Quinn glared at him 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 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? Notification sounds were constantly playing in his head, it was from Erin's side, and that mere fact had him more worried than ever.
"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.
His limbs shook as he tried to stand. His throat clenched, and his fists were trembling at his side. Peter tried to look at Quinn, but his anger made him shrink in fear. What he did with Quinn was just a shot in the dark to get Erin closer to the portal, but he wasn't even sure if he was capable of pushing someone into a death trap.
"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 mocked at the boy, blocking the exit.
"Quinn— Please— I promise I'll explain in our room—"
"How can I be sure you'll even go to the room?"
"Quinn! If you're found here, they'll blame you too!" Peter yelled before slapping his hands over his mouth. He was already in trouble for sending not one, but two students to their deaths— and both happened to be friends with Quinn.
Suddenly, Quinn's anger dropped. There was something more to this, and it wasn't from malicious intent.
"What do you mean? Who will blame me?" Quinn asked, now more alert.
Peter frantically looked around, he was glad that there wouldn't be anyone else here, Duke told him so.
He was meant to have pushed Erin into the portal, but he didn't expect Fex to go in at all. He had a fear that with Quinn being here, Duke might frame him for pushing Erin and Fex. His roommate 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, "P-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 doing just fine. She was now at level 7, the strongest she'd ever been. He sighed, and looked at Peter.
"Okay, I will, but you need to be there to explain everything to me within 20 minutes."
Peter nodded, "I promise."
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, are you okay?
{Quinn} Erin!
{Quinn} Let me know if you find Fex. He came in soon after you.
{Quinn} Please respond soon.
Even though Quinn could see from the system that she was still alive, the fact that she wasn't able to respond was a little alarming. He couldn't imagine what she was going through to not be able to say anything back. He looked at the notifications again.
[Congratulations, Erin is now level 7]
[HP 14/45]
[100/6400 EXP]
[She has gained 1 extra stat point]
'She's fine,' Quinn thought, '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 there, but…
{Quinn} Please let me know if you're alright.
Soon, Peter entered the room, and frantically locked the door, "I think— I think w-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.
He was thinking 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 commit murder.
Peter winced, and tears started to form in his eyes, "They were—! They were trying to kill me! Constantly— over and over again— cutting me open and letting me bleeding out 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. He 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!"
"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 because of the system, but he was not one to lie, and what he told Peter was still his genuine thoughts.
"They know more 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. Not long after that, they got ready for bed, and Peter didn't feel as huge of a weight that night.
Getting into bed, Quinn opened up the system. He wanted to see if Erin had responded yet, and to his surprise, she did.
{Erin} I'm fine for now, but I haven't seen Fex.
{Erin} You better have given that pathetic bastard a beating for what he was about to do to you.
Quinn smiled, seeing a response.
{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} I don't care about the specifics, I'm getting out of here to get back at him.
Quinn thought for a second that it was probably a good thing that Erin was too far away to attack Peter.
{Quinn} Have you seen Fex?
{Erin} That guy? No, I haven't seen him the entire time I've been here.
{Quinn} Seriously?
{Erin} I'm going to look around for him.
{Quinn} I'm going to head to sleep, but please stay alive for as long as possible.
{Erin} I don't need a reminder, I was going to anyways.