CHAPTER FIVE.
The turning of pages lulls through the library as Malvolia sits with Beatrix. The yearbook resting on the table in front of her, she sighs as she looks through it which catches Bea's attention.
"Something wrong?" Beatrix hums, glancing up from her book briefly.
Malvolia shakes her head. "You said this would help me get answers but I'm not even sure what the questions are."
The auburn-hair girl lifts her head up to look at Malvolia. "What do you know of your origin story?"
"My... origin story?" Malvolia mutters. "Who the hell says that?"
"Me."
Mal sighs, with the shake of her head. "Not much, if I'm being honest, Silva told me I was found as a baby nearby the school. No family in sight, I was completely alone... abandoned."
Beatrix hums. "Hmm and you believe that?"
Mal shrugs. "I've never been given a reason not to."
"Well, there's a first for everything,' Beatrix replies smartly. Taking note of Mal's exasperated book she decides to help the girl out, she reaches over and turns the page. "You're so close, yet you're so far away."
Malvolia squints her eyes at Bea's crypticness. "Do you always talk like you're trying to tell someone something without outright saying it?"
"It's a gift of mine," Beatrix smirks. She nods her head towards the pages in front of her suitemate.
Malvolia sighs, taking the hint, her brown eyes glance over the pages before they stop on a woman. She examines the dark hair woman standing next to Silva and Dowling. Her face was practically a mirror of Malvolia's: the same dark hair framing an oval shape face and painted full lips beneath a button nose. But what stood out to Malvolia the most was the piercing dark eyes glaring back at her, the exact ones she's seen so many times before as she looked at herself in the mirror.
Malvolia's eyebrows furrow. "Desdemona?" She whispers.
"Looks familiar, doesn't she?" Beatrix nudges.
"Too familiar," Malvolia mumbles. She shakes her head. "I don't understand, who is she? Is that what you wanted me to see?"
Beatrix stands up from her seat, starting to gather her books. "There's only three people in this school who can give you that answer."
"Silva, Dowling, and Harvey," Malvolia mutters in disgust. She gathers her stuff and follows Beatrix. She shakes her head. "They won't give me answers, they haven't for years they're not going to start too now."
Beatrix stops, making Mal halt as well. "Then maybe you should start taking them," Beatrix smirks before walking off.
( CROWN ON THE GROUND. )
"Psst!" Malvolia whispers aggressively from behind a tree. "Riven!"
Riven turns away from watching Sky walk off. His green eyes glances over at Malvolia, he smiles smugly as he heads over to her. He traps her against the tree, both hands laid flat by the sides of her head. "Back to sneaking around, are we?"
Malvolia rolls her eyes. "Ditch with me?" She asks, her brown eyes wide and pleading.
Riven smirks. "Oh this is new, usually it's me begging you. I feel special."
"Good," Mal smirks. "Then that gives you no reason to deny me. Come along."
"Where are we going?" Riven asks as he follows Malvolia.
"To get our mind off things," she tells him.
And that is exactly how the two found themselves, tangled within the sheets of Malvolia's bed. Other worries completely free from their minds as they soaked in each other's presence.
"I'm starting to get the feeling that you only use me for sex and weed," Riven tells Mal as he hands her the blunt, they've been sharing.
Malvolia rolls her eyes. "You know that's not true Riv," she tells him putting the blunt between her lips.
"Do I?" Riven asks, his green eyes meeting her deep brown ones.
Malvolia shoves the blunt into his hand. She gently takes hold of his face and slowly pulls it towards her, smashing her lips against his. She pushes her body against his, putting everything into the kiss. All the passion and list she feels for him as well as all the gratefulness and caring. She has never been in love before, she's not really sure what it feels like. All she knows is that Riven keeps her sane, he makes her feel safe and accepted in a school where people seem to walk on eggshells around her.
"Does that answer your question?" Mal asks as she pulls away.
Riven's closed eyes flutter open. "I don't think I understood the first time, you might actually have to explain it to me again," he jokes, leaning his head forward so their noses touch.
"Cheeky asshole," Malvolia says, pulling away her face and laying it on his shoulder. "I'm gonna be late to class," she sighs.
"Then be late!"
Malvolia pulls away with a pout. "I gotta go," she sighs, getting off the bed and redressing herself.
"Hey," Riven says catching Mal's attention as she grabs her bag off the floor. "You okay?"
"Yeah, why?" Mal asks in confusion.
"You seem different lately."
Mal rolls her eyes. "Leave the emotion reading to the mind fairies, would you?"
Riven rolls his eyes at her snark. "I'm just saying, I'm always on your side Mal. Whatever side that ends up being."
Mal gives him a genuine smile. "I know," she nods, reaching over to give him a kiss. She shuts the door behind her before heading over to her class.
"You're late," is the first thing she hears as she takes the seat next to Beatrix.
"Yeah well, it's not like you're teach me much anyways," she replies with a sarcastic smile on her lips.
Professor Dowling shakes her head before turning her focus back to Bloom. The brunette watches as Bloom easily lights up the pile of wood in front of her.
"Looks like you're not the only one picking up control rather quickly," Beatrix notes, giving Malvolia a look.
Mal furrows her eyebrows as Dowling passes by the girls stopping to give Beatrix praise.
"Got it, Miss D," Beatrix replies back before quickly covering up her mistake. "Headmistress Dowling."
Malvolia watches as Dowling heads over to coach Aisha. She furrows her eyebrows before pursing her lips.
"How is it that" She speaks at random, turning her body to face Beatrix. "You're you?"
Beatrix looks at her in confusion. "What are you on about?"
"You always seem to be one step ahead of everyone. You strut down the halls looking at people as if they're beneath you and, honestly, it seems like they are. You have a glint in your eye that screams I-know-more-than-you-do and you talk to people in a condescending tone that makes them believe you do know more than you're letting on."
Beatrix smirks. "My my Mal, I didn't realize you watched me so closely."
Malvolia rolls her eyes. "There's something going on in Alfea, it's in the air. I don't know whether what's coming is good or bad, but I do know that you're somehow smack dab in the middle of it."
"So what are you trying to say Mal?"
"I'm saying I want to know the truth. I want answers," she tells her firmly looking into her eyes.
Beatrix smirks. "I thought you said you didn't have any que-"
"Maybe I do," Mal cuts her off. "It's just one but..." She trails off unsurely.
Beatrix nods, telling her to continue.
Mal hesitates. She weighs the odds, if she asks it might lead her to answers to questions she didn't even know she should be asking. However, that might also lead her to truths she might not want to hear. In the end, she decided knowing is a lot better than stumbling blindly through the dark, even if it might hurt to hear.
Malvolia looks Beatrix dead in the eyes. "What are you up to?" She asks, Beatrix giving her a smirk. Almost like she's been waiting for the brunette to ask her that question.
The two girls get cut off by the splashing of water. "Thats all for today," Dowling dismisses.
Malvolia gathers her books, Beatrix stopping her. "Tonight," the auburn-hair girl tells Mal. "Everything you want to know, I'll give you all the answers tonight."
Malvolia purses her lips. "I've heard that before."
"But I've followed through with everything so far, haven't I?" Beatrix pushes.
Mal nods. "Tonight," she confirms.
( CROWN ON THE GROUND. )
"How long do you have?" Sky asks as he watches Silva struggle to move. He watches as Silva's chest heaves with every breath.
Silva shakes his head. "I don't know, I don't know, not long," he tells him, his head hanging in defeat as the reality starts to set in.
"So, what do we do?" Sky asks him frantically.
"Well, I've...spoken to my seconds about the plans for your training, and Dowling is aware of my wishes for yours and Lia's future."
"I asked you a question," Sky demands.
"And I am answering it, Sky," Silva exhales sharply. "Soldiers have to have these conversations with the people that matter. We make a plan, that's what we can do," Silva tells the teenage boy, their eyes meeting.
"There has to be something else," Sky pleads. "I already lost one father. I can't lose another."
"I will keep you updated; do you understand?"
Sky hesitates before sighing. "Yeah."
Silva nods, his heart heavy. "Right now, you just need to focus on your training and your sister. Somethings going on with her," Silva says. "She's slipping, you need to help her."
Sky scoffs. "She doesn't want my help."
"But you need to give it to her anyways," Silva tells him firmly. "You're siblings, blood or not. Things are changing, truths are becoming known. There is a shift going on right now and your sister is lost within it."
Sky nods. "Okay," he says quietly before heading out. The blond stops as he sees the topic of conversations coming around the corner of the greenhouse.
"Guess we both had the same idea, huh?" Malvolia asks, her lips pursed.
"I was just leaving."
Mal nods. "Is he okay?" She asks, her eyes turned to the floor.
"You haven't talked to him?"
"No," Mal whispers. "I, um, kind of have been avoiding it. I'd rather not go through the dilemma of him reassuring me that he's fine whe-when we all know he's not."
"You know," Sky speaks up, breaking the silence that followed after what Malvolia said. "When you were younger and there was something wrong, you would always come to me first."
"Because you were my older brother," Mel say, holding back tears. "I used to think the world of you, if anyone could fix my problems, I knew it would be you."
Sky lets a small smile slip on his lips. "Yeah, well it's different now, isn't it?" He asks.
Malvolia stays silent, her foot kicking a small pebble.
"You don't come to me anymore. You're not okay but you don't come to me," Sky says, waiting for her to say something. He sighs when he realizes she isn't.
"I still do," Mal speaks up, finally. Noticing the confusion on his face she elaborates, "Think the world of you."
"Then let me help you, Lia."
Mal looks back to the floor. "I don't think you can, Sky."
"Bu-"
Mal quickly cuts off whatever he's going to say. "I don't think you can Sky, because I think you're just as lost and in the dark as I am."
"Then we can figure this out together," Sky tells her.
Mal smiles. "Ever the fixer. You always loved putting broken things back together, despite the fact you might hurt your own self in the process."
"You're not broken Lia," Sky whispers to her.
"I'm not sure what I am anymore," Mal answers honestly. "But I think I'm going to find out soon," she adds on before walking off.
Sky furrows his eyebrows. "What does that mean? Lia? What does that mean?"