VISITING DAY
FOUR POV
I walk into the Pit and see a room of colours. It seems we have a lot of visitors in the Dauntless compound today. I usually avoid this but today I can't. I need to talk to Tris' mum. I see Eric standing near the door to the dining hall. He doesn't look like he is enjoying today at all. It is understandable with his dad gone and his mum being held in Erudite it must be painful to watch the interactions between families.
I walk over to Eric and he says, "Did you get everything we need?"
"Yeah," I say. I pull the backpack off my back and hand it to Eric.
"Let's get this over with," he says.
We walk over to where Tris and Suzy are with members of their families. As we approach I hear Tris threatening to break someone's nose. Eric looks at me and I just shrug my shoulders. I have no idea what is going on. As we arrive on the scene I can see Mrs Prior forcefully dragging Tris away from tan argument with a woman from Erudite.
Eric and I stop in front of Tris and her mum. "We need to talk Natalie," Eric says.
"Tris take your mum into the bathroom and get her to change into something that is in this bag," Eric says to Tris. Tris looks at him cautiously and then turns to me and I just nod.
"Where is Suzy?" I ask. By the time I look up Eric has spotted Suzy and has started walking over to where she is. I can see that it is only her father that has come to see her today. I hope that her mum has gone to see Robert and that is the reason she is not here.
"Mr Black," Eric says extending his hand out to shake Mr Blacks. "My name is Eric and I need you and Suzy to come with me please."
Suzy looks startled. "It's okay Suzy, we just need to talk to your father and we can't do it here," I say.
We walk over to the where the bathrooms are and wait until Tris and her mum walk out. Both looking very Dauntless. Eric takes the bag from Tris and asks Mr Black to follow him. They walk into the bathroom and when they return Mr Black is dressed all in black like the rest of us. We motion for them to follow us and we make our way towards Eric's apartment.
"I'm sorry for all of this but we need to talk to you and we couldn't do it in the Pit," I say.
Natalie smiles and walks over and hugs me. "It is so good to see you Tobias," she says.
"Tobias? Tobias Eaton?" Mr Black says.
"Yes sir, but you can call me Four," I say.
"Why would I want to talk to you? You are a faction traitor," Mr Black demands.
"I think if you look at it realistically Mr Black. We would all be classed as faction traitors in your eyes," Eric says. "I don't think singling one person out is what is needed at this moment."
"Please everyone sit. We need to talk to you and we don't have much time," I say.
We all sit down and Eric says, "Erudite are going to try and attack Abnegation. We are trying to stop it before it happens but we need you to be ready in case it doesn't work. We may need Abnegation's help. We haven't got details of what is going to happen but we should soon. I will be in contact with you Natalie in the usual way."
"What?" Tris asks. She is shocked but looking at her and Natalie sitting here together in black I can imagine them both fitting into Dauntless. I have to wonder after seeing Natalie pull Tris from that Erudite girl in the Pit if she was Dauntless. It wouldn't surprise me.
"I have been helping Eric to rescue people who are Divergent out of Dauntless," Natalie says.
"So Amar is alive?" I ask.
"He is. But that is all I can tell you about it Tobias. It is too dangerous any other way," Natalie says. I suppose it would be pointless to try to ask for more information. It does show that Eric isn't the person I once thought he was.
Mr Black has sat very quiet, I think he may be a little shocked at what is going on. "Dad are you okay?"asks Suzy.
"Yes dear this is just a little overwhelming. Are you all sure this is going to happen?"Mr Black asks.
"Mr Black I am a leader here in Dauntless and as of tonight so will Four. We have information that has come straight from Erudite. We are still trying to work out how we will stop this but you need to be prepared. If we can't stop this then it could be a massacre of Abnegation."
"We have another problem," I say. "We need to hide Eric's mum. We think the best place to put her is in Abnegation. Erudite are not going to look for her there."
"I can organise that," Natalie says.
"Thank you Natalie," Eric says. "I can't thank you enough. We still need to get her out of Erudite."
"We better go," Natalie says. "We don't want you to get in any trouble for having us here."
"Take this bag and change once you are away from the Dauntless compound," I say.
Tris and Suzy say there final goodbyes to their families and just before they are leaving I go and give Natalie a hug. "Take care of my girl Tobias," she says.
"I will. I promise," I tell Natalie.
Eric has gone over to Mr Black and is having a hushed conversation with him. I don't know what is being said but Mr Black does not look happy. I have to wonder what he has said and then I realise what it is. I'm sure he has just asked to court Suzy, which is what is done in Abnegation. From Mr Black's reaction I am thinking he isn't happy about the situation.
Tris and Suzy left with their parents. They were going to walk them to the exit and then return to the dormitory. Eric and I need to organise the rankings. We both know how important this is. It will be the difference between continuing on to stage two or being factionless. I hate that we have to kick people out. Hopefully in the future I can have this rule changed. If everything works out I think I will be trying to change a lot of rules in Dauntless. Hopefully I can help us to go back to the way it used to be. That the manifesto can mean something again.
"So what were you saying to Suzy's dad?" I can't help but ask. Although I'm sure I know the answer.
"I was asking if I could date her after initiation finished. I thought I would try to do the right thing by Suzy even though I don't have too," he says.
"So it didn't go well?"
"Her dad is crazy. He said there was no way he would ever approve of her dating anyone in Dauntless. He told me that I had a hide for even asking and that she would never love me because she is in love with Caleb."
"Ouch! I wouldn't worry about him. And I don't think you need to worry about her being in love with Caleb."
"Why would you think that?"
"The way she looks at you. And Tris told me it was her pride that was hurt. I think she is more upset because of the embarrassment it caused her. She will probably be a little wary of anyone wanting to date her. Plus she is the only woman I have seen who isn't scared of you."
Eric laughs. "Well I will just have to wait and see. I suppose I was lucky that it was me and not you that was asking. He really doesn't like you."
"Nobody in Abnegation does. They can't accept that the leaders son would want to leave. Marcus has them all hypnotised by his selfless personality," I say sarcastically.
"Natalie seems to like you," he says.
"When I left Tris told her mum about us and about why I left."
"What made you pick Dauntless?"
"Tris. I knew she didn't fit into Abnegation. So I asked her which faction would she pick if she left Abnegation. She said Dauntless so I decided to come here and hope she would follow."
"That is crazy Four. You are a Dauntless prodigy and you came here because of your girl."
"If I think about it though, I would have picked Dauntless even if it wasn't for Tris. It just made it easier that she wanted to come here too."
"Yeah I don't think I could imagine you in somewhere like Amity," he says and we just crack up laughing.
"So, we better get these rankings done. Do you think we could kick Peter out?"
"How good would that be? But he is going to place high. We can only hope he freaks out in stage two. Which I think could happen. He is a coward and tries to intimidate people, he will have trouble when he has to face his fear."
"Okay let's get this done."
We finalise the rankings. We usually show the initiates the rankings in the dormitory but Max wants it done in the dining hall tonight. That way they can show both the transfers and the Dauntless-borns results at the same time and then Max is going to announce my leadership position.
I wish I didn't have to take the leadership position but I know I can't trust Eric to not see it through without my help. He needs to stay strong and until we get his mother out of Erudite he could always change his mind and just go along with the Erudite plan. I understand why and that is why I need to do this. It could save a lot of lives. I have to put my hate of Marcus out of my mind. If it all works out then I will have to worry about facing him but for now I just need to try and save Dauntless from becoming mindless murderers.