I've found that in most Musa/Riven stories you never really get how Musa felt seeing Riven again. Most of the stories have Riven feeling bad about everyhitn he had done (and some storied don't even have that) but we don't really know how Musa took it when Riven stepped out of the vorpal tunnel. And it's not like the show itself gives you absolutely nothing. So, this chapter is my attempt to fill in the blanks left by the show.
Chapter 24 of 26! :]
Battle for Alfea
With another sleepless night under her belt Musa walked onto the quad and noticed that the teachers were looking a lot less positive about everything as well. The night before they had held a meeting in Faragonda's office to discuss the possible courses of action, but as everyone else knew, without Griffin here to help, they didn't have much knowledge. Cloud Tower was where the witches had made their headquarters and the students there probably knew a lot more than anyone else did right now.
"Any news?" Musa asked as she walked up to Timmy and Techna who were analyzing new sets of data that they had collected through the night. The two had never spoken very much before the invasion and now it looked like they were inseparable. Stella would love this Musa thought to herself as she thought about her friends that still hadn't returned from Cloud Tower.
"Yes, but hardly anything good," Techna stated without looking up from the computer.
"The dark energy seems to be permeating all throughout the realm, according to our reading, it has already hit Magix and it is only being held off from Alfea because of Ms. Faragonda's magical barrier," Timmy added as he adjusted his glasses and looked back up at Musa. "We can't even get a reading around Cloud Tower,"
"Any good news," Musa turned to see Ali approaching with an uncomfortable smile on her face.
"Not yet," Techna said, still not looking up from the computer. She was re-calculating the numbers over and over again, hoping for a different result each time. Although she knew the situation was only going to be worse.
Musa began to walk away, only to have Ali catch up to her. "Okay, so are we still in an argument because I'm not too good at the whole apologizing thing,"
Musa sighed and looked at Ali. "No, I guess you were right, maybe I needed some time to relax," Musa admitted. "But by relax, I mean lay back and take a nap. Not lay back and…you know,"
"Have sex?" Ali said bluntly knowing it was what Musa was thinking about. "it's not like that happened, I'm really not that slutty,"
"I wasn't saying you were –,"
"Maybe looser than I should be…"
"Okay anyway," Musa said veering back on to their original topic. "Thanks for being honest with me, I guess it's better than hearing something I want to hear and not knowing what's really going on. So you don't need to apologize," Musa assured as she sat down on a part of the Alfea gate that wasn't crumbling.
"I may not be the most sensitive," Ali admitted with a laugh as she sat down next to Musa on the gate. "But you can be damn sure that I'll tell you when an outfit makes you look like a drag queen on crack (1),"
"Well, that's always nice," Musa said. "How about we tone it do–," Before she could finish Musa watched as Clouds began to gather in the sky, right above the quad and seconds later Techna ran over to the center of the quad and began to type furiously into her computer while Timmy ran inside, probably to the advanced security network mainframe. "What the hell?"
Musa got up and ran over to where Techna was with Ali not far behind. "What's going on?" Ali asked as she caught up to the two.
"The dark energy is off the charts, something has made it through the barrier that Ms. Faragonda put up," Techna exclaimed as she looked up to Musa with panic painted all over her face. She then turned her attention back up to the dark sky and gazed with utter fear. "Something is materializing,"
"Oh goodness," Flora said as she ran up to the three in the middle of the quad. "This doesn't look very good,"
"Do you know what it is?," Musa asked ignoring the overwhelming urge to hit Flora upside the head for that ridiculously obvious observation. She looked up at the sky and saw a bit of light peaking through the clouds.
"It's most likely a vorpal tunnel," Techna answered urgently. While it looked a little less daunting, but it was still something that Ms. Faragonda needed to know about. And, as if Flora had been thinking the exact same thing at the same time, the two dashed over to inform their head mistress of the developing news.
"Miss Faragonda something is coming," Flora shouted as the two ran over the group of administrators of the schools in Magix.
"Techna sensed a vorpal tunnel materializing right over there," Musa added as she caught her breathe. Ms. Faragonda's face immediately turned to where Musa was pointing and she began to walk cautiously towards the tunnel.
"Is it a sneak attack!" One of the fairies yelled out as everyone gathered around the tunnel, not taking into account the fact that there was a very good chance that it was an enemy attacking.
"It's Princess Stella! They're back!" Priscilla called cheerfully.
The tunnel began to fade and Musa saw Stella appear and a smile spread across her face and then the last person she was expecting to see. Riven stood there, with the same scowl, although he looked a little tired. And while half of Musa felt sheer joy to see him walking onto campus alive and well, the other half of her wanted to kill him for having the audacity to come back here.
"Oh my god," Ali said plainly with a similar look of shock that Musa had. "He's…not dead,"
"What the hell is he doing here!" Musa seethed. Where did he get off coming here? Last anyone knew of him he was practically Darcy's bitch, and god only knows what that entailed. She looked around and wondered why she and Ali were the only ones that were shocked by the sudden developments.
"And they rescued the imprisoned witches," Flora noted calmly, which infuriated Musa even more. Why wasn't someone going up to him and hitting him or something! "But they look pretty grumpy."
"It's vorpal tunnel syndrome," Techna explained. "It's like jet lag."
"How long has it been since you last set foot on the Alfea campus, Griffin?" Ms. Faragonda finally asked as she broke the silence as she and Ms. Griffin met in the middle of the quad to address each other.
"We were juniors and Edell Droode and I were sneaking onto campus to turn the Kai Fly sorority into goats," Miss Griffin offhandedly as if it were common behavior, and it used to be before the Trix had entered the realm and decided to mess up the fragile balance between the schools.
"Ah, yes, if memory serves me, I believe you left our campus seven inches tall," Faragonda recalled with a lighthearted laugh before adding, "In a jar."
"Those were happier times, weren't they?" Griffin recalled with a slight frown, still keeping her calm and almost cold composure.
"With all of us banding together perhaps those happier time can return."
With that said, Stella happily shook off whatever residual fatigue she was feeling and flew up into the air in joy. She then landed in front of her friends that all wondered
"Stella, where's Bloom?" Flora asked with concern as the fairy landed on the ground. Her face immediately lost it's initial joy when she thought of the missing member of the Winx Club.
"Why isn't she with you?" Techna asked.
"We don't know that happened to her and Sky," Stella said regretfully as she looked to the ground. "They stayed behind to keep the monsters from entering out escape portal and they were supposed to meet up back here at Alfea,"
"Oh dear," Flora said sadly as tears began to fall from Stella's golden eyes.
"Wait," Ali said. "You're saying you let Riven in the vorpal tunnel, but left Sky and Bloom behind?"
"They wanted to stay behind to save us," Stella said regretting her decision to let them go alone.
"It's okay," Musa said stepping in, feeling even angrier with Riven. "They'll be fine, Bloom was fine without her powers before and Sky is smart. They'll be fine," Musa repeated.
"I hope so," Stella said as Techna and Flora walked back inside with Ali and Musa and Stella began to walk over to Brandon.
"So on a lighter note," Musa began and looked to Stella. "What's going on with you and Brandon?"
"You were right," Stella admitted. Musa looked to her with some surprise, getting to Stella to admit that Musa was right when it came to anything, especially a romantic matter was not a common occurrence. "He apologized for everything and I know he won't pull a stunt like that again,"
"Good, we really don't need all that drama again," Musa said as the two of them approached the squire in question, who was talking to a few of his friends that had been waiting for him. "Right Brandon,"
"Huh…sure," Brandon answered in confusion as he turned to address Musa. "You still angry with me?"
"Depends," Musa answered. "Do you plan on being Brandon from now on or are you really Jason?" she teased and regarded one of the guys that had greeted Brandon. While Musa had become friends with a lot of guys from Red Fountain, she had become close with thet guys from their little group, especially Brandon. He had become a sort of big brother to her, she was the one who would help him when he was having problems with Stella and he was always there for her when she needed someone outside of Alfea to talk to. But, when she learned of his changing identities with Sky, any trust she had in him was gone. Luckily, with the turn of events he had managed to get back on her good side. Plus if Stella could forgive him, she could too.
"Nah," Brandon said as he gave Musa a hug. She was glad to see that some of her friends had come back safely. "I don't think I'd look too great with red hair,"
Standing not too far from the group was Riven with a look of regret painted all over his face, not that it would be earning him any sympathy from Musa. She had made eye contact with the fallen hero on her walk over to Brandon, but immediately looked away, but she did manage to glance back and see the hurt on his face. He had made a million bad decisions and making one good one wasn't going to fix that. "You should get some rest," Musa advised Brandon knowing her suggestion was in vain considering nobody was able to relax with this much stress in the air. "The best is yet to come,"
Brandon nodded and Musa decided to get go back to her room for a bit. It was better than staying out here where the air was way too uncomfortable. She began to walk towards the corridor when she heard something behind her. "Well well, we haven't seen her highness since that day that she learned not to traipse around our territory,"
Musa turned to see some of the seniors that were involved that day at the Hex Café, she knew it was them, they had faces that were hard to forget. She had dark hair with bright pink highlights and makeup that made her look kinda like she had been dead for a few weeks. No matter how hard she had tried. She could have just walked away and let them think whatever the hell they wanted, but that wasn't in her character. Like Brian had pointed out before she ever left for Alfea, her fatal flaw was that she couldn't let things go without getting her word in.
"Last time I checked," Musa said with no fear as she walked up to the group of witches that were causing the unwanted trip down memory lane. "It was my best friend that saved your ass at Cloud Tower, without her you witches would still be stuck at Cloud Tower,"
"Please, Griffin got us out," The one witch snapped. "But look the poor little fairy is edgy, I guess I would be too if I was still harping over a guy that was so obviously not into me. How desperate?"
Musa's fists clenched but before she could say anything else. She went on. "The trix may be crazy, but they prove a point. You fairies play second to us, so maybe you little girls should just give up, how about you sing or something. It's all you're really good for,"
"Nice one Salem," Another witch laughed.
"No, do you want to know what your kind is good for," A voice said stepping in. it was Ali who had come down to tell Musa that Flora thought she had made some progress with Mirta. But she had stumbled upon something else instead. "Well its only one thing and some of you aren't even good for that…"
"Aww how cute," the group laughed. "She has a friend, tell you what when this whole mess is over, we'll make you a permanent part of the Magix highway system,"
"You would know about that wouldn't you?" Ali questioned with a smirk. "You must be working those streets every night, but I'm guessing business is slow…"
"Ali I think that's enough," Musa said putting her hand on her shoulder. There was a certain line that you shouldn't cross and Ali usually had trouble seeing it. "I think they get the point,"
"No, I think I need to explain a bit further. You want Oscar de la Spell, you go to a upscale boutique. If you want good pizza, you go to little Italy and if you want a fun night with a slut you can throw away like a Kleenex," Ali began with a vicious smile. "You go to Cloud tower, aww don't be sad, at least you girls are good for something,"
"You're dead," Salem snarled before lunging towards Ali, only to be stopped mid lunging, hair away from Ali, by Ms. Faragonda.
"What do you think you are doing," Ms. Faragonda exclaimed angrily. "We are in the middle of a crisis and you handle this by getting a fight with each other. You witches go to Ms. Griffin so she can give you your punishment,"
While the witches were not too keen on listening to Ms. Faragonda, there was no question that they were intimidating by the headmistress despite her older age. "Now you two, why is it that every time there is a tussle here at Alfea one of you seems to be involved?"
"Bad timing?" Ali said nervously with an unsure smile. "Won't happen again,"
"I hope not," Ms. Faragonda said with her tense face softening almost to a smile. "Despite this you girls have been a tremendous help, thank you," She said before walking away.
"Sorry Ms. F," Musa apologized as Ms. Faragonda walked away, before grabbing Ali's arm and walking away. "Thanks," Musa said finally when they were out of earshot of the witches. "I guess it was only a matter of time until someone brought that back up,"
"I've got your back," Ali said contently. "But, I think for your pride's sake, just go back to your room for a bit. There are plenty of those witches that were there at the Hex café that day around here,"
"Yeah probably," Musa said with a sigh. She began to feel the humiliation of day all over again although she didn't want anyone to know that. It was bad enough to live that day once, but now she was living all the awful feelings she went through that day all over again. "Why can't this be over so I can go home?" she complained. Going back to the palace and spending a summer with her friends and Daniel sounded so amazing right now. At home she wasn't the stupid girl that fell for the worst guy possible, she was a force to be reckon with, and only the foolish tried.
"Wait, you don't think this is super fun!" Ali exclaimed sarcastically, but noticed her joke didn't go over too well. "Come on Musa, those witches were just bitchy and in a bad mood. Nobody is going to bring that up,"
"Yeah, but it still happened," Musa said angrily as she and Ali walked into her room to see everyone crowded around Mirta.
"What still happened," Stella asked when the two reached the table.
"Nothing," Musa answered and looked down to Mirta. "Any good news?"
"No," Flora said putting down her spell book and walking to the couch and taking a seat. "Nothing seems to be working,"
Musa sat down next to Flora and put her feet up on the table. "Sorry Flo, you'll get it, I know you will,"
"I hope so,"
"Don't worry, once we have the witches figured out," Musa encouraged as everyone began to leave to room. While everyone wanted to get some rest there was too much excitement, anticipation and anxiety in the air. "It'll get better,"
"So Riven's back," Flora pointed out a few minutes later, being the first person to actually mention his name today. "Does that have anything to do with your mood?"
"And what mood would that be?" Musa asked and looked over to Flora who had a knowing look on her face.
"Only Riven makes you that angry," Flora said as she began to laugh. The games that they used to play were rather enjoyable for someone who was spectator; it was adorable how much they both denied what they knew was true.
"It's not funny," Musa said taken aback by her lightheartedness with what was going on. After everything he had done to them, everything he had done to her… "He shouldn't be back here and we shouldn't just be okay with it! Why isn't anyone else angry about this!"
"I thought you were worried about him…" Flora pointed out. Musa looked up with rage; of coarse she was worried about him that was when she had reason to be.
"Yeah," Musa agreed a little unsteadily, still shaking with anger. "That was when I thought he was dead. Now he just comes waltzing on campus like nothing ever happened. Are we supposed to ignore the fact that he joined the witches and he's probably one of the reasons that the army of decay is at our doorstep!"
"Maybe he apologized," Flora stated.
"And what was his reason for betraying everyone?" Musa asked. "Was he just bored one day and decided to do something new. The way I see it, there is no conceivable reason that makes what he did forgivable and I'm surprised everyone else is so…"
"Understanding?"
"Blind," Musa finished. "He's capable of ditching all of his friends to join people who he knows are bad and then help them do bad things. If he's willing to do that then what else is he willing to do?" she argued when she began to realize why everyone was okay with him returning and she wasn't.
"Then don't forgive him," Flora said boldly, knowing she was saying something that Musa didn't want to hear. And from the look of surprise on her face, Flora managed to make the princess see what she was really feeling. "I mean he did something awful and even if his friends managed to forgive him, doesn't mean you have to. You forgave Daniel for cheating but not forgiving Riven makes total sense,"
Musa looked to Flora with surprise, sarcasm wasn't exactly her strong suit but she hit the nail on the head with this one. "What's your point," Musa said knowing exactly what her point was and no matter how much Riven pushed her away, she couldn't seem to hate him. Ugh…he is so infuriating. Musa thought knowing Flora was right.
"You know what it is," Flora said as she stood up. "But it's your decision, personally all I need is for someone to be truly sorry and Riven looks like he regrets what he did. Although I don't think we'll be getting an official apology anytime soon,"
Musa sat in that exact spot in her room for a bit before getting up and going to her balcony. She looked out and saw Riven, walking across the campus and sitting alone on one of the benches. She couldn't help feel pity for him, but at the same time he deserved to be a thing of ridicule, he had abandoned everyone and it was all his choice. Flora may have been able to look past someone's mistakes and forgive them, but Riven had done way too much to deserve forgiveness, well from her anyway.
Of course, this was assuming that he wanted her forgiveness. For all she knew he was laughing at her because she was so naïve and weak in all of this, forgiving him would mean she would have to just accept everything he had done, and more importantly she would have to give up her pride and let him know how much he had hurt her. And her pride was something she was not ready to part from.
Time seemed to past quickly while Musa looked out onto the horizon. She had been standing out on the balcony in solitude for what seemed like a few minutes, but before she knew it, the late evening had turned into night and the night became early morning. Musa pushed herself off from against the railing and walked into the dorm to see Stella passed out on the couch. Musa quietly stepped out of the room and began to walk down the hallway when she heard a wail in the air.
Musa knew that sound anywhere. She ran to the nearest window and stared out to see the stingrays flying towards them in the sky. Musa ran back in the room in grabbed Stella and dragged her down to the quad.
"Flora watch out!" Techna screamed causing Musa and Stella to run through the corridor and see the army of decay attacking the campus once again.
"Here we go again, come one let's go girls!" Musa said as they ran out into the quad and quickly transformed into her winx form.
The big thing comes at them "Relocate us!" Stella yelled and waved her scepter and relocated the fairies behind the mammoth beast.
"Do it Flo!" Musa yelled as Flora sent out a type of seaweed wrap that restrained the creature, only to have another come up and protect it again.
"Uh oh, looks like he's gotta friend," Stella said in a sing song tone.
Musa and Techna looked at each other, and immediately they flew into the air and fired simultaneous attacks at the monster. In combination, they seemed to work very effectively in disintegrating the beast.
"They're like worms," Flora said as the bits of decay fell from their previous position just as Musa and Techna landed on the ground. But before show could appreciate her handy work, the contents of the decayed beast began to reintegrate into another beast.
"Except they multiply exponentially," Techna stated as the beast began to form into four different beasts.
"That is just gross," Stella said as the 1st decay monster that Flora took down became another, larger beast.
"That is just gross," Stella said with a tinge of disgust in her voice. They may have been fighting these monsters for awhile now, but getting used to the decay and the awful smell was something nobody could do.
"No time for complaining," Musa advised as she ran behind Stella and attacked a sting ray that was doing a nose dive towards the group of fairies. The sting ray fell to bits only to reform and become a one of the yettee like monsters that were attacking Alfea by land. "Just as indestructible as ever,"
Musa landed back onto the ground on began to send out sound waves through the ground in an attempt to trip the large beasts. They may have had a lot of brute force, but they weren't exactly agile and quick, stealthy movements were not their strong suits. She began to fire attacks as soon as the sounds waves resonated through the ground and her plan had worked. The monsters fell to the ground like dominos, but when Musa looked to her side she noticed that she was now surrounded by the beasts. "Crap," Musa cursed as she flew up into the air, but before she could get very far she felt something press painfully against her ankle, the same ankle that had yet to completely heal.
Musa looked down to see one of the decay monsters had grabbed a firm hold of her ankle. She tried her best to fly upward and break free from it's grasp, but it was too strong to pull away from and that last thing she was immediately pulled from the air and slammed towards the ground.
A couple seconds later Musa opened her eyes and found herself on the ground, she looked up to see all four monsters in temporary piles of defeated decay. Around them was Riven who had turned and began to walk towards her to see if she was okay, but he stopped abruptly when he had seen Musa sitting up, looking at him with disbelief. Whatever he was about to say he didn't and he didn't make a move after their eyes met. For a few seconds the two locked eyes and Musa could see the guilt in his eyes, maybe he really was sorry everything. Her heart began race when he looked at her but she immediately shook off the attacks tore herself away from him with a cold look of disgust in her eyes. Musa walked away not seeing the pain that built in his eyes because of the way she had regarded him.
One good deed didn't deem him worth of her forgiveness.
She continued to walk as far away from Riven as she could, but when she tried to focus on an attack or even summon some of her magic, all she could do was think about him and it took all of her will power for her to not turn around and steal a glance at him. But it hardly mattered because within seconds the army had retreated, the sting rays in the air stopped flying and the creatures melted down into their rotted remains and like water sliding into a drain, they slipped through the very cracks and crevasses that they had entered from. Musa collapsed to her knees in happiness to know that the fighting was over, even if it was temporary, which she suspected it was.
After a few seconds of rubbing her aching head, Musa stood up and looked around. Everyone was cheering even though they knew that the fighting was only over temporarily, just like every battle before it. Musa got up and took a relieved breath and began to walk up to her room for awhile. She could seem to shake her fall and resting couldn't hurt. Especially since another battle with the army of decay was immanent.
There was still a tinge of pain when Musa closed her eyes for longer than it took to blink, probably because she remembered her head taking hard hit to the ground, which was probably why she had blacked out for a few seconds. Musa had tried to get some sleep what it was as useless as ever, there was too much going on to let her mind rest. She stepped out onto the balcony and felt the breeze pick up a bit. She leaned against the railing of the balcony and closed her eyes for a second before opening them again when she heard the door to the balcony open.
"Hey," Ali said as she walked up next to Musa.
"God I just want this to be over," Musa groaned. "I'm so sick of this fighting,"
"And…"
"Him too," Musa confessed.
"He kinda saved you back there," Ali stated, Musa looked at her with confusion; she had hoped not many people had seen her fall and Riven save her. He was already getting away with everything he did over the year, there was no way she wanted him too look like a hero as well. "Yeah, you kinda made a loud thud,"
"And he kinda nearly got me killed in Magix," Musa stated.
"Come on that's not the only reason you're angry at him," Ali said. "There is a bigger reason that means more than the whole 'joining the side of evil thing',"
"What is bigger than joining the witches?" Musa pointed out.
"Oh I dunno, breaking your heart," Ali pointed out earning an enraged look from the princess who changed her gaze from the horizon to her Ali. The last thing Musa wanted was to face the fact that Riven had made an utter fool out of her. He had taken the knowledge of her feelings and used it to hurt her and worse he made her a spectacle in front of all of her friends. She had never been so embarrassed or betrayed in her life and unlike other, smaller, betrayals, she couldn't exact her revenge considering she would be taking on one of the most powerful and psychotic witches in the universe. "Maybe you forgave Daniel because he didn't make you feel the same way Riven does, but hey I'm no shrink,"
Musa stood their silently. There was no real way to deny that considering Ali had basically solved the mystery that had taken Musa a few months to understand. "You said you wanted the truth…" Ali reminded. "I'm not saying forgive him, but at least know why you hate him, oh and I saw Stella practically running up here. I'm thinking you're gonna get a super fun talk from her too!"
With that Ali walked back into the dorm room, leaving Musa alone with her thoughts once again. The musical princess leaned against the railing and attempted to once again swallow her pride and forgive him, knowing that she really did want him back in her life. But she couldn't and she wouldn't.
"Guess what!" Stella said as she ran onto the balcony a few seconds later, desperately trying to catch her breath. "I was down at Ophelia's because Brandon needed to get his leg patched up after the battle and I when I was leaving I heard Timmy talking to Riven,"
"Great story,"
"I'm not done," Stella said giving Musa a punitive slap across the shoulder. "So, I took my time and I swore I heard something about being put under a spell. So then I ran back to Brandon and after a little coercing, he told me that Riven was under a spell. He's with Ophelia and some of the dark arts professors right now, they dunno how he broke out of it, but they are pretty sure he was under a spell,"
"What?" Musa asked in confusion. An enormous weight seemed to be lifted off her shoulders, the idea that Riven hadn't really been the one to turn his back on her gave her an almost euphoric feeling. It was like she could simply erase all the awful feelings she had been through when she was under the impression that Riven was making all those decision on his own. But then, it was very convenient for him to come back and claim he was under a spell. And she refused to put anything past him anymore, she had a hard time believing that he would betray everyone when he had done that earlier in the year, so why should she give him the benefit of the doubt now? "Sounds kinda like the perfect excuse,"
"You're not serious," Stella said with disbelief she had expected a happier response from Musa. "Come on I'm not his biggest fan but still. Plus it was Ophelia that diagnosed him, he went in with Brandon and she noticed something about traces of dark magic and they tested him for a bunch of different spells. He had some advanced mind control one, a powerful one that's been outlawed to teach and practice for the last hundred years,"
"So he was under a spell," Musa said slowly processing everything she was just given and beginning to feel "He had absolutely no control of what he was doing?"
"That's usually what a mind control spell is,"
"You didn't fall for a bad guy, sure he's no prince charming and you could do so much better, but now you don't have to be embarrassed about the fact that you used to like him," Stella argued even more. She hated to see her friends upset, which was why she had rushed up hear to tell Musa the news. "Or if you still – ,"
"I don't," Musa corrected quickly. "It doesn't change,"
"It does actually," Stella said before Musa could finish. "I'm thinking someone is feeling a little bad for the way she treated a certain moody hero,"
"Maybe," Musa said in a low voice unable to accept the truth.
"I think I'm going to go hang out with Brandon for awhile," Stella said tapping the side of the railing one last time and walking into the dorm. "I'm thinking you owe someone a little visit, and I know you wouldn't expect to hear this from me, but be nice,"
"I don't owe him anything!" Musa yelled, but Stella was too far down the hallway to hear. And even though Musa claimed she didn't owe him anything, the musical princess only waited a few minutes to step back into her room and then promptly walk out of it to find Riven.
The news of the real reason for Riven's betrayal obviously hadn't spread since he was sitting alone on one of the picnic tables on the back grounds of Alfea. His was looking towards the forest that surrounded the school and looked as if he were deep in thought. She walked up to him and he must not have heard her because when she finally spoke up he nearly jumped out of his skin. "Thank you," Said nervously before Riven turned to see her approaching.
Riven looked up at Musa before immediately dropping his eyes to the ground. "Are you okay," Riven asked with a distant tone, but Musa could see through the façade, he cared about her; to what extent, she didn't know, but he cared.
"I guess I should be asking you the same question," Musa said as she slowly walked towards him as if she were walking towards a cliff. When she found herself right next to him he lifted his gaze to look at her, almost as if he couldn't help himself. Looking into his eyes, Musa found the exact same emotions lingering there. He felt shame and guilt even though he knew it wasn't his fault and everything she had done only served him to feel worse. "Stella told me," Musa elaborated.
"Of coarse she did," Riven sighed as he rolled his eyes. The air around the two was tense to put it lightly, but Musa found herself feeling a lot better just talking to him. "I'm fine," he answered.
"I'm sorry," Musa began again. He may have done some awful things but they weren't by his own accord and she was sure that he was beating himself up about this already. She couldn't help but feel bad for him, he probably had some of the worst luck in the universe, and a psychotic witch spelled him and made him her personal lap dog. That had to have hurt his pride a lot not to mention the incredible guilt he must have been feeling.
Riven looked at her with some surprise. "You have nothing to be sorry about," he told her. "But I do,"
"It's not your fault," Musa said softly in an attempt to comfort him but when he looked up at her he grew even more uncomfortable as guilt and the memories of everything he had done to her swelled up inside until he knew he couldn't talk to Musa. Too much had happened and he knew now that he had killed any chance with her and thinking about that was enough to make him want to bolt.
"Thanks," Riven said uncomfortable and got up. "Umm…bye," he said as he walked back onto the more populated part of the campus. This type of behavior would normally annoy Musa enough to get angry and yell at him, but she knew this had to be hard for him. Musa could see that he wanted to say something more but something was stopping him, but Riven had never been the kind of person to open up to anyone. She didn't know if she and Riven would be anything more than what they were, no matter how much she wanted it. But she knew she could remain friends with him and put any vestigial feelings aside and maybe move on. She understood and yet she put that aside for a second to revel in the breakthrough she had just witnessed. And she couldn't help contain the smile that was spreading across her face.
Musa lingered around the bench for a couple minutes and then finally left and began to walk over to the center of the quad where Flora and Techna had been talking. She walked over to them with the smile still painted all over her face, still unable to contain it at all. "Are you actually smiling?" Techna asked sarcastically as Musa walked up to the pair.
"Are you?" Musa quipped back.
"I think things are looking up," Flora exclaimed happily. "We'll be alright, I just know it!"
"We're not the only ones," Musa pointed out as she looked past Flora to see Brandon and Stella. "It's good to know that all of this has actually helped someone's relationship,"
"Not just Stella and Brandon," Flora said she tossed a knowing look over to Techna.
"What?" Techna asked as her cheeks began to heat up and she began to blush profusely. "What?" Techna repeated. "I have no idea what you two are talking about,"
"Nothing…it's just that you and Timmy seem to be getting along," Flora said.
"Very well," Musa added,
"Yes well, we're friends and he has been an enormous help, and are we conveniently overlooking what ever is going on between you and Riven," Techna said to Musa, desperately trying to change the subject.
"That one's easy," Musa shot back effectively hiding how on edge the subject made her. "Nothing, and nice change of subject by the way,"
"See everything cloud has it's silver lining!" Flora said finally perking up. In the midst of all of this the eternally optimistic fairy's optimism had taken some kind of a nose dive. While her friends were upset about different things, Flora hated the fact that they were no longer able to mess around with each other and play practical jokes, although she had usually been the one keeping tempers from rising due to the practical joked. "Let's go mess with Stella,"
Musa and Techna looked at Flora with a bit of confusion, but Musa wasn't going to pass up the opportunity to tease Stella, especially when Flora had been the one to suggest it. "Aww isn't that sweet," Musa teased as she floated angelically in the air. "Nothing like a little end of the world romance,"
"Ignore her, aww you guys are so cute together," Flora said
"Musa don't you think you should get some rest," Stella suggested as she flicked her finger and conjured a pillow that flew right in the musical princess's face.
"That's fighting with magic!" Musa complained as she pulled the pillow off her face and sat back up, Stella had a more powerful throw then Musa gave her credit for. "It's against the rules."
"Ha! You sound like Griselda!" Brandon teased comparing Musa to the one person that could insult anyone if they were compared to them.
"No snide comments please. Only I can torment my friends," Stella told reminded the squire. "And speaking of friends I wish Bloom was here." Everyone suddenly lost their optimism and happiness.
Brandon placed a supportive hand on shoulder. "She'll be here soon enough. I'm sure she and Sky escaped from Cloud Tower and are on their way back."
"There you are," Musa immediately turned when she heard that voice. Riven and Timmy approached the group with rather serous faces. Musa, who was trying to keep her focus and not look at him, couldn't seem to help herself and the two caught each other's gazes, much like they had done so many times before earlier that year. Some things never changed.
"Timmy. Riven," Flora greeted the two heroes as they walked over to the group.
"What's the news?" Techna asked immediately assuming that they weren't walking over for a nice chat.
"Faragonda's called an assembly," Timmy informed them and everyone immediately assumed the worst.
Musa and the rest of the Winx Club – minus Bloom – lined up next to each other with the rest of the Alfea fairies in the quad surrounding the three leaders of each of the schools in Magix. Behind them were the heroes from Red fountain and then in the way back were the witches.
"In the back, where they belong," Ali whispered as she took her place in the crowd, standing diagonally from Musa. She gave an awful look back at the witches and then turned back to Musa, who was now turned looking at her with some disappointment. Musa had come to the conclusion that Ali wasn't exactly a nice person, but she was pretty when it came to people. And yet she couldn't get past centuries old prejudices.
"Be nice, they're helping us," Musa advised.
"We're in this mess because of their kin–," Ali rebottled before being 'shhhhed' by Musa. Seconds later Ms. Faragonda addressed the entire campus full of students.
"You have all fought very bravely, but this is not over. Our true test is yet to come. Fairies, witches and heroes, dig down deep and muster all your magic and power," The headmistress told them.
Miss Griffin agreed and began with some encouragement of her own. "If we all work together I know that we can triumph. Now, when we give the signal – "
Before Ms. Griffin could continues, a familiar wail filled the skies and the entirety of the campus looked back to see the Army of Decay approaching. "Here they come!"
Musa looked up to see a familiar scene in the sky and when she looked down to the horizon she saw more of the army coming their way. It was twice as large as all of the smaller attacks.
"You gotta be kidding there's like thousands of them," Stella complained.
"I don't think counting is gonna help," Musa said to Stella before she flew into the air and began throwing a few attacks in the hopes that she would be able to lessen the load when the army reached Alfea.
Musa continued to attack the sting rays in the air when she got distracted by a loud crash behind her. She saw a giant rot monster, bigger than the ones she was used to seeing climbed up the tower that held the highest balcony. It was Musa's favorite place in the entire school, the monster then proceeded to destroy the tower until it was a pile of rubble. She couldn't believe the sight that was in front of her, but she kept fighting on, feeling the adrenaline coursing through her viens as her power began to strengthen.
The entire Winx Club was now taking the battle by air but the army seemed to have some type of order this time. In a matter of seconds they were surrounded on all sides by the winged beasts of decay and flying upward would only drain their energy even more, while landing on the ground would still pose an equal threat.
"They're swarming us," Flora yelled in panic, this was the hardest battle they had faced yet.
"I've got an idea," Musa said they were all coming from the direction of Cloud Tower. When the army first began it's approach towards Alfea, they seemed never ending but Musa almost began to see the final line of sting rays in the air. She remembered all the times she played chess with Daniel when they were growing up. This stream of attacks seemed to be more organized, and in battle, like chess, the pawns and the less valuable pieces go first to protect the powerful ones. If she wanted to make an impact, the most powerful stingrays needed to go down first. "Can you move us to their rear flank Stella?"
Stella nodded and waved her scepter a few times before transporting them to behind the enemy lines. "Sweet," Musa said happily as she prepared an attack. "Now watch this," She then send out a concentrated attack that took a few seconds to summon but when it came into effect a few seconds later, a barrier went up around the Winx Club. Not only that but the barrier radiated intense sound waves of the highest frequency, moving so fast that they created sonic booms. This attack was one of the most powerful attacks that she could summon without losing consciousness. And when the attack wore off Musa looked to see the stingrays falling to their original worm form. Musa couldn't help but be proud of herself, she had just knocked out some of the most powerful of the army, but as she looked on the ground, the monsters began to reform.
Musa and Techna immediately went to the ground an attacked the decay before it could reform and for once it seemed effective. It was almost as if they had found a flaw in the army of decay.
"Fairies of Alfea," Ms. Faragonda yelled out to the girls. "This is our moment; focus your energy into one attack,"
"Witches of Cloud Tower," Griffin shouted as well. "Unite your powers with the fairies,"
"Now!" They shouted in unison. Musa and the rest of the fairies began to summon their power and combine it into one large scale attack, while the witches followed suit soon after. The light barrier that Griffin and Faragonda summoned became a dark orange and grew darker as they focused their energy into one attack and soon after the army began to die down until it was completely gone.
When the attack was over Musa felt completely drained and cold. The entirety of her magic was gone for the time being and she felt nauseous and freezing and dizzy but at the same time she took a look around the campus and realized that they had finally won a battle. All the other times the army of decay receded but this time they had overpowered the ancient and feared army of decay.
"They're gone!" Stella shouted with sheer joy as she literally jumped up and down. "They're totally gone!"
"For how long?" Flora asked as she desperately tried to catch her breathe.
"We don't know when they will return," Faragonda said as she approached the Winx Club. "But please get some rest or something to eat, they will attack again,"
No matter how dire the circumstances would become, nobody could steal away the feeling in the quad that night. It was joy and pride and although it was mixed with a bit of worry, it was a good night.
While everyone was in the quad a victory against the Army of Decay, Musa had gone up to her room very quickly to get on the phone and tell her very worried best friend at home that he could rest easy. It had been a few days and even through there was still more to come, she didn't need a royal ship landing in the midst of all this mayhem. But when she sat on her bed she felt the unbelievable need to lay down and the second her head hit her pillow, the overwhelming pull of sleep took her and she quickly began dreaming. Dreaming about the things she used to dream about in the beginning of the year.
At least when the next battle came, she would be well rested.
1) my best friend described a girl at a party with those exact words
So yeah, I really didn't think that Musa would take it well when she saw Riven again. She's got about the same issue with letting herself be vulnerable as Riven so when he came back I thought that she would be really angry with him, especially since she like him and he was not exactly a gentlemen. Also, if I were one of Riven's old friends, I probably would not have forgiven him as quickly, but hey that's just me.
Enough of my ranting, I hope you enjoyed it!
Two chapters left!!!
xoxo,
princessm