House of Anubis: One Last Stand

House of Ink/House of Osiris

"I don't know how to save him!" Eddie exclaimed to Patricia, Joy, and Amber.

"But you have to save him," Joy demanded.

"Maybe you shouldn't have tested, Neith," Amber scolded. She directed her attention back to Eddie. "But please, Eddie, you're capable of something, aren't you?"

"Okay, last time I had to save a dying person..." Eddie's voice trailed off and his eyes grew wide as though he'd sprung an idea.

"What?" Patricia asked him. "What is it?"

"Osiris. Osiris!"

"Has he gone mad?" Joy mumbled.

"Osiris, just one more favor!" Eddie yelled upward with the reply of a thunderous rupture and the apparition of one God who, by this time, was familiar to them all.

"No, he's brilliant," Patricia mumbled back to Joy.

Eddie smirked at the fact Patricia had just complimented him. But he didn't have any time to address it at the moment. Instead he spoke to Osiris, informing him of Alfie's condition, hoping something could be done. And in fact, something could.

~~~~~
Jerome still faced the portal, but for a moment he turned towards Daniel. "I want to see you release Willow-before I..."

Daniel signed and snapped his fingers, and the projection showed Willow dropping to the ground, unmoving, but surely breathing. And at this point, that was all that mattered.

"Hurry this on, will you?" Daniel rushed. "I ought to push you in there myself."

Jerome took a deep breath which sounded more like a sniffle as he finally began to cry. He shut his eyes tightly as he faced back towards the portal.

"What makes you so afraid to die, Clarke?" Daniel asked. "Especially with nothing going for you."

"Daniel," Jerome said just above a whisper. He glanced over at his cousin for one last time. "For once in your life, shut up."

Daniel was a little taken aback. Although the words in themselves weren't so threatening, Jerome's demeanor was. And so he pursed his lips and silenced himself, everyone waiting in angst for Jerome's next move.

And then he took it.

He approached the portal and began to enter it, and at that time, the world seemed silent; nearly stationary. Nina's instinct kicked in, and she blindly tried to charge for the portal but almost immediately felt herself restrained by all-too-familiar arms. Just then, it was also Fabian's voice right beside her yelling out the name, "KT" and she lifted her head to see KT making her own way to the portal, faster than anyone could stop her.

KT pulled Jerome back out of the light, and threw herself right in.

And that was the last they ever saw of her.

~~~~~
Eddie, Patricia, Joy, and Amber watched and waited as Osiris utilized his staff to heal Alfie. Suddenly, Osiris stopped in the process and turned around, and just at that time, Neith reappeared. And just at that time, Osiris gave a smile.

It wasn't just any smile. It was more of a smile you'd catch only four, maybe five times in a lifetime. A sad kind of genuine, a regretful sort of understanding. The most upsetting of smiles, and yet, the most reassuring. The most disappointing of expressions and nonetheless, the most tantalizing.

"Osiris," Neith's voice seemed to sing, almost as though it conveyed the very notes one would never hear again. Eddie noticed her eyes flourish with life.

"I haven't seen you since-"

"-since I escorted you to the Underworld; I know..How have you been?"

"This isn't just a casual reuniting, Neith...you're tormenting these people."

"You can't seriously-" Neith noticed Osiris's stern impression and changed her sentence. "I'm not a bad person."

"No, you're a foolish god."

Neith tilted her head down, "Osiris-"

"-I'll be escorting you to the Underworld this time," Osiris interrupted calmly. "Wait for me by the Nile."

"But Osi-"

Osiris waved his hand fiercely, and Neith was suddenly cast away. He turned back to face Alfie whom he continued to revive without further word. The others hadn't mustered up the courage to question Osiris about his relationship with Neith, but they had some idea. It wasn't of much importance anyway.

~~~~~
Jerome was sprawled unconscious on the ground. It was unknown to Nina and Fabian whether he was alive or dead, but either way, Daniel wasn't to pleased with the string of events.

Neither was the book itself, so it seemed as it began to flip its own pages violently and glow red with some dark ink leaking from it.

Nina realized she was still in Fabian's arms but would need to act fast in order to save the world. She lunged herself down towards Jerome to grab his dagger from his person and spring back up, lodging the knife right into the book itself.

The portal through the sarcophagus slammed shut with a loud ring, and the book leaked even more dark ink from where it had been stabbed. Nina's hands still gripped the dagger even though it began burning and blistering her skin. Daniel tried to grab her arms, and Nina let out a yelp as she was caught in the midst of a bleeding book, a burning dagger, and a mad man.

Fabian suddenly reacted with his own instinct and his fist clashed against Daniel's jaw, sending him spiraling to the ground.

Nina released the dagger, and in a sputter of ink, the book itself disintegrated into ash which sank into its own inky blood into which the dagger fell as well. Nina and Fabian stared disturbingly at the sight until Nina directed her attention to her husband.

"Fabian!"

"Ah!" he yelped.

"You just punched the guy," Nina stated astonished. "You. Punched. Him."

Yeah..." Fabian nodded awkwardly.

"But you don't punch people!"

"Well...I couldn't have anyone hurting my lady." Fabian blushed shyly, now realizing how and why Nina was so surprised. It was completely unlike Fabian to punch anyone and somehow he ended up acting on adrenaline to protect Nina.

Nina grinned for a moment before realizing Jerome was still laying unconscious.

She knelt down to him and tried to find his pulse. Fabian joined her on the other side of Jerome and noticed that he was breathing, but very shallow at that.

"He's breathing," he informed Nina.

"Yeah."

"But he's dying."

Nina looked up at him, her worried expression matching his own.

Fabian's gaze fell behind Nina and he found himself screaming out her name, but at that time, it was too late.

~~~~~
Yet another chapter! Next one will be coming soon, but I certainly hope you enjoyed this one. And now for discussion questions.

Why do you think Fabian yelled out Nina's name?

And that's all I have for now, so I'll just leave it at that. Until next time, Aristocrats.