An Innocent Trust Exercise

Riven didn't know what to do with this newfound information he had. For weeks now he had been pushing his feelings deep down, because he knew there was no way in hell what he wanted to happen would happen, but now... Now he actually, maybe, possibly, might just have a chance- Nope, no. He wasn't going to think about it. As much as he thought Musa was cool, and funny, and cute, and hot, and- No.

"For fuck's sake, I'm going mad," he murmured to himself, shaking his head. Musa was single now, but he refused to dwell on it. She was still a Mind Fairy at the end of the day. Besides, he didn't even know how she felt about him. Riven was just going to keep his distance and treat her like his acquaintance, just like all the other girls in her little group.

With his mind made, Riven put on his training shoes and walked out of the locker room, ready to beat the shit out of someone.

But it turned out Silva had other plans for that day's training session. As soon as Riven got to the field, he was met with a crowd twice its usual size and half of it made up of fairies.

His eyes quickly found Musa. She was standing beside Bloom and looking just as confused as he felt. He turned his gaze to Dowling, standing next to Silva and with a large box in between them. Riven had a bad feeling about this.

"Good morning, students" Dowling said with a knowing smirk and Riven had the urge to just get the fuck out of there as soon as possible, "this week, Headmaster Silva and I decided to do something a little different."

Said man nodded, smiling to her and then shifting his eyes to the Fairies and Specialists in front of him, "as the recent battles showed, it is quite essential for Fairies and Specialists to work together to defeat most of the enemies we will encounter. You must trust each other, be an extension of each other. You must learn how the other behaves and thinks and how your abilities can work together. This is something that Headmistress Dowling and I believe you're lacking."

"That's why we came up with this exercise. For the next week a Fairy and a specialist will be paired up. You must not leave each other's sides. You'll share a room, classes and meals together in order to trust and learn from one another."

There was a general groan from the crowd of students but Riven knew it wasn't over yet. There was more. Silva and Dowling were sneaky and this couldn't possibly be it, no matter how bad it already sounded.

"But there's a catch."

There it was.

Silva opened the box next to him and took out a rope that was about a meter long.

"You'll be literally stuck with each other." Silva said and the crowd was silent. Completely silent. Everyone was too shocked to fully process what was happening and before they could Farah was already continuing to talk.

"Professor Harvey and I created this" She said, taking the rope from Silva's hands "It is a magical rope. It will select your partner for the week and then it won't let go until precisely a week from now. It works like a seatbelt of a car, the harder you resist, the more it will strain and pull the two of you together. The calmer and understanding of each other you are, the more it will slack. Questions?"

One of the Specialists raised his hand and Dowling nodded for him to talk.

"How do we change if the rope will be tied to our wrists? Are we supposed to wear the same clothes for the whole week?"

Silva bit down a chuckle. "It's a magical rope", the headmistress said, holding both ends of the rope and straightening it. Silva took his jacket off and then held it above the rope, letting go of it. Instead of the rope catching the jacket, the jacket simply passed through it, falling on the grass, "any other questions?"