story and shared memory helping to clear Xavier's chaotic mind; the darkness that had been pressing in on him seemed to live slightly with every word exchanged.

Xavier leaned back against the headboard, feeling a sense of peace he hadn't experienced in what felt like ages. "You know, Isabella Swann, your presence is calming."

Bella started at the ceiling, a soft smile on her face. "To be honest, I'm glad I can help, even if it's just by being at home when you knocked on the window. I suspect you would have come in even if I wasn't here."

The Eternal's reply was a smirk.

As they talked, the comfort of each other's company began to lull them into a sense of security.

Xavier could feel the tranquility pulling him under, but for the first time in a long while, he didn't fight against its all-encompassing embrace; he let the memories, dreams, and in-betweens take him.

His breathing evened out as he drifted to sleep…

There was not an ounce of cautiousness left in The Eternal…

Bella lay beside him, her eyes watching the shadows dance on the ceiling, feeling a strange mix of worry and relief; she reached out and gently brushed a lock of hair from Xavier's forehead, her touch tender and affectionate.

The room was filled with the soft sounds of their breathing, a harmonious rhythm that underscored the fragile peace they had found.

But…

As Xavier went to sleep, an entirely different beast opened its eyes – The beast known as Ikaris.