This is an AU story starting from towards the end of Divergent. It begins (from Tris' POV) the day after the initiation rankings are released. There has been no 'tracking serum' and no war on Abnegation (yet).


Chapter One - Tris

I wake slowly with a growing feeling of anticipation that I don't immediately understand. I blink my eyes and roll my shoulders, feeling the crackle of my joints. The dormitory is quiet, most people are still asleep. The celebrations went on late into the night – for some at least.

For me, the exhaustion of the last few weeks hit me soon after seeing my name on the list of new members.

Pushing myself up on my elbows, I realise that I'm being watched.

Christina sits, cross-legged, on her bed across from me. A smile is spread across her face and her eyes are bright. I know what she's thinking but she says it anyway. "It's over. We did it."

I grin back. "We did it." She presses her palms against her cheeks like she is trying to supress some of her excitement. It's Saturday and we get the weekend to ourselves. On Monday the rest of our Dauntless lives begin.

I dress in a hurry but keep my movements as quiet as possible; I don't want to share this moment with anyone else. As my hand sweeps over my covers, checking my space is tidy and that I'm leaving nothing important behind, I see the two empty beds at the far end of the dorm. Molly and Drew.

Factionless. A tightness grips my chest like two hands squeezing the air from my lungs. I don't feel sorry for them. I don't.

I wonder where they will go, if they will stay together, if they will survive. I think of the factionless man I met after my aptitude test and shudder. Christina comes to stand beside me. She is looking at the empty beds too but her face is hard and shows none of the pity that I am afraid my face is unable to hide.

"It was them or us," she says. "And I'm not sorry that it's them."

"Neither am I." And it's true. It's selfish, but I'd never swap my life in a faction for theirs outside, always on the edge looking in. More proof that I could never have been Abnegation.

She pulls my arm, "Let's go."

We grab a quick breakfast but the excitement that I woke with has returned. Eating feels like a waste of time when there is so much more we could be doing. But when we have both eaten we find ourselves looking at each other, waiting for the other to suggest where to go, what to do. Maybe because there is 'so much' we could do, we are floating in the sea of possible choices.

"This is going to sound odd," Christina starts quietly, even though there is almost no one else around to hear, "but the place that keeps coming into my mind is the training centre. I feel like all this," she pauses, laughs and continues, "all this freedom is filling me up and I think I might burst if I don't shoot something!"

I laugh. Really laugh and Christina does too.

I never had free time in Abnegation and I've not been Dauntless long enough to know how to relax here. I'm on edge too and the training centre feels right. This is the first day we can go there by choice. It's not like it's full of happy memories for either of us but somehow it feels safe, familiar.

We set off at a walk but with one glance and no words we both break into a run. Running was one of the things that first drew me to Dauntless - the pounding of my heart, the rush of blood to my muscles. I'm more alive when I run.

"So…" she says, eyebrows raised, as we slow slightly and jog together towards the training rooms.

I glance across at her, "'So' what?"

She rolls her eyes, "Are you going to tell me about you and Four, or not?"

"Oh," I say and look away. I feel a shy smile and a growing heat in my cheeks that has nothing to do with our running but no words come out of my mouth.

I think about him finding me in the crowd after the names of the top ten initiates were released, his lips brushing over mine, his fingers on my neck. Tobias. After that I got swallowed into the celebrations and I lost him in the press of people all around us.

I miss the feel of his hands on my skin. The thought both surprises and excites me, but it also reminds me where I am. I drag my mind back to the present to find Christina staring at me; she wears a smug smile that makes me think of the Candor she used to be. But she's Dauntless now. We both are.

She's still waiting for an answer. "It still too… new to share," I say.

Christina shoves me with her elbow, knocking me into the wall, but laughs, "That's your inner Stiff speaking."

I laugh too. She is probably right.

We get to the training room and hunt around for something to do. Christina reaches for a gun while I choose a selection of knives. Knife throwing seems more significant to me. It makes me feel closer to him.

I give myself a shake, ashamed of how quickly my thoughts returned to Tobias. I nearly drop the knives in favour of a gun after all, but I don't. Today is my day to spend how I want. Today I am free.

We both choose targets at the end of the room. And whether it's by accident or not, I end up facing the same target that I once stood up against, waiting for the knives to fly towards me.

Christina and I spend a happy half hour in front of our targets. She is more relaxed than I am; improving my aim is becoming an obsession, which Christina playfully points out.

"Hey," we turn to see Will jogging towards us. He smiles at us both but his gaze lingers on Christina. "I thought that since we're now allowed to leave the compound alone we could spend the day somewhere new. You know, just jump on a train and see where it takes us?"

"Great! You up for it Tris?"

I know Will was including me in his plan but I can tell they're both hoping I won't come. "I'm good here, but have fun." They wave and I watch them go, each with an arm around the other. It looks simple, what they share, so at ease with each other.

I turn back to my target and continue to throw. My arm aches so I swap to my left, frustrated at first by my lack of co-ordination but soon finding the same pattern - my breathing, my arm and my intentions all in sync.

I'm just about to throw when a knife flies past my head and hits the board with a soft thud. Dead centre.

"Get you own target Four," I call back without looking. I can feel his silent smile and though his feet make no sound I know he is now right behind me.

I raise the knife again, still in my left hand. I'm tempted to swap back to my stronger arm but he will see. I won't give him that satisfaction; I won't doubt myself in front of him.

I release the knife and watch as it flies end over end towards the board. It sticks, but lower and to the left of Four's knife. Immediately, I raise my arm to try again.

His hand covers mine, adjusting my grip, "You're holding too tight. And your hand is shaking." I scowl, I know my hand is shaking but that's got nothing to do with my throwing ability and everything to do with how close he is standing. He moves his hand from mine only to then rest it on my hip.

Ignoring his touch, I try again. This time my knife lands flush against his, any closer and it would have bounced off the handle. I smile to myself.

"Better," he says, I can hear the smile in his voice too. The hand on my hip tightens and he wraps his other arm around my waist pulling me back against him.

I stare at the target unseeing, focussed instead on the feel of his breath on my shoulder, his nose brushing my hair aside, his mouth on my neck. I sigh, closing my eyes and tilting my head as he moves his mouth up the column of my neck.

"I've been looking for you," he whispers against my ear.

"You found me," I reply.


Continue…? Lx