Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading my story! I hope you enjoy it. A few notes - This story will be slightly AU. I love the world Veronica Roth set up, but have taken some liberties when I felt the story needed it. I try to keep the characters as close to canon as possible, but many of the events of Divergent and the later books, most notably the war, never happen in this story. This story is an exercise for me in building relationships so I'd love any feedback as the story progresses that would help me be a better writer! Now enough from me, please enjoy the story!
Running. That was all Isabel Sharpe could think about. The pounding of her feet on the pavement, the whoops and cheers echoing around her, the exhilaration surrounding the crowd as they all ran together. The Dauntless. They were her family now. She had no idea what she was running to, but she knew in her gut that it would be better than what she was leaving behind.
Isabel's long, dark hair whipped around her as she ran down the derelict roads that were once downtown Chicago, her bright brown eyes focused on the crowd ahead of her. She saw them begin to slow under the railroad tracks and Isabel grinned as she watched the Dauntless in front of her begin to scale the metal railings up to the platform. She picked up her pace to keep up with the crowd around her as she prepared to follow them up. The metal was cool to her touch, sending a slight shiver down her spine that she thought might have more to do with her excitement than the temperature as she began her climb.
She waited on the platform with everyone else, noticing with surprise an Abnegation transfer amidst the crowd. She hadn't heard of an Abnegation-Dauntless transfer in at least 10 years and studied him curiously for a moment. He had torn off his jacket, which was no where to be seen, and now stood wearing the dark grey t-shirt that blended slightly better with the black-clad Dauntless surrounding him. She expected him to look nervous, coming from Abnegation, but saw nothing but steely determination in his face.
Her thoughts were soon broken by the roaring sound of an approaching train. She turned nto look at it barreling towards them, realizing that this must be their ride to the Dauntless compound. She readied herself, expecting it to start slowing down in order to come to a stop and let them on. But the train did not begin to stop and her eyes widened as it suddenly dawned on her how they would be getting on the train.
"It doesn't stop," a voice behind her stated, "Just slows down enough for you to jump on." Isabel turned to see the source of the voice and found herself looking into the face of one of the last people she wanted to see - her fellow Erudite transfer, Eric. Once upon a time she'd had a school girl crush on him, like most girls in her class, attracted to the bad boys. Even now she had to admit that he was undeniably sexy, but his bad attitude had long ago dissolved any feelings she may have had.
"Of course you'd be here," she said, tilting her head up to look him in the face. Though she was slightly taller than the average girl at 5'8, he still towered over her. His blue-grey eyes gleamed into hers, looking at her as if he could see right through her and read her thoughts and feelings. It unnerved her.
After a moment, he nodded in response to her statement, a hint of a grin gracing his lips, but it vanished quickly as he steeled himself to jump onto the oncoming train. He began to run and Isabel quickly followed behind him as they sped up before he grabbed the handle on the side of the door, gracefully flinging himself up and into the train. Isabel reached for the same handle but the train was speeding up and she was running out of steam. She began to panic that she wouldn't make it when Eric grabbed the railing from inside the train, his arm outstretched to her.
"Grab on!" he yelled. Isabel hesitated for nearly a second too long. She did not want his help with this. She wanted to prove herself and make it on her own. By the time she realized that wasn't going to happen, it was almost too late. She forced herself to run faster, her arm outstretched for Eric's as she ignored the quickly ending platform. She was finally able to make contact and she felt him grip her, pulling her towards him. She grabbed onto the railing with her free hand and Eric pulled her into the car, just as it barreled past the platform. Isabel clung to him longer than was necessary, struggling to catch her breath. She finally stepped away, flicking her eyes away from him.
"Thanks," she muttered. He shrugged, not responding as he turned to look out the doors of the speeding train. They rode for several minutes in silence, Isabel lost in silence over the events of the day and not particularly wanting to strike up a conversation with Eric. She didn't dislike him, persay, he just wasn't the type of person she'd choose as a friend. He was, however, the only person she knew in her new life.
"Did you see there's an Abnegation transfer?" Isabel finally asked, remembering the surprise she'd felt at seeing him and wanting to share with somebody. Eric's eyes flicked down to hers in surprise but like most emotion on his face, it faded quickly and he looked away, back to the open doors of the train.
"Good. One less person I'll have to worry about as competition," he commented and Isabel rolled her eyes. Yup. Still a cocky asshole.
"Careful, it's still early. Don't want to underestimate people," she told him, causing him to look down at her again, studying her carefully. He finally gave her a single nod before turning his attention away from her and to the crowd gathering at the train doors. She followed his gaze, her eyes narrowed.
"What are they doing?" she asked. Eric didn't respond, but his eyes became alight with excitement as he moved to stand behind them.
"They're jumping," he said and Isabel's eyes widened as she shook her head.
"Of course they are," she grumbled. They hadn't even made it to the compound and already she was having to jump on and off a moving train, hundreds of feet in the air. It made her wonder what the actual initiation process would require, if she could make it to the compound alive.
Before she could process her thoughts, Eric had already thrown himself out of the car and she saw him land on the graveled rooftop of a building, along with all of the other Dauntless who were flinging themselves out of the train. She braced herself as she took several steps back from the doors before taking a running leap, closing her eyes the second her feet left the train. That probably wasn't the best idea, as her landing was incredibly rough, but she made it. She got to her feet, exhilarated from the jump, and brushed the gravel off of her clothes, feeling her grin stretching from ear to ear. She had wanted more excitement in her life; It was clear that she was definitely going to get that.
Isabel made her way to where the crowd was building on the other side of the roof, taking her place next to an Amity transfer. She turned and grinned at Isabel, looking as adrenaline rushed as Isabel felt.
"It's crazy, isn't it?" she asked, shaking her head as her eyes scanned the wild crowd around them. She was small, about half a foot shorter than Isabel, with blond hair cut short to her chin and bright blue eyes. Isabel wondered briefly how she would do during the training, but knew that size didn't always mean everything.
"I definitely didn't think I'd be jumping on and off a train today," Isabel said, smiling back at the girl who nodded eagerly.
"I'm Lana, by the way," she said.
"Isabel." Before either could say anything else, a dark-skinned man who couldn't have been more than 20, a year or two older than Isabel, stepped onto the ledge of the building, holding his arms up. It took several seconds for the crowd to quiet, but when it did it was complete silence. He smiled around at the crowd easily, as if jumping from a moving train onto the roof of a building was the most normal thing in the world.
"Welcome to Dauntless!" he shouted. Several whoops and cat calls made their way through the crowd, but it hushed quickly, "Where you either face your fears and try not to die in the process, or you leave a coward. We've got a record low of faction transfers this year, unsurprisingly."
Isabel looked around, suddenly noticing the lack of other colors besides Dauntless black in the crowd. There was her and Eric, the only two in blue, the abnegation transfer, an amity girl, and several candors in the crowd. That was all. But the Dauntless whooping and punching the air around her seemed to think that was something to be proud of so Isabel shrugged and turned her attention back to the man who she assumed was one of the leaders of Dauntless.
"The only way to get into the Dauntless compound from this rooftop is to jump off this ledge," the man stated and Isabel shook her head, as she turned towards Lana, eyebrows raised. Lana shrugged, a dubious expression on her face.
"Of course," Lana said, sarcastically matter-of-fact, "How else would we be getting off the roof?" Isabel laughed, making up her mind then that she liked Lana.
"As usual, I offer the opportunity to go first to our initiates, Dauntless-born or not," the man finished, hopping down from the ledge and waving his arm towards it, eyebrows raised expectantly.
Isabel took a subconscious step backwards, away from the ledge, glancing over at Eric whom she half-expected to march right up to the ledge and take the first jump. But he just stood there, arms crossed across his chest and eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he surveyed the crowd.
Finally, a dauntless-born moved towards the ledge, grinning behind him at his friends who clapped him on the back, cheering for him.
"Go, Zeke!" One of the girls in the crowd shouted and Isabel watched as the boy called Zeke hopped onto the ledge, almost immediately losing his balance and tumbling over the side. Isabel's hand flung to her mouth and she heard a few gasps around her, but mostly there was laughter at the lack of finesse Zeke had shown.
The man who seemed to be in charge grinned, turning back to the crowd and again gesturing to the ledge. Eric immediately moved forward, gaining a spot in line behind a few Dauntless-borns. Isabel stood there for several moments, almost frozen. Jumping off a building did not seem like a very logical thing to do.
"Let's go!" Lana said urgently and Isabel snapped out of it, realizing if they didn't move they would be last in line, and that was a place she never wanted to be. She followed Lana to the line and gazed around curiously at the crowd searching for the Abnegation transfer. Had he even made it off the train? She finally spotted him at the very back of the line, looking none-to-eager to be jumping off a ledge.
When Isabel's turn came up, she didn't think twice. She hopped up on the ledge and, without even taking a glance at what was below, jumped. The fall was indescribably amazing; she had never felt more free in her life. Erudite was always so stifling - no risks, no games, no fun. Just studying and researching and working. Finally the net, that logically she knew in her gut would be there, caught her and she laughed, rolling off of it as someone reached out to help her climb off. The first thing she noticed about the hands that gripped her were the bruised knuckles and she turned her head up to look into the face of Max, leader of Dauntless. He grinned at her as she rolled off of the net just in time for the next jumper to land.
Isabel moved out of the way to stand next to Lana and watched as one by one, more Dauntless initiates and active members threw themselves down the hole and landed in the net. Finally, the man from the rooftop flew into the net and rolled off, his dark hair messy and his eyes shining brightly at the crowd.
"My name is Amar," he announced, "I'm your initiation instructor. I grew up here, and three years ago, I passed initiation with flying colors, which means I get to be in charge of the newcomers for as long as I want. Lucky you. Dauntless borns and transfers do most physical training separately, so that the Dauntless-borns don't break the transfers in half right away-" Isabel saw Zeke and his friends pump their fists in the air, grinning around at each other. She watched them for a second before turning her complete attention back to Amar, "But we're trying something different this year. The Dauntless leaders and I want to see if knowing your fears before you begin training will better prepare you for the rest of initiation. So before we even let you into the dining hall to have dinner, we're going to do some self-discovery. Follow me."
Apprehensive murmurs scattered through the crowd but they all followed Amar down the tunnel behind him and Isabel looked around uneasily. This was by far the part she was looking forward to the least, but knew it to be part of the deal. Everyone knew Dauntless was where you went to face your fears. It was, after all, part of the reason Isabel had chosen Dauntless. She wanted to be brave, unafraid, strong. The path to becoming those things, however, was something she was now uncertain that she would survive.
The crowd followed Amar into a small, damp room with a giant window on the far wall connected to another room by a panel of glass. Isabel and Lana stood at the front of the room near the window and Isabel noticed Eric walk up beside her, his arms crossed over his chest as he stood still, watching Amar setting up the machine. His expression remained neutral but his eyes proved he was deep in thought.
"This is the fear landscape room," Amar announced, still fiddling with a few syringes in a box he had opened, "A fear landscape is a simulation in which you confront your worst fears."
'How is that possible?' Isabel thought to herself, her Erudite brain working through all the information she was taking in. She had never discussed her fears with anyone. How could they possibly know?
"How is that possible?" Eric spoke up, as if reading her mind, and Isabel turned her head sharply toward him, "You don't know our worst fears." Amar grinned at Eric, nodding.
"Eric, right?" Amar said. Eric nodded, his arms still crossed defiantly across his chest as he gazed fearlessly at Amar, "You're correct, I don't know your worst fears. But the serum I am going to inject you with will stimulate the parts of your brain that process fear, and you will come up with the simulation obstacles yourself, so to speak. In this simulation, unlike in the aptitude test simulation, you will be aware that what you are seeing is not real. Meanwhile, I will be in this room, controlling the simulation, and I get to tell the program embedded in the simulation serum to move on to the next obstacle once your heart rate reaches a particular level—once you calm down, in other words, or face your fear in a significant way. When you run out of fears, the program will terminate and you will 'wake up' in that room again with a greater awareness of your own fears."
Eric continued to gaze at Amar, his face betraying no signs of emotion as Amar picked up a syringe and motioned for him.
"Allow me to satisfy your Erudite curiosity," he said, "You get to go first."
Eric stood still for a moment, shooting a quick glance down at Isabel before slowly removing his blue jacket, folding it in half and handing it to her. She took it and watched as he slowly moved towards where Amar stood next to the machine, the syringe in his hand. He jabbed it into Eric's neck forcefully and Isabel winced, but Eric's face remained stony as Amar moved him to the next room, behind the glass.
Isabel's gaze did not leave Eric's face for several moments. She watched Eric's expression begin to change as the simulation began to take effect and expected him to begin to cry out or thrash around in his chair, being confronted by God knows what. But he didn't move. Isabel glanced at the heart rate monitor standing behind him, watching as his heart rate rose higher and higher. But still, he remained motionless.
"Is the serum working?" Lana whispered. Isabel shrugged, bemused, as a Dauntless-born boy answered behind them.
"Oh it's working alright," he, his voice in awe, "Holy shit."
The room became completely silent as every face in the crowd watched Eric closely, looking for any sign of fear. But soon the only sound to be heard was the heart rate monitor lowering as Eric began to control it. A shiver ran through his body but his breathing remained even and soon, his body began to relax. He went through that eleven more times. Twelve fears. Barely moving a muscle. A part of Isabel hoped this was just a sign that the fear landscape was nothing to be afraid of, but the logical, Erudite part of her knew that was wrong; knew that Eric was just exceptional. She begrudgingly admitted she was impressed, but that only pissed her off.
AN: I hope you liked this first chapter! I am hoping to be able to update once a week, but reviews are always my fuel to write more! Loved it, liked it, hated it, want to see where it's going? I want to hear from you! Be kind, but constructive criticism is always welcome!