Hey! This is a Divergent fan fiction and if you have not read it please do not read this because it will eventually contain spoilers. This fanfic takes place at that the same time the book takes place. I don't not own any of the original divergent characters and all rights go to Veronica Roth who is wonderful. Here we gooo!
I know what I should choose. I know where I belong. But I don't know if I can make that change and risk not surviving. Leaving my family and the place where I feel safe. It is almost my turn to choose weather I choose to stay in my old faction , Amity, where everyone is happy and loving to one other but most of the time I have to fake it. I also don't like the smell of dirt which is a problem since Amity is one dig dirt pile. Or Dauntless, where it is okay to be rough and not nice all of the time. Where people argue and it is okay. But it is also dangerous and I have heard some people don't survive. My older sister Rebecca was not able to survive Dauntless initiation and was made factionless. My parents will not let me talk to her, even now and her choosing ceremony was 3 years ago today. She stood in the same spot where I stand now with her arm out ready to cut her arm and drip her blood over the factions bowl of which she gives her allegiance to. She was sure where she would go and I am not.
"Marley Jacobs!" Marcus Eaton said into the microphone. It was the Abnegation's turn to hold the choosing ceremony this year. I climb the stairs up onto the stage where the 5 bowls that represented each faction stood. I wasn't focused on other 3 just Amity and Dauntless. I take a quick look at my family. My mother with the same dark hair as I have on my head and my father who I get my green eyes after. Then there is Jace. My little 8 year old brother who I love dearly. He would be the person I would miss the most if I left. He is starring back at me with his big blue eyes and gives me a smile. Tears threaten to leave my eyes as I accept the knife from Marcus. I make a small slit on my arm and stand there frozen. I glance at Jace once more before I make my choice. I put my arm over the bowl I choose and it falls. On the dirt. Amity, is what I was born into and what I shall stay into. My brother seems unhappy as I climb back down the stairs and go to the other Amity Initiates. I watch the boy, who's name I missed, behind me go up. He is a attractive boy with blonde hair and a hook nose with pretty blue eyes. He is abnegation born so he wears baggy gray clothes. He carries himself well, with his shoulders back and confident. He gives Marcus a cold look and whispers something to him as he takes the knife. He slits his arm and puts it over the dauntless bowl. This is the second abnegation today to choose Dauntless. The girl's name is Beatrice Prior and her father is high up in the Abnegation and that was a shock for her to leave. The boy was not as shocking as her's. The choosing ceremony is soon over and the Dauntless are the first to leave. I see Beatrice who look so out of place and then I see him who blends in perfectly besides his attire. He looks in my direction for a moment and our eyes lock. He gives me a short half smile and I give him once back. He accidentally knocks into the person in front of him and I try to suppress a laugh. His face turns a light shade of red and he looks away and runs out the door with the other Dauntless initiates. I let myself wonder if I had chose Dauntless if he and I would be friends.
"Come on Marley." My best friend Mary Reyes called out to me. I come back from my thoughts and see that the initiates had started moving forward. Mary and I had been friends ever since we were kids and even then I knew she was cut out for Amity. She had flowing brown hair that she kept in loose curls around her shoulders. All the boys loved her and so did the girls. She was popular and her mother was the representative for Amity. I was mostly known for being her friend but I had friends of my own. I walked fast to catch up with the crowd. We file out the door and to the elevators that will take us down to the ground level. We all pile in tight in the elevators and I am squished in the corner and have trouble breathing. When the doors finally open everyone walks out and gets into the back of the trucks. Transfers in one and Amity born in the other. Harper, a girl with red hair and a thick body, picks up a banjo and begins to strum away as the truck takes off. We all chime in as we start to recognize the tune but all I can think of is that boy. I hope that he survives the initiation and that someday I would see him again.
When we get to the Amity compound everyone jumps out and goes to the main conference room. There is a huge tree in the middle of the room. Johanna Reyes, Mary's mother, stands under the tree. She has a scar that lays across her face and that causes her to have a lazy eye and to slur her words. I have seen her many times so I do not notice it.
"Hello and welcome to Amity. I am Johanna Reyes the representative for Amity. For some of you have called this home for your 16 years of life and for the rest of you this is a new place that, if you pass initiation, you will call home. For initiation you will be learning and tested on various plants and herbs plus the way our systems work. You will also be working in our fields and experiencing the hard labor that Amity requires of every single one of it's members. For some this sounds easy but it will require dedication and the only ones who truly want to be apart of this faction will be members. I wish you luck in your journey. Good day." And with that she leaves. A man who is about 20 years old, named Andrew Taylor walks up to the Amity born initiates.
"Hey guys. Ok so you won't need a tour because you have lived here for quite a while so you can just go to the initiate cabin while I take the newbies on a tour." I am the first to exit the building and walk down the row of trees to the initiate cabin. All of the Amity live in log houses and I will get my own when I pass initiation. I am normally a happy person but ever since recently I have been down and I have also been stressed because of the choosing ceremony.
"Mar what's been going on?" Mary asks me as she loops her arm threw mine.
"I have just been stressed out I guess. Maybe I will be in a better mood soon since the ceremony is over." I say. Some of it isn't lie but some of it is. I do not tell her that I wanted to transfer and sometimes I wish I had. We walk into the large log cabin that is one big room with cots scattered all over the room and bunk beds are also placed up against the wall. There are about 10 newbies and 15 Amity born so some of the beds will be empty. Mary and I clam two beds in the center and the bed next to her is claimed as well by a boy named Alex who has a huge crush on her. Mary knows that he has the hots for her but she likes mess with him. She has told me that she likes him to so things may change between them soon. Mary smooths her red dress that has a lemon yellow band around her waist making her look super thin. I have never been stick thin or very large but I am normal weight. I have long legs that seem to go on for miles and I hate it. Everyone says that they wish they were tall but I hate it. I twist my dark brown hair, which is almost black, into a top knot and look at myself in the near by mirror. I have deep set eyes and a round nose. I am not necessary 'hot' but I am not ugly enough to put a bag over my head. I wear washed out yellow jeans that are to short for my legs and a red shirt that has short sleeves. The transfers trickle in and a boy who wears abnegation grey set his things next to my bed.
"Hello, my name is Robert Black. May I sleep here?" He asks as he nods his head in a greeting. I nod my head as sit on my bed. Soon Andrew comes and calls us to the dinning hall for dinner. The dinning Hall is connected to the main building so it is not that far away. When we enter I sit at a round table with Mary and the other Amity born initiates. I see Robert look sort of lost so I wave him over and pat the seat next to me. He takes a seat next to me and gives me a warm smile.
"Hey. My names Marley." I say to him.
"Nice to meet you officially Marley." He replies back.
"Hey Mar can you go get the bread please?" Mary calls over her shoulder. The way Amity serve food is family style which means each table gets big bowls of food and we pass them around till everyone is satisfied. Nothing is wasted and if we have extras we find another way to use the food.
"Be right back." I say to Robert as I get up and walk back to the kitchen. The women on kitchen duty hands me a bowl full oh the famous Amity bread. It seems to just come out of the oven because the warm, sweet aroma of the bread enters me. I turn on my heels and start to walk back towards the table when Jace runs over to me.
"Hey kiddo." I say to him in a sweet voice.
"Mar Mar why are you here?" He asks me. He is the only one who I will ever tolerate calling me Mar Mar.
"What do you mean? I am eating dinner. It is in fact dinner time you ding dong." I joke as I pat him lightly on his back side.
"No not here. I mean here in Amity. I thought you wanted to transfer." I set the bread on a near by table and knell down so I am face to face with him. He was to young to know what happened to Becca and that she now struggles to even get a piece of food and that she is shunned from society. He doesn't understand the risk that I am afraid of that could have happened if I transferred.
"Because Jace, I wanted to be here with You, Mom, and Dad. Plus I am far to cowardly for the Dauntless."
"Was Becca brave?" I sigh and think about that question for a moment.
"Yes, yes she was brave. Now run along before I get in trouble." I say as I stand up and grab the bread. The more I think about it Becca was brave. She risked dieing to join the Dauntless and even though she never was a Dauntless member she had more guts then I had and that had to count for something.
After dinner we were free to do whatever we wanted which was a treat because we normally would have to water plants, clean clothes or dishes, and stuff like that. But all of that would start tomorrow morning. Bright and early. Yay. Everyone was headed to the cabin but I wanted to go to my favorite place on the Amity compound which was the barn. The barn held many animals like cows, pigs, chickens, and my favorite horses. I want to work with the animals after initiation is over and most people don't like that job so my chances of getting it are high.
"Marley wait up!" A now familiar voice called to me. I turn around to see Robert running after me. He is tall with short brown hair and still wears abnegation clothes.
"Hey Robert." I greet him as he walks next to me.
"Sorry if I interrupted I saw you walking and was curious. Where are you going?"
"No need to apologize. I am going to the barn. Would you like to come with me?" I ask. He nods his head and we walk silently and side-by-side down the tree lined path to the fields. The barn is made up of unpainted wood and old nails that have been used once or more. When we enter the barn it is empty except for the animals that snooze lightly in their stalls. The horses are not used for meat but for plowing or transportation. I love riding them and do it often when I have time.
"I love it here. It is a peaceful place and it is a great place to come and think." I inform Robert.
"Isn't this whole compound peaceful?" He asks as he gives me a puzzled look.
"It seems like it should be and for some people I guess it is. But for me it isn't always." I walk to a black horse named Banjo after the favored instrument here. Banjo is unofficially my horse I am the only one who cares for him or rides him often. He is used for plowing but he isn't used much. I go into his stall and begin to groom him.
"Why did you leave your faction?" I ask him.
"A person can only be so selfless so much. Some people are cut out for it but I am not. I hope I didn't disappoint my family to much."
"I am sure they aren't too disappointed." I try to comfort him because there was a hint of sadness in his voice.
"Yeah I guess. So what's up with Mary? She seems very nice." I hold back on rolling my eyes. Of course he noticed Mary. Of course.
"Well she is Johanna's only daughter and her and I have been best friends for a long time." I look out the window of Banjo's stall and see that the sun is disappearing behind land."We better go back. It is getting late. Plus I am tired." I say as I give Banjo a kiss on his nose and close the stall door behind me. Robert and I walk silently to the cabin and when we return people are already tucked into bed. Mary sits on her bed and is brushing her hair. She has changed out of her day clothes and into a large red t-shirt. I go into the bathroom and change into loose fitting red shorts and a red baggy t-shirt. The lights go off and everyone lets sleep take them away into the night. I lie away thinking about if I had made the right choice or if I should have chosen what I wanted. I feel my eye lids get heavy as sleep takes me away as well.
"It's time to get up! This morning you each will have a list of things that need to be done. I will call out your name and say what you need to do before we start your first thing in initiation. Mary you will be gathering laundry from the members, Marley you will be cleaning the main bathrooms..." I tune out after he says my name. I have cleaned the bathrooms before and it normally doesn't take long so after breakfast I get to work. The cleaning supplies are under the sink and I reach under it and pull them out. I begin to scrub down the toilets with bleach until the stench of it filled the room. For initiation we will be in a class room learning how to plant and stuff like that. Tomorrow we will go out in the fields and plant and that is what we will be doing for the rest of initiation. After I clean up the rest of the bathroom and return the supplies to their correct spots, I go to the classroom. Andrew stands at the front of the room with mud stains decorating the front of his yellow shirt. Most of the plants are watered automatically, thanks to Erudite, but some plants we water by hand because they are important or the automatic waterier is not working for some reason. I do not like that we rely on Erudite for so much because I think we owe them for helping us. And now that the situation between abnegation and erudite is growing, I don't think it is good to be relying on other factions at this time. I am sure if anything did happen with them Amity will say they will be neutral but we will always have our ties with Erudite. Andrew waits for everyone to trickle in the room and then he begins talking.
"Today we will learn about the plants that Amity grows. This is the basic stuff so some of you may find this easy others will want to take notes. Okay let's begin with our wonderful bread. Everyone seems so joyous after eating it. We grow the yeast right in our fields and it is also processed here." Then he goes on a long tangent about how we make the bread. I've know this all my life because it is one of my fathers jobs to harvest the yeast along with other things. My mother is one of the cooks for the faction and she also helps with the laundry. Some people totally zone out but the transfer's pens run across the page in order to get all the information. I know that the next part of the initiation is easy. We each get a small patch of land and we have to plow and grow a food of our choice. Then at the initiation ceremony we harvest and serve the food. Not to bad if you have been living here your whole life. After class we get to witness a meeting. In the meetings everyone in the faction except the small children gather around and discuss the topic at hand. Johanna stands at the center and watched everyone and then joins in the conversation when it is her turn.
"Hey Mar . Can I talk to you?" Mary asks me when we get back to the cabin. We are sprawled out on our beds and gossiping.
"What's up?" I ask now concerned.
"I sort of like Robert. He is so nice and he is pretty cute." I look over at Robert who is talking to Harper. He has changed out of his grey clothes and into red jeans and a yellow shirt. H is pretty cute but not my type.
"What about Alex?"
"I am over him. He told me he had moved on. But Robert and I are going to hang out alone later tonight." She says and jumps up and down on her bed. I shake my head and laugh. Andrew walks in and Mary jumps down and everyone is quite.
"Hey guys. We are going to be taking a field trip t the outside fields. Not even the Amity born initiates have been there so everyone please pay attention." Andrew says and he walks out the door and we follow him. We all pile pile into the truck and Harper plays the banjo and we setout to the gates.
When we get to the gates the Dauntless move to open the gate. Robert jumps down from the truck and calls out the name Beatrice. I look toward the direction he is walking towards and I find that she is the girl who transferred from Abnegation to Dauntless. They share a hug and begin to talk. I look at the other initiates and see that they are much bigger than she is. My eyes land on him and I see staring back at me. He gives me a smile and does a weak wave. He looks in good shape except for a bruise under his eye. He is still very attractive and the black clothes suit him.
"Robert come on! The gates are open!" Harper calls out to him. Robert hugged his friend and ran back to the truck just as we took off. The boy waves me a goodbye and I do the same. Harper plays the banjo and then time even I sing along. I needed to find out who that boy was. I turn to Robert to ask him but he is engaged in conversation with Mary. I stair off into the distance and think about him. Andrew put the car to a stop and hopped out of the drivers seat.
"These are the huge fields that provide most of the food for factions. If you choose this job after initiation, you will have to be skilled in farming." Andrew tells us. I look around and see many people working around the fields. There are some people singing and it seems like they are having fun but I can never see myself working in the fields.
"I would love to do this." I hear Robert tell Mary. "It seems so peaceful and a happy environment."
"I want a higher up job. Like be the next representative or something like that. I would love to be in charge." Mary said loud enough for everyone to hear. She would more than likely be the representative because her mother is the current representative and everyone seems to love her.
When we get back to the compound everyone goes to the dining hall but I go straight to the kitchen. I find my mother standing behind a stove and heating up some peas. When she sees me she gives me and warm smile and a hug.
"Hey honey, what are you doing here?" She asks as she wipes her hands on a red apron.
"I wanted to ask if I can get some food to go. I want to take Banjo for a ride before it gets late and I have laundry duty in a few hours." I say and give my best puppy dog face. My mom looks at the other ladies in the kitchen who have been listening in.
"Just let her Angela." A older women says from the back. She grabs a Styrofoam box and puts a variety of food in it and hand it to me.
"Thank you." I say as I hug my mom and walk out to the cabin. When I get there I change into a pair of red jeans and a yellow shirt and grab a jacket. I also grab my red backpack and put the food in it and then race to the barn.
Since it is dinner no one is here so I brush and tack Banjo up in complete silence. When I am finished I lead him out of the building and climb on him.
"Let's get away from here for awhile." I say to him as I trot him into the forest and let myself relax. When there is open space I let Banjo into a gallop, the wind hitting my face. My dark hair flows behind me and Banjo lets out a snort in excitement. When we reach the train tracks I halt Banjo and slide down him. He drops his head down to chomp on grass. I sit down on the grass and take out my food. I open it and find bread, rice, and peas in the container along with a plastic fork. I take a bite of the bread and lie down in the grass.
"Are you going to share?" I hear a voice. I gasp and sit up too quickly, causing me to choke on my bread. "Careful. I don't know CPR." I look at the voice and my eyes go wide. It is him and he is talking to me. He takes a seat next to me and takes my bread and tears a small piece off. His blonde hair is cut short and he wears a tight black shirt, with denim jeans, and black boots. "I am Lane Hudson by the way."
"Hi Lane. I am Marley Jacobs. Your the abnegation transfer right?" I ask him.
"Yeah. Initiation is tough stuff though. We've got to fight each other till someone goes unconscious. You stayed in Amity right?"
"Yeah. For our initiation we have to plant. Some fun stuff." I say with a sarcastic tone.
"I take it your not the poster child for Amity?" He says with a light laugh.
"Oh I totally am. Everyone there is like me. But really, I don't think I am cut out for amity but I am stuck here."
"Then why didn't you transfer?"
"Because Amity is safe. I wanted to choose Dauntless but my sister did that years ago and now she is factionless. She was braver than I am so I would never survive." I confess. I don't know why I am telling a complete stranger this but there is something about him that feels safe.
"I am sure you would survive. I would be there to protect you." He says as he shoves me.
"Why did you leave?" I ask him. He has now taken my entire container and starting eating out of it. I wasn't hungry so I don't object.
"Because I needed to find someone and I also needed to get away from someone." He says and looks down at the ground.
"Care to share who that is?"
"Maybe some other time. We should meet at this time everyday. You seem like a cool kid Marley."
"We should and are you allowed to leave your compound?"
"What they don't know won't hurt them. What's your horses name?"
"His name is Banjo." I say.
"Banjo. Maybe you do belong in Amity." He snorts. I give him alight slap on the arm and he just falls back into a laugh.
"Shut up! My brother named him. He used to say that his tail looked like banjo strings." I fall back and we are laying next to each other. He turns his head to look at me and I look at him.
"Well then that's sweet." The silence is interrupted by the sounds of the train coming. Lane sits up and looks at the train. "Crap, I've got to go. See you tomorrow Marley." He says as he gives me a hug, the way Amity say goodbye, and runs next to the train. At the right moment he gets aboard and then goes back to the dauntless compound. I get on Banjo and go back to Amity with a huge smile on my face. Maybe this won't be so bad.
Hello! I hoped you liked this! I will have the next chapter up soon and it will get more eventful and more romancy I promise! This was just a introduction chapter. If you liked it please comment and if you have any critiques please give them! And if you are obsessed with Divergent please message me and we can fangirl together! Thanks for reading!
~PoniesLover