Okay, it's a new years so I guess it's about time for another update. I admit that I've been dragging my feet with this chapter, but it's only because this was one of the ones that gave me some trouble. I've gone back and changed it so many times that it looked kinda hacked up to me so I've been spending time trying to smooth it all out.

So, here goes nothing . . .

Chapter Sixteen – The Fourth Witch

Darcy had always been surprised at how easy it was to infiltrate Red Fountain grounds.

The middle child of the Trix Sisters knew for a fact that Red Fountain classified her as an enemy and virtually all the students could recognize her on sight, but with a little help of an insignificant spell, Darcy was able to walk down the halls of Red Fountain and if anyone was to even look at her, they would instantly pass her off as nothing of importance and forget about her. It went against Darcy's natural instinct to let herself be ignored, but she let it go this time.

After all, she was a witch on a mission.

Darcy had become extremely bored and frustrated sitting around Shadow Haunt for days on end with nothing to do but wait for Lord Darkar to give them permission to go out and steal something. She was starting to get desperate for some kind of release, and the second her lips had touched Riven on that night of the concert Red Fountain had held not long ago, Darcy believed that she had found exactly what it was she needed to break her boredom.

She found Riven oddly enough in the Red Fountain library of all places. He was sitting alone at one of the secluded work tables hidden way at the back of the library, looking over the text of a large book with a bored expression. When they had been going out, Riven had regularly ignored the school work his teachers had given him so he could spend more time with Darcy in her bedroom, so she found it unusual to actually find him researching one of his assignments. But if there was one thing Darcy did well, it was distracting teenaged boys from their school work.

Darcy continued to maintain her insignificant spell until she had crept right behind him, and even with the trained ears of the thief, Riven didn't sense. With a wicked smile, Darcy dropped the spell and whispered hotly into his ear, "Hey Puppy."

Riven nearly jumped out of his skin and he leapt from his seat so quickly that he managed to over turn the chair he had been sitting on. Darcy watched the whole thing with an amused little smile while he glared murderously at her. "Darcy!" Riven hissed softly. "What are you doing here, witch?"

"Just stopping by," Darcy answered sweetly, leaning against the table casually. The witch watch as her ex studied her with narrowed eyes and she couldn't help but notice how his hands started to edge towards his side where he was no doubt keeping his weapons. "You try and pull anything on me, and I'm gonna flatten this library and everyone in it."

"You can't do that," Riven challenged her.

"Can't I?" Darcy questioned, holding up her gloomix. "You might not believe it Puppy Dog, but this little piece of bling packs one hell of a punch and I'm sure that these little book worms won't be able stand up to it, so believe me, it's best if you just keep your hands off your little toys there. After all, I'm here fun, not a fight."

"Is there much of a difference when it comes to you?"

"I guess not," Darcy agreed. "But let me put it this way; we've already stolen Red Fountain's piece of the Codex. What else is there that would be of any interest to Darkar?"

"That still doesn't explain why you're here."

"I didn't say that there wasn't anything of interest to me," Darcy informed with a look that slugged Riven right in the guts. He knew the thought that was behind that look all too well and even though he knew he shouldn't let her do this to him – again – he still felt a strong element of desire pool at the bottom of his stomach.

"What are you doing?" Riven asked, trying to stop his pulse from quickening.

"I'm just looking for a little bit of entertainment," Darcy informed him truthfully, staring at him with smouldering golden eyes and posing her body in a way that she had learnt made her look most desirable, and judging by the way Riven's breathing suddenly became shallow, it was working. "So, what do you say?"

"I think you should leave," Riven finally managed to pant out. It was a stupid and pathetic thing to say to a Trix, but it was all he could manage at the moment. "Saladin will – "

"That old fool couldn't pick up on me being here even if I stood right in front of his wrinkled, old face," Darcy told him before standing up straight and moving closer to the boy she was trying to seduce. "Now come on. Don't you want to have some fun like we used do?"

Yes. "No."

"I don't believe you. I know you're not getting anything out of that pixie you're chasing, so just let it go for now. No one has to know. I'm sure as hell not going tell my sisters about being here, so there's no reason why we both can't keep a secret. You're good a doing that, aren't you Riv? It'll just be between you and me."

Riven swallowed hard. Ever since he had first met Darcy, she had been his ultimate temptation and it was very hard for him to refuse her. Their relationship had been sadistic and selfish with each of them using each other for their own purposes, but there was no denying that Riven didn't get all the satisfaction he would have wanted out of Darcy and those memories were inconveniently replaying themselves to him as he tried to resisted his ex's advances. "Darcy, don't."

"C'mon," Darcy urged, sliding closer to him. "You know you miss it. I can tell."

"That was you . . . t-the other night at the concert, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was. And don't think I didn't notice how you were getting into that kiss. I'm a little surprised you didn't come after me like I told you too, but no matter. I'm here now."

"Darcy," Riven breathed again, but he no longer stepped away from her advances.

Moving so suddenly and quickly that one could have easily mistaken it for an attack, Darcy closed the distance between her and the specialist she had been craving for, covering his mouth with a smouldering kiss. A burning poison seemed to enter Riven at her touch, awakening a deep craving which he could no longer deny. His body ached for him to wrap his arms around her and hold her close to him even though his sense were screaming at him to stop, but when she grinded her small body up against his, he lost all discretion.

Desire flooded over common sense to the point where Riven couldn't help but kiss her back. He had become addicted to so many things that were bad for him last year – cigarettes, excessive amount of alcohol, systematic rebellion against all forms of authority and so on – but none of them were as powerful and as difficult to give up as the addictive pleasure he got from feeling Darcy's soft and tempting body pressed up against his. Darcy was his drug; his ultimate form of addiction.

No longer concerned with common decency or the consequences of what might come out of this, Riven lift Darcy up off the ground and moved her until her had her pinned up against the wall. Her slim legs wrapped tightly around his waist so she could cross her ankles behind him, locking his hips against hers. Her dark purple nails dug into his bare arms to the point where they left red scratch marks behind, making Riven hiss in pain to which Darcy felt a sharp thrill, but neither of the let their pleasure or their pain break their lustful kiss. With a well practiced roll of her hips, Darcy reduced Riven to a quivering mess, allowing her to seize the power she wanted so desperately off him.

Unhooking her heels from behind him, Darcy pushed herself off the wall and backed Riven up against the table he had been working at. Tilting her head at just the right angle, Darcy delved deeper into Riven's mouth, and when she felt Riven drag his teeth long her bottom lip, she couldn't stop a pleading moan escape her throat.

She needed him, and she needed him now.

With buck of her hips, Darcy slipped her slender hands between their two bodies and brushed her fingers across his belt buckle. The light touch of her fingertips on his waist line almost made Riven's knees give way and his hands moved subconsciously to the witch's hips. Darcy shuttered when she felt one of his hands slip up under her shirt and the flesh to flesh contact made goose-bumps break out on her legs. With another moan, Darcy's clumsy fingers tried to undo Riven's belt.

"Hey Riv, do you know where that book on . . ."

Sky froze mid sentence when he rounded a shelf full of books and walked right into an intense make out session between one of his best friends and his sworn enemy. Riven responded instantly by shoving Darcy off him, but by that stage it was already too late. Sky was certain about what he had seen, and there was no lie that Riven could tell to get him out of this one.

Darcy glared at the Crowned Prince of Eraklyon in a combination of disappointment and irritation before wordlessly snapping her fingers and teleporting herself the hell out of there.

Riven stayed where he was, backed up against the table. He was breathing heavily as he tried to calm himself down. Common sense was slowly coming back to him and he was painfully aware of the fact that it was probably a good thing that he and Darcy had been interrupted before things got too far. It just sucked that it had to be Sky who interrupted them.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Sky demanded, his blue eyes blazing. He had been able to forgive Riven for the way he had acted throughout their sophomore year because he knew that it was all a direct result of the spell Darcy had put on him. But he sure as hell wasn't going to excuse Riven from making the same mistake twice when he should have known better.

Riven sighed heavily in pure frustration. Out of all the god damned people in this god damned realm, it had to be Prince Sky the Golden Boy who had caught him in that situation. "I dunno," Riven confessed before quickly slipping into his usual defence when dealing with awkward or emotional problem: he tried to avoid the issue entirely. "Now, what were you looking for?"

"Don't you dare think you can side step this, Riven," Sky told him in a firm voice that indicated that there was no way that he was going to let Riven get away with his usual mind games. "What the hell were you doing with that witch?"

"Sky, I can really do without this right now," Riven said, trying to brush Sky aside by returning his attention back onto the book he had studying before Darcy had shown up, though this time he couldn't actually read a word of what was in front of him. He could still feel Sky's eyes burning into him.

"I don't give a damn about what you can do without," Sky snarled. "Because I can tell you what I can do without; I can so do without having to stand by and watch as one of my friends ruins his life all on account of that bloody witch!"

"Just leave it alone," Riven growled, glancing at the other people in the Red Fountain library. They were either too submerged in their studies or they had gotten so used to Sky and Riven fighting that they no longer paid any attention them.

"No! Gods Riven! How can you be so stupid?" Sky spat. Riven looked up sharply, his violet eyes burning with a deep fury. "Did you learn nothing from last year? You betrayed your friends, ruined your health, nearly got expelled and endangered the entire universe! And after all that, I come and find you getting it on with the witch that caused it all! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"It's so bloody easy for you to just stand there and judge me, isn't it?" Riven hissed, his voice low and steady despite the fact that he was a whirlpool of rage on account of both Sky's scolding and his own stupid mistakes. "Everything always just so damn easy for you. You managed to lie to the entire school and your girlfriend about who you really were and yet you still come out as the golden boy."

"We're not talking about the Day of the Royals. We're – "

"Of course we're not bloody talking about it! How can we dare discuss the slightest possibility that the awesome Crowned Prince Sky of Eraklyon could be anything less than perfect?" Riven snarled, his voice so heavy with sarcasm and venom that Sky almost recoiled from the tone of it. As a prince, Sky had been taught the importance of word and of what made up a speech, but whenever Riven felt like doing it, the street orphan could easily bury the prince in a verbal debate that cut straight to the core. "You're always going on and on about how much you want to be a normal person and yet you have absolutely no idea what it is to be a normal person!"

"Oh, and what? Being a sadistic, arrogant prick is what classifies normal these days"

"It's more normal than you're rose-tinted life you live behind the wall of your palace!"

"Hey! Being a prince isn't easy, you know! I have – "

"Isn't easy? You're preachin' to me about how hard your life is? Shit Sky, do you know how much I would give to have to deal with all your crap instead of mine? I am one wrong move away from getting kicked out of this place and do you think that would be enough to keep me out of trouble? Hell no! I still can't stop pushing it!"

"Look, I understand that – "

"You don't understand shit, Sky! You don't understand a damn thing! There is a hell of a lot of difference sympathy and empathy and I don't want either of them off you!" Riven spat, storming past Sky with a rough shoulder shove.

"Riven!" Sky tried but Riven didn't want to hear any of it.

"Piss off Sky. You know, I really hope you get spelled one of these days so you can see how wonderful it is to be just as erroneous as everyone else," Riven snarled before storming off and Sky didn't try to follow him.

Riven managed to avoid Sky and any other of his friends for the remainder of the afternoon and well into the night. It wasn't his night to be in the kitchen, so Riven had simply skipped dinner which he was fine with. After what he had almost done with Darcy that afternoon in the middle of the library, he didn't have much of an appetite for anything other than cigarettes. He had almost given up the smokes for good, but that night he managed to smoke all that was left in the packet he had stored at the bottom of his dresser and half of the packet he had stole out of Lex's room while everyone was at dinner.

Lying back on a wall that lined a garden in a secluded part of the school where most smokers went for a cigarette, Riven stared up at the stars and exhaled a lungful of smoke into the air. He watched it numbly as the smoke dissolved and vanished against the night sky and as soon as it was all gone, he took another drag on his smoke.

"Those things will kill you," a voice informed him from the shadows, and Riven didn't need to look to know who it was.

"Go away, Helia."

"Now that's not very polite," Helia noted calmly with a subtle little smile that drove Riven crazy from time to time.

"What do you want?"

"Just checking in on you," Helia told him, sitting down on the wall Riven was lying on. "You missed dinner."

"Hasn't been the first time."

"Yes, but you also didn't have lunch today and you only picked at your breakfast this morning so I'm only assuming that you must be getting a tad on the peckish side."

"I've been hungrier before."

"I'm sure you have but I wasn't around then to drag you to a kitchen, now get up," Helia said, standing up and grabbing Riven arm to drag him up into the sitting position. Riven groaned loudly in protest but Helia wasn't going to let whine his way out of this one and pulled him to his feet. "Come on. Let's go see if Jacob has any left overs and you can eat it while he tells us explicit stories with colourful and unnecessary language."

"I like that colourful and unnecessary language," Riven mumbled as he regretfully let Helia drag him to his feet.

"I know. I've heard you use it. Come on."

Still looking a bit like a sulking child, Riven trudged alongside Helia towards the Red Fountains kitchen. Dinner was well and truly over so there were a couple of students roaming the halls, trying to find themselves something to do until lights out. There were even a few girlfriends and girls that certain boys hoped to eventually become girlfriends visiting the campus, though they would all require to leave before curfew. Normally the boys couldn't care less who was on their campus – provided they were civil and didn't try to blow their school up – but every now and then there'd be a guest that the boys would rather do without.

"Watch where you're going!" a fairy snapped sharply when she almost collided head on with Riven and Helia as they rounded a corner in the hallways. Her dark eyes glared at them angrily, but as soon as she got a good look at who she was speaking to, her irritation shifted quickly to disgust. "Eww, it's you."

"Hi Victoria, it's so good to see you," Riven greeted, his voice heavy with sarcasm. Helia hadn't had the pleasure of meeting Victoria yet, so he shot Riven a questioning look, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Whatever," Victoria spat with undisguised disgust. She had never liked Riven and she was not one to hide it. "I can't believe they still allow street scum like you attend this school. You know that Red Fountain is supposed to be an elite and exclusive school, so I don't understand how they like commoners like you and that squire go here."

"And I don't understand why they haven't transferred to over to Cloud Tower yet. Although having said that, I know a few girls over there and I hate to expose them to such a bitch like you."

"So you're still consorting with witches. Why am I not surprised?" Victoria asked sarcastically, her slim arms folded across her chest. "I always knew that despite the influences that someone with rank like Prince Sky has on you, you'd still associate yourself with people of a less than savoury nature. Breeding is what breeding does. After all, once a worthless little street rat, always a worthless little street rat."

"And once a bitchy little stick insect with no soul, always a bitchy stick insect with no soul," Riven shot back.

Victoria laughed, but there was little humour in her smile. "You're really something, street rat. It's hard to imagine what that sophomore Musa would want with you, even if she is the offspring of a rejected and disowned prince. Although I guess consorting with a peasant like you doesn't seem so bad when you consider that she comes from a family that's long deprived of royalty."

"Look, you're obviously not here to see us so why don't we just be on our way," Helia suggested, grabbing a hold of Riven's arm to drag him away from the horrible fairy and the shit storm she was stirring up, but Victoria refused to move out of their way.

"Oh, what's the hurry? It's been too long since I last caught up with my favourite street rat," Victoria said with false sincerity. There was an odd glint to her dark eyes that Helia would eventually identify as malicious intent, but for the moment he failed to classify it and foolishly let her continue. "Speaking of that royalless princess, how are things going with you and Musa? I haven't seen you sniffing around Alfea recently so I can only assume you're love life's going as well as that pathetic excuse for a squire."

"Oh piss off, waif. God knows we don't want about your and Crow Boy's relationship, so we'd appreciate it if the two of you kept your beaks out our personal lives. Come on Helia, we've wasted enough time here," Riven spat, moving passed the fairy. Helia followed after him, thankful that they were leaving such an awful and vindictive conversation, but just when he thought they were in the clear, Victoria called out something that made Riven pause.

"So if I knew something about your little girlfriend, you wouldn't want me to tell you?"

"What are you going on about?" Riven snapped, glaring back at the fairy.

"Oh, that's right. She's technically not your girlfriend since you're yet to make a move," Victoria noted. "Funny, I would have never picked you to be a shy one, Riv. I've heard the rumours that came out of Cloud Tower last year. You and Darcy were quite the little whores when you were together, weren't you."

"Shut it, woman," Riven growled, his nerves still a little raw from the fact that he had discovered that afternoon that he and Darcy were still quite the little whores even though they were no longer together.

"What's the matter? Hit a nerve?" Victoria almost purred.

"Hardly," Riven lied, folding his arms across his chest.

"Uh-huh. Whatever," Victoria dismissed casually before continuing on with her vindictive agenda. "You know what? I have to admit that I'm actually surprised at you, Riv. I always pictured you as a primitive, bestial, possessive kind of guy. I never would have pictured you of all people to be so . . . open-minded."

"What the hell are you talking about?"

"This little open relationship thing you got going on with Pigtails. I really didn't see it coming."

"Open relationship? What?"

"Maybe we should just go?" Helia suggested. Victoria was obviously trying to bait Riven into something and Helia got the feeling that whatever it was, it wasn't going to end well. But when he tried to grab Riven's arm to lead him away from there, his friend simply shook him off.

"No, what are you talking about?" Riven demanded out of Victoria.

"Oh, just that little date that happened between your kinda girlfriend and that little nerd in your grade who's editor of you school news paper. What's his name again? Gerald? Jarrah?"

"Jared?" Riven asked, his mind going blank with rage and disbelief. What the hell was Musa doing with Jared?

"That's it. Apparently one of her friends set them up," Victoria informed him before pulling a feigned but none the less rather convincing innocent look. "Do you not know?"

"We're leaving," Helia said firmly, seizing Riven's wrist in a vice like grip and dragging him away forcefully this time. Riven instantly tried to pull away but Helia was surprisingly strong and refused to let him go.

"What the hell? Lemme go or I'll – "

"Unless you want Victoria to know that she got under your skin, I suggest you calm down at least until we're out of her sight," Helia hissed sharply. Looking back over his shoulder, Riven saw with a vast level of annoyance that Victoria was still watching them with a smirk on her face and she even had the nerve to give them an insulting little wave as a farewell. Growling, Riven let himself be led away by Helia, but as soon as they made their way outside, Riven ripped his arm free and started to swear fiercely. Leaning up against a tree with his arms folded across his chest, Helia let him vent for a few minutes before calmly noting, "You know, people can probably hear you."

"Like I give a shit!" Riven snarled viciously, his eyes blazing. He couldn't remember ever being angrier than he was right now – mind you, he was so angry he couldn't even remember his own name at that moment let alone any traces of his past – and he couldn't stop himself from pacing like some kind of wild animal. Too furious to even put together a string of curses, Riven kicked out savagely at another tree that surrounded them. A blinding pain erupted in his right foot, indicating that he had broken one toe, if not more. Riven would have been able to ignore the pain in his foot easily, except that it shot up his leg, causing the muscles in his upper thigh to seize up so that his entire leg felt like it was on fire. The blinding pain coupled with the fact that his rage was distracting trivial things such as his sense of balance and the desire to stay standing made him completely vulnerable, so when his left knee buckled he had absolutely no means to stop himself from crashing painfully down on his ass. He let out an incoherent bark that sounded like he was trying to say two swear words at once resulting is some strange merger of the two of them.

It took a lot for Helia not to let the amusement of Red Fountain's bad boy falling on his ass thanks to his own foolishness show in his face, but he did have to wait for a moment or two before he felt it was safe for him to speak. "Are you quite done?"

"I ain't done till I slam Jared's 'ead against some'in hard," Riven slurred, sounding more like the uneducated street rat than he had in years.

"Oh, I highly doubt that," Helia replied with his normal air of formality, unintentionally making Riven even more embarrassed about the way he had just spoken. "You may curse and kick and carry on now, but you're not going to attack anyone other than a tree over it. And you may be even more of a prick to Jared for now on, but you're not going to confront him over it."

"What makes you think that?" Riven growled, still rubbing his leg despite the fact that the cramp had passed. The idea of introducing Jared to the end of the sabre was sounding very appealing to him, though he had to admit that he had that same fantasy about everyone in his class at one stage or another.

"Because you are not an irrationally aggressive person," Helia answered and when Riven looked up at him as if he had just grown a second head, he clarified further. "I said irrationally."

"What do you mean?" Riven asked, his eyes narrowed in suspicion and curiosity. Had it been anyone other than Helia who had said that, Riven would had been throwing obscenities at them and questioning their sanity, but Helia wasn't like most people. The two of them had a complex relationship, there was no denying that. They both came from two completely different walks of life and so they viewed the world differently, but oddly enough they had formed a firm friendship that looked past those differences.

Riven was by nature an instigator, but Helia had the soul of a pacifist so he would never physically fight someone to prove a point and he was also an educated and diplomatic young man who wouldn't engage himself in a verbal argument unless it had a certain level of intelligence behind it which meant that if Riven was going to get any kind of a fight out of his roommate, he had to step up to his level and play by his rules. Because of his pacifist ideals, Helia was never really a challenge to Riven in combat like Sky and Brandon were, so Riven felt no obligation to view Helia as any kind of rival and their debates had sharpened his mind and kept altering his opinion on topics when he saw the other side of the argument. It was an interesting form of fighting that Riven had come to really enjoy and as a by product he had developed a certain level of respect for the pacifist he had mock only months before. Helia's influence on Riven wasn't always obvious, but out of all their friends it was always Helia who could always calm the mood teen down the quickest and he was the only one who didn't let Riven dodge questions he didn't want to answer.

"You use violence and aggression as a shield to keep people from getting close to you," Helia explained calmly. "You might be pissed off that Jared was trying to crack onto Musa behind your back, but you're not going to attack him over it because you don't like him enough to do that and because it gives you exactly what you want; yet another obstacle between you and Musa."

"I don't want another obstacle between me and Musa!" Riven snapped, glaring up at his roommate.

"If that's true then why haven't you asked her out yet?" Helia shot back calmly. "I know I haven't known the two of you as long as the others, but from what I've come to understand, you and Musa could have been dating months ago if you had stopped pushing people away."

"Hate to burst your bubble there, Paintbrushes, but months ago I was spelled and dating Darcy," Riven pointed out, getting slowly to his feet.

"You didn't need a spell to hook you up with someone other than Musa," Helia said, causing Riven to look up sharply. "As I'm sure you found out this afternoon."

"Sky told you about that?" Riven asked softly, sounding more ashamed than angry.

"Who do you think set me out here?" Helia answered Riven's question with one of his own. "Even though you're a jerk to them, Sky Brandon and Timmy still value themselves as your friend and you might not be aware of this, but they hate the fact that you're still distancing yourself from them."

"I'm not distancing myself," Riven muttered, brushing the dirt of the back of his jeans. He had honestly tried this year to be slightly less difficult than he had been in the past few years. He had bit his tongue and didn't let himself be baited by the petty little arguments he and Brandon often had in the past. He had stopped targeting Timmy just for entertainments sake. And he had tried to dial down his temper that his rivalry with Sky always brought out. Sure, he had slipped up every now and then, but he was trying. Logically, it was the right thing to do, wasn't it? His mind told him so, but there was also a feeling in the gut that told him otherwise.

And Helia was about to give it a voice.

"You're keeping them are arms length still and you know it," Helia put bluntly. "And I'm guess that it's all because you still feel guilty about the way you treated them last year and for some reason you feel like you need to go through penance or something like that. It's why you haven't gone to Doc to get something done about your leg and it's why you're so reluctant to let them in again. You wonna prolong suffering and you figure that by keeping a distance, you're actually doing what's best for your friend. And you're wrong by the way. You're an ass, but your still their friend and they want to be there to help you if you'd just let them and if you have any doubts about that then you should have been there to see the look is Sky's eyes when he had to ask me – someone who's practically a stranger to your group – to go out and talk some sense into a guy that he would gladly put his life in danger for. Can you not get how upsetting that must be for them? In fact, I'm pretty sure it's the reason why Brandon's so cold to me; I'm doing what they should be able to do with you."

Riven glared at Helia in silence for a long time, wanting more than anything to call Helia a liar, but the truth of the matter was that he was right. Riven did want to prolong his suffering and he believed that his friends would do better if they didn't have him dragging him down, so he had tried to keep his distance from them. He had made an unexpected friend in Helia, but the pacifist had been spared the vindictive way he had acted last year so he didn't make Riven feel as guilty as the others did. It would be better for all of them if his squad just burnt their bridges with him and be done with it, but Riven couldn't deny that he hoped they never would. He knew what it felt like to be abandoned and he didn't want to go through that again.

"What do I do?" Riven asked Helia pathetically, hating how helpless he sounded.

"Well right now you're coming with me to Doc's office so he can have a look at your foot and maybe do something about your leg," Helia ordered. "As for you and the others; you can start by no longer trying to avoid them. The rest you gotta figure out on your own. And as for Musa . . . You're on your own with that one, man."

"Unless she's already shacked up with Jared," Riven mumbled as he started hobbling towards the infirmary. Helia didn't offer to help him and if he did Riven would had refused it anyway.

"I doubt it. Jared's actually out on a date with some junior right now," Helia told him causally and for some reason that made Riven feel lighter.

One of the great advantages of living in a magical realm was that their medical practices were incredibly advanced, so while a broken foot might take weeks to heal in non-magical realms, Doc assured Riven that his foot would be fine in just a matter of days provided he took the medicine he prescribed for him. The issue with Riven's leg was going to take more time researching, but the students of Red Fountain had complete faith in their physician to heal all their broken bones and cuts and Riven didn't expect this time to be any different.

Loaded up on pain medication that made him feel a wonderful kind of loopy, Riven hobbled down the corridor after Helia towards their dorm. Neither of them had any thing important to say to one another, so they walk in silence. That was one thing Riven really liked about Helia: he didn't feel the need to talk just of the sake of it like some of the others – particularly Brandon – did. Helia didn't even speak when he suddenly paused in front of an open door. Through his drug inflicted haze, Riven noticed his friends change in pace and glanced up at him with a raised eye brow that Helia never saw. His attention was focused on something inside the room that Riven eventually realised was the junior common room. Wordlessly, Helia walked through the open door and after a roll of his eyes Riven followed.

The lights had been switched off so the room was lit only by the glow of the TV which held the attention of the handful of students that were sitting in front of it. As his eyes adjusted to the gloom, Riven realised that Sky, Brandon and Timmy were all there along with Bourne, W and Bishop who all looked rather bored as a massive explosion occurred on the TV.

"What cha watching?" Helia asked, his eyes on the screen as the movies heroine – dressed in impractical heels and a top that she was all but popping out of – struggled to load a gun which would have a strong enough kick back to hurl on her ass if she ever tried to fire it.

"Fatal Crisis Three," Bishop answered, not looking away from the TV, but from his place lounging on a couch not far from him, Sky's blue eyes glance from the movie over to where Helia was standing and when he saw that Riven was with him, he quickly dropped his gaze to the floor.

"Any good?" Helia asked, totally unaware of the tension that was rolling off of the prince at that present moment.

"It's not bad," Bishop shrugged. "The amount of mistakes they have in it is kinda entertaining. Interest you?"

Helia hmmed as if he was seriously considering it before answering, "Nope. I think I'm gonna pass. Night guys," Helia waved before turning to head for the door, pausing only to glance at Riven. "Coming?"

Riven's violet eyes flicked over to Sky, who was still staring at the floor. "Nah, I think I'll stay."

"Uh-hmm," Helia nodded and then left without a backwards glance. With a casualness that was completely feigned, Riven moved around to the couch that Sky was stilling on alone, his long legs stretched out onto the empty side of it.

"Move your feet," Riven ordered gruffly and Sky quickly complied without argument, allowing Riven to sink down next to him. The movie really wasn't that engaging, but Riven had his mind elsewhere anyway. He could sense without looking that Sky was tense on the couch next to him and he knew instinctively that the prince was no doubt watching him out of the corner of his eyes. Faking interests in the movie, Riven watch the screen for several long minutes before suddenly glancing over at Sky. The second his violet eyes locked on Sky's blue ones, the prince instantly averted his gaze. He was still upset over their argument that afternoon, but after allowing himself a moment to collect himself, Sky lifted his eyes and met Riven's gaze and managed to hold it this time.

It really wasn't much of an apology, but both of them knew it was all they were going to get. Sky was still pissed that Riven would let himself get manipulated by Darcy so easily and Riven wasn't about to take back all those awful things he said to Sky, but neither one of them wanted to discuss what had happened any further and they were willing to just ignore it and go back to being friends again. There were a lot of things that remained unsaid and Sky had a feeling that it would always be like that. Riven may have changed from the bitter, vindictive teen they had first met in freshmen year as a result of his friendship with the others, but there would always be some expectations that he would never meet.

But – even with all his flaws – Sky was grateful for Riven's friendship, and when he gave Riven a small smile to which the burgundy haired teen replied with a smirk of his own, Sky knew that Riven felt the same way.

It was so hard to write that chapter without using swear words, but it kinda gives an insight into the complex relationship Riven has with Helia and Sky.

TBC.