Oh wow. It's been such a long time since I've posted a story! But I'm back, my lovelies! The other day I received a review the other day on one of my stories from last year, Sibuna Plus One, from CimFan:

"That was awesome! Your writing is really good and everyone was in character. I need more stories by you(;"

So, I want to thank you, CimFan for leaving this lovely review. It made me realize just how many people on this website enjoy my writing, and more importantly, just how much I love writing for all of you and this fandom! Thanks to this little trigger, I'm going to do my best to return to the FanFiction scene, for now I'll stick with House of Anubis because that's what I'm watching at the moment. I only have stories on my account for Season Two at the moment, but that will soon change beginning with this one!

This story came to me the other day from a random post on Tumblr; it said something about how the person wanted KT and Fabian to talk and for Fabian to talk to her about Nina. So I was struck with inspiration and wrote it; the idea doesn't therefore entirely belong to me. I'm not going to lie, writing this almost made me cry. I really hope that all of you like it just as much as I did and that you'll continue to stick with me as I slowly, but surely, return to this wonderful website!

Without further ado, I present: Resurfaced Despondency!

Distance means nothing when someone is worth everything

~Anonymous

A snore echoed through the crypt. Even in such an enclosed building, it was obvious that it was the middle of the night and that the outside sky was dark. At the moment, Fabian was the only one awake. Eddie was supposed to be on guard-duty, but Fabian had recently woken up to find Eddie sound asleep beside him. He had a feeling that Eddie's snoring had something to do with his waking up.

However, Fabian couldn't blame him; Eddie had every right to be tired.

The crypt had grown rather cold at such a late hour, and Fabian drew his knees to his chest as an attempt to warm himself up even in the slightest. He pulled his jacket closer to his body, but unfortunately found no success doing so. The brunette decided that a bit of movement was more likely to restore his body heat than curling up in a ball, so he stood up, careful not to disturb Eddie or KT, and began to silently pace the confined chamber.

After around five minutes, Fabian reached into his pocket and drew his cell phone in order to check the time. He sighed quietly as it read a quarter after two. He had already been awake for around twenty minutes now, and it was KT's turn to keep watch next, but he didn't have the heart to wake her. She almost looked more tired and worn out than Eddie.

Just as he went to return his phone to his pocket to return to his pacing and exploring the crypt, Fabian's eyes caught sight of his wallpaper and his breath hitched in his throat.

It was a picture of him and Nina after they had solved the mystery with the Mask of Anubis last year. A pang of sadness overcame the boy as he stared at the picture; he knew that he ought to change it to something else in order to preserve both his happiness and sanity, but whenever he went to do so, Fabian simply couldn't find it in himself to make the switch.

He let out a somewhat frustrated sigh and brought his thumb to Nina's face in the picture. As soon as he did so, the phone powered off and Fabian felt a wave of depression. He then slipped the device into his pocket once again. He looked up at the night sky through the skylight and inhaled. "Oh, Nina…we wouldn't be in this mess if you were still here…" he whispered to himself.

Fabian constantly felt like a fool for letting Nina slip through his fingers like that. She was the love of his life and he hardly made any effort to find and remain in contact with her after this year's mystery began. Sibuna wasn't the same without her despite the fact that Eddie was a perfectly effective leader; it never would be the same unless Nina returned to where she belonged. And where Nina belonged was at Anubis House.

More specifically, Nina belonged wherever Fabian was. Just as they had finally gotten the happy ending that they deserved at the end of the last term, she couldn't return to England. For all Fabian knew, she had found a new American boyfriend and was with him at that very moment. She had said in her letter that they were broken up, after all, and that he should move on. Through all of his thoughts, Fabian didn't notice that he was beginning to be a little heavier on his feet and louder in all aspects of his mannerisms.

"Fabian?"

The dark haired boy spun around to see KT looking at him curiously. He mentally cursed himself for allowing himself to grow loud enough to wake her in the first place. "Sorry, KT…" Fabian trailed off as he walked in her direction.

KT decided to stand up as well and shrugged Eddie's jacket off of her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground in the process. "Hey, it's alright," she said with a smile. When Fabian barley smiled back, she knew that something was up. "What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," Fabian did his best to shake off KT's concerns. "I've just been doing some thinking, that's all."

They fell into a few moments of a heavy silence. Both KT and Fabian were waiting for the other to say anything to continue their conversation. They simply stood beside the tomb as Fabian avoided KT's stare and averted his eyes to anywhere else in the crypt.

"I heard you say Nina's name, Fabian."

Fabian couldn't help the fact that his eyes widened slightly. Certainly he hadn't meant for KT to hear him talking to himself about Nina. And he definitely did not expect that within a few minutes he would be explaining the entirety of his love life with Nina Martin to KT. "Oh…you did…"

KT nodded awkwardly. "I did."

Silence overcame the duo once again and just like the previous time, KT broke it. "You know, before Amber left, she used to tell me about the two of you. She would tell me how you were crazy in love. Amber could ramble on for hours about how 'Fabina' was her 'oh-tee-pee' or something like that."

Fabian couldn't help but chuckle slightly; that sounded like something that Amber would say. "Well, Amber's right there. We were crazy in love…she was my first love…" His voice choked slightly as he trailed off.

"You still love her, don't you, Fabian?" KT asked gently.

He nodded his head slightly. "Your first love isn't something that you can get over easily, KT. I miss Nina dearly and there's not a day that passes by that I don't think of her. This separation—the breakup all together—it's really killing me."

Her eyes softened and KT placed a hand on Fabian's upper arm. "You don't have to talk about Nina if you don't want to. I understand that it's a touchy subject for you."

"No," Fabian said suddenly. "I mean, yes, it is a bit of a sensitive subject for me, but I think talking about her could possibly help me."

"Well I'm all ears." KT smiled encouragingly.

He licked his lips nervously and inhaled. "Nina was…I really don't even know where to begin."

"Why don't you start with when you first met?" KT offered.

"Right…when we first met…" Fabian said as he attempted to recall his memories. "Around two years ago, a girl named Nina Martin arrived at Anubis House the very same day that Joy mysteriously went missing. She had a bit of a rough time at first, being alone in a foreign country. Nina only lives with her Gran—when she was younger her parents died in a car accident. She got the usual Patricia welcoming committee that you received…those two didn't exactly get off on the right foot. Between Patricia nearly terrorizing her and being homesick, she almost left. But Nina Martin is certainly no quitter, so she stuck around.

"It was love at first sight for me; I can't exactly speak for Nina there but I think the feeling was mutual. I learned soon enough that not only was Nina beautiful, but she was an intelligent and wonderful person as well. I found myself constantly around her and befriending her in hopes that I would one day be able to tell her how I felt about her." Fabian explained.

KT listened to him intently. "Could you explain how Sibuna started?"

"Oh, definitely," Fabian responded. "Around Nina's first day or so, an old woman from a nursing home nearby stopped her, telling Nina that she was the Chosen One or something. Of course, Nina dismissed her as a confused old woman, but that wasn't the case at all. The woman was Frobisher's daughter, Sarah Frobisher-Smythe and she gave Nina the locket. I was the only person Nina really felt comfortable around at that moment, so somehow the two of us found ourselves involved in the mystery, snooping around the house after curfew and into the attic and cellar. Amber found us one day, got us out of a sticky situation with Victor, and suddenly Sibuna was formed."

"And the first mystery had to do with the Cup of Ankh if I remember correctly, right?" KT asked.

Fabian nodded. "Correct. Clue after clue led to us finding all seven of the pieces of the Cup. Throughout the term Patricia and Alfie joined our little gang and together we were able to reassemble the cup, retrieve Joy from the Secret Society, defeat Rufus Zeno temporarily, and save the day. Nina and I started dating a bit before prom that year when I finally found the courage to ask her to be my date. We would video chat and call each other over the summer almost every day until our next year at Anubis house started."

The boy took a pause in telling his story. He hadn't realized until then just how much he and the rest of Sibuna had been through and how the mysteries only worsened from then. Fabian almost laughed; their first year seemed like a piece of cake as he retold their tale. Of course, that was only the beginning of what was about to intensify and escalate greatly. "And your second year together?" KT prompted.

Fabian chuckled. "The second year is where everything gets difficult. Joy was back, which made everyone happy, including me. Unfortunately she and Nina formed a bitter rivalry over my affections; I thought it was very obvious that Nina was the only girl for me but apparently I was very wrong. I may have kissed Joy at one point, but that was an accident and it's beside the point. This year's mystery hardly had any time to start before her little conflict with Joy got the best of us. Nina suggested we break up and that we were better as best friends instead. We said it was mutual…but obviously it wasn't. It was heartbreaking for us both and although we constantly told the others that everything was fine, it was easy to see that neither of us was okay with the breakup. But we continued on with the mystery anyway. It was all about the tunnels, and if you ask me, this mystery was the most malignant out of the bunch. We were running on a time limit to find the Mask of Anubis had had to go through a number of difficult trials. Us Sibunas were even cursed at one point—Alfie aged backwards into a kid and Amber did the complete opposite. We were pawns in Senkhara's hands. Our lives were on the line every day.

"It was this year that I realized just how brave Nina is. How brave and responsible she is. Everything was on her as the Chosen One. Patricia couldn't speak, Amber was getting older, Alfie was getting younger, and I lost my memories—I could hardly remember who Nina was…all I knew was that I trusted her with my life. Nina had the worst curse of all, though, and that curse was watching her closest friends suffering when there was seemingly nothing she could do to save us but to complete a near impossible task. I don't think I'll ever meet anyone with as much courage as Nina Martin. I've never respected and admired anyone so much. All I've got is intelligence, but that's not enough… Nina had intelligence, but more importantly she had compassion amongst her many other great qualities…" His voice cracked slightly as he felt his eyes begin to water. "I almost lost her then. We almost lost Nina to the afterlife, but everything was okay in the end…"

KT moved her hand to Fabian's shoulder. "Hey, Fabian, it's all right," she did her best to speak in somewhat of a soothing voice, "we can stop talking about Nina now if that's what you want to—"

"No!" Fabian snapped suddenly, interrupting KT and startling her slightly. "Ah, I'm sorry KT, it's just—no. No, I won't quit. Nina wouldn't quit and neither will I." KT smiled softly as if she was indicating for Fabian to continue. "The Mask of Anubis…Senkhara…right. At the end of the year, Nina and I got back together. Not only was she the Chosen One, but she was my Chosen One as well. After that, I thought that everything was perfect and that we would never break up again. And then summer came. I was supposed to visit Nina in America, but the plane ticket there is expensive—frankly, I don't have the money. So we settled for video chatting. For the first half of the summer everything was great. Our talks became scarce, though. I assume it was because she was meeting up with Eddie and learning more about the Osirian and the Paragon and how they could never be together. She must have realized then that she had to break up with me and began to distance herself. I distracted myself from missing Nina by studying like the nerd I am and before I knew it, it was time to return to school and Anubis House."

"But Nina wasn't there…" KT interjected.

"Nina wasn't there…" Fabian echoed her statement. "She couldn't be here…as much as I want her to be back, she and Eddie can't be in the same place. It would be awful of me to suggest him leaving just because I miss my girlfriend—best friend, I mean."

She shook her head. "Fabian, you have every right to miss Nina."

Fabian let out a short, bitter laugh. "But missing Nina won't bring her back."

"You could try long distance?" KT suggested.

"We're broken up. Nina doesn't want that. I don't want that. It's not the same as actually being together. My heart is broken and there's absolutely nothing that I can do to fix it! I love Nina, and I just let her slip away just like that! You just don't know what it's like to love someone as much as I loved Nina and to never be able to see them again, KT!"

KT's once sympathetic face fell instantly and Fabian felt his stomach drop. Instantly he felt like an imbecile. "I'm so sorry, KT. I don't know what came over me; I know your grandfather passed away. That was incredibly rude and insensitive of me. Please, I—"

"Fabian, you're rambling." KT interrupted and Fabian instantly stopped talking. "There are different kinds of love, Fabian. My love for my grandpa is different than your love for Nina. It's all right—you just caught me by surprise. You can continue now."

He liked his lips anxiously. "R—right…I don't know if there's more to say. I've gotten a lot off of my chest…thanks for being willing to listen to me, KT. You're a great friend. I don't blame you if you hardly think of me as a man after me talking about my feelings for a good half hour."

KT let out a small laugh. "Any boy has just as much as a right to talk about his feelings than any girl." She said which caused a smile to tug on the corners of Fabian's lips. "If you'd listen to me for a minute, I might be able to offer you some advice."

He raised his eyebrows and said nothing. KT took that as a sign to proceed speaking. "It's nothing much, but don't give up, Fabian. My grandpa always told me to never give up, and I think it's what you need to hear right now. From what you've told me and from what I've heard from everyone else, you two had great chemistry. Falling in love with your best friend isn't always common, but it's definitely a wonderful thing. Never stop thinking about her Fabian. Thinking of Nina will get you through this mystery and the rest of this year. Nina is your Chosen One like you said—you can't let that go. She's a priceless treasure to you. You said it yourself, Fabian. 'Nina wouldn't quit and neither will I.' And I'm sure she hasn't given up on you, Fabian, not after all of the quests and mysteries that you've been through together."

Fabian didn't know what happened, but it was something that KT said. Perhaps it was words like 'treasure' and 'quest' that reminded him of that silly haiku he wrote for Nina last year, but he couldn't stop the tears from surfacing and rolling down his cheeks. "Oh, Fabian…" KT said softly. Before Fabian knew it, the girl had wrapped her arms around him and his forehead was pressed to her shoulder.

"I just miss her so much, KT…" Fabian said softly. He hated showing weakness like this, especially when he needed to remain strong, but Fabian could tell that his voice was extremely powerless and pathetic at the moment.

"I know, Fabian, I know you do."

So there you have it! My return to FF in a somewhat angsty and depressing, yet heartfelt one shot! I absolutely loved writing it and I'm actually quite proud of the way it turned out. I hope to post a lot more in the future and I hope that you leave a review saying what you thought of it! It can be as brief as you'd like, or it could contain criticism. Honestly, either one works for me. I'm really not picky. I'd just love to hear what you guys thought of this story.

Speaking of me writing more in the future, I hope to publish biweekly at most. It all depends on what I can fit in within my extremely busy school schedule. I'm open for requests (you can see what I ship on my profile). If you'd like to contact me, then you can do so by inboxing me here, or (preferably) on Tumblr. My url is bondsareparticularlygoodfinders so you can find me there!

Thank you so much for reading, I really hope you enjoyed this oneshot, and once again, I hope you leave a review!

~Gray C: