A/N- I do not own Divergent or any of its characters. All rights go to Veronica Roth.
Eventually, the factionless start to look like they're getting ready to jump off. I look outside and see that we have arrived at the factionless sector. One by one, we jump off the train. I'm getting better at this because once I hit the floor I stumble a few times, but I don't fall. Susan on the other hand isn't so lucky. She falls over and rolls onto her side. Caleb helps her up, and I can see that she has a scraped knee. We walk through a grotty alleyway that smells of rats and human waste. Then Edward walks up to a large steel door and pulls it open with so much force that I expect the building to crumble. Once we are inside, I am not surprised about what is here because I've seen it before. The factionless grouped together, living like a large family, or a faction.
"What's going on here? Why are you all together like this?" Uriah questions.
"Once the Stiffs started giving us more food, clothes and tools, we all got stronger. They were waiting for the world to fall apart, and it has." When Edward says this, everyone turns to look at me. I start to go red and look to the floor. I hope they don't think that I was taking part in some plan that the Abnegation had to help the factionless become stronger. Then the authoritative factionless woman from the train walks to the front of the group, shouting "This way!"
We all follow her lead up to a set of large doors. She knocks on them and a severe looking woman with a lazy eye opens the doors and studies us.
"Strays?" She says.
"No Therese. The famous 'Four' his here with his lackeys." The authoritative factionless woman says Four's name in a mocking tone. How do they know him?
"Oh, hello, Four. Nice to see you again." Therese snarls.
Four just rolls his eyes and starts to walk through the door, we follow. We walk into an old boiler room where we see a middle-aged woman standing behind a table. She has curly black hair and olive skin, with a hooked nose.
"Hello, dearest Four." She says sarcastically.
"Evelyn." Four replies. Then, it all makes sense. Marcus's wife was called Evelyn, so this must be Four's mother. Shock isn't the word to describe how i'm feeling right now. I would probably describe it as sheer confusion. Evelyn is supposed to be dead. I went to her funeral and watched Marcus cry, next to her coffin. How could this be?
Four must notice the look on my face, he places a hand on my shoulder. I get the feeling that this is more of a 'please don't say anything' gesture rather than a 'it's not as bad as it looks'.
"So, are you going to introduce me to my guests?" Evelyn asks Four.
"This is Tris, Caleb and Susan, Caleb is now Erudite but they are all originally from Abnegation." After he says this his eyes flick up to Evelyn's, giving her a warning look. He mustn't want her to reveal herself. "And this is Zeke and Uriah, they came from Dauntless with me."
"How interesting." Evelyn says "Lets go and eat."
Caleb walks up to come kind of map, or coding system, on the wall. "Are these population counts? Factionless safe houses?" He questions, his Erudite curiosity taking over him.
"That's an awful lot of questions. Ones that I cannot answer unfortunately, for safety reasons." Evelyn smiles. But it isn't a friendly smile.
As we walk out, Four trails behind, and Evelyn is whispering to him. "It's a shame the war ruined our little plans."
"Well Evelyn, maybe it's not just the war that changed my mind."
…
We sit with the rest of the factionless, eating our food. We share food with each other so that we all get a bit of everything. I don't enjoy the food because I can help but think how unhygienic this is. Then I look at Zeke and Uriah, I notice that they're sitting a little bit out of the circle, and they have three cans that they just share between each other. I wish I was doing the same. We pass the cans to the people who are to the left of us, so I get my food from Four. I suppose this is better than eating straight after a random factionless man. When he gives the food he smiles at me. I smile back but he must know that I recognised Evelyn, however it would be selfish and rude of me to ask him, so I keep quiet.
When we're all finished eating, people return to the corners of the room and start to lie down on mats and heaps of blankets. Our group stays sitting down wondering what we're going to do next, when Therese turns up pushing a trolly filled with rolled up mats and old, scratchy blankets. We all take a mat and a blanket each and find a space to lie down. Susan and Caleb line their mats up against the wall, when Caleb grabs my arm and tells me to lie with them. I tug my arm away and he gives me an angered look.
"Beatrice, what is your problem?" He whispers harshly.
"Nothing. Why?" I reply, innocently.
"Because you've not been letting me help you ever since we've been reunited."
"Well, maybe I don't need your help. Have you ever thought of that?" I say, raising my eyebrows.
"Why do you hate me." He says, almost sadly.
"I don't hate you Caleb." I say firmly.
"Beatrice don't lie to me anymore. What is your problem with me? Just te-"
I interrupt him, almost shouting "Because I resent you, okay?" Maybe I should keep my voice down, I'm almost positive that everyone heard me.
"Why? What have I done?" There are tears in his eyes.
"You left us, Caleb. All our lives you were this perfect little Abnegation boy. Acting selfless with every chance you got. Before choosing day, I was positive that I was going to choose Dauntless. I wasn't selfless enough for Abnegation, and I wanted to be free. I though that seeing as though you were most likely to choose Abnegation, it wouldn't be as bad on our parents if one of their children stayed with them. But then you got up out of your seat and poured your blood onto the Erudite glass and I panicked. If I chose Dauntless, our parents would be alone. Mom was crying next to me. I looked at her and decided that I couldn't do it. Couldn't leave her. So I got stuck with a faction that I no longer belonged in." I was talking so fast that I only just take a breath. Tears have spilled over Caleb's cheeks, and he looks at me with desperation.
I walk away with my mat and my blanket, I can't sleep next to him tonight. But there's no where else for me to lie, I don't want to end up next to someone I don't know. I am just about to swallow my pride and go back to Caleb when a hand grabs my arm. Four.
"Hey." He says.
"Hi." My voice is croaky.
"Come on, there's a space next to me."
...
I follow him to the far corner of the room, which is away from everyone else. Perfect. I unroll my mat and set it down next to his. Usually I would prefer to lie a bit further away from him than this, but I don't really have much choice. The room is cramped. I lie down on my back and so does he. We lie for about a minute but I am far too charged to sleep. I turn to look at him and see that he is staring up at the ceiling with his eyes wide open. I carry on staring because I can't stop. Everything about him looks strong and sturdy, defined muscle with angular features. His tanned skin and dark hair blend in with the night. He turns and notices that I am looking at him. He doesn't say anything, just stares at me with his deep blue eyes. He's handsome. I blush at my thoughts, but thankfully he won't be able to see the colour of my face because of how dark it is, he just smiles at me.
"How did the woman on the train know who you were?" I ask in a quiet voice, my curiosity overcoming me.
He pauses but then answers. "I was going to become factionless. So I used to visit here often over the past few weeks." He whispers. This revelation shocks me.
"Why? Why would you want to leave Dauntless?"
"Because I didn't belong there anymore. Their ideals have changed, they became cruel. So I was going to leave and survive on my own." He sighs.
"Well, I know what it feels like to think you don't belong in your faction." I smile at him.
He stares at me a while longer, then smiles and says "I feel like I understand you."
His smile is heart wrenching. "Why would you say that, Four?"
"Don't call me that." He says, sternly.
"Then what should I call you?"
"My real name. I know that you know it. So don't try and act coy."
I start to panic, is he mad at me? "I didn't mean to eavesdrop on you and your father that night. You were just standing so close and I-"
"It's okay," he interrupts "I'm kinda glad that you heard."
"Why would you say that?"
"Well it means that you got to know about me a little better. And when I heard what you were saying to Caleb I figured we were kind of similar."
I flush over the fact that he heard my argument with Caleb. But it's nice to have someone feel out of place like I do.
"Were you eavesdropping on me too, Tobias?" I say with a smirk. A smile spreads across his face like he can't contain it.
"Yes, so I guess that makes us even." Then he surprisingly grabs my hand and laces his fingers in-between mine. I give his hand a squeeze and stare at him for little longer, still shocked. Then he starts to close his eyes, and I allow his steady breathing to lull me into a dreamless sleep.
