Author's Note: I'm well aware it's Valentine's Day, but I can guarantee you that this one-shot has nothing to do with Valentine's Day. I personally think Valentine's Day is a bit overrated. I don't know about you, but I'm going to spend my Valentine's Day aka. Single Awareness Day by eating Chinese take-out and watching the new episode of Glee. This one-shot is dedicated to my awesome friends and amazingly talented authors, The Bird's Nest (who originally suggested about making a sequel to my one-shot "Haunted") and Renachi. This one-shot follows up to the events in "Haunted" although it can perfectly stand alone, so you can read this without reading the Haunted first. I got inspired by the songs "Back to December" by Taylor Swift and "Need You Now" by Lady Antebellum and basically just took some elements from both of the songs and mixed them up.

This is rated T due to some swear words. Has been edited minorly.

Disclaimer: I don't own the Winx Club.

Need You Now

"Picture perfect memories scattered all around the floor.
Reaching for the phone 'cause I can't fight it anymore.
And I wonder if I ever cross your mind?
For me it happens all the time.

It's a quarter after one, I'm all alone and I need you now.
Said I wouldn't call but I've lost all control and I need you now.
And I don't know how I can do without.
I just need you now."

- Lady Antebellum

Flashes of memories flooded to Riven's anxious mind, conjuring vivid images and flashbacks of him getting fumed, overreacted and jealous to a certain point he had started yelling at his beloved girlfriend, Musa. He really hadn't meant to hurt her or direct his frustration at her. In fact, he had been trying to be the ideal boyfriend to her for once – heck, he had even gone shopping to buy her some nice flowers, but was it really his fault that the sales assistants only took the so-called real money and not the precious stones, which probably were far more valuable than the money in paper anyways? Because of that little conflict he had been late for Musa's appointment, and that in turn had made him appear sour. Technically, the sales assistants were to blame for all this shit he was going through.

His head hurt like hell and no matter how hard he tried to avoid the images from forming they would always re-surface. Hidden and deeply buried emotions were gnawing his mind, slowly tearing him apart like scissors tearing a fine piece of paper. He felt lost and grieved but his eyes, which were vacant and numb refused to shed a single tear as his hollow and empty heart felt like it was being pierced with something as sharp as prickling thorns in a rose. He wanted desperately to do something to stop the pain. He wanted to find a remedy to his misery, but found all those endless thoughts that ran through his mind only to further his head ache.

To sum it up, he felt guilty as hell and that only lead to his unresolved frustration, grief and anger.

Riven propped himself up into a sitting position, reaching for something on his bedside table. A photo. One of his hands went to casually rest under his masculine chin while the other hand was firmly holding the old photo he had taken with him to the Earth. He was caressing the small photo softly with his thumb, memorizing and treasuring the captured memory of it. It was one of the many photos of Musa in her sophomore year when she still used to have her trademark pigtails that he had come to adore. Not that he would admit that to anyone.

Though, she no longer was the same girl with short pigtails, tank tops, baggy clothes and I-am-too-cool-for-you attitude. Tank tops and baggy clothes were now replaced with more fitting clothes, which exposed more of her sensitive, feminine sides. As for her pigtails, she had decided to grow them longer, causing her beautiful midnight blue hair to now cascade down freely past her waist. Courtesy of her fashionista friend Stella, of course. Other than that, she hadn't really changed that much, except for the fact that she had gained a lot of maturity along her journey.

Something that Riven was unfortunately lacking a bit to say the least.

Riven then heaved a long sigh and tried once again to push the thoughts to the back of his mind. He wondered if even a flashing thought of him crossed her mind. Probably not. He placed the photo on back the bedside table as his gaze drifted to his phone that was placed precariously beside the photo. He reached towards the phone lazily and glanced at the screen, a frown marring his sharp features as he tried to look at the tiny, digital numbers.

It was a quarter after one.

He wanted to groan. This pathetic thing called mourning had to come to a halt, he thought determinedly. He needed to see her right now because he simply couldn't take it anymore.

Thus, turning words into action, he leapt impulsively out of his bed and grabbed his jacket hastily from the arm chair where he had put it earlier and walked briskly out of the apartment in search of his girlfriend hoping he'd succeed this one time.

There he was, swallowing his pride and standing in front of the Love and Pet house waiting impatiently for someone to open the door. He had already knocked on the door twice, and as the seconds passed slowly (which seemed like an eternity to him) he was starting to get frustrated and regret the sudden impulse of coming. "This was a fucking stupid idea," he muttered darkly under his breath, only to be jolted from his thoughts at a sudden noise. He could feel the adrenaline rushing through his veins when he heard small footsteps closing in on, and his heart dropped when he saw the person opening the door.

"Musa?" he croaked, his voice uncharacteristically hoarse.

Boiling tension built up between them within seconds as they both fell silent. Their eyes locked briefly, smoldering violet eyes meeting the pools of swirling blue. Storm clouds clearly visible in both sets of eyes. Shaking his head, Riven tore his gaze away from her eyes and took the advantage of the silence by taking in her appearance. She was beautiful as always: her skin was porcelain pale, her rosy lips were pressed into a tight line, and her navy blue eyes that were framed with thick eyelashes were squinted in slight confusion and annoyance.

"What are you doing here?" Musa finally sputtered out, bitter lacing her voice. When she got no answer, she quickly glanced up at her watch and her navy eyes widened slightly. "It's almost two am in the morning!"

He scoffed. "I'm aware."

She gave him a pointed look, her eyes shooting draggers. "Shouldn't you be like sleeping?"

"Shouldn't you?" he asked bluntly, turning the tables at her. He could also tell that she hadn't been sleeping either by the puffy bags underneath her eyes that seemed to have lost their usual spark.

The fairy of music huffed in frustration, ignoring his question. "Again, why are you here?" she asked, her limp arms folded neatly in front of her chest.

"You didn't answer my question."

"You didn't answer my question," she said hotly, her eyes narrowing into a heated glare. "And I believe I was the one who asked the question first, so it's only logical that you get to answer first," she added, stating matter-of-factly, which reminded Riven of a certain pink-haired fairy of technology.

"Fine," he grumbled defeated and swallowed the forming lump that had taken place in his throat. He then started to rack his mind to come up with an apology that wouldn't backfire him. "I guess I came to apologize for the earlier. Musa, I–"

"So . . ." she cut him off, placing a delicate finger under her chin as if she was thinking really hard. "Let me this straight. You are saying that you came here to apologize for being an inconsiderate, arrogant asshole, right?"

His eyebrows were raised in consternation as he felt a twinge of pain shoot down his spine at her words, but he didn't let her see that. He didn't give a damn what other people thought or said about him, but hearing those words from Musa made him flinch inwardly as the brutal truth poked him straight to the core. But then again, he couldn't really blame her after what he had done.

"I guess . . . yeah."

Musa let out a rather melodramatic sigh with a roll of her eyes. "I appreciate your very kind and thoughtful effort," she said, her voice heavily dripping with sarcasm, "but too bad, that it's too late for your pitiful apologies," she concluded bitterly as her hands moved to the sides of the door frame like she was about to close the door in front of him. "Goodbye, Riven. Have a nice day."

Suddenly the realization hit him like a ton of bricks. "No, damn it! Wait!" Riven began off hastily, gripping onto the door frame before she could close the door and locked his eyes with hers in an intense stare. "Please, just hear me out. I'm sorry that I lost my temper and was not supportive enough. . . you. . . you. . . just make it really hard for me sometimes."

Oh, fuck.

"Excuse me?" she snapped sharply, her voice raising an octave as her patience was wearing thin. "Are you blaming me now, for everything bad you have done?"

"No!" he exclaimed indignantly as he let out a frustrated sigh he wasn't even aware of holding. "Look, I'm not trying to pin the blame on you, okay? I know this is all my fault, and that is exactly why I came to apologize to you," he said, looking straight into her deep blue, livid eyes.

"I'm sorry I was being a jerk to you – and was an inconsiderate, arrogant asshole as you put it in the words – while your audition," he said with a roll of his eyes when he named the things she had said. "I shouldn't have yelled at you, you're right about–"

"Do you have any idea what you've been putting me through lately?" she said interrupting him again, her eyes glazed and voice cracked.

Her anger had vanished away momentarily, but another wave of sadness had replaced the stormy, blinding anger of hers, causing Riven to grow more perplexed. He simply didn't get the women. Their mind was twisted and their emotions seemed to be changing constantly at the speed of light. But that's what all the women were like, right? Moody, manipulative, hard to understand, and all in all complex.

Nervous, he ran his hand through his spiked hair while answering. "I have already told you that I'm sorry, okay? Life hasn't been exactly treating me well either just so you know," he muttered, trying to keep his voice as neutral as possible.

"Why does everything have to be about you, Riven?" she asked tentatively.

"Musa," he said with every bit of calmness and confident he could muster as he let out a sigh. He was tempted to take her petite hands in his own, but decided against it at the last minute. "This is not about me. It's about us. It has always been. It pains me to see you hurt especially because of me, and I'm genuinely sorry for that. I really am. I promise what I did won't happen again . . . I mean that's if you forgive me," he said and paused for a moment, suddenly interested in his shoes.

"But if you can't forgive me, I understand. If you don't want me back, I will still understand. I guess I just wanted to let you know that . . . that I would do anything to get you back despite the fact that I can't have you."

Riven felt suddenly lightheaded after confessing his true feelings towards her and was rather happy to get it all off of his chest. It probably sounded really mushy (at least to Riven) but he had sincerely meant every word he had said. Not expecting anything, he was suddenly embraced with warmth, and a wave of relief flooded to his system when he felt Musa's small, delicate arms finding their way around his neck.

"You're wrong, Riven" she said softly, her tone not sounding sad or angry anymore.

"Huh?"

"You can have me. You have always had," she spoke quietly.

"Wait," he pressed in with confusion. "Does that mean I'm forgiven?" he asked, hoping not to sound too hopeful as he felt a lost spark of hope traveling up and down his spine.

"Yes," she said. "But you have to promise me something."

"Anything."

"Anything?" she asked suspiciously, a fine eyebrow raising up slightly.

"Anything," he repeated with more confident in his voice. And it was true because he knew he would do anything to get her back.

"You have to work on trusting me."

He groaned. "I thought we were done with the complaints."

"I'm not complaining," she protested, giving a light smack on his shoulder. "You know what I mean."

"I know, I know," he said. "But seriously though, I trust you. It's him I don't trust," he said implying to Jason Queen, her music director. "I mean, I swear if he ever even dares to lay a bloody finger on you, I'll chop his head off and . . ." he trailed off, slowly realizing what he had said and cursed under his breath, wanting to facepalm himself right there and then. Why did he have to mess up everything by sounding possessive and hot-headed again?

But then the sound of her snickering took him by surprise.

"You're impossible."

He let out a whoosh of air as he was relieved for her not to start another argument. Slowly, a smirk started to make its way to his lips. "I know, but that's why you love me, right?" he drawled teasingly, placing a lingering kiss on her neck and felt her relax almost immediately under his touch.

"Right," she murmured dreamily and leaned her cheek against his shoulder, inhaling deeply. She took in the fond, nostalgic scent of his that resembled her of sweet apples with a hint of enticing scent of something acerbic, like lemonade. "Right, indeed."

The flashbacks of bitter, cold winter days were slowly fading away and starting from this day, Riven vowed to never let go of the girl in his arms ever again.

Author's Note: I used the 'bitter, cold winter day' as a metaphor to the bad days if you were wondering 'cause it clearly wasn't winter in Gardenia when they had had the fight in season four. Other than that, Happy Valentine's Day! I hope everyone's doing fine. Oh, and I really hope Riven's character wasn't too OOC. I really tried my best to keep him in character.

Reviews are always nice, wink wink.

- Eve