Torment

Something was wrong.

Riven was expecting to wake up, look down and see a gorgeous fairy, looking very drowsy in his arms, expected to have to pull her out of bed and tell her to get to class, have her moan about how she thought he was supposed to be corrupting her and that he was going to lose his reputation. Just like every morning. That's what should have happened. Instead, Riven woke to a cold silence. At first, Riven thought maybe she had gotten up early, but still that feeling of unease lingered. Musa had a deep bond with her mattress and was hardly going to risk betraying its trust for something that wasn't life or death. As he began to look around the room he noticed a small piece of paper, torn from a notebook, nestled inside her headphones on the bedside table. The pit in Riven's stomach only grew. Musa getting up early was unlikely enough, but leaving without her headphones was never gonna happen. Riven's first thoughts were worry about her, out there, no music to block out all the bombarding emotions, then fear that she had gone to do something stupid, again. Why else wouldn't she take the only buffer she had for the pain waiting outside. Finally dread, whatever that note had inside couldn't be good. Deep down Riven knew it wasn't going to be some cherry explanation of how she felt like a morning run or was hungry and went to get breakfast. He knew it was bad. He didn't think it was this bad though.

Hey, Riv

Shit, I have no idea where to start. "The beginning would be great Muse", yeah yeah I know.
The reason I'm not here is because the blood witches offered me a deal. I don't know why but they wanted me to come with them, said if I did they'd stop all that shit. No more attacks in the woods, no more coming back bleeding, not sure when you're gonna wake up. I can't do that again. Not when I could stop it. Not when I could be useful. So I'm going. Don't come back for me.

I love you.

Musa

With each word Riven could feel himself breaking, feel the terror crawling down his spine. Fuck, she just had to go and get kidnapped.
In true Musa style she just wanted to be useful. Even the word was bitter in his mouth. God Riven was gonna kill anyone who ever made her feel like her existing wasn't enough, that she had to serve others to be valuable. Useful? How about alive, happy, healthy?
He'd give anything to show her that she was enough on her own, that she was perfect to him, but no, some asshole had to go and convince her it was her job to save everyone, never mind herself. Every day being told she was useless because of her powers, accumulating into this, this terrifying need to fuel a purpose.

And now she was gone, walked straight into the arms of death, to save everyone, to save him. Fuck.

The coming weeks were full of pain, of nightmares, of wondering. The wondering was the worst. Countless scenarios swarmed Riven's head, she could be hurt, she could be scared.
Fuck, she could be dead. As much as he wished his head wouldn't go there, it was a pretty logical escalation of events. What, can you blame him? Musa sipping margaritas with the blood witches seemed somewhat unlikely.

They shouldn't have had to wait this long, but with only the suite actually working to bring Musa back, there was only so fast they could move. Just figuring out where she went was proving almost impossible, let alone an actual rescue attempt. It would be going so much faster if Alfea was working with them but they had dubbed Musa's leaving a 'worthy sacrifice', and her rescue 'not worth the resources', in other words, they didn't care and were happy to reap the benefits of his – his... the only person he'd cared about in a long time, offering herself up to save them.

Expendable they said.

They took it like it was a gift, some miracle they'd stumbled on. Not a girl who walked into darkness for them. Not a person who was afraid. Not someone who wanted to live. Just a stroke of luck. Like her sacrifice was just good fortune.
Riven won't forget.
Whatever happens to Musa is on them.
And he will make them pay.