Chapter 17

Tobias

I open the fridge and grab the carton of eggs, but it's light as a feather. Empty.
I toss it over my shoulder, and look in the fridge again. I see an outdated carton of milk, some orange juice, half a head of brown lettuce, and a green-tinged pack of bacon. I snort and shut the fridge door.
As I turn around, I hear what sounds like a chainsaw. Coming from the direction of our bedroom. I sneak to the doorway, and stand there. I lean against the doorframe and listen to Tris sleep, as opposed to watching her. Each breath she takes results in an obnoxiously loud snore. I'm surprised she hasn't awoken the entire city by now. Just when I think her snoring fit is over, she breathes in and lets out a ridiculously loud one, and I double over with laughter. She continues to snore, and I sink to the ground, howling. I guess my laughing fit is enough to wake her, because she sits up in bed and scowls at me.
"What?" she asks, her eyebrows furrowed. Her hair is a mess; it lays flat on one side and sticks straight out on the other. Her eyelids are half open, and the shirt of mine she's wearing cover her knees, even when she sits down. She looks perfect.
I manage to quiet down enough to answer her. "Nothing, love. I just told myself a joke." I smile at her widely. She narrows her eyes at me.
"As if. You can't even tell me jokes, let alone yourself." I gasp, and put a hand to my chest. "That hurts, Tris. But... not as much as my sides hurt after listening to you snore for 10 minutes." I turn around and sprint out of the room. Sure enough, a pillow smacks the spot where my head was a few seconds ago.
"Tobias! Get back here!" I smirk and run around the corner, into the living room. I dive behind the couch, and hold my breath. I hear her come into the room and stop.
"Tobias! I know you're in here!" I hear a smack, and I realize she stomped her foot, which sends me into another laughing. I manage to stop only when I hear her move in front of my hiding spot. Silently, I stand up, and edge my way out from behind the couch. I expect her to turn around, but she doesn't hear me. She must be too sleepy.
I rush at her and throw her over my shoulder. She shrieks and pummels my back with her fists.
"Morning, beautiful." I say as I carry her towards the bedroom. "Four! Let me down!" she screams, and I use one of my hands to tickle her ribcage, and she erupts into giggles. I toss her into the bed, and lay beside her.
After we both manage to calm down, she snuggles up to me and traces patterns on my chest.
"So, how did you sleep?" I ask her, and shrugs.
"Okay, I guess. It was kind of restless. How was yours?"
I smile, and kiss her. "It was perfect. I didn't have any nightmares."
She widens her eyes, and smiles. "Really? Why not?"
I kiss her forehead, and pull her against me. "You protected me." I murmur against her skin, and she blushes.
"So, what are we doing today? I'm actually getting sick of just staying here." Tris sits up and crosses her legs. Almost by themselves, my eyes travel up and down her form, but not hungrily. Lovingly. She blushes again. I reach for her hand and she intertwines her fingers with mine, sending a warm feeling from my hand to the rest of my body.
"Well, I think we need to go shopping." I say, and she nods. I continue. "We're officially out of food. There's a grocery store in Dauntless. It's not too far. Go for a shower, and we can go." I stand up and take my shirt off, tossing it to the side. I feel two small hands begin to trace the tattoos that cover my back, and I close my eyes at the feeling. Every time Tris and I touch, it sends a jolt of electricity through me. It's incredible. She stands on the bed so her mouth is level with my ear, and she whispers to me "Do you want to join me?"
In one smooth motion, I twist around, pick her up around the waist, press my lips to hers, and walk to the bathroom.

We shower, get dressed, and start our laundry. Tris manages to make us a toast each, and we eat it on the way to the grocery store.
"Have you ever been shopping?" I ask her, knowing the answer. She turns to me and shakes her head.
"Unless you count Christina buying my clothes and makeup, nope." I chuckle.
"Neither have I." She gapes at me for a full minute.
"Tobias! We have no idea what we're doing. We didn't even make a list! We're going to forget the most important things!" She throws her hands in the air, and I smirk.
She's adorable when she's grumpy.
I bring her hand up to my lips and kiss it. "We'll do fine, love. I promise." She crosses her arms and frowns.
"If you say so." I just shake my head at her.
After another ten minutes of walking, we turn a corner and the Grocery Mart comes into view. I hear Tris gasp, and I can see why. The Dauntless grocery store is one of the largest things I have ever seen. Easily twice the size of the Pit, it holds absolutely everything you could ever need. The only thing the store doesn't supply is weapons, but you can get those at any number of stores around the compound. "It's... enormous," says Tris, and I nod my head. She turns to me. "Have you ever been here?" I nod.
"Yeah. I came with Zeke a couple times. But I've never really been shopping." She smiles at me, her anger virtually nonexistent.
"Well, there's a first time for everything. Come on." And she grabs my hand, pulling me into the store.
We spend hours in the grocery store. Tris is mesmerized, whether by the size or sheer volume of stuff, I'm not sure. Eventually, we remember the reason we came here in the first place, and we buy our groceries. I pay and extra ten points to have them delivered to my apartment.
When we get home, I lay down on the couch and turn on the television. Tris curls up in my lap, and I smile down at her.
"I love this," I say. "I love moments like this. When we're both just happy, and in love. I'm always in love, but... you know what I mean." I finish lamely. Tris gazes into my eyes, and a corner of her mouth lifts in what I can't help but find a very sexy smile.
"You know, Tobias, I may have told you this before, but I love you too. I love every moment we spend together." And she kisses me. Her hands slide around my waist and up my back, one tangling in my hair. I sigh her name, and she smiles into our next kiss. I move my lips to her neck, and she arches into me. I kiss each of her ravens, and back up to her lips. I gently tug on her bottom lip with my teeth, and she moans my name. I flick my tongue, asking permission, and she opens her mouth to let me in. Our tongues dance, a heated, passionate dance of pure lust. Tris breaks the kiss to gaze into my eyes. "You're perfect." And in that moment, my heart goes out to her. I blush, fully crimson, and pull her into my arms. Tris knows exactly what to say to make me happy; she knows how I feel about myself. But when I'm around her, I forget all that, and I see myself in her eyes. I sigh, unwilling to end this moment, but I know I have to. As I'm about to open my mouth and tell her about tonight's meeting, the doorbell rings. I sit up, glad for an excuse to avoid the argument I know is inevitable.
Tris and I unpack the groceries, and Tris groans.
"We forgot eggs." is all she says, and I can't help but laugh. She glowers at me, and I pull her into my arms. She melts against me, and I sigh.
"Come with me. I have something to tell you."
And we sit on the couch. I take a deep breath.

Axel

I walk into my temporary apartment (if you can call it that), slamming the door. Before me is a single room. There is a yellowed futon in one corner, a stove in another. The other two corners hold a desk and a sink. There is a small bathroom on the left side of the apartment.
"Fucking piece of shit apartment." I grumble, and I take my shoes off. I kick them across the room and lay down.
To be honest, I never pictured myself staying in a shithole like this for any amount of time. But then again, I never pictured myself leaving Chicago. And even after I left, I never pictured myself rising to power. I lead the rebellion outside the Fence. The rebellion against the Bureau, against NUSA. And I'm in Chicago on one mission: to recruit.
Naturally, Tris and Tobias are my first picks. I know the relationship Tobias has with my enemy, Evelyn Johnson, is strained, and I can use that.
The thought causes me to shake my head. I don't remember the time when I stopped thinking of people as people, and turned to thinking of them as tools. Most people think I am young for my position, but in this day and age, the years you have spent on this Earth are just a number. I get off the bed, and walk to the bathroom. I flick the lightswitch, and for once the light manages to flicker on, giving everything the bathroom contains a sickening yellow tinge. I turn on the tap and wait a minute for the water to warm up. I grab a facecloth I brought with me, and wet it. I wash my face, and look in the mirror. I despise what I see.
My hair is shoulder length, and black. My eyes are the same blue as an icicle, and my face has multiple piercings. My own gaze causes me to shiver.
In other words, I look exactly like my dead twin.
At the thought of Eric's death, I smile. I celebrated when I got the news he had been executed, and by none other than the man that is key to my operation: Tobias Eaton.
Despite my eerie similarity to Eric, I am not him.
In some ways, I am worse. I am ruthless, and cold. I have killed in cold blood. But I feel compassion, and love. And that is where I am better than Eric. I've always been better than Eric. I wasn't the one who smirked before he drove his fist into my face. I wasn't the one who lost myself in the rhythm of destroying my twin's body with a belt. I wasn't him. And that has always been something I have been proud of.
I finish washing myself, and change clothes. I change into black, to hide myself in the darkness. I glance at my digital watch. It reads 11:16 PM.
I pack up my meager possessions, and pull a package out of my pocket. I set this package in the stove, and leave the apartment without a backwards glance. When I reach a stand of trees about 300 metres away from the apartment, I pull the detonator out of my backpack. I smirk as I watch fire blossom into the night sky.
I revel in the beauty of the destruction I have caused. I turn around, for what is hopefully the last time, and make my way to Milennium Park.

Tris

I sit on the couch, a cushion between Tobias and I. I can already tell that what he has to say to me isn't going to be good.
I clasp my hands in my lap so they don't shake. I have no clue what he could have to tell me.
Is he going to leave me? Or scold me? Or am I wrong about the fact that it's a bad thing? Maybe he'll propose.
I shake my head. There's only one way to find out. Tobias sits down, and drags his hands down his face. I look at him expectantly.
"After I left you in the infirmary, I had a gut feeling that someone would be in our apartment when I got back. I went to the training room and grabbed a gun. I wasn't planning on letting the man who did that to you live." He has a look on his face that shows the anger he feels, toward my assailant, towards himself for not being able to do anything about it.
"I stopped outside the door and listened. Sure enough, I could hear someone inside," Tobias continues, and I gasp. I wonder if it was the same intruder as before, but what Tobias says next answers my question. "I opened the door, and he was sitting on the couch. My heart skipped a beat, and he said my name. My real name. I blinked to see if it was real, and it was. Eric was sitting on our couch."
Dread fills my body, and my jaw drops. I don't understand. I watched Tobias shoot him, point blank in the forehead. I witnessed the blood pool on the ground under him.
How is it that last night, he was sitting in our apartment. Tears begin to fall, and Tobias wraps me in his arms.
"Or so I thought. I said his name, and he shook his head. Once he did that, I could see right away that it wasn't Eric. They were identical, almost to the piercing.
But this man seemed more dangerous, more... bad. That's the only word I can come up with to describe him. He swore at me, and told me his name was Axel. Eric had, has a twin."
I can't breathe. One of Eric was bad enough, but two? I'm doomed. Tobias is doomed.
I stand up, and walk to the window. I cross my arms and hug myself.
Tobias' arms wrap around my waist.
"Honey, let me finish." I turn to him. "Axel is on our side. He hated Eric. He wants us to meet him by the lima at midnight tonight."
I stare at him. Can he honestly be this stupid.
"Are you kidding me? How do you know he isn't lying? He could be setting a trap to ambush us. Did you even think about that? About me?"
Tobias looks down at his feet and scratches the back of his head, answering my question.
"I didn't think so. There's no way I'm going to meet him. I can't. I'm not willing to risk my life again, Tobias. I'm sorry." I turn my back to him, and walk towards our bedroom, but he grabs my arm. I turn to look at him.
His eyes delve into mine, begging me to trust him. The look on his face is pained.
"Tris, listen to me. I... trusted him. I don't know why, but my gut didn't give me tell me to be wary. I felt like he wasn't lying. And tonight, just this once, I need you to trust my judgement. Please, Tris." Now he is practically begging me, and even if I don't want to, I find myself believing and trusting him. I nod once, stiffly.
Tobias pulls me into a hug, and the tension leaves me. He breathes in my scent, his nose in my hair, and murmurs the words thank you.
I press my ear to his chest, listening to his heartbeat. It is slow, and steady. It calms me. He pulls away to look into my eyes.
"You look exhausted. We have-" he checks his watch. "Three hours before we have to meet Axel. Go have a nap, and I'll wake you up when it's time."
I nod. He's right. I can barely keep my eyes open. I look up at him, and stand on my toes to kiss him.
"Can you come with me?" I murmur against his lips, and he nods. He picks me up in his arms, one under my knees and the other under my back, and I am asleep before we enter the bedroom.

So, what did you guys think of Axel's POV? Yay or nay?

Chapter 18 will be quite interesting. I didn't know whether to make Tobias keep Axel's identity a secret or not, but it ended up just coming out this way. I may end up revising this chapter and the next at some point.

9,000 views. I feel really special.

Check out my new story. It's titled "Pain". It's a journal, written by Tobias, starting the day after Tris's death. I may make this into a full story, but I'm not sure yet. Let me know if you like the first chapter.