Here it is - my promised Stella and Riven story. It won't be long, only around five chapters but I promise those chapters will be fairly lengthy. And as fulfilling in romance as I can make them.

Also, a small warning that future chapters will contain some gore.

And now that I have nothing more to say, happy reading!

Chapter 1: Annihilation

Stella found herself running. She didn't know where she was headed or what exactly she was running from, but the moment she'd regained consciousness and heard that ear-splitting caw, she knew she had to run.

Racing past the hardly recognizable school gates, she dared a glance back at Alfea. The building lay broken and blackened. Everything was covered in ash. The trees in the gardens had been charred to nothing more than shrivelled trunks and gnarled branches. There were giant voids in the school walls, some spewing fire, others as dark as the sky. Furniture flung out from what was presumably an explosion was sprawled across the quad. Embers glowed in the burnt grass. And there, behind the shattered window Stella had woken up facing, a figure moved, letting loose another caw and causing Stella to run harder.

She still had no idea where she was going, but stopping to think was like embracing doom. She just had to get away from Alfea and whatever lurked within the building before it came after her. It wasn't a fairy like she'd thought upon waking up. The creature's wings were too huge and its form too bulky and angular. Then there was its screech – a hellish sound like no fairy could produce, even if her wings were being torn from her back.

Panting as she ran, Stella wished she could close her eyes. Magix was in ruins. She'd glimpsed Lake Roccaluce bounding past it, only to find a film of ash floating on top of it and fires on nearby tears. And when she'd looked up at the sky, it offered no hope, veiled by grey thunderclouds, rendering everything dark and even more desolate. Stella felt like she no longer recognized the realm. It was drained of colour, the orange from the many fires the only sort prevailing. The only sound the crackling of those same flames. Until that ear-splitting caw filled the air.

When Stella heard it, she froze in fear. The creature was at her back – she sensed it – and it was heading straight for her. She could hear the loud flapping of its wings, feel its eyes steady on her back, and suddenly, could see its shadow on the ground by her side. In the next instant, she was under that shadow and the creature was diving for her.

It cawed once again, just metres from her neck and she flinched, being deafened but at last breaking out of her frozen state. Then before she knew what she was doing, she instinctively spun around, firing the strongest attack she'd ever conjured at the creature. A stream of yellow light shot out from her palms, striking the creature at its core to send it hurtling backwards. It gave a violent pain-filled shriek and glowing a blinding orange, it fell to the ground, where it writhed for a few moments as it let out the last of its caws and screeches.

Stella watched, breathing thickly, as the creature stilled. She'd never seen anything like it before. Heavily clad in metallic armour, it was at least twice her height, with thick, black, crow-like wings. A belt of daggers circled its waist and under its right hand was a sword, seeming sharp enough to slice cleanly through a tree trunk. Needing something to defend herself with now that she was low on magic, Stella went over to pick up the sword. She moved it towards herself using her foot, careful not to cut the underside of the slippers she was wearing, and then lifted it. It was a little heavy, but its silver hilt was small enough to fit in one hand.

"What? You're not going to retrieve the daggers?"

"Riven," Stella gasped, having whirled around at break-neck speed with her sword poised and ready to swing, chill bumps covering every inch of her body. She was surprised to see him, but at the same time profoundly relieved to realise she wasn't the only one around. "I never thought I'd be glad to see you."

He rolled his eyes. "What you should be glad for right now is that thing's lack of magical power, or you'd have been knocked out long before you heard its screech. And if that were the case and I turned out to be the last person you laid eyes on, then I'm sure your statement wouldn't apply."

Stella could only glower at him as he stepped towards the creature and crouched down to undo its belt of daggers. She hadn't expected him to praise her for perfect attack, no, but she'd thought he'd be a little less hostile, considering the circumstances. At least he'd acknowledged that she wasn't among those who'd die happy after seeing his face.

Riven was slick with releasing the fastening on the belt's buckle and as he grunted, hoisting the creature up to pull the belt away, Stella's gaze snagged on the way his muscles stood out against his skin. The way they flexed as he righted himself. She was still staring at his body when he cleared his throat.

"Like what you see?" he asked, and Stella looked up to find him smirking at her and within a blink, she'd turned a deep, deep red. "I'm starting to think that, maybe," Riven continued, "you would have died happy if I'd been the last person you looked at."

Stella's brow shot up. "And I'm starting to think you would've gone into mourning after my death."

Riven scoffed. "Yes. I don't think I would've ever been the same."

They held each other's gazes for a moment, good-humour shining in their eyes in spite of their dire situation. That's when Stella realised his playfulness had only been to mask his true emotions. This – the fact that they were virtually abandoned in an annihilated world – was taking a toll on him too. "What are you doing here?" she asked finally.

"Looking for you," Riven answered and when she looked surprised, he elaborated. "Did you really think your friends would abandon you? The second they noticed you weren't with them, they began a search. I just happened to be dragged into it along with the rest of the guys." His tone grew fiercer then. "We would've left this hell hole by now if it hadn't been for you. Why the hell weren't you with the girls?"

"I don't know," Stella snapped, irritation flaring beneath her skin. "I think I was knocked out by whatever happened at Alfea. I woke up lying in broken glass on the quad, surrounded by things from our dorm, only they were all burnt. No one was around but that creature, and as soon as I heard it screech, I started running. And Riven, it's not my fault you're here. You didn't have to join the search. I wouldn't have expected you to."

"I'll keep that in mind next time," he growled as his eyes narrowed into a glare.

Stella glared back, matching the intensity of his gaze till she noticed that Riven seemed to be revelling in her exuding hate towards him. She felt like blasting him with an orb of magic, but fortunately for him she didn't have the energy. Why did he hate her so much? She had never done anything to him, except maybe offer some fashion advice, which he'd no doubt taken offence to. He just seemed to be constantly pissed off at her, as if something about her mere presence got on his nerves. She wanted to ask what it was but this was no time to discuss their hatred. There were more important questions to be asked.

"Where's everyone else?"

Riven dropped his glare, then looked away before answering. "They're searching in and around the city, in case you made it part way to the evacuation point and then got hurt. But Tecna's in the mall, at our hideout. She's trying to find the location to where everyone was evacuated to."

"They were evacuated?" Stella's eyes splayed and she looked even more fearful than before.

Riven nodded. "If you haven't noticed, there's nothing more than wreckage here. Those things – " he gestured to the creature on the ground " – are attacking Magix and they've destroyed everything, including all the schools and most of the city, which is why we need to leave. And the sooner that happens, the better, or we're going to end up losing our lives."

He stepped forward then, violent eyes boring into hers, and her heart started pounding for no reason she could understand. It beat harder and harder the closer he came and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop holding his gaze. He was towering over her now, staring down at her with that perfectly neutral and stoic expression of his. Then his hands were lingering either side of her waist. She saw him smirk on the edge of her vision, and she stiffened visibly, nervously awaiting the end of whatever he was doing as his fingers began to graze over the fabric of her nightdress.

The end came suddenly, in one swift motion, as he wrapped the belt he'd just retrieved around her waist and closed the buckle.

"They'll come in handy," he said, referring to the daggers on the belt.

Stella didn't know what to say; she couldn't think past standing so close to him – she could barely breathe – so she just nodded. And as Riven stepped away, she realised why he hadn't kept the daggers for himself. He already had a belt exactly like the one he'd just tied around her and a sword similar to her own, which only meant that he'd fought and defeated another creature. The dirt and rips on his suit were proof of his duel.

Stella couldn't help but wonder then how many of these creatures there were, or where they'd come from. They were nothing like the monsters she'd faced before – slimy, amorphous, possessing magic more often than not. These things were capable of true destruction, as evidenced by the state of Alfea. She hoped desperately that now that she was with Riven that he'd protect her should another creature come after them because the entire magical dimension knew she couldn't use a sword or defend herself without magic. And she had no idea when her energy would return since the sun seemed to have retired.

"Let's go," Riven said, already heading east towards the city.

Stella silently fell into step behind him, clenching her sword to keep her hands from trembling. Her gaze strayed to the forest around them as she walked, and upon sensing no scuttling or scurrying within the trees, she felt her fear grow tenfold. Most of the forest just looked like endless darkness, almost as if it were a reflection of the grey sky overhead. Stella was convincing herself that this was why she couldn't sense any life, not because all the animals had fled after suspecting danger, when a sudden explosion of light caught her attention.

What seemed like a fiery shooting star was falling in distance, leaving a stream of black smoke in its wake.

"Shit," Riven cursed as he traced its path with squinted eyes. The meteor was going to land somewhere at the heart of Magix City, and it didn't take long for him to figure out that its landing place had been predestined. His jaw hardened in determination and then he was running, faster than he'd ever run before.

Stella stood confused, watching after him. Surely the objective should've been to stay away from the falling meteor and not go running after it, but she knew Riven wasn't stupid and that he must have been heading its way for a reason. A reason, judging by his speed, that had to do with the rest of the team. Who he'd said were searching in the city…

Allowing herself a single second to quell the churning in her stomach, Stella took off, following rapidly in Riven's path. Her legs burned as she charged ahead but she didn't slow down. Not until the site of the meteor collision was in focus.

Although by then, it was too late.

The meteor had fallen directly on top of Magix mall and even if the building wasn't half crushed and being consumed by flames, Stella knew after seeing its former destruction that she wouldn't have recognized it even though the mall was her second home in the realm, after her dorm room at Alfea.

She drew closer to the building, where Riven stood less than a meter away from the flames closing off the entrance. She didn't understand why his eyes were filled with horror till she remembered more of he'd said, and suddenly her chest felt tight.

"Tecna...We have to get her out of there!"

Riven threw his head over his shoulder to look at Stella. "There's no way inside! There's fire everywhere!"

"She'll choke to death, Riven! We can't just stand here!"

Riven's throat was dry. He trained for these kinds of situations yet none of the tactics he could recall were of any use. He wasn't sure if he could do anything at all. Fire licked the building ferociously, blocking every entrance, every blasted hole. And from what little views the glass windows offered, he saw that most of the interior walls had collapsed; it would be impossible to get to the hideout where Tecna was.

"The back entrance," Stella shouted over the hissing flames. "The fire hasn't spread to the back of the mall yet; we could make it in. Come on!"

"No." Riven grabbed her arm before she could start rounding the building. "We won't make it back out. The fire will have spread by then."

"I don't care! I need to save her!"

"I get that," Riven said. "But you're being rash. You're low on magic, you haven't fully recovered from being unconscious, and just look at this place – there's no way you could survive those flames or make it past the collapsing walls inside without getting crushed. There's no point putting your own life at risk for her."

"No point?" Stella gaped at Riven in disbelief. "She's my friend! And she would've been in there by now if I were the one inside."

"Only if she had magic," Riven said calmly. "You don't, so there's nothing either of us can do." He let go of Stella's arm then and met her pained gaze with a sympathetic one of his own that he hadn't even known he could muster. "Look, she had our hero-equipment with her at the hideout, and you know as well as I do that Tecna's smart. She would've used it to protect herself. She must be fine."

Stella sobbed, tears leaking from her eyes to land on the ash underfoot. "It'll be my fault if she doesn't make it out. If she dies."

"You couldn't help being knocked out. And anyway, we don't know if she's in there. She could've headed out in the time we got here."

"And it's a good thing I did."

Both Stella and Riven spun around to find Tecna standing before them. Apart from a few scratches on her arms, she was completely unscathed, holding onto her hand-held computer tightly.

"Tecna!" Stella jumped on her friend and as she squeezed her, she realised the relief she felt now was a whole universe more profound than it had been when she'd first seen Tecna after she'd escaped being trapped in the Omega Dimension.

Tears lingered in Tecna's eyes as she hugged Stella back while holding her computer out to the side to keep it from getting crushed between them. She hadn't known if she'd see Stella again, considering death was more probable than finding an undamaged structure in this hell Magix had become, but now that she was in her arms, hope didn't seem that illogical to maintain. If Stella could survive on her own, then they could definitely do it as a team and maybe even get to safety.

Stella pulled back from Tecna after she stopped sobbing, and when she turned to face Riven again her relief was quickly overshadowed by shock. She stood thunderstruck. "Are you smiling?"

"Yes." Riven didn't hesitate saying it. "Tecna's our only shot at finding the refuge where everyone's been taken to."

But Stella saw through that. He was just as glad to see Tecna alive and well as she was.

"So, what happened? You were in the mall when we left."

Tecna nodded. "I left to find a better signal. Luckily, those bastards didn't destroy the transmission tower as well as they think they did. I was there when the meteor came down."

"I'm taking it that flask of water is the only thing from our supplies you took with you?"

Tecna gave an apologetic frown. "Unfortunately."

"Damn it," Riven spat, glancing at the burning mall. "Those stun-guns would've come in handy. Especially when you girls run out of winx."

"I'm already out of winx," Stella mumbled, but Riven didn't hear her.

"The guys took some swords and shields with them," Tecna said, thinking back on it. "But you're right, we're going to need stun-guns. We should regroup then get to a weaponry shop."

"Here's hoping those creatures haven't taken all the weapons," Stella said as the three of them headed to look for the others.

"You know, for the fairy of the sun, you're not very optimistic," Riven snarled as he moved some large cinder blocks blocking the only fire-free way to the square, where Tecna had said the team were mostly likely to be.

"But I thought you liked pessimism?" Stella retorted with an innocent smile.

Riven glared daggers at her as she sauntered past him along the path he'd just cleared. He followed with reluctance, one hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword in his waistband. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand it if she said another word. He'd run out of patience with her after she'd thrown her tantrum about saving Tecna and then brought forth the waterworks. Fortunately, Stella seemed too caught up staring at what had become of Magix to even open her mouth.

He sidled past her to walk beside Tecna, who was single-handedly typing on her small computer. "Located anything yet?"

Tecna glanced at Riven before shaking her head. "I'm trying to get a holographic map of the realm so I can see if there's an area with an accumulation of beings, but the server I usually hack to get the map isn't responding. It's likely that its headquarters building is destroyed."

"Isn't there another way you can locate dense populations?"

"Yes, by sensing the population's concentrated energy. But that's the first thing I tried, and I got nothing."

"Of course you got nothing. The council must have masked everyone's energy to stop the creatures from tracking them."

"Or Magix is really deserted. It's possible that the evacuation was to another realm."

"In that case, we need to stop wasting time locating the refuge–"

"–and concentrate on getting out of here," Tecna finished and Riven gave a single nod. "I'll need a stronger signal to help with that, so I can establish an inter-realm connection and ask for rescue airships. The ones at our airports are no doubt in ruins like the ones at Red Fountain. And it would be foolish to assume after looking at this–" Tecna spread her free arm to take in the annihilated city "–that the Portal system is still working."

Riven gave another nod, then continued walking in silence, carefully scanning the wreckage for any movement. He glanced back at Stella twice to make sure she was still with them and both times he was surprised by how numb she looked, how overwhelmed by fear and shock.

It took a lot longer to get to the square from the mall that it would have on any other day. Riven had expected as much. They'd had to stop several times to make sure the coast was clear of any creatures and several more times to move smashed cars, blown walls and piles of metal out the way. But when they finally arrived, Riven immediately caught a glimpse of two heads of dark brown hair disappearing around a corner.

"Layla and Nabu." Tecna pointed as Stella stared in their direction.

Riven quickly picked up a piece of wood and gently tapped it against a metal counter sticking out from a nearby shop's shattered window. He wanted to create enough noise to get their attention but not enough to alert a creature. On the third tap, Nabu peeked around the bend he'd just walked past. And Riven saw his friend's shoulders visibly slump in relief when he realised that the noise hadn't come from a threat.

"Hey, you found her," Nabu said, coming to stop in front of Stella to give her a hug before leaving her to Layla's death hold.

"For better or for worse," Riven muttered and Stella twisted in Layla's grip to glare at him.

"Any luck finding the refuge?" Layla asked once she'd let Stella go.

"No. We're not looking for it anymore," Tecna explained. "The new plan is to simply leave Magix. We need to get to someplace that may still be online so I can call in airships from another realm. The signal on my computer keeps going."

"But what if the refuge is somewhere in Magix – underground maybe? – and we can get to it faster?"

"I haven't been able to locate it, so unless you or Stella can sense something–"

"I've already tried. I felt nothing."

"Then we stick to the new plan," Riven concluded.

"Wait," Nabu said and everyone turned to him. "You've ignored the obvious solution. Stella could just transport us out of here."

"I can't," Stella said, almost angrily. "I used most of my energy in an attack and I don't know when I'll get it back." She glanced up at the grey sky to point out the absence of the sun.

"What? I was counting on that."

The group turned to find Sky walking up to them wearing a frown, with Flora close behind. They both had numerous tears in their clothes and with one glance at the silver sword Sky carried, it became clear that they'd encountered a creature.

"Won't your magic come back after a while?" Sky continued to ask.

Before Stella could reply, Flora threw herself on her. "I'm so glad you're okay!" she gushed, and Stella felt tears drip onto her collarbone.

"Stella's energy doesn't come back in time like ours does," Layla told Sky. "She needs the sun to restore it."

"So how do we get to safety now?" Flora asked, swiping at her tears as she looked at Tecna for an answer.

"We're going to get online and call in help from another realm. But first, we have to find a weaponry shop and arm ourselves."

"And I think we should find a clothing shop on the way," Riven said, glancing around the loosely formed circle the group stood in. "I can't take you girls seriously in your pyjamas or Sky with half his suit missing."

The girls flushed at Riven's comment, looking down at their scanty and not-quite-opaque clothing. Then once Layla had gotten over her embarrassment, she took Nabu's hand and gestured towards the south end of the square. "There's an ordnance shop downtown. Let's go before those creatures pass through here."

"What about the others?" Stella asked just as the group started to leave. "Bloom, Musa, Helia, Timmy, Brandon?"

Flora glanced at Riven. "You haven't told her?"

"I can tell her now," he sighed, turning to Stella, who'd gone from looking confused to looking anxious. "The short version is that we lost them. After we assembled to look for you, they were separated from us when a team of soldiers ran past, trying to move us along to the evacuation point. We tried looking for them but in the end, we decided it was best to spread out to find you and–"

"So they could be dead?!" Stella cut Riven off, sounding horrified and on the verge of tears.

"Potentially."

"Tecna!" Flora gaped at her friend. "Don't listen to her, Stella. They could be safe at the refuge."

"Like it's possible they went to the evacuation point without her," Riven said beneath his breath.

Flora had just turned to angrily gape at him when that all too familiar caw filled the air and her attention snagged on a street to the right, blazing with red-hot flames. A creature stood in the middle, beady eyes staring at them through its helmet, wings spread ready to take flight.

There you have it-chapter one. And the real reason half the group isn't included is because I find it impossible to deal with so many characters.

Anyway, please tell me what you think. I'm really curious to know what you guys made of this. Critique is welcome.