"I need you to come with me as backup. Our roommate, Peter, he's in danger."
When Quinn asked Fex to help Peter, he was initially hesitant.
During his time at the school so far, he had been careful not to get too involved with human matters, and not sticking his nose into business he shouldn't mess with. However, he would be lying if he said he wasn't curious as to what was going on.
"Hmm…" Fex mumbled, mulling it over. He was intrigued in what was going on, but Quinn was starting to get antsy.
Peter was most likely falling into even more danger, and Quinn was imagining that he might be getting bullied right now, being beaten into a pulp, or worse. It was urgent, and here he was waiting for Fex.
After a brief moment, Fex shrugged causally, "Sure, I'll come with. I said we were friends, didn't I?"
"Great! Let's go," Quinn said, immediately rushing off. He didn't want to waste another second.
Arriving at the training center, they saw Erin waiting, resting her sword on her shoulder. Upon seeing Fex, she immediately gave a cold glare at him.
"Behave," Quinn instructed before she could even open her mouth, "We're here for Peter."
Erin gave Fex one last glare, before they went inside the room.
The training center was spacious with several large metallic objects that each had a small colored light bulb indicating what type of color it was. These were portals, all stored away in the dimly lit room. In total, there were nine of them, three of each color. Quinn had stopped in the middle of the doorway, unable to take his eyes off of them, until Erin bumped into him.
"I thought we were in a hurry," Erin remarked.
Quinn glared at Erin, but pressed on.
Turning a corner, they saw Peter lying on the ground, badly hurt, with wires, boxes, and other items strewn about as if there a fight had occurred. Aside from the group of three who just entered, Peter was the only one around.
Quinn felt partly responsible for what had happened to him, as he was spending a lot of time with Erin lately. He wasn't there for his roommate when he needed him. However, he wouldn't let himself get caught up on that as Peter needed him now.
"Aww, there's no one else here," Fex mumbled, slightly disappointed. He couldn't smell anyone else nearby, nor any blood.
Quinn rushed over to Peter's side. He had torn clothes, bruises on his body, and this hurt expression on his face.. Quinn started helping him up while Erin looked around for any potential threats.
"What happened to you?" Quinn asked, concern lacing his voice.
Peter's lips quivered, and he opened his mouth about to say something, but stopped himself. After swallowing his spit, he gathered his resolve.
"T-they… the first years, they got to me."
Peter didn't need to fake being scared; there was another person here that he didn't account for. Not only that, but Erin wasn't anywhere near the portal. She looked very alert, glancing around for any potential threats. This wasn't part of the plan at all, and he needed to think of something quick.
Quinn was about to help Peter up but noticed he was able to stand just fine. There was something off about this whole situation. Quickly analyzing his bruises, Quinn realized that they were still bright red. Too bright despite Quinn receiving his message several minutes ago. He didn't know for sure if his gut feeling was right.
"Peter… is this a—?"
"You know my friends, right?" Peter interrupted, "You'd never expect them to act the way they do—they're just hilarious—"
"What?" Quinn was dumbfounded.
As Peter continued to mumble random nonsense about his "friends," he slowly inched them towards the direction of a portal. Meanwhile, Quinn was racking his brain over the meaning behind his words, oblivious to Peter's actions.
Erin, noticing Peter's mumbling, turned around, only to realize just how close Quinn was to the portal. If she waited another second, he would no doubt get pushed in.
Quickly activating her flash step, she dashed towards Quinn, barely managing to push him away from the portal; but in turn, she herself was caught in it.
Quinn and Peter crashed to the ground from Erin's shove, and when Quinn regained his bearings, he couldn't see her anywhere. The only thing he could see was the portal. Now activated, bathing the room in a bright ominous red.
"...Erin?" he muttered in disbelief.
He turned to face Peter, who was trembling in fear.
"I—I—" Peter stammered.
Quinn shot up and was about to jump in when a hand grabbed his shoulder.
"Are you an idiot?" Fex berated.
Quinn smacked his hand away, "I need to save her, she's going to die—"
"No, YOU'RE going to die! You can say stuff like that when you're stronger, but for now, I'M going in."
Quinn looked at Fex, frustration gathering within him, "She's MY friend, she's in there because of me!"
"Have you lost your mind? You dying won't help her survive, but if I go in, I won't," Fex retorted, before turning towards the portal.
Quinn watched as Fex jumped in, still considering jumping in after him.
He had improved his strength, becoming a level 2 earth user, but a red portal planet was suicide, even for experienced travelers.
Right when Quinn was about to decide to jump in, he heard Peter mumbling again.
Peter was trembling and grabbed at his hair. He began muttering something again, this time a lot clearer to Quinn's ears.
"H-he…. He wasn't supposed to go in— why did he go in?"
Quinn's head slowly turned around as the realization of everything hit him.
"What?"
Peter blurted out, "I was supposed to push her in!"
"Peter— what the hell?!" Quinn cried.
—
As Fex passed through the portal, he felt a strange tingly feeling all over his body, the world around him warping and distorting into strange colors and shapes.
Once Fex emerged from the portal, he fell a few feet from the air and landed gracefully in a crouch. He got up and dusted himself off while surveying the area he was in. His heart sank.
"Crap, why'd it have to be this planet?!"