House of Anubis: House of Pasts

House of Tears/House of Comfort

Amber stood in the courtyard crying and didn't dare look back at the rest of her friends standing behind her. The others felt empathy for her. Joy was the first to go up to Amber to comfort her. She guided Amber to the nearest bench to sit down and talk it over.

Meanwhile, Nina, Fabian, Patricia, Eddie, Alfie, and William stood in their cluster.

"That wasn't fun," Alfie commented.

"Why would you do that, William?" Nina asked. "Why would you date Amber if she had a boyfriend?"

"I-" William began. "I-I don't know."

Nina eyed him suspiciously but didn't say anything else about it. She did tell William to go back up to her apartment, and William did so, eager to get out of the awkward environment anyway.

"This is horrible," Eddie said. "Jerome probably won't come back for a while. Amber's also devastated. It's not the best conditions we need for people solving mysteries, is it?"

"Joy's comforting Amber now," Fabian observed, "and maybe Nina can do so furthermore later on since they're in the same apartment. Someone should really go see about Jerome though."

"Well, since you suggested..." Patricia implied.

"No. No-I'm not really...I'm not good with that stuff-"

"-You got this Fabian," Patricia supported(even though it sounded more aggressive than it did supportive). She gave Fabian a push, and he headed to his car to drive to Jerome's place.

"Seeing everyone sad is so depressing," Alfie pouted. "I wish I could spread happy vibes as well as Willow."

Eddie caught Nina's eye, and he signaled with his head for them to go over in private. They did so, leaving Patricia and Alfie in that area.

"Emerald tablets?" Nina asked.

Eddie nodded.

"There's fifteen of them," Nina told him. "One of them was called the Key of Time, which was probably the one in our dream. I read the whole thing."

"What did it say?"

Nina explained the information she remembered about getting from the text.

"So...what does it do?" Eddie asked.

Nina shrugged. "I'm clueless. But how are we going to solve this right away with Amber and Jerome so distraught and William-I honestly don't know how Williams's feeling. Anyway, I care about them, and I can't do this if they're not ok."

"I care about them too, but you know who we are, Nina. And we have others here who can take care of them. I really just want to solve this."

Nina sighed and nodded. "Yeah, ok. But tomorrow. Today has already had too much happen in it for me to concentrate. We'll also tell the others about this dream when we can."

Eddie pulled Nina in for a hug. He held her tight, and she embraced him back.

"I love you," he whispered. Nina knew he meant that as a friend, possibly like a brother. And also on Chosen One and Osirion terms.

"I love you too," she whispered back.

~~~~~
Fabian went to Jerome's place which was a pretty small house compared to some others. He'd only been there one other time. When Jerome and Fabian usually saw eachother, it wasn't at Jerome's house.

He knocked on the door. Surprisingly, Jerome answered the door, his under-eyelids red but his tears wiped away. He invited Fabian inside. Jerome laid down on the couch, and Fabian took a seat in the armchair.

At first, the only noise heard was Jerome's sniffling.

Fabian spotted Jerome's dagger on the table and leaned forward to pick it up. He fiddled with it in his hands. "I remember this. You had to stab Eddie, and save the day. You were a hero. It was such an ecstatic moment. You remember that, don't you?"

"I fell unconscious in the process," Jerome reminded, gazing downward. "So, roughly."

"Right." Fabian felt awkward as he put back down the dagger. "Hey, you are Cleopatra's descendant. That's pretty cool. I wish I could be Cleopatra's descendant."

Jerome only responded with a deep sigh.

"Ok," Fabian mumbled. He thought a bit. "Hey! How's your family?"

Jerome looked over at him. Tears began welling in his eyes again.

"No, no!" Fabian held his hands out. "Don't cry again! I'm sorry to bring it up."

Jerome sat up and faced Fabian, wiping away the fresh tears. "Might as well get it off my chest sooner or later." He swallowed. "You know what-actually long story short. My dad went back to jail, Poppy hasn't talked to me since, there, I said it." All this came out quickly and run together.

"Still no word from your mother?"

"Please. She probably hasn't tried to contact since sending me off to boarding school. For all she knows, or even cares, I could be dead right now."

"Je-Jerome-" Fabian uttered.

Tears came streaming down Jerome's face. "Amber was the closest person I had. Despite you guys, being my best friends and all...I just have this feeling...Everyone who I get close to-everyone I ever love just-ends-up-leaving me."

Fabian couldn't stand to see Jerome like this or talk like this. "Hey, don't think it's your fault-"

"-I don't think, I know. There were my parents, who tried so desperately to get rid of me. There was Mara. There was Joy. Even Poppy, even though I was the only one she'd ever had her whole life, only cared enough to stay close to me when it came to our father. Then he went back to jail. Poppy won't see me again. And now-Amber."

"Oh-I'm sorry."

"Don't be. It wasn't your fault, after all."

Fabian made a deep breath, trying to think of something else to say. "Hey, why don't you call Poppy? Get your mind off Amber-things, and the whole mystery, and try to make amends with her. She is your family."

"If you really knew my life, you'd know family means nothing," Jerome snapped, getting defensive. He softened up and said in a calmer tone, "I'll call her tonight. Meanwhile, you should get back to the others. Tell them I'm ok."

Jerome stood up to escort Fabian out. As Fabian went to the door, he asked, "Are you sure?"

"Yeah," Jerome nodded. "It's not worth their time worrying about me."

Fabian nodded and left, wishing Jerome well. Once Fabian was gone, Jerome leaned his back against the door and sunk down to the ground.

~~~~~
Bit of a sad chapter...

What do you think will happen when Jerome calls Poppy?

Should Jerome and Amber get back together?