Blood Queen Reborn

Quinn stared down at Peter with a whole flurry of emotions. Anger, sadness, confusion. It didn’t make sense— why would he do this? What could’ve pushed him to do all of this?

Peter sniffled, and his friend’s betrayed expression didn’t help his mood. He opened his mouth, about to explain himself when—

"What the hell, Peter?!" Quinn yelled at him again before lifting him up by the collar. He was glaring daggers into his face, "Why would you do that?!"

Why would he do such a thing? What could have possibly happened for Peter to need to push Erin into a red portal planet? These were the thoughts running in Quinn’s mind.

"Q-Quinn I—" he managed to stammer out before being shaken by the collar, his feet barely touching the ground.

"What. Could have possibly happened. For you of all people, to do that?" he growled.

"I-I can explain—"

"Then explain it to me, Peter. What has Erin ever done to you? Why would you shove her into the most dangerous type of planet we have access to!?" Quinn yelled as he let go of Peter, letting him drop to the floor.

Peter’s limbs shook as he tried to stand. His throat clenched, and his fists were trembling at his side. Peter tried to look at his roommate, but Quinn’s furious glare made him shrink in fear.

Quinn turned towards the portal, about to jump in, when he got a notification from Erin.

{Erin} Don’t worry about me, Quinn, I’m fine.

{Erin} Don’t jump in after me.

’She’s fine?’ Quinn thought.

His posture relaxed a little, and the portal’s lights began to dim at the same time, automatically turning off. Quinn was still mad at Peter, but he had his connection to Erin. He knew she was alive.

Peter saw Quinn’s demeanor change, but he didn’t know what to say. How could he explain his situation?

What he did with Quinn was just a shot in the dark to get Erin closer to the portal, as she was always the intended target. He wasn’t even sure if he was capable of pushing someone into a death trap, much less expect the plan to work.

"I-I was forced— wait. W-wait—" Peter began to panic, becoming aware of their surroundings once again. "Quinn— we have to leave— We need to get out of here."

"I thought you were going to explain?" Quinn demanded.

"Quinn— Please— I promise I’ll explain in our room—"

"How can I be sure you’ll even return to our room?"

"Quinn! If you’re found here, they’ll blame you too!" Peter yelled before slapping his hands over his mouth. He was already going to get in trouble for sending not one, but two students to their deaths— and both happened to be friends with Quinn.

"What do you mean? Who will blame me?" Quinn asked.

Quinn’s anger began to drop, but he was still alert. There was something more to this, and it wasn’t from malicious intent.

Peter frantically looked around, he was glad that there wouldn’t be anyone else here, Duke told him so.

He originally asked Quinn for help as he and Erin were always hanging out together, and he was meant to push Erin into the portal. But he didn’t expect Fex to be there, much less go in, and Peter feared that since he asked Quinn to come over, that Duke might use the opportunity to frame him. After all, his roommates might’ve been spotted on the way over.

"Quinn..." Peter’s voice cracked as he looked at his roommate with a level of seriousness he had never seen on him before, "Please, head to the dorm room. Make sure you aren’t seen on the way out. I don’t want to be responsible for you getting punished."

Quinn took a look at the system, and saw that Erin was now at level 7, the strongest she’d ever been. He sighed, and looked at Peter.

"Fine, I will, but you need to be there to explain everything to me within 20 minutes."

Peter nodded, "I promise, I mean it."

Quinn headed back to their dorm room, making sure no one else spotted him. On his way there, he sent some messages to Erin.

{Quinn} Erin, Fex came in after you.

{Quinn} Let me know if you find him, he should be able to help you out.

Even though he knew that Erin was alive from both her messages, and the systems screen, he couldn’t imagine what she was going through on a red portal planet. Once again, he looked at the notification history.

[Congratulations, Erin is now level 7]

[HP 14/45]

[2,155/6400 EXP]

[She has gained 1 extra stat point]

’On another thought, she’ll be fine,’ Quinn thought, ’She has the blood bank skill, and she’s strong. If there’s anyone who could survive on a red portal planet, it’d be her.’

Eventually, he was inside of their dorm room. The place was dark and silent when he entered. Flicking the light switch on, it felt so empty without either of his roommates.

Quinn waited for Peter for what felt like an unbearably long time, but he had nothing to do. It was late in the day, almost curfew. He tried messaging her again.

{Quinn} Apparently, Peter has an explanation as to why he did all of this.

{Quinn} There’s something serious going on. He’s scared of something.

{Quinn} I don’t know what’s going on over there, but...

{Quinn} Please stay safe.

Soon, Peter entered the room, the door locking behind him, "I think— I think we’re safe now."

"Okay, explain yourself," Quinn sternly said.

Peter’s body was faced away from Quinn, but he slowly turned to his roommate, "I was— I was forced into it."

Quinn gave him a disappointed look, "That was it? You were trying to send Erin into a red portal planet because you were forced to do it?!" he said, crossing his arms.

In the moment, Quinn thought that Peter was at most threatened to be beaten up, and while he knew how much that sucked, it would never make him want to attempt a murder.

Peter winced, and tears started to form in his eyes, "That’s— you don’t know what I went through—"

"Then what was it?!" Quinn snapped.

"They were—!" Peter wiped away his tears, frustration building up, "They were trying to kill me! Constantly— over and over again— cutting me open and letting me bleeding out like a pig only to heal me all over again!"

Quinn took a step back, shocked, but Peter wasn’t done.

"32 times, Quinn," Peter spat out, sniffling, "They did it 32 times! —And I kept seeing the light every time they stabbed me— I kept nearly dying. I was trying— trying to be strong like you, but they kept stabbing me!" he said holding back a sob. "I d-didn’t— I didn’t want to do it, but if I didn’t say yes in time— He couldn’t keep healing me— they were going to kill me!"

Peter’s body started to shake, and he slid to the ground, covering his eyes and sobbing, muttering, "They were gonna kill me..."

Looking at him, Quinn didn’t know how to react, and guilt crept in. It was clear that Peter didn’t want to go through with this, and that he was tortured long enough to ensure he did. Quinn wasn’t really familiar with comforting people, especially in a situation such as this.

Suddenly, Peter’s sobbing stopped as he looked at his hands, and realization of what he did started to set in, "Oh my god— I-I really did kill them...!"

He looked up at Quinn with wide eyes and a haunted look to him. He grabbed at his face, his nails digging into his skin.

It was then that Peter spoke with a startling clarity, "I killed them— I killed them just like they killed Emily..."

With everything coming back to Peter, Quinn knew he had to do something. He knelt down to Peter’s level and started to slowly remove his hands off of his face.

"Hey, hey, uh, Peter, don’t worry about it—"

"How can I not!?" Peter blurted out between sobs, "I killed your friends— Fex was our friend!"

"Well..." Quinn kissed his teeth, "We don’t know that just yet. Erin and Fex are both strong. If there’s anyone who could survive a red portal planet, it would be them."

Peter gulped hard, his throat was clenched, "How can you be so sure? Erin got beaten up by those second years, and Fex is a level 1 like me."

By this point, Quinn was holding Peter’s hands in the air, and squeezed them tightly, grounding him in the moment. Quinn didn’t want to say that he knew she was fine because of the system, but he was not one to lie. What he told Peter was still his genuine thoughts.

"They’re more stronger than they let on," Quinn softly spoke, "The teachers will find out and they’ll find them."

Peter choked back another sob, and he couldn’t help but suddenly hug Quinn. It startled him, and he initially was going to end it sooner, but saw that the boy really needed this.

He then heard his roommate mumble something so quietly he almost didn’t think he heard it.

"You’re too good for me..."

After a few moments, they pulled apart their hug, and Quinn held Peter by the arms.

"Please just tell me next time, you don’t have to be alone."

Peter paused for a second, but he nodded slowly.

It was past 10pm now, meaning that curfew was now in place. Quinn couldn’t leave the dorm rooms now if he wanted to, so he got ready for the night. He was going to need all of the rest he could get for tomorrow.

Getting into bed, Quinn opened up the system. He wanted to see if Erin had responded yet.

{Erin} I’m fine for now, but I haven’t seen Fex.

{Erin} You better have given that backstabbing rat a beating for what he was about to do to you.

Quinn was grateful seeing a response again.

{Quinn} You’re still alive!

{Erin} Of course I am, I’m not going to give that guy the satisfaction of almost killing you.

{Quinn} Peter didn’t want to do it, he was forced into it.

{Erin} And?

{Erin} I swear it, when I get out of here, I’m going to give him payback for what he has done.

Quinn thought for a second that it was probably a good thing that Erin and Peter were on completely separate planets.

{Quinn} Have you really not seen Fex?

{Erin} That sniffing guy? No, I haven’t seen him the entire time I’ve been here.

{Quinn} Really?

{Erin} I’m going to look around for him.

{Quinn} I want to help, but its curfew, so please stay alive for as long as possible.

{Erin} I don’t need a reminder, I was going to anyways.