Chapter One
"Save them!" Nina Martin begged the Egyptian god. "Save them and I'll make a deal with you."
"What makes you think that I'd let you do that?" sneered the jackal-head.
"I'm the chosen one. Doesn't that count for anything?" Nina cried out, straining from the binds that prevented her from moving.
Anubis glanced at the eight other mortals in the room. They were all bound and lifeless. Their value is nothing, seeing that they were nearing death anyway, compared to the girl struggling to free herself.
"What can you do for me?" a grin crept on his face.
Nina flinched at the sight of the sickening smile on Anubis's face. She was already imagining all the things the god would make her do. She forced herself to take a deep breath, as she was about to make the biggest choice in her life. Glancing at the pale man on the other side of the room slowly gaining consciousness, Nina already knew what she had to do.
"As long as it's in my power, I'll do it… I'll do anything," Nina let tears fall as she locked eyes with a pair of blue orbs. "Just, return them back home."
"Nina, no!" the man screamed as what she said finally dawned on him. "Please don't do this."
"I'm sorry, Fabian," her voice cracked. "It's the only way."
"No, no, no!" Fabian let his own tears fall, knowing how right his fiancé was. "Please, Nina!"
"How sweet," the god scoffed, "the modern-day Anthony and Cleopatra. How devastatingly tragic."
"I'm sorry, Fabian," Nina sobbed, ignoring the jibes of the god of the afterlife. "I'm doing this for you, all of you," she glanced at the other lifeless bodies in the room. "I love you, never forget that."
"And I love you," Fabian cried out as his body slowly lost its remaining energy.
Satisfied with her goodbye, Nina faced the god with a determined face. "Do we have a deal?"
"Of course, Chosen One."
"Well, then, take them home!"
With a flash of light, the eight bodies were gone.
Fabian awoke with a jolt.
"Fabes!"
A familiar voice made Fabian look up. Joy Campbell sat at the foot of the bed with her husband, Mick, standing behind her.
"Thank god you're alright," Joy sighed in relief. "You've been mumbling in your sleep."
Fabian suddenly grew aware of his surroundings as he realised that it wasn't exactly normal to have your best friends in your bedroom especially since they supposedly live in another continent. He flinched at the sterile white room and realised that he was in a hospital as the heart monitor gave off a rhythmic beat.
"What am I doing here?" Fabian chose not to ask the obvious question of where he was.
"You fainted, mate," Mick explained. "Lack of nourishment and sleep."
"You haven't been eating!" Joy proceeded to tell him off. "Ever since we came back…" her voice faltered until she was unable to continue her sentence.
"It was a good thing that Amber called Darlene to check in on you," Mick covered for his wife. "You hit your head when you fell and-"
"Where's Nina?" Fabian found himself asking.
The couple looked at each other before answering in silence.
"Where's Nina?" Fabian repeated the question, glaring at the two. "I need to know."
"Oh Fabes," Joy was the first to break. "Don't you remember? It was you who told us that she-" she couldn't find it in herself to break the news, to break her best friend's heart.
"She sacrificed herself," Fabian continued for her as memories flashed into his mind.
Fabian found himself lying alone in his bed, the one in his and Nina's flat in London on a rainy morning. His body ached as it was full of bruises and wounds, the only reminder that Egypt wasn't just a dream. He let himself just lie on the bed, mourning the loss of his best friend, his soul mate, his Nina.
Lying in silence, never finding his way to slumber, Fabian gave off a startled yelp as a familiar ringing echoed in the room. Grabbing the phone off the table, not even bothering to wonder who put it there when he remembered that his phone broke in the tombs. He grudgingly greeted the caller.
"What?!"
"Fabian! Thank god!" Amber Millington's familiar tinkling voice greeted him. "Are you and Nina okay?"
Even hearing her name hurt like as if his heart was pierced by a blade.
"Fabian? Fabian? Can you hand the phone to Nina? I'll just-"
"She's not here," Fabian said lifelessly, his voice devoid of any emotion.
"She stepped out?"
"No, she's gone," emotion crept into his voice. "She's gone, Amber!"
The blonde heard the hysteria in Fabian's voice as he repeated the two words over and over: She's gone.
"Calm down, Fabian," Amber said as soon as she heard the man hyperventilating. "Deep breaths."
Fabian took deep breaths until his breathing was normal.
"Tell me slowly what happened," Amber said, hiding the panic in her voice but the dark-haired man can hear it from miles away.
"She sacrificed herself so that we can come back home," Fabian fought the tears that were threatening to fall. "She made a deal with the f*cking god and now she's gone."
Amber gave a gasp before collecting herself. "I'll just make a few calls and I'll be right with you, okay?"
Fabian nodded even though she couldn't see. The beeping of the phone was the next thing he heard. Fabian gave off a sigh and sat on the bed he and Nina shared, hoping that Amber would call again and distract him from his agony as memories of the girl he love fluttered in to his mind.
It was already nightfall before he heard anything again from the phone. The familiar message alert made him glance at his phone. It was a link to a familiar news post.
'King Tut's Tomb in Ruins' was the title of the article Amber sent and it was the trigger that finally sent Fabian over the edge.
Throwing the phone to the other side of the room, Fabian didn't flinch when he heard the device hit the wall. Feeling better that he did in hours; Fabian proceeded to throw anything toward the other side of the room until his hands found nothing. He then moved from room to room breaking everything in sight. He pushed tables, threw picture frames and vases and even tossed couch.
It was already breaking dawn when he finally realised that there was nothing more to break in the flat. Retreating into a corner, he wrapped his arms around himself hoping to feel warmth in his heart. It was in this position in which his sister found him.*
Fabian buried his face into his hands as he recalled the last few hours he was conscious.
"Do you need us to leave?" Mick asked quietly as he rubbed Joy's shoulders comfortingly as she broke into sobs at the expense of their lost friend.
Fabian looked up with tear-stained cheeks. "It's alright. Stay."
"Are you sure cause-"
"I need someone to distract me," Fabian said honestly.
"Distract you?" Mick furrowed his brows at the statement.
"Just tell me anything, anything to keep my mind off this," Fabian sighed. "What's happened so far?"
"Uh, the others are okay," Mick rattled on. "Well, they're okay despite minor injuries. Jerome had to have a brace put on his hand though because of the nasty fall he had in the pyramid." Eyeing his friend cautiously, Mick continued his rambling. "Amber is unsurprisingly staying in Alfie's flat nowadays."
"Days?" Fabian echoed. " How long was I out?"
"Nearly a week now, mate," Mick sighed. "Gave Darlene a shock when you went into a coma. Remind me to call her. She'd be ecstatic to know that you're awake."
"Do my parents…?" Fabian trailed off.
"Yeah," Mick rubbed the back of his head. "Can't exactly hide it from them when your sister was the one who called for an ambulance and-"
"There wasn't a body found in the ruins!" Joy couldn't help but blurt out. She was getting nervous as the boys made their small talk even though she knew Fabian wanted to know about the ruins.
"Joy!" Mick scolded.
"What?" Fabian couldn't help but ask.
"There wasn't a body found in the ruins," Joy repeated. "She must still be…"
"No," Fabian stopped her. "If she's still… alive, then be it but I won't allow myself to have any false hope if she's not."
"But-"
"Drop it, hon," Mick sighed. He hated to go against his wife but this time called for it.
Joy nodded solemnly as a ring broke the supposed veil of silence.
"I have to take this," Mick gestured to his phone. "Work," he explained as he let himself out of the room.
"You're just gonna let this go?" Joy asked in a whisper as soon as the door closed with a click.
"I have no choice, Joy," Fabian sighed. "It's not as if I could turn back time."
"And if you did?"
"I wouldn't have changed a thing," Fabian said simply. "She's the Chosen One, Joy. It's her destiny to get in these messes."
"But you love her," Joy started.
"And she loves me too," Fabian recalled her last words. "And I'll never forget that."
"I'm sorry, Fabian. I'm doing this for you, all of you. I love you, never forget that."
* From the Teaser in House of Graduation, House of Beginnings
AN: How's it so far? :) Please review :D
