I never thought I'd feel this guilty and I'm broken down inside, staring at myself. Nothing but lies. I feel numb. I can't come to life. I feel like I'm frozen in time. - Three Days Grace

The tiger could've looked at it a million different ways. There were so many things he could've done so easily to steer the outcome. So many things he could've said to bypass fate's cold hands. And far too many ways he could've explained how much he loved her.

Please… just give me the chance I need.

He always felt she was too perfect for this world. He always thought her looks flawlessly complemented her personality. He always saw her gazing eyes to reflect her interest in him, though he never believed it.

I always turned it the other way. Now I'm not sure I'll ever know.

His thoughts quickly faded to irrelevance as he was forced to open his eyes, tears flooding in stinging pain. His aching heart pounded and his muscles tightened the grip he had around her as he took in the sight.

Shira. It's all my fault.

Red poured out of her temple. Her limbs twitched through her spine. But she didn't make a sound. Her whole figure felt cold as he held her in his warmth. Her usual pink lips were turned to frost as the light began to fade from above and the strong winds caused the powdered snow to blow into his face.

The tiger couldn't control his shaking breaths. His throat ached with every swallowed emotion. He felt the unpleasant touch of her blood as it pooled around them.

He held her face. He nuzzled her nose. He kissed her forehead, quietly whispering to her, pleading for her to wake up.

His limbs were sore from what transpired minutes ago. But he didn't let that stop him from dragging her beautiful figure through the forest to find someplace warmer. All the while it hurt him to see her pelt used like a paintbrush against the ice as the red stroked off her.

At that point, his mentality wanted to quit. His weakened limbs shook of hunger as he collapsed onto her, wanting to cry until everything stopped hurting.

He kept wondering. He kept questioning. If only she knew he'd be right there with her forever. But if she never woke up, then how could he ever explain his feelings for her?

The winds rustled even through the densest parts of the forest. Snow blew from the ground and whistled into the darkness. It was all he could hear as his face hit the snow beneath him, giving up and truly feeling as if he was better off dead.

If she's not going to make it, why should I?

As he let it all play out, he squeezed her paw, hoping to feel her paw do the same.

He felt the loving connection that he had wanted for so long. It had him think to himself if she were gone, could he continue on his own? Would it be worth it without her?

She did nothing to deserve this. She just wanted a chance to live. I wanted to give her what the pirates never did. That and so much more.

His driving thoughts increased the hurting guilt inside as he hugged her tightly, letting the pooling blood leak onto him. He wanted her pain. If only to rid her of it. He'd take all the damage that had been done onto her. What shouldn't have been there in the first place.

The tiger whimpered in distraught as his remaining motive went towards finding something that could be considered feasible for shelter.

I need to keep her warm, if nothing else.

He held her face, rubbing his nose against hers, ignoring the early signs of hypothermia. Ignoring everything except her. He studied her face. Her whole figure. Right then, he felt nothing to be comparable. She was so perfect to him. And he trembled at the thought of losing her forever.

What if I never see her eyes again? What if I never see her smile again?

He cuddled her in such an intensive manner to keep some form of heat flowing.

What if I never feel anything again?

He stroked his paws and limbs across her, hugging her tight and letting his warm breath further the heat their bodies gave.

The tiger was too scared to let her go. He feared that if he stopped providing her with warmth, she wouldn't make it.

You're all I ever had through out the years, Shira. When everything else felt like it disappeared, you were always there. Every single night.

It was too much he felt for her. He loved her to such an extent that it killed him inside. He was always afraid of something like this. Even though love took him home, fear got him lost.

His eyes stared out into the darkness as he ran his paw across her neck. The more the minutes went by, the more his mind emptied. He wanted it out. Every stab relieved. Every scream shot. Every thought erased.

She was always given up on. She was always thrown away. Her pack. The pirates. Even the herd.

No one saw the potential in her.

He applied pressure to her bleeding paw as he held it, wishing the cold didn't numb his own to feel the softness. Emotions collapsed onto her as he could do nothing but hold her and cry. His teeth showed and grit with every suffered exhale. So much had spilled into his pelt by then, the best he could hope for was to slow down the bleeding by covering as much as he could as tightly as possible.

"Shira… please live… just wake up…for a minute… that's all I need…"

He cast glances at her rested eyes, wishing more than anything that they would open. Seeing no such luck, he focused on her breathing.

It feels stable...

It was the most optimistic he felt that night. Throughout the years, so much darkness covered his life. He fell into a black hole inside his own head. He had constantly tried to fight life's gravity, but it just kept pulling the worst part out of him every time.

I can't even save her… after she saved me.

Tears puddled as he recollected those days. He never felt like he belonged anywhere. That's why he left the pack. That's why he nearly left the herd. Depression consumed him. He suffered from it. He couldn't understand anything anymore.

I tried taking my own life because of it.

It seemed to hurt physically just thinking about it. The tiger often considered those days the darkest of his life. He always kept quiet about it. He never told anyone. He never told her. He likely had no plans to. He always thought the herd was the attachment he yearned for during his pack days. The older he got the more he realized he couldn't be happy with that life forever. When she showed up, he only wondered if he'd grow tired of her as well.

Maybe I don't want to be happy anymore… maybe I don't care if she dies.

He wanted to tear his mouth off for thinking that, but a part of him also figured it would be less painful that way. The hurt he felt from her went beyond what his mentality could handle. How else was he suppose to go on? How else was he suppose to live everyday? How else was he suppose to show her how much she meant to him?

"Please… Shira…" he murmured, still cuddling her into his warmth as he let out a lengthy yawn. The events of the day had traumatized his emotions to the point of exhaustion. His remaining energy dissolved as his head rested against her neck, seeing as there wasn't much more he could do except lift himself up and drag her further through the blizzard.

His jaws released, aching of the work they had to endure for the past hour. Her scruff was mangled and wet. He died inside seeing that more of her pelt was red rather than white. She didn't look anything like the saber he fell in love with.

How is she still alive?

The tiger took a deep breath before raising his head. The "den" he managed to find was nothing more than a few boulders stacked together beside a cliff wall, hardly large enough for the two of them. Though it mattered very little as the golden saber gathered nearby branches and twigs. He set them down by her before looking around for what he needed next.

Not seeing any flint.

He only knew what he needed because of all the days he spent scouting the humans when he was with the pack. He observed a large amount of what they did. How they made weapons. How they tanned leather, much to his own disapproval, and of course how to start a fire.

There has to be something around…

He occasionally checked on her as he searched, seeing a stroke of good luck with the blizzard kept to a minimum due to the amount of coverage the area contained. Not that it was any less cold out. Not that it would warm her until he got a fire going.

He sighed as he gave up with Plan A and picked up the first rock he saw and began vigorously scratching it against the shelter wall. Within a few seconds, sparks shot out, causing him to laugh out in disbelief as he brought the scratching closer to the batch he gathered. It took only moments later for the sparks to hit the pile before the heat resonated within.

Minutes ticked by while the tiger lay beside her, staring into the crackling flames as he held her bloodied paw.

His head ached of the trauma he had endured all night. Everything he saw. Yet his heart ached for everything she went through.

I swear my hope is selfless. I only want her to feel whole.

He felt her warming in temperature. It warmed his thoughts ever slightly. But no matter how often he tried, he couldn't forgive himself. He couldn't get over what he let happen.

I was never good enough for anyone. So how could I ever be good enough for her?.

At first he thought nothing of the tight feeling in her neck. He merely shrugged it off while his mentality struggled to stabilize.

No matter how hard… no matter how hard I fucking try, it just…

He shuddered his overloaded thoughts. He couldn't contain what little control he was granted with everything life threw at him. It just kept repeating. He felt stuck. He felt like he had been asleep for a very long time.

I want to go back. Just to stay. Just to tell you that you're always in my heart.

You'll always live in me.

Once more he found himself cuddled around her. Crying. Begging. Pleading. He eyed her face. Her mouth. Her nose. Her ears. He wasn't losing her. He refused to accept that. And maybe it was that refusal that kept the fire in her. Maybe it was why he failed to believe what he was convinced his eyes deceived him of.

There's just no way…

She looked at him, eyes weak of hunger. Her mouth hung open, gasping for air. The tiger noticed the punctured wound around her throat and figured it likely damaged her airway.

Regardless, there wasn't enough thankfulness in the world to describe what he felt at the sight of her lively and loving eyes. But the hurt in them didn't simmer down the sorrow his heart held. He knew it was bad. The state she was in.

"Diego…"

The tiger purely treasured the sound of her voice, knowing he could've easily never heard it again.

"It… it hurts." She barely whimpered out

"I know… I just…" He trembled, scooting her closer to the fire as the heat dried the leaking wounds around her body.

"I'm sorry. I did this. I let it happen."

"Don't say that."

He hugged her tighter, breathing in her attractive scent

"I'm just so lucky to be talking to you right now." He spilled out, not caring what his head tried interfering with. Not caring what she thought. He didn't care anymore. After all that transpired that day. As terrible as it was to think, maybe it was all meant to happen. It was the only solution to the constant battle of winning her over.

His thoughts jittered as she just looked at him, studying him like she was trying to figure him out. Trying to fit the pieces. In a way, it made him uncomfortable. He had a hard time coping with the fact that the most beautifully attractive saber he had ever seen would be gazing at him for more than five seconds. The tiger failed to see how she could possibly have interest.

Her eyes remained weak of exhaustion due to the blood loss. But her lips showed that she was comfortable. She was accepting. She gave a smile that the tiger would kill to see as he woke up every morning.

To be with you forever, Shira. What would that take?

So quickly, thoughts about her damaged state started to fade as the lusting love took over every priority. Maybe he took it all for granted. Maybe it didn't matter. She looked beautiful to him. That was all his head processed at that moment.

As his mind did what it did best with h he was caught off guard the second she began to cry. It only surprised him because…

I've never seen her cry.

She never seemed like the crying type. She always composed her emotions quite well, that of which Diego adored. She always acted so tough, but now giving the situation, he wanted to cry with her. And he did.

Neither sabers really knew what to make of all that transpired that night as they held each other. For the first time they let emotions take total control of everything.

"Why did you do it?" She spoke up suddenly and calmly.

"What-

"Why did you bring me here?"

The tiger wasn't sure how to answer her question as he loosened his grip around her, necks straight and heads up.

"To help you."

"Why?"

She seemed genuinely curious, as if she really didn't know.

After witnessing what happened to her, she didn't think I'd... care?

As he struggled to spill anything from his mouth, her eyes became weary of wondering, as if she figured as such. She sighed and rested her head in his warmth as she watched the fire burn bright.

The night echoed on as he kept her warm. Thoughts darted back and forth in contradiction, the tiger struggling to make sense of it all.

"Anyone else would've left me to die." She exclaimed to which his heart suffered in disbelief.

"Anyone?"

"My pack. The pirates. The herd."

The tiger always noticed how little anyone payed her attention. He wasn't sure why. But he certainly knew why *he* didn't.

I was always too scared. Just being around someone like her, I felt so… flawed. I didn't know how to talk to her.

"I don't understand…" he sighed.

"It's not that hard. I'm just so-

"There's nothing wrong with you."

How he managed to interrupt and slip those words out was far beyond him, yet it allowed an open door.

She just softly laughed in disagreement with her head shaking.

"You deserved to be cared for… your whole life and… it hurts me that you never were."

He felt something loosen inside him as he spoke, feeling as though it was a statement he believed more than anything else. It stood within his imperfections and brought out what was considered right.

Her, on the other hand only clenched her grip around him, thoughts anxiously overflowing within her system.

"Diego…"

Her head turned to him, eyes ready to burst of tears. Her mouth trembled on the sadness. Her throat swallowed to contain her emotions.

Damnit, I shouldn't have said that! I knew it was a bad idea, I just-

He didn't get enough time to think the rest of that sentence as she roughly dove her lips to taste him. As such, he started to cry. He started to feel. He started to love. He just closed his eyes and let everything else do the work. Every part of her he felt. Every scent of her he breathed. Every taste of her he kissed.

She only clenched his fur and forced him to the ground, the tiger surprised of the strength she had in her. It only told him that in the end, she'd be okay. For once, he was given a chance. It was something he knew he deserved. Something he'd never take for granted again.

The constant sensual feeling her tongue gave along his neck brought him to tears as he purred. Never would he have expected to receive such heartwarming gestures from something so beautiful in image.

As he was about to indulge in the same heart-filled mindset, she suddenly pulled away, panting of exhaustion from the intensity of her affection.

"Diego… I'm sorry, I… just needed to release all that." She trembled as her tears hit his face. She just stood over him, eyes closed and panting out everything she let go of.

He didn't say anything back as he smiled. It was strange. He wasn't one to smile often. It was just uncomfortable to him. It showed emotion. It showed something he didn't want to be seen with. When the whole world only saw him as a heartless, blood-lusted predator, there was no point in trying to be anything else.

"It's okay. I understand. This world can be so cold, sometimes." He let out as he thought of all that had progressed throughout his time in the world. Life wasn't fair, but that wasn't the problem. The problem was he never understood why.

"Yeah…" she sighed as she cuddled back into him, eyes casting to the thought wandering fire.

"But right now… it's very warm."

a/n: I believe this marks the end of my oneshots for now. I hope the ending was alright. I've noticed I tend to rush them because I'm too eager to get them uploaded. I always feel there could be more in it but It's important as a writer/artist/whatever to be weary of your work. Hoping it was worth the (4 month?) wait. I don't think I've ever shared this much before.