A/N: Another Divergent fanfic. I really couldn't stop. Enjoy and review please! :)
Disclaimer: Everything you recognize from the Divergent Trilogy belongs to Veronica Roth. This fanfic has content from Chapter 3 of Insurgent.
Brother Talk
Caleb Prior takes a deep breath before he knocks on Tobias' door.
A few moment later, the door opens. Revealing a very shocked, shirtless Tobias.
"Hello, Tobias." Caleb shifts his weight on one foot awkwardly, "May I come in?"
"Uh, sure."
Tobias steps aside and lets Caleb into his borrowed room in Amity. Once they got comfortable (and fully clothed), with Tobias sitting on the bed and Caleb on the chair a few feet away, Caleb states the reason of why he came, "Let's talk about Tris."
"What about Tris?"
"You're seeing my sister."
Tobias raises his eyebrow, "Yes. And?"
"I still think that you're too old for my sister."
"Is that the only thing you're concerned about?"
Tobias is starting to get amused.
"No." Caleb says, "I need to know your intentions toward my sister."
Tobias lets out a laugh, "My intentions?"
Caleb feels his cheeks getting hotter, "I don't want Tris to get hurt."
"And neither do I. Trust me, I wouldn't hurt her." Tobias suddenly frowns, his head in his hands, "But I almost did."
Caleb's expression turns to anger, "What did you do to her?"
"During the war." He takes a deep breath, "I- I was under a simulation. I wasn't aware. The simulation made me see friends as foes. All I could understand then was that she was dangerous."
Unexpectedly a single tear escapes Tobias' eye, "God, Caleb. I almost killed her."
"What happened?"
"I woke up." He raises his head to look Caleb in the eyes, "She woke me up."
"How? But that's impossible." Caleb has read in a book when he was still at the Erudite compound that it was impossible to wake up in the middle of a simulation.
"I heard her voice, calling to me. Somehow, she woke me up."
They fall into a silence, both of them not saying a word to the other for the longest time.
"She's.. special, Caleb. She's a very important person to me." Tobias manages to say, "And I wouldn't hurt her. As long as I'm in control, I would never hurt her."
"I believe you."
"And even if I try to hurt her, I can't." Tobias says, "She's strong, your sister. She wouldn't let me hurt her."
Caleb doesn't say a word.
"She's not Beatrice anymore, Caleb. She's not the little girl you know before."
He can only nod at that.
After a while, a smile creeps into Caleb's lips, "How did you two meet anyway?"
"Ah, I was her instructor during initiation."
Caleb raises his eyebrow but didn't say anything.
"Well, your sister's really brave. I think that's one of the main reasons I noticed her in the first place. She was the first to jump off the roof."
"The one with the net below?"
Tobias looks shocked, "How do you know that?"
"I got into the Dauntless compound from there. During the war."
"You jumped?"
"Oh, don't sound too surprised, Tobias." Caleb frowns, "I'd never do something like that again, though. I still don't understand why my sister chose Dauntless. You guys are crazy."
Caleb motions for Tobias to continue on with his story.
"Anyway, there was this one time Eric forced me to throw knives at an initiate while he stood in front of the target." He smiles at the memory, "Tris volunteered to take his place."
"And then you throw knives at her?" Caleb says in surprise, "So much for trying not to hurt her."
"Well, I didn't intend to hit her." Tobias adds, "If I had wanted to, she would have been dead right now."
"And you're so good at throwing knives."
"Trust me, I'm pretty damn good."
"Then prove it."
Caleb eyes searches the room and they finally land on the bread and cheese the Amity had left for Tobias to eat.
He takes the cheese and put it on top of the dresser, then picks up the butter knife that was placed on the plate alongside the food and gives it to Tobias.
Tobias raises his eyebrow, "You want me to throw a butter knife. At a hunk of cheese."
Caleb only shrugs as if saying 'what else can we do?' and Tobias smiles, "All right then."
Tobias gets up from the bed and sits on the floor instead, one leg stretched out. He takes a deep breath, aims, and lets go of the knife.
It hits the cheese with amazing precisions.
Caleb stares at Tobias, then at the cheese, "Do all Dauntless do that?"
"Yes." Tobias plucks the knife out of the cheese, "I'm probably gonna regret asking this but, you wanna try it?" He offers the knife to Caleb, handle first.
Caleb takes the knife, "Yeah."
He takes a stance and throws the knife toward the cheese on the opposite wall. It bounces off the wall, not even close to the target.
Tobias laughs loudly and says, "No, not like that."
"What do you mean, 'not like that'? I imitated you perfectly."
"You did not."
"Well, do it again, then." Caleb says, giving the knife back to Tobias.
He once again throws the knife, and at that moment the door opens.
Caleb stares in disbelief at the cheese, surprised that Tobias managed to hit it again, then he stares at his sister, who stands in the doorway, "Tell me he's some kind of Dauntless prodigy. Can you do this too?"
"With my right hand, maybe." Tris answers, "But yes, Four is some kind of Dauntless prodigy. Can I ask why you're throwing knives at cheese?"
"Caleb came by to discuss something." Tobias says, leaning his head against the wall, "And knife-throwing just came up somehow."
A small smile inches its way across Tris' face, "As it so often does."
"Anyway, I should be getting back to my room." Caleb says, looking from Tobias to Tris and back again, shooting Tobias a look that says 'don't mess with my sister', "I'm reading this book about the water-filtration systems. The kid who gave it to me looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to read it. I think it's supposed to be a repair manual, but it's fascinating." He pauses. "Sorry. You probably think I'm crazy too."
"Not at all," Tobias says with mock sincerity, " Maybe you should read that repair manual too, Tris. It sounds like something you might like."
Caleb, not catching the sarcasm, says, "I can loan it to you."
"Maybe later." Tris says.
Caleb walks out the door and closes it behind him, leaving Tobias and Tris alone. He laughs a little, wondering whether he would ever master the art of knife-throwing. He wonders whether Tobias would mind giving him another lesson sometimes.
