Alright, I haven't written a one-shot in a while… So don't be all 'flamey' if it's bad, K? I wrote this thing a long-freaking time ago. As you will be able to tell, it's before they solved Season 2's mystery. Enjoy! See you at the bottom!
Title: Burn
It was a cold Tuesday afternoon and everyone was currently separated throughout the school.
Mara , Joy, Eddie, and Patricia were in Journalism; Jerome and Alfie were sleeping though History; and Amber, Nina, and Fabian were suffering through Physical Education. No one wanted to be at school that day. Well, the Sibunas didn't, anyway. They wanted to be back at Anubis House, working on the Ancient Egyptian game of Senet. They needed practice if they were going to get the mask before Victor and Vera. And especially before Rufus.
And at the moment, it gave Nina more reason to worry about her Gran. She wanted this whole thing behind them so she knew her Gran was safe.
Nina finished putting her school uniform into her P.E. locker and met up with Amber as they walked out to the football fields. Amber was going on about things only 'Ambers' cared about when Nina felt a sharp pain in her upper right arm. She grabbed it. "Own," she said, trying not to attract attention. But Amber noticed.
"Nina, are you alright?" she asked.
"No," Nina replied, "No, I'm not. My arm hurts… Like it's burning." More pain came and she held it tighter.
"Here, sit down. I'll go find Fabian," she announced. Nina sat on a step and tried not to scream.
A couple of minutes later, Fabian came running up with Amber in tow.
"Hey, you alright? What's going on?"
"I don't know," Nina replied silently, her eyes unfocused. "My arm just hurts." He noticed her eyes looking drowsy and quickly had her lie down on the step.
"What's wrong?" Amber asked.
"Whatever's going on with her arm must be really bad. The pain is starting to make her dizzy," he concluded, taking off his jacket and placing it under her head as a makeshift pillow. He proceeded to lift her sleeve to check her arm. The Mark of Anubis was glowing bright and he could see it burning into her skin. "What the hell, Senkhara?" he said to himself. He sighed and looked up at Amber. "Okay, Amber. Nina's getting really cold so I'm going to need you to help me sit her up so I can put my jacket over her. Then, I'll take her back to the house. You stay here and tell the teacher that Nina wasn't feeling well and that I'm helping her get back to the house. Got it?" he asked. She stood there a moment before answering.
"I think so," she replied cautiously.
He sighed and kneeled back down to Nina. "Hey Nina," he said, stroking her hair, "We're going to sit you upright for a second, okay?" She shook her head. Tears were not falling from her eyes. "We've got to, alright? Then, I'll carry you to the house."
He and Amber sat her up and Fabian put his jacket around her now fragile form. "Alright, come on." He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and under her knees and lifted her carefully of the ground. He looked down and saw her eyes very close to closing. "Hey, don't fall asleep on me just yet, okay?" he said, shaking her a bit. "I'm going. Go ahead to Gym." He told Amber.
"Okay," she said. "Bye, Nina." After Amber walked off, Fabian carried Nina towards Anubis House. She moaned out of pain a few times but at least she was awake.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the house. No one was home. At the moment, they were all out. Fabian brought Nina up to her room and lay her down on her bed. He then proceeded to get a wash cloth with cold water out of the girl's toilets. He'd never been in the ladies' before. It just felt wrong.
He sat back down next to Nina on her bed and held her in his arms. (A/N: Those strong, beautiful arms… *happy sigh*) "Nina, remember that time in Chem class? Mr. Sweet told us about what happens when cold liquid comes into contact with a hot solid?" he asked, trying to get her mind off of what he was about to do.
"No," she replied weakly.
"Well, it helps cool it down. And I am so sorry but what I'm about to do isn't going to be pleasant," he told her. "For you or me." He mumbled incoherently. He carefully and gently placed the cold wash cloth on the burning mark on her skin, immediately regretting it as her breath became quicker and shorter as more tears poured out her eyes. He could hear a sizzling type of sound, as if he were putting out a fire. It was only a few seconds later that she passed out. He held her close and continued to press the moist cloth on her arm. The longer it's on there, the more it cools down.
After a while, he removed it to check on her arm. It had stopped glowing but left a scar of the mark surrounded by a deep red. He got up slowly and lay Nina's head on her pillow, then walked to the restroom to find some bandage. After carefully wrapping the scar in bandage, he put her sleeve back down and replaced his jacket sleeve on her arm.
It wasn't but an hour after that when Amber came rushing into their room, wanting to know how Nina was doing. She was still out cold but her temperature had gone down and her breathing returned to normal.
"She's fine, Amber. She has a scar now but, other than that, I don't think she's in any more pain," he informed her.
"Thank you," he heard a small voice say. He looked down to find Nina awake but still a bit weak. That experience had taken a lot out of her.
"Good morning. For what?" he asked.
"For taking care of me," she replied softly. "I don't know what I'd do without you here."
"Well, it's good I'm not going anywhere, huh?" She looked up at him and smiled. Neither had noticed that Amber had left the room so they could talk in privacy.
Except, when Amber came in a few minutes later, they weren't really doing much talking.
Here I am at the bottom! Hey! Haha So if you're reading this, you didn't stop halfway through the story. Yay! So, I personally think the ending isn't very good but… let me know! Hearts! -E
