I am so sorry about the late late late update! Okay I blame it on senioritis. Also, my sister came home from college for awhile and I needed to spend time with her since she is like my best friends. Also, I just got back from my senior class trip to Disney World in Florida and I was having an amazing time. It was so great and now im back at home and I really wish I was still in Florida with Mickey.

Anyway, I promise the next update will be somewhat sooner. I am hoping to update soon but my teachers don't understand that I am really lazy and they keep giving me homework! So this chapter is done but the next one, I have yet to start, but I do know what I'm going to write.

Also, I finished 'Paradise Lost' awhile ago so check it out if you want and I also put up 'Stranded' which is a prequel to this fic.

Chapter 4! Here we go - - -

Love Hurts

The Red Fountain alarm sounded through the air all over the school. Every student was now ready for battle when Cordatorta began giving orders. The Red Fountain ballroom experienced a mass exodus when all the heroes left the ballroom after Jason and Gideon left the room. They had gone to secure the different entrances of the scarlet school. After that Musa ran over to her friends who were standing by their table. The guys were ready to walk out of the room and help out when Cordatorta called them over to him. He had sent most of the seniors to watch over the weaponry vaults, since in the wrong hands, those weapons could be extremely dangerous.

Cordatorta was informed by Saladin that the intruders may be fter the Codex so Cordatorta decided to send some of the Winx Club and their specialists to the Codex vault to protect Red Fountain's part of the Codex. Cordatorta called them over and gave them orders. "Alright boys, we think the Codex may be in danger. I want Sky, Riven, Brandon and you three girls to go with them," Cordatorta said to the three specialists and pointed to Bloom, Stella and Musa. They nodded and Musa felt a little uncomfortable, things always had a way of pairing up the girlfriends with the boyfriends and she always seemed to get stuck with Riven. "Timmy, I want you and Techna to go check the schools security grids, Helia help them," Helia and Timmy nodded and Techna grabbed Flora and took her with the other three.

The specialists and the Winx Club were now standing outside when they got the orders and nodded as they all began to go to the vault. They rushed quickly through the many heroes getting orders to go to protect different parts of the school when they heard Cordatorta call Sky and Riven back. "Keep going, we'll catch up," Sky reassured the group. They nodded and kept going to the vault and walked over to Cordatorta who was now standing next to Jason and Gideon.

"Since Jason and Gideon are at the top of the senior class, they will be assisting you boys in the vault, in case you need it," Cordatorta informed. "Jason, you're in charge," He added and Jason managed to perk up a bit and a smile seemed to run across his face, now he could be around Musa and show off how skilled he was to her. Cordatorta walked away and left the boys to follow his orders. There was obvious anger in Riven's face and Sky was not the only one to notice. Not only did Riven have to follow Jason's orders, but he had to see him around Musa even more. That's what Riven got for falling in love with someone so far above him.

"Let's go" Jason commanded as he and Gideon nodded and began running to the vault with Riven and Sky not too far behind. "At least I can keep Musa safe," Jason said loudly knowing that Riven could hear him, he really wanted to turn around and see if his comment landed the way he wanted it too, but he was pretty sure it was.

They finally arrived at the vault to see the girls in their Winx forming fighting the witches. It was not much of a surprise to Riven or Sky, they pretty much figured that it was the witches when they were assigned to guard the Codex. Gideon and Jason ran ahead and gave the fairies a hand in fighting the witches, but the witches managed to open the Codex vault before anyone got there. Brandon had gone into the vault after Icy and was fighting her along with Stella, Gideon also went down there to help. Sky decided to help out Bloom who was now battling with Stormy, and Riven glanced over to see Musa being attacked by his crazy ex-girlfriend.

Riven ran to Musa's aid when he saw Darcy firing a barrage of what seemed to be psychic orbs. Riven was very familiar with these, they were very painful and they slowed a person's reaction time, he had experienced them whenever he and Darcy got in an argument while they were 'together'. Riven snapped out of the unwanted trip down memory lane just in time to push her out of the path of one of Darcy's attacks.

"Oh puppy dog!" Darcy exclaimed with very obvious false excitement. "Let me guess, you're here to save the little princess?"

Riven gritted his teeth when Darcy said this. He hated their encounters with Darcy for so many reasons, the primary one being that Musa would get hurt, but also because Darcy knew how Riven was able to break her spell, she was the one person in the universe that knew for a fact that he was in love with Musa. Although, many of his friends and the winx club had a bit of suspicion on that subject as well. "Tell you what; I'll make this easy for you and kill her quickly," She laughed maniacally and began to summon another powerful attack.

Darcy said that and fired another barrage of orbs at Musa, this time Musa wasn't as prepared as she was last time since she was getting up from the ground from when Riven pushed her out of the way. Musa looked up and was ready to fire a quick counter attack in the hopes that it would protect her when Riven took matters into his hands. He lunged on top of Musa in an attempt to protect her from another attack, and he did. However, Riven managed to suffer a severe blow from the attack.

Musa immediately put up a shield from underneath Riven so that neither of them could suffer any more damage for the time being. Riven lifted his face and met Musa's somewhat astonished gaze, he was still laying on top of her and for some reason, probably his intense physical attraction to her, he didn't want to move away. Musa also made no quick effort to get him off of her; she simply gazed back into those violet eyes. "are you alright?" he questioned in a emotionless tone and a hard look in his eyes.

Musa nodded to confirm and she thought back to the island that was the only time when she had seen him with a soft look in his eyes, it was the only time he ever regarded her with some tenderness. She wished so badly for things to go back to the way they were when they were together on the island, but he had gotten even more distant since then. "Are you okay," Musa managed to choke out after a few seconds of silence, she looked up at her barrier and noticed that it was slowly fading, but she stayed in her place and waited for Riven to move off of her. She was certainly in no hurry.

Jason, who up to this moment was fighting along with Brandon and Stella to reclaim the Codex that Icy had in her possession, looked over with concern to see if Musa was doing alright while fighting Darcy. His eyes narrowed with anger and burned like fire when he saw Riven lying on top of his girlfriend. He swiftly began to fight Icy with more skill in an attempt to hurt her enough so that Brandon could take over and he could go over to Musa and make it known that he was the only one that would be protecting her.

Riven nodded after Musa's question and began to get pull himself away from her, trying to ignore the pain that that was searing his back. Musa's shield acted like a type of protective bubble and she could see Darcy's increasingly powerful attacks beginning to deteriorate the shield, it would be another minute before the shield itself fell to pieces. Musa noticed the severe abrasions on Riven back and she noticed that he was holding back a grimace of pain.

"Riven, are you okay?" she ran to him and put he hand on his shoulder, afraid to go and touch his face.

Rive snapped his shoulder back even though he would have really loved to keep any type of physical contact going between him and Musa. He looked up to see that the shield was starting to come down. "I'm fine, she's going to attack again and it's going to bring down your barrier so be ready."

Just as Riven had predicted, Darcy sent out a psychic beam. It hurled toward the two and when it hit the barrier it not only broke the barrier Musa had put up, but also knocked both of them off their feet. Musa quickly scrambled to her feet and flew up in the air to meet Darcy at her level. She gave her a smug look with a glint of superiority in her eye and spoke quickly; she did always have a grudge against that particular witch. "Why are you here! Aww did you miss us?" Musa mocked with fake innocence as she pouted her lips. Riven, who was down on the ground looking up at the whole situation, and occasionally Musa's perfect legs, grimaced at the comment just as Musa sent out another attack.

Why did that stupid fairy have to open her big mouth? Didn't she realize how dangerous Darcy was? Riven didn't want to see anything bad happen to Musa, but how was he supposed to protect her when she flew up into the air, somewhere he couldn't very well go, and exacerbate an already bad violent situation. He had half a mind to pull her down and yell at her, but for now he had to be ready to catch Musa in case she fell from the air.

"Please," Darcy said with disdain dripping from her voice and her gaze. "You call that an attack? How about you hit me next time?" She laughed. Darcy immediately conjured another attack. This time it was a lot more powerful. "Shadow fury," she yelled in a rather composed voice. The attack seemed to fill the area in which they were fighting with complete darkness and anyone in the darkness began to feel an intense pain all over.

It was ghastly to witness. Jason heard the attack., along with everyone else in the vault and ran over to Musa in an attempt to help her, but the darkness was too blinding and whatever vision he had when running to her disappeared when he got closer to her proximity. He ordered everyone else to keep fighting but he could hear no response. All he could hear were some moans of pain and the insane laughter of Darcy.

Helia and Flora, who were both in the control room with Timmy and Techna, realized that they were not too much help in the control room, so Helia decided to be of some service in the vault, if he was going to be a hero like his grandfather had hoped, than he should get used to it. "I'm going to the vault, they need help," Flora, who didn't want to leave Helia's side and she definitely didn't want to be stuck in the control room acting like she knew what Techna and Timmy were saying, so she followed him down to the vault.

Musa and Riven were both seized with an indescribable amount of pain, it was as if a force was coming from all sides and crushing them. Musa feel from her position in the sky and Riven ran to her, trying to ignore all the pain that was surrounding him. He caught the musical fairy right before she hit the ground. Riven put her down on the ground and moved her to the side. He then saw a figure walking toward him and he drew his sword. Darcy came toward him with a devilish grin on her face and Riven knew what was coming, she would attack him and then try to attack Musa afterwards.

Luckily for Riven, the intensity of Darcy's attack was lessening and he was able to work though the pain was slowly subsiding. Riven stood ready to attack when he saw something hold Darcy back from behind. They were golden strings from Riven's cheery new roommate. "Thought you could use some help," Helia said and Darcy whipped around and looked at the hero with a burning desire to kill him. The darkness began to clear

Riven nodded and attacked Darcy while she was restrained. Unfortunately she broke free from his restraints reather quickly and he was face with another problem because now Jason was going to go to Musa and he really didn't want that to happen. Darcy sent another attack out, but this time it was at Musa. Rivne looked in horror as she aimed toward the woman he loved, Riven jumped in front of the attack not caring what happened to him.

Riven was pushed off his feet and flew back, straight into the fairy he was trying to protect in the first place. Luckily, Jason managed to get the Musa, who was still lying unconscious on the floor, out of the way. He looked up and saw Riven getting up after suffering the brute of Darcy's attack. Jason looked down at Musa and didn't want to leave her side, fearing she would wake up to see Riven saving her. But, his school was under attack and as the star student he should step up and he didn't want to seem as if her were scared, so he got up and left Musa's side and went to go attack Darcy.

"Next time, try to save the person you're supposed to protect," Jason hissed at Riven as he ran in front of him and managed to side swipe Darcy before she could attack Flora. Darcy was sick of being ambushed by a bunch of loser fairies and their hero boyfriends. The shot that Jason had taken on her distracted her for a second and there was enough time for Flora to summon an attack. Darcy was wrapped and while she was wrapped in vines, Flora let her have it. Helia who stood in a bit of amazement, she seemed so delicate but she could pack a punch.

Darcy was beginning to tire quickly; the Gloomix that she was given by Darkar was beginning to drain her energy. She couldn't keep attacking from all directions and as much as she hated to admit it to herself, that annoying musical fairy had actually thrown some good attacks at her and now she was being hit from all sides by a bunch of her friends. She finally fired one last attack and flew towards her sister who was still fighting Brandon, Sky, Stella and Gideon. "So, those little losers too much for ya?" Icy teased to her sister.

"You have the codex, let's go," Darcy commanded. She was the more cunning and she thought things through more. Icy on the other hand wanted was the leader of the group and her decision was usually final, but Darcy could see that staying here any longer was probably not a good idea.

"We can take out a couple more of them," Icy stated happily, she had seen that Musa was knocked out and she was one of the more powerful fighters so hopefully they could knock out a couple more. Darcy knew that she had used her most powerful attack on Musa and she probably couldn't conjure something like that again, she was the most logical of her sister and she knew it was time to leave.

"Or we could lose the Codex, let get out while we're ahead." She commanded. Icy, who had put up an ice shield at that moment, nodded in agreement. She liked to take risks, but she knew when the risk was greater than the reward and there was no way that she wanted to risk losing the codex.

"Stormy, we have what we need, lets go," Icy said and with a blue flash she was gone. Stormy then left as well.

Darcy's final attack that she had thrown before going to Icy hit Flora dead on. Helia had attempted to save her by knocking her out of the way, but it didn't work. Helia had worried that the attack really hurt Flora, but she was still breathing and managed to stand back up before falling down into his arms.

Darcy had left the vault, but she hadn't left Red Fountain. She was quite curious as to see how the drama that was in the room before she had arrived would unfold. Jason Warren was all over Musa and she had did like seeing Riven squirm, there was still a part of her that was jealous that Riven had chosen Musa over her and this was his just desserts. Darcy decided to watch a little drama before being stuck in shadow haunt while they formulated a plan for their next plan of attack.

Riven looked at Musa who was now lying in Jason's arms. He couldn't help but feel even more jealous. He saw that she was waking up and she would wake up to Jason instead of him. He hated the predicament he was in, but he had to swallow the feelings and walked away. So he did.

Riven walked out of the vault and then out of the school. It was late, but he really didn't care, he needed to do something to get his mind off of Musa. "Alone? Where's your little princess?" said a voice from behind.

Riven turned around quickly when he heard that all too familiar voice, drawing his phantoblade in the process. Darcy stood calmly in front of Riven with a hint of bravado in her voice, even though she showed obvious signs of being weary from all the fighting that occurred. "Get out of here!" Riven threatened, he may have been tired but he would defiantly fight her if he needed.

"Oh wait I forgot, she's with Jason Warren. I have to admit for a hero, the boy isn't half bad," Darcy said knowing that it would push his buttons.

"What do you want," he growled still trying to push away the pain that came along with the image of Musa with Jason.

"Oh not much, some entertainment would be nice, it does get rather boring when you and your little friends let us walk away with what we want so easily." She began. "And this is very entertaining, I mean here you are pining for that nauseating princess and she's probably in Jason's room doing god knows what,"

Darcy could see the pain in Riven's face intensify and she also saw anger mixed in. She knew him well enough to know that if she kept this up, Riven would never stop thinking about it and it would help her later when she and her sisters have to fight him and his friends again. "Well this was fun, but I think I should go," and with a purple flash of light she was gone and Riven was feeling even worse.

Musa opened her eyes to see that she was cradled in Jason's arms, he looked down at her and smiled with a look of relief in his eyes. She remembered being hit with some strange attack that she had never witnessed before and then falling, from there everything that happened was a blur. She had hoped that it was Riven's arms she had fallen into, but Jason seemed to be a really great guy and as far as she could tell all the warnings that she had gotten about him were like empty threats.

She looked over and saw that Flora was unconscious and Helia was tending to her. Musa quickly got up, but was stopped by Jason's hand. "Hey, take it easy you got hit pretty hard back there.," He began not letting her go. "I already asked Gideon, she's gonna be fine, but she's gonna stay here at Red Fountain for a couple days until she is back to normal,"

"Thanks," Musa said gratefully.

"I could never see you get hurt," Jason seemed to be doing everything right, he was taking care of her and making sure her friends were okay as well. Even though Musa's heart belonged to Riven, it seemed like Jason was finding a way to take it.

Did Jason just take credit for saving Musa? And oh no she's falling for him and it seems to be apparent to not only her but also Riven. Let's see what happens when I throw some more characters into the mix – but who?

Everyone loves a good love triangle or rectangle, or octagon?

xoxo,

princessm