Here's the next chapter of my warless Divergent story. So really. We're seven chapters in, and still the only plot it Fourtris struggling to get together. I know I really should get something going soon, but so far, I've literally been opening the old chapters in my browser, and paragraph by paragraph, rewrite it.
If any of you have great idea's for plot twist you'd like to see in this story, please do enlighten me. It's not like I wasn't proud of the original story, but it was sort of a plotless Truth-or-Dare story, and while entertaining to read (I hope), it's not an actual story that one would remember, or come back to.
Anyway, I hope to see some of your ideas in the comment section or my inbox, but until further notice, here's the chapter, I hope you enjoy.
DISCLAIMER: I do not own the world this story is set in, the characters this story revolves around and original scenes from the Divergent series. Those belong to Veronica Roth.
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I regain conscience to the muted sound of someone rummaging about in a kitchen. At first I'm halfway asleep, halfway awake, blisfully dwelling in the grey area that lies in between. The soft matress has shaped itself to accommodate my body. The pillow has me breathing in deeply, relishing the scent, and the heavy duvet is doing a perfect job of keeping any whisp of cold air at bay.
Suddenly my eyes widen as reality hits me.
The bed is too soft to be either my old one in Abnegation, or my bunk in the dorms. I've never in my life slept under such weighty, yet cloudlike covers. The pillow doesn't smell like me, and I should be hearing my fellow Initiates either snoring or talking small talk, not the clattering of plates and cutlery.
Slowly, the events from yesterday come back to me. The mixed feelings I had at being the best of all Initiates in the second stage, leaving even number two behind in the dust. The love I carefully let myself feel for this place that might become my home. And then the mortification at facing a certain death.
And Four.
Him beating up my three attackers had probably only taken seconds. A minute at the most. But it had felt like an eternity.
That's when a different sort of terror hits me.
I slept in Fours apartment. In his room. In his bed.
I lay there paralyzed, not daring to move. Gone is the blissful feeling of a few minutes ago. What must he think of me?
At some point I decide that I might just face it. However much I wish that everything that happened in the past twenty-something hours could be erased from history, it can't.
I roll to my back and slowly sit up. I rub the last remains of sleep from my eyes, and stare at the wall. Across it, the phrase 'Fear God Alone' is written. It captivates me, but I can't postpone the eventual confrontation with Four any longer, or I might chicken out and go look for a window to climb out of.
I get up, straighten my clothes, and put the loose strands of hair in my face behind my ears. I take a deep breath, and follow the sounds that woke me.
As soon as I open the door, not only do the sounds intensify, but I'm also struck in the face by delicious, savory scents. Four is standing in the kitchen, his back facing me, while he fries some eggs in a skillet.
I close the door as quietly as I can, and tiptoe over to the dining table. I lean against it, careful not to make a sound.
"Did you sleep well?" I'm startled by this sudden question.
"How did you know I was here?" Four turns around with the skillet and a spatula in his hands, walks over and divides the eggs over the two plates that have been set on the table.
"Your breath gave you away." I frown at this. "You breath quite loudly. Louder than usually, that is. I hope you like your eggs fried." He pulls out a chair and gestures for me to sit down. After I've taken seat, he sits down across from me.
I hesitantly start eating. I can't shake the feeling I often get when someone is watching me eat, even though Four is digging in as well. Eventually my hunger wins it from my modesty, and I polish off my plate within minutes.
"So did you sleep well?" I look up from my plate. I nod shyly, not quite sure I've removed all of the remains of my breakfast from between my teeth. "Good."
The silence that follow feels awkward.
"Thank you." Four looks somewhat surprised by me breaking the silence. "You know. For... For saving me. Yesterday." He simply nods.
"No problem." He gets up as he speaks, taking out plates and cutlery to the kitchen counter, and starts filling the sink with a mixture of hot water and soap. I find myself a kitchen towel and join him.
He makes short work of the dishes, and I towel them dry.
"Are you up for a game of capture the flag today?" I cocked my head. "Zeke invited me. He said 'the kids' were invited too, so the inventation extends to you too." I flinch slightly at the term 'kids'. I don't want anyone to see me as a child, especially Four.
"I'm not sure. I can't really say I feel like doing anything at all, but... I suppose it might be a good distraction?" I stare at him, marvel at the blue of his eyes.
But that means he's looking at me too. And can see me staring at him.
I look away blushing.
"Will everyone join?" He shuts the cupboard after putting the plates back in there.
"Everyone who played truth or dare, plus Lynn and Lauren." I know Lynn and Lauren by name, but no more than that. "Well, not everyone. Not that poltroon of an Al. I'll be six feet under wrapped up in chains half an inch thick before I let that turnback close to you again." I stare at my feet. I hope he can't tell, but that last comment warms me all the way through.
"Thanks..." When I finally fell like I've got a hold on myself I look up again, to realize he's still looking at me in expectation of an answer. "I guess we cou... I mean I could. I can't decide for you of course." The blood that just left my face rushes back before I even finished that sentence.
"Of course, I'm going to play too. I never pass on a game of capture the flag." I awkwardly stare there gawking at him, not quite knowing what to do. I'm in his apartment. It might be weird if I just start doing something on my own accord.
"Let's get ready, then." Four generously takes a new toothbrush out of it's package and let's me use it, after which he gives me some privacy in the bathroom to prepare myself. I brush my teeth, and try to straighten my hair a bit with my fingers. Eventually I decide that it won't get any better than it is right now, I take the hair band from my wrist and tie my hair up in a tight ponytail. I even let my cheeky side take control for a little while and use some of his deodorant.
Which is, by the way, a decision that I regret the second I walk out and see him sniff and raise an eyebrow.
He's to much of a gentleman to call me out on it, but I'm not sure on how to interpret the amused look on his face.
I hear him brushing his teeth, and no more than a minute later he emerges from the bathroom into his bedroom.
Even more than this morning, I'm awar of how compromising this situation might look to a random bystander. I'm sitting on the bed of a guy I know very little about, after spending the night in his bed.
Four notices very little of my internal distress, and reummages around in his closet, and evetually throws me a black leather jacket.
"It's an old jacket of mine. It's too small for me. It's probably still too big on you, but it's better than just your top and vest for in the train. And after the train ride you'll just have to run hard enough to keep yourself warm." I can hear the tiny wink in his last sentence, and gratefully take the jacket. It is indeed several sizes too large for me, but that's probably more due to my tiny frame than to him.
"Thanks." The word floats in the air between us. Electrical charge seems to be gaing territory in the room, until Four blinks and looks away.
"Let's head to the roof. We wouldn't want to miss the game, would we?"
"Already? I figured the game would be in the evening again."
"No, they're planning to play another game at Zeke's again tonight." Oh, so my day was basically set in stone already. Whatever. Although...
"Why do we alway play in his place? I mean, I get that we can't exactly play in the Initiatation dorms, but Shauna must have her own place, and you most certainly do. Why do we never play in her apartment or over here?"
"I don't make a habit out of inviting people into my apartment." Oh. Oh. I'm not sure whether I should feel special by that comment, or prepare to leave this apartment for the last time. The first time, he hardly could have ditched me without coming across as rude, and yesterday he might have felt sort of responsible for me.
"Okay." It feels like a somewhat dumb response to me, but I can't think of anythink useful to say.
"So let's go?" Of course. I could have thought of that. I hastily agree, and he briskly walks out of his apartment, through the maze of corridors to the room with the net where I first fell into the compound, me never more than three steps behind.
We climb up to the roof, to find the others waiting already.
"There you are, Tris! You really shouldn't make a habit out of disappearing for an entire night at a time, you know." Christina runs up to me and hugs me, causing me to feel a little deja-vu. "There's this thing that people who care about you do, called worrying, a.k.a. giving a shit about you. And now," the last words she whisper in my ears, so only I can hear, "you turn up in his footsteps. I presume that I will hear all about this when we're alone?" I give her a tiny nod, praying no-one else can see. Thank god there's really nothing to be told, or I'd be ruby red already.
Before anyone else can say anything else we hear the train approaching. We prepare ourselves for the jump, and hop on it. Uriah, Marlene, Lynn and Lauren do this pretty effortlessly. Zeke, Shauna and Four bother to help Will, Christina and me.
I had been pretty confident that I could do it alone, but jumping from a train onto a stationay roof proved to be easier than jumping from said roof into a moving train. It took significantly more timing.
When I push off from the roof I feel I tiny shot of adrenaline before I stumble into the train. I feel two hands on my waist, helping me steady myself, and when I've regained my balance, the hands disappear. When I look up, though, I see Zeke and Shauna grasping Will's and Christina's arms to prevent them from falling.
Okay, so Four was the one to help me. Not only that, he also held me by my waist to steady me, while it's very much possibly to just grab my arm or shoulder.
It's probably nothing, but I can't kill the spark of hope in my stomach before it lights a tiny smolder.
"Well," Zeke begins, "quite obviously the pro's are team captains, so that would be me and Uriah." Uriah's eyes suddenly start shining in surprise. "Lol, nope, just kidding. Me and Four." Uriah doesn't look that diappointed. Maybe a little, but it seems like he is more diappointed in the fact that he wasn't prepared for this. Apparantly the relationships between siblings in Dauntless are different from those in Abnegation.
"Anyway, bro, you can have the first pick. We both know you will need it." He roars with laughter from his own joke, and when he's finally rubbed the tears from his eyes, Four raises an eyebrow at him.
"Done yet?" Zeke nods while he hiccups in his efforts to keep back the last of his bellowing. "I pick Tris." It seems I've grown arrogant enough not to be surprised by his choice. I mean, Four chose me as his first pick the last time too, and there are still two possible expanations.
One. He think's I'm useful to have around in a game of capture the flag.
Two. He likes having me around for no other reason than me.
Of course I hav eno trouble picking a favorite from those two options, but I can't say that the lesser option would be a bad thing.
"Shauna." I saw that pick coming too, but that's more because even though I might be a little gullible on this subject sometimes, even I can see that he pick her for grand reason number two.
"Lauren." Hardly a minute later I'm in a team consisting from me (duh), Four (also duh), Lauren, Will and Christina. Naturally, the other team is formed by Zeke, Shauna, Uriah, Marlene and Lynn.
At Four's sign, Zeke's team flees the place we'd jumped out of the train. The second they've left our vision, we start strategizing.
Christina proposes a plan that, if I have to judge by the look on her face, she's very proud of, and Will immediately shows off his Erudite side by pointing out all the possible flaw in that plan.
"Well, what do you suggest we do, if you know best, mr. Know-it-all!" Well, there's the infamous back of Christina's tongue. I almost missed in that one day that I haven't seen her.
"I suggest," Will emphasizes the last word, making it obviously clear that he does not mean to take te lead, "that we try to track them all the way to their own flag. If we leave Lauren to defend our flag, there's no way they can ever capture it, and then..."
"There's no way I'm staying behind and let you have all the fun." Lauren says, before her face turns serious. "I'm a frontline man. I'm an offensive weapon not a defensive one."
"We could always climb the Ferris Wheel again," I opted to Four quietly. the other three had broken out into a loud quarrel, however, so no-one heard me.
"Don't you think we could hide our flag in a passing train?" Christina muses. "Did anyone ever clearly state we can't?"
"Your flag has to be clearly visible from the site on which we're playing, everyone," Lauren eyes Christina with annoyance, "even Initiates should know that."
"And what if we put it in a really high tree?" Will helps.
"If you think you can climb any better than Uriah you're either naive or stupid. He might be an idiot, but no-one said monkeys can't be idiots."
"And what if we sink it in a muddy puddle?"
"Clearly visible. What do you think that means? I know you aren't from Erudite, but honestly, not being the most intelligent doesn't mean you have to be the least..."
"Well, here's the thing, Dauntless," Christina stresses the last word just as much as Lauren stressed the words Initiates and Erudite, and if I know her by any measure, she's preparing to unleash the full wrath of Christina the Dauntless Candor. "You can shoot down every single fucking thing we come up with, but I don't hear you proposing anything of your own, so if we're going with your plan so far, we're just going to sit here and wait for them to arrive so we can hand over our flag just like that. If you want to play the wiseacre, you'd better turn it up a notch and earn the right to act all smartass on us, understood?"
Lauren's mouth hangs open a little, probably slightly stunned by the nerve on this Initiate.
"I could try to spot their flag from the Ferris Wheel again," I try again, a little louder this time.
This time the three quibblers look up, while Four just looks exasperated at his choice of teammates.
"You climbed the Wheel?"
"Well...yes." I start to feel a little uncomfortable under the disbelief in Lauren's eyes. "It seemed like a good idea, so why not."
"That's just ingenious. You could hide the flag way up there while you're at it."
"Okay, hold your horses. I know the flag has to be clearly visible, but isn't this a little too much in their faces." Christina gestures wildly with her hands. "There's a difference between visible when you are looking for and at the top of the very most conspicuous sight on this entire site."
"So then you and Will stay down below and stop anyone trying to climb the Wheel." Slowly, her plan starts to make sense to me.
"And the two of you can easily defend that single ladder to our flag, so the three of us can go and steal their flag."
And so it happens. I confidently walk over to the Wheel.
"Do you want me to tag along again?" I turn around when I hear Four's voice behind me.
"You really shouldn't." Is it just me, or do I spot the tiniest of hints of disappointment in his eyes. "It's just that - you know - you're... you don't like heights, and I don't mind them, and I would probably be even quicker if I went alone. Not that you'd hold me up!" Shit, that could only happen to me, accidentally telling a guy that he'd hold me back. Damn me. "We'd have to move more carefully if the Wheel had to support both of our weigths, and..." Four chuckles.
"You don't have to explain, Tris." He puts a loose strand of hair back behind my ears, and then gives me a gentle shove towards the ladder. "Go and win the game for us, monkey girl." How the heck am I supposed to respond to him calling me a monkey? I just go for an awkward smile and turn my attention to the task at hand, climbing to the perfect hiding place for our flag.
"Be careful not to slip this time." Without turning around, I nod one time, and then begin the ascent. Rung by rung, I slowly approach the highest cart I can reach, and tie it around the bar in front of the cart.
When I took to scouting the grounds for the flag of the opposite team, it took me little to no time to find it. I suppose they've spent more time devising an offensive strategy than figuring out a clever place to hide their flag.
I hurry back down at thrice the speed I've gone up, ignoring the alarmed look I get from my friends.
"Their flag is just outside of the treeline, just behind the first abandoned warehouse. It can be approached from like..." I recall the view I had from the top of the Wheel, "at least five sides. If they mean to send literally anyone to find our flag, they can't possibly defend every path."
"Well, it's decided then," Four says. "Will, Christina, you are staying behind to defend our flag, and Lauren, Tris and me will go and kick their ass for that arrogance." Everyone agrees, and swift as though we've trained together for years, we disband and carefully make our way to the treeline.
When we've reached it, Four holds up two fingers. He looks around, and then points them forward: the sign we're good to go.
There are, however, way to many places to hide here.
The second I've left the safety of the trees, a red dot flies right past my face, and when I immediately look back at it, I feel some of the paint splatters on my face as the paintball smashed on the tree behind me.
I break out into a sprint right away, take aim, and hit Uriah in the chest with a green splash of paint. He flinches for a second at my quick recovery, and that second is all I need. I rush past him, hardly aware of all the paintballs flying past me, whether aimed at me, my teammates, or my opponents.
I ignore the ache that shoots through my thigh as I'm hit with paint, either friendly or hostile. I don't let myself be stopped on my way to the fluorescent flag, and no sooner than I've grabbed the thin piece of fabric I'm tackled from the side by Zeke, who throws in his full body weight.
And it's a really great tackle, I've got to give him that. Not that I'd expected anything less from him, but even if I hadn't been shot multiple times, I'd still be sore for days as a result of this massive body slam.
It's no good, though. Ignoring the jabs of pain in my probably wrenched shoulder, I triumphantly hold up the flag.
Marlene takes it to herself to collect Will and Christina, and when she's returned with them on her tail, we head back to the train rails, half of us in a mockingly foul mood, the other half in a celebratory mood.
As soon as the train speeds by, we get on, and the discussion about our game gets going.
"We most definitely would have won if Uri had been such a dumbstruck pansycake, indeed, brother," he says as Uriah makes an indignant noise, "you do not have the monopoly on that word, and I can use it when you act like one."
"It's not all my fault and you know it."
"Is too."
"Sure." Christina says sugary, dragging out the word until I'm not really sure she'll ever let it die down. "We would have kicked your butts no matter what. Face it, guys," she holds up her hands like she's actually sorry about what she's about to say, "the only thing you can do is admit defeat with dignity."
More indignant bickering breaks out, but I tune all the voices but one.
"You've got some red paint on you lip." Four catches my chin in his right hand, and gently brushes his thumb across my lower lip, trying to brush away the paint. Without thinking it I put my hand on his.
"You've got some blue..."
When I realize what this might look and sounds like I pull my hand back, blushing, and not quite knowing what to do with it, I put it on his elbow. I only make things worse, of course. Uriah sees this little moment, and can't stay out of it.
"Now if you both lean in a little, you'll both have purple."
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I don't really have a lot of new things to tell. This chapter is about three to four times as long as it used to be, and (hopefully) also at least four times better written than it used to be. I'd love to hear all of your opinions.
So what do you think of the way Four and Tris are gradually - very gradually - getting more comfortable around each other. (Well, it's more Tris that get's more comfortable. Let's face it, Four might have been careful, but he never really acted nervous or anything.) I find myself struggling everytime there's a Fourtris scene, and I think it's not nearly as easy as some writers make it seem to write a proper cute scene.
Anyway, let me know.
