Before she knew it, Clary and the other Dauntless were running out of the building. Clary stayed as close to Maia as she could. Even though she was from Amity, Maia had a dark side about her. She'd been hardened, although by what Clary didn't know.
Clary heard the train whistle as it came closer and she didn't know if she felt excited or nervous. She'd never jumped on a train before, had never even considered it. She watched the Dauntless jump on in front of her. Jump, grab the handle, pull in. Most of the initiates were in front of her and already jumping on. Then it was their turn. Maia jumped without hesitating, grabbing the handle and pulling herself in seemingly effortlessly. Clary bent her knees and sprang, reaching for the train. But she'd misjudged. She wasn't going to reach the handle, she was going to fall and become factionless, she-
Maia grabbed her hand and pulled Clary in, and they moved off to the side as the rest of the initiates jumped into the train.
"Thanks," Clary said, turning to Maia.
"Any time girl," Maia said with a smile. "You'll get the hang of it I'm sure." Clary nodded but didn't say anything. The wind was picking up as the train went faster, so her words probably would've gotten lost in the noise anyway.
After they had jumped off the train and onto the top of a building (losing only one initiate (an Erudite transfer), the Dauntless leader gathered everyone at the opposite end of the building, introducing himself as Four. Clary was confused how they were going to get to the compound exactly, and she looked around as Four spoke.
"You're going to have to jump," A voice whispered by her ear. She jumped and turned to see Jace, his golden hair shining brightly in the sunlight, a smirk on his face.
"You say that like I wouldn't do it," She replied, crossing her arms.
"You're a Stiff. You certainly won't do it if you don't have to." Jace said. Clary glared.
"Says you. I'm not a Stiff. I'm a Dauntless initiate and I would jump off this building any day." Clary said shortly, annoyed he would think so low of her. Just because she was from Abnegation didn't mean she lived by their rules all the time, and especially not now.
"Oh, really?" Jace asked doubtfully. Clary nodded defiantly. "Prove it."
"How?" Clary asked immediately, feeling the need to prove herself.
"Jump." Jace said. When she looked at him, confused, he finished. "First."
"What?" Clary asked, surprised. Jumping first wasn't that big a deal, she would have to do it anyway. "That's it? You want me to jump first?"
"Yup," Jace answered simply. His eyebrow shot up. "Unless you're too scared and you were lying about wanting to be Dauntless."
"I'm not a liar." Clary said through gritted teeth.
"Maybe you should've gone to Candor then." Jace replied. Clary didn't say anything and Jace stalked off. Clary watched until he was out of sight, then turned back to Maia, who looked at Clary with her eyebrows raised.
"Well, well, getting into a spat already? You really might be cut out for Dauntless." Maia commented, laughing.
"Thanks, I think." Clary replied.
"Just a warning, Jace isn't exactly the golden boy he looks. He's trouble. You might want to stay away from him." Maia said.
"I wasn't looking to go near him in the first place." Clary said defensively, not entirely sure this was true. If nothing else, she would at least like to get a good enough look at him to draw him, now that she could draw freely.
"Alright, fine. I'm just saying." Maia said, raising her hands into the air in defeat.
Clary stuck her tongue out and Maia laughed.
"I'm gonna do it," Clary said excitedly, already feeling the adrenaline pumping through her.
"Do what?" Maia asked.
"Jump first!" She replied. Maia shook her head.
"Alright, your funeral." Maia said before shooing her ahead and towards the front of the pack of initiates.
"You want us to jump?" One of the transfers asked incredulously.
"Yes." Four replied flatly. "Who wants to go first?" Clary hesitated. It was true that she had no idea what was down there, but at the same time she wanted to take the risk and prove herself. She stepped forward before anyone else could. Four nodded at her and moved to the side. She carefully stepped up onto the ledge, hoping she wouldn't lose her balance or do anything stupid. She forced herself not to look back at Jace, who would probably be sneering at her. She couldn't see to the bottom of the pit, nothing but blackness. She took a deep breath, bent her knees, and jumped.
For a moment Clary felt like she was flying, and if she'd been able to, probably would've stretched out her arms. But the wind was too strong, and it lasted for only a moment. She hit a net hard and winced. She rolled over, towards what she thought was the edge of the net. A strong hand reached up and she grabbed it and allowed herself to be pulled down out of the net.
When she was on her feet, the man attached to the hand smiled at her.
"Welcome to Dauntless," He said as a group below them began to cheer. Clary couldn't help but smile as she walked down and leaned against a wall. Her heart was still pounding but she was happy. Maybe she could do this after all.
It was some time before everyone had jumped down. Most of the transfer initiates went after the Dauntless born, although there were a few that jumped fairly early on. Maia had jumped only a few people after Clary. The two girls stood together, leaning against a wall.
"This is so crazy," Maia commented, watching person after person jump. After a moment she added, "I love it."
"It's certainly Dauntless for you," Clary replied, scanning the room. Nearly everyone was down here, only a few were left to jump from the top and she was pretty sure they were all transfers. She couldn't see much through the sea of black, couldn't find any way to distinguish one clump of Dauntless from the next.
Clary looked at Maia again, only to realize that she was staring at her.
"What?" Clary asked, crossing her arms defensively.
"You're looking for him aren't you?" Maia said accusingly.
"No!" Clary protested. "I was just… getting a look at everything and everyone. It's very different here than it was back in Abnegation."
"Yeah, that's true. It's loud and fun and great and daring and-" Maia ranted excitedly.
"I know." Clary interrupted. "It's Dauntless. And we're both going to have to get used to it. Of course, you're halfway there, being from Amity." Before Maia could say anything, the initiates were called together and lead down many twisting halls, that all looked the same in Clary's opinion. She was going to end up lost so often…
"Alright, Dauntless born will split off now, unless they really want a tour of the place they've lived their whole lives." The woman leading us called. Her comment got some chuckles out of everyone, but it didn't last long. Clary tried and failed to recall the woman's name, and shrugged it off. The woman lead the Dauntless born down the right branch and the rest of them were lead down the left. There weren't many of the transfers, only 10 Clary counted, 11 including herself. There weren't any other Abnegation transfers. Of the 10, Clary counted 2 Amity (including Maia), 4 Candor, and 4 Erudite. At first glance, no one in particular made an impression. So she hung by Maia, trying to pay attention to where everything was.
When they reached the room where they would be staying the woman leading them rattled off instructions— times they would get up, when training would start, what they would be doing— but Clary wasn't paying much attention. She wanted to settle in and sleep. The adrenaline from earlier had worn off, and she wasn't used to so much exertion. She didn't have to wait long. The woman left, and everyone choose their beds. Clary chose hers in the middle of the room, next to Maia. Soon enough, they were all in bed, trying to sleep.
It took Clary some time to fall asleep. She kept thinking of Simon and her family, and wishing they could be here too. Especially Simon. She hadn't expected him to choose Erudite, but in hindsight she could see why. He was a curious person, and hadn't made too much effort to hide his enjoyment of the books they were assigned at school. But she had always pegged him for Dauntless too— he had been talking about going to Dauntless and joining a band, and he enjoyed playing games and reading up on myths when no one was looking. She came to the conclusion that it was the aptitude test that had changed his mind. It must have been. He had said that he'd been meant for Abnegation and Erudite, not Dauntless at all. The problem was, she had no one to talk about it with. They weren't supposed to talk about the results of their aptitude tests, although it wasn't strictly forbidden. She'd heard that it was once, and assumed that that was why everyone thought it so taboo. Clary sighed and rolled over, forcing herself to shut her mind off and get some sleep. She would need it.
A/N: Hey guys! Sorry that I don't update regularly, but I never said I would. I fixed the first chapter, because I finally went back and edited it properly. If you don't wanna re-read it, not much changed. I fixed the POV thing and changed the Dauntless leader from Max to Four, because I realized that that's where I want to go with this. Sorry for any confusion. Anyway, thanks for reading! I appreciate all follows, favorites, and especially comments. I'll update as soon as possible (but don't expect much…) Stay lovely!
Ps- I'll try and update my other Divergent fanfic soon, but I think I'm starting that one over. Sorry, stay with me I'm trying! Thanks again~