Summary: It's the last day before the residents of Anubis House have to leave and go their separate ways. But, for now, they'll just enjoy this last day.
Disclaimer: I do not own House of Anubis nor do I pretend I do. Those rights go to the writers and creators of this show.
Nina knew it was a crummy time to come home, but she didn't care. She had to see them all together at least one more time. So, that's how she found herself standing in front of Anubis House on the last day her friends would all be together. Amber had called her a few days earlier telling her that she was going to say goodbye to her friends and begging Nina to come back with her as well. She reminded Amber why she couldn't and that seemed that. Until she felt it. Eddie's death and the loss of his powers as well as his resuscitation. He was alive, but the Osirion was no longer apart of him. She could come home.
Pulling out her phone, she went to the side of the house to stay out of the way in case any of her friends came outside to see she was here and ruin the surprise, and called Amber. "Hello?" she heard.
"I'm here," Nina answered, grinning when she heard Amber squeal on the other end.
"Then what are you waiting for? Come in!" Amber demanded before hanging up the phone.
Nina laughed as she picked up her suitcase and walked up the walkway, opening the wooden door and entering the house. She felt her body relax, not knowing it had tensed between the airport and the House, and breathed in deeply. Now she felt almost complete. All she needed was her friends.
"Oh my gosh! I can't believe you're actually here!" Amber squealed, running down the stairs as quickly as she could in her pink peep toe wedges.
Nina laughed as Amber attacked her in a tight hug and smiled. Amber hadn't changed at all. She was wearing a knee length beige ruffled skirt and a bright pink baby doll top that covered the brown belt around her waist with silver bangles and small chandelier earrings with a small ruby at the top of each. Her hair was hanging around her shoulders gently curled and she wore pink lip gloss, light brown eyeshadow that looked barely there, blush, and mascara and eyeliner.
"It's good to see you too, Ambs," Nina said, hugging her tightly.
Amber pulled back, looking over Nina's outfit. She wore jeans that hugged her curves, a brown quarter sleeve shirt with a black belt around the middle, and her hair pulled back in a ponytail with black ballet flats and no make-up. "I see your wardrobe has gotten at least a little better since I last saw you."
Nina laughed again, rolling her eyes, "Well, with you as my best friend it was inevitable, wasn't it?" she teased. Amber smiled and linked her arm through Nina's, dragging her upstairs. "Where is everyone? I would have thought I'd be spotted by now since you squealed loud enough to wake the dead," she teased.
Amber shook her head, "They went out to the mall for a little. I wanted to wait here for you," she explained, "They should be here in a bit though."
Nina nodded as they headed up to the room Amber was sharing with KT and Patricia, two cots already set up in the mostly packed room, and set her things on the empty cot, Amber's covered in pink bedding and fluffy pillows.
Twenty minutes later, Amber and Nina heard commotion from downstairs and smiled. Their friends were home. Amber quickly stood up and grabbed Nina's hand, dragging her downstairs to where everyone was standing in the main hall talking about their trip into town.
Amber cleared her throat and all the heads turned up to see Amber standing there, Nina hiding some way away. "Guess who showed up today," Amber said, grinning from ear to ear.
Nina walked over to stand next to Amber and linked her arm through hers, "Is it too late to say happy graduation?" she asked.
Nina tried not to laugh when her friend's eyes widened and their jaws dropped. "What? You look like you've seen a ghost," she teased, "Is no one happy to see me?"
Amber once again dragged her down the stairs and the moment her feet stepped on the ground floor, she was attacked in a hug by her friends, all saying how happy they were to see her again and how much better the day had gotten.
"But I thought you couldn't be here because of the Osirion and Chosen One business," Mara offered.
"Well, when the Osirion died in Eddie, that allowed me…the freedom to come home," she explained, looking around at the known Sibuna members from what Amber had already told her, and they just smiled and nodded before she turned to Eddie, "Are you alright?" she asked.
Eddie nodded, hugging her again, "I'm fine, Nina," he promised.
Nina nodded before they all went into the living room, Nina asking what else had happened this year and her friends asking what had happened with her. They spent the whole night talking, no one mentioning that this was basically their last night all together. It was like the goodbyes that were now inevitable were a crushing weight on all of their hearts, threatening to squeeze the life out of them and ruin three years worth of memories. Sure, they would promise that they would all keep in touch, but would they really? Soon, school work would get too much so they'd have to put off that weekly phone call or email or Skype chat and then the other would forget the next week or have some other obligation and the pattern would continue on until they forgot to keep in touch at all.
It pretty much scared them all.
So, that night, they all sat together, getting sleeping bags from the hall closet that Trudy had conveniently had after a camp out one year when Patricia, Joy, Jerome, Alfie, and Mick were younger, in a circle, none sleeping, and continued talking.
But, when morning light came and the taxis started to arrive, they all asked one last favor from Trudy. Nina gave the house mother her camera as the residents of Anubis House stood together, their arms wrapped around each other with tears in their eyes as Trudy took one last picture, wiping away her own tears.
As each taxi drove up, there was a furry of hugs, promises to keep in touch and visit, and repeats of how much they'd miss each other. Until it was finally just Patricia, Nina, Amber, Fabian, and Alfie.
They turned to look at the house that had kept so many secrets that they had uncovered, and more to be learned from the next generation, and the place that had brought them all together, even when some had been close before Nina had gotten there. It made their hearts swell to think of the relationships they forged, the people they grew to care about even more then they had before, and the friendships that would never die. "We're not letting each other go, alright?" Patricia ordered, her arms around Amber and Fabian.
"Never," they all swore, turning to each other with tears in their eyes as they raised their right hand over their eye, muttering one last 'Sibuna' before Nina's ride came.
Looking back at her four best friends as her car drove away, she felt the tears finally escape as she waved back before turning to face the front and letting the tears fall. Nothing would be the same without them.