This is my first Divergent fanfic, so I hope you guys enjoy it! I'd really apreciate it if you'd leave me a review with your thoughts and feedback on this story. Enjoy!

Chapter 1 - Begin again

As I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I take a look at my life and realize there's nothing left. I've been blasting and fighting for so long, even my mind thinks that my sanity's gone.

It's been a long time since I last saw my home, too long. The kitchen light is on and there's a delicious smell spreading through the hair. Caleb must be living here again.

As I approach the door and knock, I think about the last 3 years. It's mid-April now, which means that it's been 1198 days since I've seen Caleb or my friends (or Tobias, for that matter) and they all think I'm dead. I wonder what my brother is going to say when he answers the door in a few seconds; I have no clue what to say either. I forgave him long ago and missed him so much over the last 3 years of my life.

Suddenly the doorknob shifts and the door itself cracks open. Caleb looks flabbergasted but after a few seconds, his eyes shine as if he had figured it out and his mouth closes. He smiles briefly and opens the door a bit more for me to get in as he makes his way back to the kitchen. Promptly and without saying a word, my brother adds an extra dish, glass and pair of cutlery to the table.

Caleb still doesn't talk while he carries on with the food he's cooking, though his smile is back. I take a look around my old home. It looks much different now, the walls are still painted in the Abnegation but there are a couple of bookcases filled with books about chemistry, biology, anything and everything. There are also a few painting on the walls, some of landscapes and some are abstract. Our parents would have scolded him if they saw this, chastising Caleb for the self-indulgence of keeping art works at home. I don't think they'd be mad about the books though, I mean, father was from Erudite originally and I know that he must have been able to understand how it feels to thirst for knowledge since he felt it too, at least at some point. Although mom was placed inside the Chicago experiment, she was placed in Erudite and she married and Erudite-born man, she at least had already dealt with this hunger for knowledge.

"Beatrice."

Caleb's voice is soft and just above a whisper. He's hovering over the table while filling our glasses with water and then he looks at me, waiting for me to sit down at the table. He seats down as do I and he holds my hands in his.

"Oh, don't tell me you're going to say graces." I smile at him.

"Little miss Prior, I am a man of science, I do not say graces." He laughs, though his laugh is soft and short, almost like a giggle. His expression turns serious again as he looks into my eyes. "Tris, how are you still alive?"

I knew he was going to ask this so I prepared an answer beforehand, though I feel like Caleb deserves a true and proper explanation, one that comes from the heart. "After I got shot, Mathew found me and took me to the infirmary. The doctors were able to extract the bullets, but they had a lot of questions for me and for Mat too. When I woke up, they demanded explanations. That's when we decided to reset the people at the compound. Originally, we were going to tell everyone that I had survived, but Mat came across a piece of information about the Government and some conspiracy. We took advantage of the fact that everyone was drowsy to further investigate this information." I paused my explanation and took a bite of the food. Caleb had made spiced chicken and noodles, not exactly Abnegation food but not very far from it.

"And then? What did you find out?" Caleb hadn't even touched his food, he was staring at me with a look of pure delight, as if this information I brought him was a big box of chocolates.

"You should eat." I smile before I resume my narrative. "It turned out that the intel was correct: there was indeed a conspiracy in the making taking place at the Government. The United States government, the higher authority of this country and everyone in it. Mat and I met with the intelligence supplier and discovered that the conspirators were acting on a genetic prejudice; whether it was against GPs or GDs, we didn't know, but given the events that took place a few hours prior to that encounter, we assumed it was against GDs."

My story is almost over now. "How did that unfold into you being proclaimed dead when the others came back?" my brother asks while absentmindedly toying with a small piece of chicken.

"Well, I'm guessing you were assuming that I had died. I mean, with the junction of the death serum and the several gunshots that must have been heard in the nearby premises, you and pretty much everyone there had every reason to believe that I had died. It was only logical that I should at least try to uncover the whole thing with the government. By resetting the compound and making everybody believe that they were working towards GP and GD equality, Mat and I couldn't, out of our own sense of morale, let the conspiracy run its course and undo what we had managed to do with the compound. So, Mat was in charge of making you believe I was dead and I was in charge of getting myself into the Government." I finish and take a sip of water. My mouth feels dry even after I drank some water; I was nervous about how Caleb would react.

"I'm assuming you were successful." Caleb looks at me expectantly. Even after all I've told him, he still wants to know more. He truly is an Erudite.

"Indeed I was. It wasn't easy though, I spent a couple of months at The Fringe to get things to work. On this present day, I am Councilman Powell's assistant, basically a Councilwoman-in-training. It's basically the same thing I was invited to do at the compound, but of a bigger dimension." I explain.

"Is this council you speak about the President's Council?"

"It is."

"You must have found out something, at least. It's been 3 years, it's almost impossible that you haven't."

"I have found something. Get ready, I'm going to knock your socks off."

We spend the rest of the night discussing the events of the last 3 years, dinner long forgotten. Once Caleb knows everything, it's already half past midnight, yet he tells me about what everybody has been up to lately. Apparently Johanna is a politician now and Tobias is her trainee; now I know who to talk to first about this matter, but the prospect of facing Tobias makes me nervous. Though a great wrongdoing could come out of us meeting again, the benefit of letting Johanna in on this surpasses everything else. I have to do it.