I don't own Divergent or Eric.

Can I clear my conscience?
If I'm different from the rest,
Do I have to run and hide?
I never said that I want this,
This burden came to me,
And it's made its home inside
Monster – Imagine Dragons

Chapter One

Eric's day had started off as a normal Wednesday; a carbon copy of every other school day. He had woken up at the same time he always did, 6:30 a.m. He had taken a quick shower and dressed for school before making his way through the silent apartment to the kitchen. He had made himself a bowl of oatmeal and sat at the table alone to eat, just like every other morning this week. He had walked to the bus stop, boarding the bus that drove this route every day. He had taken a seat toward the back, which a middle aged Abnegation woman had happily given up. Leaning his head against the window he watched as the buildings flew by, the same ones that he saw every morning.

He made it to the Upper Levels building by 7:15 and he was in his usual seat in faction history by 7:30 when the first bell rang. The rest of his school day passed by exactly as it should have, until five minutes before his last class ended. He was already beginning to pack his books and homework into his blue messenger bag so that he could get out of the door as soon as they were dismissed, but he paused when he heard the PA system crackle, signifying that someone was about to make an announcement.

"Attention. The following students are to report to the cafeteria directly after the final bell: Lydia Adams, Lucas Barns, Michael Johnson, Frederick Lovelace, Eric Nelson, Cara Parker, Angelica Sanders, and Heather Williams. Once again, if your name was called please report to the cafeteria immediately following today's final bell."

Eric furrowed his brow in confusion, wondering if he had done something wrong to warrant being asked to stay late. He couldn't remember doing anything that would get him in trouble and his test scores had all been exceptionally high lately, so he couldn't see any reason that he would be asked to stay late. He thought for a moment that perhaps it was a meeting with all of the students who were in their final year of school, but this theory was quickly squashed as he thought of several other 15 year olds that he knew who would be choosing at the ceremony next May who hadn't been called.

When the bell rang he grabbed his bag and began the walk from his advanced math class to the cafeteria. When he arrived he was immediately ushered to a seat by an Erudite man whom he recognized as one of Jeanine Mathew's assistants.

There were four tables arranged in a semi-circle, each table having two places set with a cup of pens and two folders, a black folder that was thick with papers and a much more sparsely filled blue one. Eric was instructed to sit at the last place on the far left. Once he sat down he noticed that the folders were both labeled with his name and then the word 'score' followed by a blank space.

"We are taking a test?" Eric asked, reaching to open the black folder.

His hand had almost reached the folder when it was smacked away by the other man. "Wait until you are instructed to begin," The Erudite ordered, ignoring Eric's question. The man paused for a moment before holding out his hands, "I will also need you to give me your bag and anything else you may have on your person, especially any papers or calculators. You can have anything you turn into me back following the testing."

As Eric handed the man his bag, he opened his mouth to ask what the testing was for but he was interrupted when the cafeteria doors opened again and a blonde girl entered. "Name?" The man asked as he set Eric's bag on a far table.

"Cara, Cara Parker," The girl replied glancing around the room curiously, "Did I do something wrong?"

"No," The man replies simply before guiding Cara to the chair two spots to the right of Eric, curtly requesting that she turn over her bag and any learning related paraphernalia.

Once the man walked away, Cara leaned toward Eric, lowering her voice, "Do you have any idea why we are here?"

Eric simply shrugged his shoulders before pointing to the label on his folder, "Some sort of testing."

The doors open again and the man showed Lucas, Michael, and Heather to their respective seats before gathering their things. As Eric studied the other students spread out around the semi-circle it was obvious that they all had things in common. The five students who had already arrived all wore blue, Erudite children, and he knew that he took classes with most of them so they were most likely all roughly the same age. Beyond that, however, he couldn't see a connection between them.

Once the final three had arrived and were seated, the man walked the center of the semi-circle and cleared his throat, "Before you is a black folder containing an IQ test made up of roughly four hundred questions, you will have 90 minutes to complete the test, any unanswered questions at the end of this period will be counted as incorrect."

"IQ test?" One of the girls asked, her forehead scrunched up in confusion.

"Yes," The man replied, seaming annoyed, "Any information that is necessary for you to know will be provided by myself or my colleagues, therefore there is no need for you to ask questions." He pauses shooting the girl a look, "Especially redundant ones. Now, as soon as you have completed the black folder and you are satisfied with your answers, raise your hand and I will collect your folder."

One of the boys raises a hand to ask a question, but a stern look from their proctor causes him to lower his hand and hang his head. The older man shakes his head before continuing, "Once I have collected your IQ test, you may immediately begin the blue folder which contains a series of scenarios, choose the answer that best fits your reaction. This should take you twenty minutes or less, once the blue folder is complete I will collect it and you will move on to the final phase."

He turns, pulling a black stopwatch out of his pocket, "There will be absolutely no talking during the testing window. If I catch you so much as glancing at your neighbor's test your score will be docked twenty points. Do not bother trying to ask me any questions because I will not answer. You may begin," He clicks the button on the side of the watch with his thumb before looking back up at the young faces studying him, "Now."

It takes Eric a moment to absorb what has just happened, but as soon as it has he flips the black file open and pulls out the stack of papers. He reaches for a pen as he begins to read the first question, his mind still racing as he tries to focus on the math problem before him.

The soft tick-tock of the big clock on the far wall of the cafeteria and the almost indiscernible sound of ballpoint pens writing on paper are the only sounds in the quiet room. Occasionally one of the kids would take a deep breath or let out a perplexed sigh, but for the most part they were all too focused to make any noise.

Eric was on question 326 when he saw a hand shoot up out of the corner of his eye. He paused and watched silently as the man walked over and picked up the black folder from Lucas' station, briefly flicking through the pages to make sure that the questions were all answered before nodding to the boy.

Eric looked over his shoulder at the clock, it had been sixty-five minutes since they had been told to start. This filled him with both a sense of superiority and a sense of panic. He knew that rushing on a test led to avoidable mistakes, he was taking his time and making sure he was happy with each answer before he moved on. This wasn't a race, the point was to finish, not to finish first. Yet, at the same time he worried that he was taking too long. Was there something wrong with his brain if it was taking him this long to finish?

He shook it off, trying to ignore the others and when they finished as he continued answering questions. He finished with ten minutes left, quickly moving on to the blue folder once he had received a nod from Jeanine's assistant.

He scanned the first page of the second folder, his gaze landing on the first question:

If you knew that someone or something was threatening the stability of our social structure, what would you recommend be done?

He thought about it for a moment, finding it harder to concentrate now that the questions had nothing to do with knowledge that he already had in his brain. If someone was threatening the entire social structure, he finally concluded as he pulled his mind from the fog, that could lead to a total collapse of their way of life. Anarchy would ensue, without any sort of cooperation between the factions the city couldn't function. He took a deep breath, ticking the box next to 'The threat would need to be removed' before moving on to the next question.

He was so focused on the questions before him that when he finished the blue folder and looked up, he was surprised to find that the only ones left in the room were Cara, Frederick, Lydia, and himself. He raised his hand and once again the older Erudite came and retrieved his file. He motioned for Eric to stand before leading him to the hall where the aptitude test rooms were, instructing him to stand against the wall and wait until someone came for him.

Eric slumped against the wall as soon as he was left alone, his mind still abuzz with questions. Why had the eight of them been singled out? What was all of this testing for? His mind jumped around, forming numerous theories about what was going on, but none of them could explain all of the weird elements of his evening so far.

He was beginning to think that they were just leaving him to stand here until he went insane when the closest door opened. An older Erudite with a white lab coat over his blue shirt and slacks entered the hall first, hanging his stethoscope around his neck before motioning for the other occupant to leave. Lucas walked out slowly, looking even more confused than Eric felt.

"You are free to go home now Mr. Barnes," The Doctor advised, clearing his throat before adding, "Go back through the cafeteria and collect you possessions before you go."

Eric and the older man watched the still confused boy make his way back through the cafeteria door, glancing over his shoulder a couple of times as if he were trying to make sure that he had seen everything correctly. Eric was lost in his thoughts again when he heard the man speak once again. He glanced back at the man, who was clearly waiting for a response, "I'm sorry, I didn't –"

"Name?" The man demanded irritably, clearly fed up with dealing with confused teenagers.

Eric swallowed hard, caught somewhere between embarrassment and annoyance at the way that the doctor was speaking to him, "Eric Nelson."

The doctor nodded, motioning for Eric to enter the room that he and Lucas had exited moments earlier. Eric entered the room and the man shut the door behind them. The room was set up like a makeshift doctor's office, with what Eric assumed was the equipment for the aptitude tests pushed into the back left corner and covered by a white sheet.

"Step on the scale," The Doctor ordered, motioning to a scale near the door. Eric complied and the man made a note of his weight on a clipboard. Next the man motioned for him to sit on the exam table, requesting that he remove his over shirt. Once again Eric complied silently, hoping up onto the exam table before unbuttoning his shirt and folding it neatly next to him.

The doctor grabbed a blood pressure cuff from a small table set up nearby. Eric watched him for a moment before holding out his left arm so that the cuff could be wrapped around it. "What is all of this for?" He asked while the doctor noted his blood pressure on the chart.

"It is just a routine physical checkup," The man replied, obviously not going to give him a straight answer. He tucked the chart under his arm, pulling a portable pulse oximeter from his pocket and sticking it on Eric's finger. He waits for a moment until the machine makes a soft beep, writing the information on the chart before setting it back on the table. "Now say ah," He instructed as he turned back to face his patient.

Eric complied and the man produced a tongue depressor to hold his tongue out of the way while he used a pen light to look at his throat. He then instructed Eric to smile, briefly checking his teeth and gums, before feeling his throat for any swollen glands. Seeming satisfied, he grabs the otoscope from the table and checks Eric's ears and nose.

The exam continued mostly in silence, the doctor only occasionally speaking and when he did it was only to order Eric to do something or to ask him a question about his habits or bodily functions. He checked the younger Erudite's eyes and his reflexes, making notes on the chart after everything he did.

Finally, he produced a needle and a set of five vials. He grabbed an elastic band from the table and an alcohol wipe, grabbing Eric's right arm and studying the inside of his elbow for a vein.

"What do I need to have a blood test done for?" Eric asked, studying the needle resting on the exam table near his leg.

The doctor ignores his question once again, tying the elastic around his upper arm. "Make a fist," He instructs, poking the needle into his arm as soon as Eric complies. After attaching the first vial, he taps his foot impatiently as he waits for it to fill before moving on to fill the other vials.

As soon as he is done, the doctor puts a cotton ball over the puncture wound and wraps medical tape around Eric's arm. He places the vials into a plastic bag and notates the time, date, and Eric's name on the front before setting it in a container on the floor.

He makes a couple more notes on the clip board before glancing over his shoulder at Eric, "You may put your shirt back on now."

Eric complies once again and he is promptly shown to the door once he has finished. As he passes the older man he pauses, "Do I at least get to know what all of this was about now?"

The man shakes his head no before adding, "If you are the right fit for the position we will be contacting you again soon, if not you can just forget this ever happened."

"Right fit for what?" Eric asks, his brow scrunched into a tight line, "This was all to determine if we were suitable for some sort of position? A position within Erudite?" His mind was overwhelmed by so many questions, he was even more confused now than he had been before. Why would they be checking a bunch of kids who hadn't chosen yet for aptitude for a position within Erudite? For all they knew all eight of them could defect next May, unless they knew something about his brain that he didn't.

The doctor studied him for a few more moments before motioning toward the cafeteria door, "You may go now Mr. Nelson."

It was obvious that he wasn't going to get any answers from this man, so Eric turned and made his way back into the large dining room of the Upper Levels building. The room was still as silent as it had been when he left, but the only person inside of it was the man who had overseen their IQ test.

When Eric entered he glanced up from the black folder that he seemed to be grading, "You may take your bag and go now."

Eric crossed the room and picked up his bag before turning back to the man, "The doctor mentioned something about being suitable for a position, what did he mean by that?"

He didn't know why he had expected a straight answer from this man when he hadn't received any from him before, but he hoped that maybe now that it was over he might. The man looked up again, laying his pen down gently next to the stack of papers, "That is not something that is necessary for you to know, unless you are determined to be the best candidate." He pauses, glancing at the clock on the wall, "I suggest you run along, it's getting late."

Eric turned and left the room, walking slowly through the halls. He was nearly to the sidewalk in front of the building when he heard the sound of someone running after him. He paused, looking back over his shoulder to find the blonde girl from earlier catching up to him.

"Eric, right?" She asked between breaths once she reached him. He nodded and she continued, "I'm Cara. Did they tell you anything about what was going on in there?"

"Not really," He replied with a shrug, beginning to walk again but at a slower pace now that Cara was walking beside him. After a moment he took a deep breath and added, "I gathered from something the doctor who did my physical said that they were testing us to see who would be the best candidate for a position of some kind."

Cara thought this over for a moment, "The only positions that they would have any control over is one within Erudite. Why would they be looking at us as possible candidates when none of us have chosen yet?"

Eric shook his head, somewhat glad that this seemed to make as little sense to her as it did him, "I have no idea."

The pair walked in silence most of the way back to the Erudite sector, only occasionally making observations about the tests or to ask if something had happened the same way during the other person's exam. Finally they came to a stop in front of one of the apartment buildings that most Erudite lived in.

"This is my building," Cara said, motioning with her head toward the building behind her.

Eric nodded, "It was nice meeting you, I guess, even if it was under really weird circumstances."

Cara smiled, "Hopefully tomorrow will be less weird." With that she turned and started for her the door, glancing back over her shoulder just before she disappeared, "I'll see you around."

With that Eric turned and continued to walk the last two blocks to his building, the entire way imagining what possible positions they could have been testing to fill. By the time he made it up to his apartment he had managed to come to one conclusion; if they didn't choose him for this mystery position, he was going to drive himself insane wondering what it was.

A/N – What did you think? Let me know in a review if you have a moment. I should have another chapter up soon!