I've rewritten this chapter, and the plot has changed slightly. So even if you've read it before I advise reading again. Please review, thanks.

xxMazzy

Musa awoke early the next morning. She was still very tired, but she had too much on her mind to fall back asleep. She looked around the now nearly empty room and at the five suitcases at the bottom of her bed. Tecna was still lightly snoring away on the other side of the room.

"Wow. I'm leaving today. After three years..."

She sat up and reached down her bed to the smallest suitcase on the top of the pile. She unzipped it and stared at the photo frame lying on top of all the clothes and sheets of handwritten song lyrics. It was a picture of her and Riven. They'd taken it in a photo booth on one of their dates- she was sitting on his knee and beaming at the camera, he was kissing her cheek with his arms around her waist. "I am never going to see him again" she thought. She didn't even have feel like rubbing the tears away.

Carefully, she placed the photograph back in its place in the suitcase and zipped it up closed again. Then she sat back up in bed, closed her eyes and remembered how Riven's kiss had felt when they were sitting in the same place last night. More tears escaped. Stella and Brandon were going to Solaria together to make preparations for their wedding and their taking over of the kingdom. Sky had invited Bloom back to Eraklyon and they were going on the same ship as Stella and Brandon. Layla was going back to Tides with Nabu to have their private wedding as they could only invite members of the family. Tecna and Timmy were from the same realm anyway and they were going back together to visit Timmy's parents. Flora and Helia's realms weren't far from each other so they were going to Flora's realm first to pick up her little sister Rose and then they were taking her to Helia's realm to visit Helia's little brother. Musa sighed again. It really was her that was always left out. Riven was going to Eraklyon with Bloom and Sky. Her own boyfriend wasn't even going back with her and she was left to go home by herself; back to her lonely father who was still mourning Musa's mother after 15 years and had a bit of a drink problem.

Suddenly Musa jumped as her cell phone started beeping. Reluctantly, she climbed out of bed and went over to pick it up. It was a text from Riven- she couldn't help but smile as she read it.

'Heya Musa. We're off now. Bloom and Stella told me to tell you they've left you all presents in the lounge. We have to leave early to get to Eraklyon while it's still light. I won't be able to text you again when we leave Magix, and so this is my final goodbye. I just wanted you to know this. I have loved you ever since the first day I met you. I loved the way you blushed and shuffled your feet every time you saw me, I loved the way you acted tough and didn't let me see your true feelings. I loved the way that you still believed in me even when everyone else had given up. And now, I love you even more. I love the way you speak nervously every time we meet, I love the way you smile every time we speak. I love the way you laugh at the simplest things when I'm around. Basically, I love you, and I will never stop loving you. Ever. This may be goodbye for now, but I will come and get you. I don't know when, but that's a promise. I love you. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx'

It was the sweetest text that he had ever sent her. Pity it had to be them parting to cause him to send it. She gave a heavy sigh and decided to go check out the presents that Bloom and Stella had left, so she walked through into the lounge. It looked so empty, exactly like it did on their first day at Alfea. The only things- other than the furniture- left were ten extravagantly wrapped gifts on the coffee table. She strode up and picked up the two in metallic red wrapping paper with deep blue ribbons, that were obviously meant to be for her. Reading the tags attached, she discovered she was right- one from Bloom and one from Stella. She opened the present from Stella first. Inside there was a golden photo frame with a picture of her and Stella in it. Musa reminisced the day this had been taken; an unusually quiet one at Alfea, but it was sunny and they'd sat outside on the grass and Tecna had taken a few odd photos. Everyone always said this picture was lovely- captured at just the right moment where they both looked beautiful and happy. She lifted out the photo frame to find another smaller yet also beautifully wrapped box. She put the photo down on the table and opened the smaller box: inside, was a silver necklace with a red crystal heart shape dangling from it. "It's beautiful," Musa whispered. She put Stella's gifts back into their box and proceeded to open Bloom's. Bloom's present also contained two gifts. One was a pair of rainbow striped knee high socks- Musa had always found this Earth novelty particularly amusing- and the other was a pair of small earrings to match Stella's necklace. Musa gave a sad smile at the thought of her friend and picked up the presents to take through into her room.

She found out that Tecna was now awake. "Good morning Musa! Sleep well?" she asked cheerfully, but with an underlying tone of sadness.

"Nah," Musa replied.

"Neither did I... here, I have something for you."

Tecna retrieved yet another wrapped gift from her bedside drawer and handed it to Musa. Musa unwrapped it to find a photograph that moved. It was of her and Tecna way back in their first year doing a stupid dance in their dormitory. Musa smiled at the memory. "How did you get this one to move?" she asked curiously.

"With a little help of magic and my new camera. I used a tricky past vision spell and had only a few seconds to get the camera ready quickly... It took me all night."

"Thank you. So much." Musa hugged Tecna with the photo still in her hand. "It'll be weird not having you around," she confessed, "I'm too used to waking up and seeing a mound of pink bed hair sticking out from under the duvet across the room."

"Haha... yes. I think everything will be so quiet on weekends. I'm used to having your music blasting whilst I work on new inventions over the web with Timmy."

Musa giggled. "Yes... I'm really gonna miss you."

They hugged again for about 5 minutes before Tecna handed Musa two more gifts. "Could you send these to Flora and Layla for me? I'm going to send Bloom and Stella's by magic post. It takes a long time, but they'll get them in about a month. I wouldn't ask it's just a lot quicker to send things to their realms from yours."

"Sure, Tecna." Musa replied.

The two of them got dressed in complete silence. What was there to say? Nothing seemed appropriate for the scenario. It was just depressing. Neither of them bothered with makeup or brushing their hair.

"At least one good thing about this," Tecna began, "Is that we can use magic wherever and whenever we want now. She clicked her fingers and her three suitcases vanished in a puff of purple smoke.

Musa laughed "True, true."

"Anyway I've really got to go, I said I'd meet Timmy at one," Tecna said as she checked the time on her digital watch. "Goodbye then, Musa. See you soon, yeah?" Tecna gave Musa one last smile and then whistled again, and she herself vanished in the same purple smoke.

Musa checked the time on her cell phone. She had one hour to make it to the inter-realm teleport before departures to The Harmonic Nebula closed for the day. "If I leave now, I can walk there," she said to herself. She gathered her bags and said goodbye to the dormitory. She left the room and walked down the corridors of Alfea for probably the last time. She made sure to look at all the paintings and look out every window to see all the views. Before she knew is she was at the gate. She turned around and sighed. "Goodbye Alfea." She then headed off to take her favourite scenic route to Downtown Magix.

"Musa!"

Musa looked up to see her dad rushing down the steps to greet her. "Dad..." she said with much less enthusiasm than her father.

"I have missed you so much!" he exclaimed as he hugged his only daughter.

"I missed you too Dad."

"Yes, it's good to have you back, princess."

Musa smiled and nodded and they began to walk back up the steps together.

"How have things been?" Musa asked.

"Pretty good actually. Nothing bad or strange has happened recently. Did you know Princess Galatea's gone to Alfea?"

"Yeah, I met her there." Musa replied. Princess Galatea was actually one of her distant relatives. After Musa's mother, the rightful heir to the throne, disgraced herself by running off with rock star boyfriend, Galatea's family had inherited the kingdom.

"I always said she'd do well."

"Yes... you did."

"Honey, you're not yourself. I thought you would be please to be home again. Whatever is the matter?"

"Come on Dad, I've just left my home of three years and all of my friends."

"Yes but aren't you glad to see you're old dad?"

"Of course I am. I just want to spend a few days alone if that's okay?"

Ho-Boe sighed. "Well if you really want to, you can. We're having dinner together tonight at your favourite sushi bar. I have a very special announcement that I'm sure you'll be very happy about!"

They entered their sizeable mansion home, sure it wasn't the palace, but Musa's Dad was one of the biggest rock stars in all of the realms and obviously they had quite a bit of money. Musa smelled the familiar smell. She sighed as she walked upstairs to go to her bedroom.

"Want some help with your bags?" her father asked.

Musa suddenly remembered she could actually use her magic now and stopped struggling to drag her cases along. "No thanks Dad, it's cool!" she laughed, dropped her cases and clicked her fingers. Red sparkles surrounded them and lifted them into the air, and they zoomed off upstairs themselves.

"You're wonderful," her Dad smiled and left her to be alone.

Her room was exactly the same as it always was- covered in band posters and filled with CD's, records and musical equipment, except it had also obviously been cleaned to welcome her home. She sighed and began unpacking her bags, which had landed on her bed. She put away all of her clothes into her wardrobe and all of her makeup, perfumes and jewellery on her dressing table. She put her stuffed toy rabbit on her bed along with two red heart shaped cushions and a small, red rug on the floor. She stuck all her paper junk on her bulletin board and put the photo of her and Riven on her bedside table. She put the photo from Stella and the picture from Tecna on her dressing table also. "I guess it's back to the simple life from now on," she sighed and picked up one of her old acoustic guitars, and began to play one of her favourite songs.

Like Musa's father had said, the two went to dinner at the sushi bar together at six. They sat on a table by the window and ordered their usual favourite dishes and two strawberry milkshakes.

"I haven't been here for years," Musa said.

"Well since it is a very special occasion, you returning home, I wanted to treat you tonight,

"You're the best, Dad," she smiled.

The waitress smiled at Musa as she set down their plates full of the best sushi in all the realms. "Thanks," Musa and her Dad both said in unison.

"Anything for you," the waitress said flirtatiously to Ho-Boe and walked off quickly, obviously making an extra effort to wiggle her bum as she did.

"She obviously recognises you," Musa laughed. Whilst her Dad hadn't been on tour for a few years now, he was still recognised by fans almost everywhere. After all, he was the lead singer and songwriter of a realm famous band.

"Yes haha," he replied. "Anyway Musa, you remember I said I had a special announcement to make?"

"Yeah?" Musa said as she began to fiddle with her sushi with the chopsticks.

"Well I thought that you never really had much of a childhood on board that bus, especially considering you ought to be the princess of the realm, and I'd like to treat you now you've graduated and I'm so proud of you..."

Musa began to interrupt "Dad, no..."

"Musa, let me finish. About eleven months ago now, I remember you told me about Stella's princess ball, and I couldn't help but think that you should have had one of those, and it's really my fault that you haven't. I have never really given you much as a princess, and I thought, well, next Saturday will be an even more special occasion than tonight, because I have organised a princess ball for my little princess!"

Musa was in a state of shock. She was going to have her very own princess ball, what could be better?

"Oh my God, Dad... thank you!" Musa exclaimed and hugged her father.

He hugged her back and continued. "Now obviously it's not an official princess ball, because technically you're not the princess, but I know people, and I've invited loads of famous bands and people, and I also found a few support groups online who believe you are the rightful princess, so they're coming too to make things more realistic."

"Oh Dad it doesn't matter, it'll be perfect! Can I invite all of my friends?" she asked hopefully.

"Well, no," he replied.

"What? Why not?" Musa demanded, her mood sinking.

"Because I have already invited them."

"Oh Dad you really are exceeding your standards today! Thank you so much!" Musa reached over and hugged her father again. "Are you sure you invited all of them?"

"Well I sent two invites to Tides, two to the Third Vector of the Binary Galaxy, two to the Fifth Moon of Marigold, two to Solaria and three to Eraklyon."

"Yes that's everyone! I'm so happy that you are my Dad!" Musa hugged Ho-Boe yet again. She was ecstatic, it was the best thing he could give her. She was going to have her own princess ball, and all her of friends, and Riven, were coming to her realm!

"Now Musa let's eat this sushi before it gets cold," her Dad smiled.

"Dad, it's raw fish! It's already cold!" Musa said, and they both laughed.

However, back in her bedroom that night Musa was having second thoughts about the whole thing. Stella's princess ball was ruined- what if the same thing happened to hers? And what if Stella got jealous if Musa's ball went perfectly? And what if Riven didn't come because Sky's parents wouldn't let them go? Maybe it wasn't going to be that good after all. They only had until until Saturday to reply, was that enough time? Probably not.

"Oh Dad! You have tried to do something nice for me, but it'll probably just all go wrong!" she sighed and started to cry for the fifth time that day. She remembered that Tecna always said that you could only cry thirty-two tears at a time. She was bored, so she counted them herself.

"Thirty-two... thirty-three... thirty-four... thirty-five..." she sobbed and sniffed. "I guess I'm just not normal." She continued counting until she got to fifty-six and then stopped and fell asleep.

The next morning Musa awoke on top of her duvet and still in her clothes from the night before. She sat up and looked at the time- 8:30am. Once again she was too restless to get a proper night's sleep. She got up and went and sat at her dressing table. She stared at the photo of her and Stella. Right now, Stella would probably be fast asleep in a huge four poster bed with her 'Shnookums' Brandon. She wondered what Riven would be doing now. If he was in Eraklyon, they a few hours ahead of here, so he would probably be eating breakfast with Bloom, Sky and the King and Queen.

"I wonder, if they have even received the invitation yet" she said to herself. It was unlikely, unless her Dad was really stretching the limits and got first class delivery. That was practically impossible because of how high the demand for inter-realm postage was.

Just then Annie entered her room with a silver tray. Musa turned her head to look at her. "Sorry... I should have knocked."

Annie was one of the girls who'd helped raise Musa, even though she was only a few years older herself. Her and her mother were fans of her Dad's band who'd wangled their way onto the tour bus after showing up to almost every concert, and now they made a living as Ho-Boe's servants. Musa had never thought of Annie as a servant. She was a friend.

"No Annie, it's fine," she said. "In fact, I would really love your company."

"Well I'm afraid I've got a lot to do today. Your father wants me and Mom to make an absolutely massive cake for your princess ball!"

"I can help out if you want?" Musa suggested.

"Don't be silly, Musa! You can't bake your own princess ball cake!" Annie laughed.

"I guess haha... I expect to see you dancing with James at the ball?" said Musa, smirking. James was her Dad's drummer's son, so the three of them had spent a lot of time together growing up. Musa had always known that James and Annie had a thing for each other.

"Oh no, your highness!" Annie objected. "He doesn't like me, like that."

"Don't call me that, please," Musa dismissed the false title.

"Alright, Musa. And why would James dance with me?"

"He does like you... well he did when I was last here."

"What do you mean?" Annie questioned.

"He was staring at you. That can only mean one thing." Musa winked.

"What? He was thinking 'yuck what an ugly beast'?" laughed Annie.

"Don't be silly Annie. You know he likes you. And you could always dance as friends, you never know what could happen."

Annie blushed. "No; I must stick to my job Musa. Enjoy your breakfast." She smiled and then left the room, closing the door behind her. Musa began to eat her breakfast- simple but delicious toast and jam- and thought of all the things going on in her life. Not many things, but the few things were quite big. First of all, she still couldn't get over the fact, she was going to have a princess ball and secondly, all of her friends, hopefully including Riven were all coming to her realm and could stay as long as they wanted.

After she finished breakfast she changed into some different clothes- an old band top, some shorts and the rainbow socks from Bloom- and left the room. She knew exactly what she was going to do today. She was going to randomly wander the house and do all the things she used to do- watch the music channels, write some lyrics and possibly record anything good she came up with. Then she was going to ask Annie is she wanted to do some late night shopping. If not, she would just go into town by herself and check out the latest records from her favourite bands. Hopefully at least a few of her friends would have replied to the invitations by then.

Musa returned very late from her rather boring shopping trip, the nightlife in The Harmonic Nebula was supposed to be exceptional, but she'd missed out on too much to appreciate it. Annie had been far too busy to go with her so she'd gone by herself. She had thought that at least she could buy some new CD's but was unsuccessful. The shelves were filled with CD's from loads of new singers and bands that she had never even heard of. Her realm always had the new music before anywhere else, and living in Magix meant she had missed out. "I really need to catch up" she muttered under her breath as she walked up the steps.

Her father was standing at the top of the steps by the door waiting for her. "So at last you decide to show up."

"I'm sorry Dad. I got lost..." she lied.

"Got lost in your own home? Musa you're a clever girl- I think it's about time you stopped moping. I don't see why you are still upset if your friends are coming here on Saturday andyou're going to have a princess ball."

"None of them have replied yet. They probably haven't even got their invitations," she sighed as they walked inside.

"Don't be miserable, darling. I actually have six replies."

"What? Really?"

"Yes. Flora, Helia, Tecna, Timmy, Layla and Nabu."

"So they're all coming?"

"Yes... Your friends in Eraklyon and Solaria are yet to reply, but those realms are further away so give it time."

They said nothing else to each other and didn't speak at all throughout the late dinner that night. Musa tried to eat extra quickly so that she could go back to her room and try and contact Tecna. Her quickness worked and she was soon finished and placed her knife and fork neatly on the plate. "I'm finished Dad. I'm gonna... go upstairs to... try and plan my outfit to the ball."

"Hmmm? Don't you want a brand new dress?"

"Yeah, of course. I'm just going to think about the kind of dress I'd like. Ya know, look online and stuff?" Lying to her father was easy. She'd never admit it, but she was an excellent liar. Her excuses often got her out of inconvenient situations. With her father's permission, she left the table and headed back up to her room. She passed Annie on the way. "'Evening Musa. Did you enjoy your dinner?"

"It was alright," Musa said truthfully.

"Well I hope the ball dinner will be good enough for you. At least some peopleknow what you like." Annie winked at her and then went off down the stairs. Musa liked Annie. She was a nice person and actually, a really good friend- her only real friend in the current same realm as her. "How sad. More than one million people and I can only class one as my friend," she thought.

Back in her room, Musa managed to dig out her old red laptop from the bottom of her wardrobe. Remembering a spell Tecna had taught her, she successfully got it up and running. Tecna would be the only person she'd be able to contact, but she could get her to send messages on to other people, including Riven. She opened up a special inter-realm computer program and typed 'Hello Tecna', hoping that the pink-haired fairy was online right now.

She waited a few minutes and then some writing in fancy purple text appeared on the screen. Of course Tecna was online. 'Hello. Who is this?'

'It's me, Musa.'

'Oh Musa! Yay! Hello!'

'Hi.'

'What you been up to?'

'Not much really... well... I'm going to have a princess ball.'

'I know! It's gonna be so awesome! Me and Timmy really can't wait!'

'Have you heard from Stella or Bloom recently?'

'I'm afraid not. I could try and get in touch with them if you like.'

'Please.'

'Yeah. I'll be sure to notify you if I find either of them.'

'Okay. Thanks =)'

'You're welcome. ;D'

Musa had a long conversation with Tecna, until Tecna had to leave. Her and Timmy were going out with Tecna's parents. She really did envy them. If only Riven was there with her now. She wouldn't care about a princess ball or feeling lonely. She wouldn't even care if she had to go and live on the streets to be with him right now. Her heart was torn. If she ran away, it wouldn't be the first time- but could she make it to Eraklyon by herself on foot? As soon as she was noticed to be missing her Dad would have everyone he knew out looking for her. "And Stella enjoys this kind of life,"she thought. Their house was so big though, and they would obviously search there first. If she was quick she might just be able to make it to inter-realm teleports in time. She began to rummage in her wardrobe for her backpack and found it easily. She chucked the grey bag onto her bed and pulled out two spare T-shirts and two pairs of jeans. She opened one of her drawers and lifted out a huge stash of chocolate and snacks. She put them in the bag with the clothes and placed in two music magazines, a torch and a pencil. It would take her, she thought, about three weeks to make it to the palace in Eraklyon. She zipped up her backpack and fetched on an old pair of red Vans. She put everything down beside her bed and decided she should get some sleep before her journey. "I'll leave first thing in the morning," she said to herself as she fell asleep.

The other rewritten chapters will also be uploaded over the next couple of days, as well as the new chapter! Keep watch and please review!

xxMazzy