Devin drew herself a bath, waiting for the water to heat up before adding the bubbles and one of the bath bombs that had been left on the side. Jubilee had gone through a phase and got annoyed about cleaning up the bath after each wash so she gave them out to some of the other mutants, Devin included.

She had been cleaning up all the clothes on her floor and put them into a washing basket before stacking the trays of food, planning to bring them all down later to wash and to do some laundry. Maybe when everyone else was asleep or busy in the common room or training, at least then she wouldn't have to talk to them or see their faces.

She sat and watched as the bath bomb hissed and changed the water to a deep red, her hand swishing the water about to play with the—now red—bubbles. Devin made sure to lock her room door before getting out of her old clothes and stepping into the boiling hot water, relaxing until only her head and the tops of her knees were out of the water.

Devin stared at the wall ahead of her. It had been almost a week and a half since she came back.

A week and a half of ignoring the ones she cared about the most.

A week and a half of not eating, barely sleeping, crying herself to sleep.

A week and a half of just staring at his lifeless body on the table underneath the once crisp white sheet that was now stained in left over blood.

It had been a week and a half of not talking to Alex.

The one person she needed the most. But she pushed him away before she left for the mission, and she didn't bother to make an effort to talk to him or see how he was. Devin ran from him for crying-out-loud. She knew it probably hurt him as well, but she desperately needed him to be happy without her.

Because she was now just a shell of the person she once used to be.

Devin closed her eyes and focused her mind on the sound of the bubbles as they popped quietly. But that was a bad idea. As the haunting images of that one moment fizzled back into her mind. But this time she couldn't force herself to wake up or look away, it was playing on repeat. Over and over again.

The sun was beaming down on the warm sand, her skin was hot to the touch. Devin walked through the small village markets. The wooden stalls with coloured tapestries and clothes hung around with small fruit stalls sounding them. She couldn't help but take in how alive everything felt.

People were weaving in and out of one another, people were holding money and talking far too quickly for her to understand—not that she could anyway. Devin quickly took a swig of water before adjusting the strap of the smaller bag she brought as she continued walking.

She knew Charles was probably watching somehow, he was always one to worry about everyone, mutant or not, he always cared.

Some of the buildings were sand coloured, close together with dust flying around the air, which would have been hard to breathe in if she didn't have the ability to heal, her body was adjusting to the surroundings already.

She knew her skin wouldn't burn, but she put sun cream on anyway, it was better safe than sorry. Devin quickly walked down one of the side alley-ways before making her way towards one of the larger abandoned buildings that had been destroyed partly. The rubble was quite hard to get over, but it was the last seen destination of the mutant she was meant to be looking for.

The building inside was a lot cooler, although there was still rubble and dust all around and parts of the wall collapsed to the outside. Devin made her way in deeper, she wasn't exactly sure where in the building the mutant was going to be so she made quick work of it before finding him.

His back was to her as she walked in, he was crouched down in front of one of the walls. Devin silently thanked whoever was watching over them that she found him before it got very dark. She walked into the room more, it was somewhere downstairs on the main ground floor, broken walls and plumbing were everywhere.

"Hey," she spoke softly, the boy jumped and held a small knife out at her. Devin immediately raised her hands, quickly dropping the bag to the ground. "I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to bring you back to Professor Charles Xavier. He wants to help you."

"I don't need help," he told her before lowering the knife. "I'm fine on my own."

"He just wants to talk to you, he won't make you stay, he just wants to talk." Devin saw him glance to one of the doors. "Don't run, because I swear I will knock you on your ass if you even think about it."

"What was that about you not being here to hurt me?" He laughed lightly before putting the knife away completely.

"Are you going to come with me? Or am I going to have to drag you?" She joked as he stood up and stepped closer to her.

"I'll go with-" He paused, his face growing with fear.

"What's wrong?"

"We need to go. Now."

"Why?"

"Because it's not safe."

"What do you mean? This place is empty."

"Someone must have followed you."

"Oh, God," she groaned before he pulled her behind the rubble. Devin made sure to snatch her bag up from the ground.

"I will be fine, but you need to go. Please don't argue. You have to leave right now, you aren't safe here," he told her but she shook her head.

"Then neither are you."

"Please, I don't want you to get hurt."

"You think I want you to be hurt? I'm staying. We can find another way out. I'm like twenty percent sure this plan will work." The boy looked at Devin sceptically. "The other eighty percent means we could die horribly and violently, but honestly, it's a really solid plan." He knew she didn't mean it like that.

Death was not an option.

Devin started to hear heavy footsteps, almost in unison as they stormed through the building. She cursed herself for not being more careful. She watched as the boy stood up and began to run towards one of the broken walls creating an exit. Devin tried to grab him back, but he was quickly out of reach.

"Over there!" She heard a man shout. Devin stood up quickly to try and get to the boy but all she could do was watch in slow motion as the bullets from the guns travelled towards the boy, who couldn't have been much older than Scott, and cut through his skin. His deafening scream echoed throughout the building, sending a chill through your bones.

"No!" She screamed as he dropped to the ground. She ran over to him and tried to catch him before he fell, but her legs were stiff, she skidded to a halt and looked at the men who stared back at her before retreating. She didn't understand why they shot at him and not her, or why they shot at all.

Devin dropped to her knees and held onto his right hand with her own, trying to absorb his pain and heal his wounds. He started to cough up blood. Devin didn't know what to do. She rolled him on his side, whispering that it was going to be okay, that she was going to help him.

"I should have gotten to you faster, I'm so sorry," she choked out as tears rolled down her cheek and onto his shirt. "I should have checked, I should have been more careful. This is all my fault, but I promise I'm going to help you. I should have done something, this should have been me-"

"Stop talking about the past," he wheezed out. "I could be dead in a matter of minutes, or hours...Make me up a future."

"What?"

"I don't want to live in the past, make me a future, something I can enjoy and look forward to in my new life."

"You're not going to die," she told him. But she wasn't sure if that was true. Devin could tell that his pain was leaving him as his body eased up, but his wounds weren't healing, they weren't getting better like they should have been.

"Please."

"Why isn't this working?" She screamed in frustration as she began to cry harder. Holding onto his hand tighter.

"Maybe it's not meant to, maybe I'm meant to die," he told her softly.

"You're dying and you're trying to comfort me? That hardly seems right," she managed to get out.

"That's because I'm not the one who fears death or the beyond."

"You're not going to die."

"You're not good at lying," he replied. He moved his head to look at her, his dark skin caked in blood, his teeth stained red. "I'm not angry with you, you couldn't predict the future, you didn't know this would happen." More blood came out of his mouth.

"I should have been on guard." Devin shook her head, looking at his shirt staining red, she could almost see the silver of the bullets.

"At least one good thing came out of this..."

"How can you find one good thing from this?"

"I was going to die sooner or later. I'm just glad I wasn't alone, I have you."

Devin watched as his chest stopped moving, his body let out one final breath before his eyes became dull and lifeless. She choked out a cry as she lifted his body to her chest, moving her legs out in front of her as she cradled his body closer to her body.

She couldn't save his life, and she felt all the pain he felt.

She stared at his body for a long time, her legs going numb just before Erik showed up.

So, that was how she ended up locked away from anyone that could potentially be harmed, with Devin unable to save them. Devin felt even more useless than before, she could barely breathe.