Chapter 7

Erika can't sleep, so she decides to slip out of the apartment she shares with Four and go to the Chasm for some peace and quiet. After all, it is her favourite place.

Little does she know, her brother heard her leave the apartment, and could guess where she was going. So, being the fabulous big brother he is, he called his best friend and together they came together with a plan that was just about to unfold.

Erika is sitting on the bridge of the chasm, her legs dangling over the edge. She's humming to herself, deep in thought when all of a sudden something pushes her over the edge, but catches her at the last second. Erika screams in fright, her heart racing.

"Hey, look, I just saved your life!" Uriah is still holding her as he sits down beside her with a massive grin on his face.

"You jerk!" Erika shoves him playfully, smiling back at him.

"You're lucky I'm strong, or you actually would have fallen." he comments. "I mean, if it had been Zeke, you would be dead by now."

Erika laughs, "I hope you'd miss me."

Uriah feigns looking hurt, "Of course!"

"Good." Erika snuggles up into his arms.

"Hey, what's going on here?" Tobias appears suddenly, Zeke grinning madly beside him.

"Were you spying on me?" Erika asks shrilly. "Seriously?"

"Maybe!" Zeke and Tobias say at the exact same time. Erika sees how people sometimes presume that the boys are more than just friends, and wonders how it doesn't annoy Sage.

"Look," Tobias says, crouching down beside the young couple, "I just like to interfere, what can I say?"

"Eh, how about 'Goodbye'?" Erika asks pointedly.

Zeke grins, "Oooh, looks like someone wants to be on their own!"

Tobias laughs along with him, but he does stand to leave, "Enjoy yourselves." he tells them, "But not too much."

The boys disappear the same way they came, silently and discreetly. Uriah reaches into his backpack beside him and pulls out some Dauntless cake.

Erika's eyes widen in pleasant surprise, "Yummy!"

Uriah teases her by putting the cake out of her reach and Erika whines like a kicked puppy, knowing her boyfriend's soft spots. "Ah ah," Uriah moves it again. Tears appear in Erika's eyes and she blinks them away quickly, embarrassed.

"Aw, babe sorry I was just messing, here you go." he breaks off a bit and pops it into her mouth.

Erika sniffles softly, "No, I'm sorry, I'm being stupid. It's just-" she breaks off.

Uriah squeezes her hand reassuringly, "Go on,"

"Well, it's just that, food has always been there for me, you know?" She asks.

"You're from Abnegation," he reminds her.

"I used to sneak food in... one of the reasons I used to get beaten more often than Tobias," Erika informs him shyly. "But anyway, look, I swear I love you more!"

"I don't know, Erika," Uriah says, unsure. He doesn't want to fight with her, he really likes her. But, sometimes she did little things like this and he couldn't help but be a little annoyed.

"Fine." Erika pouts, knowing he simply won't listen anyway, "Be like that."

"Hey!" A voice interrupts; it's Tobias. Erika groans. What is he doing back?

"What are you doing?" she hisses, angry.

"No, what are you doing?" he retorts.

"Dayum!" Zeke buts in.

"Shut up." Erika and Tobias say at the exact same time.

"Are you two fighting?" Zeke asks, a sly grin on his face.

"Go away, man." Uriah says rudely, "This is none of your business."

"But you're my baby brother!" Zeke simpers in a false voice, reaching out to ruffle Uriah's hair, but Uriah pushes him away, "Stop it."

"Hey, just kiss and make up, okay?" Tobias tells his sister. Erika sticks her tongue out at him and he claps, "Yes just like that, only shove it down his throat."

Zeke laughs, but Uriah and Erika just glare at him. Tobias's gaze softens a little, "Fine." He takes their hands and brigs them together and makes them look at each other. "See, you know you want to."

Erika rolls her eyes, but leans in to kiss Uriah anyway. She's not sure whether he'll accept her kiss, but he certainly doesn't push her away.

"Hey!" Tobias pulls them apart and points across the chasm, "Is that who I think it is?"

There are two figures speaking in hushed tones as they walk hand in hand along the edge, out of the Dauntless compound. They walk side by side and every now and then a light shines on one of them and you can see her unmistakable electric blue hair.

"Aria and Seth?" Erika asks loudly.

"Shush!" The boys hush her. Tobias holds up a hand to silence her but Uriah actually puts a hand over her mouth. Zeke however jumps on top of her, holing her head down, "Don't, you'll blow our cover!" he whispers furiously in her ear.

Erika tries to quieten her giggling but it's hard with Zeke on top of her, also she can feel him laughing too.

"Let's follow them," Zeke says, pulling out his phone and dialling Sage's number.

They start to follow the couple, as Sage answers her phone with a grunt. "Come to the Chasm," Zeke hisses. Sage groans, but agrees.

::::::::

Seth is humming a tune, swinging their intertwined hands back and forth to the beat. Every now and then Aria would join in with an improvisational harmony line. This is the great thing about them; neither of them needed many words, but could understand each other anyway.

They kept to themselves, and often got teased for it by the others. Zeke always asked where they sneaked off to all the time, but that was between them, and nobody else. Both Aria and Seth are Divergent, and that's what gave them their individuality. They like to escape the Dauntless compound to be someone else, someone who couldn't be defined by just one faction.

As a child, Seth had found an old abandoned music store from before the Factions. There he taught himself to play the piano, creating tunes as he learned. When he met Aria he knew she was like him and he knew she would love it. Now, the music store is their getaway place, where they can go to be alone. And that's where they're headed right now.

:::::::::

"What the hell is this place?" Erika hisses as they follow Seth and Aria through an old town.

"Before the factions there-" Zeke starts off before he's interrupted by Uriah who just says, "This is what was before the factions."

"Okay, then." Erika mutters.

Seth drags Aria into a run-down building and the others stop outside. After a minute of soft debating on whether or not to follow them inside, they hear something they did not expect to hear- music.

"What are they doing in there?" Uriah hisses, trying not to laugh. He wasn't going to admit it, but he thought they were sneaking off to make out or something, not to play music...

Erika giggles. "Oh please can we go in? I've always wanted to play the flute!"

Zeke rolls his eyes, but nods. "Sure."

::::::::

Seth starts to play on the piano and Aria picks up her favourite saxophone and joins in. She's pretty good at improvising. Not as good as Seth, but she's really not bad. There's the sudden bang of a door opening and Aria nearly drops the saxophone in fright. Seth frowns and glances worriedly at the entrance where the pair are shocked to see Erika, Uriah and Zeke.

"Hey you two are so good, don't stop!" Erika says, waving at them to continue.

Aria can't help but laugh. Obviously, she doesn't want them here, but there's nothing she can do now. But there is no way she's going to play for them. "I don't think so."

Suddenly, Zeke's phone rings and he picks it up. "Hey. Okay, I'll be there in a second. Don't move." He hangs up and smiles apologetically at the others. "Sage," he explains. "She has the beer."

Aria almost groans. Sure, she likes getting drunk, but why does every single gathering these days always turn into a drinking game? It's tiring.

Zeke slips back out the front door and Erika picks up a dusty flute from the counter top. While everyone else is distracted she polishes it up with her sleeve. She brings it to her lips and starts to play. A clear sound emits the instrument and she jumps in surprise. "Oh!" She starts to laugh.

"You can play the flute?" Uriah asks curiously.

"Nope." she laughs again. "It's cool though, right? I've always wanted to play the flute."

She plays a few notes again and this time Seth joins in with the piano. Considering the fact that Erika has absolutely no idea what notes she's playing, it sounds pretty great.

Zeke and Sage have arrived back just in time to see Aria join in too. Sage grabs Uriah's arm, "What the hell did I miss?" She asks, a panicked expression on her face. Uriah laughs and explains. "That is amazing!" She exclaims. Then she giggles, "And guess what? I have the drink!"

Erika stops playing to cheer. "Doritos?" She asks, rummaging through the bag.

"Yup." Sage tells her, "And there's a dip in there too somewhere, I think..." She stops talking as Zeke pulls her away into a kiss. She pulls back from him for a second to ask, "What was that for?"

"For being so sweet." he tells her, making her laugh.

::::::::::

Two hours later, it's still dark outside, but now everyone's pretty tipsy and a little cold too. Aria is snuggled up against Seth and every now and then he would feed her a Malteaser. When he feels her shiver he squeezes her closer to him.

"Here, take this." he pulls off his trade mark beanie and Aria almost gasps. Her eyes widen as he pulls it down over her head and she knows that they're both remembering their first kiss, when Aria took his beanie.

"You guys, we're actually amazing, you know that?" Sage asks.

Erika bursts out laughing, but Sage it totally serious. "No, really. We made it past initiation, we're all in stable relationships, excluding the fact that you two-" she points at Uriah and Erika "Broke up today for like five whole minutes. And we're all like... I can't even describe it-"

"That would be the alcohol." Aria comments.

"Shut up," Sage smiles. "But we're all just so..."

"Drunk?" Erika prompts.

"Well yes, but no. We're all so... perfect. Not to sound big-headed or anything, but you know it's true." Sage says.

"Pretty much." Aria says in agreement.

"Okay, I think that's enough beer for you," Zeke pulls the can out of his girlfriend's grasp, despite her protests.

"Yeah. We're gonna go." Aria says, standing, Seth's arm still around her shoulders.

"Bye!" Erika stands and almost falls over, but Aria catches her in a hug. "Yeah, okay, bye." she says, totally uninterested.

"Goodnight." Sage says, rolling over and closing her eyes on Zeke's chest. "Or Good morning. I dunno."

"See ya." Seth says, and they leave.

"You guys, we're so amazing!" Erika imitates Sage.

"Shut up!" Sage moans, snuggling deeper into Zeke and almost falling asleep.

"Looks like we better go too." Zeke says, helping Sage up.

"'Kay, bye!" Erika says enthusiastically. She's super happy to be left alone once more with just her and Uriah. She turns to him and he holds out his arms for her. While, obviously she knew Sage had been utterly smashed when she had spoken earlier, Erika could actually see some truth to what she said. They were pretty perfect. Especially Uriah, she can't help thinking.

"I love you," Uriah tells her, making her smile uncontrollably.

"Well, I love you too." she says.

"I know."