Chapter 13

Musa was finally calm, all her crying leaving her exhausted and craving sleep

"Shes mistaken... Flora isn't pregnant." Nurse Ellison stood near the doorway looking at Riven and Musa, a confused expression on her face.

Riven, turned his attention back toward Musa, his hand brushing her tangled hair away from her face as he asked "Are you sure Musa? None of the other girls or Helia have said anything about this the whole time we've been back..."

"Yeah... im sure." Musa sighed, closing her eyes and tilting her face into his hand, on the precipice of falling asleep. "I was there when she found out... after we... defeated Tritanous... When we got... back... onluy I knew abouht... eh... nowahn elsse..." the last of her words trailing off into a slight snore.

"Musa? Hey Musa! wake up! why wouldn't she tell anyone?" Riven was gently shaking Musa to try and wake her up but Nurse Ellison stopped him.

"Oh just let her sleep! poor thing needs to get as much sleep as she can. We'll ask her more about it when she wakes up. Now if you don't mind I need you to leave for now. I have to change the bandages on her back and chest. Those are the only wounds left that haven't fully healed."

Riven grabbed a hold of Musa's hand and glared at the Nurse. "Well I'm not leaving"

The Nurse glared at him for a few seconds and then, realizing it was a losing battle, rolled her eyes and groaned. "Fine you giant child! if your determined to take up space the least you can do is help me."

"Fine. what do you need me to do?"

"I'm gonna change the ones on her back first so I need you to roll her over- without waking her up!"

"Shouldn't we put the tubs back in her arm first?"

Nurse Ellison just shrugged "I was gonna take them out anyways, Both she and Flora are pretty much healed. All of their wounds are closed up, were just maintaining care on them so they don't have a chance to get infected. We are going to keep the tubes in Flora though because their giving her nutrients until she wakes up; but since Musa is awake now we can take her off of those."

"Alright" Riven said and grabbed Musa's shoulder to turn her over, gently and slowly, so as not to wake her. After Nurse Ellison helped by pushing Musa's hips, so she was now laying flat on her stomach, she readjusted the sheet to cover Musa properly but made sure to keep her bare back exposed to the air. Riven sat down on the edge of her bed and grabbed hold of Musa's hand again, starring at her face as the Nurse peeled back the bandages.

"Oh! Very good! These healed nicely!" She said as she wiped the puckered pink skin with a cotton swab soaked in alcohol. Riven turned from Musa's worn out face to look at her back, now adorned with two matching pink star-burst designs right between her spine and each shoulder blade. Forgetting he had an audience, Riven, with his free hand, lightly stroked Musa's back. A crease soon appeared in between his brows, as his fingers brushed over the new additions to his Musa's body.

"I'm sorry. Some of the redness may go down but the scars are permanent." The Nurse whispered, noticing Riven's expression as she removed the bandages from Musa's free hand.

In response Riven stopped touching Musa's scars but offered no verbal reply. Fearing what he could be thinking the nurse changed her tone and said "I can give her some lotions to put on them that might make them less noticeable though... "

"Stop. Just stop." Riven said with anger creeping into his voice. "She almost died and you think I care about a few scars?!"

Nurse Ellison was startled by his tone and apologized quickly and said "You just looked really upset and I thought-"

"Well you thought wrong." Riven interrupted; forcing the conversation to an end.

A few seconds of awkward silence passed until Nurse Ellison stood up and said "Well I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you. Now, I finished the ones on her back and hands, all that's left are the ones on her chest. Go ahead and help me roll her back over."

Riven got up and did what he was asked to do in a swift and serious manner, not even pausing to blush as Musa's chest was briefly exposed before the Nurse fixed the sheet. Then he said to the Nurse "There. I have stuff I have to take care of so ill just come back later." and stormed out of the room.

"Sheesh, well your young man sure is interesting." she complained to a sleeping Musa as she crossed the room to page Nurse Gaither.

"Nurse Gaither? Our patient in room 2B is healing nicely, so nicely in fact that I'm sure we could send her home tomorrow morning! Go over to Alfea and fetch her a change of clothes and to tell Ms. Faragonda the good news!"

a buzz sound came on the intercom followed by a flighty male voice "Alright Astrid! will do!"

Nurse Ellison laughed and pressed the speaker button again "Were at work Quinn! don't be so informal!"

"Informal? This coming from the person dating our boss."

"Leave my relationship with Dr. Temple out of this Nurse Gaither!"

"Alright! Alright! Sheesh 'Nurse Ellison' I'm headed over to Alfea now, don't get your panties in a twist." and the intercom did a final click to signal the end of communication.

"You hear that sweetheart? Nurse Gaither Is getting you some clothes so you can go back home tomorrow!" the nurse said as she walked back over to Musa to clean the last of her bandages.

"God Dammit!" Riven yelled and slammed his fist into the wall in the outside hallway. "Im gonna fucking kill him." He hunched over trying to stop himself from shaking with rage. After a couple minuets Riven looked up to see Brandon and Roy running towards him.

"Riven! What is it?!" Roy yelled as they both came to a stop in front of Riven.

"Is Musa okay?" Brandon asked trying to go past Riven into Musa's room but he stopped him and said "Shes fine Brandon, she already fell back asleep."

"what... then what the hell is the matter with you?! don't scare us like that!" Brandon replied and sank into the wall to catch his breath.

Roy, who was leaning on the opposite wall, added "yeah man we were thinking the worst. all we saw was that nurse tell you something that caused you to go off running without even saying anything and then we see you hunched over in the freaking hallway outside Musa's room... man for a second there we... well I thought..."

Riven didn't let the silence hang for too long before saying "I know what you thought. It's fine. Musa's fine."

"Yeah but are you?" Brandon asked, looking toward Riven with a serious expression.

He was about to answer the question honestly but then he regained his composure and brushed it off with his usual bad attitude

"what? you want to have a heart to heart or something you fucking princess?"

"you know what, whatever man. deal with it yourself." Brandon angrily said to Riven as he picked himself off of the floor, making sure to bump his shoulder as he brushed past him and muttered 'what a dick'.

"Riven? Is Musa really okay?" Roy asked once Brandon had turned the corner.

"Yeah Roy she's fine. She was awake earlier... crying."

Roy laughed but then immediately checked himself after seeing Riven's glare. "Whoa! sorry! its just... you and tears? come on, whenever tears are involved you know you wig out."

"I don't 'wig out'"

"... alright Riven, of course you don't. that's why your out here NOT 'wigging out'"

"Its not because she was crying asshole!"

"So you admit your freaking out right now. Mind explaining why? Or are you gonna make fun of me like you did Brandon?"

"God your so irritating" Riven closed his eyes and leaned his head onto the wall. "Im pissed Roy. Musa's got all these scars now, all over her back and on her hands... and when I saw them I just; it just makes me want to kill that bastard slowly. I want him to suffer for what he did to Musa, all the others, and Flora; Jesus Roy when Helia finds out he's gonna want to be right there, helping me torture that sick bastard."

"Helia? Are we thinking of the same long haired pacifist here?"

"Who else in the god damn world is named Helia?! Yes that one! and he isn't a pacifist anymore."

"Yeah technically, hes a specialist, but Helia writes poetry and paints pictures of birds in his spare time; he aint about to go waterboarding anyone!"

"I bet you $20 but that after he talks to Musa hell be waterboarding's next biggest supporter." Riven said with a grim expression on his face.

"Seriously? its that bad?"

"Yeah Roy, Musa said that Flora was pregnant..."

Roy smiled "Whoa, I never thought that Helia would be the first of us to be a father, congrats to him though! wait... what does this have to do with king Mikahl?"

"I said WAS, Roy, not IS."

Riven watched as the pieces slowly clicked together in Roy's head, he could practically hear all the gears turning, until Roy's eyes grew like saucers and he exclaimed "Oh Fuck!"

"There ya go Roy! finally using that bleached head of yours!"

"Screw you Riven its naturally this color! But shit seriously? so on the mission she... so King Mikahl he...?"

Riven sighed and then started walking off to his room, with Roy following at his heels. "I don't know all the details. The Nurse didn't know anything about it and Musa fell asleep almost immediately after she told us. All we know for now, until either Flora or Musa wakes up, is that Flora has known she was pregnant since the night we defeated Tritanus."

"dude that was like 3 months ago!"

"I know man! I don't get why Flora wouldn't have said anything."

Roy said "I guess well just have to wait and ask her when she wakes up... Helia and the rest of them are supposed to be back tomorrow by the way."

"How do you know?"

"Dude where's your handheld? Saladine just forwarded us Timmy's transmission like 20 minuets ago."

Upon reaching the door to Riven's room, He said "It's in my room, dead. Ill check it before I go to sleep. Night man."

Riven turned to open his door but Roy stopped him and asked "wait... do you think we should tell Helia tomorrow?"

"We probably should wait until we know everything, Ill go see Musa in the morning and see if she can tell us anything more but until then I think we should keep this under wraps."

"yeah your right, and hey don't 'wig out' again when you see Musa tomorrow. Its only gonna make things worse."

"Yeah! Yeah! Now let me go to sleep will ya!" Riven mumbled and stepped into his room; hearing Roy give a quick "Night Mr. Grumpy Pants!" before he slammed the door on his face.