Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent, but I own Irene Alcarez and Alec Eiken

I am Dauntless. I don't fear. I don't cower. I don't turn back. Those are the four choices I made. The choices that changed me forever.

My name is Irene Alcarez of Dauntless, otherwise known as X for only five fears. I'm eighteen years old. I was born into Candor, but to the results of my aptitude test, I chose Dauntless. My family had been Candor for quite some time and most didn't understand my desire to be free to myself.

I was one of the top intiates when I went. And I had fun with it. I got a tattoo (sabretooth, right shoulder), double ear piercings (worked out well), and cut my hair super short (hey, it doesn't bug me much anymore! But now it grew long, so I gave it a diagonal length and a blonde streak). I got some muscle and shook the Candor out of me. Almost.

Today is the day where new initiates come to Dauntless. As usual, I'm excited to see who will pass and who wont. I knew that right now, the ones who are brave enough to jump onto the moving train will pass the first step, which was jump off the roof into the safety net.

My fellow trainers, Lauren, Four, and Alec stood next to me. Well, actually, Four is Tobias, but he had only four fears. Hence the name. He was from Abnegation, and his father is Marcus Eaton, Abnegation leader. He doesn't like talking about it. We were waiting at the hole in the ground with a net in the bottom. It was for the Dauntless initiates. They were to jump from the building roof and into the net. Of course they wouldn't know the net was there. You had to know there are situations where you don't know what to expect, which is always the case in Dauntless.

"Have you heard?" Alec asks me. He leans over so only I could hear him. "There's a Stiff with the transfers."

I looked upward at the top of the building where I'm sure Eric was already scaring half the new transfers away to the factionless. Eric had been a transfer from Erudite in the same year as Alec, Tobias, and myself. "We'll see if she survives." I say.

I suddenly a saw a figure plummeting down to the net. It was too much of a blur to distinguish any color on the clothes. All I saw was that the first jumper was a girl. I myself had been the first jumper when i was an initiate.

When she stopped bouncing off the net, I got a closer look. She had blonde hair coming loose from a bun and wore Abnegation gray. The Stiff had jumped first.

Tobias helps her onto to steady ground. "What's your name?"

"Bea-" the girl began, but stopped. I suspected she was unsure if she should keep her Abnegation name.

"Is it a hard one?" Tobias gave a small smile. "You only have one chance."

"Tris," she says confidently.

"First jumper, Tris!" Tobias calls to the other Dauntless. He looked at her and lowered his voice. "Welcome to Dauntless."

A screaming boy suddenly came falling onto the net. I smirked a bit and Alec went over to help him.

"Transfers stay with me and Four!" I called once all the brave Dauntless initiates had jumped. "Dauntless born go with Lauren and Alec!"

The initiates wearing all black followed Alec and Lauren, while the others gathered in front of Four and myself.

"I normally work with intelligence," Four said. "And she guards the gate, but we'll be working as your trainers."

"My name is X," I said, going with my nickname. "And this is Four."

One of the Candor initiates with short black hair and brown skin chuckled a bit. "Like the numbers."

Four glared at her. "What's your name initiate?"

"Christina."

"Well Christina, you'll learn to keep your mouth shut," Four said. In the background, I rolled my eyes. "Let's get on with this."

Four and I led them to their quarters, where they'd be sleeping for the rest of initiation.

"Boys and girls together?" asked an Amity girl named Lucy. She sounded uncertain, giving the boys uncomfortable glances.

I whistled, which Four didn't find helpful, seeing as he punched me in the shoulder. Then he smirked, "You'll love the bathroom." The so called bathroom was actually a bunch of toilet seats in plain sight.

Four and I gave the initiates time to change into Dauntless clothes. Four and I stepped out to give them one-time-only-privacy.

"So what are you going to do after training this group of initiates?" I asked in a low voice.

"I don't know if I'll stay or become factionless," Four answered. "Dauntless is all about being brave, but joining this faction was a cowardly move."

"Tobias-," I began, but I thought better and shut up. By now, I knew his whole backstory. He became a subject to his father's abuse after his mother, Evelyn, sadly passed on. As for his real name, he didn't mind me calling him that as long as it wasn't in public.

I fiddled with one of my gold hoop earrings, then I glanced around the corner and saw that the initiates were done changing and were burning their old clothes. "We should get going."

"This is the Pit," Four announced as we entered the heart of Dauntless.

The Abnegation transfer, Tris stared in awe. I walked up behind her. "Pretty cool, no?"

"So much better than Abnegation." she said.

During dinner, Four sat near the initiates, because reasons, so for old times sake, Alec and I joined him. We sat in silence as Tris, Christina, and two other initiates named Al and Will discussed their old factions.

"I don't want to hear about your old factions," Four suddenly interjected.

I rolled my eyes. "I should have seen this coming a mile away."

"Ditto," Alec agreed.

Four was facing Tris. "What makes you think you can talk to me?"

Tris laughed a little. "Must be because you're so approachable."

"Maybe it's because you're sitting right there," I pointed out. Tobias rolled his eyes.

Alec was restraining himself from laughing and snorted continuously. I pointed at Tris. "You. I like you."

Before anyone else could say anything, the Dauntless leaders began their amazingly flawless welcome speech.