Okay, enough fluff, lets get some conflict and drama going. Bring on the sinful delights!

And thanks to all al those replied. Wow, you guys really jumped on that one. I just posted it to make sure it went up (it didn't work the first time) and then I had to do those annoying things like sleeping and working before I had a chance to upload the next few chapters and – BAM! – you guys pounced. Good on ya. I'll give you guys what you want.

Chapter Two – There's No Harm In Talking, Is There?

Dinner at Red Fountain had been rather uneventful that night, or at least as uneventful as dinner at a school for male adolescence could be. There had been no food fights or major messes, which the cleaners were extremely grateful for (it had been spaghetti night; a dreaded night for the cleaning staff), there were no practical jokes and no one had tried to smash someone else's face in. There were of course a few lapses in suitable behaviour for the futures heroes, such as Timmy actually making a comment funny enough to cause Sky's drink to come out his nose, but nothing too damaging to the schools reputation, although the same couldn't be said about the reputation and ego of the Prince of Eraklyon.

Riven was in surprisingly good spirits as he made his way back to his room from the shower block. He only threatened to pummel two freshmen if they didn't move out of his way and he didn't think he would mutilate Brandon like he had promised over dinner, though he was never going to sit next to the squire again whenever they had spaghetti. Riven had no idea how he did it, but Brandon always managed to get spaghetti sauce all over himself and anyone else in a five meter radius. Thus, the shower.

"I thought you had drowned yourself," Helia commented as Riven entered their room, not looking up from the notebook in his hand.

"I was trying to use up all your hot water."

"Ah."

A small grin tugged at Riven's lips. While the idea of a pacifist and a temperamental warrior sharing a dorm room had seemed doomed from the very start, Riven had found that he actually really liked having Helia as a roommate. The longhaired specalist was very grounded and had brought Riven down from his towering rages more than once. He was also quiet and didn't feel the need to fill their silences with pointless chatter like the other guys did. The only thing Riven had a problem with was Helia's mess. That didn't mean Riven's belongings where immaculate – he was just as messy as any male his age – but he was rather territorial.

"Huh, that's odd," Riven muttered, wiping the water of his bare chest that had dripped from his still damp hair.

"What's odd?"

"I swear I left my bed here," Riven said, giving Helia a hard look. Helia's clothes, shoes and what looked like several thousand notebooks littered Riven's bed, a clear result of Helia trying to get organised and becoming sidetracked.

"Oh yeah. Sorry," Helia apologised, getting up and grabbing the small mountain of clothes. He didn't try to sort it and instead dropped the pile at the foot of his bed for him to go through at a later date. He did, however, gather the notebooks and stacked them neatly on his desk. "I was trying to put some of my work into storage and I came across a few poems I thought I had lost when I transferred here. Some of them are really good."

"Fascinating," Riven said with a vast lack of enthusiasm. "Do you think you've got enough notebooks? Some environmentalist you are. You're all 'save the trees' and yet you've got a whole forest worth of paper there."

Helia sighed. This wasn't the first time they had had this discussion. "It's recycled paper."

"You can keep telling me that 'til you're blue in the face but it still doesn't change the fact that it's paper and paper comes from trees. That means, that some poor defenceless tree was murdered just to feed your twisted addiction. If you weren't such a technophobe you'd be saving more trees, not killing them."

"You have no idea what you're talking about. The resources needed to build and the electricity needed to power that technology does more damage to the environment that cutting down a few trees does."

"Ha! So you admit it. Tree killer," Riven accused.

"Ignorant jerk," Helia shot back with a grin. It may not have been the first time they had had this discussion, but it was one they both loved to argue. Before he came to Red Fountain Helia had never been one to pick verbal fights just for the sake of quarrelling, but he had come to enjoy this playful banter he and Riven participated in. It was the only real way Riven knew how to communicate with people and it had sharpened Helia's mind and toughened his skin, something he needed if he was going to survive Red Fountain.

"I think I'm just gonna crash," Riven yawned, drying the back of his neck.

"You do that," Helia told him, grabbing his own towel. "I'm going to have a shower."

"You do that," Riven mocked, throwing his towel over his head and rubbing his hair to try and get it to dry faster. "If there's no hot water, don't blame me."

"I'll just get a bucket of cold water and throw it over you while you sleep," Helia said and Riven heard him leave, shutting the door firmly behind him. Only a few seconds later Riven heard the door open again and someone entered the room.

"That was a fast shower," Riven commented, his head still covered by the towel. When he got no answer, Riven decided to take another stab. "Don't you need to wash your hair?"

"Are you going to help me wash it?" the person replied, causing Riven to instantly jump and rip the towel off his head as fast as his reflexes could manage.

"Darcy?!"

"Miss me?" the witch asked a wicked smile on her face. She hadn't changed much. Clad all in deep purple, long brownish-gold hair falling almost to her ankles and smouldering, golden eyes. Riven felt a strange feeling swell in his stomach, but whether it was fear or desire he couldn't be sure.

"What are you doing here?"

"Just dropping in, making sure you remember I'm alive," she told him, her eyes skating over Riven's body in a way that made him feel rather violated. All he wore was a pair of baggy tracksuit pants, but at least it was more than the boxers he had been wearing the last time she had snuck into his room. "You're looking well. Very well, in fact."

"Get out of here, witch," Riven snarled.

"That's not very polite," Darcy scolded, causally taking a seat on the end of his bed as if she wasn't one of the Magical Universes most wanted. "I'll be civil if you are."

"What do you want, Darcy?" Riven asked in a noticeably calmer voice. The initial shock of her appearing in his room had worn off and he had always been able to understand Darcy more than his friends could. He had known Darcy on a more personal level and he felt could actually talk to her if she was on her own. When she was with her sisters was a completely different situation, but when she was by herself he didn't feel as intimidated or threatened by her. She wasn't a member of the Trix, the most dreaded threesome in the Magical Universe. She was Darcy, a girl he used to date.

"Just to see how you are."

"Don't give me that crap. The only time you've given a damn about me is when you wanted something. Now tell me what you want or get out," Riven demanded. Just because he wasn't as defensive around her as his friends would have been didn't mean that Riven wasn't irritated by her sudden arrival. All he wanted to do was crawl into bed and fall asleep, but Darcy had a knack for derailing even the simplest plans. He expected that she was going to attack him with her powers for his biting comments, but all she did was smile.

"You don't seem pleased to see me."

"Really? I wonder why? Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the last few times I've seen you you've tried to kill me."

"Oh, that was nothing personal."

"I don't think you can get anymore personal than trying to kill someone."

"Toughen up, Riven. Crying about it now isn't going to change anything."

"By the way, how did you get out of that Realm?"

"Not easily," Darcy answered simply, a slight look of disgust on her face. In truth, her and her sister's escape for the Realm of Realix was more draining than any of them had imagined. They had to use all their Gloomix in order to break through the barrier, draining them to a point where they could not be recovered. And even that hadn't been enough. It had taken a whole month before the Trix's power returned to them after all their efforts and even longer before Darcy felt strong enough to put her plan into action. There were still times when she felt her arms shaking from their feebleness and she'd become exhausted much more easily.

But enough small talk. She had come here for a purpose and this conversation about the past was not leading her to where she wanted them to be. It was time to get down to business.

"I see you have a new girlfriend," she noted calmly and Riven's body instantly tensed.

She knew about Musa. What if Darcy went after her because of their relationship? He would die if Musa got hurt because of him and his mistakes. "If you even try and – "

"Oh save it Riven," Darcy interrupted. "Do you think I give a damn how you entertain yourself? Go ahead, have your fun with that loser, see if I care. I just was wondering if you were satisfied with her."

Riven hesitated. The wrong answer here could have serious consequences. If he said yes, she might just straight out attack him or, worse, go after Musa. If he said no, she could see through his lie or go and tell Musa what he said. Unfortunately, the only thing that Riven knew for certain was she wasn't going to leave until he gave her what she wanted. Swallowing nervously, Riven took a gamble. "Yes. I'm very happy."

"That's not what I asked," she told him in that somewhat concerning composed tone. "I asked whether she satisfies you. Don't ever forget I know you, Riven, and I know what you need. Does this princess offer you that?"

Riven suddenly felt uncomfortable. He didn't what to be having this conversation with anyone, let alone his ex, but he knew that she was going to get it out of him, one way or the other. "She's, um, not ready."

"Strange. I don't remember you having that same hesitation. And neither did I for that matter. What is it with those fridged fairies? They have no concept of fun. Why don't you go out and get yourself a real woman?"

"Like you?"

"Riven, you lost your chance with me and I am not going to hang around waiting for you to change your mind again if that's what you're thinking," she informed him sternly.

"So then why are you here? Surely this isn't just a social call."

"Like I said, just making sure you remember I'm alive. I can't stand the way those fairies and their loser boyfriends strut through life like there isn't a care in the world. Did they honestly just forget about us?"

"We certainly tried."

"Be nice, Riven," Darcy warned, giving him a hard look. She wasn't going to let him forget just who she was, but she knew attacking him – physically, that is – was not her best strategic move at the moment. That would come later.

"So, you're here because you're feeling forgotten?" Riven mused with mocking innocence grin. "I didn't know you valued us so much Darcy. I'm touched. Really, and I'm sure the others will be too."

"Oh so you're going to tell them about this little meeting? That's interesting."

"What's interesting?"

"You trust them that much? Oh, Puppy Dog, how very sweet, but I've got to ask; do they trust you? I mean, I'm sure they're all so disgustingly noble they're probably willing to over look the past, but the fact is you did betray them all while we were together."

"You had me under a spell," Riven reminded her, but the doubts were already in his mind. What if his friends really didn't trust him after all? Or worse, what if Musa didn't?

"You make it sound like I had you doing things you'd never do if you weren't spelled. All I did was loosen your inhibitions and unleash that brilliant potential you had. I never added anything to you, if that's what you're thinking. That side of you was already within you, restrained by your idea of what's wrong and right."

Riven suddenly felt nauseous. He had always taken comfort in the idea that his actions during his relationship with Darcy were a direct result of her will, but now he could see the possibility that he could have been acting out of a deeper level of his own.

"Go away, Darcy," he ordered, but it lacked the firmness he had had before.

"Why? Are you hearing something you don't want to admit to? Oh Riven, if you have this much mistrust in yourself then what chance do your friends have? You've tried so hard to regain their trust and one small slip backwards could ruin everything. A small slip like say, oh I don't know, associating with the enemy," Darcy smiled maliciously.

"You witch," Riven snarled. She had him trapped. If he went to the others about this meeting, he could potentially lose their trust. Worse, he could possibly ruin his relationship with Musa. He could still remember the hurt in her eyes whenever she saw him and Darcy together and he knew she still got uncomfortable whenever someone brought up his ex around her. He couldn't put her through that doubt again. He just couldn't lose her.

"Oh, would you relax. We're just talking," Darcy reminded him, getting to her feet and moving closer to him. Riven tried to step away from her, but found himself backed up against the wall. Darcy advance until her body lightly brushed against his and her face was mere inches from his own. "There's no harm in talking, is there?"

"Darcy," Riven breathed nervously. He suddenly found it hard to swallow as her scent filled his senses, bringing to surface so many memories he had never been able to truly forget.

"If you ever get bored with that fairy, come find me and we'll have some fun," she told him seductively, stretching up and pressing her lips to his cheek. Riven's heart slammed against his ribcage at the contact and he felt as though his legs where going to fold underneath him. And then, with one last hungry look that Riven knew was going to plague his thoughts later, Darcy turned and stepped through the shadows in the corner of his room to some unknown place.

Trembling, Riven sunk to the ground. That had not just happened.

TBC