The Dragon Stone ↣ Riven ↢

05: It's Definitely Not On My Schedule To Go Third Wheeling

He was just going for another observation round as two specialists neared him, carrying crates.

'We were ordered to move these crates here.', One of them stated.

'Ah, yes, thank you, Dane.', professor Palladium responded.

After dropping off the crates, Dane became distracted by one of the simulation rooms.

'They are getting their arses kicked pretty bad.', he observed, while raising an eyebrow. 'Riv, come look.'

'Fuck, that's Rose.', Riven remarked while peering inside.

At the very moment he looked inside, the simulated fairy had just knocked Bloom out of the air again and was turned to Rose with a menacing looking whirlwind in her hands, ready to attack.

This was the first time Riven had seen her fully transformed and as he took in her appearance, he couldn't deny that it looked good on her. However, he also noticed that she looked battered.

'Stop the simulation!', Riven frantically shouted while he reached for the handle on the door.

'Riv, you can't!', Dane yelled back while, just in time, blocking Riven's path. 'You can't enter mid-simulation, it's dangerous, you know that.', He scolded. 

'But-,' Riven started, but he stopped talking as soon as he saw Rose dodging the fairy's attack. He watched as she aimed a powerful fire bolt towards the fairy and succeeded to strike her.

As the fire bolt came into contact with the fairy, it seemed to crumble apart into little blocks.

Riven let out a relieved sigh and he couldn't hide the proud grin on his face as he turned to Dane. 'I guess she had it under control.', He said, earning a funny look from him.

'What was that?', Dane questioned.

'What was what, mate?', Riven replied, sounding annoyed.

He knew what Dane was getting at and he was not willing to have that conversation.

'I'm talking about your stupid little attempt at a rescue operation just now.', Dane sassed with an amused smile causing Riven to scoff.

'You're overexaggerating, I just- ,' he started, but he was cut off by Dane.

'Wanted to intervene in a simulation when Rose was about to get struck.', Dane finished the sentence for him. 'You got a thing for her?', He asked Riven while wriggling his eyebrows.

'No, of course not.' Riven protested, but the words didn't sound convincing. 'She's hot, but I don't think we're quite compatible.', He added, while rubbing the back of his neck.

Though it wasn't the whole truth, it also wasn't a complete lie either. To him, she just didn't seem like the type who'd be into flings and that's all Riven really had had throughout his time at Alfea. 

'Whatever, mate,  let's just finish delivering these crates.', Dane responded while walking away. 

-

Rose was grateful when the simulation had finally ended. After their first take down of the simulated fairy, they managed to take out the other nine together. To Rose, it wasn't really an achievement, but she was glad it was over.

As the two of them left the simulation room, they were met by professor Palladium.

'There's still a lot of work left, but for now, well done.' He nodded at them before walking away.

'God, I never want to attend one of his classes again.', Rose groaned as soon as he was out of earshot.

'Can't argue with that.', Bloom responded while letting out a sigh.