Title: Decades
Author: Alysia
Summary: This is set years after the events that take place in Allegiant. Four did eventually move on and live a long and relatively happy life. And Tris watched from the other side. It's not a HEA in the conventional sense, but they'll be happy in the ever after.
Disclaimer: I don't own any characters familiar to the Divergent series, I'm just borrowing them for a short time.
Author's note: This is my first story in this fandom, so I hope I don't disappoint. I suppose this could be considered spoilerish if you don't know the events that occur in the third book of the series. Also, I don't know what belief system these characters are supposed to have about the afterlife (as I have never read the books and the movies didn't address it). This is something I was inspired to write when the idea wouldn't leave me alone, so I apologize ahead of time if I have gotten it completely wrong. Anything written in italics should be considered conversations in the past.

Sixty-Two years.

It had been sixty-two years since she'd been taken from the world. Sixty-two years in which she had been trying to find acceptance in her death. She'd had decades to come to terms with it, and it was always a bitter pill to swallow.

Divergent.

From the moment Tori told her the truth, she'd hated the word. She never wanted to be divergent. She never wanted the responsibility that came with it. And yet, she'd been thankful at times for it. Because she knew that if it wasn't for that, the world would have turned out much different. It had come to be both a blessing and a curse.

Yet when her life faded away and she fell into her mother's arms, she knew her life had ended. She'd rejoiced in the fact that she was reunited with her mother, but she'd also mourned for the loss of her life, mourned for the fact that she wouldn't be a part of the new world that she'd helped create. She mourned for the life that she would never have, a life with Four. And when her mother tried to get her to move on, she found that she found herself unable to.

"I can't go."

Cupping her daughter's face in her hands, Natalie smiled sadly. "This isn't the place for you."

Tris nodded, understand the observation. "But if I go…I won't see him again."

"Of course you will," her mother denied. "You can greet him the same way I met you. Beatrice, if you stay, there will be nothing but heartache for you," she cautioned her. "You'll be forced to watch him move on and live a life that you are no longer a part of."

"I know…"

Growing up in Abnigation, she never feared death. More than anything, she feared missing out on life, of being a part of a faction that wasn't suited to her. She didn't think that she'd been a selfless person, she'd never quite fit that mold; not the way her family had. Yet when it came down to the final moments, she'd never been more Abnigation.

There must have been a reason that Four hadn't been with her then. Because if he had, he never would have allowed her to switch places with Caleb. Caleb, whom she swore she would never forgive. But she'd had years to work at that forgiveness. And she supposed that she found justification upon seeing the way that her brother was forced to live his life. He was the last remaining Prior to live, and their family line would die with him. He lived a lonely life, always keeping himself separate from others. And when he'd succumbed to death at the age of fifty, been there to greet him. She had the chance to offer him the forgiveness that had been denied to him in life. And when their mother returned to usher him to the afterlife, she'd stayed behind. Again, she was unable to move on.

As the years continued to pass, she'd met with various friends and foes as they journeyed to whatever was waiting for them on the other side, she never went with them. She couldn't bring herself to leave that place. She no longer lived, but at least she was afforded the opportunity to see Four.

She watched over him from the moment after her death. And her heart broke for him as he attempted to find life once again. It had taken him two years before he found a sense of normalcy. And there were women, but he never looked twice at any of them; until her. Then she was overcome with jealousy when he met the woman that would one day become his wife. She'd known just what Zoe would become to him, maybe before Four himself knew; and it was all in a look. She knew, it because it was the same look he had given her once upon a time.

It was the first time she'd regretted her decision not to follow her mother. She'd been forced to watch their relationship grow and she'd been embittered by the fact that he moved on, that he'd forgotten about her. It wasn't until she watched him struggle with his decision to propose to Zoe that her thoughts changed. It had been a perfectly nice day, and he'd begged off for some time alone. And Tris realized that he was saying goodbye once again. As he stared at the sky, he begged her for forgiveness for moving on and falling in love a second time. And she did what she could for him, she found peace and gave him the forgiveness that he so desperately begged for. She stopped watching his life as closely as she had, only witnessing a few moments of it.

Despite the fact that Four had a long and happy marriage, he and Zoe only had the one child. A Daughter; that he named after her. Rosalyn Beatrice. And she was left breathless as she watched him meet his daughter for the first time. He lived for his daughter, adored her. Four had been so many things to her in life, but he was so much more without her.

"You're her…"

The words pulled at her attention, and Tris turned to the voice. Before her stood Zoe. She was young and beautiful and Tris could grudgingly understand how it was that Four found her attractive.

"You've been watching, waiting for him," the blonde woman observed. "I suppose it's fitting," she muttered.

Tris frowned at her, wondering where the bitterness had come from. It wasn't as if she'd been around to get in between the two of them. And Zoe had the life with Four that she'd wanted! There was no reason for it.

"He was always a doting father and faithful husband." He'd never strayed from her, and they'd been happy, but she knew what was left unsaid. "But you were always in his dreams."

"But you had him, you had the life I wanted," Tris responded sadly.

Four lived another ten years longer than his departed wife, living long enough to greet four grandchildren and one great-grandchild. And when he died, he was an old man and warm in his bed.

"Tris?"

Nervously, she pushed her hair behind her ears and stepped closer to him.

He looked around at their surroundings. "Where are we?"

She shook her head. "I've been treating it as a waiting room."

"You were waiting for me?"

"I was yours…and you were mine," she smiled. "I'd wait forever for you," Tris finished, walking into his embrace.

Her arms wound around his waist and he easily accommodated her presence. She fit against him the way she used to, perfectly. Wrapping his arms around her, he claimed her mouth, reacquainting himself with her.

After she was ripped from his life, he didn't know if he could live without her. And he'd never been an overly religious person, but he supposed that after a few years, whatever higher being had taken pity on him and brought love into his life once again. Though it was never the same. He loved Tris and Zoe so completely, but so differently and he'd tried not to compare them. Tris had only been in his life for such a brief amount of time, but his love for her had never faded. He never stopped missing her. And though he never mentioned anything to his wife, there were moments that he suspected Zoe knew.

"I've missed you," he confessed, kissing his way down her neck.

She hugged him tighter against her. "I've missed you too. I love you, I love you so much…" Tears welled in her eyes and she was nearly overcome with emotion. "I'm sorry. I never wanted to leave you."

He shook his head. "I should have been there," he denied, his voice hoarse with emotion.

"You were right where you needed to be," she argued softly. Cupping his face in her hands, she kissed him again. "I came to terms with this a while ago." Closing her eyes, she rested her forehead against his.

Briefly resting his forehead against hers, he stole another kiss. "I suppose I will need time to come to terms with it…"

"All we have is time…" Opening her eyes, she looked at the door that she'd always denied herself from going through. "I wish I could tell you what to expect."

"It doesn't matter," he denied. "Together?" Four asked, her hand still encased in his.

"Together," she said, entwining their fingers as they stepped into the unknown.

AN: I hope that you guys will forgive me if Four or Tris are OOC. I am new to the series, as I have only recently seen the movies and never read the books. I was curious about the series after seeing the first and second movies. I read the Wikipedia on it and this short little story entered my head and wouldn't leave me alone.