Riven quietly walked through the forest. If he made any sound he could scare the prey away and he needed the food. Well, he and Musa needed the food. Even after four and a half years of knowing each other, it still didn't seem to click in Riven's mind that he was taking care of a voiceless girl who can only speak using hand gestures and writing in mud.
Riven eyed the prey, which happened to be a deer, and took out an arrow from his backpack.
He could only hear Musa through gestures. At first it was hard for him to interpret, but after a while he had gotten used to what each gesture meant.
He put the arrow into the bow and pulled back slowly, breathing ever so lightly as if not to disturb the grazing animal. He was about to let go of the arrow and hit the deer when a loud rustling in the leaves caused the deer to look up and scamper away. Riven turned around and held up the bow and arrow as a type of weapon.
"Who's there?" He called to where the noise came from and received no response.
He moved closer and still gripped the arrow, readying it in case he needed to fire. "Who's there?" He repeated again, with no response. "Dammit! I asked who the hells there an I demand an answer!" He almost shot the arrow into the bush when a navy haired girl popped her head out of the brush. She had an annoyed look on her face as she got up and dusted the leaves off of her blue gown. She readjusted her pigtails and frowned at Riven who gave a sheepish smile. "Sorry." He quietly replied and she knelt down and poured some water from her canteen onto the dirt by her feet. With a stick, she turned the dirt and water into mud and quickly wrote out a response.
*Really? You almost killed me an all I get is a sorry? Wow. You are pathetic. Why did I even become partners with you in the first place?*
Riven read the message and frowned at Musa, full of sadness for this response from her. Then, she gave a signature smile of hers to say that he was forgiven. He recognized this smile because of the years he's spent with her.
He had remembered the day perfectly. It was the day after he had run away from the orphanage where he had grown up at. He ran away in search of his real parents whom he firmly believed where still alive. He thought this because every night at the orphanage he always had the same dream -a little baby placed in his arms and his holding it and taking care of it. Then he calls put to his parents and they are heard coming down the hall. But they never make it to him. Then the baby starts to cry and is plucked from his arms suddenly. And he is rushed away to a locked room where he is still able to hear the baby's cries.- Every night that he had this dream he had always woken up screaming. After looking into the meanings of dreams, he realized that his parents were out there somewhere and he was motivated to find them. So when he was twelve he escaped and he ran to the abandoned parts of Zenith. He learned to hunt and the art of the crossbow which he is quite the master of. But after those few months alone he found her. Musa.
Musa was by a holographic river bleeding from from her side. So he patched her up and when she awoke he found she couldn't talk.
There wasn't a way to find out who did this to her since she didn't remember a lot from her past.
"Musa." Riven began, hoping to spark a 'conversation' about her past that might help him learn her background. "What about your past life do you remember?" He sat down on a rock and placed his bags on the ground next to him. Musa followed suit and sat next to him, watering the ground beside her so she could respond. She took a deep and shaky breath and looked into Riven's maroon eyes. She always felt lost in them. After four years of knowing him, she thinks she's in love with him. Only she simply can't tell him. Unless she wrote it.
Musa shook herself from her thoughts and proceeded to write. *All I remember is a girl. Her name started with a...oh I don't know! I think...I remember that she died. I don't know how. And I know I used to sing. I used to sing at her grave. For her to come back. For her to be with me again...*
Musa dropped the stick she was writing with and silently sobbed at the hazy memories of her past. She didn't have a single clue who the girl was, but her mind seemed to command her to cry for the loss. It was as if all her memories of the girl were lost and erased. She put her head in her hands and her shoulders shook as she cried and cried. Riven seemed surprised at her sudden outburst and he placed and arm around Musa and pulled her close. For days now he urged to do that, to hold her hand or even kiss her lips. The only problem was he didn't know *how* to tell her that he liked her.
Or even better. He loved her.
Musa was glad that he placed his arm around her. It was support. But something told her it was more than that. Whatever it was she buried herself in his arms and cried. He rubbed her back and waited for the crying episode to end.
Soon after, Musa wiped the last of her tears away. She looked back into Riven's maroon eyes and was suddenly embarrassed at her crying. She blushed and pulled away from Riven's arms. *Sorry.* she wrote with the stick. *Anyway, I think I can still see the girl. She's in my dreams sometimes. She's usually slipping away from me and I try my hardest to save her but I can't I just can't. Why?*
Riven read the words over and over and marveled at how similar her dream was to his. "Musa...What does she look like?" He hoped she would paint a picture in his mind that was similar to his dream. But she only shook her head. She gestured to the fog on the river. Riven understood this meant she couldn't remember since her mind was fogged up. He nodded in understanding and lowered his head in disappointment. He could barely remember what the baby looked like. He'll probably never see the baby again so to him it didn't matter.
But to Musa it mattered a lot. The girl was intrusive in her dreams...in her life. She needed to know the importance of her. And anything else from her past that she could know.
Riven interrupted her thoughts yet again. "Come on Musa. Tomorrow we are going into Titania City. OK? I think we are going to find our parents there OK? We've been searching all throughout Zenith but I think we finally are going to find our families. OK?" Musa gave another small nod. Riven smiled. He knew that he was in love with her. He just couldn't tell if she liked him back. That's what scared him off from telling the truth. "Let's go to sleep. We have a hard day ahead of us."
He got up and pulled out two sleeping bags that he had gotten in another city a couple of months back. He handed one to Musa and they laid the sleeping bags side by side. Musa laid on her back and looked up at the stars wondering what adventures she and Riven might have tomorrow.
She failed to notice three things happening in the sky and right next to her.
One was a ship, missing and not forgotten, making a landing in the field next to where Riven and her were, a cluster of fireworks erupting in Titania City commemorating the Queens engagement, and Riven's face watching her own seeing if his beauty would fall asleep peacefully and watching to make sure she stayed safe.
And as Musa drifted off to sleep, soon followed by Riven, no one heard the quick whispers that came from the field by theirs or the footsteps that erupted towards them as the fireworks continued to shoot into the night sky.
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*Aww...some Riven And Musa fluff! Just a little. Adorable! The others will also have their moments of fluffiness don't worry!
This chapter was dedicated to one of reviewers, Swimmy, who has been waiting patiently for some MxR! ;)
Next chapter is discovering a little bit more about a certain persons dream...And Timmy is kinda getting pissed off while he counts down his days of freedom from Electra...