Chapter 407:Waking.

Chapter 407: 407:Waking.

Silver woke to someone knocking on his door. At least, he thought it was someone knocking on his door.

The sound came again several seconds later, louder this time, and his eyes opened just enough for him to stare blankly at a ceiling he didn’t recognize.

For one confused moment, the plain academy room made absolutely no sense to him. His mind expected stone, darkness and the distant sound of something moving through underground tunnels.

Instead there was morning light slipping through curtains, another bed across the room that hadn’t been occupied last night, his brown-and-green academy uniform hanging where he’d left it.

The knocking came again.

"Ruddington!"

He closed his eyes.

Whoever was outside could wait.

"Ruddington, if you’re awake, answer."

He remained completely still, his mind still not fully fathoming anything.

There was a brief silence, then the door opened. A male student he vaguely remembered seeing somewhere in the dormitory corridor last night leaned inside.

He looked toward the bed.

"You’re awake."

Silver kept his eyes closed. "You have no evidence supporting that accusation."

The student stared at him before speaking again.

"There’s a girl downstairs asking for you."

Silver’s eyes snapped opened.

White hair immediately came to mind.

He sat up, too quickly. A dull ache travelled along his side, and he froze for a second before slowly placing a hand against his ribs.

The pain wasn’t remotely comparable to yesterday. Most of the surface injuries had already closed. The cuts along his arms had become thin healing lines, the bruising around his shoulder and ribs had faded considerably, and even the injury on his leg had improved enough that walking normally was no longer difficult.

Between the recovery medicine, several hours of uninterrupted sleep and the physical resilience granted by his upgraded body, he’d recovered faster than an ordinary person should have.

That didn’t mean his body had forgotten what he’d done to it. The deeper aches remained.

Silver looked toward the student.

"How long has she been downstairs?"

"About ten minutes."

He reached for his phone before remembering he didn’t have one anymore.

He sighed.

"What time is it?"

"Six," the student told him.

He stared into space, then immediately threw the blanket aside.

The other student laughed.

"She said you’d still be asleep."

He stood carefully.

"Did she?"

"She also said I should knock again if you didn’t answer."

He glanced toward him.

"You seem unusually willing to follow orders from someone you don’t know."

The student shrugged. "Have you seen her?"

Silver paused.

Fair.

He looked toward his uniform.

"Tell her I’m coming."

"She told me not to accept that answer."

He slowly turned.

The student was visibly enjoying this now.

"She said, and I’m quoting exactly, ’Make sure he actually gets out of bed before you come back.’"

Silver stared at him.

The student smiled.

He sighed. "You can tell her I’m physically standing."

"I’ll tell her."

The door closed.

He looked around the room. He had slept far longer than intended.

After everything that happened yesterday, he’d thought entering an unfamiliar academy dormitory would make sleep difficult. Apparently surviving nearly a week underground had cured that problem.

He washed quickly, ran wet fingers through his hair and put on the academy uniform. The brown-and-green fabric still felt strange on him. He’d spent so long thinking of the Academy as a destination that actually wearing its uniform hadn’t fully settled in yet.

He looked at himself in the mirror.

Much better than yesterday.

A few faint bruises remained near his neck. There was a shallow healing line near his jaw and another on one hand. He could move his shoulder almost normally now.

He rolled it experimentally. It was still aching but functional.

He left.

The male dormitory was already busy. First-years and older students moved through the halls while announcements played quietly from speakers regarding morning schedules, orientation locations and training-area restrictions.

Silver descended the stairs.

He saw Ravenna before she saw him. She was standing near the entrance in her academy uniform arms folded and clearly impatient.

Silver stopped on the final few steps. For a moment, he simply looked at her, yesterday hadn’t been a dream, that was still a strangely reassuring thought.

Ravenna eventually noticed him and her expression changed immediately. The impatience disappeared as she walked toward him.

He smiled.

"Good morning."

She stopped directly in front of him and looked at his face, then his neck and arms. She touched the faint bruise near his jaw.

Silver allowed it.

"You look better."

"I feel better."

"How much better?"

"Enough that I don’t think you’re going to break me if you hug me today."

Ravenna’s eyes narrowed.

"That wasn’t funny."

"It wasn’t entirely a joke."

She moved her fingers carefully along his jaw. The remaining injury was almost gone.

He caught her wrist gently.

She looked at him.

"Most of the surface injuries healed overnight," he said. "The deeper ones still hurt, but nothing feels wrong. I slept well."

"You slept too well."

He raised an eyebrow.

"I nearly died several times last week. I think I’ve earned oversleeping once."

"You overslept by more than once."

"That’s not how oversleeping works."

"I came here twenty minutes ago."

His eyes widened.

"The guy said ten."

"Because I waited ten minutes before sending him upstairs."

He smiled.

"So you stood down here for ten minutes before deciding to wake me?"

"I thought you’d come down."

"I was asleep," he countered.

"I discovered that ,"she sarcastically answered.

He squeezed her wrist gently.

Ravenna was still touching his face. Neither seemed particularly interested in moving.

Students passed around them, one glanced over before shaking his head and continued onwards.

She noticed and lowered her hand but he didn’t release it.

"We should go," she said.

"We should."

But neither moved.

Ravenna looked at their hands, then back at him.

Silver stepped closer.

The change in her expression was immediate.

"Silver."

"What?"

"We’re standing in the dormitory entrance."

"I noticed."

"People are looking."

"Do you care?"

Ravenna glanced sideways.

Another student walked past.

She looked back at Silver.

"No," she said quietly with a smile on her lips.

That was enough.

Silver leaned in and kissed her. There was still something new about it.

Yesterday’s kisses had happened beneath the weight of relief, fear and everything neither of them had been able to say while Silver was missing. This morning there was no desperate reunion waiting behind it.

He was simply here and she was simply here. Apparently that was enough reason.

Ravenna’s hand moved to his chest, careful of the injuries she knew were beneath the uniform. Silver’s hand settled against her waist.

The kiss lasted longer than either intended. When they separated, Ravenna remained close enough that Silver could feel her breath.

"We’re going to be late."

He smiled.

"You came here to wake me."

"I did wake you."

"You’ve become very distracting since then."

Her cheeks colored slightly.

"Whose fault is that?"

He considered the question.

"Mmmh..."

Then kissed her again.

Ravenna made a quiet sound of protest that lasted approximately until she kissed him back.

This one was shorter.

Only because Ravenna eventually pressed her palm against his chest and pushed him away just enough to create distance.

"Breakfast."

He leaned closer but she pushed harder.

"Silver."

"I’m listening."

"No, you’re not."

"I heard breakfast."

"Then start walking."

"Tsk."

Silver finally released her.

Ravenna fixed his collar.

He looked down.

"I thought I fixed that."

"You didn’t."

"I was still waking up."

"You were still asleep when you walked downstairs."

"Probably."

She finished adjusting it.

He smiled which she noticed.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"You’re staring."

"I like seeing you."

Ravenna went quiet.

Silver’s smile softened.

After several days underground, there were still moments when he caught himself looking at her simply because he could.

Ravenna seemed to understand. Her fingers briefly tightened around his collar, then she leaned forward and kissed him once more, quick and soft.

When she pulled back, he raised an eyebrow.

"I thought we were late."

"We are."

"So that was irresponsible."

Ravenna turned toward the exit.

"I learned from you."

He laughed and followed her.

They ate breakfast together.

Ravenna made sure Silver ate considerably more than he planned to. He argued that she was treating him like he was still injured. She responded that he was still injured.

Silver pointed out that she wasn’t a doctor. Ravenna told him she didn’t need medical training to understand that someone who had spent nearly a week underground surviving on limited supplies needed actual food.

He lost that argument.

After breakfast, they followed the flow of first-year students toward the academy’s central district.

The morning passed through administrative procedures, identification verification and a short briefing for students who had entered through special admissions.

Silver learned that their direct admission status had exempted them from the two-day general entrance examination but not from the academy’s internal evaluations.

That evaluation would come later.

For now, orientation came first.

By the time Silver and Ravenna entered Main Orientation Hall One, hundreds of students were already seated.

They naturally found places together. Silver sat beside Ravenna.

She looked around the enormous hall.

"Do you think Antony passed?"

He leaned back.

"If he didn’t, we’ll never hear the end of it."

"That’s assuming they let him come complain."

"He’ll find a way."

She smiled.

"I received the automated message yesterday. He reached Day Two."

"Then he probably passed." 𝑓𝑟ℯℴ𝓂

"You sound confident."

Silver shrugged. "He’s annoying, but he’s capable."

Ravenna looked toward him.

"That’s almost affectionate."

"Don’t tell him."

The doors remained open as more first-years entered.

Silver watched casually, then Ravenna touched his arm.

"Silver."

He turned.