Chapter Ten: Road Kill and Keys

Musa was edgy and uncomfortable, she had been in this castle for a total of two nights, the first where she arrived and last night (Night of the ball) and she was growing incredibly anxious. So far her experiences with this whole 'adventure' into fairy tale land had not impressed her for one moment, from the start she had fallen down a cliff and got dragged to a castle in the middle of nowhere by Bloom and abandoned there with the sole mission of making Riven fall in love with her. The lack of information didn't sit well with her at all. Yesterday morning after he had left her in the rose garden she had felt a peculiar sense of loneliness, the urge to go and follow him so she wouldn't be alone in this huge castle, of course she didn't do that, it would be weak of her to admit to anyone she needed someone. She had wandered some more and found herself in a quiet dark part of the castle, venturing into one of the rooms she had found trunks covered with dust and cobwebs, inside she was delighted to find an array of small girl dresses. All of them seemed to be nice and perfectly her style so she dragged the heavy trunk back to her room and spent the rest of the afternoon going through all the outfits and choosing which ones she was going to wear.

The way Musa thought of it was that if she was going to be stuck in a castle with nothing to do, she was going to run wild and do whatever came to mind. She ended up putting on a beautiful plum coloured dress with light cream coloured lining and ribbons attached to it, it fit her best of all and secretly it was almost the same colour as Riven's hair but when she realized this she just shook her head and refused to dwell on it. So when boredom started to descend again she decided to go and find Riven, since he was probably the only interesting thing in the whole place and she thought it could be fun to try and annoy the crap out of him. After twenty minutes of searching through the astoundingly large castle she found him in a giant lounge room, standing in front of a fire with a deep in thought look. She had peeked through the crack in the door and watched him for a while, he didn't move or seem to notice her but she did notice how he looked sort of...troubled or perhaps annoyed. He was a mystery to her, living alone in a castle with no friends or family and not even a single servant to help him. She knew he must have some kind of reason for being here and she could only guess by the look on his face now that it troubled him, or maybe it was her that was doing that.

Hmm, could it be me who's causing that frown? Am I really that much of a bother in his isolated life?

That strange feeling of loneliness swept through her and this time she let it sink in a little, so after a breath she entered the room as quietly as she could. He didn't turn but he did incline his head to the left as if to listen to her approach, she walked into the room with the tall windows with glistening sunlight that was in the middle of setting shining through them. Once in Musa didn't really know what to do so she just let herself walk further in and across the room to beside the fireplace where there was a bookcase of old looking books, she noticed that these weren't dusty so she assumed that these were the only books her bothered to read. Randomly picking one up she turned back to the fireplace to find Riven had sat down in one of the two armchairs that sat opposite a cushioned sofa, his head bent and shadowed so she couldn't see his face. Feeling slightly awkward she sat down on the sofa and pretended to read. All the while casting small peeks at him, she decided that he looked awkward, this realisation made her eyebrows rise and she didn't bother to pretend to read anymore, openly staring at him she found that the man in front of her looked just as out of place and shy as she felt.

Really Musa, come on! Riven...Shy? Awkward yes of course, he's always been a little awkward but SHY? Really thinking back to when I first met him he didn't seem to say much except for when there was a fight going on and he wanted to yell at someone, I always thought that he didn't speak because he didn't have anything to say or he didn't care but maybe that's an act. Maybe he's covering up the fact that he doesn't know what to say and he doesn't want to embarrass himself.

Inwardly groaning Musa tried to think of something to say, the pressure of a conversation was weighing down on her and she was sure he wasn't going to start so she'd have too. She sighed as she struggled which brought the broodings mans eyes to hers; she froze a little and continued to stare. A long silence even more heavier descended upon them, she watched him with startled eyes and fingers tightening around the book she held while he watched her with an unreadable expression that seemed to make the air going into her lungs too slow for her to breathe.

Panicking a little she asked the first thing that came to mind "I just realised that we were never properly introduced...w-what's your name? Or is that a secret too?"

He kept watching her for a long time and for a moment she didn't think he'd answer her until he said in his quiet but hard voice "Riven"

"Riven" She repeated, relieved she wouldn't have to remember another name and relieved that he said anything at all "I'm Mu-" Wait! That's not my name here! "Belle" She replied a little more forcefully "My name is Belle"

He finally looked away from her and stared into the fire with an even more troubled expression than before, Musa breathed a sigh at being released from the smouldering eye torture and let her gaze roam to the setting sun outside of the window, she wondered how long she would have to stay here. Looking outside she noticed something only the fairy of music would notice "It's so quiet here...not even the birds are singing"

"I never noticed" He replied absentmindedly, she could tell form the sound of his voice that he was focused on something far away from her.

"I like music..." She continued quietly "It makes everything brighter and more alive; I can't even imagine my life without it. Quiet and still. I guess that's why this place makes me uneasy" She glanced at him to make sure she didn't offend him, he was still staring at the fire "But a huge place like this must have the most cool music room ever, show me where it is and I'll have this place pulsing with some wicked tunes!"

He turned and gave her a curious look, if she wasn't so tense at her old world language she would have laughed, until he said "The music room is locked, it has been for years"

"What, just the music room?"

"Yes"

Musa felt a sting of sadness for the instruments locked away to rust and die for so long "Can't we unlock it?"

"My place, my rules" He answered briskly in a voice a slight bit harder than before. Musa was so shocked she leaned back in her seat and set her eyes back on the book she held, it occurred to her that the book she held was a book about wolves, her thoughts went to the wolf that prowled the woods just outside and a cold thought came to her. I'd make sense if Riven was the wolf, living out here alone and being as cruel as any monster. Musa froze and felt a sliver of fear run through her; she glanced up at him and found his eyes already on her. His brow furrowed slightly and went to the book in her hands, he must have known what the book was about because his eyes got even colder and returned to hers to glare at her with such ferocity that made her want to slink away into her seat and throw the book at him. No...no way. He'd never, he can't! But that look in his eyes...there's something about him and the wolf, I don't know how but there's something. Not being able to take the fearful thoughts rushing to her head she stood abruptly, turned and stalked from the room, her heart pounding in her chest.

... (Right about now back in town Stella is being arrested)

Musa spent the next hour sitting in her room, perched on her bed and tapping her hands against her knees to chase away the urge to sing and dance and find SOMETHING to make music with. She stared at the wallpaper with a furrowed brow and a scowl, thinking about Riven and the theory of him being the wolf, she didn't want him to be the wolf or him to have anything to do with it. After all he was her boyfriend back home; she wanted him to be safe. But safe wasn't living in a castle in the middle of the forest; who would do that besides the very person who was the wolf? Assuming that the wolf could take human form in the day, she never actually saw him at night. The first night she was here she could have sworn that was him outside her door but perhaps she was wrong, maybe her sonar hearing was off in this world. Musa was pulled from her brooding when her stomach rumbled loudly; it occurred to her that she hadn't eaten much of anything over the past two days. Climbing from her bed she went in search of a kitchen.

It didn't take her long until she found herself in a grand iron and wood kitchen, complete with wide benches and a monstrous looking stove that had multiple knobs. Standing in the middle of the vast kitchen she thought about what she'd like to eat when it dawned on her that she'd actually have to cook it for herself instead of using magic. Aw crap! I was never any good with food, best I could do was the two minute noodles Bloom taught me and I doubt there's a store that sells them. God what if I have to butcher a pig or something? Sighing heavily she wandered over to a long cupboard and opened it to find various dried fruits and vegetables, the next one had bread and what looked like a bowl of churned butter. Swallowing heavily she spent the next twenty minutes finding a big saucepan, filling it with water that was ridiculously hard to find, lighting the overtop and after the water started to boil just throwing in various vegetables and stuff. In truth she had no idea what she was doing and as time went on a horrible smell started to run through the kitchen. Panic started to rise as she bent over the bench and tried to calm her breathing, she was succeeding until she heard a voice.

"Did something die in here?"

Musa whirled around to face her brooding and dark roommate with a glare that could have burned through steel; he stood in the doorway with his hands in his pockets and an amused expression on his face. Musa sniffed and replied briskly "If you must know I'm cooking dinner for myself" She turned to face her boiling dinner which resembled road kill "I don't know about you but where I'm from stuff like food is much more easy to get than rather cooking it yourself"

"You must have lots of servants then, I always thought you looked like a little rich daddy's girl"

Musa's jaw almost hit the floor but she refused to turn around "Oh don't even man! For all you know my life could be so much more different than what you just described! You know nothing about me!"

"You're a terrible cook" His voice sounded just behind her right should and Musa jumped and whirled to find him standing just behind her, she didn't even hear him approach, he kept speaking "I could smell that all the way across the hall"

Anger raced through Musa as she looked him right in the eye with as much wrath as she could muster, without even thinking about it her hand reached blindly for the bowl of eggs that had been sitting in front of her and squashed one right into Riven's chest. He didn't seem surprised; in fact he glanced down and raised an eyebrow at the yoke dripping down his white shirt and black leather vest. Musa smiled and turned back to the bench mumbling "I'm also an angry cook who isn't afraid to throw some eggs, so shoo you vulture"

Musa could almost see him shrug and walk away with that stupid unreadable expression. Giving up on her dinner she switched off the stove and just settled with cutting up some bread and spreading butter over the thick slices, as she was buttering she suddenly pitched forward and yelled when something hit the back of her head and an icky wet feeling spread through her skull. Reaching up she felt the crackling of egg shells and slimy egg in her hair, whirling around with rage she spotted Riven casually standing by the stove with a spoon in hand, stirring the delicious smelling food with a suspiciously innocent look.

"There's egg in my hair!" Musa screeched, simply unable to believe that he would throw an egg at her. It was just so unlike him! He didn't even look up when he replied casually "Oh is there?"

Musa pitched the buttering knife at him with as much force as she could; it whirled through the air with speed until Riven caught it with lightening reflexes and without even looking her way. Musa stared at him with her mouth open and an accusing look, thinking of wolves and their fast reflexes. The thought made all ill feeling leave her until only fear and suspicion remained "Nice reflexes, I haven't seen speed like that since I ran away from the wolf"

The stirring stopped and he looked at her slowly with carful eyes, Musa again felt that small slither of fear run through her but she kept her ground, she knew she was onto something "Have you ever run into the wolf?"

He didn't answer her; he quickly set down the spoon and shut off the oven. Without even thinking of the heat from the saucepan he lifted it by the handle and turned to leave the kitchen, Musa stepped forward and called out "It's strange isn't it? Being out here all alone like a shut in, maybe you have something you need to hide?"

Riven whirled on her so fast she almost stumbled backward, he didn't yell of approach her but she felt like the whole world had closed in on the two of them. He stared at her for three seconds, assessing her from head to toe with a frantic sort of look that had rage, confusion, suspicion and aggravation all at once.

"Do you have something to hide?" Musa asked, welded to the floor and unable to move but unable to ask the question she wanted.

This time he did yell but he did so while taking a step back from her "YOU KNOW NOTHING!"

He exited the kitchen and left her standing there with wide eyes, she wasn't afraid or upset and it wasn't exactly the first time Riven had yelled at her. But if only he knew the power he held over her and how deeply he could hurt her with only those piercing eyes and words alone.

When Musa went to bed that night she hadn't seen Riven since the kitchen incident. She'd eaten little and didn't really have the energy to do anything after that, she just went straight to bed. Trying to sleep that night was impossible; her mind kept whirling around and didn't give her the peace she needed to sleep comfortably. Sitting up in the dark room she glanced outside where rain was just starting to pound into her window making it impossible to see outside. He's not here; I didn't see him after dinner or hear him anywhere close by. I know our rooms are right next to each other but I still know he's not there...

Getting up she wandered to the lounge room from earlier and sat down in Riven's armchair and watched the fire die into embers and ash, snuggling into the warmth of the chair as if he had just left it after sitting for hours. Thunder and lightning sounded as the rain struck the earth and this night Musa felt like her ears were being tortured by the sounds of the forest right outside, like a nightmare. Covering both her ears she closed her eyes and sang to herself in the dark and even when almost all noise was at its loudest she still was able to pick out the howl of a wolf right outside the castle gates.

...

Waking up happened instantly, her eyes flew open and glanced around the room with sharp awareness. The lounge looked the same as always, the fire completely burned out and the morning sun shining dimly through the creases in the curtains. There was a dull ache in Musa's neck and back, she stretched as she got up from the armchair "Ugh, well that was a bad place to sleep"

Stumbling toward the door she remembered the events of yesterday and a sudden urge to go find Riven overcame her. She rushed on anxious feet to all the rooms she had been in, the kitchen, the training room she had discovered before, the rose garden courtyard, the lounge room again and even knocked on his bedroom door. Peeking inside the dark room she stayed long enough to see his bed was unslept in, rushing back to the foyer she thought about running back to the village and finding Bloom and telling her what had happened and maybe just finding him along the way. She opened the front door with only a small pause, stepping out into the morning air Musa glanced around the front of the castle and looked into the distance while making her way down the steps.

So she was very surprised when she tripped over somebody.

"Riven!" She exclaimed as she tried to right herself on the stone steps. Riven lied seemingly unconscious on the stone steps with his black vest and white shirt stained with blood and cuts, his hair still damp from the rain and dirt covered his hands, neck and face. Musa crawled to him and hovered her hands over the bloody wounds that surfaced on his chest and ribs "Oh my god what happened?!" he didn't answer and Musa was scared enough to try and fix the problem with magic, only it didn't come.

Her hands stretched with the pressure of the blocked magic that she tried to bring forth but nothing worked, no magic to heal. Growling with annoyance she leaned over him and tried to wake him up by shaking up but seriously the man was out cold. So with no other option Musa took him by his arms and pulled him into the house by sheer will and strength alone, getting him to his room was another story.

"Damn it Riven! Do you know how many staircases there are from the front steps to your room? Three! That's 58 steps! So when you wake up from whatever crazy night you had, I'm gonna kick your ass!"

After a LONG time she finally got him into his room and hoisted him into his bed, she then ran to her own room where she had found towels and bandages and soap and brought them back to him. She stood over him for a moment with hesitation "Okay, I am not going to blush or be sick"

Opening his vest and shirt she found two bloody wounds, one on his chest and one on his stomach, she tried very hard not to swoon over the hard abs that were oh so very obvious. So instead she got to work trying to clear away the blood, which didn't seem like it was flowing to heavily to be life threatening. She worked over him for an immeasurable amount of time, her thoughts whirling around the questions that still didn't have answers; surely he'd have to tell her something after this whole thing?

When morning turned into early afternoon she'd bandaged the two wounds and was busy cleaning the dirt from his skin around his face he suddenly reached up and firmly grasped her wrist. She jumped and yelled "Jesus Riven, Don't do that! You scared the hell out of me!"

Riven didn't release her but breathed hard and gave her a confused look "Belle" after a long moment he pried his fingers open to release her. Musa quickly stepped back blushing, much too conscious of the situation of him being shirtless and her standing over him.

After a while he sat up in bed and looked down at his bandaged up chest, then back up at her "What...what happened?"

The thought of telling him something scandalous had happened between them popped up in her head but she slammed that thought down and said instead "Well I found you half dead on the front steps this morning, you looked like hell, still do. You want to tell me what happened?"

Riven fixed her with a sharp look "You left?"

Musa was defensive and placed her hands on her hips "Only the front door"

Riven suddenly pitched up off the bed to stand before her, she tried SO hard to keep her eyes on his face. He didn't even seem to notice the pain that must have cause him when he glanced down at her, raising an eyebrow at her apparel, which she'd completely forgotten. Musa looked down and found she was still wearing the white cotton nightgown with the silk ribbons that laced up the front. Blushing she quickly stepped away from him and scooped up a thick red robe that lay at the end of his bed and put it on "Damn, this is too much like some crappy romance novel" Once on she faced him with as much dignity as she could but instead found a furious expression on his face "Oh what did I do?"

He looked cold "I said there were only three rules for letting you stay here, and you said you would obey them!"

"I did!" Musa yelled back, furious herself for getting scolded after helping him.

"You were going to leave; if I hadn't been on those steps would you have gone anyway? Admit it, you thought about leaving?" Riven stood as still as a statue except for the fists he was making. Musa breathed heavily with injustice "Yes I thought about leaving but that's none of your business! Never mind the fact that I DIDN'T leave but instead found you sorry ass out front and instead of being cruel I helped you and might I point out, I'M STILL HERE!"

"I don't need your help" He replied coldly, stalking past her to a long cupboard. She was too angry to pause when he stripped off both shirt and vest and started pulling on a clean dark red shirt "I said when you came here that I didn't want to be the one who scraped your dead body off the front lawn when the wolf got you if you ever tried to leave and you would have been attacked had you did. Not once over the last three days have you expressed any urge to leave or even complained that you were unhappy here. So if you don't want to be here, why did you come in the first place?"

Musa strode toward him and glared up at him "Because I had nowhere else to go! I needed help, you probably think I'm weak for admitting that but it's true. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and put up with the situation you're put in, someone tried to kill me!"

Riven tried the front of his shirt closed "Can't imagine why"

Musa slammed her fist into his arm with a yell and walked back across the room "What makes you so sure the wolf would have killed me?" She turned and closely assessed his reaction.

His face was hard as was his voice but his eyes were on the floor "I get the impression that you don't really live around here so I'll tell you. That wolf has killed hundreds of people, it's been around for years and no one's been able to kill it. No matter how dire the circumstance or how badly you think everything is no one EVER ventures into that forest for any reason but to get themselves killed. You, some little girl, would have been a silly little chew toy for something like the wolf!"

Musa flinched at the words and started to feel an ache in her throat that meant she was near tears, she fought them back saying "And you. Almighty Riven, loner from the forest is the only person who has survived living out here with a wolf at his door. I find it very unlikely! You know what I think you stupid jackass? Why don't you just admit it to me, huh? The only way you're alive out here is because you're really the wolf! It makes sense! You go running off into the forest every night, maybe last night you just happened to run into some hunters! Did you kill them too?!"

Riven looked like he might punch through a wall, an actual vein stood up in the side of his neck and the look in his eyes was beyond any kind of anger Musa had ever seen and she STILL wasn't afraid. But she did however flinch when Riven turned from her and pitched a vase at the wall; it smashed to pieces as he turned back to her "Get out"

Musa stumbled back a step "What?"

"Leave" His voice like steel "It's ridiculous for two people like us to ever live together, not when one of them accuses the other of being that monster! Not when she can't even look after herself and he gave her shelter! And not even when they can't stay in the same room as each other without shouting!"

"Oh no, you know what's ridiculous? You! Being all alone out here without so much as a slither of company, locking yourself away like some self proclaim imprisonment! It's beyond ridiculous! You think you can live without people, without anyone to talk too and you want to live out the rest of your days like this?! Just know this Riven; once I walk out that door you'll have no one! You'll be alone! You and that stupid wolf outside!" She paused to take in a much needed breath, the look on Riven's face told her she was right and she suddenly felt like she wanted to collapse and sleep forever. She backed away toward the door, yelling back to him "You really are a beast!"

...

Once back in her room Musa sat for a long time against the closed door. No matter how angry she was she knew that he was kinda right, she wouldn't last out there with the wolf. She knew now that he wasn't that monster who had chased her here and she did feel immense guilt for accusing him but she also felt that he was in the wrong too, he was just such a hard person to reach. She placed a hand over her mouth to stifle the threatening tears in her eyes, breathing unsteadily and closing her eyes she felt so tried. She finally crawled up into her bed and fell asleep.

Hours later she woke up to the soft noise of her door closing, popping her head up from the mattress she saw a small key with a note attached to it. Sitting up she reached for the key and note, trying not to fear the words of Riven once again telling her to get out. She quickly jumped off her bed and walked over to the door to where she knew Riven had paused just outside and could hear her. She looked down at the note.

I'm sorry, forgive me. Here's the key to your music room.

A small laugh escaped Musa as she read it; relief that she hadn't driven him away flooded her. She looked up and smiled at her closed door, speaking loudly "I forgive you, I'm sorry too...you jackass"