Chapter 1
What if Tris played it safe and chose Abnegation not Dauntless? Meet Sylvia. She was born and raised in Candor but she always knew she would pick Dauntless at the ceremony. However, she didn't know that a certain Dauntless leader would catch her eye.
A/N
I have read the books and seen the movie so this fanfic will be a mixture of both worlds. However it has been a while since I've read the books so forgive me if something feels weird or out of place. Leave a comment if I did get something wrong and I'll be happy to make changes.
Here's to a new adventure and I hope you guys enjoy!
For me, the moments leading up to my aptitude test were quite peaceful compared to some of the other student's. I was sure of my results so there so no reason to worry. Since I was a little girl I was always so adventurous; climbing and running. I knew it, my parents knew it, and even my friends knew it. I was going to choose Dauntless.
I was sitting at a table with my fellow Candor students. They were playfully arguing about the necessity for school. Some argued that it would be more beneficial to learn through real world experiences and apprenticeships. Others argued that school prepared you for the real-world experiences. That we were learning the basics before entering the real world. I had started to tune them out after they banned me from the conversation for asking why both points of the argument weren't valid. To me they both sounded logical.
Instead I occupied myself by people watching. I always found it interesting to watch people and see how they react or what their nervous ticks were. Like for instance, I had been watching this one Abnegation boy walk calmly in to the testing room, but when he exited, he looked extremely pale. I'm assuming he either didn't like his test results or they were something he didn't expect. Maybe he had gotten Dauntless. It has been while since someone from abnegation has chosen Dauntless.
"Sylvia!" I heard a voice call. I turned to see Peter walking towards me. He and I were always close. We lived next to each other so our parents had us paired since before we could walk. It was nice having a best friend for your whole life. Somehow, no matter what, Peter and I had stuck together through everything.
"Hey! Where have you been?" I ask as he reached me.
"I was confronting some stiffs about the food storage. I know they must be saving some for themselves. Their whole selflessness act is just that. An act." I rolled my eyes and we sat down.
"Peter, they couldn't be that selfish no more than my father could tell a lie."
He leaned in closer and hushed his voice. "Yeah but these reports I've been reading say that-"
"Those reports have zero proof. Unless you have the proof right in front of me, I won't believe you." I told him. This time his eyes were the ones to roll. "Now, are you worried about your test?"
He scoffed. "A little. I think I know what my results are going to be." It was hard to see past his tough exterior, but if you knew him like I did, it was easy to see the uncertainty behind his eyes.
"I know exactly which faction I'm going to get." I said confidently.
"I know you know! Everybody knows." Peter exclaimed. We laughed and then fell silent. The weight of this knowledge finally hitting us. Tears started to swell in my eyes. Peter put his hand on my shoulder. "Hey, this is something everybody must do. Just think. You'll be able to see them one more time after you go."
I blinked to dry up the tears and nodded my head. "Yeah I know. I just wish we didn't have to cut off all ties. What if you choose another faction? We'll never see each other again."
"I don't think that'll be a problem." He whispered.
"What!?" I whispered back. "What do you mean?!"
"I think I'll get Dauntless. I know you're technically not suppose to tell anybody, but that's what I think it'll be." My eyes bulged out of my head and a smile spread across my face.
"Really!?" I exclaimed and reached over to give him a hug.
"Sylvia Vernice!" I looked up to see a lady in Abnegation clothing looking around the room. If it was anybody else, they would've been annoyed. Instead she looked more worried than anything. Maybe she thought I had run away and was worried I had gotten hurt. It seems like something an Abnegation would think.
"Well," I said pulling back and standing up, "Time for me to go ace this test." I walked up to my tester and a look of relief washed over her face.
"There you are!" She exclaims. "Right in here dear. Go ahead and sit in the chair." She ushers me in to the room and goes to her spot next to the large chair. I take a quick glance at the bare room, but I still notice my reflection. Mirrors lined the walls and I look at myself in one of the reflections. I'm dressed in a long black skirt with a loose white top. My hair frazzles around the loose braid and a few strands spill out framing my face.
I walk over to the chair and lie back against the headrest. Something about the room feels unsettling, but the Abnegation woman smiles at me softly. She starts pulling at some cords and sticks a few electrodes over my forehead. She then connects one to her own and walks behind me to finish attaching all the wires. "Are you ready dear?" She asks softly. I nod my head yes and she hands me vile of clear liquid. I throw my head back and down the contents in one swig.
My eyes squeeze shut and when I open them again, I find myself in the cafeteria. Everybody is gone leaving behind empty tables. I notice two baskets sitting on top of a table and look to see what they are. One basket holds a long knife, while the basket holds a block of cheese. I instinctively reach out for the knife and grab it by the handle. It is heavy and shiny. When I look down on to the blade I see my eyes reflected back to me as the Mirrors did earlier.
I hear a set of doors open to reveal a large dog. It stalks closer to me and it growls deep. My body reacts to the threat and my muscles clench ready to jump. Then I hear the voice of a little girl, "Puppy!" She's holding out both of her arms and running to the dog. The dog turns on it's heel to bark at the girl.
"Hey!" I scream at the dog before it can lunge at the girl. The dogs averts his attention back to me and I stand ready with my knife. The dog growls again before jumping up at me and colliding with the knife I held out. I heard his flesh rip open and I closed my eyes in anticipation, waiting for the blood to splatter and the weight of his body collide with mine. After a few seconds I open my eyes to see that I'm now riding on a bus. A man sits a few seats down from reading a newspaper.
"Do you know this man?" he asks shakily pointing to a picture of a young man with a beard. The head line over his picture read "Brutal Murderer Finally Apprehended!" My throat constricts at the word murderer. I look at his picture again and feel like I do recognize him, but I don't know from where. I open my mouth to tell the man, but I start to get a bad feeling. I feel like it would be a bad idea to tell the man, like something bad would happen. My mouth snaps back shut and I pretend to ignore his question.
"I asked if you knew this man." The gentleman said again. I saw his fingers grip on to the paper tightly and I watched as the paper wrinkled.
"Uh, no. I don't know who that is." I say this time.
"If you're lying you'll be in trouble."
"I told you I don't know him." I insisted.
"You're lying! Just tell the truth!" He screamed in my face. I looked him square in the eye and held my ground. "You can save me! Tell me the truth and you can save me!" I turned away unable to look at him anymore; the guilt eating me up inside.
I jolted forward in my seat.
"Hey you're okay." The Abnegation woman said. I smiled and wiped the sweat off my forehead. "Your result was Dauntless. Congratulations."
A/N
So there's my first chapter. As I was writing I realized Peter's character is different than in the book or movie and that's because in those he didn't have Sylvia when he was growing up. Their relationship has changed some aspects of his personality. I'm not a Peter sympathizer but that's just how I wrote it. Plus his actor is in another movie I've seen and I can't help but put some remnants of that character into this one.
Please don't forget to review. It really does fuel my writing fire. I can't wait to see what you guys think of it.