Chapter 1

Journal

Riven sat staring at the little black notebook in front of him. He wished he could make the notebook understand how much he did not want it. He wanted it to know that he thought it was a stupid waste of time. He wanted it to know that this wouldn't change or fix anything.

Unfortunately, he knew telling the notebook any of this also would not change or fix anything.

He groaned and decided to get up and get a drink of water before finally hunkering down and doing what he needed to. He sat at his desk and thought about spilling that water on the notebook, but he knew that was petty and he would just be issued another. With a sigh of resignation, he opened the notebook, picked up his pen, and…stared.

It had been over a year since he left Red Fountain and joined the prestigious force called The League. The League was a special task force which only accepted those most skilled in combat and strategy. Essentially, they were mercenary agents who were given the opportunity to complete tasks across the magical dimension. Most assignments were above the board but some were what one would call… "not quite legal". The inner workings of The League were very hush-hush, but practically everyone knew that they existed.

Riven had just completed a group mission which his superiors thought had taken a toll on the squad. In order to ensure the "mental wellness" all of the members of his group would not be given assignments for a month. At least. Additionally, the superiors were also requiring that every member of the squad write in a journal talking about what they were feeling. One of Riven's favorite topics, of course. They had to write something and submit the journal at the end of each week. They were told that they needed to do this "for themselves" but Riven knew the superiors were looking for signs of PTSD.

He understood that The League needed to ensure its members were in top shape, but that didn't stop him from feeling annoyed. A month suspension and mandated diary writing? He was going to go stir crazy.

He had spent four months going through try-outs, trainings, and completing initiation tasks just to qualify. It would have been longer had his reputation at Red Fountain not preceded him. He thoroughly enjoyed working for The League and the way it made him feel. It also made him feel good knowing he could retire and live a comfortable life with the money he had made so far – all the missions paid extremely well. Theoretically you couldn't put a price on a life, but some of these people sure did try. He wasn't close to retirement though – he loved the work and wasn't ready to give it up. He would die of boredom.

Work also kept him distracted. Most of the time it kept him from remembering that it had been one year, five months, two weeks, and four days since he last saw her. But distractions can't last forever, and every time he wasn't focused on a mission, she would invade his mind. You would think after all this time he would start to get over it, but he couldn't. Life is a trade-off – before he had been happy with Musa but wanted so much more. Now all he wanted was her. He always knew it but never dwelled on it. He thought about reaching out to her after he had been accepted into The League, but word around Magix was that the Winx were dealing with another big bad. After that got settled, it just felt like too much time had passed. Riven knew he should have reached out sooner, but the more time that passed the harder it was to get himself to do it.

He pulled himself out of his thoughts and stared down at the notebook. Finally, he figured out what his first journal entry was going to be.

This is stupid.

Feeling proud, he closed the notebook.

He knew he would have to write more by the end of the week, but he felt too good to think about that now.

He crawled into bed and sighed. It had been a rough few weeks, but he still felt like this was where he was supposed to be and was doing what he was meant to do.

Musa's face flashed in his mind.

He was where he was supposed to be. He just wished he was with her.

A/N: So I've finally decided to start this new story. I have a few ideas for it, but am still trying to work out how I want this to play out. Thank you to adanethel who thought the idea of Riven's journal would be interesting. I think it could be as well, but I didn't want it to be exclusively in a journal format. We will get to learn more about Riven's life away from the others, and we will get a reunion. Time for an old flame to re-kindle!

Thank you all for reading! I hope to have an update out soon - like end of next week soon.