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Tris POV

"What the fuck is going on Tris?" Tori asks, clearly exasperated.

"I don't even know where to start." I answer honestly.

"Well, you can start by telling me why on earth you are kissing a fucking traitor. Oh and tell me where the hell your boyfriend is! Jack keeps spouting this traitor nonsense about Four. Tris, where is he?"

"Four isn't my anything. He and his father are traitors working for Jeanine and the factionless. Four's supposedly dead mother is very much alive and leading the factionless. Eric isn't a traitor, he saved me from Jeanine. He was working with a small group to stop her. My brother Caleb, Peter, Uriah, Marlene, Lynn, Christina and Will are part of our group. We have a mole within the factionless too. Tori, this is big. Jeanine might be dead, but the factionless are working with the Daunless traitors and Jeanine's loyals to overthrow the government. We're not sure what they are planning to do but Edward, who is our factionless mole, is gathering information."

"Oh my god, Tris. Four? A traitor? I just can't believe it. Does Eric even have any proof of what he's alleging?" She asks.

"He showed me camera footage of Four attacking me, and of he and Marcus delivering me to Erudite. I didn't believe them at first either, but it's true. Plus, Eric knew he'd be arrested here and he wants to go under the truth serum to clear his name." I reply. Over Tori's shoulder, I see a very familiar face approaching.

"Zeke!" I cry out, running to him. He scoops me up in his arms and twirls me in a circle, planting sloppy kisses all over my face.

"Tris, I thought you were dead. I'm so glad to see you. Where have you been?" He asks.

I fill both of them in on what I remember from my time in Erudite, my time in Abnegation and in Amity, and our move from Amity to Candor.

"My brother is alive." Zeke says with tears in his eyes. "Thank god. I can't believe Four. Fuck. He's my best friend."

"I can't either." I shake my head.

"But Eric? He was working with Jeanine." Zeke replies. "We saw them meet, many times."

"I think you'll find a different version once they put him under truth serum. It's not my story to tell." I reply.

"Do you believe whatever it is that he's told you?" Zeke asks.

"Yes. Right now, he's one of the few I do trust. He saved my life."

"I don't believe him. My brother is dead because of him Tris. Even if he suddenly had grown a conscious, he has blood on his hands from all of the divergents he killed." Tori says bitterly.

We're interrupted by an announcement. "The trial of Eric Coulter will start in 15 minutes, all interested parties need to gather. Thank you."

"Damn, that was quick." Zeke remarks.

"Jack doesn't fuck around when it comes to war criminals." Tori says evenly.

Zeke, Tori and I head to the main conference room and it's standing room only. We force our way towards the front and wait. Eric is brought in, still handcuffed and being roughly handled by his guards. He looks panicked as he scans the crowd until he finds me. He sees me surrounded by Zeke and Tori and relief washes over his features. He meets my eyes and holds my gaze.

"Eric Coulter, you've been accused of murder, conspiracy to commit murder and treason. You will be injected with truth serum and questioned. May the truth set you free." Jack Kang says as he injects the truth serum into Eric's neck. Although his expression has softened, his eyes still don't leave mine.

"Please state your name."

"Eric Coulter"

"To which faction were you born?"

"Erudite."

"To which faction did you transfer?"

"Dauntless."

"To which faction are you loyal?"

"Dauntless." There are murmurs passing through the crowd, Jack holds his hand up in an effort to quiet us.

"Did you work with Jeanine Matthews at any point in her efforts to overthrow Abnegation?"

"Yes." There are shouts of "traitor" throughout the crowd.

"Quiet!" Jack shouts. "Why were you working for Jeanine?"

"I was forced to."

"Please explain."

"When I was a dependent in Erudite Jeanine forced me to choose Dauntless so she could use me. Her plan was for me to become a leader so that I could excercise my influence within leadership to lean more toward her goals. She also wanted me to hunt for divergents."

"How was Jeanine able to force you into this?"

"She threatened my life. My aptitude test was an equal split between Dauntless and Erudite. She wanted to use me as a Guinea pig for her testing and kill me when she was finished with me. I wanted to live, so I agreed to do whatever she wanted."

"You're divergent?"

"Yes." Another murmur runs through then crowd but it's quickly silenced.

"Once in Dauntless, what kind of work did you perform for Jeanine?"

"As little as possible to stay under the radar. She wanted me in leadership, but I came in second place in my training class. Fortunately, the first place initiate turned down leadership the first time he was offered, so I quickly got an offer. Once in leadership, she pressured me to vote her way, but I was outnumbered at first because at that time only Max was loyal to her cause. My main assignment became divergents. I couldn't bring myself to turn any divergents in, nor could I kill them, so I began helping them escape. There are many divergents whose deaths have been faked by me, and they are living in Abnegation, Amity or are factionless." A loud gasp goes through the room and Tori is shaking next to me. I look over at her and she says "George."

Eric must see her reaction. "Yes, George Wu is alive." He says and Tori breaks down in tears next to me.

"Quiet, now!" Jack shouts. "What other assignments did Jeanine task you with?"

"She took a special interest in Tris Prior due to her unusual aptitude testing results. I was tasked with bringing Tris to Jeanine so that she could be used as the main test subject. I never knew exactly why she wanted her, I was only told she was the perfect subject."

"Did you turn Tris Prior over to Jeanine?"

"No."

"But from what I understand, Tris Prior was in Jeanine's custody for several days. How did that happen if it was not you?"

"She was turned over to Jeanine by Marcus Eaton and his son Tobias, also known as Four." Loud shouts erupt from the Dauntless, and Jack has a hard time maintaining order. Zeke lets out a loud "Holy shit" next to me.

"What happened then?"

"We discovered that the factionless, which was being led by Evelyn, Marcus and Four Eaton were also working with Jeanine. I was working with Caleb Prior, Peter Hayes, Uriah Pedrad, Christina Keller, Will Davis, Marlene Wood, Lynn Baker and Edward Michaelson against Jeanine and the factionless. We were all working as moles, acting like we were loyal to the cause in order to gather enough information and power to take them down."

"What happened to Jeanine?"

"I killed her." The crowd murmurs and gasps but soon quiets.

"Why did you kill her instead of capturing her?"

Eric starts struggling for the first time, visibly wincing in pain.

"Eric, fighting the serum only makes it more painful. Answer the question."

"I needed to stop the simulation, and also rescue Tris Prior. Jeanine was fighting against me, and she had a weapon of her own within reach. I killed her before she had a chance to use it."

"Couldn't you have incapacitated her?"

"I chose not to. She had my family killed because I didn't perform up to her standards. I felt that she didn't deserve my mercy." The crowd loudly breaks into gasps again. Jack has to shout to quiet us down.

"I see. What happened after you killed Jeanine?"

"I removed the leads from Tris, picked her up and began running from the room. I met with Caleb and Peter, and they helped me carry Tris. As we were attempting to leave the building, we were stopped by Max. His intent was to kill Tris, to finish the job that Jeanine had started. The orders were to kill Tris once Jeanine was finished with her."

"How did you incapacitate Max?"

"I shot him. He had pulled a gun on Tris and I reacted. My shot killed him."

"Did you intend to kill Max?"

"No. He was like a father to me. I desperately wanted him to do the right thing, but he wouldn't. When he pulled his weapon, I had a choice to make. I couldn't let him kill Tris."

"Eric, when faced with a choice between someone you considered a father and Tris, what made you choose to kill Max?"

"I couldn't let him kill her." Eric is once again struggling against the serum.

"You're fighting the serum again. Whatever you're trying not to say needs to be said."

"I couldn't let him kill her because she didn't deserve what was being done to her. She's a good person, she's strong and she's pure." Eric winces in pain. "During the time I was tasked to watch her, I became attached to her." He's still struggling against pain, sweating and his face is reddening. "I fell in love with her." He no longer looks to be in pain, but he looks completely surprised at the words he just spoke. His eyes dart to find mine but he quickly looks away and at the floor in front of him. Tori and Zeke both look at me and I simply shake my head. I have no idea how to process what just happened.

"I see. So protecting her was personal, and morally what you felt was the right thing to do?"

"Yes."

"Eric, did you have anything to do with Jeanine's simulation?"

"No, other than stopping it once I had the chance."

"Eric, did you want any of those innocent people to die?"

He looks at me again, this time holding our eye contact. "No, absolutely not. My family was killed because of her genocide. Tris's parents were killed too." He has silent tears running down his face, and I can feel my own warm tears streaming down my own.

"Eric, did you willingly participate in the planning or execution of Jeanine Matthew's plans?"

"No. Never."

"Eric, did you premeditate the killing Jeanine Matthews or Maximus Powell?"

"No. I killed both because I felt like lives, including my own, were in danger."

"Eric, did you kill anyone at the direction of Jeanine Matthews, or at the direction of any other person involved in this war?"

"No."

"Eric, we ask this question of anyone who is under truth serum. What is your biggest regret?"

The pain is back in full force and very evident across his features. It's obvious to everyone watching that he doesn't want to answer this. "Being alive, I should have let her kill me when she wanted to. My life isn't worth the many others who were lost." He whispers before more tears start to fall. I can't stop the small sob that escapes my lips.

"Thank you for your Candor." Jack says and the crowd repeats it. "Eric Coulter, we find you innocent of all charges against you. We recommend that the traitor status be removed from your name, and that your position as a leader of Dauntless is restored. You are free to go." He removes Eric's handcuffs and Eric quickly exits the stage area. The crowd is restless and it seems to almost be crushing me. Zeke grabs my hand and I reach for Tori's as he leads us through the crowd and out to a corridor.

"I don't even know what to say." Zeke says, running a hand down his face.

"We have to make a plan. You heard what he said, the factionless are organizing." Tori replies.

"Let's make a plan then." Eric says as he walks up to us.

"Eric, you said my brother is alive. Is there any way to contact him?" Tori asks.

"I'll send a message to Johanna to see if she can get him in contact. Last I'd heard, he and Amar were living in Amity." He replies.

"Thank you." Tori says, she places her hand on Eric's arm.

"I wish I could have told you. I couldn't compromise you or our plan to bring Jeanine down." He replies.

"I'm just glad I know now. I'm sorry that I misjudged you." She squeezes his arm before dropping her hand. "Ok, what's our plan?"

"We need to get Dauntless back together. We need to go after the factionless. Tori, Zeke can you gather everyone and find somewhere for us to meet?" He asks.

"Yeah. There's a large conference room on the third floor. It is right next to the stairwell and it has large double doors that lead into it, you can't miss it. Head that way and we'll bring everyone we have here with us." Zeke says. He and Tori take off.

I start to walk away and a hand on my shoulder stops me. "Tris." He says.

I turn to face him. "We should go find the conference room. Have you heard from Caleb or Peter?"

"I need to pick my tablet up from Jack's office, then we can head up." We first stop by Jack's where his assistant quickly gives Eric his tablet back. We head off in search of the conference room and find it to be empty. Eric sits and looks over his communications on his tablet.

"Peter, Lynn, Christina and Will left earlier, so we should get word out for them to find us." I nod in agreement while pacing. "Tris, are you ok?" He asks.

"Shouldn't I be asking you that?" I ask, while looking out the window. Before he has a chance to say more there are Dauntless filing into the room, finding places to sit. Some are talking to Eric, some seem apprehensive. I soon see Shauna, so I head over to her.

"Hey, I'm so glad you're ok." I say while hugging her.

"Same to you. Oh gosh Tris, I'm so sorry to hear about Four. Zeke and I never saw any signs of it. But, knowing what we do now his sudden decision to accept the leadership position makes sense. He never wanted that position." She replies.

"I didn't know him at all. Do you know that the morning the sim started he told me he loved me? What kind of mind fuck is that?" I ask.

"Maybe as much as hearing Eric say the same. What's going on there?" She asks.

"No idea. He and I have bonded, but I had no clue he felt like that."

"Based on his reaction during the testimony I don't think he had a clue he felt that way either." She replies.

"I think that's accurate." I reply, nodding at her. I look up and find Eric's stormy grey eyes on me. I quickly look away. "Wow, there are a lot more Dauntless here than I thought." I say to Shauna.

"This is about all of us. It's unfortunate that so many are traitors." She replies sadly. "I didn't even know where my sister was until Eric's testimony."

"Yeah Lynn is with our group. Eric found her while he was out scouting one day. She's on her way back with Peter, Will and Christina."

Shauna smiles and hugs me. "That's the best news I've had in awhile. Hector is with the traitors." She says sadly.

"I'm sorry to hear that Shauna, that's awful." She nods.

I hear a loud whistle and look up. Tori is standing on a chair "Ok I think this is everyone" she yells. "You all witnessed Eric's testimony and since it's obvious he's not a traitor he's been reinstated as our only leader. The only other living leader is Four, and he's a traitor. We need new leadership, can we get some nominees?"

"You!" Someone shouts and there are cheers.

"Ok who else?" She asks.

"Zeke!" I yell and more cheers erupt.

"Great, next? We need two more." She yells.

"Tris!" Eric yells. The room cheers again.

"Shauna!" Someone yells and we loudly cheer.

"Ok, Eric is our head leader, and Shauna, Tris, Zeke and I are your new leaders. Thank you all! I'll pass the floor to Eric."

"Thanks Tori. First thing everyone needs to know is that Four showed up at Amity last night looking for refuge. He told Johanna he had defected from his mother's plans. I'm sure she'll send him here, because she is who sent me here. We're going to have to give him a trial." Eric says and the room erupts in angry shouts.

"Shut up!" Zeke yells and we quiet down. "Everyone, including him, deserves a chance to tell his truth." Many nod in agreement.

"Next, we have a mole living amongst the factionless. We will have a new report from him tomorrow when he rejoins our group. We already know that we are outnumbered, the loyal Erudite's, Dauntless traitors and Factionless have the obvious manpower. We will need to speak with Amity, the remaining Abnegation and Candor to see if we can recruit soldiers for our cause."

"What's our cause?" Someone shouts.

"Not allowing the Eaton's to take over the factions and government. We'll need to meet again once we have our report from Edward tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to stick together here and reconvene tomorrow. Any other questions?"

"Where are the rest of the Dauntless?"

"We have received some communications that indicate that there are soldiers living in the Dauntless compound. We've sent some scouts out to determine if these are Dauntless traitors or loyal Dauntless. If we find that the compound is safe, my recommendation will be to return to the compound in several groups." Eric replies.

No one asks anything else, so Eric adjourns our impromptu meeting. He signals for the leaders to stay behind.

"Johanna messaged me, Four will be leaving Amity after a short rest. He'll be on his way here." Eric says.

"What are we gonna do with him?" Zeke asks.

"Same thing we did with Eric." Shauna replies. "He gets truth serum and we see what the fuck he's been doing."

"Agreed." Tori replies. "I doubt were going to like what we hear, but we all need to hear it." She looks at me while saying that last part.

"Tris, do you have anything to say?" Shauna asks.

"No." I reply. Tori narrows her eyes at me, but says nothing.

"You two must be exhausted. Let me show you where you can stay." Tori says and we follow her out of the room.

"I'll find you clothes." Shauna says and Zeke nods.

Eric grabs my hand and we follow Tori through several halls until she finds what she's looking for. "We're all staying on this hall. We're going to have to double up, especially knowing we have more on the way. You two ok sharing?" She asks looking down at our hands.

"Yes, fine." I answer. She points us into a room.

"There's a door all the way at the end of the hall that is the showers and bathroom. It's not as bad at the Dauntless dorms, but it's certainly very open. There's actually a ton of bathroom supplies in there already. The people here are annoyingly honest, but they're also very accommodating. You guys rest, we'll wake you if you're needed." She says while exiting the room and closing the door behind herself.

"Which bed do you want?" Eric asks me. I shrug. He puts his arms around me tentatively. "Do you want to talk about it?" He asks.

"Not yet. Can we sleep?" I ask. He drops his arms and sighs.

"Yeah." He tugs his shirt and pants off, leaving him in his boxers. He lays on the bed closest to him.

I take my pants and hoodie off leaving me in a tank top and my panties. I look over at the empty bed, and back to Eric. He's laying on his back with one arm slung over his face, shielding his eyes. I crawl in bed with him. "Scoot over." I say.

"Yes ma'am." He replies with a chuckle, then scoots to the wall, he pulls me closer to him. I look up at him and lean in to kiss him. I can tell I've caught him off guard, but he quickly kisses me back. I part my lips and he gently slides his tongue to mine. We don't go any further, just kissing and holding each other.

"I need time to process it, and I think you do too. Can we leave it at that for now? When either of us are truly ready to have that conversation, we let the other know. Will that work?" I ask.

"Yes." He replies while gently rubbing my back.

"Just don't start pushing me away." I reply.

"Don't let me." He replies quietly.

"Deal." I reply before closing my eyes. I'm too far gone to hear anything else he says.

I jump when I hear the door to our room creak open. Our windowless room is quite dark, and the sliver of light from the corridor casts a dark shadow on the figure in the room.

"Hello?" I tentatively call out.

"Tris, we just got here." The voice belongs to Peter. "Everyone's ok, just dead tired. Do you mind if I crash in here?" He quietly asks.

"Not at all, you can take that bed. Where's everyone else?" I whisper.

"Lynn is bunking with Zeke and Shauna. Tori put Chris and Will in her room. She sent me down here thinking you two might have an extra bed." He replies with a yawn.

"Get some rest, they'll wake us if anything happens." I reply and within almost seconds of him crawling into his bed I hear Peter's soft snores.

I turn over to get comfortable but it causes Eric to stir. He buries his head in my neck and instead of falling back to sleep I feel him kissing my neck.

"Eric." I whisper. "We have a roommate."

"Who?" He asks sleepily.

"Peter. His group just got in, safe and sound."

"Good." He whispers.

He continues to kiss my neck, moving up to my jaw and then my lips. I lightly trace my fingers on his cheeks and jawline, then behind his ear and I skim my fingers across the sides of his hair, where he keeps it almost shaved. His hair is incredibly soft and I move my fingers to the longer hair on the top of his head, which is curly without any of his usual hair products. He relaxes to my touch. I move my fingers down and gently skim his eyelids, then down his cheeks and across his lips. His slightly fuller lower lip is soft and warm to the touch, in contrast to the piercing he has towards the corner of his lower lip, which is cold. When he feels my fingers stop on his lips he kisses them.

"That feels really good." He whispers before kissing me softly again.

"Eric, what you said earlier about your biggest regret, you're wrong. You're important to me, and you're so much more than you give yourself credit for." I whisper. I can't see his face because the room is so dark, but I can feel his hand on my cheek and he brings our lips together and kisses me tenderly. He then moves his head back under my chin while I rub his shoulders and back. Soon he falls back to sleep.

The next time I'm woken, it's by Eric. He's still laying in bed holding me, but he's kneading my shoulders and back a bit.

"Tris, we have to get up." He says.

"Whats wrong?" I ask.

"Four's here." I try to sit up but Eric keeps his arms around me. "Tris, it's ok. They just arrested him. Zeke said they are planning on starting his trial in an hour." He replies.

"Ok, I'm calm. Can I get up now?" I ask. In the shadows of our room I can see Peter sitting up on the side of his bed, rubbing his eyes. Eric moves his arms from around my waist but when he starts rubbing my back I decide not to move.

"Did Zeke really just say Four is here?" He asks.

"Yeah. They're going to put him under truth serum and question him. That's what they did to me earlier, and I was able to clear my name." Eric replies.

"I heard. I'm glad to hear it, and also glad to hear that we have new leadership." Peter replies. "Do we have a plan yet?"

"We're waiting on Edward's return so we can find out what exactly the factionless are up to, plus Eric sent scouts out to the a Dauntless compound to find out who is living there." I reply.

"It also will be pretty insightful to hear what Four has to say." Eric says from behind me. My whole body tenses at the thought. Eric continues to knead my aching muscles.

"Has anyone heard from Caleb?" I ask.

"Could you pass me my tablet?" Eric asks, I unplug it from its charger on the nightstand and hand it to him.

"They're still waiting for Edward. Caleb says the agreed time is by midnight tonight. If Edward doesn't make it there by then, they've agreed to head here without him." Eric replies.

"Do you think Edward is ok?" I ask.

"I think so. Midnight tonight was the original agreed upon time. He's usually pretty good about slipping around unnoticed." Peter replies. "I'm going to shower and then head to the conference room. See you both there." He says before walking out the door with his bag.

"Are you going to be ok?" Eric asks.

"I don't know. I have no idea what to expect." I reply. I can feel the tears burning in the back of my eyes. Eric kisses my shoulder. I turn around to face him. "You're surprisingly good at snuggling. I'd never think that of you." He smiles.

"Nice deflection. I'll allow it." He replies before kissing me. His hands are under my tank top, running up and down my back. I feel him move his hands farther down, cupping my ass and then skimming the back of my thighs. He pulls me closer to him and deepens our kiss. He moves so he's hovering over me slightly, and I adjust so that I'm lying on my back. His hands skim my breasts over my shirt, and I am unable to hold back the shiver it causes. I can feel him smile against my neck as he's peppering kisses there. He slowly moves his hand further down until he's gently rubbing me outside of my panties. He moves my panties to the side and slides his fingers through my wet folds. I can feel his calloused fingers circling my clit and I moan softly. He takes that as encouragement as he slowly slides one finger inside of me, using his thumb to continue his strokes against my overstimulated bundle. I reach out and start stroking his erection through his boxers and he quickly adjusts himself so that he can slide his boxers down, freeing his manhood.

"I should lock the door." I whisper to him and he hums in response before reluctantly removing his hands from me. I jump out of bed, lock the door and finish undressing before getting back into bed. Eric quickly latches his mouth onto one of my hard nipples, and moves on top of me, sliding his cock through my wet folds a few times before entering me. I jump slightly at the unexpected intrusion, but we quickly start moving our hips in sync. I part my legs further for him, and his thrusts cause his pelvic bone to continuously skim over my clit, which is pushing me quickly over the edge.

I lightly scrape my nails up and down his back, causing a moan of pleasure from him. He leans down and captures my mouth with his, sucking my bottom lip before attacking my neck with kisses and gentle nips.

I arch my back, meeting him thrust for thrust. I wrap my arms around his shoulders in an effort to pull our bodies closer together.

"Tris, I'm gonna cum." He whispers to me, kissing me forcefully while I shatter around him. Within seconds of my orgasm, I can feel him spilling inside of me while softly calling out my name. He kisses my shoulder where his head is resting while he catches his breath.

"We have to get dressed." I whisper to him and he groans. He kisses me hard before pulling out of me and crawling out of bed. He turns a dim lamp on before looking at me.

"You're gorgeous." He says, giving me another quick kiss before tugging me out of bed. We both get dressed in some of the clothes Zeke and Shauna left for us. We walk to the bathroom together, where we quickly shower and get dressed before heading out.

Eric reaches out his hand and I take it. We walk down to the gathering room and find our group of friends sitting together. Christina sees me and waves us over. I give her a quick hug.

"I'm so glad you're here." I say.

"Are you ready for this?" She asks, face full of concern.

"I don't have much of a choice. I'll be fine." I reply, sitting down next to her. Eric quickly sits on my other side and I feel his hand on my thigh. Christina notices, but thankfully doesn't say anything. We see Jack Kang enter the stage area, followed closely by Dauntless guards. For the first time in over two weeks I see dark blue eyes staring intently into mine.