Disclaimer- I don't own any rights to anything in Allegiant, including the parts I used straight from the book in the beginning.

Saved

I sweep my eyes across the room, searching for the device that will release the memory serum virus. I was there when Matthew described it to Caleb in painstaking detail earlier: a black box with a silver keypad, marked with a strip of blue tape with a model number written on it. It is one of the only items on the counter along the left wall, just a few feet away from me.

I'll have to wait for the right moment, and do it fast.

"I know what you did," I say. I start to back up, hoping that the accusation will distract him. "I know you designed the attack simulation. I know you're responsible for my parents' deaths- for my mother's death. I know."

"I am not responsible for her death!" David says, the words bursting from him, too loud and too sudden. "I told her what was coming just before the attack began, so she had enough time to escort her loved ones to a safe house. If she had stayed put, she would have lived. But she was a foolish woman who didn't understand making sacrifices for the greater good, and it killed her!"

I frown at him. There's something about his reaction- about the glassiness of his eyes- something that he mumbled when Nita shot him with the fear serum- something about her.

"Did you love her?" I say. "All those years she was sending you correspondence… the reason you never wanted to stay there… the reason you told her you couldn't read her updates anymore, after she married my father…"

David sits still, like a statue, like a man of stone.

"I did," he says. "But that time is past."

That must be why he welcomed me into his circle of trust, why he gave me so many opportunities. Because I am a piece of her, wearing her hair and speaking with her voice. Because he has spent his life grasping at her and coming up with nothing.

I hear footsteps in the hallway outside. The soldiers are coming, I assume. Good- I need them to. I need them to be exposed to the airborne serum, to pass it on to the rest of the compound. I hope they wait until the air is clear of the death serum.

"My mother wasn't a fool," I say. "She just understood something you didn't. That it's not sacrifice if it's someone else's life you're giving away, it's just evil."

I back up another step and say, "She taught me all about real sacrifice. That it should be done from love, not misplaced disgust for another person's genetics. That it should be done from necessity, not without exhausting all other options. That it should be done for people who need your strength because they don't have enough of their own. That's why I need to stop you from 'sacrificing' all those people and their memories. Why I need to rid the world of you once and for all."

I shake my head.

"I didn't come here to steal anything, David."

I twist and lunge towards the device. The gun goes off and pain races through my body. I don't know where the bullet hit me.

I can still hear Caleb repeating the code for Matthew. With a quaking hand I type in the numbers on the keypad.

The gun goes off again, but this time I don't even feel the impact. Maybe I'm really shutting down. When the pain is too great you stop feeling it.

I hear Caleb's voice speaking again. The green button.

I start to fall and slam my hand into the keypad on my way down. A light turns on behind the green button.

I hear a beep, and a churning sound.

I slide to the floor. From the corner of my eyes I see David, slumped over in his chair, but it isn't from the serum. The edges of my vision blur, but I can still make out the red covering David's face. Blood.

Someone shot him. The last gunshot wasn't for me, it was for him.

As if the entire world has decided to bleed, I feel something warm on my neck. Red. Blood is such a strange color, dark.

"Tris!" Someone touches me. I don't know who. "Tris, hold on!" The voice calls out, penetrating some kind of barrier between the real world and the one I occupy.

Someone's hands slip under my head, pulling me away from the ground.

"Open your eyes, Tris!" The voice commands forcefully. I obey.

The world spins around me, the edges of my vision not only black, but an array of colors.

I groan as I start to feel the pain, emanating in waves form my stomach. "Hold on, Tris! Help is coming!" The voice instructs, Matthew. Matthew is holding me, Matthew is urging me to stay.

"Help." I whisper, my lips heavy and numb, like I'm speaking though someone else.

Things begin to blur, overlapping each other like dimensions at war. I fade in and out of consciousness. I finally fade away for a second, only for another wave of pain to wash over me, waking me once again.

I am dying in his arms for minutes; I am dying for centuries.

Tobias's POV

We drive past the fences and stop by the front doors, which are no longer manned by guards. We get out, and Zeke seizes his mother's hand to steady her as she shuffles through the snow. As we walk into the compound, I know for a fact that Caleb succeeded, because there is no one in sight. That can only mean that they have been reset, their memories forever altered.

We walk through the abandoned security checkpoint without stopping. On the other side, I see Cara. The side of her face is badly bruised, and there's a bandage on her head, but that's not what concerns me. What concerns me is the troubled look on her face.

"What is it?" I ask, trying not to let my imagination take over.

Cara pauses, biting her lip.

"Where's Tris?" I say, my heart rate increasing.

"She's alive." Cara says quickly, holding her hands up.

"In what state?" I ask frantically.

"One of flux." Cara says, her voice tight. She's struggling to stay together.

"What do you mean?" Christina asks roughly.

"Tris was shot. We're doing our best, but we still aren't sure if she's going to survive this." Cara says calmly.

Tris's eyes are shut peacefully, her face calm. She looks younger. Usually she looks older than sixteen, not by her body, but by her actions and intensity. Now she looks even younger than sixteen, maybe fifteen.

I rub little circles on her hand, pressing my thumb against her skin. Her breaths are gentle and soothing. She's alive. For now.

I memorize the planes of her face, the sharpness of her nose, and the gently curve of her chin. Her short blonde hair is splayed across her pillow like a halo.

"Can I come in?" A voice interrupts my reverie. I turn to face Caleb, standing in the door way uncertainly.

"Yes." I say stiffly.

He takes the chair on the other side of Tris's bed, at first reaching his hand out to take Tris's, but pulling back when he sees my face.

He folds his hand awkwardly in his lap, glancing around the room nervously. He tries not to look at me, or to stare at Tris, so he ends up focusing on the ceiling tiles above us.

"This is my fault." He says softly.

"I know."

"If I had just carried through, not allowed her to take my position…." Caleb continues.

"What's done is done." I say, not because I want to comfort him, but because I would much rather sit in silence than hear about why he's alive, and she may not make it through the night.

"She's going to live." Caleb says. "She has to."

I don't respond. My stomach twists into a knot. Uriah is going to die. I can't allow myself to think that it could happen to Tris too.

Caleb suddenly stands, as if he can't bear to be in the room for another second.

"I'm sorry. I really am." He looks at me, forcing me to make eye contact. His eyes are the same as hers, sending a shock of pain through my heart.

"Sorry for what? Sorry for delivering her to her own execution? Sorry for letting her go instead of you? You have a lot to be sorry for. So what exactly are you apologizing for?" I spit out, my own anger taking me over for a second.

I pull back, squaring my shoulders and returning to looking at Tris. He isn't worth the energy.

Caleb walks all the way to the doorway before he responds. I don't turn around to look at him.

"I'm sorry that I'm not the one in the bed." He says simply. "I can't change the things that I've done, but I can only hope that one day you will forgive me. Both of you."

I listen to his footsteps fade away down the empty hallway.

Tris's POV

Beep. Beep. Beep.

My eyes flutter open, but I quickly shut them again. I feel heavy, like someone has replaced all of my bones with lead. I can still feel a dull ache in my side, but it isn't as bad as it used to be.

"Tris?" A voice asks. My eyes fly open, greeted by Tobias's dark blue eyes. He isn't smiling, and he looks tired, but he wears a hopeful expression. I glance around at the bare hospital room, the machine steadily beeping to my side, a constant reminder that I lived.

"Tobias," I say, but my words catch in my dry throat.

He leans forward, bringing my hand with him. "I've missed you so much." He says, brushing a hair off my forehead.

I try to sit up, but a moan escapes my lips before I'm all the way up. Tobias gently pushes me back down. My free hand clutches my side, which is thicker with the bandages wrapped around my abdomen.

"What happened?" I ask weakly. Tobias pulls his chair even closer to my bed, pressing his knees against the mattress.

"You survived the death serum, and you released the virus." He says. "But David shot you." His voice is darker when he says David's name.

"Why am I alive?" I whisper, because any higher voice level hurts. Its as if the world is trying to shove my words back down, keeping me from speaking as strongly as I would like to.

"Matthew killed David before he could shoot you again." Tobias explains.

"Matthew saved me." I say, letting the words sink in.

"Yes." Tobias confirms.

"And the rest of the city?" I ask.

"It's over. We've finally won." Tobias says, finally letting a smile onto his tired face.

"It's over." I repeat. I want to believe it. But nothing has ever come easily; I've never had a moment in my life that's been free. It's all been in preparation for the next thing, the next stage of initiation, the next battle.

"Where do we go from here?" I ask, tightening my hold on his hand, despite the fact that it hurts.

I am overwhelmed with the reality of it all. Everything that I've based my life off- the factions- is meaningless. The Bureau is no more. I don't know how to start picking the pieces of my life back up, where to go from here.

I don't know how to live a life with choices.

"The city is being rebuilt, not just from the damage, but the society." Tobias begins. I squeeze his hand tighter, and he slows down a bit. "It's going to be difficult, returning to a normal life, but it's going to be okay." He says strongly, compellingly.

I am almost convinced.

"And while our future may be uncertain, one thing is certain." Tobias leans in further. "I love you, and wherever I go from here, I want to be going with you."

"I love you, Tobias." I let my statement answer for me. I muster my last ounces of strength to reach up and run my thumb along his jaw line.

He leans down and gently kisses my cheek, then my forehead, and then my cheek again. His lips are soft and reassuring.

"Sleep, Tris, and when you wake up, I'll be here." He says softly.

I slip into sleep with the comfort of his breaths, and the warmth of his hand.

A/N Please review!

dftba- Ella