Rebellion | A Fourth Wing Fanfiction

Chapter 1

An Excerpt from: Recovered Correspondence of Lieutenant Xaden Riorson to cadet Violet Sorrengail:

Garrick has always been my best friend - his father was my father's aide, which in a way, makes him my Dain, except trustworthy. After Liam, Bodhi was, and still is the closest thing I have to a brother, perpetually tagging along a step behind

— ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. —

You saw your brother cross the parapet when you were sixteen. He succeeded. Then a few months later he was dead.

You keep your head down as you join the line waiting to ascend the steps to the parapet, wedged in between two other hopefuls and their packs, which appear to be balanced evenly on either side. Shit, maybe yours is too full.

At least you remembered to put on some boots with traction this morning before you picked up your bag and left your house, perhaps for the last time. You just hope no one notices you're gone before you cross the parapet. Once you're a full-fledged cadet, surely your father will have no choice but to let you stay at Basgaith. Better yet if you survive until Threshing.

When you reach the entrance, you give your name to the cadet waiting - not your real last name, of course, wanting to stay anonymous for the time being.

"Y/n Gray." you say, still keeping your eyes down. The cadet doesn't bat an eyelid. The only royal name people tend to recognise is King Tauri, and the Crown Prince of Navarre, Halden Tauri, your older brother.

As you place one foot on the first step, you feel a sudden sense of dread as you take in the height of the staircase, which you notice has no railing. It would only take one slip up on the smooth stone to fall to your death before you even get close to the parapet. You can't imagine your father's reaction to the news that not only did his only daughter run away from home to join the same war college his son died at, but she herself died the same morning before even catching a glimpse of the first challenge.

"I wonder how many candidates have fallen off the edge of the steps and died before even reaching the parapet." a voice mirrors your thoughts, and a familiar one responds.

"Two last year," she says. "Well, three if you count the girl someone landed on."

Reluctantly, you spare a glance at the women in front of you, and whip your head back down almost instantly. Shit, one of them is Violet. What the hell is she doing here? She was supposed to join the scribe quadrant, despite her mother's protests that all her children should be dragon riders. But after Brennan, surely she would want to protect Violet from this life, not through her head first into it. Perhaps her family's honour is more important than her daughter's life, you wonder to yourself.

"How many steps are there?" The woman whose name I don't know asks Violet, who, of course, knows the answer.

"Two hundred and fifty." she replies robotically. Her head is full to the brim with history, information which would have made her an invaluable asset to the scribe quadrant.

"Not too bad," the other woman replies. "I'm Rhiannon Matthias, by the way."

"Violet Sorrengail." she replies, and you have to adjust your footing when Rhiannon stops abruptly in front of you on the staircase.

"Sorrengail as in...?"

"The General? The very same." Violet sighs.

Rhiannon's shoes begin tapping each stair again as you ascend. "So, did you volunteer for this?"

"More like volun-told." she replies, and you feel a stab of sympathy. This is basically a death sentence, and her mother just told her to what, have a go at it? Maybe she'll make it through? At least the rest of you had a choice.