Disclaimer: I don't own Winx or anything related to their world.


This was written during a serious writing drought in which I needed to take a break from my usual fanfictions and decided that since I knew some things about Winx, I'd write something for it. I have not seen the entire first series (it's on at seven thirty on a Sunday morning) but I have played the game (it's the only one I've completed, woe is me) so I know something about the series. I don't know how Musa and Riven get together, I don't even know if they do but I wanted to write about these two because Riven has one of those personalities I like to sink my teeth into. So this should only last two chapters... (it was originally supposed to only last one).


Unattainable

When he'd look back, he would never be sure what compelled him to do it. Maybe it was simply an accident, after all they do happen. Even to heroes in training, and even more importantly, to heroes themselves but not nearly as often because that would diminish their hero status. Maybe on a subconscious level, he knew what he was doing. Perhaps he just couldn't go on with the way things were, living a lie and denying what he knew was right. Or it simply just could have slipped out because he was thinking about her, instead of the girl in his arms.

Thinking about the way her eyes would sparkle with mischief when she was teasing him, with that slight superior glint that told him that he couldn't do a thing that would really push her away and he'd tried so hard. Thinking about how when the sun gleamed on her hair, it turned an intriguing shade of blue and how it looked incredibly soft but he'd never dared to try and touch it. And how she had that cute upturned nose, and he would never ever under the penalty of death, utter that word in regards a person. Then there was the way her voice had that rusty quality that drove him mad when he was alone, thinking about hearing it murmuring his name.

He thought about her too much and no girl, fairy or not, should be allowed to wear that short of a skirt! How were men supposed to fight when there were girls flying about in scraps of clothing? It was indecent! But, she did look good in it.

Of course, all these thoughts, which occurred to him at the most inappropriate times, were the reason he was in this mess now.

He shouldn't have done it, he shouldn't have uttered Musa's name; not when he was kissing Darcy. But who knew the witch would overreact. So he said Musa's name, -and had been thinking about her instead of the witch in his arms which he had a tendency to do- big deal, it wasn't a crime. It wasn't as though he was cheating on her, he hadn't even talked to Musa much and when he did see her, they were always accompanied by those pixies she called friends. He would never understand what his friends saw in them. Well maybe Techna was ok; she at least had some dignity and didn't do that whole squealing thing that girls seemed to do a lot.

Which was pretty much the reason he was with Darcy in the first place -well besides the spell. She at least acted mature, she was a witch and it was true that she was evil but she had curves in the right place and she never wanted to talk to him about his day.

But she wasn't Musa. It was all Musa's fault, why did she have to be her? She was violently protective of her friend, so loyal that she stuck by everyone even those who had wronged her -i.e. himself. She was creative and smart, and a loud mouth, he added wryly. The girl never knew when to keep her mouth shut but at the same time, she could keep her mind focused on the problem. And every irritating part of her just endeared her to him more.

Darcy's reaction hadn't been good, he mused with a dry smirk before he winced. Oh no, she had freaked out in a big way, going so far as to attack him physically before she remembered she had magick. So not only did he have great big welts from her nails, he had burn marks from her dark energy field, before she had played target practice with him. With little room to maneuver, he'd taken several direct hits from her dark rays before Stormy had entered the room and he had escaped to the closest translocator. He didn't go back to Red Fountain, mainly because his friends would be there and he didn't need their sympathy. All he wanted was to brood about how stupid he was to allow himself to have feelings for that…

So that was how he ended up in the black swamp, listening to the crickets and the odd croak from a swamp frog. The advantage of the Black Mud swamp was the lack of civilization and there was less chance of Darcy following him. She was sure as hell not finished with him. She was too much like Icy to let him get away before she was finished. Now she would probably prolong the punishment but he would take it. And then he'd get away from this whole screwed up situation for a while so he could get his head cleared. When he came back, he hoped to be able to stay away from both girls for a long time, especially Darcy. She was kind of clingy and she had only wanted him for a trophy anyway.

He gazed dispassionately at his reflection in the murky water. His face was slashed from her razor sharp nails -another pet peeve of his. At least Musa had short nails though he had noted she had a tendency to bite them when she was nervous, which was why Stella had painted them with something that tasted bad; or so Brandon had told him. His hand was turning black due to the fact that he had shielded his face from one of her attacks; he didn't know what they were, he just knew those rings of indigo hurt. He knew his shirt was torn into ribbons and singed from where his back had collided with the force field she'd erected to trap him and his back itself was so painful he couldn't even feel anything anymore unless a muscle jumped and then it erupted into a scorching inferno of pain.

He'd have to go back to the school and get healed up; perhaps even a fairy would have to be brought in to heal some of his deeper wounds. Flora could help but he didn't want to go to the Winx club for the same reason he didn't want to go back to his dorm and more so, how would Musa react? She didn't know he was still seeing Darcy; even Icy and Stormy didn't which was why it was probably taking Darcy so long to track him. They wouldn't take her seeing the enemy too well, and she was the enemy despite the make out sessions. He never forgot what she'd done to him. He just… he just couldn't help it. Call him a glutton for punishment; he did it enough to himself.

So lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice the strange indistinct sound that had begun to disturb the air of the swamp. It was too high pitched to be the buzzing of a fly but that was what it sounded like when he finally noticed it. And it was heading his way.

And it was accompanied by footsteps, careful ones that were avoiding the puddles by the sounds of it. Hissing in a breath, he pressed back against the tree trunk he'd climbed up to give him a good vantage point. Turning, he tried to see around the bend so he could have a good chance to get out of there should it turn out to be Darcy. He didn't like to run, but sometimes running was all you could do. Especially when you weren't in any shape to do battle against a scorned witch. What was the saying? Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned? Yeah, well up that ten fold and you had his predicament.

A figure rounded the bend, hands at a ready for anything that should attack. Immediately he could see it was a fairy; only fairies held themselves like that. Warriors had their shields and swords at the ready, fairies stood ready to call up their shield at the slightest hint of danger. He'd seen Bloom call up a shield every time she opened a door at Cloud Tower once, because she hadn't been sure what could be on the other side. It was a good tactical approach, and this fairy was doing…

Well wouldn't that just be typical, he thought snidely as he recognized the figure. No one else walked into danger with damn headphones on their head. How was she supposed to hear anything when she was filling her head with music? He was tempted to jump down just to scare the crap out of her but he was well aware of the damage that one of their little magma orbs could do, he'd been on the receiving end once or twice. Through no fault of his own of course, he just happened to know a lot of fire happy fairies.

Suddenly a barrier enclosed the girl, purple and shimmering with light as it pulsed in time with her heartbeat. Keeping it steady with her hands, she scanned her surroundings and frowned. Despite the music, something had obviously startled her. Giving the area another sweep of her gaze, she finally decided she was safe and with a flick of her hand, she pulled the shield down and absorbed the energy, no good wasting it, he thought with a glimmer of admiration before he ruthlessly squashed it.

She was dressed in the typical khaki shirt and shorts that seemed to be the Alfea school trip uniform, despite the fact that Alfea didn't actually have a uniform. Her hair was pulled into its usual bunches that just made her look younger but always seemed to bring attention right to those obsidian eyes that seemed to contain the stars within them. The khaki shirt seemed to lend some color to her alabaster pale skin which just served to make her eyes darker and even more the focal point of that oriental face.

Her head bobbed to the music in her headphones as she reached into her backpack and tugged out a blanket, laying it on the earth before she knelt. Quickly shifting so that she was sitting with her back to the tree and her legs stretched before, she tilted her head back and closed her eyes, lips moving in sync to the music from her headphones.

He sighed and rolled his eyes. Of all times she would come to the swamp, she just had to pick now. Sometimes he swore she would be the death of him.

Suddenly she jerked as though shot and his heart jumped into his throat, before he swallowed it when she sat up and began to fish in her bag before pulling out her phone. Untangling her headphones, she was just about to punch in the number when it began to hum cheerfully.

"Yo." she answered in the casual greeting that was innately her. "Stella? Hey! You were messing with my music player, weren't you?"

Whatever Stella had been about to say was quickly lost as her eyes widened and she 'eeped'. "Uh… no!" She refuted, her eyes darting nervously.

"Stella, picture phone." Musa reminded her dryly and had a smirk tugging at his lips. "I can see you, Stella."

"Oh right… We have a slight emergency-"

"One thing at a time Stella. How would you like it if I went and wore your shoes into the swamp?"

"You wouldn't dare! My feet are much smaller than yours."

"No you just wear a smaller size. I happen to like my feet being feet shaped, sister. Now tell the truth because your preppy boy band music is being played in my earphones!"

Stella opened her mouth to reply then winced and, much to Riven's shock and Musa's surprise, she pulled her top up over her face as though to hide it.

"Stella, picture phone!" Musa screamed, flinging a hand over her face. "You're flashing me; I don't want to see your boobs. Save them for Brandon!"

Stella yelped; then blushed. "Oops, sorry." her eyes strayed to the side and she nodded at something that was out of the scope of the camera. "Oh right, my bad. Look, we have a slight situation. The witches are up to something."

"Wanna tell me something I don't know? Like the answers to professor Palladium's quiz?" Musa asked nonchalantly as she leaned back against the tree trunk. "The witches are always up to something, has to do with them being evil and wanting to take over the world."

"No this is serious, missy! We can't find- Huh?" she broke off and tilted her head. "Oh! Right, ok. I found him. ok, he's with Musa." Stella turned back while Musa simply gaped at the screen muttering phrases like: 'who's with me? Did Kiko go missing?' and the like. "When did you find him? You know, you could have contacted us, we were really worried you know."

"Stella? Put Techna on the phone right now!"

"But… Oh, ok. How bad is he injured?"

"WHO!"

But Stella had already passed on the phone leaving Musa completely bewildered as she looked around her for this mysterious person. A flash of pink caught her eye and Techna appeared on the screen.

"Oh good, you found-"

"OH NUTS! I FLASHED HIM!"

Musa sweat-dropped at Stella's appalled scream before turning her attention back to Techna. "Who's missing?"

"Why Riven, of course."

Musa looked around her, startled eyes wide and dark as she scanned for the elusive member of the Specialists but still, she couldn't see head or tail of the arrogant jerk that constantly preyed on her thoughts. "Oh, of course. So where is he? And why would Stella think he'd be with me? I seriously-"

"You know, if you took those headphones off once in a while, you might know a little more."

Musa yelped and jumped to her feet, dropping the phone causing Techna to call out in alarm. She looked around her frantically, before her gaze moved steadily up the tree as something disturbed the leaves and began a slow descent. Red trousers, a cool looking wife beater, lean, wiry build, long, subtly toned limbs. Short burgundy hair. Oh no.

"Yeah and if I wore them constantly, I could block you out. Oh there's an idea." she snapped, grabbing her earphones and pulling them on, shooting a venomous glare at his back before picking up the phone. "I found him, I just wish I had known he was here so I could have avoided coming here." she added on an aside.

"Give it a rest Musa. I'm not in the mood to play your juvenile games."

"You're such a jerk-" she broke off with a surprised gasp of horror. "What in Magix's name happened to you? Get in a fight with your shadow?"

He gave her a cool look, favoring his right side. He looked a sight, hair matted, ugly gashes had sliced up his face, his white shirt was bloodstained, his left eye was black, his lip busted, he was limping and he smelt of scorched flesh. She swallowed hard.

He backed up a step when she moved towards him and held up a hand. "I'm fine; I just need to get back to the school. A few healing spells and I'll be fine."

"What happened to you?" She asked before she could help herself, her concerned eyes scanning his injuries.

"I got into a fight with my shadow." He replied levelly.

"What shape is your shadow in?"

His lip quirked before he winced, his vision was spinning worryingly and she was fading in and out of clarity. "I… I…"

"You need medical attention." She finished. "Come on." she ordered, stepping towards him and giving him a hard look when he stepped back. "Riven, either you let me help or I knock you out!"

He gave a disgusted snort, before letting her hooking his arm over her shoulder to take his weight. She worried her lip as he stifled a hiss of pain and the going was incredibly slow. It seemed that every time he moved, he agitated another wound.

"Ok, maybe I can float you there or something. You're in too much pa-"

"I'm a hero; we are trained to cope with pain."

"Are you trained to deal with magically inflicted wounds?" she snapped back. "Half of these look bad but they could be much worse. You have no idea if you have any internal wounds, for goodness sake, you could have a punctured lung or who knows what, how could you be so careless as to stay out here instead of going to get help?"

He shot her a dark look out of violet eyes. "Just get me to the portal and try not to lecture me to death; the wounds are doing a good enough-"

"SHUT UP!" She growled. "Don't even talk about dying, Riven. I won't have your death on my conscience."

Without saying another word, she began to lead him towards translocator that she had arrived with.


Three days later and Musa was not a happy bunny and she knew what one looked like! Having lived in a dorm with one, she knew very well what a happy bunny looked like and how they acted and she was in no way feeling remotely like a happy bunny.

Scowling she arrived in Black Mud Swamp for the second time that week. It was all Riven's fault, it was always his fault but this time more than any other time, it was his fault. If he hadn't gotten injured and she still didn't know how it happened, something about Darcy and something. He had been pretty tight lipped about it and all the other boys knew was that she had showed up at their dorm looking for him, only to have felt the bite of Timmy's blade as he reacted out of reflex which got him a peck on the lips from Techna. The boys' blush could have lit up Sparks for a couple of hours.

It was sweet, it really was and Musa had really admired the guts it took for stuttering Timmy to face down Darcy in one of her rages. She just would have liked to know what had put the girl into one of her rages, or more to the point, what Riven had said. She figured it could have run from anything since the guy had a way of cutting people with his careless comments. The thing was that he wasn't careless because he liked to hurt people but because he generally just didn't really care. She figured it was a thin line to walk but it redeemed him in her eyes in some way. She wasn't quite sure why, though sometimes she wished he hurt people just for the sake of hurting them, then it wouldn't seem so bad when he hurt her for his own pleasure. At least it would be for a reason. But then again, if he just hurt her because he couldn't help it, then at least then it wouldn't be personal or against her.

She scowled and stomped further into the forest. Ok, trying to work out the inner workings of Riven's mind would be the death of her. Fiddling with her music player in her pocket, she flicked through to find an angry song to match her mood but none seemed to fit.

Finally, she made do as she rounded the corner and immediately flung up her barrier as a swamp frog leaped towards her. A zap sound told her that his whipping tongue had met with her barrier and probably would have pierced her skin had she not erected her protective shield in time. As she watched the great beast begin its attack, she began to count the time in between each individual lick of his tongue. The tongue was its only weapon but it was long and sharp, which made dodging it a little difficult but she couldn't defeat it if she just defended.

Another 'zap' and she immediately dropped her defenses, running towards the beast and shooting a few magma orbs at it before she leapt over it, turning to face its back where she began to shoot it as quickly as possible before it could turn to face her. The beast croaked and leapt into the nearest bush, making an incredible crashing sound as it made its escape.

She blew out a breath and sighed.

Riven was right, she should pay more attention to her surroundings, she thought as she approached the tree she had dropped her bag at the other day. Approaching the base of the trunk, she let out an exclamation of dismay. It was gone. Her botany project was lost, as was her phone and her other valuables.

She groaned softly and sunk down onto the ground. This was his entire fault. If she had just grabbed her bag instead of hurrying him to the translocator, then she wouldn't be in this situation. Professor Palladium was going to give her a big fat F. And with that grade, there'd be no chance of her passing this year's exam. She was hoping for her projects to bring up her grade in a subject she was obviously lacking an aptitude for.

A tingle on the back of her neck caught her attention and with a resigned sigh, she lifted her gaze to the high boughs of the tree, removing her earphones as she did. A tingle shot through her and her hair went on end. She swallowed hard but kept her gaze steady, trying not to portray the rapid beating of her heart or the fluttering of nerves in the pit of her stomach.

"What are you doing up there? Shouldn't you be recuperating?"

Riven leapt from the tree branch and landed neatly on the ground; so close her stomach hopped. "All better."

And so he was, she realized, looking him over. He wasn't nursing his side, he was standing in his usual arrogant stance with his hips cocked and one foot in front of the other. He looked completely casual and yet, she knew that should anything make a surprise attack, he would be ready for it. The sun gleamed on the two bangs that fluttered in the faint breeze that managed to stir the muggy air and his eyes were bright, alive with intelligence and condescension.

"That's good Riven, I'm really glad but that doesn't explain why you're here or why you let me be attacked by that frog! Some hero you'll be. What will you do, sit back and let your people save themselves?"

"Sure, at least then they'll be able to take care of themselves if I'm otherwise engaged. I don't want them relying on me for everything. Besides, you handled yourself fine."

She lifted a finger to poke him; then thought better of it. She wasn't touching him. If she did, she might be tempted to do more and that was unacceptable. Having a crush on a guy was bad, having him know it was absolutely fatal. It was the quickest way to heartbreak city.

"Why are you here?"

He slid her bag down his arm and dangled it before her. "You left this; I was just going to return it. Least I could do since you helped."

"Darn straight." She muttered under her breath, plucking the bag from his fingers, ignoring the way her fingers tingled when they came into contact with his. She hated that he always looked good; sometimes when he looked at her, she was sure she would be reduced to a puddle of mush. He just had that affect on her. It didn't matter how rude or arrogant he was, she always got a strange delighted thrill every time she saw him. It was unfair but she had come to accept it. It just was her burden in life. "Are you ever going to spill?"

"Spill what?"

"What happened to make Darcy beat you black and blue? Oh and let's not forget the yellow, the green and the purple and the red that also colored your skin."

"Funny, Musa." he quipped dryly, looking up at the sky.

She noted the flexing of his fist and raised a brow. Oh please, he wanted to hit her for a stupid question? He needed anger management. "I was just curious."

"It was nothing important."

"She still bitter about you helping Miss Griffin escape? Because that happened ages ago."

"It has nothing to do with that."

She bit her tongue. "Whatever."

"I should have known."

Musa's hair stood on end at the cruel, bitter voice that echoed through the forest. Immediately, she went on the defensive, her eyes scanning for the person who had spoken, while Riven had reached for his sword and shield, activating them as he took a cautious step forward that placed him in front of Musa.

"Darcy?" she whispered and he nodded grimly.

"Come out and face us." he ordered, senses alert and there before them, the air shimmered with purple fog and Darcy stepped out in her witch form. A tingle moved up his back, a prickle of power like marching ants over his skin, as Musa shifted into her Winx form. He didn't dare glance back to see just how high the skirt actually was up close, but kept his eyes on his purple clad ex.

She flicked her hair over her shoulder and stepped forward, a definite sway to her hips as she watched him with glittering eyes. "How convenient that I find you with her. Two birds with one stone."

"Leave her out of it."

"Oh no, I couldn't do that when she so very much is a part of this."

Musa frowned as she watched the scene over Riven's shoulders. "Why don't you take your witchy butt back to wherever it came from! No one wants you here."

"Does she know Riven? Does she forgive you?"

The musical princess had no clue what Darcy was talking about. Maybe Darcy had finally lost her marbles, it wouldn't surprise her. After all that she had seen, nothing would ever surprise her.

"Forgive him for what?"

"She doesn't know? Oh Riven, that's just not fair." Darcy scolded him in a sing-song tone as she turned to Musa. "Riven and I were a couple." There was a bitter emphasis on 'couple'.

"Uh-huh. Moving on to news that's even partially recent. Come on Darcy, I've got class to go to and-"

"Did she heal you? Does she even know how you got your injuries?"

"Leave her alone, Darcy." Riven bit out; his hands clenching tightly around his sword, before he forced them to relax just enough to wield the sword to the best of his ability.

"Darcy, either just attack or go away. I'm not in the mood for this."

"I attacked him, I caused those injuries."

"Again, you're telling me something I already know." Musa snapped growing irritated with Darcy's mocking tone, her small delicate wings beating with her agitation.

"Don't you want to know why I attacked your boyfriend?"

"It's got nothing to do with her Darcy; this is between you and me." Riven growled, raising his shield as though that would protect them from Darcy's cruel words.

"He's not my-"

"Nothing to do with her?" Darcy snarled; eyes wild and furious. "You should have thought about that before you brought her into my bedroom!"

Musa's brow furrowed. She had never been in Darcy's bedroom, well apart from that time they broke into their room in Cloud Tower, but recently, no. Was Darcy senile? Did she not know what year it was? All of this was majorly in the pass. "I don't know what's wrong with you Darcy but you're completely out of whack."

"Oh no, what's out of whack is him calling your name while we're making out!"

Making out? Him and Darcy?

"That's why I hurt him Musa, because while I was with him, he was thinking about you! It's always been about you! Bet you didn't know he was cheating on you, poor child."

Musa stumbled back, mind reeling. Darcy and Riven were still together? After everything she had done to them and to him, he had gone back to her? What was he thinking? How could he? A searing pain bloomed in the region of her heart and she clutched it to hold back the pain, as though she could suppress it.

All the while she was vaguely aware of Riven talking in low undertones to a hysterical Darcy but the words were just noise in her ears. It was as though her ears were filled with water, she could see the mouths move but she couldn't hear what they were saying. But she didn't care what they were saying, that didn't matter. What mattered was that he had gone back, even after the spell had been taken off. She had consoled herself when she'd found out they were dating that he'd only been with the witch because of the spell but this just rendered that excuse useless. Because what it came down to was that he would rather be with a witch than someone like her. He might even love Darcy and that was enough to make her gag.

Her stomach churned as tears sprang to her eyes, everything felt like it was shattering, the world was crumbling around her, caving in and leaving her lost in the debris and she felt so hollow and numb, empty of whatever warmth had once filled her.

Riven's shout caught her attention and pulled her back to the present where Darcy was finally making her attack.

Freak out later, stay alive now; she ordered herself as she quickly pulled up her defenses making sure that Riven had his own shield out. She could have cloaked him in her shield, but she wasn't feeling that benevolent, besides he probably wouldn't appreciate it. Heck, maybe he was even on Darcy's side and this was just a ploy to get her out and attack her.

A sharp zing told her that Darcy's attack had been on target and she dropped her shield to soar into the air.

"What do you think you're doing?" Riven demanded.

At first she thought he was talking to Darcy and then she realized that, of course, he was yelling at her. "Flying!"

"How can I help you, if you're up there and I'm down here!"

"I don't need your-HEY!" she shouted rounding on Darcy, having just managed to miss an attack that had luckily gone wide.

"GET DOWN HERE, YOU DUMB STUPID FAIRY!"

At Riven's roar, she fired three successive magma orbs at Darcy before firing one at him for his insolent comment. She heard his sharp shout and she grimaced. "Oops!"

"MUSA!"

"Aw, poor lover boy can't protect you while you're up here. Too bad."

"I don't need his protection." Musa spat. She didn't need anything from him. "Boom blast!" she shouted as closed her eyes and concentrated on pulling her power from within. Red see through speakers, formed of pure energy materialized in the air and began to pump music waves directly at Darcy who blocked them easily only to retaliate by spewing out black matter.

Musa swerved away from it, knowing the black hole would swallow her into another dimension before she attacked with projectile missiles. A stray ray of pinkish energy hit her and pain blossomed in her side as she lost concentration and spiraled to the ground before righting herself and rising once more to face off with the wicked witch of darkness.

"So you broke up, big deal, get over it and move on."

"Have you moved on?"

"From what?"

"From him, of course. It's obvious you're in love with him, have been since Freshman year at school. Poor little fairy, what's it like to know that he comes back to me time after time, especially when he claims to be a good guy."

"Everyone makes mistakes," Musa pointed out. "That's obvious, since you were born." She fired another projectile and the witch screamed as it slashed her leg.

"You dumb little pixie!"

"It's fairy, get your species right, witch!"

"Dark wave!"

Musa pulled up her shield and blocked the attack before firing off more projectiles, circling the witch in order to find a blind spot she couldn't defend against but Darcy, being on the inside, had a smaller axis to spin on and wasted less energy. So Musa had to find a way to end this fast.

"Dark wave!"

"You keep trying to suck me into a vortex and I'm going to get pissed off! Speed beat!" she called out, summoning large a large boom box to play a fast paced beat that really got her moving.

Darcy watched as the fairy blurred in and out of her attacks, moving faster than she could anticipate which ended up with the witch spinning round and firing her energy constantly to keep herself covered. Flashes of light lit up the darkening sky as the attacks clashed and collided while they both tried to get one up on the other.

With both evenly matched, they were beginning to wear down when the sky suddenly darkened to a rich purple color and two figures emerged on the outskirts of the battle field.

Blue eyes surveyed the sight with disdain before they flicked to her companion. "Take out the fairy."

"Whatever you say Icy, you're the boss-lady."

Icy rolled her eyes at Stormy's quip before watching the blue haired girl fire a streak of violet lightning at the figure clad in red. It hit its mark and the fairy cried out in surprise, her back arching in pain, before she dropped limply to the ground.


Riven cursed as he watched the battle knowing there was nothing he could do but wait to see who the victor was but when the witches appeared, for the first time in his life, he hated the fact that he didn't have wings. He'd never felt so helpless in his life. He had always been in control, able to take on anything and everything because everything had a pattern that just had to be figured out before it could be solved. That was the way life worked. It was one big puzzle. Once the code was worked out, everything was fine.

But as he watched Stormy attack Musa from behind, he realized that life was never as simple as he had always figured because he had never taken into consideration just how dangerous emotions were. Even when you tried to block them out, they crept up on you making you feel things you shouldn't, making you want to do things you couldn't. Such as switching places with an injured fairy falling to her death.

"Damn you, Musa." he choked out as she raced out into the marsh in some futile attempt to catch her.

He wasn't sure what happened, maybe fate had taken pity on him just once or maybe Musa had awoken long enough to catch herself mid flight. Whatever it was, it happened and Musa dropped directly into his waiting arms. Clutching her to his chest, he examined her wounds shrewdly. Nothing she couldn't heal from, mainly just superficial flesh wounds that could be healed by the ointments that the fairy nurse had given him for his and the back wound was just a shock to her system. She'd simply fainted, that's all. Lucky imp.

Her skin was paper white, her eyes closed so that her lashes rested like inky crescents on her cheeks while her lips were pale and no where near the vivid color that always tempted him. She was a dead weight in his arms, showing no sign of stirring but her pulse was there, strong and steady. She'd be fine; he just had to get them somewhere safe.

He turned and began to wade back out of the water, ignoring the way his trousers clung to his legs like a second skin making it harder to move. It was slow going but he finally got to the bank.

"Now where do you think you're going?"

He froze and glared up at Icy. "For a walk, you?"

"You know, I always liked you… you were ok for a hero. But you had so much potential, if only you weren't contaminated. Now drop the girl, we have business to take care of."

"Over my dead body." Riven growled; carefully laying Musa down so he stood before her, brandishing his sword.

"That can be arranged." Darcy sneered, eyes flickering with intense hatred.

"Let's just go, I'm tired and there's this cute guy-"

"Stormy." Icy growled. "This is a chance to take out a member of the Winx club."

"But she's weak; she's not even one of their attackers."

"Think of the grief they'll feel because we killed their precious friend."

"I want her dead!" Darcy screamed. "If I can't have him, then he shouldn't have her."

"Oh, get over it, Darcy."

"You get out of my face Stormy; I want to kill her Icy."

Icy held up a palm to stop their annoying squabbling. "If anyone is going to take the kill, it will be me. I'm the leader."

"Gentle Lullaby." A voice whispered.

Riven glanced over his shoulders to see Musa, braced sluggishly against a near by tree glaring up at the trio, hands holding a flute to her lips. Musical notes weaved out of the metallic instrument, producing a soft, gentle music which caused, he noted, the witches to become slower and slower, their words dragging out and their movements becoming lethargic.

"Come on." Musa growled, "that won't hold them for long and we have to get away from here."

"We can't head back to the translocator, that's where they'll expect us to go." He decided, scooping her up in his arms, cradling her closer.

"Right- Hey, I can walk."

"Walk yes, but we need to move fast and you shuffling along won't get you anywhere."

"I don't need your help."

"Tough, you've got it for the moment. Look, Musa, I'm not going to argue about this now."

Scowling at him, she allowed him to lead her into the forest.


The woods were alive with light as luminaire plants unfurled their petals and shot jets of scarlet embers into the night sky, fireflies moved with grace through the scented air while strobes of light danced over the tree trunks. For the first half hour, Riven had thought the lights to be people with torches only for him to realize that they were just the lights from glowing plants. There were plenty in the centre of the woods that encompassed the black mud swamp.

"We're lost, aren't we?" Musa asked from behind him. She was stumbling along behind him, refusing to accept his help.

He cast a cursory glance at her before shrugging. "I don't recognize the place but we can set up camp here."

"Shouldn't we continue on, there has to be a translocator around here somewhere; the Black Mud Swamp doesn't last forever."

"Yes and while we're looking, you'll keel over. You need rest." he stated grimly, refusing to look at her.

"And while we're sleeping, Darcy will come along and finish us off!" She snarled petulantly, folding her arms and biting back a whimper as she felt a sting of pain.

"I'll keep watch."

"That makes me feel so much safer." she quipped dryly.

"For Magix sake Musa, I'm not going to hurt you."

She met his blistering gaze with cool eyes. "You already have."

Saying no more, she stomped off through the flowers towards the edge of the clearing.

"Musa, we need to set up camp."

She rounded on him, eyes flashing as she glared at him. "Why here?"

"Lots of reasons." he told her warily. He just wanted the day over. He just wanted out of here and away from her. "The trees for one provide cover, the witches won't attempt to fly in, there's light, a stream nearby, the spiders and frogs don't like the light either, reminds them of fire which is another reason for here. Those flowers look so much like fire, that if we were to set one up, no one would be any wiser."

Why did he have to make good logical points? She knew this was why he would make a good hero, he may not have any emotions but he knew how to use his environment to his advantage. She'd never think of things like that.

"You need to recuperate and get those wounds cleansed; I'll go gather some logs and water. You can just find a place to sleep."

She moved to a small alcove and settled herself on the ground, pulling her knees up to her chest as she changed back into her normal form -wings were sore to lie on. She shouldn't be so hard on Riven; it wasn't his fault he didn't care about her. She couldn't force him to have feelings and if he suddenly decided he did just to placate her, well what sort of relationship would that be. Yes, she cared deeply for Riven; probably loved him for some sick reason and that meant that she wanted to be with him, not some false pretense. She accepted that he was arrogant; sometimes it was fun to just push him to see how far he would go with his attitude. She liked to tease or maybe flirt was the word with him when he was in his, 'I'm too cool' moods. It was funny just to see if he could keep up the act. Sometimes he even looked vaguely amused.

She liked his mind, even when he was being a git, he was still really smart. He may not have Timmy's smarts but he certainly could think on his feet and that kept her on her toes. No one ever gave her back as good as they got, she was always looking for someone who could keep up with her sarcasm. Then there were his looks, they couldn't be denied but she liked to take pot shots at him because sometimes he could be incredibly vain about them.

At least when he had been with Darcy, he had been nice and that just wasn't Riven. Even with the boys, who she knew he cared for deeply as a brother would, he was never nice. He was… Riven. He couldn't pretend to be anything else unless he was under a spell.

A twig snapping caught her attention and she looked round to find Riven striding through the flowers looking for her. He dropped the logs and the pan of water, and cursed, raking a hand through his hair.

"Now where has that damn pixie run off too?"

She rose slowly to her feet and approached him, leaning against a tree as she watched him look around the clearing. He obviously was wondering what direction she'd gone, how long ago she'd gone and whether or not he should take after her. She figured he would. He had too much honor not to. He was after all, a hero in training.

"I didn't run off anywhere." She finally spoke up and he whirled to face her, eyes darkening with temper. "And I'm not a pixie."

"What are you doing over there?"

"I thought it would provide some shelter and we'd be out of sight in case anyone…" she trailed off uncertain now that he was scrutinizing her with those intense amethyst eyes. They seemed to burn right through her in the warm red light provided by the shooting embers.

"Makes sense. Grab some of those logs." he ordered, picking up the pail and the tucking a few logs under his arms before moving into the alcove.

"But I'm injured." she pointed out, before submitting under his piercing gaze. She grabbed the remaining logs and helped him create the basis for a fire. Then she watched with some surprise as he picked up a rock and began to strike it off another. A spark flared and latched onto the dry briars he'd used as kindling. The flame flickered before it began to feed steadily off the sticks that were gathered around it.

"Did you learn how to do that in Red Fountain?"

"Survival training camp. You won't always have the necessary tools with you if you become stranded in the middle of nowhere." He replied, dusting off his hands as he rose to his feet. He turned to her and looked her up and down. "You need to get those wounds clean."

She nodded and headed to the pail of water before looking round for a scrap of cloth to act as a bandage. A tear sounded close by and she looked up to see Riven holding a frayed strip of white cloth out to her. His gaze was averted out to the forest as though he could hear something she couldn't, but she accepted the strip because she wasn't going to ruin her own top.

"They're probably looking for us, don't you think?" she wondered as she dabbed at a wound on her arm, hissing at the sting of water touching the tender raw flesh.

"Of course they are."

"How will they find us?"

He blew out a breath and slid down to the earth, his butt bone jarring off the hard ground. He tilted his head to gaze up at the sky. The navy twilight was speckled by millions of silver pinpricks. The tree limbs, bare and slender looked ominous and threatening in the flickering lights that cast shadows over the clearing they had found. The others were bound to be looking for them, after they hadn't shown up some alarm would have been raised. After all Darcy had shown up at his dorm looking for him. He was just lucky Musa had found him when she did, and still, after finding out everything, she had fought for him.

He flicked a glance over at her. She still hadn't broached the subject of Darcy, on their escape route she had talked about everything and anything but Darcy or the fact that he had gone back to her and he wanted to explain. He wanted her to ask so that he could justify himself which he shouldn't have wanted to do, why should he have to answer to her? And yet, just existing, she caused him to justify his actions. He'd hurt her so much in his life and it still shocked him, and awed him that she continued to care about him. He just didn't understand her. How could she care about him?

A sharp hiss broke him out of his reverie and he jerked his attention to her. "How're the wounds?"

"Superficial. They'll be gone in the morning." He quirked a brow and she elaborated. "My Winx form takes the brunt of the damage."

"I'm… I'm sorry about that."

She gave a subtle shrug. "It's your life, Riven. You make the choices."

"Yeah but I didn't choose to get you involved."

"Well, what's done is done." She murmured. "I'm going to go to sleep."

He watched as she climbed to her feet and shuffled to the back of the alcove, pulling out her blanket from her backpack and shaking it out, she laid it on the hard earth. She curled up on the makeshift bed and drifted off to sleep, not noticing the longing look that Riven sent her.

But her eyes snapped open when she felt his presence closing to her. She looked up the length of his leg, his narrow hips, tapered waist, broad shoulders and chest to that arrogantly handsome face and she felt her chest constrict.

Out of suspicious eyes, tinged with a flare of panic she watched as he crouched beside her, face illuminated by the flames.

"It'll get cold later." he said in answer to her silent question and she rolled over so that her back was to him.

She wanted to sleep. Couldn't he understand that she couldn't when she was so aware of his presence? The nerves along her back had suddenly come to life, tingling insanely. Her body arced away from his maddening presence in an effort to retain some control and yet, part of yearned to move closer to his warmth.


He poked at the glowing embers with a stick and a flurry of sparks flew into the night as a log broke and he replaced it with another he'd gathered earlier. At his side, Musa slept soundly, her head on his chest and her breath scorching through the thin cotton material of his t-shirt. It was rather distracting but at least it served to keep him awake. She wouldn't be pleased to find out that she had curled closer to his warmth, but he figured this was a good idea. Being close to him would help her enfold him within her protective cocoon.

He watched her sleep and sighed. This was turning into one big mess. It was bad enough that Darcy had let slip about the two of them but to mention that he had called her Musa… that was something he wasn't going to be able to wriggle out of. The problem was that she was the reason he returned to Darcy. Every time he felt that distinct itch in his gut, he went to her because she was willing to let him take out his sexual frustrations on her. Musa certainly would have some objections if he came up and kissed her out of the blue, or stroked her cheek, her lips, or even the column of her throat. He bit his tongue hard enough to taste the coppery substance. Musa was a distraction he could ill afford. He didn't have fairy tale endings; he had let Musa down too many times for her to even consider trusting him with her heart.

He had joined the witches, he had been cruel to her and he had turned his back when she needed him the most, and during that time, he knew that she had been worried about him. His friends had pretty much told him about Musa's reactions to him insulting her and ignoring her, he also knew that she had been worried about him when he'd gone missing. After everything he had done, she had still cared and she forgave him. How could he live with the guilt of knowing he hurt her? How could he possibly be with her when he was no where near man enough for her?

"I'm sorry Muse, really sorry." He muttered turning his attention to the night sky.

He wondered if she knew that her hair smelled of blackcurrants. Probably. Dammit, it was all her fault. He could remember the first time that she had sent that shock through his system, the violent jolt that had caused his nerves to sizzle heatedly. It was that day here, when he had crashed the jet and the troll had escaped. Just after that, when they were leaving the girls back to their class, she had made some comment about walking the girls back and she had looked directly at him, with those sparkling eyes and that amused smile playing on her lips. Something about her, right at that moment had dug a hook in his mind and he hadn't been able to shake it loose since.

"Stupid pixie."

He stroked a hand over her hair, moving it out of her pretty face that was calm as she slumbered. Unable to help it, his hand moved from the silk of her hair, to the satiny softness of her skin, over the firm suppleness of her lips, the delicate line of her throat. He swallowed hard. She didn't stir and he knew he shouldn't go any further but this may be his only chance.

Before he could stop himself, to even begin to tell himself how bad an idea this was, he leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly over hers. A shock vibrated through his lips as though he'd received a mild electrocution.

He jerked back and blew out a breath as his heart jack-hammered in his chest and his blood pumped fiercely. It had to be from a lack of sleep; it was making him hypersensitive to her. He shifted until he was comfortable and, with an arm curled around her, he rested his cheek against her head, skimming his fingers against the smooth skin of her side. He would be up before she awoke, he told himself even as he began to give into the seductive pull of sleep.