THIS CHAPTER WILL BE IN KALEN CLAYMON'S P.O.V (POINT OF VIEW) AND TAKES PLACE TWO YEARS EARLIER THAN THE REGULAR PLOT
THIS CHAPTER WILL HAVE A TIME SKIP. IT WILL GO FROM THE END OF INITIATION TO AFTER THE WAR. REMEMBER, IN MY VERSION, AFTER THE WAY EVERYTHING WENT BACK TO NORMAL, EXCEPT THAT BEING DIVERGENT IS OKAY AND YOU ARE ALOUD TO DO INITIATION AGAIN IF YOU FAIL A FACTION'S TEST. WHEN THE TIME SKIP TAKES PLACE, YOU WILL SEE WRITING IN THE FONT AND COLOR THAT SAYS "TIME SKIP" IN THE MIDDLE OF THE PAGE BETWEEN TWO PARAGRAPHS.
WARNING: THIS CHAPTER INCLUDES MINOR SWEARING.
I sat trembling in my seat as the names began being called. My hands were shaking as I looked down at my lap to see my right leg slightly jumping up and down rapidly. I didn't dare look at my family, I've been hiding from them since yesterday, after I had taken the test. The lady who ran my test told me that I was applicable for all but one faction, Candor. She told me I was one of many people who are called Divergent. She told me to go straight home, and put my faction in as Abnegation.
When I got home, I went straight to the room I share with my identical twin, Istin, and my little siblings, Auslina and the twins, Seryem and Jony. I spent all night deciding which faction to choose. I ruled out Candor, of course, and then Erudite. Just because I'm smart, it doesn't mean I want to sit in front of computers and study for the rest of my life. Now, this morning, sitting in the stands, covered in my Amity clothing, I am about to become a faction traitor.
"Kalen Claymon," the voice spoke. I licked my dry lips and walked up towards the stage, barely hearing my families "I love you"'s as I drained out everything I heard. Me palms began to sweat as I repeatedly thought of the bowl my blood was about to drip into. The man at the front handed me a knife and smiled gently, then nodded his head to the bowls.
I stood in front of the crowd and looked to the ceiling, clenching my eyes as the knife dug into my skin. I looked back over the crowd to see everyone looking at me as the blood began to pool into my palm. The man whispered something to me about hurrying up as I looked over at my family. I nodded slightly and looked down at the faction bowl I had decided to join last night. I raised my palm and turned it sideways, creating a waterfall of thick, red liquid to fall into the bowl and sizzle away on the Dauntless coals.
I took a napkin as I walked towards the cheering crowd of black and gray and sat down next to a girl in white clothing. I smiled at all the jumping Dauntless who greeting me with hard, congratulatory, pats on the back. I turned my head and hearing back to full attention as the next name was called.
"Istin Claymon."
Shit. I thought, I've been so worried about my god damn self I forgot about my own twin brother.
I watched as Istin took the knife and cut open his palm. I saw his hand dangle over Abnegation as he stared me in the eyes and I began remembering last night.
"So," Istin questioned as the younger twins slept, "are you nervous for tomorrow?" I turned away from the wall to be greeted by his smiling face as he sat on the twin bed next to mine. I nodded slightly and sat on top of the ruffled covers on my bed. He stood up and quietly down across from me and sat criss cross as I did suit.
"You know they'll love you no matter what, right?" he began, "Mom and Dad, I mean. They're not going to hate us if we switch." I nodded and looked down. I head kept my results from everyone and there was no way I was giving it up now. Istin poked my knee and he stared into my eyes.
"I know what's wrong." I quickly sat up straight and shook my head.
"What, wrong? Pff, nothing's wrong. just nervous for tomorrow, you know," I tried to play off. Istin smiled that half smile of ours and looked up sadly.
"You're Divergent, aren't you?" Okay, so I know we're twins, but how did he know that? I nodded slightly and he looked me in the eyes with one eyebrow raised as I asked him how he figured out. When I still didn't understand, he made a motion with his hands that signaled "me, you, me, you". I gave him a confused look before I realized what he meant.
"You mean, you too?" I asked.
"Yeppers," he nodded, "I'm up for Amity and Abnegation, what about you?"
"Everything but Candor," I replied in a hushed tone. He gave me a shocked look before going back to normal. He could tell I was already stressed enough. He gave me a sigh before hopping back into his bed and giving me "Goodnight" before he fell asleep.
Before his blood was about to drip onto the Abnegation gray stones when he shook his head and swiped his hand over the coals. The Dauntless burst into excitement again as I watched him walk over to the seat beside me. I stood up and hugged him.
"What is wrong with you? Dauntless is the danger faction." I felt one of his tears fall onto my red shirt as he wiped away the rest.
"I could say the same to you," he retorted. I pulled him away and held onto his shoulders.
"Yes, but I'm at least part Dauntless blood; you're Amity and Abnegation," I said quietly. He looked down in defeat as we sat down in reckless black crowd.
I watched as the last person dropped their blood onto the Amity earth. Immediately, I saw the black crowd stand up and walk towards the stairway. I grabbed onto Istin's shoulder, catching his attention as we stood up and caught up with the sea of black. As we ran down the streets I started to feel a wave of freedom run through my veins. My dirty blonde hair scrambled over my face from the constant wind, my lungs puffing air from sprinting, my new faction there right beside me; it all added to the adrenalin rush. When we came to a stop, and I heard the train whistle, my heart skipped a beat as I knew what was about to come. I looked over to Istin as he gave me a look of fear and I grabbed his hand.
"Together," I smiled at him as he gave me a slight nod in return. We ran towards the moving carts and then jumped. I grabbed onto the handle, pulling Istin fully into the cart before I secured myself. I sat myself down at the back of the cart next to my brother as I gave him a high-five.
"First part's over, you doing okay?" I laughed teasingly as he began catching his breath. He gave me a small slap and a smile as we heard a gasp from a girl in Erudite clothing.
"You have got to be kidding me," said a girl in Abnegation cloth. We stood ourselves up as we walked towards the cart door. We looked out to see the first carts jumping onto the roof of a building. I felt Istin move away, so I grabbed his elbow and pulled him back. I looked him in the eye as I spoke.
"You already jumped onto the train; you can jump off, okay?" He gulps before nodding as we turned to face the door. I quickly gave him a reassuring look as we ran towards the edge and jumped, landing safely on the other side. We smiled at each other and quickly shared a hug before we heard a scream coming from the ledge. We ran over and looked down to see a girl at the bottom; she didn't jump far enough. I backed away and turned to the man in black who was now standing on the edge of the building, trying to get our attention. He began to explain initiation, and then told us about how to continue. The first part was to jump off the ledge. I watched as the girl in Abnegation clothing walked up to the ledge as took of her sweater as some of the boys whistled and teased her. I watched as she jumped and felt Istin squeeze my arm; he is not going to take jumping off a building very well.
Next was the girl in Erudite clothing, who seemed to jump off with ease. I waited for a while, watching a few more people jump off before going up myself. I knew that if I backed out, so would Istin, and I can't have that happen.
I stood on the ledge and looked over at the man who explained everything, Eric, as he gave me a teasing smile. I nodded my head and closed my eyes, turning back towards the empty space I was about to jump into.
"We don't have all day, sunshine," mocked Eric, earning laughter from the fellow Dauntless. I nodded again and jumped, screaming as I fell into the nothingness. I felt myself land on something, and opened my eyes. i looked up laughing to see someone falling towards me. I rolled slightly to the left as the figure fell and recognized it as Istin. The net began to slant and we fell off the side and onto the floor. Istin pulled himself up and offered me a hand which I accepted gently. I laughed at him as I patted his back.
"Just couldn't wait to jump after your big brother, could you?" I teased as we walked to stand with the others who already jumped.
"Listen up," yelled the instructor, "All Dauntless born will go with Laura and all transfers come with me." I watched as our colorful group continued to follow behind Eric as he took us to a room with many bunks.
"This is where all of you will be sleeping. Yes, both genders get over it," he told us, looking tired of us already. You could tell by his facial expression he is not looking forward to training the transfers. He had the same exasperated expression as we walked around Dauntless compound. The cafeteria, exasperated expression. The off limit areas, exasperated expression. The training area, exasperated expression. The shops hall, exasperated expression. It was as if the word 'smile' wasn't in his dictionary. Eric stopped in front of a clothing shop and we all followed suit. He cleared his throat to catch all of our attention before beginning to speak.
"Since you are all transfers into Dauntless, we can't have you wearing any of your bright clothing." I watched as I saw the girl in Abnegation clothing from earlier smirk and speak up.
"My clothes aren't bright," she remarked. I watched Eric's expression turn from exasperated to angered.
"Watch it, Stiff," he warned, making her lose her confident stand. "You all get half an hour to go and pick one full outfit for the next two weeks of initiation. Make sure it's comfortable, you'll be wearing it for both training and sleeping. Anyone who passes initiation will gain five hundred dollars to go shopping and get essentials. For now, this will be your only outfit, so choose wisely. Any questions?" Eric rolled his eyes as a boy in white raised his hand.
"What," he said, tiredly.
"What do you mean 'pass initiation'?" asked the Candor boy in worry, "Not everybody gets through? Where do they go? Is it like a test, or something, because I'm so good at tests? Will there be time to study, what about-"
"Enough, wide mouth, you'll learn more about that later," interrupted Eric, "Now go and meet me back out here clothed in black and your colorful clothing in your hands." I walked into the store and went straight towards the shorts section, and easily picked out a pair of simple of knee long black ones. I saw a hand pick the pair beside mine and followed the arm up to see Istin's face. I smiled and continued walking. If I get separated from him, I don't know what will happen to him. I grabbed a simple black t-shirt and changed, grabbing my orange pants and red button up shirt into my hands. I made my way towards the bench Istin was sitting in and sat down. It was silent for two minutes as we watched the other transfers grab clothes and try them on before he spoke to me.
"What's going to happen to us here?" he asked, still looking forward. I sighed and ran my hand through my hair as he followed suit. We always did that when we're nervous. Just because our faction changed, it doesn't mean we fully do.
"Well, we're going to go through initiation, then get jobs, and maybe get rooms next to each other," I said, avoiding the answer of what he actually meant.
"No, Kalen, you know what I mean, I know you do," he said back. I caught a look at him as he caught back a tear that spilled out of his watery eyes.
"I don't know, Istin," I said, "but no matter what, I promise you, we'll be okay. We'll make it through this, and I'm not going to leave your side. You can tell me your problems, and I'll chase them away. I'll be your lighthouse, I'll make it okay. I promise you, we'll be perfectly okay." I felt Istin's arms fling around me and I rubbed his back lightly.
"What I'm going to do, Kalen? Look at me, I'm such a child. I'll never survive here." I pulled away from him and looked him in his sparkling green and blue eyes.
"I will make sure you survive. You are my first priority." He smiled a little and wiped away his tears. I stood up and gave a hand, which he gladly accepted, and I pulled him up so he was standing in front of me. "Now, let's go show this Eric guy what the Amity twins are made of."
"Hey," said a boy with a tall figure. He towered over me as he stood only two inches away from me. I told myself to stand firm and not to seem scared. I wasn't going to throw away my number two on the list just because I was afraid of someone taller. Now that I think of it, this boy kind of looks like the one who placed first on the charts. What was his name, it started with an F, didn't it?
"Four?" I asked him. He nodded and pulled his hand up behind is back, ready to swing at me. I still stood firm, not giving up for anything. I looked him in the eyes as he brought his hand towards me. I clenched my stomach, ready for impact, when his hand moved towards my back. I relaxed myself a little when I realized he was patting my back. I gave him a smile as he spoke.
"Good job with initiation, second place. We'll be sure to get some good jobs here," he said to me, "What's your name again? Istin, isn't it?" I slightly shook my head with a laugh and pointed toward my brother, who was hitting it off with some girl who scored below him. Sad thing is, if they get together, it won't be for long. She landed under the needed score. She will be factionless in a number of hours.
"No, that's Istin. I'm Kalen," I told him. An excited look sprung onto his face as he looked back and forth from Kalen and me. Here we go again, the "Why do twins do everything together? Can't you guys be your own person?" lecture. We already got it with Eric when we refused to fight each other. Lexa ended up giving us extra points for standing up to him. It turns out, nobody likes Eric that much. I turned back to Four and waited for his lecture to be surprised with something else.
"No. Way. You guys are twins. That's so cool. I've always wanted a twin, you know, so I'd never be alone." He went on and on about wanting a twin so bad, I forgot what he intentionally came over to me for. Once his little excitement attack was over, I spoke to him.
"Yeah, it is pretty cool being a twin, although there are some bad sides. I'm going to go into it, I'll be blabbing on forever. Anyways, congrats on being first! You get first pick at high end jobs, pretty exciting, huh?" I nudged him with my elbow as he shrugged.
"I don't know, I'm not really into all that kind of stuff. I was really just going to work in the control room with my friend Zeke," he replied, pointing to a boy with darker skin and black hair.
"Oh, really? Well, I guess whatever you're comfortable with. Since you're going to be monitoring everything, can I ask you a favor?" He gave me a confused look.
"That depends on what it is." I turned towards my brother to see him comforting the girl who was about to be dragged away with the rest of the initiates who are now factionless. They get to say goodbye to their families and then they're gone. I watched as Istin turned from boy to girl, comforting them all. I snapped my head back to Four.
"Would you mind keeping an eye on Istin for me? Between you and I, he doesn't have any Dauntless in his blood. He came here to follow me and I feel like it'd be my fault if he got hurt. I don't want anything to happen to him. I want him to be safe." I told Four. A look of relaxation came over him as he realized it wasn't a life-risking favor.
"Of course, why not?" he smiled at me. I put out my hand in front of him and looked him in the eyes.
"You have to promise." I told him. I wasn't taking any chances with letting Istin be hurt. Four put his hand in mine and I smiled as he said his words.
"I promise."
TIME SKIP
I walked up towards the hall of apartments that held the control room staff and watched the number go up as I passed each door. 375, 376, 376, 378, there it is, 379. I knocked on the door and ran over what I was going to say to him in my head over again.
'Hey, sorry about your dead girlfriend, but you're still going to watch over Istin, right?' Okay, no, that's way too insensitive. What about -
My thoughts were cut off with the sound of the swiping door that lead to the bonus room in each apartment. I looked down at my hands and ran them through my hair. Damn, still haven't dropped that habit. He opened the door and I looked up at him. His eyes were read and puffy, his hair was a rat's nest; it looked like he hadn't slept in days. Not to mention that his bonus room was a complete mess. He was about to close the door when I shoved my foot in front, stopping the in-coming slam.
"Please, just a few minutes Four, I promise." He looked at me for a while before nodding, and letting me in. He gestured to the desk chair as he lay down on the messy bed. I watched as he tried to fix his hair in the mirror behind the door and that was when I realized he wasn't comfortable to be himself around me anymore. I stared at my best friend try to fix himself for me. I couldn't do this. I can't bother him. He needs my help. He gave up and looked at the floor.
"So," he sighed, "what did you need again?" His eyes met mine for a second before he looked away, not wanting his feelings to be read; but it was too late. One second is enough for me to notice that the happiness in his eyes was gone. It was enough to notice that his walls were built up again, higher than before, and he wasn't going to let me walk through the door. Enough to make me realize that my best friend won't let anyone fix him, yet he cannot fix himself. I puffed out a breath I didn't know I was holding in and played with the hem of my shirt as I spoke.
"Look, Four,-"
"If this is an apology, Kalen, I swear to god I will punch you hear and now. I've heard enough of them," he interrupted. A swing of anger flew over me and I stood up.
"Listen up!" I screamed, "It has been a month since Tris was died, okay. We all get it! We were all friends with her! Christina lost both her and Will, and after three days she was back up, helping get everything back in order. You need to stop moping around here! Everyone has tried to help you and you've pushed all of them away. I was too afraid to try because I didn't want to face the fact that you have even pushed me out. We're best friends, Four. You were the one that helped me with everything. We could tell each other anything. What happened? You can't just go back to what you were before, Tobias, you need help!"
Four got up off the chair and walked towards me slightly. He still towers over me, just like the first day we met. Except, this time, he was something I should be afraid of.
"Get out," he ordered.
"But, Tobias,-"
"Get. Out." I watched as his anger boiled over. He can't hold his emotions in any longer.
"You need someone," I told him. I walked towards the door and turned back at him as I was about to close it.
"Yeah? Well if I do, it's not going to be some weak Amity boy who can't stay in his own business and has to be liked by everyone!" I closed the door fully and walked back to my apartment. I hoped that Istin wasn't coming or leaving, I didn't need a run in with him. I grabbed a piece of paper and wrote down a few words, and a name so they knew who it was for. I made sure everything in my place was clean, and grabbed anything special and put a piece a tape on it, and wrote a name. I changed into my worst clothes and ran to the Pit, leaving my door open.
FOUR'S P.O.V. (POINT OF VIEW)
I heard a knock on my door and got up to answer it. I opened the door to find tears streaming down Kalen's face. Did I really hurt him that bad? Oh well, he should learn to toughen up. He's a Dauntless now, no time for feelings.
"Kalen, what are you," I stopped as I noticed that Kalen's arms were now full of tattoos. There was no way they all could have been done in an hour. I looked up and saw horror in the boy's eyes. Istin.
"Istin, what's wrong?" I asked him. He opened his mouth to speak, but more choked tears began following. He gestured me to follow him and sprinted off down the hall. I was really getting tired of this boy. Why didn't he just go to Kalen? Speaking of Kalen, we were heading into the hall of his apartment. What's going on?
Istin turned into Kalen's room and sat on the bed. He pointed towards the identical desk in every room and I sighed.
"Yes, that's a desk, the same desk in every room. What's the point of this, Istin?" I boomed.
"It's what's on the desk, you asshole!" he screamed. I felt a wave of reality run over me. Istin never swears. He never yells, he never hyperventilates, he never comes to me, he always goes to... Kalen.
I turned towards the desk and looked down on a single piece of paper that had my name on it. I picked it up and held it close to my eyes and read it out loud.
"Tobias, you were the only one who never called me that. Remember our promise." My head shot up at Istin and tears welled in my eyes.
"Istin, where's Kalen?" I asked. He shook his head and continued crying. "Where's Kalen?" I screamed. He lifted his head from his hands and stood up.
"He jumped! Okay? He jumped into the chasm. He's gone! I don't know why but he's gone! He's gone." I clutched onto the letter and let my tears spill I was about to sit down again when Istin grabbed my shoulder.
"Wait, there's something you for." I watched as he opened the bonus room and we walked in. On almost every item, there was a piece of tape with a name written on it. I followed Istin to the back of the room and stopped as we came to the coffee table. He looked at me and nodded, then walked out. I crouched down and looked at the three items with my name on it placed on top of the polished glass furniture. The three things that will keep him in my mind. Three pictures that will forever haunt me.
One, of him and me at the ceremony for the past initiates.
Another, of Tris, him, and I as went to get matching tattoos.
The last, of him and me when we first told each other we were both Divergent.
