Hi, so this is my first published fan-fiction, so I'm a bit nervous. Its set a year after the end of divergent if there was no war. (the resolution of that will be explained later). It follows Sunny at 16 year old girl from Amity, from the end of her aptitude test. Enjoy.
Chapter 1:
'Dauntless.'
The word rings in my head, like a gunshot. I heard a gunshot only once, the guards by our farm had fired at a flock of birds above our heads. The people around me screamed and fell to ground, some sobbing in terror, but not me. The sound rippled through my brain, making every fibre of my body tingle. I was scared, but at the same time, I wasn't. It felt right, it felt unknown. It felt like this.
This. This word. Dauntless. I'd watched them guard the fence all my life, I'd watch them jump off the train every morning at school. I'd dreamed about running with them, but never had I imagined I could be one of them.
I'm Amity, I tell myself. There must have been a mistake. But I knew there wasn't. Somebody from Amity would have chosen the cheese, not the knife; a true Amity would have run from danger not towards it. I look at my hands for any signs of blood. I was going to run from the dog, but something told me to choose the knife and then... I butchered it. The Abnegation lady who was controlling my Aptitude test smiles at me.
'Do you feel alright?' she asks.
No, I want to say, to scream at her. I've just betrayed every value my faction holds dear. I was violent when I should have peaceful, angry when I should have calm, cruel when I should have been kind. Instead, I just nod my head and she helps me out of the chair. I leave the room and head back to the cafeteria. I sit down at the Amity table and wait. Unfortunately, I was one of the first people called, so now I have to sit here listening to other members of the faction play a rhyming game, laughing and joking. Yesterday I would have joined them. Heck, half an hour I would have joined them, but not now. My eyes drift over the Dauntless table. Everyone In Amity can dress how they please as long as the colours red and yellow are represented. But the variety in the Dauntless' appearance is striking. The coloured hair and piercings, I even spot a few tattoos. To the rest of the factions Dauntless appears to have the most freedom, but living on the Amity farms has shown me that's not true.
They are the warrior faction, disciplined fighters and I know the guards didn't make it to the top 5 in training. I over hear them talking sometimes, about training. Only parts like: 'jump' and 'train', or 'fear', 'knives', and more recently 'serum', 'Tris', 'Abnegation'. I wonder who this Tris is. If I choose Dauntless tomorrow, then I guess I'll find out. But choosing them means leaving my family behind. Transfers to Amity from other factions are relatively common, by transfer standards, but from Amity to other factions... it's been done, but it's rare. Not as rare as Abnegation transfers but still uncommon. I want to be home right now, or in fields, or in the big tree by my house. I want to be where my family is. But is there where I belong? The test told me I was Dauntless.
Minuets pass, then hours. Finally Jeanine Matthews, steps forward and announces the everyone can leave. The Dauntless practically run out of the building, Candor and Erudite fill out after them, followed by us. Abnegation remains until last. They always remain till the last. As the bus makes its way to the edge of the city, I ponder my choices. There are three. Tomorrow I can choose Amity and remain with my parents, live peaceful life in the fields, maybe become an artist, like my mother. Two: I choose another faction, not Amity but something else, like Abnegation. They always look so calm and serene whenever I see them on the streets. Or three, I choose Dauntless, abandon not just my family, but all of traits that they value. Remake myself the way I choose to. The way I want to. I hear the train tracks creek above me. I know that the Dauntless will be heading back now that schools over. Will I be joining them tomorrow? Will I be getting a train and finally learn where they live? Will I be getting tattoos and dying my hair?
Then It hits me, whatever path I choose I have to pass initiation in order to become a member. I know that I could pass in Amity and with difficulty in Abnegation, but Dauntless? I know that most people fail and those ranked the lowest have to guard the fence by our farms. I can't decide what's worse, failing initiation and having to be factionless or passing and having to watch my previous faction laugh and joke around me, while I guard them. The bus shudders to a holt. Amity are the only people remaining, everyone else having gotten off in the city. As we pass through the gate, I find myself staring at the guard letting us through. She is well built, with bright pink hair, and ring through her lower lip. She wears the same expression I have seen all the guards wear. Blank. Strong. Fierce. I know my little sisters are scared of them, and even my brothers aren't comfortable around them. Simeon calls them rebels, whenever he comes to visit us. As we pass through the gate to the Amity farms, I remember his wedding. Rosie, his wife, and my brother laughed and danced with everyone watching them, me included. It felt good, but my brother chose Amity. He knew where I belonged. So do I but do I have the guts to leave?
My house smells like freshly baked bread and fresh grass and my father's herbal remedies. It always smells like this. I can't leave, I tell myself. I head to the kitchen window and stare out of it. The sky is a cloudless blue, the farms a lush green. The honeysuckle my mother planted is growing up the side of the house. I could be happy here. It is safe, it is peaceful. Its is mundane. It is boring. I ignore the voice in my head. I belong here. I should belong here. I begin preparing dinner. Dauntless, or Amity. Peace or war, home, or away. Am I Sunny or someone else. I laugh to myself at that one. Sunny, the girl named after sunshine, choosing the dark path of Dauntless. My brain continues to argue with itself until my chorus of siblings run in. Only the older four, the younger ones will be with my parents in the fields. They range in age from 14 to 5. Summer, the oldest, tries to take a piece of bread from the board Im cutting it on. I tap her hand away.
'So, how did the test go?'
'Im not allowed to talk about it, you know that.' I turn to her. 'How was your faction history test?' she pulls a face. I laugh.
My next sister, Faith, pipes up. 'She got the worst mark in the class.' Faith's not my biological sister. Her and her sister, Hope, came to live with us when their parents died in an accident. I was quite young but I still remember the shock waves it sent trough the Amity community. I can only imagine the shockwaves my departure would cause. Then it has to be for the right reasons. At that moment, I rule out any other faction than Amity or Dauntless. Any other choice would just be wrong.
'Most of my class is made up Erudite's. They know everything!' Summer retorts.
'Hey' I lay a hand on her shoulder. 'The Erudite children do not know everything. And do not begrudge them the honour of doing well in test. It is what their faction value, and it will make their parents proud.' I start getting out the dishes. 'Jonas, William, please lay the table.'
'But I did it last night and Will the night before.' Jonas moans at me.
Something inside me snaps. I wasn't mad before, but his comment grates at me more than usual. Jonas and William are only 11, but they take for granted that everyone will be nice to them, peaceful and calming. Amity.
'Just DO AS YOUR TOLD' I scream at them. The shock and hurt on both their faces is palpable. Summer and Faith just look at me stunned. 'Im sorry...' I start, and blot for the stairs.
I lay face down on my bed sobbing. I don't know how long I lie there. Might have been 10 minutes, might have been an hour. But eventually my mother comes in. She doesn't say anything. She sits down next to me. My sobs slowly stop. She holds something in her hand. At first I think its bread, laced with peace serum. I hold out my hand. She smiles and shakes her head. It sit up. 'I didn't mean to shout at Jonas. I really didn't. I just...' I falter for words.
'I know .' she replies. Another smile. 'The day I took my test, I threw a lamp across the floor of my parents living room.'
I have never met my grandparents. My mother transferred from Candor, my father from Erudite. I am descended from the honest and intelligent, raised by the kind, why did I have to get violent faction. The thought brings new tears to my eyes. My mother opens her arms and i fall into them. She smoothes my hair, they way she did when I was little.
'I take it you didn't get Amity' she whispers into my ear. I don't need to reply to her, my tears are all the answer she needs. She pulls my face up with her hands and stares into my eyes. My mother's eyes are hazel, a deep brown flecked with spots of green. I have my father's eyes, pale blue. Sometimes there almost grey.
'Sunny, the choosing ceremony tomorrow is big day. You will choose where you spend the rest of your life. Whether that's with us' she pauses, 'our with another faction. It doesn't matter to us. We will love you, no matter what you choose. I made you something.' She pulls her hands away and opens them. Inside is a pendant, simply decorated with leaves. She pulls at its sides, and it opens. I gasp. It's not a pendent, but a locket. We learnt about them in history, they are very rarely seen nowadays. The picture inside is not of a person as would have suspected, but of a tree. The Amity tree at first glance, but as I look closer, I see that the leaves aren't red but brown. And the base is much smaller than the top. Its our tree. The tree that's outside our house, the tree that my siblings and I climb, the tree that I see from my bedroom window, the tree of our family. I look at my mother.
'My mother gave this to me the day of my choosing ceremony. She had no idea that I wouldn't be returning. Otherwise I doubt she would have let me wear it. Back then it showed a picture of scales in perfect balance. But I thought this would be nicer.' She claps the locket shut and into my hands. 'So you can pass it onto your daughter. What every faction she's born into.' She kisses my forehead and grabs my hand. 'Come on, Summer's made dinner'.
We head down stairs and I pull my brothers into a hug. They smile. All anger forgotten, forgiven. We sit around the table and pass food to each other so that each member is served. Flora, my youngest sister, is mashing her potatoes into mush with her spoon, splattering Ash and Simeon. He and Rosie, and their new daughter, Beth, are sharing dinner with us tonight. As I watch each member of my family, I know that tomorrow I have to choose to leave them or to stay. And leaving them might mean my death.