Hey Guys,

IfWritersCouldSpeak here with a new story for Hugz Kissez's Fabina Contest.

This is Prompt 3 when I have to use certain words in this piece. I dislike it when people bold the words in the story, so I am going to leave them there. I apologize Hugz Kissez but that is the one thing I changed.

I also need to put in a little note. Nina will have a little breakdown, not as severe as a panic attack I think, but just in case. If this may hurt you or affect you, I don't mean to, so I am giving you a warning. If this affects you, please don't read. I appreciate the fact you love my writing but, I don't want you to get hurt no matter who you are.

I hope you enjoy and please be gentle!

~IfWritersCouldSpeak~

The Anubis Gala is tonight!" Eric Sweet announced over the intercom. "Please attend and dress formally! There will be Anubis alumni there, to cherish the old and new memories of this bestowed event!"

Nina Martin was going to kill Ana Karlaish.

Her coworker and roommate had gone through her mail, and accepted an invitation for Nina to be a special alumni for the Anubis Gala, in London, at Nina's old boarding school. Nina didn't know what was happening until her friend packed her bags, printed out her ticket, and dropped her off at the airport.

Nina had become a Bestselling Author after her Anubis years, once she submitted her story named, A Sunset's Secrets. It was about a girl, who had met a boy, and they had run away together, to escape their parents. Every evening they spent together in the woods, on a nearby island, they had watched the sunset, speaking to each other, falling deeper in love. The boy one day left, and never returned. The girl was broken hearted, but was found by the police. Her parents had died before she arrived at the station, suicide, since they believed their daughter was dead. The girl realized what she had done. She turned eighteen when she ran away, so she was forced to leave alone, learning that she should never trust love.

Nina refused to return to that school, but found herself in a golden gown, in a taxi, on her way back there.

There is no guarantee they will be there, she reminded herself. They probably rejected the offer like I was going to.

When the taxi man dropped her off and drove away, she wanted to run beside him. The Victorian house seemed to rumble as soon as her feet hit the ground. It looked older, like it had grown, just like her.

She started, "Welcome back to-"

"-Creepy towers," a voice finished behind her.

Nina turned around and saw Patricia Williamson-Sweet, the great entrepreneur and her husband, Edison Miller-Sweet, the famous actor and musician.

All hopes about her housemates' absence from the event faded as soon as she laid eyes on them. She hugged them both, tightly, as she began to cry.

"Hey," Eddie whispered, as she hugged him, "I don't remember you as the crying type."

She laughed into his jacket, before pulling away.

"Nina?" a voice called.

"Joy!" Nina yelled. Joy Mercer stood beside Jerome Clarke; her arms open for her friend's warm hugs. Nina did not complain as she wrapped her arms around a gorgeous Joy, wearing a fancy, designer dress.

"Wow!" Nina gasped. Jerome put on a fake stern face, and said, "Careful, that's my girlfriend you're talking about."

"Girlfriend?" Nina asked bewildered.

Joy blushed and Jerome nodded triumphantly.

"Well," Nina lightly laughed. "Congrats. Really."

Joy glowed in the moonlight. "Thanks, Nina. That means a lot."

Alfred Lewis stepped behind his long-lost friend, "Hey, don't forget the jokester."

Nina whirled around, and hugged him. "Where's Amber?"

Alfie's face fell. "She's in New York, fashion school, she left midterm-" Nina's smile disappeared at the next part, "-Victor and the other teachers."

"How is she?" she stumbled.

"I'm fine," a voice responded across the road, "nice to know you all still remember me."

"Amber!" Joy screamed.

Alfie reached her first. He hugged her tightly, never letting go, not even when she tried, but she wasn't really trying very hard.

Amber pulled away eventually, to show Alfie something. Everyone crowded around her, as she pulled two rings off her right hand.

In the crevice of her middle and ring fingers, was a tattoo that read:

SibunAlfie.

Alfie began to cry, and lifted up that hand and kissed it, right where the ink was. Amber shed tears too, and every girl was crying hard, especially Nina, who loved Amfie's relationship as much as her's and F-

Don't say the name.

As much as her's and You-Know-Who's. (1)

Amber hugged everyone, and held onto Nina as long as she could.

"I knew you'd come back," Amber whispered, to her SFUS. (2)

"To tell you the truth, I wasn't planning on it. But I'm here," Nina stated. "Let's go have some fun."

"Wait what about-"

Joy kicked Jerome, and everyone besides Nina and Amber, shared worried glances.

"What?" Nina asked.

"Nina?" a small sound cried.

Nina found herself staring at her ex-boyfriend, Fabian Rutter, and Mara Jaffary.

Holding hands.

Nina gasped, and held in the tears that were ready to drip from her eyes.

Amber was ready to burst into tears as well. There was no couple more perfect for each other than Nina and Fabian.

But he had moved on.

Like Nina requested.

Yet she was ready to run away and hide, and cry, hoping he would chase after her and wrap his arms around her and whisper that everything would be ok.

"Mara," Nina called back. "Great to see you."

"You too," the brunette responded.

"Fabian," she acknowledged.

"Nina," he whispered.

"Long time," Nina said.

"Yeah," he agreed.

"Well," Eddie interrupted, "Sorry to break up this amazing little reunion, but we should get in there, you know?"

"Yeah, let's go," Joy declared.

Everyone trudged in, but Nina stayed behind.

"Nina, are you coming?" Patricia yelled at her friend.

Nina saw Mara go in, and Fabian turning around to see her.

"You guys go, I'll… I'll be right back," she answered.

Amber looked at her SFUS suspiciously, but she went in.

Nina broke into a run.

The woods were so close, so Nina ran straight into them and never looked back. She stopped at the Sibuna Tree, with the words Nina + Fabian craved in surrounded by a heart.

"Gah!" she screamed. She took another piece of wood, and began to scrape off the letters.

"Don't."

She didn't need to turn around. Nina Martin could recognize his voice a mile away.

"Don't tell me what to do," she commanded, and returned to scraping off the letters.

He stepped a few feet closer, she could tell. "Nina-"

The Bestselling Author screamed and broke out into tears. The way he said her name had shook her so hard. She couldn't feel anything besides pain. Fabian was beside her, and he took her hands. His ex-girlfriend fell to the ground and brought him down with her. She couldn't breathe, and didn't seem to remember him wearing an orange jumpsuit and holding a painting swirling with colors.

"Nina?" he said.

She shook her head, and took in deep breaths, like the doctors told her when she was eight.

"One…two… three…." she began. But, she couldn't continue. "T-Three…. Three…." She began to scream the number and watched Fabian's face turn into a terrified expression. Is he scared of me? She thought.

She let go of his hands, and wrapped them around herself, but she couldn't keep counting. Fabian grabbed her hands again, and rubbed little circles on her knuckles.

"Four..." he whispered. "Five…."

"Six…" Nina continued. "Seven…. Eight…."

"Nine…" they said in unison.

"Ten," she finished. Her breathing was back to normal, the hallucinations gone, and all she could see were Fabian's eyes.

They both took deep breaths, before Nina realized that she had stopped crying too. But, Fabian had started.

"Hey," she said, as she wiped his tears away. "I'm ok."

At that point, he grabbed her, and hugged her as tight as Alfie hugged Amber. "I'm sorry," was all he said and he repeated it.

"Don't be. It's not your fault," she whispered to him.

After five minutes, Fabian had stopped crying, and the reality of had happened sunk in for Nina.

"Do you want to talk about it?" Fabian asked gently.

Nina was ready to shake her head no, but she started talking before she could perform the action. "For starters, I haven't had one of this… breakdowns since I was a kid, so don't judge."

"Nina-"

She ignored him and started, "I used to walk by my Mom and Dad's graves everyday. I never went in. I was there at the funeral, but when it was over and my Gran shut the gates, I never pushed them open again."

Fabian could see why she was an author. She described everything in so much detail and beauty. It was one of the many reasons he had fallen for her.

"My Gran was ill six months before the beginning of junior year." She watched his face fall as she mentioned that year. "Cancer. She never even told me. I found out one day when I was getting an aspirin for her, I saw the prescriptions. I saw the bills, pretty well hidden.

"I worked hard, to pay off the debt, but the bills kept coming. The doctors said it would only be a little while longer, but I begged her to stay with me, even at the last minute. She told me she wasn't as strong as I was. I told her she raised me into this strong person. And that if she wasn't stronger than me, nobody was. She told me that she didn't make me strong. That I was never strong before I came here. She asked me who taught me to be strong." Nina gulped, and Fabian was waiting for the answer he knew was coming. "And I said your name. 'It was Fabian,' I said, 'He made me strong.'

"She told me to come back here, before she died, five years ago. That was the last time I ever heard anyone speak to me with love in their voice.

"Fabian, you gave me enough love for both of my parents. I left you, I know that, but, when you just said my name, now, I heard that care and passion in your voice that you once gave me. I just broke because, I haven't been loved the way you loved me in a long time, or the way my family once did." Nina should've stopped there, but she kept going. And the tears began to blur her vision.

"I loved the way you used to make music with me, how we'd goof around. I loved it even more when you sang to me, playing your guitar; so nervous you would fumble with your fingers. I loved how you would set up romantic dates in the garden, and make me apple pie, because you knew it was my favorite. How you'd pull me out into the rain, and… and we'd dance like no one was watching. How you would make me feel safe when I scared all those times. I loved everything about you. And I still do." She took a deep breath. "But I won't stop you. I can see that you love Mara as much as you used to love me. I can't let you give that up. I'll find someone Fabian, just go after her."

"Nina-"

"I know that you probably sing with her, and write her songs, and make up dates and make her favorite foods. And that you dance with her and make her feel safe, and make her feel special." She cried, "Like how you made me feel."

"Nina-"

"God, I was such an idiot! I thought you thought I was special, so I never acted like I should have. I should have given you more love and more memories to hold onto. I should've flown out here myself and told you everything. I never loved you enough, did I?"

Fabian couldn't answer, because she wouldn't stop. "I'm sure she makes you happy Fabian. And if you're happy, then I am happy."

"Nina, just stop for a minute," Fabian requested. "I like Mara. She's sweet, and smart, and funny, and pretty, but I love you. I just thought that you wouldn't come back, so I did it because I thought I could at least fulfill your final wish. We got close and I started to like her so, yeah, I asked her out, and we've been going out for a while, we were serious at times, but not as serious as you and I. Not like, 'I love you' kind of serious. We never moved in with each other or anything. We just worked on our common interests and we kept going. I will always love you Nina. I don't want you to go away. I don't want to hold onto memories. I want to hold onto you." He scooted closer, "I love you."

Nina was dying to press her lips against his, but she knew it wasn't right. He wasn't thinking like her, already getting closer….

"Stop," she said, their faces inches away. "I can't do this, unless I know you are fully available. I don't want you to turn into the heartbreaker I became."

Fabian sighed, and he stood up, extending a hand to her. She accepted it, and felt the sparks she had been dying to feel for six years.

"Come on," he said.

They made it back to the party. Mara was standing outside, in the courtyard, looking around.

"Hey," she called, to Fabian and Nina. "I've been looking for you- hey have you guys been crying?" she acknowledged their puffy eyes and tear-stained faces.

"I'm going inside," Nina stated. She let go of Fabian's hand and headed straight for the bathroom inside, ignoring the calls of her friends.

Is this right? She asked herself. I am the reason why Mara's heart will be broken. I am going to go back to New York again, so we'll date for two minutes, and next thing we both know, I'm on a flight, heading back to a country where an ocean separates us. This won't work.

She finally walked out of the bathroom, to be met with a surprise. Mara wrapped her arms around Nina, and whispered, "Thank God, you came back," she pulled away, "I never made him that happy in the six months we've been dating."

"You're not mad?" Nina asked.

"I'm a little upset, but it's ok. I mean, you two are meant for each other. I'll find my prince," she reassured both herself and Nina. "Besides, we started dating over pi, I mean, how much nerdier can a relationship get?"

Nina giggled and Mara laughed along. Mara shooed Nina outside, where Fabian seemed to be surrounded by a glowing beam from the moonlight.

"Fabian?" she called from the steps. He turned, facing her, his breath swept away.

"Yes, Love?" he asked.

He reached towards her, their faces centimeters away. Nina had to force herself to look away from his eyes, to ask her question.

"Fabian, what will we do when I go back to New York?" Nina asked.

"I don't know…."

Nina was broken hearted. She had always come to Fabian for the right answer. Now, he was telling her that he didn't know it.

"But, it's going to be ok. Besides, that's tomorrow. I've waiting six years to do this," he whispered. He pressed his lips down to hers and kissed her, and the sparks could have lit up a Brooklyn street during a blackout.

"I love you," he declared, once they pulled away.

She whispered to him, so that only him and the wind could hear, "I love you too."

And they kissed, as the rain began to fall.

They laughed, while Fabian held out his hand. "May I?"

"Of course," Nina responded.

And they danced slowly, like their very first one, but Fabian put a spin on it. He twirled her around and her back was against his chest.

"Fabian?"

"It's the things you do for me…. It's the way you make me feel..." Fabian sang into her ear.

Nina smiled, and leaned into him.

And as always, Fabian was right.

It was going to be ok.

There! Done! My first contest entry is done! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you keep reading my writing in the future!

The notations:

(1)- Not Voldemort! Fabian!

(2)- SFUS- Sister From the United States

Thanks!

~IfWritersCouldSpeak~