𝗖𝗢𝗭𝗘𝗡 ━ 𝗍𝗁𝖾 𝗐𝗂𝗇𝗑 𝗌𝖺𝗀𝖺

𝓷𝓲𝓷𝓮

"What happened?" He cleared his throat, After seeing the lightening rod of dread and dubium blaze in her eyes, he rectified smoothly, "I mean-only if you want to. I won't push you."

Maya resembled a toddler in that moment, gripping her palm with his as if she was reliant on it, but he was aware that at that moment Maya didn't need someone to open up to, just someone to provide her with solace. Aeden understood, they scarcely knew each other for her to divulge a secret of her own, a kind of secrecy that really did seem to sting her to the core.

"I'm sorry..." Maya gasped sorrowfully, not willing to share anything of hers just yet, but wanting to take the benefit of the comfortability of the boy who was currently reminding her of the brother-like presence that was lacking in that moment.

"It's okay," he drew her into a tight hug, Maya resting her head on his shoulder, silently sobbing, and Aeden felt the faint springs of salty liquid water trail over his neck, which sent him to scrubbing her hair, "Shh, it's okay. It'll be alright."

Maya was once again in the Circle of Stone, her mitts flat on the stone and her eyes riveted on the nothingness as she worked to soothe herself so that she could channel her abilities.

The girls were on the hunt for the ring and Maya had filled them in that she would catch up with them later, using the occasion to hopefully seek out her brother. She squeezed her eyes shut and commenced to take shallow, steady breathes, backgrounding all the various noises and strains of the outer world and centring on achieving her inner tranquility.

As soon as she began to feel an in-built source ignite, all the mental clarity she had mustered vanished at once, throwing all the trials she had tried into hell. Strides drew near and Maya jerked herself around, "Woah, woah. Wouldn't want to hurt this handsome face."The figure drew its hood down, Riven's smirking face taking its reign as Maya rolled her eyes in complaining.

"It's just you."

"Excuse me," Riven pulled an abashed facade, his hand lodged over his heart as if it had hit him precisely in that spot, "Just me? P-please, any girl would be fucking delighted to have my company."

"And what are you doing here?" Maya clamped her hands on her hips, expectantly demanding an immediate response, "Are you stalking me? You're a maniac!"

Riven scoffed, "Not everything revolves around you doll. Of course, I wouldn't have anticipated such a refreshing company and I'm not going to complain." He drew closer, pacing around the stone, glancing at it keenly and then redirecting his attention to the blonde, who had a forlorn look moulded on her face, "What were you doing then?"

Maya braced her arms against the rock again, leering at her, "Practicing."

"With what? Sleeping? Cause earlier I only noticed you with your eyes shut."

"Magic, Riven. Magic."

"And where is it now?"

"I was feeling it, until you showed up." Maya heaved a shallow sigh.

Riven perched himself on the stone, his gaze colliding with the one cast by the girl before him, so closeted that they could faintly feel their breathing coalescing together yet so distant from any kind of tangible interaction,"Then try again."

Something in Maya shifted at that precise moment, but it was beyond words and she had only just realised the quietude which the whole ambience exuded and yet the dampness did not come from the atmosphere, but oddly enough from the boy who was facing her. A simultaneous twinge sparked in her fingertips and Riven almost shied away from what he was witnessing, yet he simply hovered there, somehow inadvertently prodding the girl to carry on.

Maya allowed a tight leer to break out on her lips, finally pleased to feel the magic she had so long awaited being restored to her control as her eyes took on the usual purplish complexion of her gift. Riven's lips twisted up in an instance, a natural grin, only to morph it into a cocky smirk before it could be detected by the girl.

The energy between her fingers turned into a bottle of vodka, Riven's eyes fluttering in anticipation as the vodka bottle nestled into Maya's hands, "Do you want it Riv?"

"What the hell of a question would that be? Duh." Concealing her amused smirk Maya neared the bottle to an eager Riven, an eagerness that evaporated as soon as the bottle made contact with his hand and flared into oblivion, Maya pursing her lips to rein in her giggles as Riven scornfully heckled her, "The fuck!"

Before he could give any kind of reaction, her cell phone buzzed, Maya pulling it out and flagging Riven a cautionary glance, not wanting to make the same mess as Aeden, a thing he had bizarrely missed out on asking her about, and seeing Musa's contact glow on her phone, eventually unlocking the call.

"Maya where are you? You have to come right away.."

"Wait what happened?" A startling sensation raced through her stomach, something that was belied by the next assertion from the mind fairy.

"We have found a lot of corpses in the forest from the Burned Ones. Mr. Silva was the only one wounded..." there was a brief pause on the other end of the line, which was followed by a deep breath, "and so was your brother."

At that moment Maya comprehended how she had proved herself to be so inconsiderate and mean to her brother, as the splinterings of guilt joined the past ones.