"Ms. Martin?" William called out, knocking on Nina's room door. "Ms. Martin?"

Nina swung the door open quickly before he could knock again. "It never happened."

William shook his head. "I just want to discuss the secrets I've been keeping from you. I'm ready to tell you."

Nina nodded. She went out into the main room and sat down on the couch. William remained standing before her as he prepared to explain himself.

"Ok," he breathed. "As I said before, I served in the army; I fought in a war...I've been involved with really bad stuff in my life. Bad things that I can't change. And it's not like killing people in the war-that's not what I mean. I've done things with bad people that I terribly regret. That was the reason you found me injured. It was because I found myself in trouble again. There's just one problem..."

"What is it?" Nina asked.

"I don't remember exactly how I ended up where I did," he told her. "I just know it wasn't because of something good."

"I need specifics," Nina insisted. "What bad things have you done?"

"I can't say. Just know they haunt me every night. And I have an eternity to live with them."

"What do you mean, 'an eternity'?" Nina asked, standing to her feet.

"You should understand this, I'm sure of that now, that there is something called the elixir of life-"

"-you used it?"

"You don't understand. The circumstances I was brought to made me use it. There was this guy who I was operating with who introduced me to it. I wasn't for it at all. I was actually forced to use it."

"What exactly happened? Why were you forced?" Nina enforced these questions upon William.

"He used me as his lab rat, I guess you could say. To see if there were more efficient ways in which the elixir could be used. So, he injected me with it. He must've thought it was a failed test though because when I woke up, I was in the hospital. So he probably threw me out. And I realized I'd woken up five years after that test happened. I actually think I wasn't breathing during those five years, and then suddenly I'm awake, I'm healthy, and I'm living forever."

Nina heaved a sigh, taking this all in. "How old are you?"

"I was given the elixir when I was thirty-four, as I told you was my age before. But...I'm a bit over one-hundred."

Nina realized that she had kissed an a hundred year old man. But that wasn't the point at the moment.

"You said that you were sure I'd understand this," Nina stated. "What made you believe this?"

William reached into his back pocket and brought out Nina's locket. "This."

"You took it?"

"It was on the breakfast bar, and I recognized it. I was going to give it back, trust me, but I know this necklace. It belongs to the Chosen One."

"How do you-"

"-my girlfriend was the Chosen One."

Nina thought of Sarah immediately. She was born in 1915 so she'd be around Williams's age. It was the only logical explanation to this.

"Sarah, her name was Sarah," Nina declared.

"You knew her then?"

"Back in high school, before she passed. But she never brought you up."

"Well honestly why would anyone bring up their boyfriend who suddenly disappeared after being believed to be dead and was never seen again?"

"Good point."

William nodded. He handed Nina back her locket. "All the things I'm telling you right now happened after the war I fought in."

"This war you speak of is World War II?"

William gave one nod.

"And this person who conducted these...tests on you. What was their name?"

"Well, there were two people actually, but the person coordinating everything was Rufus."

Nina almost stumbled back from hearing his name. She recently saw him in her vision, but it still made something heavy drop inside her.

"And the other person was Victor, correct?" Nina questioned.

"You know your stuff."

"Yeah, well I knew these guys personally, so sadly I do. And you-"

Nina was cut off by knocks to her door which made her jump since she was so immersed in the conversation. She went to answer the door, seeing that it was Amber who'd arrived, along with Jerome there with her.

"Neens!" Amber squealed as she hugged her friend's neck. She laid eyes on William in the apartment. As she let go of Nina and was followed in the apartment by Jerome, who was carrying her bags, she gasped, "Woah. Who is this hunkalicious man-babe?"

"Amber?" Jerome pouted.

"Sorry, Jerry. Mr. Muscles is just six feet of heaven right here."

"Amber!"

"Sorry. Sorry. I'll keep my comments to myself."

Jerome sighed. "I don't know if that's better or worse."

William looked embarrassed as Nina introduced him, "This is William Floyd."

"Look at you moving on from Fabian," Amber cheered.

"N-no," Nina replied. "We're not..."

"But he's in your apartment," Amber stated matter-of-factly. "Is he like the cable guy or something?"

"No, it's actually more interesting than that."

~~~~~

Nina ended up going into the entire explanation of how she went to the party and when she returned she found William, as well as William's story which he just admitted to her with William adding in a few details she missed. Amber and Jerome listened intently.

"Woah," both Amber and Jerome said at the same time.

"Well, it's good not to meet a creep who's taken the elixir of life," Amber optimistically pointed out. "Rufus and Victor were crazy. Victor not as much, but I didn't like him."

"So, is this like a new mystery that's starting? Sibuna thing?" Jerome asked.

"It probably won't come to that," Nina responded. "I'm just housing him."

"Have you told anyone else?"

"No, I haven't. Just you guys."

Amber and Jerome glanced at eachother and nodded. Jerome replied, "Alright. The secret's safe with us."

"And now that all that's established," Amber declared, standing up, "William, if you'd excuse us, Jerome and I must talk to Nina."

"That sounded much more formal than I'd put it," Jerome admitted. "Oh well. Let's get this done."

Amber pulled Nina into Nina's room, closing the door and locking it. She sat Nina down on the bed as she folded her arms and stood beside Jerome. Nina waited for the interrogation, conversation, accusation-whatever it would be-to begin.

"Did Fabian break your heart?" Amber suddenly asked.

Nina nodded. "Of course."

"Do I need to speak with him? Because I can go over there and-"

Before things escalated, Nina interrupted, "-it's unnecessary. Things are over between us; they have been for two years."

"Two years which have worried the crap out of me," Amber responded. "I knew you guys were on again-off again in high school, so I kind of expected that with this. Over in America, I couldn't stop thinking about how you two could've possibly gotten back together. Though you guys possibly hadn't, and it was over completely. And apparently the latter seems to be what's happened in this case. But I only wanted to speak to you about it in person, which is why I'm discussing all this now."

"And why is Jerome here?"

"He picked me up from the airport, and I figured he could just take the time to also help in this situation since he's...previously had problems of his own."

That was Jerome's cue. "What's going on between you and Fabian is the exact thing that happened between me and Joy. I broke up with Joy, she was upset and angry and distraught for the years we hadn't seen eachother. And when we finally did see eachother ten years later, we weren't just 'happy-go-lucky' buds who forgave eachother instantly."

Nina swallowed, but she didn't reply. She thought about the potential event of encountering Fabian again and how'd she react. She honestly didn't know. She didn't know how she'd feel, what she'd say, what she'd do-it was all just a bundle of not knowing, and it didn't feel good to not know.

Amber spoke since Nina didn't. She glanced at Jerome and back at Nina as she said, "We don't want that to be you. Remember how you felt during that reunion ten years ago when you found out Fabian was dating Mara? And how I felt when I found out Alfie was dating Willow? Well, imagine a feeling a thousand times worse."

Nina's heart dropped. She didn't want to imagine it-to think how she'd feel when it actually happened, if she ever encountered Fabian again.

"How do I prevent that from happening?" Nina asked.

"Well," Jerome answered, "two years is a better time span before you gain closure rather than ten years, so you're going to talk to him soon. And you'll have two people with you."

Nina sighed. With Amber here, and this obviously being an Amber-idea, she knew she couldn't back out of this. There was no point in refusing and retaliating with all the debates in her head.

Nina just nodded.

~~~~~
Nina is going to talk to Fabian! I wonder how that's gonna go...

Anyway, how do you think that talk will go, whenever it happens?

What are your thoughts on William's story?