Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent

Where My Demons Hide

She folded her arms tighter around herself, shivering in the winter air. Hurrying along the uneven flagstones, she bit her numb and blue lips. An exhaled breath blew white on the chilled air. She glanced at the sky with her eyes peeking through her thick lashes.

Frowning at the dark clouds covering the pitiful sun, she stamped her feet harder as she walked. If only she could regain some feeling in her feet...

The quiet street slowly gave way to a lively, bustling road. Stalls crowded the pavements as people milled in between them. Before she knew it, she had reached the end of the avenue.

"Miss, Miss! This way, please! Saint Max wants to speak with you!" an excited vendor chattered his mouth off to her.

She twisted her lips. Saint Max, the supposed 'holy and virtuous' man of Dauntless Avenue.

"They're all fake," she whispered bitterly, "Of course they are. Painted to be gold in the light of day yet cruelly as impure as salt at night."

The assistant gaped at her barely-heard words. The resentment in her voice was clear as the very daylight they stood under - though that did not state much, considering the clouds covered the sun.

She brushed past the teen as she continued on her journey. The blonde-haired woman had had more than enough experience with 'saints'. Her dreams of a love-filled, warm life had been brutally broken when Tobias - no, Four! - had dropped her in the gutter like a rat. He had been her saviour, her messiah, the one to place her back on her feet when she fell down. He kept her alive. But her own energy, her life's blood had seemingly stopped, almost run stale as time passed.

The dirty blonde's thoughts were broken as one single white flake fell from the sky. Looking up in surprise, she nearly laughed in joy. It was snowing! Pure, innocent snow as white as a newborn lamb. The naivety of the snowflakes brought simple tears to her eyes.

Perhaps things could change. Maybe not everything was as bad as she thought. A new day, after all, brought new adventures. She flung her arms out to her sides, ignoring the chill invading her body. She let loose a long, gleeful laugh.

The almost empty street didn't take notice of the strange woman. Apart from one person, that was. Hair buzzed at the sides and left spiked up at the top, a girl watched from the side of the street. An odd expression formed in her eyes as she spotted the joy in the girl. Gathering the bag resting beside her, she strode over to the laughing woman.

"You look positively frozen," her words were blunt and straight to the point.

"Huh?"

"I said, you look cold. You should warm up."

The blonde gazed at the brunette in confusion.

The brunette rolled her eyes, "Come with me. My house is just across the road. I'm Lynn, by the way."

Shocked out of words, the blonde followed the newly-identified Lynn.

"Thanks," she blurted out.

"Don't worry about it."

She couldn't think of anything else to say to this stranger who helped her. Bundled inside a toasty house, settled by a fire and warmed with a blanket. All out of kindness.

"You shouldn't have stayed out there that long," Lynn came into the living room where she had sat the girl down.

"I - well, I guess I didn't really have anywhere else to - to go."

"Don't you have a house?"

The blonde flinched as she huddled closer into the blanket.

"Me and my big mouth, eh? Sorry."

"It's fine," she choked out, "Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet! I'm Tris."

Lynn merely nodded, smoothing her black clothing down as she sat on a red couch. Turning to face Tris, she raised an eyebrow.

"Want to tell me why you were out in the cold, by yourself, for so long that your lips turned blue?"

"Umm, well - "

"You don't have to if you don't want to," her tone was surprisingly gentle, not at all like she had previously spoken. If anything, she sounded slightly guilty. For what, Tris didn't know.

"Um, I guess I'd better tell someone. I-I had a boyfriend. He named himself Four," her throat started to close up at the thought, "He broke up with me. It was all such a - a mess."

As her breathing picked up, Lynn cursed herself. She shouldn't have asked this girl to open herself up, exposing her so obviously recent wounds.

"Hey, hey, don't worry. He was obviously a jerk - "

And a jerk that for some reason, she felt jealous of.

Tris didn't hear her words. She was focused solely on her rapid breathing, the racing of her heartbeat and the aching of her lungs as she couldn't drag enough oxygen through her clenching throat.

"Shit," the brunette muttered. Scrambling off the couch, she shuffled over to the young woman. Tentatively resting a hand on her back, she winced as the girl flinched. Through the blanket, Lynn could feel her form shivering and heaving for air.

Lynn wrapped her arms around the girl and muttered soothing phrases into her ear.

"It'll be okay... I'm here... Focus on my heartbeat..."

Slowly, ever so painfully slowly, Tris started to calm down. Her figure was no longer wracked with shivers, but with sobs instead. She clutched to Lynn as she cried her sorrows out.

Lynn gazed upon this woman. She had only wandered into her life a few minutes ago, but already she was firmly planted in Lynn's heart and mind. She was torn at the sight of this woman. So dearly she wanted to open up to her, soak her sorrows and exchange her own - but that wouldn't be fair. To deposit her own misfortunes upon Tris while she dealt with her own, she just couldn't do that to her. She couldn't let her see the demons haunting her.

It was either let push Tris away, to heal herself and not another, or welcome her in with a beast lurking inside her. Lynn knew she was being greedy, but all she wanted to do was encase Tris in her arms and keep her next to her. They could build a life together, trap themselves inside their own castle or hell, even build a kingdom for themselves! With this new and strange woman, she could have a new life.

"Look at me, Tris," Lynn whispers.

Tris shook her head as she whimpered.

"Look into my eyes," she pressed the woman. She didn't like to force a matter but it was necessary. Tris slowly raised her head to meet Lynn's brown eyes with her own.

It was dangerous, asking Tris to look deep into the very cage of her beast. But she couldn't help it, not with this beautiful woman in her arms. Lynn felt her heart crack slightly as she noticed the blue hadn't faded from Tris' lips. In a moment of pure instinct, she leant forwards and pressed her heated lips to Tris' cold and numb ones. It was small, innocent and perfectly imperfect.

They withdrew, heads resting against each other.

"I know I've only just met you," Lynn whispered, "But it feels like I've known you for a lifetime."

"I know," Tris murmured back.

With those single two words, Lynn felt the rest of her masks shatter completely. She wouldn't keep up the stupid masquerade; this woman who walked in on her by accident was firmly planted in her life in a matter of minutes. And if Lynn had anything to say about it, she wasn't leaving.

And as she looked into the bright, shining eyes of the woman not even a millimetre away from her, she knew that her demon would be tamed by this miracle sent from whatever God was above.

Hi everyone! This fiction was for I believe in nargles too, commemorating the first of hopefully many years that we've talked to each other! Go check out my buddy Nargles, she does some fabulous pieces of work :)

Love ya Smiley-faces,

MG