Riven sat, on the balcony, looking out over the grounds of Alfea. So many fairies, flitting around, laughing, completely unaware of what was going on outside their little school. He felt helpless just sitting here, while the others were down in the Underrealm, getting into who knew what kind of trouble. He could have helped them.

"Saladin should have sent me instead of Brandon," he said suddenly to Flora. She'd be standing there for sometime now, deep in thought. Thinking of what, was far beyond him. "We'd already be back by now."

"Oh!" Flora said, turning, obviously surprised. "I thought I was alone out here,"

"Well sorry," Riven muttered, hopping off the edge of the balcony railing, landing in front of Flora. "I was leaving anyway,"

"Oh, well, okay. I guess I just assumed you'd be with Musa," Flora said.

Musa? Where was she going with this? "Musa?" Riven asked hesitantly. "Why?"

"She's really upset," Flora replied, looking down into the Alfea courtyard. "I'm sure she'd really like someone to talk to."

Musa was upset? "Hm..." Riven followed her gaze, all the way down to Timmy and Tecna. Hugging. What was she hinting at?

"Well," Flora sighed, turning to leave. "I guess I'll just go see how she's doing then,"

"No wait," Riven said, pushing in front of Flora. "I'll go."

"Really?" Flora asked, beaming.

"Yeah," Riven replied, "but what am I supposed to tell her? Everything's fine? It's probably not you know."

"I think I saw her down in the quad," Flora called after him. "Good luck!"

As he walked down the stairs heading for the quad, Riven couldn't help thinking of possible reasons why Musa was upset. Was it his fault? Was it something he'd said? Who knew. This was, after all, Musa. She had a tendency to cry at the drop of a hat. But, he knew that. He'd always known that. It was just one of the many things that made Musa so... Musa. Sighing, Riven jammed his hands in his pockets. There she was. Standing in the quad, just as Flora had told him.

Her back was to him, but Riven could tell she was really pissed. Her shoulders looked extremely tight and just her general body language screamed anxious. As he approached, Musa glanced quickly over her shoulder.

"I'm not worried," she said quietly.

What was she talking about? Riven raised an eyebrow. "Okay..." he said carefully.

Musa paused for a second, then turned to face him. "Should I be?"

Was she talking about the mission? Was she worried about her friends? That seemed like the most logical thing. "Well yeah," Riven replied. "Those guys probably screwed up everything."

Musa stood, looking up at him for a minute, lips pursed. Finally she said softly, "I wasn't talking about them."

"Huh?" Riven asked. He was completely lost. So she wasn't talking about them?

"I was talking about..." Musa looked down, and sighed. "I was talking about well... us."

"W-what?" Riven asked, frowning. "What are you talking about?"

"I mean that well..." Musa chewed her lip, choosing her words carefully. "I don't really know where we stand. After last year well..." she shrugged. "I don't know. Then, just having them go down to the Underrealm, and not knowing what's happening or if they're alright, I guess it's just sort of added pressure to the situation."

Riven stood, staring at her. He honestly didn't know what to think, let alone say. Communication was definitely not something he was good at. Musa knew that. Why, now of all times, did she want to talk about the type of relationship, if you could even call it that, they had. It seemed ridiculous. "Musa I..." his voice trailed off. He would have to be extremely gentle. One wrong word, and Musa would hate him forever. And that would be a fate worse than death. No. He would have to be extremely careful. "Musa, you know how I feel about you." What else was there to say really? That was pretty much it. He liked her, she knew that. Couldn't they go from there.

"I know," Musa replied, looking down again. "But um, it's just that well, this morning I-I just didn't really see that."

What was he supposed to say to that?! Of course he still liked her! Riven had no idea how he was going to put how he felt into words. Especially now since she knew how he felt. Last year, he should have made more of a speech. At least he'd had the brains to actually plan out what he was going to say before he'd said it. That would have been disastrous elsewise. Even after planning what he was going to say, he'd still sounded like an idiot. Luckily, Musa had still gotten the message. But now... now he didn't know what to say. "Well sorry," Riven replied curtly. Well fantastic. That was just the thing to say to a girl when she needed comforting. And on top of that, this wasn't just any girl. This was Musa.

"Sorry?" Musa asked, crossing her arms. "What kind of answer is that? I spill my guts to you, tell you how I'm feeling, and all you can do is apologize?" Then, suddenly to Riven's complete surprise, in one smooth motion, Musa stepped closer to him, and buried her face in his chest, sobbing.

Riven stood, stiffly for a minute, just letting her cry. Should he touch her, or just leave her be? Before Riven knew what he was doing, he'd had wrapped his arms around Musa, pulling her into a hug. "Shh, it's okay," he whispered as he rubbed her back. "It's okay. Just... just don't cry okay? Everything is going to be alright. I promise."

"Riven?" Musa asked suddenly.

"Yeah? he asked "What is it?"

"Don't you dare tell anyone I cried."

Riven dropped his arms. He knew that meant none of this never happened. He'd never hugged her. She didn't care what he thought of her. They weren't a couple, and probably never would be. He sighed. Who knew when anything like this would happen again. "I..." he hesitated for a second. "I won't."