p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"A/N: Hello all. I don't know how many of you read my stories anymore, it's been so long since I've updated. I've been dealing with writer's block galore...that's going strong for like 4 years now. Mainly, real life has hit me. I'm no longer young with a lot of time. Unfortunately, I'm an old fart so I have a ton of things to worry about, but I just got a review that said they wanted an update so here I am...4 years later. I'm going to be, hopefully, updating some more in the future, but I figured I would give you all a little Riven/Musa taste. I'm also going to be making this more adult-like if it wasn't already. No smut since I suck at writing it, but definitely more swear words because I'm a sailor. Also, you may hate me for it, but I'm doing another timeline jump. I updated the story, but updated way ahead of the future. Sorry! I do promise that I will eventually write in the missing pieces….sometime./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"So this is what has happened since Cal died to "now":/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongBasically Riven gets acquainted with Hood./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongIt's been about 2 years since Cal died and on the Hood vs Red Fountain front, they've convinced Riven's old teammates to join Hood. Red Fountain is beginning to mobilize troops in Melody. Musa has reclaimed the throne of Melody and Hood is now the army/intelligence agency of Melody./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongRiven and Musa become closer. There's definitely some sexual tension, but it hasn't been acted upon since Musa is still upset about Cal and worried that she may be dishonoring him by her "maybe there" feelings for Riven. Riven has some feels for her, but out of respect to her hasn't acted on them./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongOnwards and upwards…/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Hey," Musa nodded at Riven as she entered the large room. The walls were painted a deep cherry red and the light from the large hanging chandelier was reflected onto the walls from the sun./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRiven looked up from the computer that was heating his lap and gave her a small nod. He watched as she carefully walked around the antique coffee table that he had his legs up on and sat down next to his comfortable legs./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I wanted to talk to you about some things," Musa nervously tucked a strand behind her ear. She looked down at her feet sheepishly as her face began to glow red. Her right fingers started to anxiously twirl the diamond ring that encompassed her left ring finger in a circular pattern./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"What is it?" Riven's curiosity peaked. Musa always played with that ring whenever she was nervous. Riven sighed. The ring was always a reminder that the giddy feeling in Riven's heart that always occurred upon the sight of Musa could never be acted on./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Red Fountain is moving on us," Musa buried her heads in her hand. Riven looked at her, his brain screaming at his heart preventing him from reaching out to comfort her./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"It'll be okay, we have an organized group now. As long as they're not too distracted on each other to be organized," Riven grumbled. His group of Specialists had taken it upon themselves to be extra flirtatious with the Hood females to varying degrees of success./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I know, but my whole life I've wanted nothing else but to see Red Fountain and Magix to go up in flames. Now that it's starting to happen, I don't know what to think. I'm kind of nervous. What if I'm not strong enough? What if I'm not good enough to take them down? I just, I don't know what to do," Musa sighed into her palms. The threat of Red Fountain had been looming over the whole group for some time and now it was finally coming to fruition and she didn't know how to handle it. She also didn't want to even acknowledge the possible feelings she had for the person sitting beside her. Just sitting next to him gave her a comforting feeling. A feeling that reminded her of Cal. Her arm hairs raised as she thought of her deceased lover./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Musa, you'll be fine. You always are. You've beaten me, you beat Cal, you beat half of Red Fountain. You are one of the best fighters that I've ever had the pleasure of going against. You amaze me in all that you do," Riven stopped himself before he went further. It was hard being in love with the amazing girl beside him and being unable to express that to her. It had been hard since Cal died. Riven would never admit it to anyone, but he started to value Musa and like her after they started to work together to take down Red Fountain. Granted, he had always been attracted to her since they had first fought each other. Still, he could never tell Musa. She was still grieving her loss and Riven thought it would be in horrible taste to even broach the subject./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I amaze you?" Musa looked up at Riven with doe eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Of course you do," Riven chuckled nervously, his hand running through his hair, "you're very good at what you do and you're ambitious when it comes to completing your goals."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Thanks Riven," Musa leaned into the former specialist, appreciating the constant warm heat radiating from his body./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRiven resisted the urge to gasp as she laid her head on his shoulder. This was the closest they had been together when they weren't sparring./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa sighed, "What happens if we lose?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well that would suck, but you can't think of it like that," Riven laughed, "you just have to believe that we'll kick their ass."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa chuckled a little, "okay, I'll think of it your way…" she trailed off, "Riven, do you think you could maybe…" she stopped mid-sentence. She shouldn't ask this of him she thought. He would probably think she was weird and she didn't want him to think it was for, like, a sexual reason./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do I think I could maybe what?" Riven asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you think you could spend the night with me?" Musa looked at him sheepishly. Riven felt his heart surge forward. He felt like banging his head against the wall to make sure that he wasn't dreaming./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"The night with you?" he eventually croaked./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, I mean, only if you want to. I just really would like it if someone could cuddle with me tonight. I'm not feeling that great mentally and emotionally and I don't think the girls would be that interested since they have their own people to cuddle," Musa rolled her eyes. Each of her teammates had paired off with each of Riven's teammates though some were still in the beginning stages of their relationships./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I can do that," Riven tried to reply evenly. He hoped Musa couldn't hear the thudding coming from his chest./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Thanks," Musa smiled, "come on then, it's time for bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa stood up and walked to her room, Riven trailing behind her waiting for her to change her mind, but she didn't./p
p class="MsoNormal"strong style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"So this is what has happened since Cal died to "now":/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongBasically Riven gets acquainted with Hood./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongIt's been about 2 years since Cal died and on the Hood vs Red Fountain front, they've convinced Riven's old teammates to join Hood. Red Fountain is beginning to mobilize troops in Melody. Musa has reclaimed the throne of Melody and Hood is now the army/intelligence agency of Melody./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongRiven and Musa become closer. There's definitely some sexual tension, but it hasn't been acted upon since Musa is still upset about Cal and worried that she may be dishonoring him by her "maybe there" feelings for Riven. Riven has some feels for her, but out of respect to her hasn't acted on them./strong/p
p class="MsoNormal"strongOnwards and upwards…/strong/p
p class="MsoNormal" /p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Hey," Musa nodded at Riven as she entered the large room. The walls were painted a deep cherry red and the light from the large hanging chandelier was reflected onto the walls from the sun./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRiven looked up from the computer that was heating his lap and gave her a small nod. He watched as she carefully walked around the antique coffee table that he had his legs up on and sat down next to his comfortable legs./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I wanted to talk to you about some things," Musa nervously tucked a strand behind her ear. She looked down at her feet sheepishly as her face began to glow red. Her right fingers started to anxiously twirl the diamond ring that encompassed her left ring finger in a circular pattern./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"What is it?" Riven's curiosity peaked. Musa always played with that ring whenever she was nervous. Riven sighed. The ring was always a reminder that the giddy feeling in Riven's heart that always occurred upon the sight of Musa could never be acted on./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Red Fountain is moving on us," Musa buried her heads in her hand. Riven looked at her, his brain screaming at his heart preventing him from reaching out to comfort her./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"It'll be okay, we have an organized group now. As long as they're not too distracted on each other to be organized," Riven grumbled. His group of Specialists had taken it upon themselves to be extra flirtatious with the Hood females to varying degrees of success./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I know, but my whole life I've wanted nothing else but to see Red Fountain and Magix to go up in flames. Now that it's starting to happen, I don't know what to think. I'm kind of nervous. What if I'm not strong enough? What if I'm not good enough to take them down? I just, I don't know what to do," Musa sighed into her palms. The threat of Red Fountain had been looming over the whole group for some time and now it was finally coming to fruition and she didn't know how to handle it. She also didn't want to even acknowledge the possible feelings she had for the person sitting beside her. Just sitting next to him gave her a comforting feeling. A feeling that reminded her of Cal. Her arm hairs raised as she thought of her deceased lover./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Musa, you'll be fine. You always are. You've beaten me, you beat Cal, you beat half of Red Fountain. You are one of the best fighters that I've ever had the pleasure of going against. You amaze me in all that you do," Riven stopped himself before he went further. It was hard being in love with the amazing girl beside him and being unable to express that to her. It had been hard since Cal died. Riven would never admit it to anyone, but he started to value Musa and like her after they started to work together to take down Red Fountain. Granted, he had always been attracted to her since they had first fought each other. Still, he could never tell Musa. She was still grieving her loss and Riven thought it would be in horrible taste to even broach the subject./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I amaze you?" Musa looked up at Riven with doe eyes./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Of course you do," Riven chuckled nervously, his hand running through his hair, "you're very good at what you do and you're ambitious when it comes to completing your goals."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Thanks Riven," Musa leaned into the former specialist, appreciating the constant warm heat radiating from his body./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanRiven resisted the urge to gasp as she laid her head on his shoulder. This was the closest they had been together when they weren't sparring./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa sighed, "What happens if we lose?"/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Well that would suck, but you can't think of it like that," Riven laughed, "you just have to believe that we'll kick their ass."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa chuckled a little, "okay, I'll think of it your way…" she trailed off, "Riven, do you think you could maybe…" she stopped mid-sentence. She shouldn't ask this of him she thought. He would probably think she was weird and she didn't want him to think it was for, like, a sexual reason./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do I think I could maybe what?" Riven asked./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Do you think you could spend the night with me?" Musa looked at him sheepishly. Riven felt his heart surge forward. He felt like banging his head against the wall to make sure that he wasn't dreaming./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"The night with you?" he eventually croaked./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Yeah, I mean, only if you want to. I just really would like it if someone could cuddle with me tonight. I'm not feeling that great mentally and emotionally and I don't think the girls would be that interested since they have their own people to cuddle," Musa rolled her eyes. Each of her teammates had paired off with each of Riven's teammates though some were still in the beginning stages of their relationships./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"I can do that," Riven tried to reply evenly. He hoped Musa couldn't hear the thudding coming from his chest./p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /span"Thanks," Musa smiled, "come on then, it's time for bed."/p
p class="MsoNormal"span style="mso-tab-count: 1;" /spanMusa stood up and walked to her room, Riven trailing behind her waiting for her to change her mind, but she didn't./p