Only For A Moment // Fourth Wing x OC

Chapter Twenty Three - Charred and Dangerous

I wake with a jolt when the scent of something acrid fills my lungs. I smack away the hand holding the smelling salts up to my nose as I grumble. My eyes flutter open slowly feeling completely fuzzy, my head buzzing as Ridoc comes over to help me sit up slowly.

"Ryuu what the hell is happening...." I take in my surroundings before finishing my train of thought. "Why am I in a forest?" I reach out for him. I notice four second year riders from Second Squad, Flame Section also looking around in bewilderment.

"Welcome to RSC, the most idiotic course your war college has to offer." His chuff filling my mind. I spot two groups of eight infantry cadets in their blue uniforms. They all looked identical. The men had short cropped military buzz cuts and the women wore their hair slicked back in tight buns. Same dark blue uniforms, same boots....every single thing was identical to the next. The only difference between them were their name tags pinned above their hearts.

In the riders quadrant we are allowed to modify our uniforms and that we did. Violet chose to have slits down the front of her lightweight black top to give her direct access to the daggers sheathed in her armor at her ribs. Rhi on the other hand prefers a tunic with sheaths directly sewn in. Sawyer likes his sleeves short, weapons strapped to his upper arms, and Ridoc never took the time to see the uniform tailor, he just ripped his sleeves off. I on the other hand had my lightweight black top made into a forming fitting tank top because I feel like I'm suffocating in the hot heat of summer and I want as little clothing on body as possible. I prefer to wear thigh holsters for my daggers instead of keeping any sheathed inside my clothing like Rhi and Violet.

The forest floor is soft and muddy in patches, and the afternoon sun streams in between the branches at an angle.

"It's literally nothing but trees as far as I can see." I pout at Ryuu. This was not exactly what I had planned for my day.

"I think that's the whole point of being in a forest....there are trees." He retorts.

"If you are just going to be Sassy the whole time I'll just block you out." I snap.

"Go ahead, little bird. There are other things I can fill my time with instead of listening to you whine about the outdoors." I scoff at his words before shutting my mental shields down and blocking him out.

Professor Grady hands each rider a waterskin. "Sorry for the abrupt change of scenery. Hydrate."

We all uncork our skins and drink. The water is crisp and cold...but there's something else there, too. Pungent. Earthy. I close the skin, cringing at the aftertaste. Professor Grady really needs to take better care of his skins.

"You all right?" Ridoc asks checking me over.

"I'm fine, a bit fuzzy....what about you?"

"Feels like I drank too much and woke up in a random place with no context." He nudges my shoulder with his. "At least we are in this together."

"They took us in the stairwell?" I look over to see Sawyer rubbing his temples as Ridoc scratches at the tattoo on his neck.

"That's my last memory." Rhi nods in agreement, studying the squads next to and across from us.

"Anyone know where we are?" Sawyer asks the obviously more alert infantry squads. The cadets look over at us, but no one answers. Or speaks at all.

"I'm going to take that as a no," Ridoc drawls.

"Really....I wouldn't have guessed with the lack of speech." I cock a brow at him, he can't help the grin that breaks out over his face.

"Gods I've missed you" his strong arms wrap around my waist lifting my feet off the ground for a brief moment. My heart breaks slightly knowing how distant I've been with everyone....how I self isolated during the deep end of my grieving process not allowing anyone to come close enough.