Re Chapter 8
"Why is it so cold here?" Riven complained.
"I told you to wear your cold weather gear." Musa said as she looked back at Riven, "But no you had to be so macho and said that you could take the cold."
"And I can," he huffed, folding his arms and rubbing them with his hands to encourage warmth, trying to hide the chattering of teeth. Musa just rolled her eyes. "Come on then, lead the way."
Musa shook her head as Riven passed by heading toward the cave that they could both see in the distance. Pointing a finger at him a small amount of pink energy flew off the tip and surrounded the specialist. The light that surrounded him caused him to close his eyes for a moment, when he opened them again he was wearing a pink winter coat.
"What the hell!" Riven yelled as he turned to look at Musa.
"That's punishment for not listening to me." Musa replied as she watched Riven try to rip the coat off of his body. Seeing him give up trying a laugh escaped from her lips. "You should be thanking me."
"No one finds out about this." Riven said through his teeth with anger in his voice.
"I don't know," Musa said as she walked by Riven. "You look good in pink."
"You think I look good in this?" Riven asked as he looked down at the coat.
"Not really," Musa laughed. "But let's get going we need to get the scale so we can help Roxy."
Dropping the piece of fabric that was in his hand Riven quickly ran after Musa. Reaching the cave the two looked into the darkness before venturing inside out of the snow storm that was just starting.
"Is it me or is this place getting colder?" Riven asked as the two climbed down a slope deeper into the cave system.
"Yeah it is," Musa responded, "And it will continue to grow colder the deeper we go."
Reaching the bottom of the slope a hissing sound could be heard off in the distance. Riven turned to look at Musa just before the ground below the two of them collapsed causing both people to fall down into the darkness below. Reaching out Riven grabbed onto a ledge and looked down to see a piece of rock hit Musa on the head. "Musa!" He called out as he reached for her watching her fall down into the darkness.
Pulling out his hover board with his free hand he activated it before jumping on and started to head down in the direction that Musa had fallen. Trying his best to avoid the sides of the hole Riven continued to head deeper into the planet hearing hissing sounds as he continued. "I'm coming for you Musa."
Traveling farther down he noticed stalagmites starting to form along the walls. 'Please don't let her have hit any of those,' Riven thought as he continued. Before long he noticed a small amount of crimson liquid on one of the stalagmites that he passed.
Suddenly, a ledge jutted out from the side of the cavern and Riven moved his board to bounce against it. Miscalculation he was sent into an opposing wall and managed to save himself by using the board again, grinding it down towards the base of the cavern. "Musa!" He yelled again when another pointed stalagmite hit the very center of his board making it malfunction sending him to the earth below.
Rubbing his head as he slowly stood up Riven looked back to see the pieces of his board lying on the ground. "Great," Riven complained, "When I need it the most the thing breaks." Turning around he noticed that there was no one else in the area that he had landed. "Musa where are you?" He called out as he continued to look.
His heart began to beat faster as he noticed a trail of blood heading into a passage way on the other side of the cavern. "Musa," Riven said to himself before running in the direction of the blood.
Running down the passages of the cave; following the same direction that the blood was going. When he entered a large cavern a loud hissing sound caused him to look to his left. "Musa!" He yelled out when he noticed her lying on the ground.
Rushing over to her he found her arms and legs fastened to the ground by ice. His heart felt like it had stopped when he noticed the large pool of blood forming to Musa's left from the large gash along her side.
"Musa," he cried, placing two fingers against her neck to check for a pulse. He found one but it was weak. "Musa, can you hear me?" He asked, taking her face into his hands. "Musa, open your eyes, we have to get out of here!" Another hiss sounded behind him, making the Magenta haired specialist turn. But he saw nothing. "Come on!" He yelled, shaking her. "Wake up! Come on!"
Another hissing sound caused Riven to quickly turn to see a ball of white energy heading right toward him. Rolling to his right he avoided the attack; he quickly rose to his feet and began to look around the caver for what ever had attacked him. When his vision returned to Musa her left leg had been frozen solid from what ever attacked.
He felt a gust of wind as three more balls of white energy passed by his head hitting the ground near Musa and spreading over her left leg and both arms freezing them solid. As another hissing sound was heard from behind him Riven slowly turned to see a pure white snake with blue stripes covering most of its body.
The snake opened its mouth and shot another ball of energy past Riven, quickly turning he could see that the energy had frozen her chest. Rushing over to the one person that he loved he dropped to his knees and placed two fingers where he had placed them before to check for a pulse.
Feeling nothing he leaned back and let out a roar that filled the cavern. With tears filling his eyes he slowly stood up and removed the hilt to his Phantoblade activating the purple scimitar. Turning toward the creature he watched as it slowly opened its mouth releasing a blizzard of ice and snow toward him causing him to cover his eyes.
"Riven," Musa said as she lightly shook him, "Come on you need to wake up." She jumped back as he quickly sat up and opened his eyes. "Riven," Musa yelled as she wrapped her arms around his body.
"Musa?" Riven asked as he looked at the music fairy. Tears began to slowly fall from his eyes as he wrapped his arms around her body, "ho…how is this possible? I saw you die."
"You what!" Musa replied, "All that happened was the ground collapsed below us and we slid down here." Pointing up in the direction that the two had come from, "You can even see where we were before that happened."
A strange hissing sound echoed behind Musa's ear and she turned her head sharply to see nothing behind her. "I think we need to hurry up and get out of here," she explained, turning back to Riven. But he wasn't there. The space where he sat was empty and immediately she started searching the area to locate him.
"Riven!" She yelled, getting to her feet. "Riven if you're trying to get me back for the coat thing this is not funny!" Again no reply, until she heard laughter. Walking down the cavern she turned a corner to see Riven standing alone, waiting for something.
"There you are, geez were you trying to-"
"Puppy dog!" Screamed a familiar voice as Darcy ran from the side of the cave, wrapping Riven in her arms and placing a kiss against his lips. Musa's heart broke in two as she stepped forwards. "Riven! What the hell!"
"Hey babe," he smiled, leaning back. "Ready to go?"
"Go where!" Musa yelled, racing forwards until she was directly beside the couple. She wiped her hand in front of his eyes but he didn't even register her presence. "Riven?" she asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes as he said 'I love you' to Darcy and she said the same in return.
Musa extended her hand toward Riven but watched as he walked off with his arm around Darcy's shoulders. She tried everything to get Riven's attention or to say anything to her, but noting was working.
"We're almost to my surprise dear." Riven said with a smile on his face.
Looking over her shoulder Musa could see that the tunnel that they were in was about to end. She quickly rushed to the ending and around the corner to see a table with her friends sitting at it. They seemed to be waiting for someone. As Riven and Darcy turned the corner a large smile appeared on Bloom's face.
"It's about time you two got here," Bloom replied.
"It was all my fault," Darcy said.
"Okay," Stella replied, "Would you come and join us already?"
"What is this for?" Darcy asked as she looked at Riven.
"Have you forgotten?" Riven asked, "this is our three year anniversary."
"Oh silly me," she chuckled. "How could I forget?"
"I don't know," Riven smiled, taking a champagne glass from the table into his hand and raising it into the sky. "But I certainly didn't. To Darcy!"
"No!" Musa screamed, silent tears streaming down her face.
"May we be together for eternity," he smiled as the others cheered and drank.
Darcy's lips connected with Riven's once more before she looked past his shoulder and directly into Musa's eyes. Her back shivered as Darcy's eyes widened and glowed bright blue, a darker colored tongue slithered from her mouth as she hissed and threw Riven face down into the table. Her face contorted as a snout grew from her nose and her body changed into that of an ice snake covered with blue lines.
The snake then turned its attention toward the other people sitting around the table. Slithering around behind Bloom it lowered its head down next to her ear and licked the Dragon Fire fairies left ear.
"You know there seems to be something missing." Bloom said as she placed her glass of champagne back onto the table.
"What do you mean Bloom?" Riven asked as he sat back up with blood flowing down his face from the gash on his forehead.
"Not sure," Bloom answered as she shrugged her shoulders.
"Bloom watch out!" Musa yelled as the snake raised high above Bloom.
The snake opened its maw wide before plunging down into the ground sending a small cloud of ice into the air. Musa watched as the snake lifted Bloom high into the air in its mouth. Reaching the highest point it could the creature turned to look at Musa before tossing Bloom a little above its head. She watched in horror as the snake clamped its jaws shut as Bloom entered the mouth a small amount of blood flowed from the corner of its lips.
Musa tried to move as the snake neared the next chair with Sky sitting in it. Something was keeping her securely fastened to the spot on the ground that she was standing on. She tried to send a blast of energy at the snake as it ate Sky to only find out that she could do nothing. Tears filled her eyes as the snake continued to eat her friends one after another.
After it had just finished with Flora leaving a small amount of her hair still trapped at the edges of its mouth the snake turned to look at Musa once again. She could see a smile appear across the snakes face before it turned to look at Riven. He had continued eating and drinking like nothing had happened to his friends.
Musa could feel what ever had been holding her in place release its grasp and she quickly rushed between the snake and Riven. The snake lowered down to the ground and sped toward the young fairy and as she lifted her hands in front of her to try and attack the creature it opened its mouth wide. "Leave him alone!" Musa yelled as the snake seemed to swallow her.
Musa looked to both sides to see that she had passed right through the snake before hearing a loud crunching sound behind her. The sound of a thud caused her to turn around to see Riven's head lying on the ground at her feet.
Musa screamed before sitting up, she could feel a cold sweat flowing down her face as she turned her head and saw Riven with a concerned look on his face. Her breathing became ragged as she wrapped her arms around his body burying her face into his chest as tears freely flowed from her eyes.
"Riven you're alive," She said through sobs.
"Everything will be okay." Riven replied as he rubbed her back to comfort her.
Slowly her breathing eased. "I…you…the girls," she stammered as he placed a finger to her lips. "It's okay, I'm here, and everything is going to be fine." He reassured, a smile pulling at the edge of his lips which soon eased. "What's wrong?" She asked, turning around to see the snake directly behind her. "R-Riven."
"Just…stay…still."
She couldn't her body shivered and quaked with fear. "We'll back away, slowly," Riven whispered, taking her hand and slowly pulling her to her feet, as they stepped backwards away from the creature.
The snake sat still watching the two of them with its deep blue eyes. Hissing as the two reached the opening of a passageway behind them the snake slammed its tail down onto the ground causing the entire area to shake. The sound of cracking rock caused both Musa and Riven to turn and see the entrance of the passage to seal itself.
"What are we going to do now?" Musa asked with a worried voice.
"So you two are as weak as I had thought." The snake hissed.
"Wh…What do you mean?" Riven asked as he looked into the snakes eyes.
"Will you two let the fear that I put you through rule you or will you stand up to it?" The snake questioned.
"That snake is right," Musa replied, "We need to get a scale from it to save Roxy."
"Good," The snake hissed, "Now show me what you have got."
Before anyone could do anything another loud hissing sound could be heard in the distance.
"Not now," The snake said as it looked in the direction of the hissing. "I tried to keep them away to test you but it did not work."
"What do you mean test us?" Riven yelled.
"Never mind." The snake replied as it turned back toward the two others in the cave, "I can see that you two care for the person that you need my scale for. Now take one and get out of here."
"How can you tell that?" Musa asked.
"Easy," the snake replied, "I could no longer taste the fear coming off of you when you mentioned the person's name."
Riven and Musa nodded their heads before approaching the snake. Reaching her hand out Musa carefully removed one of the scales from the body before her. "Good now get out of here." The snake said as the hissing sound grew louder.
Before anyone could move another snake burst through the wall behind Musa and Riven sending pieces of rock and ice flying at the two. The blue and white snake moved between the two and began to fight with the new arrival.
"I think that snake is right." Musa said, "Let's get out of here."
"There could be a small problem." Riven replied causing Musa to turn her vision toward him.
"Riven!" She yelled when she noticed the large rock sticking through his right leg.
Sitting at the desk that she had been given to finish the paper work to move Galatea, Ophelia wiped her eyes with a tissue before a bright flash of light entered the ward causing her to stand to her feet. Rushing inside she saw an unconscious fairy and specialist lying on the white tiles, blood pooling beneath his leg. Hastening to their side she started helping Riven when Musa managed to groan. "Stay still, Musa," she explained though the fairy was too stubborn for her own good. She forced herself to hold the scale out to the nurse, her hand shaking at the effort. Ophelia took it from her fingertips as Musa's breathing began to settle and her eyes drifted shut again, exhaustion taking it toll.
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