"That's the thing about pain; it demands to be felt."

Hello, hello, hello! So I started writing this story on a plane, of all places. I pulled the idea out of nowhere, and I think that it works. It's a weird concept, but I hope that whoever reads this enjoys it. Timeline-wise, this book is post-training. As with my other Divergent FF, it's as if the end of Divergent, Insurgent, and Allegiant did not happen. Some characters from the aforementioned books might be brought in later, but I'm not sure yet. I'm also not sure about the lifespan of this story, so we are going to play it by ear. But if you do decide to read this story, just be patient and try to enjoy it.

Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent or anything of the sort. All copyrighted material belongs to Veronica Roth and her associated companies.


When they gathered all of the factions together and announced the law known as #15:43G, no one knew what to think. Of course, it's not like we were given much of a choice. The law took effect twenty-four hours later. Twenty-four hours. That was all we were given to say goodbye, to get ready for this new phase of our lives. I mean, as if the factions didn't make our society confusing as is. Now, we had law #15:43G. The law was originally proposed a few years back, but no one wanted to pass it until recently. It was Marcus Eaton who pushed our leaders to pass the law; he said that it was "Good for the factions," and "We would thank him later."

Yeah, and pigs can fly.

When Marcus Eaton announced the passing of law #15.43G, we all simply looked at each other. We did not comprehend what he said.

"The leaders of Abnegation have passed the law known as #15.43G. This law, made for the sole purpose of restoring the peace to our community, constitutes the following:

All factions shall be divided into smaller communities based on their needs. These communities will run as part of their original faction, but as their own as well.

The sub-factions will all have their own buildings within close distance to the faction headquarters. Members of the sub-factions MUST reside in their own sub-faction dwellings. The sites for these dwellings will be determined before the law takes effect.

The members of each sub-faction are NOT to congregate with other sub-factions. They are to stay with their own group, and not differ from where they are placed."

You could practically hear everyone's confusion. The implications of this new law were not realized until Marcus continued:

"In summation, our factions will be divided into smaller factions; this will minimize the risk of rebellion, as well make everyone easier to monitor. The purpose of appendix "C" is so that the people will remain peaceful; where there is contact, there is conflict."

As he closed his speech, everyone looked around in disbelief. This, I knew, was the feeling of everything coming to a close. Friends that we had known for years would probably never see our faces again. There was a very good chance that the majority of our friendships would cease to exist. I felt my chest start to tighten; what about Four? Christina? Will?

The only thing worse than the law itself was the date it would go into effect: exactly 24 hours later. Wordlessly, I started searching for Tobias. It didn't take long to find him in the crowd; the scowl on his face surely matched mine. I saw him start heading towards me, and I did the same. If we only had 24 hours left together, then I would be with him for every single second of those 24 hours. When we reached each other, he took me in his arms, and whispered in my ear.

"Do you want to go talk?" he asked me. I nodded; at this point, I couldn't form words. When we got back to the Dauntless Headquarters, there were rows of chairs lined up inside of the Pit. At the front of the chairs were all of the leaders, holding small screens.

"Attention, Dauntless!" One of the leaders yelled, "Can everyone please take a seat? We have some important information to give you before tomorrow." Well, there goes my relaxing afternoon with Tobias, I thought sadly. Noticing my obvious upset, Tobias wrapped his arm around my waist.

"Tris, it's going to be okay," he told me calmly, "Trust me, even if we don't end up in the same sub-faction, I will still find a way to see you, the law be damned." I nodded, and tried to smile at him. We found seats near the back, sitting with Christina, Will, Uriah, and Zeke. When I sat down next to Christina, and she immediately grabbed my hand.
"It's bullshit, isn't it?" she whispered.

"I don't think that 'bullshit' is a strong enough word for how messed up this is," I replied. Christina opened her mouth to reply, but was cut off by the whistling of one of our leaders. When we all became silent, one of the main leaders, a man named Kurt, stepped forward.

"Alright, Dauntless. I know that the announcement this morning came as a bit of a shock to all of you, and that you might have wanted to spend the rest of today with your loved ones, but that is not the case. We have to go through some formalities today, including which sub-faction you will be in and where you will now be staying. First, I want to give you a bit of a layout of how this will all work. First, there will be a total of four sub-factions in Dauntless. Our will be divided evenly, according to jobs. Each sub-faction will include an even mix of people from Security, Military, Leadership, and Et Cetera. Each headquarters will hold one hundred people, with enough adequate sleeping and living room for everyone. Your new headquarters will be a short distance from here, and your jobs will still take place here. There will be trains running from each headquarters to the main headquarters throughout the day, so that coming to and leaving from work should not be a problem. As stated in law 15.43G, communicating with your other sub-factions is strictly prohibited. However, you are allowed to communicate within your own sub-faction. Within the members of leadership at your headquarters, there will be a team of four people that will be in charge of that sub-faction. The main Dauntless Headquarters will not be off-limits; you are allowed to come and go as you please. Now, we will call off names, and when you hear your name you are to come up to us to receive your sub-faction and headquarters assignments. After that, you are free to go and spend the next 22 hours here as you please."

"Well, at least we're not staying in a building with other factions…at least we already know each other," Christina said to me. I nodded.

"I just hope that we aren't all separated," I replied. By now, they had started calling off names. The six of us all sat still, waiting for our fate to be decided. This was very different from the aptitude test and choosing ceremony. It was worse, in fact. I decided that I would rather choose my own fate than have it chosen for me.

"Christina Wright," one of the leaders called. I heard Christina gasp a little, and I squeezed her hand.

"It'll be alright, Chris," I said soothingly. She nodded forcefully and stood up, walking to the front of the room. I watched them hand her a slip of paper, and say something to her. She nodded and walked away, towards our rooms. I waited as Zeke, Uriah, and Will were called, watching them get their results.

"Tris Prior," Kurt called. Tobias reached over and kissed me on the cheek, whispering 'Good Luck' as I walked away. When I reached Kurt, he handed me a piece of paper.

"Here you go, Tris. You're in sub-faction D-2A, under category B: Security. Meet here tomorrow morning, according to your assignment. And good luck."

"Thank you," I replied, out of politeness; I was not thankful. I didn't appreciate this change and what it would do to the people that I now considered my family. As I walked up to mine and Tobias's apartment, I looked back to see Tobias walking up to the leaders. I closed my eyes and hoped and wished that he would be in my sub-faction. I don't know if I could stand to be separated from him at this point. First my family, then my brother…if I lost Tobias, I don't know what I would do.