This is the most important chapter and it's been rewritten! So please read and enjoy!
"Oh come on, Musa! Get up!" Stella whined, hitting her blue-haired friend with a pillow. The Winx Club girls had been in The Harmonic Nebula for a week, but today their boyfriends would be arriving, because tonight was the night of Musa's princess ball.
"It's 6am, Stella, why do I have to get up so early?" she yawned, and shut her eyes again.
"Exactly Musa! That means you only have thirteen hours to get ready for your princess ball, and if you want to see the guys beforehand, then that means you only have eleven!"
Musa groaned as she sat up and swung her legs out of bed and shuffled her feet into her red, fluffy slippers. Reluctantly, she stood up and looked at Stella. 'If looks could kill, she'd be dead right now,' she thought to herself.
"Ugh! Musa! You need a lot of work to look perfect for tonight! You just have to be difficult, don't you?" Stella complained.
"Don't you think we should keep it down? Everyone else is asleep," Musa pointed out with a tone of jealousy. She wanted her bed.
"They can deal with it. It's your princess ball- they'll understand. Now... before we begin, just a little something you should know. It'll take all day for me to get you ready, so don't expect to eat until the ball."
"Great," muttered Musa sarcastically.
"Well I'm glad you're not too bothered. Now, let us begin."
Stella told Musa to sit on the stool at her dressing table so that Stella could work on her hair. "So what sort of style were you thinking?" she asked as she began to run a hairbrush through Musa's long, midnight blue hair.
"Ummm... I don't know... Something new and unique?"
"Hmmmm... I think I know just the thing!"
Musa glanced upwards as Stella combed her bangs back off her face. "Stella? What style exactly do you have in mind?" Musa questioned. She hated having her forehead showing.
"Wait and see. Patience is a virtue."
"What's up with you, Stella? You keep on saying clever things" Musa chuckled.
"I'm not an Alfea fairy anymore," Stella said.
"Yeah, well none of us are," Musa sighed.
"Exactly my point. At Alfea, you can be young and crazy and nobody really cares. Now, as the official Princess of Solaria and soon to be the Queen, I have to act more mature."
"I don't act mature..."
Stella cut her off. "Well you aren't soon gonna be the Queen of this place, are you? You may have royal blood but you lost your right to the throne."
"I'm still having a princess ball," Musa pointed out.
"Well yes, but it's not official. And anyway, if you were going to be Queen, who would be King?"
"You don't have to have a king, Stella."
"Yeah, but you'd be a pretty lousy Queen by yourself. Like in a game of chess- if there's no king, the queen has no job to do protecting him."
"I wish I'd had a camera then!" Musa laughed. "That is the smartest thing you've ever said! I didn't know you understood chess!"
"Well I don't understand all the little prawns..."
"Pawns, Stella."
"Yeah, those things. All I know is the pieces have to like... defeat the pieces of the opposing player to protect the King."
"Yeah, that's pretty much it."
"Yes, Musa. You should really not be so stereotypical about me."
"I didn't say I was."
"But you are. You all are. You all think I'm just some dumb blonde whose sole interest is the colour of my shoes."
"Well that is kinda true!" Layla said as she sat up and stretched.
"Morning, Layla!" Musa tried to turn her head to look at Layla but Stella wouldn't let her.
Then Bloom awoke, yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Hey, what's up?" she asked, stifling a yawn.
"I'm getting Musa ready for her princess ball!" beamed Stella.
"Already?"
"We only have like ten and a half hours until the boys get here!"
"That's ages, Stella."
"Not if you have to look perfect! This has to be the best night of Musa's life!"
"I already had that."
"Oh be quiet Musa- this is going to be better!"
It took Stella a grand total of two hours, twenty-seven minutes and forty-nine seconds to do Musa's hair. Surprisingly, all six of them were very impressed. Musa's bangs were held off her face with a glittery silver tiara that pushed them forward slightly to create a bouffant effect. Her hair had been curled to look naturally wavy and tumbled all the way down to her waist.
"Who needs a hairdresser when you've got Stella?" joked Layla.
"Nobody," Stella joined in, obviously not understanding the joke.
"Musa you look really nice," Flora complimented. "If only Stella had time to work on all of us."
"As soon as I'm finished with Musa I'll be making myself look fabulous- sorry guys. I could give you all some advice though."
"That would be great," laughed Bloom.
"Good for me if you've got anything possible to do with my hair!" laughed Tecna. "It's so short, it doesn't do anything!"
"You'll be easy, Tec. You wear your hair like that all the time so I'll easily find something new for you! Anyway... now I need to start work on Musa's makeup!"
Stella only took an hour and a half with Musa's makeup. She had to get both eyes perfectly matching and got a lot of help from Tecna, who pointed out the hidden mistakes with some magnifying technology. Eventually though, she got it perfect. Musa's lips were now a bright shade of red. Her eyelids were covered in a light, natural shade and outlined with neat, black eyeliner flicks. Stella had spent twenty minutes just applying several thick coats of mascara to make Musa look one hundred percent perfect.
"Alas, my work is done," Stella announced. "Well on Musa anyway."
"You don't have enough time to make yourself look as perfect as this," Musa laughed, relieved that it was finally over.
"Fear not, girlfriend! The other night while you were snoring away..."
"I don't snore."
"Whatever. As I was saying... The other night I had no sleep because I did my makeup for the ball then. It took me hours but it meant I would have plenty of time to work on you today."
"What do you mean?"
"Just watch. You are obviously primitive to makeup magic."
Stella held her hand up beside her face, closed her eyes and clicked her fingers. Makeup swept over her face like it did when they transformed into their enchantix. Her face was now covered in perfectly applied foundation, and she had coral coloured lips and natural eyeshadow with gold glitter eyeliner.
"Voila!"
"You have to teach me that spell, Stella!" Musa said. "Then I could have had a lie in!"
The girls spent most of the day getting ready, after all, it was going to be a night to remember, and as Stella always said the best thing to be remembered for is how great you always look.
Stella put up some of her hair into a sock bun, but left a lot of it down and straightened. Layla also completely straightened her hair to achieve a completely new look, whereas Tecna curled her hair. Bloom wore hers in tight ringlets and Flora put all of her hair up.
Bloom and Flora kept their makeup simple, wearing pastel eyeshadows and lipsticks with a little mascara, whilst Tecna and Layla decided to wear it heavy. Layla wore black eyeshadow and eyeliner with light pink lipstick, and Tecna wore dark purple lipstick and eyeshadow.
By the time they were finished, there were only ten minutes until the boys were due to arrive.
"When I said we were going to look fabulous, I didn't realise we'd be this fabulous!" Stella exclaimed.
"You sure are correct Stella!" Tecna agreed.
"Come on you guys! The boys will be here any minute!" said Bloom.
"Just a quick disguising spell so they don't see our dresses until tonight!" Stella said and clicked her fingers. The girls appeared in their normal, everyday outfits and plain makeup and hair, then they all rushed downstairs to the entrance hall where they stood talking and waiting. The boys arrived a few minutes late and the girls laughed as they heard them arguing outside.
"Timmy, are you sure this is the right place? If this is another angry old lady I'm going to knock you into another dimension!" Riven threatened.
"Especially if they have dogs!" Brandon laughed.
"Ugh... it should be, according to my map... which was wrong... five times..." Timmy replied nervously and pressed the door bell. Musa hadn't even opened the door before Stella ran out and almost knocked Brandon over. "Oh Shnookums!" she exclaimed as she wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a big kiss on his lips.
"Hiya babe," he laughed in reply and put his arms around her.
The other boys walked into the house to see their girlfriends. "Hey Sky," Bloom said flirtatiously and gave her boyfriend a peck on the cheek. Layla and Nabu hugged, as did Tecna and Timmy. Flora and Helia kissed. Musa walked right up to Riven. She didn't feel awkward. She didn't feel anxious. She felt happy. She felt complete. He took her hands in his and she let his lips meet hers. She didn't care that her friends were right next to her- she was the happiest she had ever been. She didn't even break away when Riven deepened the kiss and tried to slip his tongue in. It was only then she realised she had her eyes closed the whole time. She opened them and glanced to the side. What a surprise, her friends were all staring at them. If she wasn't completely trapped in the facial department she would have just told them to stop it, but she didn't want to pull away so all she could do was stick her middle finger up at them.
To Musa, the kiss lasted nowhere near long enough but when they finally broke off Stella didn't look too happy. "You just had to keep us waiting, didn't you?"
"You were the one staring. You didn't have to watch."
"Well it's more interesting than keeping our eyes closed!"
"Stella, it's really no different to when you kiss Brandon" Layla pointed out. Stella rolled her eyes.
"Anyway..." Bloom interrupted, "Come on guys! Just an hour and a half until the ball! And I'm sure the boys aren't going like this!"
"Of course not, Bloom!" Sky laughed. "Do you think the future King of Eraklyon wears sweatpants to a ball?"
The girls showed the boys to their rooms and left them to unpack and get ready for the night, then went to spell themselves back into their glamorous dresses.
That hour and a half passed ridiculously slowly, but after what felt like an eternity it was time for the ball to begin. Of course, Musa's house had a concert hall, which was where the ball would take place. All the guests had arrived and were waiting in there. All of the girls and boys minus Musa were waiting by the stage, which was where Musa would make her grand entrance.
Everyone stopped talking as some classical music began to play, the lights went out and were replaced with the crazy stage lights. Everyone started to cheer as the music built up, and as Musa walked on stage linking arms with her father the song burst into a heavy rock song. The whole room fell silent as everyone turned to watch Musa walk across the stage and down the stairs onto the floor. She walked slowly and gracefully, emphasizing every step as if to draw it out to make the whole thing last much longer. People stepped aside for her to walk by as her Dad lead Musa over to her friends. He let her go, and a microphone appeared in his hand. "Ladies and gentlemen," he began. "Let's make this a night to remember! Open this place up!" he shouted, and the whole place went crazy. The girls and guys found themselves forced against the stage as everyone started dancing to the bass-heavy music which had kicked in.
Layla had to literally shout in Musa's ear to be heard above the crowd and the music. "I don't think I've ever seen such a glamorous stage entrance!" she laughed. "Can we have an encore?"
Then Riven managed to reach Musa and put his arm around her shoulder. "You look more beautiful than ever tonight," he whispered in her ear.
"Thank you!" she whispered back.
The place calmed down after the first few songs, various people came up to talk to and congratulate Musa, but thankfully she got to spend the night with her friends. They all had a bit to drink, laughed about their memories and Musa also taught them how to mosh so that when things got hectic again they'd all be a little less helpless.
"And the most important thing," she instructed, "is that if someone falls down, you pick them straight back up."
"Ugh why would anyone want to do this for fun?" Stella whined as she stressfully fiddled with her hair after someone had crowd surfed over her when one of Musa's Dad's songs came on.
After a few hours, it was announced that food was now being served so they all went over to the enormous buffet to grab a bite to eat. Whilst everyone was still eating, Musa's Dad went up on stage again to make a speech.
"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen of The Harmonic Nebula," he began, and the room fell silent. "Now as I'm sure you all know, my daughter Musa is the rightful heir to the throne of our realm, she carries the blood of the last great King..."
Some people somewhere in the room cheered loudly to this, Musa figured they must be from one of her support groups.
Ho-Boe continued. "When Musa's mother ran away with me, I took that right away from her. It is my fault that Musa is not the princess. I've never been able to give her much as a princess, and that's one of the main reasons I organised this ball, I wanted her to be treat like the princess that she rightfully is."
Musa smiled and shut her eyes whilst Riven wrapped his muscular arms around her and kissed her on the cheek.
"But I don't just want Musa to be treat like a princess... I want her to be a princess,"
Musa opened her eyes. What was her Dad talking about?
"And that's why, as is traditional in our realm for royalty, I have decided to arrange her marriage to Prince Jared of The Symphonic Nebula, our sister realm. Then she will rightfully be the princess that she deserves to be."
Musa sat upright, pulling away from Riven's arms. Several people gasped, Stella being amongst the loudest.
"Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the future King of The Symphonic Nebula, Prince Jared!"
Everyone just stared as Prince Jared walked onto the stage and Ho-Boe put his arm around him like he was his son. But this Jared wasn't just any Jared. It was the Jared that Musa had met in her second year of Alfea. The Jared that Stella had set her up with. Riven looked at Musa. He looked as shocked as everyone else, but there was a hint of doubt clear in his expression. Jared didn't look nervous like he should, he looked proud of himself as if he'd just won something.
"Let us start the ball with the ancient tradition! The future Queen will dance with her soon to be husband!" Ho-Boe announced and Jared jumped off stage and forced his way through the crowd to Musa, who held her head down in embarrassment and disgust. Jared forcefully took her hand and pulled her out of her seat. She was too shocked to even react. He dragged her onto the dance floor, where people formed a circle around them and stared. He took her other hand and forced her to dance with him. Riven made sure he didn't take his eyes off Jared and noticed as tears silently escaped from Musa's eyes.
"This cannot be happening!" Stella exclaimed quietly, "I mean, the cheek of it!"
Riven sighed. "I'd kill that bastard if I got the chance" he replied sternly.
They watched anxiously as Jared twirled Musa round again and again and again. It seemed like forever, but eventually the classical music stopped playing and everyone else was allowed to join in as the heavy music started up again. Jared wanted to continue, but Musa had had enough and pulled herself away with great force and walked back over to Riven with Jared, unfortunately, close behind her.
"I am so sorry!" she said, collapsed onto her knees at Riven's feet and burst into tears. Riven picked Musa up off the floor and just held her.
"There there, my love..." Jared began, reaching out to snatch Musa away from Riven, but she was too quick. She pushed Riven away and slapped Jared hard in the face. He clutched his cheek in shock, and the people around them gasped. Musa's Dad broke his way through the crowd.
"Musa! What are you doing?!"
"What have you done, Dad?!" she argued back. "I don't want to marry him!" she shouted, pointing at Jared, who played the victim with his confused and hurt expression. "I'm in a relationship!"
"Well you never told me that," her Dad said.
"Yeah! I would have thought the pictures in my room might have given it away!" she yelled hysterically.
"I am just trying to do what is best for you!" he yelled back. "You will be married to Jared within the next six months." He said, turned his back on her and walked away. Musa had been fighting back the tears until then, but then she started to cry.
Riven looked at Jared, who had a smirk on his face. "Sorry Riven- she's mine." Jared pulled Musa away by the waist and tried to kiss her, but then Stella hit him over the head with her shoe.
"That's for coming here in the first place!" She hit him again. "That's for taking Musa away from Riven!" She hit him again. "And that's for trying to kiss her!"
Jared sat on the floor clutching his head. "You'll pay for that one, bitch!" He jumped up and was about to lash out at Stella when Musa jumped in front of him.
"Jared don't!" she exclaimed, and winced at the hint of eagerness in her voice. "Please don't hurt her!"
Jared lowered his arms and sighed.
"Now... why don't you go and have a sit down?" Musa said. "You look like you need it."
"Okay, whatever." Jared said, and pushed his way through the crowd still clutching his head with one hand.
"Well I think he got the picture!" Stella laughed.
"It's not funny Stella..." Musa sighed, "I have to marry that... that... that... thing... What am I going to do?" Tears kept falling on her face.
Riven didn't say anything, but took Musa into his arms and she buried her face in his chest. "I can't marry him" she moaned.
"You can't, and you're not going to," Stella said.
"How can you say that when it's obvious that it's a lie?" Musa kept on crying.
"We'll think of a way out. We always do," Bloom said, trying to cheer her up.
"Yeah but..."
"But what?"
"Never mind!" Musa exclaimed. "I have a point to prove!"
Musa took Riven's hand and lead him through the crowd and onto the stage with her. "Hang on a minute Musa..." Riven spoke for the first time since Jared had appeared. "What are we doing?"
"I'm going to announce in front of everyone that I'm not marrying Jared!"
"And how is that going to work?" he asked.
"Just wait and see!" she replied and cast a spell which conjured a microphone in her hand. She began to speak while Riven stood awkwardly beside her.
"Well... hello people... of The Harmonic Nebula! I know that you know who I am and I know you think this whole me and Jared thing is great... well... you can get fucked because I am not going to marry him!"
Everyone gasped, apart from Musa's friends.
Musa continued. "I am not going to marry him because I am in love with somebody else!"
Musa dropped the microphone and turned back to Riven. "Help me out on this!" she hissed before literally thrusting herself at him and slipping her tongue in his mouth. He broke away for a few seconds, though not noticeable to everyone else.
"What are you doing?" he hissed back.
"I'm proving the point!" and she started kissing him again. She pressed her body against his and emphasised her movements as she stroked his chest. The room was filled with gasps and murmurs; they probably thought Musa to be very disrespectful. She, however, couldn't care less. She was not going to marry Jared. This was, after all, her life. She could have gone on kissing Riven for hours but then she heard footsteps and her dad was standing on the stage with them. She broke away and tried not to glare at him with hate.
"What the Hell are you doing now Musa?!" he half yelled, half whispered. "I am so ashamed of you! Come back down now! This ball is over!"
"But..."
"No buts Musa! I tried to do what's best for you, but if you're going to act like this then you don't deserve it!" He picked the microphone up off the floor and told everyone that the ball was ending early and that they should go home. Then he turned to face Musa, and he didn't even look at Riven.
"And you're still marrying Jared," he said, and walked away.
Musa sat on her bed, crying. All of her friends were crammed into her room. Bloom and Flora sat on either side of her with their arms around her, comforting her, whilst Riven leant against the wall, sulking.
"It's not fair! My life is ruined!" she cried.
"Don't say that Musa. You can still have a nice life, even if you have to marry Jared," Flora said calmly.
"But I won't just have to marry him! I'll be expected to bear a child with him and everyone will want to know every little detail about everything!"
"Having children is beautiful, Musa. Even if you don't love Jared, you'll still love your children..."
"What the Hell are you talking about, Flora?!" Stella shouted. "Musa's not going to marry Jared!"
"Well what exactly are we going to do, Stella?" Flora asked, annoyed.
"I got out of my marriage with Diaspro," Sky explained.
"Exactly!" Bloom agreed. "If we can't get you out of this marriage we're not the Winx Club!"
It was 3am. Everyone had fallen asleep in Musa's room, but she couldn't. The more she thought about the situation, the worse it seemed to get. She sighed heavily, and heard someone clear their throat in reply. She sat up and saw Riven, still leaning against the wall.
"Riven?" she said. "What are you doing up?"
He laughed. "Do you really think I could sleep tonight?"
"Well you didn't seem all that bothered! You never do!" She started to cry. "It's like you couldn't even care that you're losing me!"
Riven didn't react how she wanted, he just said "What did you want me to do? Punch him in the face?"
"Yes, actually! But no I had to do all that myself..."
Riven awkwardly stepped over their sleeping friends and sat down on the bed beside Musa.
"...and you say you love me but when it comes down to it you won't even fight for me and..."
Riven shut her up by kissing her passionately. He tasted her tears but didn't pull away. After a few minutes he stopped- he had to tell her something.
"Listen... Musa... remember how I told you I had something for you the other night."
Musa sniffed and nodded.
"Well... I can't really give it to you now..."
"Why not?"
"Well... because... because... Musa. I was going to ask you to marry me."
Thanks for reading! Hope you enjoyed it! Please review
xxMazzy