Crimson's POV:
The last thing I can remember is Erik pulling me away from the door and now I'm back in the afterlife. I'm back once again in the strange and peaceful grounds of the school. Everything is exactly as it was the last time I died. I laid down on the ground next to the lake and enjoyed the comfort of the familiar setting. Considering what's going on in the mortal world this is a welcome break. Although everyone out there is probably freaking out wondering if I'm dead for good. I don't know if I'm gone for good either, the door back home hasn't shown up yet. Guess I'll relax and wait.
What happened to Erik? Why did he go in there, it was suicide. Is he gonna be okay? I don't even have enough strength to be in my own body, can I heal him? Did he die, or he is just badly hurt? There are a million and questions and a severe shortage of answers. I dozed off on the grass and waited for the door to open up.
An Unknown Amount Of Time Later
I woke up from god knows how much sleep later and decided to go for a stroll. I spotted a very confused and freaking out Erik running around in a daze. Guess he's stuck here with me.
"Erik!" I called out. He turned and looked at me very quickly. He came running over.
"Where are we? What is this place?" He asked.
"Think of it as a waiting room. Every time I die I end up here and I wait here until my body is healed enough for me to return to it," I answered him.
"So we just hang out here and wait? How do we know when it's time to leave?" Erik responded.
"Over my the lake a door will come up and we just go through that, and yeah we just kinda hang out," I answered.
"I didn't come here when I died before..." Erik spoke in disbelief.
"You being here is a good sign, it means you're not all the way dead. You're dead in the same way I die, temporarily. So long as everyone back in the world keeps us close enough that I can heal you, things should be fine," I reassured him. We walked toward the lake and I got the idea that Erik wants to stay near the door, he's very eager to leave. We sat down on the bench by the lake and relaxed in the comfort of this waiting room.
"I'm sorry we couldn't save him," Erik spoke reminding me of the events that brought us here.
"My brother is dead..." I uttered in complete disbelief. I always thought of him as kind of invincible. That happened with him with his daughter messed with his powers. Where even is his daughter? I circled back mentally to the original point. My brother is dead. "He burned alive, we won't even get a body to bury..." I whispered. Erik pulled me closer to him for support and I leaned my head onto his shoulder. I felt myself starting to cry a little, Erik noticed and looked down at me worried.
"Why don't you tell me about when you two were little," Erik asked.
"We got separated when we were young so there's no much I remember. However, since we were little runaways we got around using trains. Logan would always insist on keeping watch at night and I'd do it in the daytime," I told.
"What was it like sleeping on a train?" Erik questioned.
"Well it was Canada so it was fairly cold a lot of the time, but the bumps from the train tracks were oddly comforting. You could sometimes find useful stuff in the crates, but mostly you'd just barricade yourself with them so the inspector won't see you," I answered.
"How'd you two get food?" Erik asked.
"Some people would give us some since we were kids, you know sympathy and all that. We did have this one thing we'd do though, it was fairly clever. I'd go to the front of the place and ask the manager for something like a cup of water to distract them, while Logan snuck in through the back window and stole their food," I told.
"You two sound like such troublemakers," Erik joked.
"Oh we were, we got in trouble with the cops a few times," I continued.
"So running from the police isn't anything new," Erik starting laughing.
"No, I'm quite experienced at evading capture," I joked.
"We have to play capture the flag someday," Erik announced.
"Don't say that in front of your son, he'll start getting more ideas," I added.
"He certainly is not what I was expecting," Erik said.
"Hmm, and what were you expecting?" I asked.
"Someone a little more like me I suppose," Erik concluded.
"How could he be like you if he'd never met you?" I questioned.
"Fair point, but he doesn't seem much like his mother either," Erik added.
"Does it get easier, not having a family?" I asked boldly. I felt Erik stiffen up and I wondered if I'd overstepped.
"It does eventually, but you'll never really feel the same. You're in luck though because you've got all of us," Erik reassured.
"Yeah, I mean your not half-bad," I joked.
"Ouch, wow. Seriously though you've got everyone in the school, especially that Fiance of yours. You should've seen the way he begged me to go save you, his face was priceless," Erik spoke.
"Just wait for everyone's faces when we finally get out of here," I added.
"How long have we been here?" Erik questioned.
"No idea, time is weird here. Maybe a few seconds, maybe a few months, no way to know until we return," I answered. We sat in silence for well I don't know how long. It felt like maybe twenty minutes, but I don't know. Then low and behold the magical door popped back up. Erik looked up at it excitedly. We walked over to it when Erik suddenly stopped. I turned and looked at him.
"You know while no one is looking, we could hug and no one would have to know..." Erik alluded.
"You know you can just ask for a hug, you don't need to pretend like you don't have feelings," I spoke.
"I'm just saying you know if you want, no one would see..." Erik added. I rolled my eyes at him and we put his arms out. I gave in and entered his hug. Despite being the poster child for never expressing emotions Erik certainly didn't seem to want to end the hug.
"Erik, will you be my family?" I asked him.
"Of course, but that means you have to be my family too," He replied.
"Deal," I answered.
We broke apart and walked through the door back to the real world. I was blinded for a brief second before waking up back in my body. I started coughing up the leftover smoke rather aggressively. I looked around and noticed we were in the medbay. How long were we dead for? I saw Erik in the hospital bed next to mine looking down at his burnt clothes.
"My robe is burnt..." Erik spoke sounding dejected.
"I'm sorry for your loss," I joked. Erik did not look amused. Two sets of footsteps were coming down the hall toward us.
"They're awake! They're awake!"
"Get out of my way!"
"I need to see my husband!"
"I need to see my Fiancee!"
Hank and Charles pushed past each other and into the room. Erik and I started laughing at the two of them almost slipping on the slick floors. Charles reached Erik first and he delicately grabbed hold of his husband. Hank soon arrived at my hospital bed with a goofy grin on his face.
"Hi," Hank spoke awkwardly.
"So what did I miss?" I asked.
"Well, we put out the fire. Jean rebuilt the school. We sent all the kids home, except the Tier 5's. Then we waited for you two to come back," Hank answered.
"Did you find anything left of Logan to bury?" I asked trying to keep my composure.
"Unfortunately no, I'm sorry. There's one thing though, I thought you would like these," Hank spoke. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Logan's dog tags. Hank gently placed the dog tags in my hands. I looked down at them. This is all that's left of my brother?
"Thank you," I spoke. I finally gave in and started to cry.
He's gone.