I'm ready to lie, to pretend to be drunk. Anything but let Connor know the dark truth. As the elevator doors open, revealing the Erudite level, I stumble onto the couch, and pretend to start dozing off. It's not the best idea, but it's all I've got.

"Emma," Connor grabs my arm, jerking me up until my face is visible. Letting go of my arm he scowls, "Don't pretend to not understand anything I'm saying. I know you know you were awake. That attitude of yours better change if you don't want people finding out exactly how strong you are."

"Strong?" I repeat, bewildered. "I'm not strong Connor. If I was, do you think I would be here?"

Connor wrinkles his nose at me. "You have strong will, Emma. It takes strong will to manipulate serums and simulations." He says. "I'm even sure you are the strongest Divergent out of the group. No one knows that."

"Wait…what?" I say, uncomprehending. "How am I the strongest?"

"You have the most factions." Connor replies, smiling weakly. He joins me on the couch. "Everyone else only has two. I checked." I look at him, surprised. "And no one knows about your three factions except me and the Stiff."

"Leanna," I correct. Then, confused, I ask, "How? My results —"

Connor rolls his eyes. "Whatever. Your Stiff friend saved you from lots of trouble with the Erudite." He shrugs. "She must have forgotten about me standing there. The first thing she did when you got the result, when you were still in simulation, she deleted one of your results. In the system, it says you've only got Abnegation and Erudite."

No wonder my mother hates me so much and not just because I'm Divergent. I got two factions and the one of them is the faction she hates so much. I'm more surprised that Connor knew about Leanna removing my faction and didn't say anything.

"If you knew…why didn't you tell my mother?" I ask, stunned. "I mean…"

"You aren't a test subject," Connor says. "I'm not going to let them do that to you."

For a moment, I'm speechless. He cares? The same guy that turned me in cares about my wellbeing? That's the most surprising thing I have ever heard in my life. I don't even believe it.

"It's not up to you what happens to me," I mumble. "But it's nice knowing you care."

Connor turns red before regaining his "cool".

"Look, the Games are fun, okay? If they took out a tribute, that would suck. I just wanted to make sure you weren't taken out for something as silly and boring as an experiment." He says, trying to cover up what he has said before. But I will always remember.

"Sure," I say, smiling a bit. "You know what, Connor? I'm really starting to like you. You're cool."

Connor sends a smirk my way. "Of course I'm cool. I'm Dauntless."

"That's not what makes you cool," I reply, rolling my eyes. Once a Dauntless, always a Dauntless. He's so dumb in a way, it makes me almost want to laugh. I grin a bit at him before a sit up straight, a few thoughts in my mind. "After what you just did, don't you think people would have questions for me?"

"Not if they're all confused by their surroundings." He says, nudging me. "The only person who might have seen you get dragged away would be Robert, that is if he was looking at all."

I look at my hands, distracting myself from Connor. I want to open up to him, to ask him questions and tell him how I really feel. I'm beginning to trust him a little bit. After all, he saved me. He saved me from being a test subject, and even didn't rat out on Leanna. He's gaining my trust, and I'm sure he trusts me, but I don't trust him. It's just not right.

"Connor, I need to ask you something." I suddenly blurt, surprised by my own actions. Even he looks surprised before nodding. "It's about my mother." I clench my fist, hiding it inside my shirt. "I don't get it. Why does she hate me so much? I'm still a human, I'm still her daughter —"

I stop when I see Connor shaking his head.

"Yes, you are a human." Connor replies. "I think we all clearly see that. You're her daughter, true again but does she want you to still be known that way? Of course not. It'll ruin her reputation and her reputation as our leader." He shrugs. "She doesn't hate you Emma, I'm sure of that."

I try holding back my tears. Reputation before child. Faction before blood. That's how our society works, doesn't it? I never realized how truly messed up our society is until now. We don't even act humane, I realize. Killing other people of our kind just because they're different. Different. Unique. That should be good, shouldn't it be? But not here. Here, different is dangerous.

Different is a big thing. You have to try and fit in. No, I take that back. You have to fit in. There is no other choice. I'm starting to realize that too: we never had a real choice. They were illusions. Sure, we got to choose our faction as long as you weren't Divergent but being Divergent wasn't my choice. It wasn't a choice at all. No matter what faction you choose, you would either be loved or hated by your birth faction and no matter what, you would be watched. You would be forced behind the fence, forced to do things to keep you in line so you were the same as everyone else.

The uniqueness of a human being was taken away.

"Yeah," I mumble, choking back a sob. "She doesn't hate me. Just wants me dead, that's all."

Connor reaches his hand out for a moment before taking it back, looking at me uncertainly. I wish he had extended his help because I definitely needed it. I don't like looking weak, but sometimes I wish I could and just have someone there; holding me and telling me everything would be okay.

All Connor does is sit there uneasily, watching me hold back my tears. He looks uncertain about what he should do. Taking a shaky breath he says, "If you need any help, Emma, I'll be on the Dauntless floor. There's a password for unused floors, and it's usually the same for all unused floors."

He glances around uneasily and whispers, so I can barely hear, "The password is Mark." He stands up and walks towards the elevator. I watch as he presses the down button. Briefly, he looks back and says, "Don't try it on the other two floors. It won't work. They'll know you know, and know that you've tried."

Giving me a stiff nod, he steps into the elevator as the doors close behind him.

Minutes, even hours pass as I just sit there, staring at the elevator. My eyes are red from crying. In the end, I did have to just let everything out. I'm lying down on the couch, head tilted so I can see the elevator doors. No one has come up yet. My stomach is growling, so it must be dinner.

When the doors open, I expect Robert or Connor, so I jump up. I'm surprised to see a nervous Leanna stepping out of the elevator with something in her hands. She hands me some bread and I quickly nibble on it, realizing how famished I really am. Leanna sits beside me, watching as I finish the bread.

"Emma, can we talk?" She mumbles quietly.

I nod, hoping she can't see my red eyes. I don't want to show weakness, especially not in front of Leanna. I know how tough she can get — I've seen it before. I don't even know if I can trust her anymore, but still, this is the woman who protected me from my mother. From my faction.

"I'm sorry…sorry about the day we arrived." She says, biting her lower lip nervously. "I know I wasn't the nicest, and I apologize. I just…don't know what had gotten into me. I was really rude and that was uncalled for. I'm sorry. I hope you accept my apology, and if you don't…well I understand."

To me, Leanna is basically asking for forgiveness for something she didn't do. The Games change everyone; that I know. And maybe she was a bit rude, but she saved me, and the last thing she should be asking for is my forgiveness. Now that I know what she did, it makes me wonder if true Abnegation are like this. Selfless to the point that they no longer even protect themselves from harm.

"I should be asking you to forgive me," I say, not meeting her eyes. "I should have been more appreciative towards you for, you know, taking away one of my factions I received."

Leanna's eyes widen. "How did you know? Did your mother tell you?"

"No," I reply, looking up at her straight in the eyes. I want to show her that what I'm about to say is important. That it means a lot to me what she did. "Connor saw you. He didn't turn you in though…but either way, Leanna, I really, really appreciate what you did for me. It saved me from lots of experiments and tests they would have performed on me."

The Abnegation just shrugs and smiles. "I'm glad I could do something useful," She replies. "I was just really upset I couldn't take your place. I caused you the trouble and I just couldn't find a way to mend it."

I'm quiet for a moment before asking, "Leanna, do you know the name Tris Prior? Ring a bell?"

Leanna's face immediately goes slack before she looks around us anxiously before murmuring into my ear, "She was born into Abnegation." She then leans back, pretending to smooth down her shirt.

"She was one of the first in many years to transfer back then," Leanna says, continuing to speak in a low voice and barely moving her lips. She leans into the couch, sinking deeper. "Divergent of course, but strong. Three factions. I can't recall which three exactly, but I know she had three.

"We still talk about her in Abnegation," Leanna continues. "It's forbidden to speak about her anywhere, but we still do, selfishly. She was one of us and she's one of the heroes in our eyes. She saved most of our Abnegation members from death and from that blasted Erudite leader." She snorts slightly. "I know most of our Abnegation born members wouldn't be here if she hadn't saved us."

I frown slightly.

"Wait…what happened?" I ask, trying to keep my voice low and trying to not move my lips, but it's hard. "What does an Erudite leader have to do with anything at all?"

Leanna gives me a dry smile. "Before Erudite become the government of the factions, Abnegation had the government running smoothly. It's a common belief in Abnegation that Erudite wanted to overthrow the Abnegation government. Of course the Erudite still deny that today, but I'm pretty sure too that it was what they wanted to do. They haven't changed much." She rolls her eyes. "So of course, the most 'logical' thing was to attack Abnegation. Get rid of them and wipe them out."

I'm silent. I have nothing to say. That is the most ridiculous thing that I have ever heard. Erudite can't have been that mean or selfish could they? They are the government now which means they must have done something good.

But then I remember it: Erudite will do anything, at any cost, to get their knowledge and do certain things. Like the Games for instance. Not everyone could have agreed. Aren't Amity the kind? The peaceful? They never would have allowed it. I doubt Candor would have allowed it either. The truth is what they put their faith in, and the truth about what makes someone Divergent, or just Divergent overall would be something they would like to hear. The truth of why the Erudite are really destroying and killing off Divergent. Dauntless can't have allowed it. Maybe the leaders would, but no one else. Bravery can't be killing. Abnegation never would have allowed it. They believe in acts of selflessness, and killing others is not selfless. It's selfish. The fight of survival.

Erudite must have forced the Games themselves after they took the government as their own. I know believing things from the point of view of another Abnegation is biased, but now looking at it myself, I almost believe it. I do. I'm even almost sure that whatever was outside the fence, whatever was where I am now, wasn't all that bad at all. The Erudite destroyed it because it was a "threat".

They say they are trying to keep up safe; keep us safe from the dangers that lurk in our society. The real danger isn't the society. The real danger is them. If they continue killing off our own kind — their own people — they soon will be putting their own society at risk. Then, it will be a fight of survival, and it won't be just for Divergent. It'll be for everyone.

Now I realize something else: the Erudite aren't as wise as they are supposed to be. If they were, they would stop the Games. If they wanted their society to be safe, they would stop the Games. But they won't because they know they are able to control their own people at any time needed and they can force things upon people without them rebelling. They can't resist simulations. We can. That's what makes us dangerous, and a threat to them. Not to our society.

"They're scared of us," I say slowly, looking Leanna in the eye. "We aren't a threat to society. We're a threat to them. They can't control us. The difference makes us dangerous."

Leanna gives me a strange look. "Different is dangerous," she repeats. "In Abnegation, we all have to be the same. Stiff and plain." She chuckles a bit. "Sometimes, people aren't lying when they call us 'Stiff'. We really are sometimes. I almost lost that self-preservation. Now given the ability to protect myself…it's really changed a lot."

Another thought dawns on me.

"Maybe that's it, then." I point out. "The factions are the real threat to our society. They split us and then make us try and fit in. We lose certain virtues as we gain some. Like…"

I rack my brain for an answer. "The Erudite are intelligent, they really are. They aren't wise though. They are in vain too, as much as I hate to admit it. And like as you said, Abnegation are selfless but don't have that self-preservation."

While Leanna nods, I finally understand.

The factions will be the destruction to our society. Not Divergent.