AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi everyone. I decided the give this sequel a try. I didn't finish the whole plot, but I have enough to get started. I will begin 7 years after the end of Broken.

It will mostly be about what happens to Natalie and Adam, both from their POV and their parent's. I plan to speak about teenager's problems and how parents sometimes can be of help, but don't always find the right way to do it. There will be a major issue for each of the kids too, so part of the story will be from the kid's POV.

Please read and review... as usual

DISCLAIMER : I DO NOT OWN ANY RIGHTS ON DIVERGENT SERIES OR ANY OF ITS CHARACTERS.

1. Tris: 7 years later

Thursday, September 26th

I come back home with Theo and I say as usual "Hi it's Mummy! We're home." As usual, I get no answer, even though Natalie and Adam came back one hour ago.

I install Theo in his bedroom to finish his homework. I tell him to finish learning his poetry that I'll check before dinner.

I go straight to Adam's room where he is reading quietly on the tablet, but with headphones loudly on, as usual. I shake him and ask "Did you finish your homework first?" He does not lift his eyes from the screen nor takes the headphone off, and makes a sigh to answer "Of course I did. You ask me every day."

"I'll check your homework in a minute anyway." I answer. He is only 13 and we have the hardest times to make him go out of his books and loud and violent music. We got over his morbid tastes, his constant dull mood, but I'm really worried about his rebel temper. He pretends we favorite his sister because she's brilliant, and we love his younger brother more than him, for being unspoilt by the experiments in Fort Sheridan years ago.

We tried to have Adam make sports. He is really talented for most of sports, and I understood he is a kind of a champion in martial arts, but we could not help him getting violent in any type of close combat. He is such a rebel that he will never stay in a team for more than a month. We confiscated him the video game consoles after he broke the second one from frustration, after a lost shooting game. That's how he ended up listening to loud music in his bedroom most of the time, no matter how much therapy we've been through. No need to say he has no friends. Curse Marcus for messing our lives even after such a long time! Had Tobias not killed him, I would have with my bare hands. I sigh and remember I have another teenager waiting and she's been much too silent.

When I open Natalie's door, I know something has been wrong. She's lying on her bed, and I can see she has been crying from her red and swollen eyes. I believe this has something to do with others bullying her at school again. Natalie is too brilliant and too lonely. It's not her fault, her brains seem to come from me, or my DNA to be exact. She has one friend in Alice, Zeke and Shauna's eldest daughter - they have three now. The problem is that, this year they are separated, because her teachers insisted on Natalie going to high school one year early, while Alice is still in 8th grade. I understood she was quite happy to miss the ball because I know she has no boyfriend. I understand her brains scare the others, but I thought it would get better with time.

I get in and sit on the bed next to her. "Okay, What's wrong sweetie?"

She looks at me sadly and gives a crumpled paper ball to me. I unfold it and I can read that it's a maths test labeled A+. I know she's been doing very well since she started this year. I ask wonderingly "And what about that? You've done very well Honey..."

"They were mean to me and said I should tell them how I did it." She sniffs a little. "When I answered I just didn't really know how I had done it, they said I could not tell, because I was a cheater."

I come closer to her and take her in my arms. "Hey, sweetie, you know you did not cheat, and you don't care about what they think do you?"

"No, I don't really care… but everybody hates me now. They think that I found some trick to get all the good answers and don't want to share it with them." She says sadly.

I know she had not many friends last year and now she lost Alice too "I know you feel lonely. Maybe it will get better when they'll you're not good in everything."

"Like what?" She says hopefully looking up.

"You're terrible at sports, except dancing of course, and you're no good in singing and arts." I say with a thin smile.

"And you think that'll make it? Mom you don't get it at all. You're too old to understand." I retain a smile at hearing her calling me old. I mean, I'm just over 30! But I guess it's not fun for Natalie so I decide we need a chat.

"Okay what if we discuss it all after dinner? First I must go and check your brothers' homework and prepare something to eat. You've finished your homework of course?"

"Yes. It's a biology lesson and I know more about it than the teacher anyway, thanks to Uncle Caleb and Aunt Cara."

I smile, because I know she's right. Not only did she read all the books Caleb offers her for her birthday, but she started spending time in the lab with Caleb and Matthew last summer. Since she understood that Matthew and Caleb were actually working on some vaccine, to kind of save humanity from genetic disaster, they both appear like living gods to her. I believe that Caleb's books turned her into a science freak… or maybe it's my Erudite's DNA? She doesn't know who gave Matthew the cells to make the vaccines though. I suppose we will have to speak about that some day… and add other problems to the ones we already have?

The vaccine has been ready for nearly five years now, and every pregnant women must get an injection in the first 2 months ever since. Christina had the vaccine for her second child, a girl named Deryn. Her son is seven and is very good friends with Theo. Our gang is growing bigger. The problem is that they still don't really know if the repaired DNA will pass through the next generation.

Before I get up from Natalie's bed, I just ask with a wink "Would you need me to give you a mood-song?" She nods with a smile. The mood-song is something I invented two years ago, because we're not the talkative family type, and I could not easily speak with Adam and Natalie. That's why I tried to find a way to communicate with them, even when we could not find words. I started this as a game where we would choose a song or a music, which would describe our mood to others. You could respond either with any other song or with speech if you wished.

During this game, I received love songs (not only from Tobias), anger songs, baby songs, hope songs sad or happy ones. Sometimes, I would also just put a nice music on just to make the atmosphere cooler, some other times I would play something on the piano when I felt like it. Theo seems to like playing it a little. We still use the game when needed, but recently it has been more often to find a song to help one of us get better. I get out to grab my tablet where I store the music files. I know what she needs right now... I give it back to Natalie with Firework from Katy Perry…

You don't have to feel like a wasted space
You're original, cannot be replaced
If you only knew what the future holds
After a hurricane comes a rainbow

Maybe a reason why all the doors are closed
So you could open one that leads you to the perfect road
Like a lightning bolt, your heart will glow
And when it's time you'll know

You just gotta ignite the light and let it shine
Just own the night like the 4th of July

'Cause, baby, you're a firework
Come on, show 'em what you're worth...

While I check Theo's homework, I hear Tobias coming back. I peer through the door to ask him if he can check Adam's homework, while I give Theo his bath and cook for dinner.

A/N

Sorry this chapter stops here. I promise you another one during this week-end. Please follow the story if you want to know when it's online