A/N this is my first major divergent story. So happy to finally write an actual story for it. Tell me what you think! Takes place after she shuts off the simulation only she kills Jeannine and her parents and Will didn't die.
Disclaimer: everything belongs to the wonderful Veronica Roth
Tris pov
It's over.
It's all over.
Right after Jeanine shut down the simulation and deleted it, I use the knife that I threw into her hand to slit her throat. Her body drops to the floor, lifeless. I look around to see that all the people who tried to attack us are dead. It's hard to look at, but I force myself to.
I barely feel Tobias wrap his arms around me. He tells me we have to go but I'm shocked at what I've done. I've killed several people, and Abnegation is mostly dead.
Finally I snap out of my trance to realize Tobias is carrying me out of the room. "I heard from Dauntless,"he says,"as soon as ever realized what happened, they turned on Erudite. So we have a pretty safe path except for any missed traitors. But it's still a good idea to get out of here quickly. We're needed in the pit."
"I can run now, you can put me down..."
He does as I suggest and we make our way out of here as quick as we can. When we Marcus, Peter, my parents and Caleb, they fill us in on the rest of what happened while we were in there.
My mom holds me tightly in a bone crushing embrace. I'm not used to it. Abnegation don't hug. But I welcome it because I'm realizing that my mom honestly doesn't care if it's against abnegation rules.
"Everyone was angry, they over powered the Erudite and arrested the Dauntless leaders." Caleb explains.
"Where are they now?"
"Most stayed back, by the looks of it they're patrolling for traitors."
"Wait-all the leaders were arrested?"Tobias asks.
"Yeah, they were all traitors. One of them, um Max, I think it was, was killed too."
I look to see that he has a face that can say none other than he is deep in thought.
"We have to get back to the pit"he says.
"What about you?"I ask Caleb,"where will you go?"
"I'll go back to Erudite, with whoever is left. It seems they arrested most but not everyone was involved with this. Don't worry, sis." I let myself nod even though I don't agree.
"What happened to the Abnegation survivors?"
"I believe most fled to Amity." Marcus says,"which I should be heading to."
"I don't need your life story,"I say rudely,"I just wanted to know what happened to them."
"Now, Beatrice,"he says with a disapproving voice,"being rude when someone speaks is selfish."
"Talking about oneself is selfish, and I'm not Abnegation anymore."I retort. I see Caleb and my father give me a disapproving look they, if only they knew the true Marcus. The deceptive guy he really is.
I turn to my brother and give him a tight hug. "I'll see you as soon as I can. Be careful."
"What about you guys?"I turn to my parents and ask.
"We'll be heading to amity as well to collect what is left of Abnegation."He says. I nod and he smiles saying,"I'm so proud of you Beatrice."
"Thank you, dad."
"You,"I hear Tobias say to Peter,"are you coming back to Dauntless or do I need to take you to be arrested for betrayal of Dauntless?"
"I'm going to Dauntless, do you really think I want to be locked up in a cell, possibly executed?"He says in his snarky voice. I glare at him. I'd much rather have him locked up, but at least I got a good shot in. He still seems to be in a lot of pain from where I shot him.
"We must be going,"my dad says. I nod and give him a hug. He accepts it too. We follow them out to the tracks and watch as they hop on. I hope they're safe.
We make our way back to the pit to find everyone in there. I'm found by Tori, who brings us up to the front where usually Max and Eric are. "What happened?"She asks. I explain what happened to us and tell her about Jeanine even though I'm sure she knows the news. It seems everyone does.
She nods and then says,"we need to have Dauntless decide on a few leaders."
"Can you make that possible?"
"I'm a tattoo artist, so I know everyone, it shouldn't be too hard."
She turns to the crowd and yells,"OUR LEADERS BETRAYED US. IT IT TIME FOR US TO NOW DECIDE ON NEW LEADERS! I RECOMMEND FOUR AND TRIS BECAUSE THEY ARE THE ONES WHO STOPPED THE WAR."
The crowd goes wild with whoops and hoots nodding and yelling. "WHO ELSE?" She yells.
"YOU!"someone yells from the crowd and I notice the same reaction. "ANYONE ELSE?"She asks.
An older man with a blond ponytail named Harison is nominated and joins us at the front.
"SO IT'S SETTLED! DAUNTLESS, I WELCOME YOU YOUR NEW LEADERS!" The crowd explodes into cheers at our announcement. Then Tori says,"for our next task-it's time to decide the fate of our ex-leaders."
"Tris, Four, Harrison?"
"I think he should be executed."I say. The others nod in agreement. Tori motions to a few guards and we are met with them carrying Eric. He's placed inside of a circle made by Dauntless. He's are chained and placed on their knees.
"Dauntless has decided to execute you." Tori says.
"What are my charges? No- I want her to read them."He snears stopping Tori from speaking and looking at me. I don't know what game he's playing, or what the point of rattling, especially now, before his execution. He seems arrogant, but I notice that his fingers tremble when he moves them. Even Eric is afraid of death.
"Leave her out of this,"Tobias says.
"Why? Because you're doing her?" He smirks,"Oh that's right, stiffs don't do that sort of thing. They just tie each other's shoe and cut each other's hair."
Tobias's expression doesn't change. I think I understand:Eric doesn't really care about me. But he knows where to hit Tobias, and how hard. And one of the places to hit Tobias the hardest, is to hit me.
This is what I wanted most to avoid: for my raises and falls to be Tobias's raises and falls. That's why I can't let him step in and defend me now.
"I want her to list them,"Eric repeats.
I say as evenly as possible,
"You conspired with erudite. You are responsible for hundreds of deaths for abnegation." As I go on I can't keep my voice steady anymore; I start to spit the words out like venom. "You betrayed Dauntless. You are a ridiculous plaything of Jeanine Matthews."
His smile fades.
"Do I deserve to die?"
Tobias opens his mouth to reply but I cut him off and respond for him.
"Yes."
"Fair enough." His eyes are dark, like pits, like starless nights. "But do you have the right to decide that, Beatrice Prior?"
"You have committed every crime that warrants execution among Dauntless,"Tobias says,"so yes, we have the right to execute you under the laws of Dauntless." He takes my hand and Eric snears,"how cute, you guys are holding hands and deciding together."
Tobias ignores him and crouches to the floor by four guns. He opens the chambers and empties them one by one, almost jingle as they hit the floor by his feet, until one bullet remains in one of them. Then he starts to switch them up and move them until my eyes can't follow the one with the bullet. He hands a gun to me, Tori, and Harrison.
I try to think of the attack simulation, and what it did to the Abnegation. All the grey-clothed innocents lying dead on the street. There weren't enough Abnegation left to take care of the bodies, so most of them are probably still there. And that would not have been possible without Eric.
Maybe we are not the ones deciding wether Eric lives or dies. Maybe he decided when he did all those terrible things.
But it's still hard to breathe.
I look at him without malice, without hatred, and without fear. The rings in his face shine and a lock of dirty hair falls into his face.
"Wait,"he says,"I have a request."
"We don't take requests from criminals,"Tori says.
"I am a leader of Dauntless, and I I want is for Four to fire the bullet.l
"Why?" Tobias says.
"So you can live with the guilt,"Eric replies,"of knowing that you usurped me and then shot me in the head."
I think I understand. He wants to see people break-has always wanted to, ever since he set up the camera in my execution room when nearly drowned, and probably long before then. And he believes that if Tobias is the one to kill him, he will see that before he dies.
Sick.
"There won't be any guilt,"says Tobias.
"Then you'll have no problem doing it,"Eric smiles again
Tobias picks up one of the bullets.
"Tell me,"says Eric quietly,"because I've always wondered. Is it your daddy who shows up in every fear landscape you've ever gone through?"
Tobias puts the bullet into an empty chamber without looking up.
"You didn't like that question?"Eric says,"what, afraid that the Dauntless are going to change their mind about you? Realize that even though you've only got four fears, that you're still a coward?"
Tobias holds the gun from his left shoulder.
"Eric,"he says,"be brave."
Then pulls the trigger.
I shut my eyes.
An old song comes to mind,'Dauntless, they are the crulest of the five.' How true those words are.
I feel arms around me and hear his body being dragged out bit I don't open my eyes. I hear Tobias whisper,"turn around and look into my eyes, everything's okay now." I do as he says and get lost in his eyes. I will myself to believe him.
"I love you."He says quietly against my ear. "Lets get out of here."
As he leads me away from the horrific scene, I repeat his words in my head over and over.
Everything's okay now.
I love you.
Everything's okay now.
I love you.
Everything's okay now.
Everything's okay now.
Everything's okay now.
I try to believe them.
A/N the whole Eric execution was straight from the book because I thought it was so perfect. Minor tweaking to fit to the story though. The rest isn't directly from the book. Please review!