"WHAT THE HELL, are you blind by any chance?" Riven swore, hands static in the air, the chill taking over as he felt the punch in Viperine's cup dampen his shirt.

"Idiot," she cursed back. "Look what you did!"

"I?" repeated Riven in disbelief. "Why are blondes always the dumbest?"

Viperine rolled her eyes in anger, huffing as she stretched out her own shirt and saw that she too had gotten wet. She wanted to throttle Riven, slam her head against the wall until she had a head injury. If Anakin were a little bigger, it would be easy to get rid of that boy's skinny body. However...

"What are you looking at?" he exclaimed nervously, trying to stand out from her. "Huh?"

"Oh, you little..."

"There's alcohol in it here," he stated, cutting her off and sniffing at her shirt. "Who knew the blonde wasn't such a saint."

"I never said I was a saint," she hissed through her teeth.

"I'm starting to realize that, blondie."

Viperine rolled her eyes, not holding back her grimace—something like disgust—as she saw that Riven's teasing and hostile gaze reflected much more than that. Without holding back, he looked her up and down, memorizing every detail of her body.

He glanced down the hall and at the curve behind it, knowing full well that it opened onto an empty room that was nothing but dusty boxes and documents yellowed with age. If there was one thing Alfea could keep, it was papers from the beginnings of all realms and dimensions.

"What were you doing there?" he asked, pointing behind her.

"Does it matter?" He shot back defensively.

"Considering you spiked your punch with vodka, I'd say that's enough for Dowling to put you in detention for a week," he teased. "Perhaps an expulsion?"

Viperine crossed her arms, the act inadvertently causing Riven's traitorous eyes to stare at the cleavage of her clothing. She grinned evilly as she watched him swallow hard as he was caught. He shouldn't be afraid of that fairy, not when she was considerably smaller than he was. Even so, something about Viperine's aura scared him deeply.

She took a step forward, trying to intimidate him. Riven inadvertently took a step back, creating an opening for her to move closer to him until he was deathly staring at each other with little space separating them.

"I thought finding the pastor's corpse was thrill enough for you for a day, Riven," she hissed mischievously. "Do you want more than that?"

Low blow. Viperine knew that, behind the bad boy image, Riven was still like a frightened child watching a horror movie, and witnessing that scene had had the same effect.

Unfortunately, Viperine witnessed the moment his body jerked in fear.She chuckled lightly, pleased with the result her words had brought him.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," she finally sighed.

Riven wished he hadn't looked shaken; wished he'd had the chance to ask what she was talking about—what did Viperine mean by "more than that"? He didn't even have a chance to react; Viperine was already moving away from him towards the party that was still taking place in the courtyard.

Viperine considered scaring him some more, but she needed to get away from what would soon be a crime scene—her first victim of Alfea. While she mixes between the experts and faeries, she can't face the woman who, in part, should be one of the only women who scared her. It wasn't like she could run away; with just one look, she knew that Verena instantly suspected what she'd done.

Meanwhile, still in the dark hallway, Riven quenched her curiosity as to what Viperine was doing in Alfea's unused room. However, each step he took echoed through space, as if it were exactly a movie scene where he would, in moments, find another corpse.

But he hardly knew if it could be considered a corpse. It was a person, for sure, or at least its form. The hardened body seemed frozen, inert against the stone that petrified it. The prospective student had his mouth open, as if he had died screaming for help. Oh, dammit! He'd found two bodies in one day.

Riven lost fire, a scream rising from his throat as he ran out of that shadowy hallway, leaving his petrified body behind. No, he wasn't emotionally prepared for that either.

As he ran as if his life depended on it, he was held back by thin, strong arms that held him in place, bearing the jolt their bodies suffered as they collided. His breathing was erratic, his heartbeat too fast. The person was hugging his trembling body, and something in that act caused him to suddenly calm down.

"Please tell me you didn't find another body but two people having sex," the woman pleaded. Verena.

"How do you know?" Riven asked nervously.

She raised an eyebrow, frowning.

"Is it because it looked like you were running from a ghost?" she suggested, expressionless.

Then she pulled him by the arm towards the corridor he was running from. Riven tried to pull free, but Verena tightened her grip, preventing him from pulling away.

Riven struggled, closing her eyes as she refused to face the petrified body at the end of the hall. Soon, Verena approached the student, realizing that she was a fairy. She sighed, placing her hands on her hips. She shook her head, thinking how unbelievable that was.

"It's the first day of school and you've already earned detention," she complained. "And in less than twenty-four hours you managed to find two bodies. Is it your lucky day?

But Riven didn't even have time to think of an answer, Silva was already approaching the two. When she was close enough, he noticed the petrified student, his eyes widening in an instant. He tried to say something, but Verena was quicker:

"Tell the others," she said sternly. "I take care of the students."

As if she, too, had run away, she once again grabbed Riven by the arm, pulling him away—he couldn't help but be relieved by that. In the courtyard, where the party was supposed to be taking place, all the students were silent, as if waiting to know exactly what happened after Riven's scream and fuss.

"I don't want any of you walking around the school until tomorrow morning," Verena ordered, her voice deep and authoritative. "All to the dorms. Now!"

Verena really didn't need to repeat it. All the students—fairies and experts alike—hurried to get out of there, not wanting to witness the fury that was contained in her eyes. Unfortunately, that fury was still destined for someone else who, in this situation, was almost innocent: Riven.

◈

VERENA only stopped dragging him when they reached one of the corridors near the specialists' dormitory. Riven's arm ached from her grip, but he wouldn't reveal it to her.

"First, you skip training." She came out of the barrier into the smoke. "And now it looks like you took a bath in alcohol," she enumerated, a mixture of tiredness and irritation.

"Why do you care?" he snapped, annoyed.

"Why yes!" Verena exclaimed. "What's happening with you? Talk to me."

Riven stared at her, tempted to open up and tell the truth, but the words stuck in her throat.

"Just leave me alone, will you?"

Without waiting for an answer, he tried to walk away. Riven bit back a grunt of pain as he was pulled back by the woman's hands.

"You were talking to me until last year," she said calmly. Was it pity in her eyes? "I'm trying to help you."

"I don't need your help," he said.

Verena took a deep breath, biting her lower lip and holding back. However, she wasn't really known for her patience and knowing how to listen quietly:

"If it weren't for me, I would have been expelled by now," she reminded him, Riven swallowing hard. "But if you really don't need my help, from now on you're on your own.

Verena left without looking back, walking with strong, rhythmic steps away from the specialist building. Leaving Riven behind, he wasted no time crossing the path to the room he shared with Sky. Deep in his chest, he felt bad for the rude words he'd said to Verena. He knew they were a lie, but he hoped she could have sensed it too.

He didn't know how long he stood there staring at the way Verena had gone, how many minutes had passed. Riven walked into the hallway, opened the bedroom door without a second thought, expecting to find Sky buried under piles of schoolbooks and wrinkled clothes. Never would Riven have been prepared to meet the meticulous blonde figure of his best friend's ex, never.

"What is she doing here?" he asked, not giving Sky a chance to say anything first.

"She has a name, Riven," Stella countered, rolling her eyes.

"It's impossible not to remember that, Stella, since you're so drunk," he complained, throwing up his hands. Had she cried? Soon after, he pointed at Sky. "Your mother figure is a bitch. This school sucks."

"What bug bit you, huh, Riven?" Sky asked, frowning.

"I don't know," she replied wryly. "Maybe it was just that I was the one to find two dead bodies today."

"Did you find another body?" exclaimed his best friend in disbelief. "Is that why that little scream you gave?"

"Oh, fuck you, Sky!

This was not a good day to test Riven's patience. He even liked the teasing they did with each other, but it wasn't a good time to be done with him. Finding those two bodies had been too much for him. After all, they were just people! They had a life; they were alive until recently... He should be better off facing something like this. Was he or was he not an expert?

It was late when he leaned against one of the pillars near the library, pulling a cigarette from the pack and lighting it, holding it with his fingertips. He took a drag, then let the smoke drift into the air.

Could that day get any worse? First, he found the pastor's corpse. Then he found another stoned body and even ended up with punch baptized on his clothes... It's all Viperine's fault. The girl who seemed to be able to test his patience that was already low.

All right, he had to admit that if it weren't for the stupidity and boringness, Viperine was pretty hot. He remembered well how soft her skin had been when they'd bumped into each other. Her full lips looked so inviting! She wasn't afraid of getting caught; she was more like him than she'd ever imagined. Viperine was like a Greek goddess—a monster—who was freed from...

A scream caught in Riven's throat. He was sure his heart stopped for a moment when he saw the shudder of the long reptile's body enter under one of the doors that led to the kitchen.

"Damn snake," he hissed, taking a deep breath as he tried to calm himself. "What the hell, Viperine? Only you are stupid enough to have a pet snake and still let it out of a cage."

In short, Riven couldn't sleep that night. And the only time he managed to close his eyes for a few minutes, his dreams were invaded by a larger version of Anakin eating him alive.

━━━━━━

9.13.22

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