Welcome! Emergent is a story that follows Tris as she moves from top-ranked initiate through leadership training. After Eric revealed Jeanine's plans and took her down, Chicago was free to move forward. How will things change? Will Fourtris stay together, or will her leadership role drive a wedge between them? Of course I do not own the Divergent universe. Enjoy!

.

xxxx

.

"You don't get it."

I try not to roll my eyes, and fail, as I watch my boyfriend pace back and forth in his small apartment.

"No, Tobias, you don't get it," I reply, my voice sharp with frustration. "You make the aptitude test out to be some big, all-knowing, life-determining thing that you missed out on, but it's not."

"It is, Tris, it's a right of passage and a guide I never got!"

"No, it's just a tool."

"How am I supposed to be confident in my place here? Why would I accept a leadership role when I don't even know if I'm truly Dauntless? I am the only adult member of any faction in this city who never got a real aptitude test result. I don't know who I am!"

I sigh deeply before replying. "Tobias," I try to keep my voice calm and even, as if soothing a scared child, "I took the aptitude test. It told me that I belonged in three places. I'm not fully Dauntless. Do I not belong here? No. I belong here because I chose Dauntless, and I worked hard to pass initiation. I took on the Dauntless way of life and I proved myself. Divergents all over the city have to pick one of their aptitudes and forsake the others. People join factions they don't have an aptitude for, and they make it work. The test is a tool. It helps you decide, but it doesn't dictate who you have to be."

"Still," Tobias grumbles, "it's another thing he took from me."

He. Marcus. He stole so much from his son. With his scaring words, violent beatings, and cruel punishments he stole Tobias' self-worth, his confidence, his childhood. I slide off the stool where I had been perched and cross to where Tobias stands with his head down and shoulders slumped. Wrapping my arms around him, I hold him close for a moment.

"I'll talk to Tori," I finally reply. "She administers the tests. Maybe she can find a way to give you that. It won't change anything, but at least you'll know."

Tobias nods and plants a soft kiss on my forehead.

.

xxxxx

.

When our lunch breaks end, we go our separate ways. Tobias goes back to the control room for the rest of his surveillance shift. He is on days this week, a schedule that allows us to spend evenings and occasional lunch breaks together. Next week he will work second shift, and the week after that he'll have the overnights before coming back around to the day shift. It's a strain on our relationship, but we find ways to squeeze in some time together.

I pass through the leadership lobby and press my palm into the scanner that opens the hall to the private offices. As the top initiate in my class, I was offered a role in Dauntless leadership. This first half of the six-month long leadership training program has made initiation look like summer camp. Every day I spend early mornings training with Eric, mid-mornings in meetings, and afternoons learning the different parts of Dauntless. If I'm lucky I get a chance to have dinner in the cafeteria with Tobias or my friends, but more often I work through dinner and have to make do with the snacks I stash in my desk and apartment.

As a leader-in-training, I have a two-bedroom apartment all to myself in the leaders' wing of the compound. Other Dauntless members have studio apartments, like Tobias, or two bedrooms with a roommate, like Zeke and Uriah. Although Tobias discouraged me from joining leadership, he was impressed with my larger apartment, and has been dropping hints that he wouldn't mind moving in with me at some point. But I've resisted. I've never had my own space before, and I'm loving the chance to spread my wings and control my own environment.

The apartment came with the standard black leather sofa and chairs, and barstools at the kitchen island. The two bedrooms were set up with basic mattress sets on metal frames and a chest of drawers in each room. The walls and tiles were white, and the carpet was a bland beige. The two things that stood out in the basic apartment were the gleaming black granite countertops with their golden flecks, and the wall of windows overlooking the city. I moved in with a toothbrush, some shampoo, and a duffle bag of clothing that I acquired during initiation. Everything I owned filled one dresser drawer.

Max gave me a whole day off to move, so after the five minutes it took to carry in my bag of clothes, I had a whole day free to shop for the things I needed in my new home. The kitchen came equipped with a few pots and pans, basic white dishware, stainless flatware, and some clear glassware. In my first shopping trip, I picked up basics like dish washing soap and kitchen towels. In a move that was decidedly un-Abnegation, I splurged on high-thread count bedsheets, a down comforter, and the fluffiest bath towels Dauntless stores had to offer.

On my next day off, I spent some points on paint and began to bring color and life into my sterile apartment. I chose a warm beige for the living room and kitchen, sage green for the bathroom, and a soft pearl-ivory for my bedroom, with one accent wall in a deeper shade of green. I bought a deep berry-red blanket for the sofa, and some artwork for the living room walls.

As I proved myself and progressed through leadership training, I allowed myself to relax and feel more at home in Dauntless. I put down roots by setting up my home, and expanded my wardrobe to fit my new life in leadership. Yoga pants and tees for training, suit separates for interfaction meetings – everything in rich Dauntless black.

On one of my days off, I visited Christina at the Dauntless clothing store that she manages. There I fell in love with a beautiful, but expensive, black leather jacket. Christina encouraged my to try it on, and the supple leather fit like it was made especially for me. I determined then and there that when I pass leadership training and earn my new leader bonus, the first thing I'm doing is going back to buy that jacket. Whenever training gets tough and I worry about how I'm going to get through it, I visit Chris at the store and, between my best friend's encouragement and a glimpse of the coveted jacket, I find the strength to keep going.

For me, the physical training is welcome. As my body has grown stronger, my Dauntless side has come to enjoy the confidence and strength that I feel after a good workout. Eric has me running, lifting weights, and occasionally sparring or working with weapons. He's still a tough teacher, but he treats me a lot better than he did when I was an initiate. I also enjoy the figuring and organizing parts of leadership. My Erudite side enjoys the mental puzzles, and I've found that I'm a natural at interfaction relations. The hardest part about leadership is making the tough calls and dealing with people's reactions when they didn't get what they want. I turned away from the Abnegation lifestyle, but my brain is still wired to think that way, and I hate letting people down and disappointing them.

People quickly realized that the Abnegation transfer is more accommodating than the other leaders, and there are those who try to take advantage of it. One member in particular, a self-centered tart named Roxi, is always coming into my office unannounced and demanding that I move her off guarding the wall and into a more comfortable job within the Dauntless compound. After her first visit, I pulled up her file and looked it over. Roxi just barely passed initiation five years ago. Guarding the fence had been the only thing available to her, and her annual evaluations since then show her to be a mediocre worker at best. So I denied her request, and Roxi ramped up her efforts. She whined, and she even filed a grievance against her supervisor that was disproved by surveillance footage. Now she's in my office throwing a toddler-style tantrum, complete with stamping her feet. It would be funny if it wasn't happening in my office. In the middle of Roxi's high-pitched rant, I storm out. "Remove that woman from my office," I growl at Kyle, the receptionist, "and don't let her in without an appointment again."

Slamming the door as I leave the leadership wing, I stomp down to the pit and make my way to the store. Christina finds me in the back, seething and staring at the leather jacket. She cautiously places a hand on my shoulder and asks, "Are you okay?"

"Roxi," is all I can say.

"Ugh, I hate that chick," Christina replies, throwing her arms around me in a fierce hug.

I pat Christina in reply, but my tense muscles don't relax into the hug.

"I'm going to hit the gym," I say.

"Good idea," Christina replies. "Do you want me to call Four?"

I'm surprised that in all my frustration and anger with Roxi it never crossed my mind to talk to Tobias about the situation.

I shake off the suggestion, "I can do this," I tell my friend, willing myself to believe it. "I'm a leader. I don't need to go crying to my boyfriend every time I don't like some part of my job."

"I can do this," I repeat, trying to convince myself as much as Christina.

"You can do this," Christina confirms.

Head held high, I leave the store and head to the training room.

After thirty minutes punching and kicking the heavy bag, I feel better mentally, but worse physically. I'm exhausted, and my knuckles are bruised and bloody because I didn't take the time to wrap them before I attacked the bag. When the pain in my hands breaks through my consciousness, I know that Tobias will scold me for this, too. I grab my water bottle and throw it at the wall.

"Damn it!" I yell.

A dark chuckle sounds behind me. Eric.

"You would think that beating the bag until you're exhausted would calm you down, Stiff. What's bothering you so much?"

"Roxi," I spit out, "and I was starting to feel better until I realized I didn't wrap my hands." I hold my hands up to show him.

Eric's eyes go wide, and one eyebrow arches as he hurries over to get a closer look at my mangled hands.

"Stiff," he says softly, "they look like hamburger. Let's get you cleaned up."

Holding both of my hands in one of his, Eric puts his other hand on my lower back and leads me to the sink along the far wall. He turns on the water and waits for it to reach a comfortable temperature before gently guiding my hands into the flow. I hiss at the sting as the water makes contact with my bruised and bleeding knuckles.

"What did Roxi do this time?" he asks. "Did she offer to sleep with you to get moved off the wall? Maybe threaten to tell dear old Four that you were cheating if you didn't give her what she wanted?"

"No," I chuckle in spite of the stinging in my hands. "Did she do that to you?"

"Once," Eric replies with a grim smile. "Not the cheating thing, she threatened Max with that one. Have you read her disciplinary file? It's pretty wild."

"Disciplinary file?" I ask. "I looked at her initiation file and my performance evaluations, but I didn't know about a disciplinary file."

"Let's go back to the office," Eric replies, still using his gentle voice. "I'll show you how to access disciplinary files and we'll look at some of the best ones. Reading about the Pedrad brothers' escapades will put a smile back on your face."

Eric is right. The stupid pranks that Dauntless dependents and members pull have me laughing in no time. My favorite is the incident when Zeke, Uriah, and a couple of their friends broke into the lower levels building and moved the desks in every classroom. Some were facing backward, some arranged in circles, and some were turned upside down. They changed the clocks throughout the building as well, and each classroom read a different time. Nothing was damaged or stolen, but the Erudite teachers did not appreciate the joke. Security cameras in the school caught the culprits, but since they were dependents at the time, they faced punishment only within Dauntless. The charges of Breaking and Entering and Public Mayhem had not carried over to their adult records.

Eric avoids Roxi's file, but with his information on accessing disciplinary files I can look at it later. At 6:00 Eric convinces me to quit for the day and walks me to the cafeteria, offering to help me carry my tray since my hands are tender and bandaged. He walks me through the line, adding food to my tray as I point it out, then sets my things at an empty seat by Christina, wishing us a nice evening before taking his tray to a table where some of his friends are eating.

"He is so not who I thought he was during initiation," Christina muses.

"I know," I reply. "He treats initiates like garbage, but once you're in he turns out to be a normal human being."

"Who is a normal human being?" asks Tobias as he walks up to the table.

Christina and I slide over to make room for him. "Eric," Christina replies.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." Tobias grumbles.

"Well, he just helped your girl get dinner, and he was almost polite when he wished us a good night," Christina says.

"Why do you need help?" he asks me.

Ugh, here comes the lecture. I hold up my bandaged hands. "I had a rough meeting in the office and took out my frustration on a heavy bag without bothering to wrap my hands. It's no big deal."

Four's eyes darken. "That was careless," he scolds. "Why would Eric do that to you? Why didn't he make you wrap your hands?"

"Eric?" I ask in disbelief. "Eric did nothing. I was in MY office. I had a difficult meeting. I took myself to the gym to blow off some steam, and I didn't think to wrap my hands. All Eric did was show up looking for me and make me stop so he could treat my knuckles. I am a leader, Four, I'm going to have bad days, but I can handle them."

"Leader-in-training," Tobias corrects.

I have to get out of here. I jump up abruptly and walk out of the cafeteria and back to my apartment.

I can't believe him. Why does Tobias continue to act like I can't handle things on my own? I was first jumper, finished first in my initiate class, and was hand-picked for leadership. I have a home of my own and a balanced bank account. I have a good job, and although I don't love every aspect of it, I'm damn good at what I do. Yet he continues to second-guess my decisions and go into "instructor Four" mode any time my opinion differs from his.

A tap on my apartment door pulls me out of my reverie. Tobias coming to apologize, no doubt. He'll say that he was just worried about me. He'll ask to see my hands, and he'll probably insist on changing the bandages before bed. I throw open the door. Christina stands on the other side, a paper bag in her hands. I feel my face fall in disappointment.

"Sorry," says Chris. "It's just me. I brought your food since you didn't get a chance before 'daddy' started scolding you."

"Thanks Chris," I say sadly. "That was really thoughtful of you. I forgot all about eating."

"Well, it's been a hell of an emotional roller coaster today," replies Christina. "I can't stay because Will is waiting for me. Will you be alright?"

"Of course," I reply. "I'm just going to stay in tonight, maybe watch a movie. Thanks to you I'll also have dinner to eat."

Christina looks like she wants to say something, but she gives me a sad smile instead and says goodnight. I go back inside and am just sitting down at the kitchen island with my dinner when there's another knock on the door. This will be Tobias for sure. I throw open the door. It's Eric.

"Everything okay?" he asks.

"Yup," I reply evasively, trying, and failing, to sound upbeat.

"I saw Candor bagging up your dinner. Did she bring it to you?" Eric asks.

"Yes," I reply, "I was just sitting down to eat."

"Okay. Good." Eric shifts his weight from one foot to the other and rubs the back of his neck. "I'll leave you to it."

As he turns down the hall toward his own apartment, he speaks again. "Hey Tris, if you need anything, you know, like help with your bandages or whatever, I'm just down the hall."

"Yeah," I reply quietly. He nods and walks toward his door.

"Hey Eric?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

He nods again and walks into his own apartment. I retreat into mine as well, and this time I bolt the door. I no longer want to deal with Tobias or his apologies tonight.