This chapter is dedicated to 'Fabina43va', the writer of 'Meant to Be'. It's one of the cutest college Fabina stories I have read, so you should definitely check that one out!

Also, the hours remaining on the bomb, as well as the time, are now going to be at the beginning of the story. Thought it would help for the effect.

Know how to live the time that is given you.

- Dario Fo

Chapter Nine

12:00 hours left, 7:00 PM

Fabian's POV

When Mr. A hung up, I suddenly had the urge to take the phone, and throw it straight into the wall. I couldn't believe what was going on; first he kidnapped Nina, and then strapped a bomb to her! And now, he is forcing us to search through his clues, so we can find her! And if we don't figure them out in the next twelve hours…

No, we would figure them out. All of them. I would not lose my Nina to this psychopath. Not now, not ever.

Everyone moved away from Amber, who was still clutching the phone in her hand. I could tell her temptations were similar to mine, but I could also tell she knew better. That phone was the only connection we had, and we couldn't save Nina without it.

"Okay, so we have twelve hours to save Nina, or that bomb on her goes off?" Alfie asked us, his expression confused as he settled next to Amber. She finally put the phone down, setting it in the middle of our circle. She didn't say anything.

"Yeah." I breathed, glancing down.

"What was the clue again?" Amber questioned quietly, moving her gaze to the phone. I knew what she was waiting for, but knew better than to wait for it. Mr. A wasn't going to help us with these clues, we were lucky we were even getting them. We were on our own.

"He said that Fabian and Nina were quite a couple, and that maybe the spot where it first began would help us." Patricia recalled, before I could answer her myself.

I had no idea which location he meant, there were so many. Did he mean when we first met, when she bumped into Joy, Patricia, and I? Did he mean the first time we kissed, which was at the school dance? Or did he mean another time, maybe somewhere at Anubis? He wasn't specific enough.

"That could be so many places!" I sighed, running my fingers through my hair. I should know the answer to this, it was my relationship! The clue might have not been specific, but it was completely straightforward!

Everybody thought to themselves, trying to figure out the location. We had no time for it, every second we wasted, was a second less we had until Nina's bomb went off. Then it would be all over, I'd be over, I wouldn't even know how to live if it happened.

"We should definitely try the attic, that's where they really started talking, right? I mean, you guys did get close from the Sibuna mission." Patricia mentioned. Maybe she was right, that was really how Nina and I became friends, and how we eventually began dating.

Everyone nodded in agreement, and we all stood up, exited the room. As we did, I put a timer on for twelve hours, so we could keep track of our time. It was very valuable, we really couldn't waste it. Not even a moment of it.

"Wait, we don't have the key!" Alfie whispered, once we all got to the door.

He certainly didn't remember what we were capable of.

Amber smiled and rolled her eyes, before grabbing a bobby pin from her hair. A few seconds later, the door to the attic was wide open, ready for us to explore.

Everyone piled up the stairs, and started frantically looking around. It was easy to notice that everyone was desperate to find whatever Mr. A had hid, but I didn't say anything, I was doing the same exact thing. This was real, this was serious.

"Did any of you guys find anything?" Amber asked, moving away from a pile of boxes. Everyone shook their heads, and I glanced back down at my watch. We havealready killed half an hour. What if this wasn't the right place? What if the right location wasn't even on campus?

"Wait!" Alfie suddenly yelled softly, grabbing something from one of the boxes. I rushed over to him, waiting to see what he found. All I could do was hope that it was Mr. A's clue, so we could get closer to finding Nina.

When his hand came back up, he was holding an old doll that had a pull-string in the back. Patricia and Amber walked over, curiously waiting for someone to pull the string. Alfie noticed this, and forked the doll into my hands. I gave him a look, before pulling the string.

"A little girl, Sarah was her name. Her mother and father left her, so sad. They were trying to get back to her, but Anubis decided to pay them a visit. Let's put on a play my puppets, let's put on a play. Sincerely, Mr. A." The toy spoke, its voice speaking in a taunting sort-of way. I was just grateful we found it, I seriously didn't believeit was in the attic.

"Well, that's so obvious." Amber stated, rolling her eyes. It took me a minute to realize why she already knew the answer, but then it hit me. He was talking about the play they put on! Nina had been the one who wrote it, I remember that! It was such a long time ago.

"The play! Of course!" I responded, putting the doll back down. "It has to be the drama room!"

"Let's go then!" Patricia replied, before we all ran out.

Eleven hours, fifteen minutes left.

Ooo, the clock is slowly ticking away! That must be so stressful. I'm assuming some of you guys here are waiting for some whump, and if you don't know what whump is, it's "A fandom term, commonly used by fan fiction authors to describe physical and/or mental abuse laid on a character in a story" (Urban Dictionary). I shall have that, don't you worry :') What's a stressful story like this without whump?

Reviews mean you care, so leave one! I read all of them, and also respond to them all! Well, my fairy assistant does. So shoot me a review, and my fairy will respond to you, and give you a preview as well! Yay for you, two things for chu!

We nearly made it to one-hundred reviews, I didn't even think we would get the goal, let alone that! We got fifteen reviews for that chapter! :) Of course, my goal won't be that high, but :) Yay!

We are obviously in the bottom-half of the story D: Ahh, I hope you're all enjoying it! This is the stressful, suspenseful part :x

~JessIsTheBest~

Next update: July 25th, 2013

Early update: July 22nd, 2013

Reviews required: 108 reviews