to the waters and the wild;
❛ BRINGER OF DEATH ❜ ↷ fate
❝ if I end up killing someone in my sleep, it's on you ❞

▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

Headmistress Dowling's office was an all too familiar place for Sabrina. She spent more time in it last year than she could count. And eventually, after many nights of going there after a particularly messy nightmare, when Dowling would make her feel better by playing therapist or isolating her in a corner of the office after she didn't get any sleep for multiple nights in a row, the office kind of became a safe space for her. And Dowling became like a mother figure to her.

That was why she was so surprised when she called her into the office to tell her she and Rain would be moving into a dorm with Stella and four other first years. She was completely and utterly confused.

"What if something happens?" Sabrina asked her headmistress slash mentor with narrowed eyes, "What if I set my room on fire again? Or what if I harm someone? Or, harm myself?"

Dowling let out a soft sigh and opened the drawer of her desk, pulling something out and putting it on the desk, "With this, your nightmares will stop for a while. At least until I can finally find a permanent solution to everything happening to you."

Sabrina squinted at the metal box, her confusion only grew when she opened it to find nothing inside. She gave the older woman a deadpan look, "It's a box."

"Yes." she nodded, "A box that will suck in all the negative energy and keep you from subconsciously observing it. It's something I made over the summer and it should work unless the negative energy gets too strong."

The dark-haired girl stared at her with her mouth hung open. It's not that she didn't trust her. She did. Who she didn't trust was herself and her powers. But instead of arguing, she let out a scoff and got to her feet, "Fine. But if I end up killing someone in my sleep, that's on you."

Dowling nodded and Sabrina took it as her cue to leave, turning on her heel and making her way to the doors, only to stop when Dowling called after her.

"Yeah?"

The headmistress' posture was stiff and she almost looked hesitant as she asked the question, "Have you been having any . . . strange dreams while you were at home?"

Sabrina furrowed her eyebrows, "If by dreams you mean nightmares, then yeah. It's not like I haven't been getting them for years."

"What were they about?"

"I was in a room filled with fire." she admitted, swallowing and looking down at her hands, grimacing at the memory of the nightmare that had her almost choking in her dream, "And I heard screaming. A lot of it. I couldn't breathe. I felt like I was actually there and running out of oxygen."

Dowling tilted her head, a worried but curious glint in her eyes, "Who was screaming?"

"A woman." Sabrina sighed, "Or a girl. And I remember a shadow. Lurking behind the doorway." she cleared her throat and crossed her arms over her chest, "But that's all that I remember. Nothing too specific."

"Alright." Dowling nodded and let out a sigh, "Let me know if it happens again. Or anything similar to that."

"Will do, Miss. D."

-

There was nothing that could explain the amount of annoyance Sabrina was feeling the moment she stepped into her new dorm.

Everything was light and it made her want to fill the room with as many shadows as possible. The only thing that really mirrored her and Rain's previous dorm was the number of flowers filling every single visible corner of it. Sabrina scrunched up her nose and crossed her arms in annoyance, hearing Tecna let out an amused chuckle next to her. Her best friend threw an assuring arm around her.

"Don't worry, we will get used to it."

The two of them walked further into the room, dragging their suitcases behind them. When they walked into the common room, it looked just like the rest of the dorm, bright and green. But most importantly, Stella was inside, talking to a fairy Sabrina only faintly recognized. She saw her around the halls last year but she didn't think that she was in any of her classes.

The shadow fairy made a point of clearing her throat, snapping the two out of their silent (one-sided) argument. Stella's eyes widened in recognition and then she looked a little speechless which was a surprise considering that Sabrina knew her well enough to know she was never speechless. She was not sure if it was because she was confused about them being in the same dorm as she was or because she didn't know how to approach her best friends after what went down at the beginning of summer break at the goodbye party.

Sabrina wasn't sure about Tecna, but she wasn't that mad at Stella. They have been friends for far too long to just fall out now. She could not really blame Stella for letting her anger get the best of her which caused her to lose control of her powers because she was no stranger to the feeling.

So, instead of mirroring Tecna's scowl, she gave Stella a small ( almost shy ) smile and let go of her suitcases before opening her arms, "Hey, Stel."

She could practically feel the relief rolling off of the blonde as she walked up to her and wrapped her hands around her waist to hug her.

"Hi." Stella sighed into her hair, letting out a sigh of contentment and almost melting into the hug.

When they pulled away, Tecna had her stare dead-set on Stella and the two of them had a silent stare-off, with Sabrina awkwardly standing in the middle of them. She could literally see the wheels turning in Tecna's head before she let out a defeated sigh and copied the way Sabrina opened her arms for a hug earlier.

"Come here."

Stella's face immediately brightened as she pulled her into a hug. Sabrina watched the two with a small smile on her face, just happy that they were at least close to fixing their friendship.

For now, the first day didn't suck like she thought it would.

-

The first day in Alfea for the fairies was pretty easy, only filled with unpacking and settling into their dorms but the specialists had to get their first training of the year done an hour after lunch.

While Tecna went on a walk around the school and Stella was preparing for the orientation party, Sabrina walked along the specialist training grounds but eventually ended up walking along the border of the barrier that divided the school from the forest. And by that, protected them from the Burned Ones.

Those creatures were Sabrina's worst nightmare. They were also the main stars of her nightmares whenever she wasn't in the right state of mind and there were not anyone else's fears she could pick up on.

They were also the things that got her father killed, so she had no idea what tempted her to walk through the barrier without a second thought. She just knew there was something that pulled her towards the forest. She doubted it was fear. There was no one that was insane or bored enough to be walking around the forest right now.

Well, except fort her.

Or that was what Sabrina thought until she was two minutes into her walk and heard rustling behind her that made her stop dead in her tracks.

Her entire body immediately tensed and her footsteps slowed down as she tried to focus on any negative energy around her but she couldn't pick up on anything. Instead, the second she opened her eyes again, someone jumped toward her.

"Boo!"

Sabrina snapped her head around, staring at an amused Riven with wide eyes while he just laughed like scaring her was the funniest thing in the entire universe. Newsflash; it wasn't.

"Are you done?" she raised an unimpressed eyebrow when he was still laughing a few moments later.

Riven cleared his throat and gave her a curt nod, although there was still a ghost of a smile visible on his face and amusement dancing in his eyes, "Yeah." he let out a dramatic sigh, "I came here to get high after Silva made us train for three hours on our first day, but I can easily say that seeing you here, alone, has made my day so much more enjoyable, love."

"Don't you have anyone else you can torture?" she asked him with narrowed eyes.

Instead of taking the hint that she wanted to avoid the topic of this summer at all costs, he kept talking. You know, like he always did.

"I think you're exaggerating, love." he scoffed in amusement, "You didn't seem to mind my company this much a month ago."

Sabrina raised a challenging eyebrow, "You know what I really think? I think you're bored and in need of a hobby that doesn't include you getting high alone in the middle of the forest."

Before Riven had the chance to retort, loud growling was heard from somewhere near them and while he looked around in confusion, Sabrina's eyes widened in panic.

"We have to get out of here." she swallowed thickly, staring at the trees that were surrounding them, "Now."

She didn't wait to hear Riven's response, only grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the barrier. They were walking at a quick pace, neither of them muttering a word until Sabrina tripped over something and fell down on the ground.

The fairy let out a groan and looked behind her, her eyes widening in horror at the sight of one of the school janitors laying on the ground, clearly dead.

"Fuck." Riven cursed, not looking away from the dead body as he offered his hand for Sabrina to take and get up, which she did without a second thought.

"We have to get Dowling or Silva." she stated, clinging onto Riven's shirt for dear life, her eyes glued solemnly to the ground, "Or both. Both is better. Let's go."

-

When Sabrina entered her quiet dorm with Riven hot on her heels, she headed straight toward the room she and Tecna shared. She assumed that all of her roommates were at the party so she didn't worry about letting their fear mix with her own.

She couldn't give a flying fuck about the fact that Riven wasn't allowed to be in their dorm and didn't even have the energy to tell him to piss off when he insisted on following her back here after they told Dowling what they saw.

"Fuck." Sabrina hissed under her breath when she felt her fingertips tingle and her blood boil. She brushed past a confused Riven to make her way to the bathroom and immediately started washing her hands, trying to calm down the burning sensation flooding through her veins, "Fuck, fuck, fuck. Not again."

Riven didn't hesitate to follow her, watching her with worry and confusion from the doorway. He took a hesitant step towards her, not because he was scared of her but because he was scared something he did could trigger her powers and make her more in pain.

"You alright, love?" he asked, brushing her hair away from her face and narrowing his eyes at her scrunched-up face. When she didn't respond, he tried again, "Sabrina?"

His words seemed to snap her out of it and her eyes flew open the second the burning sensation was gone. She let out a sigh of relief and gave Riven a curt nod, "I'm fine. Was there ── was there anyone else here when we came in? Because I had this bad feeling that something was happening or someone was losing control. I don't even ── "

Riven cut her off by cupping her cheek and stroking it softly, "You're rambling, sweetheart. Calm down. Breathe for me, okay?"

Sabrina didn't think twice before doing what he told her, following his instructions every time he told her to breathe. Eventually, she was completely calm and sighed before asking again, "Do you know who was in here with us?"

The specialist furrowed his eyebrows for a second and then said, "I think I saw the ginger chick that Sky was flirting with this morning in one of the rooms when we came in and I think she's gone now."

"Bloom?" Sabrina stated with furrowed eyebrows, not realizing how the small redhead could radiate that much negative energy at once.

Hell, she didn't even know if it was her negative energy that caused it because it didn't feel like anything she has ever felt before. Well, the only thing that came close to it were her nightmares about her being in the room full of fire.

Riven shrugged and nodded, "Yeah, I guess. I don't know her name." he furrowed his eyebrows, "Are you sure you're alright? You want me to get Brandon or Rain in here?" he hesitated and titled his head, "Or maybe I could help?"

Sabrina sighed softly, "I wish you could." she shook her head, "I think I should get ready for the party. I'm already late and Stella is gonna murder me if I don't come for at least an hour."

"You want to go to the party after you almost had a nervous breakdown because of your new roommate?" Riven asked her in disbelief, his words causing her to roll her eyes.

"You're acting like it's the first time. Now you can either leave or wait for me to get changed. I'm going either way."

He squinted at her, almost as if he was trying to figure out if she was serious or not. A moment later, his shoulders fell and he let out a sigh of defeat. "Fine. I'll wait."

-

Sabrina put on a skirt that matched with the shirt she bought when she went back to school shopping and then made her way toward the party.

When they walked into the room full of witches and specialists, Sabrina's eyes immediately fell on Tecna talking to three freshmen that they were sharing a room with. If she remembered correctly, their names were Aisha, Musa, and Terra.

Then, her eyes fell onto Sky talking to a familiar redhead while Stella glared at them from across the room. 𝘎𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵.

"Fuck." Sabrina muttered and looked up at Riven, "I have to take care of this mess before Sky makes things worse."

Riven didn't seem fazed. He knew someone had to keep Stella and Sky from getting stuck in another love triangle. So, he nodded with a smirk on his face and said, "Okay, find me later. I'm not going anywhere."

She gave him a small smile back, happy that at least something felt familiar this year. She took a deep breath before she quickly walked over to Stella in an attempt to distract her.

"Hey, Stel." She gave her a beaming grin, "Are you having fun? It's a great party."

"No. I'm not having fun." the blonde shocked her by blurting out, "Sky showed up here with another girl and does not even care that I'm standing right here. Did he even think about what others will say? This is embarrassing."

Stella said the same thing about Roxy too. Even though it was nothing like this situation. Roxy was Stella's roommate last year and the entire group eventually started hanging out with her. Sky and Roxy were the ones that got 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 close, but it was obviously platonic and Stella was not even jealous. Until it wasn't just platonic. Sabrina saw the way Sky's eyes would light up when Roxy would step into the room and he saw that he started pulling away from Stella.

A week after Stella and Sky broke up for the tenth time that semester, he and Roxy got a little too drunk and made out just as Stella walked into her and Roxy's dorm. That ended badly.

"I'm going to talk to him." Stella said confidently, all distress gone from her voice.

Sabrina's eyebrows shot up in surprise, "Are you sure that that is a good idea?"

History was already repeating itself and she did not want Stella to lose her temper when there was no actual reason for her to be angry.

Stella scoffed and gave her a ❪ fake ❫ smile. "I'm a princess, Sabrina. I'm not going to make a scene."

𝘚𝘶𝘳𝘦.

Despite knowing better, she silently watched her pick up a glass of orange juice and walk up to Sky and Bloom. She knew that Stella was not going to cause a huge scene in front of so many people but she still decided to keep her eyes on them until Sky eventually stormed out of the room.

-

Everyone that Sabrina knew left so she started searching for Riven. Just as she was about to give up, thinking he went to his room, she bumped into him.

"There you are." she sighed in relief but her face fell when she saw the red lines around his neck, "What the hell happened to you?"

"Your psycho roommate just tried to choke me!" he exclaimed with wide eyes.

Sabrina blinked. "Stella?"

"No." Riven shook his head. "Terra. The freaky earth fairy."

"What did you say to her?" the words that flew out of her mouth made him give her an offended look. But she knew better. Terra seemed like a sweet girl. And Riven? Riven was an asshole.

He raised his hands in offense, "I just made a joke. She took it way too personally."

"You're such an asshole." Sabrina scoffed with a look of disgust on her face.

Riven gave her a lazy grin that was accompanied by a hopeful grin in his eyes. He offered her a hand and said, "An asshole that has whiskey and weed. And an asshole who likes you enough to share."

She glared at him for a couple of seconds before she rolled her eyes and accepted his hand. "You are lucky that weed makes me fall asleep easier."