Crimson's POV:
I looked over and saw Erik laying on the forest floor, with an arrow embedded in his chest. I rushed over, but he was already gone. I held him and cried for a while, his blood stained my clothes. Then the arrow forced itself out and the wound closed. Erik opened his eyes and gave me a hug. I heard someone clear their throat behind me and I turned around. Alex stood in the forest looking ghostly pale, he had several gunshot wounds that blood actively poured from. I looked at his pale blue and white face and he looked angry, furious actually.
"You could've saved me, Crimson! I didn't have to die! But, you- you just let it happen! My brother had mourned because of you! My parents lost their son because of you!" He yelled pointing his finger.
"Alex, I-"
"You what? You couldn't? Or didn't care enough to?"
"I didn't know-"
"We both know you could've saved me, but you left me on the ground to die, you made no effort to save me!"
"I'm sorry Alex! I would have saved you but-"
"But what? YOU LEFT ME TO DIE, BUT YOU SAVED A MASS MURDERER! YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE WHO COULD HAVE SAVED ME, BUT YOU ABANDONED ME!"
The forest started to blur a little and I heard a new voice.
"Crim, please wake up"
The forest faded away and I was in my bedroom at the school. I sat up and Hank pulled me to him. I was shaking and crying, I had left Alex to die, it was all my fault. Hank rubbed his hand up and down my back and whispered.
"You're alright. Everything is okay. It was just a dream. You're safe now."
"I could've saved him, he's dead because of me..."
"Who?"
"Alex, I could have saved h-"
"No, don't you dare blame yourself for that. We have no idea if you could've done anything and that was not your fault. Andrew killed him, Andrew is solely responsible for Alex's death. You aren't at fault for this, nobody blames you"
"They don't blame me because they don't know Erik died. What do you think Scott would say if he knew I brought someone back from the dead? You think his brain wouldn't go straight to Alex?"
"I know, Crim, I know you brought back and I don't blame you. Erik knows and he doesn't blame you. Charles knows and he doesn't blame you. Nobody blames you and you shouldn't either."
"I could have-"
"No, no more hypotheticals. Andrew killed him and we will avenge him."
"I have to tell Scott"
"You can talk in the morning, but for now we deserve to rest"
We laid back down and moved into our usual position. I didn't even try to sleep at first. I don't want to see all that again. I laid there listening to Hank snore and tried to keep my mind off the dream. Eventually, sleep won and I fell back into it.
A few hours later
I slowly opened my eyes, but I didn't move. Should I tell Scott? I don't want to burden him with that hypothetical, but it feels wrong to keep this from him. I pondered it a little more and finally came to a decision. I am going to tell him, I would want to know if the situation was flipped.
I could feel Hank stir underneath me and he soon stopped snoring. He slowly moved his hand back and forth, his fingers grazing my arm.
"You feeling better?"
"A little, but I am still going to tell Scott"
"Do you want me there?"
"I think it's best if it's a one on one conversation"
"Good luck, I know he'll understand, maybe not at first, but he'll come around"
We laid there a little longer chatting quietly. It was comforting to finally be back, but all good things must come to an end. Today's end came in the form of Peter bursting in without even knocking first. He sped over to the side of the bed and squatted down to get on my eye level.
"Game night tonight"
"Oh boy"
"Everything alright?"
"Peachy"
"Oh yeah, I see Hank's nipples are out, is that normal or does Scott owe me twenty bucks?"
"It is normal, but yes Scott owes you twenty bucks"
"Looks like we're both winning"
"You two wanna explain what you're talking about?" Hank asked pulling the covers up a little more.
"Scott and Peter like to make bets about our relationship"
"Scott didn't think you two would have sex"
"PETER!"
"THAT'S IT I'M ASKING CHARLES TO BUY LOCKS FOR THE BEDROOMS!"
"Just don't get the keys confused with handcuff keys"
"GET OUT!"
"You two going for round two already?"
"PETER!"
"Don't make me call Erik to come get you!"
"Calling Erik here isn't a threat, in fact, it's a great idea! ERIK!"
A minute later the door swung open again and Erik walked in. Erik looked at me and Hank in the bed and definitely noticed the lack of clothing. He froze up and stared.
"I- I- I really need to stop entering this bedroom. Every time I come in here I get closer and closer to seeing something I really don't want to witness. I am very sorry for interrupting your moment together."
"ERIK NO!"
"PLEASE GRAB YOUR SON AND LEAVE"
Erik hastily grabbed Peter and dragged him out of the room before slamming the door shut while stammering out many apologies and something about birth control.
"We really need to get a lock"
"We need one before this becomes a functional school"
Our relaxing morning in bed was officially over. I get up and got dressed before starting on my mission to find Scott and ruin his day. I finally found him having breakfast with Jean in the kitchen. Jean probably read my mind and saw that this was serious and private because she stared at me and then grabbed her plate and left. I took a seat across from him and took a deep breath. No turning back now.
"Is everything okay? Do I need to hurt Hank?"
"Kind of and please don't"
"Kind of?"
"Scott, there's something that happened when I was with Erik that I think you deserve to know about, but we need to keep it quiet for now"
"You're freaking me out a little"
"Scott, Erik died"
"Very funny, great prank. Make me think I've been imagining him this whole time."
"Scott I'm not joking. We were attacked and Erik bled out in the woods. His heart stopped, he wasn't breathing, Charles couldn't see his mind in Cerebro. Scott, he was dead"
"But, he's here now and he seems fine"
"I don't really know or understand this fully, but I brought him back. He healed up like I do and then I became exhausted when he was healing. I couldn't stay conscious, but I brought him back from the dead"
"Alex..."
"Scott, I-"
"You could've saved Alex..."
"We don't know that-"
"Please leave me alone, I need time to think"
"Of course"
I got up from my seat and slowly walked out of the kitchen. I glanced back and Scott was completely frozen. Because I wasn't looking where I was going I collided head-on with Peter.
"Game night!"
That night
Everyone met up in the lounge and waited for Peter to begin his explanation of the game he had planned for all of us. Scott had shown up, I wasn't sure he would. Scott never made eye contact with me, but he also didn't flip me off, so not bad. Peter clapped his hands and everyone started to pay attention.
"Tonight's game is Sardines!" Peter spoke very enthusiastically. He paused for applause and Kurt started clapping and soon everyone else clapped slowly and confused.
"Great, thank you, thank you. Sardines is like hide and seek in the way that people hide and people seek, but it is also different. All but one of us will be the seeker, the other person will have two full minutes to hide anywhere inside the mansion. Then all of us will INDIVIDUALLY search for them, but here's the fun part. If you find the hider, you have to hide with them in their hiding spot. So everyone piles together in one spot like sardines squeezed together in a can. The last person to find the hiding spot is the hider in the next round. Understood?"
Everyone nodded along in understanding and soon it the game was starting. Peter had decided to pick on Scott and make him hide. We all waited and counted with our eyes closed, well Erik tried to sneak away early but we all heard him and stopped him.
Soon the two minutes were up and everyone split off in different directions. Since the mansion was ridiculously large the game was probably going to take a while. I decided to go straight up to the top floor and work my way down. I looked through empty room after empty room. I moved down a floor to search through rooms that hadn't been renovated into double bedrooms. I was halfway down the hall when I heard a little bit of movement in a room. I quietly snuck into the room and searched through it before finding Scott sitting alone on the floor of a closet. Great one on one time with Scott for god knows how long. Peter just had to pick Scott, didn't he? I bit my tongue and sat down on the floor of the closet across from Scott.
"Did you know you could heal others when he died?"
"No"
"Then I can't really be angry with you, can I?"
"I guess not"
The closet fell silent as we waited for the game to continue. After a while, Jean entered the closet. Scott pulled Jean to him and the two began to make out. I deserve this. I closed my eyes and hoped someone else would find us soon. After nearly an eternity more and more people started to find us quicker and quicker. Soon everyone, but Erik and Hank had squeezed into the small closet. I was sitting in the corner between the wall and Charles' wheelchair. We all waited silently, as least until Kurt sneezed. Then he all heard the two of them sprinting then several loud noises. The loud noises grew closer and closer before the closet door was ripped open and Erik stood there and laughed.
"I beat you even after you threw me down the stairs!" Erik laughed.
"You threw him down the stairs?!" Everyone asked at once.
"I might have gotten a little competitive..." Hank spoke quietly rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. Soon Jean and Charles burst out into laughter and everyone turned to them.
"Mindreaders wanna let us in on the joke?" Logan asked.
"Erik told Hank- he- he told him that he must not have been that good- be- because they didn't hear anything from down the hall" Jean spoke in between laughs. Little do they know why they didn't hear us from down the hall.
"Then Hank tried to ignore him, but- but Erik threw a- a can of energy drink at him and- and said- 'this should help her not fall asleep out of boredom' and then they started to attack each other" Charles spoke while wheezing and crying with laughter.
I felt my face flush with embarrassment and both Erik and Hank at me also seemingly embarrassed. I decided to mess with Erik some.
"At least my entire relationship doesn't center around playing chess and committing war crimes" I spoke getting a laugh from most people.
"Hey!" Charles and Erik spoke in sync.
"ERIK HOW STUPID DO YOU HAVE TO BE TO SPEND TWENTY YEARS PLAYING CHESS WITH A TELEPATH! AND YOU WONDER WHY YOU NEVER WIN!" I yelled.
"And that's how you play sardines, hope everyone enjoyed game night!" Peter spoke before speeding away.