Chapter Ten
Tears filled my eyes as I looked at my boy, the one I'd thought dead. "Sean, you- you're alive?" I could scarcely believe my own eyes, terrified that I was dreaming, or hallucinating, or someone had messed with my mind without me knowing.
"Hey, B, looks like you haven't gotten rid of me just yet," Sean joked, grimacing as his half-grin pulled at his split lips.
"Alex!" Lotta came screaming into the cell, barely stopping short of throwing herself on Alex when she saw Sean in his lap. "Sean?"
"We've got to go, Bianca," Erik said, joining us in the cell, but staying at the doorway as Alex jerked back, shielding Sean as much as he was capable of.
"He's here to help, Alex," I said softly, "and I won't let anyone else hurt either of you. Now, let Erik take Sean, and let's go home."
If anyone else had said those words, I doubt Alex would have listened. As it was, he barely hesitated before nodding, allowing Erik to move close enough to carefully pull Sean up into his arms. Lotta and I helped Alex up and pulled his arms over our shoulders. The five of us made our way slowly out of the cell to where Thompkins stood guard.
"Bianca!" Hank's shout pulled our attention back the way we'd come. "Bianca, we've got to get out of here. Styker's- Alex! Sean?" he gasped, pulling up short as he saw the bundle in Erik's arms.
"Hey, Beast," Sean waved, or attempted to. It was more of a slight jerk, but no one commented.
Hank stared at him for a moment. "You idiot," he finally grinned. "I can't believe you're not dead."
"It would take more than Trask to kill me," Sean rasped, still flopped against Erik's shoulder.
Those words seemed to give Hank a mental shake. "We've got to get out of here. Trask and Stryker are on their way, thirty minutes out."
There was no way I was staying any longer than absolutely necessary. "Hank, take Alex. You and Erik go back to the truck. Thompkins, you're with me. We're not leaving any mutant in here."
Hank jumped to listen to me, scooping Alex up like he was nothing. But he was the only one who listened. "Thompkins, take Sean. I'm going with Bianca," Erik said, already moving to transfer Sean to the other soldier. When I started to protest, he turned a very unimpressed eyebrow on me. "I'm not letting you go through this facility without me."
"She's not alone," Lotta reminded. "I'm going with her."
Knowing both would argue, wasting valuable time, if I tried to protest, I simply nodded. "Let's go, then."
We cleared the rest of the facility, collecting other mutants as we went through. And we stumbled upon Raven, collecting every file she could from Trask's office. "They're on their way back," I warned, and she nodded.
"I'll meet you at the truck. There's no one else in this wing."
It wasn't long before we started smelling smoke, and I figured she'd set what she couldn't carry on fire. Our little entourage made its way out, followed shortly by Raven, to where Charles and Moira were herding everyone into confiscated trucks. Erik boosted Lotta into the truck where the boys were, then reached back to help me. One second, he was pulling me toward him, the next, pushing me to the ground with a yell.
He rolled over me, covering me more fully, even while clutching his left shoulder with his right hand. Where bright red blood seeped between his fingers. I stared at him in horror, frozen, until the crack of gunfire registered in my mind. Looking up, I saw the flash of a rifle scope up on top of the only building not already smoldering.
Without thought, I stretched my powers in that direction, pushing faster as I sensed another gunshot. But this one didn't make its intended target. Instead, I used the energy from the gunshot, causing the rifle to explode in the hands of the sniper. One less problem to worry about, a tiny part of my mind crowed. But most of it was occupied with the man bleeding on top of me.
Thompkins and Hank hurried over and lifted Erik off me, though it was mostly Hank doing the work. We shoved him into the truck with Sean and Alex and yelled for everyone else to get in the closest vehicle, since we didn't know if there happened to be any other snipers in the area.
Moira shifted into gear nearly the second Thompkins shut the tailgate, leading the way back into the jungle. I gripped Erik's hand as Hank ripped his shirt, exposing the bloody hole in his shoulder. "What were you thinking?" I spat, anger coming out to mask the fear pulsing through me from the moment I saw his blood.
"Better me than you," he managed, between grit teeth.
"And you couldn't have caught it any other way than with your shoulder?"
"I didn't see it in time," he gasped. I was a bit impressed that he even managed to speak, with how Hank was digging in his shoulder with his pocket knife.
"I can't see it," Hank growled. "I can't get it out if I can't see it!"
Erik grit his teeth, and I knew what he was about to do. "Erik, no!" But, as per usual, he didn't listen to me. Instead, he used his power to pull the bullet out, passing out in my lap afterwards. "I hate you," I said, shoving more of his torn shirt into the wound to attempt to staunch the blood.
He came around again about ten minutes later, just as Moira stopped the truck. Charles let us know we were stopping to regroup, to figure out just what we were going to do from there. "And Ink wants to help Erik," he told us. "He said he can heal him, at least probably."
"Get him in here," I growled, ignoring the knowing looks he and Moira sent me. "He can help Sean and Alex, too, then."
The quiet younger man soon stuck his head in our truck. "I can probably help him," Ink said, "but I've never healed anything as complex as a bullet wound."
"Anything will be appreciated," Hank told him kindly, pulling up the remains of the shirt to expose the wound again.
After several long moments of intense concentration on Ink's part, and strained panting on Erik's, the wound began to knit itself together before our eyes. It was slow work, but soon enough, it was smooth, pink skin once more.
"Thank you," Erik said quietly, gently exploring the freshly healed skin with his fingers. "I can't even tell it happened."
Ink smiled, proud yet tired. "You've still lost a lot of blood, I can't replicate that. But you shouldn't have problems with it. Hopefully."
"What's going on in there?" We heard Logan's growl from outside, just before he shoved his way into the truck bed. He stopped short at the sight of the blood, or possibly the scent of it, as his nostrils flared slightly. "Who got shot?"
I didn't know why he looked me over, as if expecting me to be the one injured. "I did," Erik replied, sitting up to inspect what was left of his shirt.
"He got hit pushing Bianca out of the way," Lotta so helpfully supplied.
"You didn't get hurt?" Logan asked me, still looking far too apprehensive for no reason.
And then it connected, like a puzzle piece turned just the right way. "That was how I died, wasn't it? In the other past?"
Several queries sounded throughout the truck, but I only focused on Logan. He wrestled with himself for a moment, before conceding with a single nod. "Mags wasn't here, didn't push you out of the way. And Charles, Lotta, and Hank were the only survivors, besides Mystique."
I gaped at him. Out of the fifty or so people in our group, originally only four of them had survived. But because Erik had come with, pushing me out of the way, I managed to save them all. Erik had saved us all.
AN: And here's the next chapter! We got some action, and some saving, and some knowing of the future. And some feels for Bianca :) Thanks for reading, and a big thanks to brigid1318 for her lovely review. They always make my day!
