The Empyrean | Fourth Wing |

Chapter 23

Violet POV

I get down from the table and sit next to Rhi who hugs me. I knw that no one knows but still that hurt. I almost gave my life for their cause. They didn't give me the chance to prouve myself. They just shut me out. Well, I am not letting them judge me by the book or more specifically my last name.

"Welcome to the rebellion" says Xaden as he comes down from the table obviously pissed but trained not to show it.

I stand up and walk to the table and climb
Violence? What are you doing?
Giving them a piece of my mind. They do not get to judge me because of my last name
Go get them, Violence. I am going to enjoy this
He smirks and sits next to a confused Garrick and shocked Bodhi. This is going to be interesting indeed.

"Hey... hey guys..." No one is listening to me. Well... there goes the little respect I hoped they had even if it makes competely makes no one apart from my friends know the truth. So to get their attention, I stomp my foot against the table until the room is quiet and they all look at me.

"Let's try this again. Hi, my name is Violet Sorrengail. Yes, that Sorrengail, my mother is... was General Lilith Sorrengail, my dad was a scribe and Fen Riorson's best friend Zephyr Priamos"

I can see that everyone is confused including my brother. Right, he didn't know. I never got the time to tell him. Ooops I hear my dad's name and best friend circulate around the room. Guess it means something to them after all.

"I have 2 siblings: Brennan and Mira Sorrengail, both graduates from Basgaith College as Riders: one is in this room and the other one, well... I will talk about that after."

Anyway, this story starts with two best friends Fen Riorson and my father...
I recount everything I know about: their childhood, the beginning of the rebellion, my birth, the plan to expose everyone when

"I am guessing we did everything and you just sat and told everyone what to do. After all your family doesn't really care about us" someone says
"We were helping every single one of us and yes even the Sorrengail siblings"
"Especially the Sorrengails, they were the last ones to arrive and leave" I hear Xaden say behind me Not helping, babe I tell him
Right sorry

"Anyway, back to the story." I tell them about plan to exposure, the vote, the willingness of their own parents because they believed our parents could save everyone, each part of the plan "...and finally my mother's job was to..."

"Order our parent's death and burn us. We know this goes... You can skip this part" says a rebel

"And that's where this story becomes important. No, my mother's job was to do everything and I mean sacrifice everything to make the kids weren't killed. That the next gerenations stayed alive and trained. That's how it was decided. The mothers would take of the future and the fathers the past and present. Of course all your parents knew and were given a choice. They chose to fight and believe that my mother would keep you alive"

"Yeah, not really, we got separated, beaten and forced to join a deathtrap. That's not safe" replies another rebel

"I never said safe. I said alive. Do we look dead to you? Because I for one am not dead. I have scars, traumas but I am alive. How about you? You realise that the moment your parents choose to be a part of the rebellion. They sacrified their and your safety. Do you understand? Do you all understand? If you want safety, then take a knife and plunge it in your heart. There is no safety not with our legacies"

"You mean your legacies? You little miss princess have safety compared to us"

"Did you know that my great uncle was a scribe or that my now dead aunt was a healer."
"No, what does that have to do with anything?" he laughs. What audacity
"No, my punishment or should I say our punishment. As for the 107 innocents, the children of the executed officers, they now carry what shall be known as the rebellion relic, transferred by the dragon who carried out the king's justice. And to show the mercy if out great king, they will all be conscripted into the prestigious Riders Quadrant at Basgiath, so they may prove their loyalty with their servie or with their death from the addendum 4.2, The Treaty of Aretia." I recite to him. Really? Still don't get it. "I didn't enter the Riders Quadrant by choice but because my mother decided that all Sorrengails become riders. Do you get it or do I have to spell it out for you. Xaden received 107 whips but you are 107 including him. He wouldn't have received a whip for himself. After all, he was in charge of each person represented by a whip. Can he really be in charge of himself. No, he was in charge of a 107 children excluding him."

"Something went wrong and our parents were punished and you were sent to Basgiath same as us because of your parents." Imogen answers surprised. "You are exactly like us. You weren't there by choice. The only difference is that your parents weren't executed nor do you have a relic"
"You are almost there, Imogen" says Xaden behind me "Look closely at Violet and find the similiarities between what you know about her and us. Relics are permanent, they are visible. Whatever you do to cut... them down"
I hear Imogen gasp "You do have a relic: your hair, your father was executed and your mother was especially hard and unfair to you. She would go hitting you if she had to. To us, it wouldn't do anything but because of your sickness, it have been agonising." She gets out of her seats, runs to me and tackles me to the ground
"I am soo sorry about everything bad I said about you. I take it all back"
I laugh as I hug back. "It's fine Genny..." She looks at me pausled. Right you don't remember. "Never mind that now..."

"Now that I jumped to the end, I can tell the end from where I was or what I am about do won't make sense" The rebel from earlier looks down and nods

"Perfect, now where was I? Right, my mother's job was to keep everyone alive..."
I finish telling everyone everything.

Tears fall on the floor as memories of my mother covered in blood in my arms two weeks ago, showing me the truth with the journals and the stone.

"Her final wish was for me to give you all your memories. Before you start panicking, I tried on Xaden and I and it works"
I step down from the table, Xaden catches and I lean on him while I chant the words for a second time today, freeing their memories.

When I finish chanting, everyone looks at me with somber eyes. It worked, they remember everything. Bodhi and Garrick both hug with a crushing force while Xaden steps back.
"Little sis is back" they say
"Yes, I am back. I am home. I have missed you soo much." I exhale happily
"Letty... letty.."
" I let the boys go and look for the person that called me. The next part happens fast, I feel someone body slam me, hold me, twist me and I fall on someone: my childhood bestfriend, practically my sister: Imogen
"Genny, I missed you sis"
" I missed you too, Letty"

She eventually lets me go, helps me stand up and gives me the most dangerous gift in Aretia: a DVD player. Bodhi does DJ and I dance with everyone celebrating the new and old friends: my family in general.

For one night, I actually felt free, happy and surronded like I used to. Something I have been craving for the past 6 years.