CHAPTER ONE.
you and whose army?, by radiohead.
"Six months!" Sky slams a newspaper down on Riven's bed. A taunting missing photo staring back at the two specialists.
Riven slowly lifts himself up as he speaks. "Three weeks and four days," pure defeat lacing his exhausted voice. "Trust me, I'm aware mate."
"They're gonna call off the search," Sky's blond eyebrows furrow, his arms tensely resting across his chest. "Rosalind says the Solarian army is running out of resources, they're not gonna keep funding search parties. Said it's a waste."
"That's a load of bull," Riven scoffs in disgust. "The most powerful army in the otherworld and they're lacking resources? Give me a break."
Sky sighs, his arms falling to his side. He leans against the wall. "They can't keep searching for just one girl, it's almost been a year."
"Well, it's not exactly just Malvolia missing anymore is it?" Riven shoots back sassily. "And it's not like it's just some girl, it's Via," Riven insists.
"All the more reason they would call off the search then isn't it?" Sky speaks the truth the two boys have already been thinking but neither of them wanting to say it out loud.
The blue-eyed boy steps forward. "Rosalind hasn't said anything? Beatrix even?"
With a shake of his head and scoff Riven shuts down Sky quickly. "No, no mate everytime I even hint at anything to do with Via, Rosalind just shuts me down," Riven tilts his head as he continues. "Same with Beatrix, although I think she's about as in the dark as anyone."
Sky sighs, leaning back against the wall once more. "Yeah that's about what I get from Desdemona too. Anytime I ask her, she just shuts down and says..."
"I just got my daughter back and I'm working on getting her back just as much as you," Riven choruses with his suitemate.
"Yeah," Riven swings his legs over the side of the mattress. "Got that bit a few thousand times," he mumbles, bringing his vape to his lips. "Something else is going on here," he blows out, a smoke cloud forming around his face.
Silence envelopes the two, both of them huddling into their own heads.
Sky breaks the silence. "Do you remember the last thing Lia said to you?" He asks in curiosity.
Riven takes another whiff of his vape, blowing it out as he stares solemnly at the ground.
"Why don't you believe me?" Mal cries in frustration, her big brown eyes looking sadly at Riven. She glazes over the brunet male's stature of indifference, his shoulders tense.
With the roll of his eyes Riven looks at his girlfriend. "It's not that I don't believe you love," he tells her with a sigh, his voice condescendingly slowly. "Things are quiet right now. Rosalind is in power, Beatrix is a tamed lap dog, Dane's big gay on campus, you got your answers and parents back. Everything is alright right now and we don't need you to go messing things up."
Malvolia's eyes flash with rage. "I am not trying to mess things up!" She yells ferociously. "Something is going on and I can feel it. Well excuse me if I'm not just sitting in my room getting high off my ass because I'm useless in every way."
"Oh fuck off Mal," Riven shrugs off, stepping away from the girl. "The past couple of weeks, you've been a mess, awful to be around and your tits all in a twist."
Malvolia steps towards him. "Maybe because the past couple of weeks you've been brushing me off like I'm some petulant little chi-"
"Because you're making something out of nothing Mal!" Riven's voice raises in a way it never has before. He takes a menacing step towards the mind-fairy. "The whole world isn't out to get you."
Malvolia takes a step back, hot tears running down her puffy cheeks. She lets the silence envelope her in a comforting hug as she takes deep breaths to compose herself. "You once told me," she takes a step closer to Riven, her shaking hands reaching out to cusp his face. "That you would always be on my side, whatever side that ends up being. I need you to keep that promise. I need you to listen to me, to believe me. Please..." she pleads in a whisper. "Be on my side."
Riven's eyes stay cold. "Like you believed me when I told you I loved you?" He shoots back, his words cutting the girl like a thousand knives.
A gasp of disbelief and pain escapes Malvolia's mouth as she takes a step back from the impact of her boyfriend's words. "Is that what this is about? Because I wasn't ready to say it back?" Her dark eyes look at him in incredulity.
She starts to walk out of Riven's suit but not before turning back to say one last thing. "When I'm gone... don't you fucking dare be sad."
"No," Riven answers. "Do you?" The green eye specialist retorts.
Sky looks down at the ground, crossing his arms tighter against his chest as if to protect himself.
Malvolia sits quietly outside the walls of Alfea, her knees gathered to her chest. Tears fall down her cheek silently, the light of the stars sparkling in her brown eyes. The sound of footsteps crunching against the fresh grass put her on high alert.
"You're supposed to be in bed," Sky smiles teasingly, walking behind his sister before taking a seat next to her.
The brunette quickly wipes the tears off her cheek, silently praying that her brother doesn't notice or at the very least doesn't mention it. "So are you," she replies dryly, hoping her own voice doesn't betray her. Although with how things have been going lately, she wouldn't be surprised if that too let her down. "Can't sleep?"
Sky lets out a deep breath from his nose, humming as he does so. "Doing a sweep around the school, trying to calm the nerves," he smiles softly glancing at her. "You?"
Malvolia once again lets the silence comfort her. "You ever have a feeling of impending doom? Like everythings going to come crashing down?" She whispers, so silently Sky strains to hear it.
"All the time," he answers back, resting his cheek onto his knees so he can face her.
Tears compact themselves in Malvolia's waterline. She takes in a shaky breath while nodding, as if she's trying to tell herself it's okay. "Something is coming Sky. Something big and I don't know if we're all going to make it out," the brunette's voice quivers.
"Malvolia, what are you saying? What do you mean?" Sky asks, his body and mind now on high alert.
"I don't know when she's coming or if she's already here..."
"Mal," the blond cuts the girl off.
"I'm scared," she confesses, turning her head to face her brother. Tears visibly pour down her face, her red lips in a frown. "I'm so scared."
The older brother quickly gathers the crying girl into his arms, safely tucking her into his chest. "It's gonna be okay," he coos, comfortingly patting her hair down.
Malvolia pulls away, her brown eyes meeting his bright blue ones. "No, it's not," she whispers before getting up and walking away.
The blond specialist looks up from the ground shaking his head. "No."
Riven's eyes narrow, maneuvering his body to face his suitemate. "That's a load of shit, you're lying," he accuses.
"Oh what, and you weren't?" He shoots back.
The brunet specialist sighs. "If we're going to find her, we're going to need to trust each other."
"Well excuse me, if I don't think you particularly have the best judgement."
"Mate..."
"The last thing she said to me was that she was scared. That someone bad was coming or they were already here."
Confusion falls upon the green-eyes specialists face. "Who?
"I don't know, that's all she said!"
"Oh well right then thank you for nothing!" He snarks back sarcastically.
"Oh I'm sorry," Sky mock apologizes. "Do you have any important information that you would like to share with the class? The floor is yours."
Riven thinks back to Malvolia's and his last argument. He shakes his head looking down at the floor. "It's stupid."
Sky's eyebrows furrow. "What is it?"
The brunet pauses before sighing and laying back down on the bed. He takes a hit off his vape before shaking his head once more and answering. "She was upset that I didn't believe her."
"Believe her?" Sky presses. "Believe her about what?"
"Via had this belief that her mother is a blood witch..."
"I got no strings, to hold me down," Desdemona hums as she flips through a book in the library. "I had strings but now I'm free. There are no strings on me."
The older woman slams the book shut, placing it back in the forbidden area. Ever since Rosalind has taken over as headmistress, she had closed off certain sections of the library until further notice. Claimed that she wanted to make sure dark magic was inaccessible to students. Desdemona knew she really just wanted to make sure no one could find a way to threaten her position of power.
She may have had Andreas fooled but Desdemona would always know better.
Foot steps pause the brunette from her thoughts.
"You always had a lovely voice."
Desdemona turns around with a smirk. "Pretty bold of you, don't you think?" She mocks. "Coming on to school grounds, you're not supposed to be here."
The footsteps echo closer towards her. "Last I checked, neither are you. You're supposed to be dead."
Desdemona smiles at the man in front of her, her eyes grazing how much he has grown since the last time she had seen him. Her smile widens as he opens his arms.
"Now is that any way to greet your brother?"
Desdemona grins before running up to wrap him in her arms. "I missed you Seb," she whispers into his shoulder.
"I missed you too Des," Sebatian Valtor sighs in content. He remembers the day he felt her soul leave their plane; the feeling like nothing he ever felt before.
The older sibling throws his arm over his sister's shoulder, leading her outside of the library.
"I was wondering when you would make yourself known," Des comments knowingly. "All the messages you sent me were so cryptic."
"Well, I hope you got the gist of it. We have a lot of work to do."
Desdemona grins. "Oh I know and I've never been more ready for it."
Sebastian nods. "Good, because we're gonna have to get a move on things."
The younger sister follows along closely by the blood witch's side. Sebastian presses his fingers against a wall, a hidden door appearing in front of them. Sebastian heads in first, ushering the women inside before hiding the door once again.
"You've outdone yourself," Des comments, looking around. Her eyes catch onto the bars surrounding a metal cot. She squints at the figure laying on the bed.
"It's almost a family reunion, wouldn't you say?" Sebastian jokes.
Desdemona looks down at the weeping girl, her arms clasped to the cot.
"Please, please don't do this," she begs, her big magenta eyes staring at the two adults in front of her.
Desdemona kneels to the bedside. "Don't worry, it's all gonna be okay," she pets her hair, before turning around and whistling.
Multiple little creatures run towards the cot climbing on top of the girl and sticking themselves to her skin. Her screams rattle the room as the two adults look upon the sight in front of them, twin smirks playfully lying across their face.
AUTHOR'S NOTES.
i am so excited for this season because everything that i had planned to happen with malvolia and desdemona fits in so perfectly! like i could not have asked for a better season.
i'm curious though, what are your theories on what will be happening with mal and co. in season two??