And here is where I experimented. Larkin and Tris won't have as much story time as Tobias and Vivian, but it is fun to add them every now and then.
Chapter Six:
Larkin
"I am almost positive you are a robot at this point in life, Tris." I tell her as we walk back from her daily torture. There is a better name for it; I just don't see the point in using it because we all know what happens the second you enter that room.
Tris smiles at me, "What if I am Larkin? What would you do?"
"Probably run around yelling, 'my best friend isn't human what are you going to do about that?'"
"It would explain a lot though, wouldn't it?"
"Yes, like how you are able to resist the fear serum." I tell her as we walk down the hallway to her cell. "It is humanly impossible to resist that stuff. Believe me, I've tried."
"Let me guess, Spen injected you with that stuff."
I shudder, "It was not good. We were horsing around a while back, and somewhere in his dark, twisted mind, he decided to inject me. I've never been the same since."
"What exactly did you see?" Tris asks. In the past two years I have trusted her with so much, she could easily betray me. But she has trusted me too. I could go and tell the right people what her fears are and then resisting serums wouldn't be so easy. But I haven't betrayed her just like she hasn't betrayed me. That was why she was my friend.
"I saw myself becoming the monster they want me to be." I tell her. The Black Hawks, in which I am a member of, drill it into your head to show no mercy and that there is only one type of person suitable to live on this earth. Vivian had drilled it into my head that the only thing that makes a man evil is the motives in his heart, not the form of his genes.
"I always see Tobias finding out that I'm dead and killing himself to get to me. I always call out, telling him not to and that I'm alive and well, but he never hears me." Tris tells me. She really loves Tobias, and over time I've watched that love grow stronger. I've heard people tell me that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and watching Tris, I know it to be true. Plus, I've felt it myself.
"Do you think she found him?" I ask Tris. We don't even have to ask who the other is talking about. Tobias is referred to "him" and Vivian is referred to as "her". It was just the way things had become between us.
"It's possible. Who knows how far she's gotten out there." Tris answers. I see her glance over at me. "You miss her don't you?"
"Yes," I answer. "I need to know if she's okay. You know how dangerous the fringe is and she went there unarmed."
"I strongly believe Vivian made it through. She may not have the physicality to do it, but she does have the wits. Vivian is okay, I know it."
We stop at her cell and I unlock the door. Tris willingly walks in. I know her routine: once I'm gone she sits on her bed and cries herself to sleep. I will bring her food that she half eats and she lies awake, thinking about what is going on in the world outside. I nod to her as I shut her cell to give her the privacy she wants.
I go to see Vivian's father, as I always do. He sits at his desk, staring at her file, as he always does. He misses her most of all. I wish I could argue with that, but no one could beat his love for his daughter. He has turned into a hollow shell that breaks my heart. Vivian always told me that she was scared she was going to lose him. I'm now scared that he won't make it to the reunion we'll have with her.
"How are you feeling, Abraham?" I ask. When I joined the Black Hawks I was given what his real name was; the one the government had picked out.
"Like I'm dying, Larkin." Abraham answers me halfheartedly.
"Has it gotten any worse?"
Abraham looks at me. In the past two years, Abraham's hair had turned all grey and his brown eyes had lost all of their light. Abraham had told me that he has cancer, one that could not be cured, and he was slowly dying. If Abraham couldn't heal himself, then there was no hope. So all I could do was try to fill part of the gap Vivian had left. Neither of us blamed her for leaving, but she took part of us with her when she ran into the night.
"I don't even know anymore, Larkin. But I'm not dead yet, which is a good thing, isn't it?" he returns to the file, looking at the picture of Vivian that is there. I look at it too, missing her a little more than I just did.
"Have you learned anything new about her whereabouts?" Abraham asks me.
I shake my head. "Her tracker goes on and off. Sometimes we can pinpoint her location, others we have no idea where she is."
Abraham nods. "Now if you excuse me, I want to be alone."
I grant his request and leave the room. I wander to the Black Hawks headquarters where I watch the people go around their daily lives because of the trackers we've injected. I watch Tris pace her room and Abraham sit and wait for his daughter to return. It isn't until I hear all the commotion in the room do I notice on the map of the United States is a name that shouldn't be there: Vivian.
"They found her." I say out loud.