This chapter has a lot of dialogue created by Veronica Roth. I don't own it, I just borrowed it :) The only thing in this chapter that is mine is Four's reactions to the situations. I really enjoyed writing his POV for this chapter and look forward to the next ones coming up. This is such a delicate time for Four and Tris. Hope you enjoy, as always I enjoy your reviews :)


His body feels heavy and he can barely hold it up but he connects with Tris' eyes and he straightens himself as much as possible.

Niles begins the questioning and Four is determined to fight it as much as possible. "What is your name?"

"Four." It mostly true which is why he is able to say it, he has found a loophole and hopes it works for later questions he knows are coming.

"That is a nickname, what is your real name?" Four sighs, "Tobias." He sees people react, putting two and two together without him even having to reveal his last name. He was the boy who deserted his father, the father that was accused of hitting him.

"What are the names of your parents Tobias?" Parents? He didn't have any parents, not really. He had two people that had created him but no parents. Parents loved their children, they didn't hit them or abandon them, but sadly that wasn't what this man was asking. He tries to fight it anyway.

'Why is this relevant?" Was he revealing he was Divergent? He hoped not. He knew he was showing impressive restraint against the serum but couldn't help it. These were his secrets to keep, secrets he had keep for years until Tris came along. The fact that he had told her was special and he didn't want all these people to share that with her.

"Maybe it wasn't relevant before but it is now that you resisted to answering the question. Names please." He realized Niles thought he was resisting for other reasons, not because he didn't want to give up the special connection with the girl he loved.

He gritted his teeth, "Marcus and Evelyn Eaton." He heard everyone gasp and hated the reaction. He didn't want to be associated with any of them, he hated that he could no longer hide behind the mask that was Four.

"So you are a faction transfer?"

"Yes."

"You transferred from Abnegation to Dauntless?"

Four had enough of this, what was this man trying to prove? "Yes isn't that obvious." He saw Tris bite her lip and realized he needed to calm down, this man was pushing him due to his temper at these questions. He loved Tris so much, he just wanted to kiss her but couldn't move.

"One of the purposes of this interrogation is to determine your loyalties. Why did you transfer?" The momentary calming thoughts vanished, replaced with hot anger. He glared at the man, cursing him for making him reveal all of this. He clamps his mouth shut, refusing to say what he wants to hear. Eventually the serum breaks him down, working it's way through his stubbornness and forcing his mouth to answer. He feels his breathing speed up and his head start to pound. This was private, they didn't need to know this.

Niles asked again and Four continued to struggle against it but the serum was stronger. "To protect myself, I transferred to protect myself." He told as much as he could without revealing it all. He knew it wasn't over though, Niles would continue to push until he revealed everything. All those eyes on him, he saw all the pity. He saw shock in Christina's eyes and Tris was staring intently at him, giving him strength.

"Protect yourself from what?"

"My father." He heard the room go silent. They all stared and he heard them repeat what he said under their breath. He felt sick at what Candor was doing to him, causing him to reveal so much of himself. He assumed it would continue, tearing each thing he held sacred until he had nothing left but it ended there.

"Thank you for your honesty. Is your allegiance with your current faction Tobias?" He couldn't stand that name coming from Niles' mouth. Only Tris was allowed to call him that, but he couldn't focus on that right now. The answer was already bubbling up inside of him.

"My allegiance lies with anyone who does not support the attack on Abnegation."

"Speaking of which, I think we should focus on what happened that day. What do you remember about being under the simulation?" There it was, there was no way to keep the other secret inside. He would not only endanger himself but the one person's life he valued above his. He wanted to shout to her to run, leave the city and him behind but those words wouldn't come.

"I was not under the simulation, not at first. It didn't work."

"What do you mean it didn't work?" Niles laughs at him, unable to believe what Four just said.

"One of the defining characteristics of the Divergent is that their minds are resistant to simulations. And I am Divergent so no it didn't work." He hadn't meant to say all that, but he was too far in now.

The crowd was getting loud and Niles had to stop to quiet them down. Four got a hold of himself and pushed it all down, the truths, the words, the serum, trying to clear his mind.

Niles turned back to Four, "Now when you say resistant to simulations, what do you mean?"

"Usually it means we're aware during simulations but the attack simulation was different using a different kind of serum with long range transmitters. Evidently the transmitters didn't work on Divergent at all. I awoke in my own mind that morning." He could feel it was easier to answer these questions with just facts than the emotional ones. His only focus now was to protect Tris. She was stronger than him, would be able to fight this better than he did.

"You say you weren't under simulation at first. Can you explain that?"

"I mean I was discovered by Jeanine and she injected me with the version of serum specifically designed for Divergent. I was aware during that simulation but it didn't do much good." He didn't look at Tris now, if he did he would break down and tell her all the things he had wanted to say that day but he couldn't do that in front of these people.

"The footage shows you running the simulation. How exactly do you explain that?"

"When a simulation is running, your eyes still see and process the actual world but your brain no longer comprehends them. On some level, your brain still knows what you're seeing and where you are. The nature of this new simulation was that it recorded my emotional responses to outside stimuli." He closed his eyes, he was getting dangerously close to revealing his feelings for Tris. "The simulation made my enemies into friends and friends into enemies. I thought I was shutting it down, but I was actually running it."

He saw everyone nodding along with him and he sighs with relief. People wouldn't question him after this, that is the benefit of the serum. They knew he was telling the truth and he knew it was the only way to protect himself and Tris.

"Please describe what happened in the room to us."

Four stopped, how could he? Just the facts, stick to the facts. "Someone entered the room and I thought it was a soldier trying to stop me from destroying the simulation. I fought her and then she stopped. I got confused, simulation or not I would have been confused. Why would she surrender? Why didn't she just kill me?" He finds her eyes and feels his heart beat faster. He loved her so much.

Niles continues, prodding into an area Four didn't want to talk about. "I still don't understand, how she knew it would work."

Four pushed it down, pushed down his feelings for her. Just the facts. "I think my conflicted emotions confused the simulation and I heard her voice. Somehow, that enabled me to fight the simulation." His body was exhausted from giving part of the truth this whole time. It felt so heavy and he just wanted to sleep but Niles wouldn't allow it. He saw tears in her eyes, saw she was reliving that moment and emotions surged through him at the sight of her tears, forcing him to continue.

"I recognized her, finally. We went back to the control room and stopped the simulation." He took a deep breath, he did it, kept it inside.

"What is the name of this person?"

He was getting dangerously close, "Tris, Beatrice Prior."

"How did you know her?"

One breath at a time, only the facts. "I was her instructor and now we're together." And I'm in love with her, her love saved me. His mind screamed but he was able to keep it in.

"I have a final question. As customary among Candor, a person has to completely expose himself or herself before accepted into society. What are your deepest regrets?"

Four swallowed slowly, feeling the words bubble up inside of him. This was his final secret, one he hadn't even told her. The secret that he almost acted on until he pulled her out of the net. The secret that no longer held much value to him after meeting Tris, but it was a secret that would lead into all those emotions he was holding in so desperately.

"I regret," Tobias struggled to keep it all in, "I regret my choice."

"What choice?"

"Dauntless. I was born for Abnegation. I was planning…on leaving Dauntless and becoming factionless. But then I met her and I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision." He took a deep breath, almost letting those words escape but pushed past them, "Choosing Dauntless in order to escape my father was an act of cowardice and I regret that cowardice. It means I am not worthy of my faction. That is my regret."

First there is just silence but then he hears "Thank you for your honesty" being mumbled throughout the room. As he steps off the stage, he watches Tris step forward. He meets her eyes and lets the love he has for her shine through them, hopefully giving her strength to endure this process. Once it was over, they could find a quiet place to rest and talk and get back to where they were before all this started.

He grabs her hand and squeezes it as they pass. When he reaches the crowd, he turns back to see Tris injecting herself, not allowing anyone else to put a needle to her neck after the attack.

She answers the initial questions fine, not worrying about revealing her real name, parents, or faction transfer. He can see her pushing against it and realizes she is able to manipulate it. She is so strong.

"Tris, would you please tell us what happened the day of the attack?" Four tenses, this is it. Something happened to her that day that caused her to be this broken form of her and he was going to find out. He wished she had told him without the serum but he would take it. No matter what she said, he would help her move past it and not hold it against her for keeping secrets.

"I woke up, " she said, "and everyone was under simulation. I played along until I found Tobias."

"What happened after you and Tobias were separated?" Four leaned in closer, wanting to hear every word she was saying, but he realized she was pushing the words down. Would she keep that secret even under the serum?

"Jeanine tried to have me killed but my mother saved me. She used to be Dauntless so she knew how to use a gun." He saw her face drop and knew she was reliving her mother's death. Four wanted nothing more than to walk over and pull her into his arms, to protect her from the memory but knew she had to tell her story under the serum otherwise no one would believe her.

"She distracted the Dauntless soldiers so I could get away and they killed her." Four's heart dropped, he didn't realize she had watched her die. No wonder she was so broken, he couldn't imagine watching someone he loved die. He saw her face scrunch in determination and again wondered if there was more to that story.

She continued, "I kept running and.." She stopped, clearly fighting the serum. This was it, after her mother was killed, something happened that she didn't want to share.

"I found my brother and father and we formed a plan to destroy the simulation." Four saw her arms digging into the chair, holding back those words that she refused to let out. She smiled briefly and then saw her body sag as she continued. He listened intently, she never fully shared her side of that day with him.

"We infiltrated the Dauntless compound and my father and I went up to the control room. He fought off the Dauntless soldiers at the expense of his life and I made it to the control room and Tobias was there." She saw her father die as well? Four took a step toward her but Christina held him back, shaking her head at him. He knew if he went up there now it would seem like he was interfering, condemning Tris. He had to let her know how awful he felt for her, watching both of her parents die.

He barely heard Niles ask, "Why did you stop fighting him?" Her voice pulled him out of it, "Because I realized that one of us would have to kill the other. I didn't want to kill him."

"So you gave up?" Niles was not able to correctly analyze the situation, unaware of how deeply their feelings ran for each other, something Four was proud of himself for keeping secret. Tris became angry at the accusation.

"No! Not exactly. I remembered something I had done in my fear landscape, in Dauntless initiation. In a simulation, a woman demanded that I kill my family and I let her shoot me instead. It worked then and I thought…" He saw her struggle, he hoped against the same admission of feelings he wanted to keep private as well. There were some things only meant for the people in the relationship.

"I was so frantic that all I could think was that there was something to that. There was strength in it and I couldn't kill him so I had to try." Four saw the tears in her eyes and felt the same ones in his. He thought back to how close he was to taking her life, and how willing at that point he was to take her life. He knew it was the simulation but had no idea how he would have continued on if he had woken up to realize she was dead at his hand.

"So you were never under simulation."

"No I am Divergent."

"Just to clarify, are you telling me that you were almost murdered by the Erudite, and fought your way into the Dauntless compound, and destroyed the simulation."

"Yes."

"I think I say for everyone that you have earned the true title of Dauntless." Everyone looked at her in disbelief.

Four felt pride surge through him. No one in this room saw her as capable of doing those things, most likely due to her size. He knew different, knew that she was the most brave, daring, selfless person he had ever met. He loved her so much and was counting the seconds until she was finished. He was going to wrap her in his arms and tell her whatever secrets she had he didn't care. As long as he had her at his side, that was all that mattered. He was so lost in thought he almost missed Niles ask the most important question.

"Tris, one last question, what are you deepest regrets?

Four stiffened, not sure what he wanted to hear from her.

"I regret…" she finds his eyes and sees the emotion swirling in hers. He stares blankly back at her, unable to allow himself to feel anything until he hears the next words out of her mouth. What if it is him? What if it is becoming Dauntless? What if? What if? What if? His mind is racing but he keeps his face smooth. He hands clench his arms, turning his knuckles white. He feels Christina intently staring at her as well. Her eyes stay connected with his as he hears one word that he never expected.

"Will." She barely says it and Four strains to figure out what she meant. He realizes it the second before the says the sentence that breaks Christina next to him.

"I shot Will." She takes a deep breath and continues on, Four standing in disbelief that this is the secret she has kept from him, the reason she can't hold a gun, he feels broken that she didn't trust him with this.

"He was under simulation and I killed him. He was going to kill me but I killed him. My friend." Four thinks back to moments before and he realizes she wasn't selfless; these were acts of selfishness. She didn't kill him because she couldn't live without him, she killed Will to save herself. Tris was just as selfish as he was, Before he could think, anger filled the space that should have been filled with compassion. She kept this secret from him and he felt the trust he was holding onto so dearly snap. She didn't trust him the way he trusted, loved her.

The room responds, "Thank you for your honesty," and Tobias wishes he could say the same thing to Tris but can't find any words.