Be brave, Tris.

Disclaimer – I don't own any of the characters etc. Please enjoy :)

Everyone had left the graveyard a few hours ago, all except for two black clad figures standing beside the newly dug grave, they were perfectly still, not moving, as though movement would cause this torment to become real, to become their reality.

Time stood with them, they had been there for minutes, hours, weeks, maybe even years, they didn't know any more. It no longer mattered without her.

The scene was split as the smaller figure's hand rose to the shoulder of the other, the fingers trembled and shook, one wrong move and the man would fade to dust.

"Four," a jittery voice began "Four, you know that it's okay to-"

She was cut off by a harsh and dominating word:

"Go."

The finality of the word seemed to seep into the woman and drive every fibre of her being to walk away, leaving a single, solitary, heartbroken, man standing before a frigid, bitter headstone that read:

'Here lies Beatrice Prior, a friend, an idol, a hero to us all."

Reading the cold, stone words seemed to jolt something in the man and he switched from one foot to the other, shifting his weight until his will buckled and he fell, sobbing, beside the grave.

A few minutes ticked by, the time dissolving with each grief-stricken cry, until in one moment, the tears ceased to fall, the world ceased to cry, and the man looked up.

"Tris," he spoke directly to the grave "why did you do it? Oh god, stupid question really. Because that's who you are. You help people even when they don't ask for your help. This should've been Caleb's funeral."

The man paused and shook his head.

"You wouldn't have let him, you were never really going to, were you? Of course you weren't, you're too good, too pure. I know that you didn't think you were, you thought that you were a monster, ever since the moment you let your blood trickle onto those coals.

You could never be a monster.

You see, the thing about monsters, is that they let it change them. They let their bitterness and envy turn them into a villain, you are not a villain, you're a hero. It says so on your grave, see? Which is stupid, you never would've wanted to be stuck, unmoving in some puddle of mud, which is why I had to endure that horrendous zipline that you loved so much, I did it for you, Tris. It was all for you.

Everyone keeps saying that it's okay for me to melt down, to be angry, to break, but you wouldn't have wanted that.

You'd say to be strong.

You'd tell me that it's okay but that I need to get back out there and do what's right.

You always do what's right.

It came so naturally to you. It's why you're Abnegation, because you protected everyone else before yourself, and you knew what to do, because you're Erudite, and you never turned people away, you forgave everyone and treated them with kindness even if they had betrayed you, because you're Amity, and you made decisions that were honest and true to your heart and to others, because you're Candor, and you put on a brave face despite the world crumbling around you, you're Dauntless. You're everything. You're everything I hoped to be, Tris, and you still didn't think that you were worth it.

I'm telling you right now, you're worth it to me, and if I could do this thing one hundred times over, I'd still choose you, I'd choose you over and over again. I'd help you down from the net, and ask you your name, and push you to your breaking point, and kiss you, and take on the world with you, but I'd die for you this time, Tris. I'd go with Caleb and take his place for you, I'd take a thousand shots to the face if I could switch our fates. Because now you're gone.

And I can't do anything to protect you.

I promised that I would, and now I've let you down.

I'm sorry, Tris.

I'm so sorry.

I don't know what you're doing right now, you could be up in the clouds, you could be completely gone, or you could be standing right beside me, I just don't know. But whatever the hell is waiting out there for you right now, I need you to promise me one thing Tris, just one thing.

Be brave.

Be brave for me, and I'll be brave for you."

With that, the tall, strong figure, all dressed in black turned, and he walked away, leaving the headstone in silence once more.