House of Anubis: House of Pasts

House of Nightmares/House of Choices

That night, Eddie stirred around in the bed as he went through a strange, but eerily realistic nightmare/vision. It wasn't a continuation of his last nightmare, but rather the beginning to a new one.

Eddie stood outside Anubis house, gazing up at it. He looked down at his hand and saw that Nina's locket was clenched in it. He made his way towards the house and the door swung open for him once he made it to the porch. Inside, it seemed empty at first until he noticed Patricia and Nina up on the second floor, leaning over the railing.

"Eddie, destroy it!" Patricia yelled.

Eddie glanced back down in front of him, seeing the scenery change, and him now facing Nina in the middle of a large room with an emerald-colored floor. He realized he'd been there before, in that dream, when Nina took the piece from the statue of Thoth.

They both glanced in the same direction, the statue of Thoth and the piece to the emerald tablet in the same place, but instead of Nina retrieving it, she waited for Eddie to do so. He crept towards it, and once he was within reach, he placed his hand on it, but felt a sharp pain shoot throughout his entire body.

He blinked, and when his eyes opened again, he was lying down on the ground, his cheek firmly planted on the dry dirt. In his line of sight, all the scenery was breaking away into small, black debris that floated off into space, and as it approached him, he found himself breaking away to bits along with everything else. First it was his hand, and then his arm, and then the rest of him just disintegrating into tiny fragments-

"Eddie, if you keep screaming and squirming like this, I'll never get sleep," Patricia scolded, snapping Eddie out of his dream.

He didn't respond.

Patricia sat up and faced her husband. "If you ever need to talk about your dreams, I'm here. I'd just, rather have you talk about them than keep suffering like this."

"I don't think talking will fix this."

Patricia sighed. "Maybe not. But it might help."

Patricia turned on her bedside lamp. Showing true affection, she wrapped her arms around Eddie and pulled him into her embrace. Eddie didn't resist and tried to relax in her arms.

"Now, just talk," Patricia told him.

Eddie did so, explaining his odd dream. It gave him the most uneasy feeling even though it couldn't have made any sense without much thought.

"Weird," Patricia commented after he finished explaining. "But at least you feel better talking about it, right?"

Eddie grinned. "Sure, Yacker. You sure know how to make a man feel better."

Patricia let go of Eddie and looked at him as he looked at her. "No," she retaliated, "I know how to make my Weasel feel better."

Eddie smiled. He gave Patricia a soft kiss on the lips. "That's exactly what I meant." Eddie turned his attention to the baby, his right hand gently touching Patricia's small baby bump. "What will we name him? Or her?"

"I have a few ideas," Patricia admitted. "But I'm too tired to tell you." She flicked the light off and laid back down.

Eddie let out a slight laugh and tried to go back to sleep as well.

~~~~~
The next morning, in Nina's apartment, Nina and Amber ate breakfast together in silence. Nina didn't ask about how the Sibuna meeting went the previous day, and Amber didn't care to explain.

As Amber stood up to go place her dish in the sink, Nina asked, "You're not mad, are you?"

"It wouldn't matter if I was, Neens," Amber responded in a soft, low tone. "It was your choice, remember?"

Nina watched as Amber continued on to the sink, placing her dishes inside.

"Yeah," Nina answered, "but I still care about you guys."

"Apparently not enough to stay with us and complete this mystery!" Amber suddenly snapped. "Maybe I'm being the inconsiderate one here, but I don't care! You have seven other people who will do anything for you. You know we wouldn't give up on you, so why are you giving up on us?"

Nina couldn't respond. Amber just went to her room, but Nina didn't follow.

Eventually, Jerome came to pick Amber up and take her along with him to Eddie's house. Nina waited a few feet from the door, watching them silently. Jerome and Amber glanced at her before leaving.

"I'm the Chosen One," Nina muttered to herself, leaning against her couch. "Why am I the Chosen One?"

She gazed downwards and when she looked back up, a ghostly figure of Sarah was standing there.

"Sarah!"

"You're not giving up now, are you?"

"I don't know-"

"-being the Chosen One is hard, I know. I never asked to be born on a certain day at a certain time, but I was, and I had to accept it. Just like you, I had the weight of the world on my back, but I wasn't as lucky to have so many people helping me carry it. And still, I did it...You can't change what you don't have the power to. You can't change your circumstances; you can't change who you are, but the way we handle these things are what makes us stronger. It's impossible evade tomorrow's fate by escaping today's. There are people out there who need you Nina." With that, Sarah faded away from Nina's view.

Nina took a deep breath, grabbed her jacket, and hurried out her apartment door.

~~~~~
End of the chapter here for you guys!

If you had the power to, what would you name Eddie and Patricia's baby?

How do you feel about what Sarah told Nina?