I guess I just have to figure out a way to be a hero to myself, if that makes sense.
You always got me, Mu
Riven, where are you going?
I've got some work to do. And I've got to do it on my own
Good luck, Riven. We're here for you
And we always will be
I'll see you guys. Goodbye, Musa
If you had asked her how long she and the girls just sat there Musa wouldn't have been able to answer. The last thing she could remember was when she couldn't stop the tears from flowing down. After that moment where she surrendered all she felt was pain and torment as she drowned in the weight of thoughts and emotions all too heavy to be ignored but none stronger than the others. Her heart and mind battled one saying it couldn't have been true, while the other knew there was nothing that would change what happened. Part of her told her that she needed to be strong but another part said why bother with being strong? Musa longed for the guys to come back already so she could find out what happened and move on. Yet still, she never wanted to see that stupid ship come down so she wouldn't have to see him lying there lifeless. Throughout it, all her mind kept flashing back to the last time she Riven the last time any of them would ever see him alive.
After a while she trudged off to her room, none of the girls stopped her sensing that she wanted to be alone. The next day found Musa herself still lost in a sea of emotion desperate to find clarity. With her magical hearing and the unnatural silence that had fallen for the past few hours, she could hear the others quite easily. Some of the girls were in their shared living space doing their usual routines but they weren't focusing on them while the others had wandered off to their rooms. Thankfully they all seemed to have caught on without words that Musa wanted to be left alone. Flora was tending to her plants, and Tecna scrolled through her countless devices looking for something with a level of energy that Musa was surprised by despite her state.
Meanwhile, Musa couldn't bring herself to do much more than listen to her mom's old songs. They had always been able to provide her a small measure of comfort when Musa felt her mother's absence.
Distantly she wondered if Riven and her mother would meet each other in the afterlife she knew her mother would have liked her emotionally constipated boyfriend.
No not boyfriend he's not anything to you anymore you said it yourself you never belonged together and he showed what you meant to him in the end.
Pulling out the holographic photo of her mother Musa tried to get a handle on her feelings by speaking to the one person she could always talk to.
"Hey Mom, remember Riven?" Musa found herself retreating further into herself the longer she went on becoming less aware of what she was saying.
"I heard it from Stella who heard it from Brandon who heard well I don't really know how he found out. I don't even know what actually happened to him."
"He just straight up disappeared, no one knew where he was and he never reached out to me or any of the guys."
"The last I saw of him was him thinking since he couldn't save me one time after spending all his time with that stupid boomerang that he had to leave."
"What good did all that training do? Knowing him he probably got in overhead but didn't have anyone to bail him out this time." Musa all but growled as she found herself feeling a sudden sense of clarity and focus from the anger that was rising to the surface.
"That dam idiot always having to do stupid shit trying to prove to the world he's a tough guy."
"In our first year he barely got away from that troll, almost drowned in a river, nearly got eaten by plants and monsters, and jumped off Cloud Tower dammit mom didn't he know his luck was bound to expire eventually. " Musa yelled as she threw herself on top of her bed.
He sacrificed himself for me
"Even after we go together he was still so fucking reckless always jumping into fights he couldn't win on his own, what was he thinking."
Despite her words deep down Musa knew why he was always so ready to put his life on the line.
When they first met it was because he had come from nothing and wanted to be something someone no matter what it took. Musa never thought that he needed to prove anything back then.
Then it was because Riven never forgave himself for what he did because of Darcy, especially what he did to his friends. He was always trying to pay back a debt he thought he could never fulfill and certainly not one he deserved. Musa and their friends had told him he was forgiven. Musa sometimes wondered if she should have said it more.
Once after he broke free of Morgana's mind control when she jumped in front of his blade he told her he was fighting for her. Musa wondered when he stopped.
Most of all Musa needed to know why he stopped fighting for them.
"I guess I'll just have to spend the rest of my life not knowing." Musa sighed, unable to keep the anger going. It was strange she never had a problem with staying mad at Riven before but yet her heart and mind wouldn't let her rage.
Anger is easy.
Anger is something Musa can handle with Riven all day.
She can't handle the pain.
Not this time.
Not when she knows the pain won't go away.
She saw how her dad reacted to losing her mom. How a part of him died when she did. How music became nothing more than pain to him. Something to hate and fear.
Musa had always thought about how she would react in her dad's place. She remembered telling herself that she wouldn't let the pain of her mom's death turn her hollow. That she would still play the music in her heart.
And yet the thought of singing a song brought nothing more than a cold agony.
—-
Sky Crown Prince of Eraklyon was no stranger to the concept of death. Ever since he was young he was taught that when he will be king every decision will have repercussions he can never predict, that every choice he makes could decide life and death for someone else. Once he started at Red Fountain he grew used to the idea of risking himself in battle and during the battles against the Army of Decay he made his peace with the idea that he would die on those battlefields. He remembered taking comfort that he was facing death with his brother in arms, that he wasn't alone.
Somehow they all survived against what seemed impossible odds. Not everyone was so lucky. Remembering the specialists, fairies, and witches that never got to go home. Sky remembers thinking how facing a regular school year after the one he just lived seemed like a dream.
Only to find him and his squad fighting side by side with the Winx Club against the forces of evil once again. That time he didn't get away so easily. He can still feel the cold grasp of Icy's magic as his life force slowly faded away as if it had just happened. He knew Bloom was a powerful fairy who wielded the power of the dragon flame but he didn't realize it meant more than just being a powerful fairy until she brought him back through sheer force of will from the very brink. Sky vowed that day to not waste his second chance at life. He didn't think he would see that again. Some miracles were once in a lifetime.
He had hoped that none of them would ever need another.
The year wasn't even over before him, and all his friends faced death at the hands of a dark god to save the soul of one of their own. The desperation, the terror, and the courage they all felt despite it all as they tried to save Bloom and the universe.
Darkar's power was unlike anything he had seen at that point, even the Trix were helpless before him. With only a single hit the Shadow Phoenix brought Riven to death's door.
And Bloom somehow pulled him back with a single burst of power she saved and healed them all.
Sky knew he should be grateful that he knew Riven at all, and that he was given a second chance at all; most people after all didn't.
No matter how much Nabu deserved it.
Though both he and Riven were granted a second chance to live, Riven was only granted a few more years.
Sky knew it was selfish and childish of him but all he wanted was to live a full life with all his loved ones weren't they owed that much after all the good they did, all the lives they saved, all they sacrificed?
Sky Crown Prince of Eraklyon wondered if Riven found what he was looking for, Sky the hero wondered when the reaper would take him for good, Sky the child wondered why death had to happen, and most of all Sky wondered what he could have done differently to change Riven's fate.
Taking a look around the Owl Sky couldn't help but think how wrong it felt to see just Timmy, Brandon, and Helia in their long-ago assigned positions on the ship. To his shame, Sky had begun to feel the absence of Riven less and less as time passed in the weeks after he left on his journey of self-discovery.
Would it ever feel right to be in this space just the four of them?
If it stopped feeling wrong what would that say about them?
BEEP BEEP
"Looks like there's a debris field ahead," Timmy reported clearly but emotionlessly from his station.
"How bad are we talking about?" Brandon asked
"If we raise our shielding we should be fine but it will cut into our power supply."
"We could power down all non-essential systems to be on the safe side." Helia commenced as he fiddled with his station's controls.
"Sounds like a plan."
That was the most they had spoken since they left Red Fountain.
—-
Riven died fighting.
There were times when Helia had felt like an outsider. At first, it was because he was a pacifist at a school for heroes, then it was because he was a new member after Sky, Timmy, Brandon, and Riven had been on a team together for two years already. He knew of the four beforehand; they were known as the top team of heroes, boyfriends of the Winx Club who had been the ones to defeat the Trix and save the entire dimension, the prince and the squire that switched places, the tech genius who understood technology on the level of someone twice his age, and the infamous Riven the angry specialist had who dated Darcy the Queen of Darkness before proving where his loyalties truly lay. Some had called for him to be expelled for all that he did while under her thrall, but Saladin refused all attempts.
But before all that Helia knew Riven as the young thief who managed to steal Saladin's cane and impressed his grandfather enough that the old man wanted him at Red Fountain. When he was younger he couldn't understand why his grandfather wanted to teach such an angry brute to be a hero. One day he asked that same question.
"Helia, there are people who want to be good even if they don't know how. Even if no one taught them how to do good. If I wouldn't give someone a chance to do good then I don't deserve to teach at Red Fountain."
He had seen Riven in passing a few times and certainly heard more than his share of gossip about the magenta-haired hero in his freshman year and what he saw hadn't impressed him.
He remembered feeling rage when he found out that people were saying Riven had sided with the ones who destroyed Red Fountain. He was and still is a peaceful man but he couldn't deny he wanted to use the training he received to punch Riven in the face for how he paid Saladin back for all that he did for him.
Then he heard that Riven turned against the Trix and helped free the Cloud Tower witches. Even then he was shocked at how Saladin forgiving was on a personal level. He faced punishment for what he did but all things considered, it was a generous one.
When he joined the squad he had the hardest time getting to know Riven even without the prior bias. Riven was a fighter and enjoyed battle while Helia was anything but that. In the end, they were able to form a bond and he was able to see what his grandfather had seen in the youth that caused him to take Riven under his wing. Settling in at Red Fountain Helia grew to understand the moody man piece by piece though even now he couldn't wrap his head around some of the things Riven did. He still knew almost nothing about Riven's past. One of the first things he had learned when he joined the Specialists was it was one topic that was taboo to ask, and Riven never volunteered information on it.
Helia knew one thing despite that silence. Riven spent his whole life fighting in one way or another and in the end, he died fighting. A noble death yes, but Helia couldn't help but wish his friend could have found a way to be at peace.
