A/N: So I know. I"m the worst author ever. I didn't update it. I'm sorry. I really am.
Anyway, it's 1:40 in the morning and I just got to the end of my chapter and accidentally deleted everything! I feel like killing someone. And of course I re-wrote lots of stuff so it's all new and not in my notebook. I don't know when I'll get the drive to re-type everything again.
I was going to have some Amfie fluff in this Chapter but it really isn't important to the character development so I'm leaving it out. This chapter is plenty long without it. If people want it, I can write it into the next chapter. Just let me know what you think. I don't like adding stuff for the sake of more stuff and this is a primarily Neddie story.
I should stop ranting up here. Enjoy the chapter.
By the end of The Princess Bride, everyone was exhausted. Patricia had fallen asleep on Eddie's shoulder so he carried her up to bed. He tried to lay her down gently so she wouldn't wake up, but she did anyway.
"Eddie?" She asked. He leaned down and kissed her cheek.
"Yeah?" She smiled a big goofy smile at him and Eddie had to try to not laugh.
"I want you to stay the night with me. I think... I think I'm ready." Normally Eddie would jump at the opportunity, but tonight he had different plans. Him and Nina were going to sneak down to Robert's study and he really needed to see Nina. They hadn't spent any time together since that last Monday and it was killing him. Every second he was away from her his feelings grew stronger. It was a true problem. He couldn't help but hope that he would get to kiss her again that night, even though that was horribly wrong and here he was sitting with his girlfriend.
He didn't have to worry about it too much, though, because Patricia had fallen asleep as soon as she was done speaking. Eddie was slightly disappointed. They never got to re-discuss what Patricia said they would. He guessed that one day he would just have to initiate it and hope Nina didn't stop him.
No, Patricia. Not Nina.
"What am I going to do, Yacker?" He said, mostly to himself, because she was fast asleep. There was so much for him to think about. There was his growing annoyance of Fabian, his fucking girlfriend, being the Osrion, finding out what it all meant, and passing all of his stupid classes.
And then there was Nina.. oh, Nina.
He briefly wondered if someone could love two people at once, but abandoned the thought quickly. He couldn't love Nina. That would make this too... real. Kissing her and stolen glances was childish. Trivial. Love was adult... binding...
He had to leave the room... had to see her. It was the only way to stop these damn thoughts. He kissed Patricia on the forehead and quietly left the room.
"What took you so long?" Nina scolded when Eddie finally joined her in the cellar. He rolled his eyes at her. Wasn't he supposed to be the protector here. She really needed to calm down.
"Your beloved boyfriend quizzed me on where I was going. I told him that I was going to sleep in Patricia's room, but I don't think he bought it."Eddie said. He jumped onto the couch and patted the seat next to him, motioning for her to join him. He pulled the book out of his bag and looked at it for a few moments. He was almost afraid to open it. What would he learn when he did? This was a book written all about him and he didn't even know what it said. It was eerie, really.
Nina seemed to understand, but didn't agree. She would love for there to be a book all about her that told her everything that she had to do. Instead all she had to go off of was clues and intuition.
They stared at the book in silence, each lost in their own thoughts. She began tracing the letters on the cover out of fascination. She thought it was simply beautiful.
"Do you want to open it or do you want to keep feeling the words?" Eddie teased. She playfully punched his arm and he pinned her arm down in retaliation. She could feel the area where their skin touched buzz with energy. He must have felt it too because his smile faded from his face and a look of desire took over. He looked into her eyes and held both of her arms to her sides and-
"Stop." Nina said. She was only slightly disappointed when he listened. She was dating Fabian for gods sake.
Eddie released her arms and, without looking at her, opened the book to a random page. "Goddamn it," he cursed. The page was covered in hieroglyphics. He flipped to another just to check and sure enough that was covered in hieroglyphics too. Eddie felt as disappointed as Nina looked. He hated seeing her like that so he said the first thing he could think of.
"Come on. There must be a book on translating here somewhere."
Eddie never failed to surprise her. He winked at her and when she didn't get up to help him look, he started throwing books at her.
"Eddie!" She yelled. He didn't let up though. She dodged "Ra: Legends of the Sun God" and went to help him. It didn't take too long, Robert's study was very organized.
"Told you!" He said triumphantly when he pulled it off the shelf. He grabbed Nina's hand and made her sit on the couch with him. They didn't get very far because Eddie was dreadful at describing what hieroglyphics look like ("It's got a squiggle and then another squiggle with a line- no. Not that squiggle. -no that one. The straight squiggle."), and Nina couldn't stop thinking about how he almost kissed her. When Eddie couldn't take it anymore he closed the book and just stared at her.
"What are you-"
"We aren't going to translate another symbol until we talk." Eddie commanded. She sighed and closed her own book. She really didn't want to talk about it. What was there to say, "I have a boyfriend and yet I'm strangely attracted to you?"
"Fine." She said stubbornly. She knew better than to try and argue.
"We've kissed. Multiple times. We both love someone else, but we have this crazy connection that whenever we touch," he subconsciously rested his hand on hers, "there's this... connection."
"Like an energy," Nina said leaning in. He was drawing her in.
"Like an energy," he repeated, "and when I'm not around you it drives me insane... like the only thing I want to do is be with you... and then when I am around you all I want to do is... is... Nina can I kiss you?" He didn't give her the chance to answer before he wrapped his hand in her hair and pulled her to him and kissed her passionately.
"Nina..." He sighed into her lips. She pulled away just far enough so she could look him in the eyes. "I think... that I lov-"
"No." She said immediately. "Don't say that." Her head was pounding and the world was spinning. Kissing was one thing but love. Love wasn't okay. It was too far. It crossed a barrier she didn't know existed. They sat in an awkward silence for a few moments.
"So much for talking..." She said when she couldn't take the silence anymore.
"Come on. Page one. The straight squiggly one." He said, trying to change the subject. She thought she saw hurt in his eyes and Nina wished there was an easier way for them to do this.
Fabian couldn't sleep well that night. Something about Eddie sneaking off didn't sit well with him. He was sure that he was off with Nina. Somehow he just knew. The same way he knew that Nina was lying about not finding anything new Sibuna related. Sometimes Fabian really wished he wasn't so damn shy. Then he would be able to demand Eddie tell him where he was going, or ask Nina to share his bed with him the way Mara and Jerome always did. Maybe he was just being an overprotective boyfriend, but she didn't like her spending time with Eddie alone. He was bad news, Osrion or not. Hell, Rufus was an Osrion. Who's to say he wasn't taking advantage of her, or drinking elixir.
Maybe I should go visit her, just to be sure, Fabian thought. She would be pissed if she was there, but it would set his mind at ease. Somehow he convinced himself that it was worth it and found himself making his way through the house to her room.
Lacie was finding it incredibly difficult to fall asleep in Amber's bed. Mara and Jerome were sharing a bed tonight and so were Amber and Alfie, so instead of trying to sleep with that going on right next to her, she chose to accept Amber's offer of her bed. It was a nice gesture, even though Lacie was sure Amber didn't like her much. Amber was the pretty one and Lacie threatened that. She wished she didn't sometimes. Being pretty made it difficult to have friends. She reached into her nightshirt to pull out her locket. She liked to do that when she was worried about something. She wasn't sure why. The locket was the start of all her problems, really. It was a gift from her God, Set. He had given her many gifts, all to lure her in.
They were unnecessary of course. If he really wanted her to do as he said, he could just make her. Maybe it was easier to get her to want to by herself. It wasn't that Set was a bad god. He just held grudges for a long time. Just like Lacie. Maybe that's why he chose her, they think the same way.
She still wished that she knew more about what she was really doing here. Set told her that he would give her more orders, but she wanted to know now. She didn't want to get to know these people just to find out she had to hurt them... Maybe she was way off, though. Maybe he just wanted to use her to restore his good standing with Osiris and Isis. There was another problem. Isis's chosen one, the Isiasus, was nowhere to be found. Either he wasn't here, or he didn't know who he was yet. If he did the energy would be prominent. She would know as soon as he did.
She had finally fallen asleep when Fabian came into the room. "Nina?" He whispered. Lacie mentally cursed him.
"She's not here," she said. In the moon light she could see his horrified expression.
"Lacie? Where's Amber?" He said, hysterically.
"With Alfie. What are you doing here?"
"Wha-What am I doing here? What are you doing here?!" He started yelling. She got up and tried to quiet him down.
"Look, if you're looking for Nina, she's not here." That had confused Lacie earlier too. She thought she would have time to talk to Nina and get to know who she was up against. Instead, she was no where to be found. Probably with her Osrion. Suddenly, she felt a wave of pity for Fabian. Maybe he didn't even know who his girlfriend was. Didn't know what her and the Osrion were fated to be. Lacie wasn't sure Nina knew what her and the Osrion were fated to be. She debated on telling Fabian right then and there, but decided against it. If he knew nothing, it would take way too long to explain.
He stood and stared at her for a while before turning and running out into the hallway. Lacie felt obligated to follow. He crept down the hall, past Victor's office and towards Patricia and Joy's room. When he got there he threw the door open loudly.
"Is Eddie here?" He must have thought he was being quiet... but Lacie knew he sure wasn't. She began apologizing to Patricia and Joy who shot up in their beds, alarmed.
"What the hell, Fabian?" Patricia asked. "No. Of course Eddie's not here. What kind of girl do you think I am?"
"He must be with Nina then!" If she thought he was hysterical before...
He was too loud. The lights in the hallway flicked on. Joy jumped up and grabbed Lacie, hiding her in her bed.
"Mr. Rutter!" Victor growled. "Get to bed this instant! We will discuss your punishment in the morning." She didn't get to see Fabian's response because Victor slammed the door shut, leaving the three girls in darkness.
Patricia started getting up as soon as everything was still.
"What are you doing?" Joy asked.
"I'm going to see what the hell Fabian was talking about." She said simply and left the room before they could ask anything else.
"Should we go with her," Lacie asked, yawning.
"No. We'll hear about it in the morning." And the girls fell asleep before they could say anything else.
Fabian had just resolved himself to going to bed and questioning Nina the next morning when Patricia slammed his door open.
"Get up," she commanded. He shivered when she pulled his covers off of him.
"Patricia!"
"Come on-" she grabbed him by the arm "-where are they?" Fabian spluttered.
"I-I think they're in the cellar." He was a little upset with himself when the only thing he could think was If looks could kill. He had been writing songs for years, that should have steered him away from such cliches. She didn't give him much time to think about it, because Patricia was dragging him out of his room.
"That. Bastard!" She whispered so terrifyingly quiet. He didn't bother trying to escape her when she dropped his arm long enough to pick the lock on the cellar door. Maybe he thought Patricia was overreacting, but he din't think her anger was misplaced. Easily her anger matched his own, but he was better at hiding it and accepting what he couldn't control.
Patricia didn't think it necessary to drag him the rest of the way, he knew better than to try and run now, despite all he wanted to do was go to bed and pretend none of this was happening. Catching Nina would be too awkward.
The familiar musky scent of the cellar hit Fabian hard It brought back so many memories of him and Nina sneaking around together and just the thought that she was doing that with Eddie now made him want to punch something. An unfamiliar feeling for him.
Patricia's hands were shaking so badly it took her three tries to spin the numbers into the correct combination. She stepped carefully into the alcove as if she was afraid of what she would see.
Whatever Fabian was expecting her to do, it wasn't what happened. Her shoulders slumped forward and she looked utterly defeated.
Fabian walked so he could see into the alcove as well and immediately understood her reaction. He could be angry, they didn't catch them in some adulterous position, and he could feel okay because in some ways this was worse.
None of them really knew what being the Osrion meant, but seeing Nina and Eddie curled up on the couch surrounded by books fast asleep gave Fabian an idea. It was a connection neither him nor Patricia could come between. He honestly wished he caught them cheating Seeing their innocently laced fingers and Nina's head resting on his muscular chest was too much. Patrica seemed equally pained. Fabian was about to leave when she spoke.
"Should we wake them up?"
"No." He said right way. "I'll talk to Eddie in the morning." She nodded slowly. Fabian had never seen her so broken and it worried him. If Eddie could do this to headstrong Patricia, what could he do to shy, insecure, Nina?Fabian grabbed Patricia's hand in a friendly gesture and they went back to bed.
Eddie was woken up by the door closing. He was confused at where he was at first. When he regained himself, he leaned over, carefully, so he didn't wake up Nina, to check the time on his phone. 3:36. They needed to go upstairs to bed, but Nina looked so peaceful sleeping. She had been so stressed lately, it was nice seeing her relaxed. He gave himself a few minutes to look at her face the way he would when he was in a particularly boring class, or if Patricia was saying something he didn't want to listen to. He studied the curve of her jaw and the bridge of her nose trying to commit each perfect detail to memory. When his time was up he untangled himself from her and whispered, "Nina?"
She didn't wake up. Instead she rolled over and whispered, "Fabian?" She was still asleep and it was amusing. Still, Eddie felt disappointed. It wasn't his name that she said in her sleep.
Of course it wasn't. She stopped him from telling her he loved her because she didn't feel the same way towards him.
He stood up and began packing up a few books in his bag. They decided he would be the one to keep them. Fabian might be annoying, but he wouldn't go through his stuff like they suspected Amber might. If that fucking girl asked one more time about Sibuna...
"Get up, Nina." He said, picking her up. He should have expected the punch to the jaw.
He knew that Nina started taking self defense classes, but always was forgetting that her first reaction when someone woke her up now was to attack. She apologized right away, of course, but Eddie really should have known better. This was the fourth time.
"It's okay, Nina." He cooed. She yawned a few times and almost fell back asleep so he scooped her up and started carrying her. This time she didn't try to stop him. She was peaceful again.
As he walked she was slowly rocked into oblivion. Before she fell asleep she managed to say, "You carried Patricia to bed too, didn't you?" She said it so innocently but it hurt Eddie more then she could know. He wasn't sure why or even what she meant. But hearing the girl you love talk about the other girl you love sucks no matter what.
It wasn't until much later that Eddie realized that if he woke up to the door closing, that someone must have been there. And he thought he knew who.
The next morning's breakfast was the most awkward meal at Anubis to date. The first people down were Jerome and Mara. Her hair was a wreck and her nightgown was on backwards. Later Amber would joke to Jerome that even a blind person could tell they slept together (while he laughed at her because her nightshirt was on inside out). Trudy had to keep telling them to stop touching each other at the table.
It wasn't long until Amber and Alfie joined the other couple. They gave each other knowing looks and Trudy got so upset she had to leave the room. Mick was the next to come down. He took one look at the group of them, grabbed some toast and sat down across the table glaring at Jerome.
Mara was just about to say something when Joy stumbled into the room, talking loudly. She seemed oblivious to the testosterone battle going o. When she did finally notice , the damage had already been done. They happy, albeit tense, atmosphere was gone. Jerome and Mick were one wrong move from a fist fight, Amber was livid that Mick even dare to look at Mara, and Alfie, for the first time in his life, decided it would be best to stay quiet and not cause any issues.
Down the hall they could hear Eddie and Fabian shouting at each other. They could make out everything that was said, but it sounded juicy. What they didn't know was that Eddie was reluctantly telling Fabian everything (minus the kissing of course) and begged him not to tell Patricia. When they entered the dining room Fabian looked as murderous as Mick and Eddie looked pissed. When Nina came downstairs and chose to sit with Fabian, he became smug and Eddie felt strangely disappointed.
Even Victor noticed the tension in the room and awkwardly retreated after only a few minutes.
When Lacie came down, Mick had devised a plan. "Hey, Lace!" He shouted. The room was dead quiet... again. She didn't look amused.
"Good morning, Mick." She said curtly. She was still wearing her robe from the night before and her wild hair was pulled into a bun. Even sleep-deprived and devoid of makeup, she was stunning and every girl's self-esteem took a it.
Especially Amber's. She decided in that moment that she hated Lacie Brown simply because she was pretty.
Slowly conversation returned to normal. Amber began begging Nina and Fabian to go on a date with her and Alfie later that week, who was signaling Jerome to help him. Mick had forced Lacie to sit with him and was trying to ask her out. Eventually she agreed just to get him to stop taking. Joy couldn't stop laughing so she left to go get Patricia.
"Alright, everyone!" Amber announced when everyone had finished eating. "Today I planned a big party for the whole school to celebrate coming back to school!"
"Amber, you hate school. Why do you want to celebrate it." Patricia shouted across the room.
"Shut up. What really matters is we're having a party and there will be no spooky stuff, Egyptian mysteries, giant board games, tunnels,or backwards words!" Amber said. She said things like that so often that each member of Sibuna had their own reaction to it. Nina would glare at her and say "Amber", Fabian would rest his head on one hand and look down. Alfie would groan, Patricia would ball her fists and look to Nina and Eddie would lean back and laugh. They called it the "Amber stress-reaction." She never quite caught on.
"What?" Mara asked.
"Nothing. Everyone will be here at seven. Be ready!" Amber smiled, grabbed Nina and skipped out of the room.
"I could kill Amber right now," Patricia complained to Joy. She was trying on her fifth outfit yet and it still wasn't right.
"Since when do you care what you wear to a party?" Joy asked. She had decided on jeans and a flowy tee-shirt and was laying on her bed attempting to help Patricia.
"Since Eddie started spending every waking moment with Nina. They were practically inseparable the whole time I visited them in America." It was true. Nina and Eddie did nothing but read and made no effort to include her. It was eerie almost, watching him do so much work. He didn't work on school or anything else. She would never admit it, but she almost resented Nina for ruining that vacation.
"Oh come on, Trixie. He's crazy about you. Why would he go after Nina?" Patricia wished she could explain everything to her best friend, but it had been decided that Joy would not be a member of Sibuna anymore. And Patricia supposed that Joy wasn't really her best friend anymore. They were too different now. It was sad, but that's how the world works.
"Yacker?" Eddie said, peaking into the room. "You ready? Amber wants you and frankly , she scares me." Joy laughed at him.
"Of course." Patricia replied, even though she really didn't like the outfit she was wearing. It showed a little too much skin, but Eddie seemed to like it. She sucked it up and followed him in dark jeans and a loose v-neck.
he pulled her aside when the door closed. "I know you saw Nina and I last night." He said. Patricia looked down. She didn't want to admit it to herself, but seeing him the night before killed her. It wasn't that she didn't trust him. She just hated that they would never share the same connection he and Nina did.
But she couldn't tell him she felt that way. No, she'd have to pretend it was nothing when she really wanted to scream and never let him see the Chosen One ever again.
"Don't worry about it, Eddie." Patricia said, gritting her teeth. "I understand that you and Nina have some-"
Eddie saw through her. "-Don't lie to me. I can see in your eyes that it bothers you. I need you to know that this doesn't change how I feel about you one bit. I love you. You're my girlfriend. Nina was forced on me. I chose you." He said. He grabbed her shoulders. It wasn't true. He had a choice with Nina and he was sure that he would chose her every time over everything. Maybe that was his Osrion speaking, though. Sometimes he couldn't tell one personality from the other. Maybe part of being the Osrion meant having those two personalities become one.
His lie seemed to work on her. She was beaming and pulled him into a hug. "I choose you too, Eddie." He gave her what he hoped was a convincing smile and they went to join the group downstairs.
Nina wished that Amber had given her any time with Fabian that day. He had texted her a "we need to talk," and Nina had been on edge all day because of it. She texted Eddie right away to see if he knew what was up but he just said that they all needed to talk.
Of course, she assumed the worst. That Eddie had told Fabian everything.
On top of that, she could tell that Amber really wanted to tell her something, but something held her back. Nina wasn't too worried. Nina would hear about it eventually.
She had tried to get into all the hair and makeup Amber was doing, but the only things she could think about was the awkward conversation that was sure to happen and the indecent. The one where she kissed her friend's boyfriend. She wasn't thinking about it in a negative way like she thought she should be. Instead she would zone out an and think about how soft his lips were or how nice his breath smelled.
So she was happy when Amber finally released her to go meet Fabian downstairs. She felt pretty thanks to Amber's skilled hands, secretly she wondered if Eddie would think she was too.
"Hey, Neens." Fabian greeted when she came into the living room where the party would be held. He and Eddie wee the only ones there. Fabian had obviously been pacing and Eddie was sitting on the couch not nearly as anxious as Fabian was. Now or never, she thought.
"Shoot." She said. Might as well get this over with. Fabian seemed a little hurt she didn't even greet him back. Eddie looked at her with a mix of sympathy and understanding.
"Eddie told me everything." Fabian said. Eddie pointed to his lips and shook his head behind Fabian.
Of course he wouldn't tell Fabian everything Nina felt horrible that she hadn't told Fabian yet. She planned on telling him right away and then... didn't.
"Why don't we start with last night," Eddie suggested. "Fabian and Patricia snuck down and caught us in the cellar while we were sleeping." Nina only nodded.
"And this morning I confronted him about it..." Fabian admitted.
"Yeah. He sure did," Eddie grumbled. "So I told him all about the voices we've been hearing, the book, and our research."
"Nina... why didn't you tell me?" Fabian asked quietly. Nina felt a wave of pity and self-hatred. How could she have kept everything from him? Her first friend in England. Her boyfriend. Her best friend.
"I'm so sorry." Nina collapsed into his arms. He tensed up at first but returned her affection quickly. She sensed Eddie tense too, across the room, but Nina could hardly care. She loved Fabian. Not in the lustful way she felt for Eddie, but in a sweet pure way. He held her and leaned down to kiss her lips. When they broke apart she said, "you're with us now. All the time."
"Thank you, Nina." He whispered.
"Yes. Thank you,Nina," Eddie spat out. He wasn't happy.
"Eddie," Nina scolded.
He cut her off. "Don't Eddie me. I get it. He was here first, but I'm your Osrion. Doesn't that count for anything.?"
"Don't you understand?" She asked.
"Oh I understand alright. Sorry for snapping." For once she couldn't tell what he was actually thinking. Their argument was cut short when Amber came running in demanding he go get Patricia while she got Mara and Jerome.
A he was leaving Nina whispered to him, "I"m sorry. I love him Sibuna tonight." And all he could do in response was nod.
A/N: Finally! It's up. Next chapter will be drunk Fabian, new powers, and some fluff I PROMISE. And this time I'll actually update it... I'm looking for a beta still, too. Someone to stop me from waiting two months to update. I'm really tired right now, so I'm sure this A/N makes no sense so I'll stop now. R&R!