Unfading

by awalkerlifeforme

Amarantha Freesia is a typical Amity girl. Only, she isn't quite so typical. Behind her facade of friendly smiles and chipper laughter she is everything that Amity isn't. With a bad attitude and a sharp tongue to match, Amarantha knows she doesn't belong in Amity. The only place she might fit in is Dauntless. But is she brave enough? One thing is for sure, he's positive she isn't.

25. Chapter 25

Eric's P.O.V.

Eric hadn't moved in hours. He found himself standing in the hallway waiting. He wanted nothing more than to leave and forget everything. He wanted to forget everything that he had ever done for Jeanine. He wanted to forget all of the lives that he had taken for her. He wanted to forget all of the times that he had simply nodded and done what she wanted. He wanted to forget how weak he had been around her. He wanted to forget the ways that he had let Max run all over him. He wanted to forget it all.

But he wanted none of those things as badly as he wanted to forget one specific thing. He wanted to forget her. His Amity. Alex. He wanted her out of his head. He wanted to forget ever laying eyes on her during her Choosing Ceremony. He wanted to forget watching her jump off of the roof on her first day. He wanted to forget tripping her on the track on her first day of training. He wanted to forget making the bet with her. He wanted to forget the time that she had thrown a knife at him. He wanted to forget pushing her off of the Chasm. He wanted to forget shooting her before Capture the Flag. He wanted to forget losing to her.

He wanted to forget the night that he'd found her bloodied and beaten by the Roberts boys. He wanted to forget the first kiss they had shared. He wanted to forget the feeling of her on him. He wanted to forget how soft her skin was and how her nails felt on him. He wanted to forget the way that she said his name. He wanted to forget all of the nights that they had spent together. He wanted to forget the way that she always got to him. He wanted to forget that one of her fears was his death at her hand.

He wanted to ignore that one of his only fears had just come true. He wanted to forget that she was laying on a table with no heartbeat just a few meters from where he was standing. He wanted to forget her blue lips and dead eyes. He wanted to forget the bullet wound that shrieked at him that her death was his fault. He wanted to take back everything. He wanted her to have never come to Dauntless. He wanted her to have a happy life with her parents. He wanted her to meet her sister.

He was the one that deserved a brutal death. He was the one that deserved to be on that table. She should have been the one standing here. He didn't want to have to live without her. He didn't want to deal with the death. He didn't want to remember her. He wanted to drink himself into oblivion. He wanted to forget everything that she had ever done to him. He wanted to imagine that he had never cared for anyone. He should have never even spoken to her. He just wished that she wasn't there. He wished that he didn't care for her. He wished that he didn't love her.

Everything in him had wanted to say it back when she had essentially told him that she loved him. She hadn't said it again in reality and he was glad that she didn't. He wasn't sure that he would have been able to tolerate hearing it. He knew that for the rest of his life he would hate himself for not telling her how he really felt. He wished that she had never asked him if he had seen the Box simulations. He would never stop wondering if she had died hating him. Hating that he didn't feel the same.

If he could turn the clocks back he knew that he still wouldn't be able to admit it to her. They could have spent their entire lives together and he wasn't sure that he would ever be able to tell her. It just wasn't the type of man that he was. But in reality, he knew that he'd always felt it for her. He loved watching how easy she was to rile up, he loved hearing her laugh, and he loved watching her smile. There was a reason that he had told her so much about himself. There was a reason that he had always protected her. There was a reason that he kept the picture of her in the red dress. There was a reason that he had always hated Damien Roberts and her friend from Amity. But he would never get to tell her any of that.

Eric's body gave a slight waver and he groaned. He wasn't sure how long he had been standing out here but he knew that he needed to sit down. He hadn't been injured in the attack but he had lost everything. His energy, his standing in Dauntless, and his resolve to do anything. And her. This was not the first time that Eric had ever been inside of the Erudite Medical Center. He had been here a few times before; once when he was injured and a few other times when members on his teams had been injured.

He had always known it to be loud and bustling in the large hospital. He had never once heard the hospital as silent as it was right now. There wasn't a damn sound anywhere to be heard. The only thing that Eric had been able to hear was her mother's shrieking cries over the loss of her child. He assumed that her father had escorted her out of the building by now, judging by the way the lobby was once more silent. He was grateful that she was gone. Her sobs were driving Eric mad with grief.

Her friends weren't here yet. He assumed that they were being brought here soon. As in Dauntless tradition friends and family would be allowed to see her body before it was to be finished. He wasn't sure what they would do with her. He wasn't sure if they would take her back to Amity and bury her behind the flower fields or cremate her and throw her ashes into the Chasm. She hadn't been old enough to leave behind a will for what she wanted. He wasn't sure which one he wanted. He wanted her family to get to be with her and that meant taking her back to Amity. It might be easier on him that way. He could try and forget the Amity transfer. But he knew in the back of his mind he never would.

There was nothing that he could do to make things right. He wanted to go out and say something to her parents. He wanted to tell them that he had tried to save her; that he had done everything that she had asked of him until the end. He wanted to tell them that he had loved their daughter. He wanted to tell them that when he had discovered what she was he had vowed to protect her. He wanted to tell them that it was his fault that she was dead. Without his help Jeanine would have been too weak to act. He was the reason that she laid on that table.

He was sure that he would never forget the sight of her, alive. Her brilliant green eyes were something that he had never seen before. They always held some hint of emotion. She always looked proud and determined. She always had some hint of challenge buried in the back of her eyes. There was always something there. Her cheeks were almost always turned up into some type of smile or quirk. The way that he had seen her when the tones on the machine had gone weak was so different. Her eyes were dead, an almost vomit looking green. They held no life and not a hint of emotion. Her normally puckered lips were broken and bleeding. Her face held no emotion. The only thing that he had seen from her was death.

His hand was balled in a fist against the wall as a man walked into the room. He knew him immediately. He was one of the other leaders in Dauntless; his name was Jason. He was the second youngest leader, just behind Eric. He was in his late twenties. His bright red hair stood out painfully in the dull contrast of the stark white room. He wanted to scream at Jason to leave. The red of his hair only reminded him of the red that coated her body. Jason walked up to Eric slowly, seemingly not wanting to upset the already disturbed young leader.

Everyone knew that Eric was an easy man to make angry. But Eric wasn't angry, as much as he wanted to be. He was heartbroken. And no one had ever seen him like that before. As Jason came closer to Eric, Eric himself wanted nothing more than to turn and leave. He didn't want to talk to anyone. He didn't want to pretend that anyone could change what he was going through. He knew that he would never go back to the way that he had been. Not after having her.

"Eric. We need you over in Dauntless. After everything with Jeanine... something has to be done," Jason started slowly.

"Leave," Eric snarled, not wanting to hear his voice for a moment more.

There was nothing that Jason or anyone else could say that would make Eric leave. For right now all he wanted was to be left in peace. He didn't want to see anyone and he didn't want to hear about what he had just witnessed. As much as he didn't want to see her again he knew that he had to see her one last time. He needed to see her once more. He just had to see her and tell her that he was sorry. He knew that somewhere out there she was listening to him.

"I'll deal with it later," Eric added.

In truth Eric was sure that he would never deal with it. He knew as well as anyone else that things had changed today. With Jeanine dead, it meant that one of the leaders of Chicago was dead. She had held the city under her iron thumb for years. No one would know what to do with her gone. And no one would know how to handle the Divergent situation. They had always been something more of a rumor. Most people either hadn't known what they were or hadn't been aware that they really existed. She had made sure that everyone would know that they were real.

As Eric made his way back to the main sitting area Jason stuck his arm out to stop the other leader. Eric stopped in his tracks but his hands twitched dangerously. He found that his hands were shaking slightly. He was furious, but it had been at bay for most of the day. Eric wasn't sure how much longer he could contain himself. If Jason dared to lay a hand on him Eric would ensure that he hit Jason as hard as possible. And he wasn't sure if he would ever stop.

"Eric, something needs to be done. I don't know what happened out there. There are only a few videos. Almost everyone in Dauntless is under suspicion. Max is being put on trial. All of the leaders are. So are you. Eric, they're putting you on a criminal trial," Jason tried to warn.

Jason had always been a reasonable friend to Eric. The men weren't overly fond of each other but they went on many missions together throughout the years and had become reasonably good friends. They always looked out for each other. Right now Eric knew that Jason was trying to look out for him. He was trying to get him to see the danger of what was happening. But Eric said nothing. He merely nodded. He had figured that they would put him on trial. They might even execute him. He didn't care. At least he might be with her that way.

Knowing that he needed to at least try and get to work, Eric nodded slowly and turned towards the main area. A disturbing thought hit him before he'd even made it ten feet. She was right out there. Her body would already be cold. Her lips would be blue and her skin would be turning a horrid gray. He needed to say goodbye to her. He had never said goodbye to her before. He had always thought that there might be one last chance. He had never thought for a moment that she might be taken from him.

When she had first come to Dauntless he had been so convinced that she would never be able to make it out of there alive. He had always thought that she would be kicked out after Phase One. He had never thought that she would prove him as wrong as she did. He had never thought for a moment that he might actually find himself attached to her. And he had never really thought that she would die. He had never thought that she would be laying on the table, cold and dead, while he stood a few meters away mourning her.

He had never thought that he would mourn anyone. Not his parents once they both bit it. Not anyone in Dauntless; he had quickly found that he didn't care for them in the slightest. He had figured that he would mourn for Cameron, but he would know that he had done everything that he wanted to in this life once he went. He would celebrate his life rather than mourn it. He had never thought that he would mourn a silly little girl from Amity. He had never thought that she would ever affect him this way.

Realizing that Jason was waiting for an answer Eric took in another breath. His voice was scratchy from pleading with her to stay with him. "I figured that they would," he finally answered.

"We'll all be there," Jason said, obviously unsure of what else he could say.

Eric nodded blankly. He knew that they would put him on a criminal trial for what he had done to the citizens of Chicago. He had done a number of terrible things to people over the years. All of them had been innocent. For the first time he felt like he might deserve to be there. He was sure that she would agree. She had always believed that he was better than what he had been. Maybe this was his chance to prove them right.

"What time is the trial?" he asked.

"It's tonight," Jason said.

Jason shifted on his feet awkwardly. He had always considered Eric a friend. Not a good friend but a friend nonetheless. He didn't want to watch his friend condemn himself to death, which was exactly where he was headed if he stood the trial the way that he was right now. Jason knew well enough that if Eric walked into the trial right now, or in the same mindset, he was sure to essentially give himself the guilty verdict. He would live out his life at the Fence if he was lucky.

"It's only six in the morning right now, Eric. The trial isn't until eight o'clock tonight. You have time to prepare. You have time to figure out what you want to tell everyone. You have time to prove that you're innocent," Jason pleaded.

"I'm not," Eric said softly.

It was the truth. He wasn't innocent. Everything that they were going to accuse him of was the truth. "It doesn't matter. You can say something to make things a little better for yourself," Jason said.

"I won't beg them for my life. Whatever they want to do; they can do it."

Jason didn't say anything else to Eric. He knew more than anyone else that if Eric had settled on something there was nothing that could be done to change his mind. So Jason set his hand on Eric's shoulder, feeling him tense up underneath him. He knew that he should stop touching the younger man so he let his hand drop and warned Eric that they would come and get him when it was time to go back to Dauntless. He knew that Eric wouldn't leave her side until it was time.

Even though she didn't know that he was still here, mourning the woman that he had so frequently said meant nothing to him, Eric couldn't bring himself to leave her. Not until she was really gone. Not until he couldn't see her anymore. Eric heard Jason's boot heels click as he walked out of the narrow hallway. He was glad that the man had left. The only thing that he wanted right now was to be alone. He didn't want anyone to be near him. Eric still hadn't found the motivation to move.

He leaned up against the wall, listening to the noise level in the main sitting area rise again. He heard a few whispers. Jeanine. Amity. Divergent. He knew that they were all talking about her. They were all talking about everything that had happened. He knew that in a matter of hours everyone would know about what had happened to the little girl from Amity. Almost everyone already knew. Word had spread like wildfire in the night. He already knew that all of the higher ups in every Faction were in Dauntless, trying to smooth over what had happened.

The thought almost made him want to smile. The thought of everything that had happened. She was always so determined to make sure that people knew who she was. She never wanted to be the little Amity girl. She always wanted to be Alex. She had wanted people to know her name. Now everyone would know her name. He just wished that she was here to see it. He wished that he could yank on her hair one more time. He wished that he could trip her or smack her in the ass with a towel one more time. He wished that he could hear her laugh.

More than anything he wished that he could forget her. He didn't want to remember her. For once in his life he wished that he had never gone to Dauntless. He could have stayed in Erudite and never met the little Amity transfer. He could have never met her. He would have never had to deal with the pain of losing her. He had heard before that it felt like having your heart ripped out of your chest. He had heard that it felt like every single day you were dying all over again. He had never thought that it was the truth. Right now he knew that it was.

Pounding steps came through the hallway but Eric stayed facing away from the person. He didn't want to have to deal with someone else. He had dealt with enough people for the day. He had dealt with enough feelings. He didn't want to have to deal with anyone or anything else. The only thing that he wanted was to go back to his apartment and tear the place apart. There were traces of her all over it.

Everything in his apartment had something to do with her. He could always smell the soap that she used on his pillows. The sheets always smelled of her too. The perfume that she wore lingered in his apartment. There were little bobby pins and hair ties that were sitting on his counters and forgotten in the bathroom. There would always be one blanket that was in a messy pile. It was the blanket that she would use to wrap around her right leg as she slept. He had never really liked the blankets before - he preferred to sleep with just a sheet - but he had an extra comforter and two blankets on his bed just because she loved them.

Her clothes were always hidden in the corners of the rooms or tucked under the bed. It was hysterical the way that she always lost them. Her favorite foods were in his refrigerator. Apples from Amity sat on his counter. And her picture... The picture of her in the red dress was pinned to the refrigerator. He wasn't sure that he would ever be able to get rid of it. As much as he wanted to erase her from every bit of his life he wasn't sure that he could part with it. He wasn't sure that he could actually leave her in the past.

She had changed him. As much as he hated to admit it she had changed him. He would have never thought twice about another dead initiate. Another dead member. It was always sad. They held a funeral and said their goodbyes. The body would then be burned and their ashes would be thrown over the Chasm. One way or another that was the way that everyone ended up. He had never thought twice about any of them. But he would never be able to stop thinking about her.

The footsteps came to a stop at Eric's right but he still jumped when a hand laid itself on Eric's arm. He went to throw off Jason's arm and tell the man that he would be at Dauntless later, but when he turned he found that it was not Jason at all. It was Cameron. He hadn't seen the man in hours. He had figured that he was off doing damage control. But he was here right now and he looked more frantic than Eric had ever seen him.

A curious glance was the first emotion that had flashed through his eyes in a long time. It almost felt strange to forget about her for even the briefest of seconds. He looked at Cameron curiously and glared darkly. He just wanted to mourn her in peace. He didn't want to think about anything else. He didn't even care if Dauntless was burning to the ground. He didn't want to be here anymore but he didn't want to leave either. He didn't like the way that this place made him feel.

"Eric... We need you. Come on," Cameron said desperately.

He grabbed onto Eric's arm and Eric yanked his arm away from his friend roughly. He didn't want to be touched right now. "What do you want?" Eric snarled at the man that had always been there for him.

Surprisingly Cameron didn't let a hint of emotion flicker across his face. He knew that his best friend was hurting. And that was exactly why Cameron needed him to walk with him. "Eric, it's Alex," Cameron said quickly and carefully.

He knew that his friend was fragile right now. "I know," Eric muttered.

"Come with me," Cameron said.

The first true emotion that Eric had felt since watching her heartbeat flat-line shot through him like the bullet that had torn through her chest earlier. What was it that Cameron wanted him to see that he hadn't seen already? He didn't want to see her corpse. Not yet. He would. But not yet. He wasn't ready. Just for a few more minutes he wanted to pretend that tonight he would find her perched in his bed just as he had become so accustomed to.

"I'll go say goodbye soon," Eric muttered, shocked at how soft his voice was.

He had never heard it like that and Cameron hadn't either. It pained him to hear the man that was his brother speaking like that. He had never heard Eric in such a moment of weakness. "Eric," Cameron said.

His voice was still soft and it drove Eric insane. "I'll go soon," Eric growled, getting upset.

Cameron could sense his irritation. He knew that he had to tread carefully with Eric. It was the only time that he ever had. "I really think you need to come with me," Cameron repeated.

It took Eric a moment to finally look over at Cameron and nod. If they really wanted him back to Dauntless right now he had to go and say goodbye to her now. He was never going to get another chance. And this wouldn't be like when he hadn't told her that he loved her. This was his last chance to say goodbye. So he nodded at Cameron and followed the man out of the hallway. As they walked back into the main room Eric kept his gaze at the ground. He didn't want to see their faces.

He could hear her mother still sobbing softly. It made Eric cringe and clamp his jaws shut. He couldn't imagine that his own family would have ever cared if he had died. Hers were heartbroken. It should have been Eric that had died. Her father was trying to whisper soothing words into her ear. They weren't working. He could hear Dauntless and Erudite guards trying to explain to her parents the process that was to come. Eric wanted nothing more than to rip the guards away from her family. He wanted some of them to mourn in peace.

There were Dauntless guards that Eric noticed were standing close to him and he knew that it was so that he didn't run when it was time for his trial. He wouldn't. He knew that it was his time to face what he had done. Zeke was standing in the corner leaning on a chair that held another one of the leaders, Clara. Clara was staring at her tablet, mindlessly flipping through the pages. Zeke himself was staring at his shoes. Eric noticed a few tears slipping out of his eyes. He knew that the two of them had been close.

There were others standing in the hallway as well. It seemed that a number more people had come since Eric had last been out in the lobby of the hospital. Johanna, the leader of Amity, was in the corner and crying softly. He knew that she had been extremely fond of Alex. He knew that she was so proud of her for joining Dauntless and for going where she truly belonged. It made Eric cringe. He had never seen Johanna show that much emotion.

One of the Amity truck drivers; the one that had brought Johanna here, was sitting in a chair crying softly. It was the same one that had brought them on their trip to Amity months ago. He knew that she had been good friends with him. He couldn't remember his name. Her two friends from Amity - now Candor - were here as well. Iris and Florian. The pair were both in hysterics. They were sobbing loudly and each were leaning into the other. There was also Jack Kang. He was sitting in silence, presumably still reeling from everything that had happened. There were a few other Amity members there and none of them looked anything short of horrified.

There were a few government officials in the room as well; each speaking in hushed tones. Eric knew that everything that had happened had quickly spread around Chicago. No one knew what to do. No one knew what to say. Four had finally seemed to come out of the surgeon's room and seemed alright. Physically, at least. He was in the corner and sitting on his knees. Eric could see that he was crying. He knew why. Four had sworn that he would keep her safe. He had told Eric that. He knew that it killed him that he had lost her. He knew exactly how Four felt. For once, he didn't hate him. He sympathized with him.

As Eric walked through the halls the soft conversations ceased. The crying was still echoing through the halls loudly though. It sounded like screams more than crying. Her mother looked up to Eric and he felt his lip give a soft quiver. Her face was bright red as were her eyes. She looked awful. Her face was sunken slightly and she looked absolutely heartbroken. She was sobbing hysterically as she looked up at him. It was like she was asking him to do something, to save her child. He wished that he could do something.

But he knew that there was nothing that could be done. She was gone. He was going to say her final goodbye and that would be it. He was going to appreciate the last few minutes that he had with her. Glancing away from her mother, Eric followed blindly. Cameron pushed open the door to the hallway that held the operating room. As expected there was no one inside. Eric braced himself to see her still body once more as he looked up past the glass. It was not the sight that he had expected.

She looked like something awful. He had never seen her look worse before. Her hair was matted to the side of her face and it was covered in blood. It looked more like an ugly brownish-red than it did her natural blonde. Her eyes were horrible. They looked like the color of the vomit that he had seen once after a night when she had drank too much. They were watery and the once white irises were now somewhere in between red and purple. Her eyes were sunken into the back of her head and there were dark gray circles underneath. Her cheeks seemed to be hollowed out and her lips had turned purple. Her entire torso was slicked with blood and her clothes were torn from the doctors operating on her.

But it wasn't any of that which had thrown Eric off. It was the fact that she was sitting upright. Her eyes were rolling back in her head and her torso was sitting straight up. It was horrifying to see as an off white foam came out of her mouth. She was convulsing as the doctors laid her down on her side. Her entire body was shaking and as much as Eric wanted to look away as only the whites of her eyes were visible he couldn't. She was somewhat awake. The last time that he had seen her the monitor was completely still and letting out a drone of finality.

Now she was awake. Her heart was beating at a horribly rapid pace and her blood pressure was spiking through the roof. All of her vitals were awful. But they were there. She wasn't dead. She wasn't. She was alive. They had done it. Somehow they had brought her back. Her heart rate had skyrocketed to just over two hundred and Eric watched as the doctors pushed her onto her side trying to desperately push the strange foam out of her mouth. Eric watched on with a bubbling desperation in his chest. She could come back to him. She had to come back to him. There was no other way. He needed her back.

Cameron's hand laid itself on his shoulder and Eric leaned against the glass watching her closely. Her heart rate had dropped slightly but it was still hovering near two hundred. His head was against the cold glass and Eric pushed back the feeling of desperation. He wanted to go in there and do something. He wanted to save her. But he knew that there was nothing that he could do to help. He would only make things worse.

"What's happening?" Eric asked quietly.

He had never been good with medical things. Cameron had always been good with it. "She's fighting hard," he muttered.

She always had been a fighter. It had just taken Eric a long time to figure that out. Suddenly she stopped seizing and Eric watched in horror as her eyes rolled back in her head and she dropped against the pillows. The foam was rushing out of her mouth and the doctors washed it away with what he assumed was warm water. They brushed the hair off of her forehead and Eric watched her vitals rock back and forth for a moment before seemingly leveling out.

"Heart rate stabilizing," one doctor called out.

"Blood pressure and pulse stabilizing," a second doctor added.

Eric watched her closely. She was laying in the bed with the sheets around her. He could see her chest rising and falling slowly but it looked like she might slip away from him again at any minute. Another doctor walked over to her and looked over her a few times. He scanned a small pad over her, something that Eric knew was a newer invention. It was an almost poetic justice that it was something that Jeanine had helped invent.

"Patient is stable," the first doctor said, after what felt like a lifetime.

It felt like someone had punched Eric in the gut. She was safe. She was alive. He wasn't sure what the doctors had done but he felt like he could have kissed them all. They had saved his Amity. He could see it in the reflection of the glass. There was a shred of happiness in his face. Something that he had never thought that he would see again. Tears were building in the corner of his eyes but they didn't fall. He wouldn't let them. This wasn't a time for him to cry. He wasn't going to cry over her. She was alive.

Just like he had once told her, she was his and she always would be. The doctors walked out of the room and informed the two men that in a few hours - once she was awake - she would be cleared for high-profile visitors. Being a leader of Dauntless and one of the only two men that had been there during the attack on Jeanine he was considered high profile. Very few others would be allowed to see her. Cameron wouldn't, but Eric promised to give her his best.

He knew the there were a few others that would be allowed in. Her parents would be the second people allowed in. Hell, they might be the first. Even with everything that had happened, Alex was a dependent up until about a day ago. She really had to see her parents. Four would be allowed in as well, mostly only considering that he had been there during the attack. So would Zeke and the other leaders so that they could hear the story of what had happened.

That probably included Johanna and Jack Kang too. The other high profile members of Chicago would all be allowed in to see her. Eventually the authorities would want to bring her away to discuss what was going to happen with her and Max. Eric. Four. All of them. He hadn't bothered to think that if she woke up she would have all of this to deal with. He hadn't thought that even if she lived she would potentially end up being sentenced to death anyways. But he would not let that happen. Not after she had come back to her. She was his.

There was no way that he was going to let anything else bad ever happen to her. Something had changed in him. He would never tell her about it, but she would know. Because she could always see right through him. Eric could see the reflection of Cameron in the glass and he saw that the other man was smiling. He was presumably happy that Eric had realized that she was in fact alive. She was not doing well but she was alive. He turned and placed a hand on Eric's shoulder, smiling up at the man who was his brother.

"How long has she been like that?" Eric asked.

"She's been like that for a few hours now. This is the first time that they've had a feeling that she might be able to live through this. They're confident that she'll make it. She's alive, Eric," Cameron whispered.

Eric couldn't believe it. She was alive. His Amity had come back to him. Just like he knew that she always would. She had told him that she would never leave him. For once she hadn't lied to him. He gave a small grin and collapsed to the ground. Cameron fell with him and smiled at his best friend. He had never seen Eric smile like that before. But he knew that it was because of her. He knew that it was because Eric had gotten her back. As Cameron glanced over at his friend he couldn't help but to wonder if maybe he would finally admit just what she meant to him. Cameron made himself a silent vow that if Eric didn't tell her, he would.

Neither man knew how long they sat outside of the door that held her. Eric didn't have a clue as to whether or not her parents knew. He kept telling himself that he had to go and say something to them but he couldn't bring himself to move. He couldn't bring himself to leave her. So they sat and waited. A few times he could hear something happen on the other side of the room. There would be a panic and a few minutes later something else would happen and they would calm down again. It happened at least ten times before the clock finally rang out three o'clock in the afternoon. Almost an entire twenty-four hours after everything had happened with Jeanine.

A doctor that seemed unfamiliar to Eric or Cameron came through the hallway doors and gave the two men a stern look. Eric knew that he hadn't been in the room with her before. He assumed that the doctor was one of the ones that had been sent in to monitor her mental state. Physical was one thing, now they had to see if she had any lasting mental issues. Eric assumed that the man was not fond of Dauntless, especially since they were saving one that had just killed their leader.

"Gentlemen. Miss Freesia is ready for a visitor. Only one. She is still very weak. She just woke up. She requested a man. I believe she said Eric. She's hard to understand right now."

Eric nodded at the man and stood. "Thank you," Eric said.

The doctor motioned for Cameron to leave the hallway, which he did without complaint. "Please wait outside," the doctor instructed Cameron.

"Of course. Tell her I said I'm glad she's alright," Cameron told Eric.

"I will."

The doctor led Eric through the halls to the back door where he knew he would be able to get to her. "Wait here for a moment while I prepare her for her visitors," the doctor said.

"Okay."

Through something that he had learned was a one-way mirror he looked in at her. She was awake and still looked horrible, but she was awake. She was alive. His Amity was alive. She nodded at the doctor as he spoke and Eric noticed her head rotating weakly on her shoulders. The doctor said something else and her head suddenly stiffened as her hand rose to her mouth. Eric grinned as the doctor motioned for her patience and turned back outwards, heading back to Eric. He smirked and advanced towards the door. He was going to get his Amity back and once he had her he would never let go again.

Alex's P.O.V.

Everything felt like it was on fire. My entire being hurt. It wasn't just physical. It felt like my entire soul was dying. If this was what death felt like I understood why some people feared it. The whole thing was awful. I wanted nothing more than for it to end. I wanted to see the white light. I wanted to be gone from this world. It wouldn't have bothered me. I had made my peace.

Nothing was clear to me from the past few... hours? Minutes? Days? Weeks? I couldn't have been able to tell when it was that I had passed out. The last thing that I remembered was sticking Eric with the compliance serum. Nothing came through to me after that. I had no clue what had happened to Eric, Jeanine, or Four. The only thing that made any sense was that something had happened to me. It must have been to reason that I wanted to rip my hair out of my scalp. I wanted to do anything to distract myself from the pain that was shooting through my chest.

My head was rolling around loosely on my shoulder and I had to fight to keep my eyes from rolling in the back of my head. All I wanted to do was sleep for a year or so. Anything to get rid of the way that I was feeling. It was like the worst hangover that I had ever experienced, multiplied by about one hundred. What the hell had happened to me?

It felt like someone had stuffed my mouth with foam. There was a terrible taste on my tongue. It tasted something like metal mixed with blood and vomit. My eyes felt like they were glued together. Considering the reddish tinge that was on my cheeks I assumed that it was blood. Was it mine? Probably. My head felt like it had been stuffed with cotton and my stomach felt like someone had turned it inside out and then ripped it apart. My spine felt like it was snapping in half. Everything felt wrong. It made me sure that something serious had happened to me.

I could only pray that Eric and Four were alright. I would never forgive myself if something happened to them. And Eric... Could he ever forgive me? Would he be able to find it in himself to forgive me for lying to him? For making him look like an ass? All I knew was that I had to move and I had to try and get to him. There was no way that I could stay here. Wherever here was.

This place wasn't familiar to me. I knew that it wasn't Dauntless. The Dauntless medical unit was all white and there were sheets hanging up that separated all of the beds. It looked more like a pop-up tent. Wherever I was now, it had to be somewhere with a more advanced medical unit. I was in my own room here. It wasn't Amity either. They didn't have a medical area. The one area that they did use as a medical station was only a small room with a few beds lining the room. It couldn't have been Abnegation. They mostly worked out of their homes.

So I assumed that this was either Erudite or Candor. I had a feeling that I was in Erudite and that only made me wonder even more what had happened to me. Maybe Jeanine had captured me. Maybe I was her prisoner now. There was no way that Erudite was helping me. Not after what I had done. I must have been a prisoner. But why would she put me in the hospital? To save me from something? From what? What had happened to me?

My legs felt like jelly and I knew that the moment that I tried to stand from the bed I would fall back to the ground. But I didn't care. I had to get up and I had to get to Four and Eric. I had to know what had happened to them. My entire side was on fire as I moved to try and leave. My movements ceased and I nervously shifted as a man - clearly a doctor - walked into the room. He placed a hand on my shoulder and I reached out to hit him but I was too weak.

My hand only dropped back down to my side pathetically as the doctor pushed me back into my spot. I was ashamed that there was nothing that I could do to fight back against him. I simply let myself fall back into the white sheets, pain searing over every inch of me. The man leaned over me and I reached up to him. He was tall with broad shoulders. It looked like he might have been smiling at me but now I could see that he wasn't. He merely stared at me.

"Wh-Where a - a - am I - I?" I asked him weakly.

My voice was cracking pathetically as my entire body was wracked with sobs. Horrible images of everything that could have happened were popping into my head. I wanted desperately to know what had happened. The way that the man was looking at me told me that something very bad had happened. The man looked over me for a moment before muttering a few nonsensical words to himself.

"You're in the Erudite Medical Center, Miss Freesia. Can you tell me what the last thing is that you remember?" the man asked.

I shifted nervously, not sure what I could tell the man. I didn't know what had happened. "I don't remember much," I half-lied.

"Alright. Can you tell me your name?"

That time I nodded. "Alex. Amarantha Freesia when I lived in Amity," I explained.

The man nodded at me and jotted a few notes down on his pad. "Good. You've been through quite something in the past day, Miss Freesia. Like you said, I assumed that you wouldn't remember much of it," the doctor explained.

I merely nodded at him. "It's all pretty fuzzy," I admitted.

"I don't know what happened. Most people don't know what happened. I could give you the gist but I wasn't there. The only visitors you're allowed right now are government officials. No lower class citizens allowed in. Your parents have been alerted. They are here," he said.

My head perked up. My parents must have been beside themselves. "They are?" I asked.

That was wonderful, but it also meant that nothing good had happened tonight if only government officials were allowed to see me right now. "Yes. They will be allowed to see you soon," he said.

"Thank you."

"You have a visitor. No more than fifteen minutes. Many people wish to speak with you. I'll send them in," the man instructed.

"Okay," I said weakly.

Nodding at him I watched as he turned and left the room. I was plunged back into the disturbing silence of the room. My hands twisted nervously around in my lap as I waited for the door to open. I could hear voices outside and I looked at my reflection in the mirror on the far corner of the room. I looked absolutely horrible. There was blood coating me and a shiver wracked over my spine. Was it mine? Was there a chance that it was Eric's? Please, no. I couldn't stand the thought of something happening to Eric because of something that I had done.

I should have asked the doctor if he was alright. Four, too. He had been shot. I remembered that much. The handle on the door jiggled slightly before it parted. I watched as the door slid open and I stared curiously at the figure that walked through the room. My jaw dropped at the sight of him and tears rose to my eyes. This time it was not tears of confusion or horror. It was tears of joy. The first of them fell and I saw that a familiar look was on his face. There were no tears but relief was clear.

"Eric..." I muttered so softly that I wasn't sure that he had heard it.

For a moment I wasn't really sure if it was even him or a figment of my imagination. Thankfully I got my answer quickly. Eric walked up to me faster than I had been expecting; it was almost like if he walked too slow I would vanish before his eyes. Just seconds after he had entered the room, he came over and dropped at my bedside. I could feel him shaking the entire frame. Something that had happened had made, or still was making, him nervous.

"Hey, Amity," he whispered.

It was the softest that I'd ever heard him speak. There was something weak about the way that he was speaking. It made my heart warm. I liked realizing that he wasn't the strong and emotionless leader that I had once thought that he was. Another tear fell from my eyes and I raised a hand to my mouth as a pathetic sob escaped me. Eric's hands came up to my face as he pulled me in for a kiss. Our mouths ran together and I felt my tears drop onto his cheeks. Eric finally pulled away from me and smiled.

"Sorry. I haven't brushed my teeth in a while," I said softly, laughing under my breath.

"It's alright," Eric muttered, brushing my hair off of my forehead.

"I can't believe you're here."

"I'm here. So are you. I told you once before, Amity. You're brave. But you're a damned moron."

My laughter was mixed in with more fresh tears as I smiled up at him. This was definitely the softest that I had ever seen him before. My hands were shaking on his cheeks and I smiled softly at him. He was alive. Whatever had happened tonight didn't matter. All that mattered was that Eric was here and he was alive. He wasn't in danger. Not anymore. I wouldn't put him in a position like that again.

"I know," I said with a small laugh.

"Are you going to start listening to me?" Eric asked.

"Never," I teased.

Eric placed himself in the seat next to my bed, never once letting go of my hand. I smiled at him softly as he pushed me back into the bed. As he started to move me I felt the pain radiate all throughout my body. Had I taken a bad fall? My heart was lumped in my throat as I stared at him. He had looked perfectly happy for a while and now he looked disturbed. What the hell had I done? Was it something that had happened to Four?

"Alex," Eric started slowly.

It was already a shock that he knew my name. "What is it?" I asked weakly.

"What do you remember about last night? We need to know. Things are... odd, right now, to say the least."

My stomach lurched painfully as I thought about what I did remember from last night. It wasn't much. Most of my memories from last night were gone. "I don't remember a lot. I remember getting on the train to Erudite at six with Four. We got to Erudite and invaded the room where Jeanine had those... things. We killed the guards," I whispered.

There would be hell for me to pay for that. "It's fine. Guards die all the time. That's what they're for," Eric said.

He was so flippant about it that it shocked me. "I remember speaking with her. She was talking about some kind of box. She wanted me to do something to open it so that I would release instructions. Something to destroy the Divergent's. I remember giving you the compliance serum. That's the last thing that I remember," I said softly.

I truly was sorry that there wasn't more that I could tell him. But it was like the last few hours had been taken away from me. "Yes. You went through trials to open the Box. Do you remember anything that happened in them? They were like sims," Eric said.

I shook my head slowly. "No. I remember jabbing you with the needle. Sorry about that." Eric almost smiled. "That's the last thing that I remember," I said.

"I'll forgive you," he said teasingly.

There wasn't a damn thing that I remembered afterwards. A strange emotion flitted through Eric's eyes but it was gone as soon as it appeared. "Is everything okay?" I asked.

The strange look was gone as fast as it had come. "Depends on how you define it. You had sims to go through to prove that you could be each of the five Factions. If you failed you died. You were the only person to successfully unlock all five Factions," he said.

"Wow," I muttered.

"That was what Jeanine was looking for."

"And that was me?"

"It was. You came back to but just before the Box could show us the secrets it had you ordered me to destroy the Box. Four and I both did. He was shot in the shoulder. "

Panic settled into my chest. "I need to -"

"He's alive," Eric interrupted me.

My heart rate slowed and I breathed out a sigh of relief. "He's okay?" I asked weakly.

"He'll be fine. It'll leave an ugly scar but he'll live. Afterwards I tossed you a gun. You killed Jeanine," he said slowly.

You killed Jeanine. You killed Jeanine. You killed Jeanine. The words kept echoing in my head as he said them. I killed her. I must have been sitting for at least ten minutes thinking about what he had said to me. I'd killed her. After everything that she had put me through and all of the planning that had gone into tonight I had killed her. I had done exactly what I had wanted to do after everything. But now the thought almost made me sick. I was glad that Eric let me process it in my own time.

"I... I killed her?" I asked Eric softly.

He nodded at me slowly and grabbed my hand. "We'll figure it out," Eric muttered.

I stared at him sidelong and sucked in a deep breath. I had done it. I had killed Jeanine. "How did I do it?" I asked weakly.

"You shot her in the forehead. She died on site. Jeanine shot you before she died, Alex. Right there."

My eyebrows shot to my forehead. I hadn't taken a bad fall or anything like that. I had taken a bullet wound. Just the same way that Four had. That was why I'd felt so terrible since waking up. Eric lifted the sheets up and pulled them back to show me the wound. I sucked in a breath as he pulled the sheet up over my torso. Right where he had said there was a pad that was soaked in blood. I stared at it in shock. I had been shot. Jeanine had shot me. Right before I killed her.

"Son of a bitch," I growled.

"Don't move. It'll make the pain worse."

"I can't believe that I killed her," I said softly.

It wasn't like it wasn't something that I didn't want to do. I had wanted her dead for as long as I could remember. Ever since the first time that I had laid eyes on her during the Choosing Ceremony and long before that. But I hadn't ever thought that I would really kill her. My hands were shaking as Eric grabbed me around the waist and pulled me into him. He kissed me gently on the lips before backing away, probably knowing that he was putting strain on the wound.

"Don't think about it right now. She needed to die. You were right to do what you did," Eric said.

But that didn't change things. I had killed her and that wasn't something that I would soon be able to forget. Despite everything I nodded at him slowly and smiled weakly as he leaned down to kiss me. His lips were soft against my chapped and bloodied ones. His tongue slowly ran across my bottom lip and I grinned, keeping my mouth closed. He would thank me later. He hadn't gotten the full blast from earlier. I tasted like something awful. His hands wound into my hair to keep me close as our mouths finally separated.

"What?" I asked, knowing that something was wrong.

"I thought that you were dead. You were dead. I watched you die," he muttered.

"But I'm not."

"You were."

My hands traced up the side of his face to brush his mussed hair back off of his face. I had never seen Eric as calm and demure as he was right now. "I'm not going anywhere, Eric," I promised.

"That so?" he asked.

"You taught me better than that. You were a pain in my ass but you made sure that I was strong. And I was. I am."

"I know you are."

"Plus you can't honestly think that a little bullet wound would get rid of me that easily?" I teased.

Eric laughed at me softly before leaning in to kiss me again. It was nice. Everything was out in the open between the two of us. We were finally confronting each other with no more secrets. The air felt almost strange. This time our lips stayed locked together and we both ignored the sound of a commotion in the halls. Someone was yelling at the top of their lungs. Of course I could only ignore it for so long before I realized that I recognized the voice.

"Is that my Mom?" I asked.

Eric looked surprised. "Is it?" he asked.

"Get out of my way! Get out of my way right this instant, you buffoons!"

It was a high-pitched female voice that sounded like it was bordering on hysterical. It was a new tone of a voice that I had heard a thousand times before. But it was never a voice that I had heard this hysterical. It was always calm and always loving. Of course I supposed that hearing your daughter was shot during an attack was enough to turn any mother into a wreck. A doctor tried to keep my mother back but as the door to the room that I was in was flung open Eric and I jumped apart to see that Mom was shoving the doctor away from her, trying to rush to my bedside. Dad was following her, ensuring that no one was going to lay a hand on his wife.

"Yep. That's my Mom."

"Let me see my baby!" Mom shouted as another man grabbed onto her arm.

She ripped her arm back and shoved the doctor away. "Let me help," Eric said, getting up but not leaving my side.

"Just let them," I said.

I'd never heard Mom yell in my entire life. The closest that I had come to hearing her yell was her calling up to me from downstairs to come down when I was younger. "Mom!" I shouted over the commotion on the other end of the room.

Like I had been hoping, they all calmed down and stared straight at me. Eric's hand was still on my wrist. "Move!" Mom shouted again.

"Let her in. Please. I want to talk to them," I told the doctors.

"We can't," one doctor said.

"Let her in. Direct order," Eric demanded.

Even though it wasn't Dauntless, leaders were supposed to have jurisdiction in other Factions. The doctors all stared back and forth in between my parents and I for a moment before nodding and warning me that they would only have a few minutes to speak to me. I nodded at them and watched as they released my parents, letting them run over to me. Eric let go of my arm and moved away to give my parents room to drop into the chairs at my side. Mom leaned into me, tears running down her pretty face.

Her hands were on my face and I smiled weakly at her, grabbing her hands and pulling them up to my heart. Eric's words were still racketing through my skull. You were dead. I watched you die. Was there a chance that my mother and father had watched me die too? It didn't matter. I was here and that was the only thing that mattered. It was half of the reason that I had placed her hand on my heart. Just to show her that I was still here and I wasn't leaving any time soon. I would never scare them like I had tonight again.

Mom brushed the hair back off of my head with her free hand and I felt some sweat go with it. They must not have bathed me after everything that had happened. Not if they thought that I was going to die. I knew that I looked horrible after everything that had happened to me and the air in the room was stifling. It was making me sweat under the blankets. Dad leaned over me and pressed a kiss to my forehead where Mom had just cleared the hair away.

"I don't think I've ever heard you yell before. You sounded almost Dauntless," I teased her.

Her hands fell over my side to where the bullet wound was and I stared at it curiously. I had never seen a bullet wound. I had never thought that I would have one. As far as I knew, neither Eric nor Four had one. Not until now, at least. The skin was broken apart and sunken in slightly. The skin around it seemed to be an almost burned blackish color. The whole thing looked like it belonged in a horror movie. Not on me. But I supposed that it would make me look more Dauntless.

"When something happens to her baby, every mother becomes Dauntless," Mom said.

I laughed softly and nodded my head. She was right. "I was impressed," I said honestly.

"What happened in there, sweetheart? What did you do?" Mom asked.

My heart was pounding as I opened my mouth and closed it immediately, flapping my jaws like an idiot. I didn't know what to say. I didn't really know what had happened. And I really didn't want to have to tell him that I had killed Jeanine Matthews and would now likely be put up on trial or something of the likes. My parents seemed to be waiting for an answer but I was having a hard time giving them one. What could I tell them that didn't make me sound horrible?

"Mr. and Mrs. Freesia," Eric cut in.

Every head in the room, including my own, turned to look at him. "Eric..." Mom trailed off, seemingly having just noticed himself. "Sorry. We barely even noticed that you were here."

"That's alright. You're a little preoccupied. Alex is having a hard time remembering everything that happened last night. She's been through a tough time. But I was there as well. I can try to answer what happened to the best of my abilities. Are you aware of what a Divergent is?" he asked.

Dad immediately shook his head but Mom hesitated for a moment. "I've heard the word before. My mother once said it and when I repeated it she told me to never say it again," Mom admitted.

Eric nodded his head. "It was once a dangerous word. Alex has ensured that it would never be seen as that again," Eric told them.

I smiled at him softly. "Thank you," I whispered.

He nodded at me. "Divergent is simply a word for someone who scores more than one Faction in their Aptitude Test."

"That can happen?" Dad asked, looking shocked.

Eric nodded again. "It's rare. Every year we might see two or three Divergent's. Up to five on a rare year. Usually a Divergent has two or three aptitudes. I suppose you never knew that your daughter was one too."

Both of my parents heads turned to look at me. "He's not kidding," I said.

"She scored four of the five Factions. The only one that she was lacking was Candor."

Their jaws dropped. "Alex -" Dad started.

"You shouldn't be angry with her. You have to hide the truth of what you are. Or at least, you did. Before Jeanine Matthews was killed. She was trying to start a war on Divergent's. She believed that they were a danger to the Faction system. She was in the midst of planning a war. Alex found out about it. With the assistance of Four, a trainer in Dauntless, Alex was able to stop Jeanine," Eric continued.

Both of my parents were staring at Eric and nodding slowly. They looked haunted at the thought that a war was so close. And they seemed horrified that I was the one to stupidly stand in to stop it. "He's telling you the truth," I said.

"What happened to Jeanine? No one has heard a word from her since," Dad said.

It was the first time that I had seen Eric at a loss for words. Eric had mentioned that she had been killed but he hadn't said anything more on the matter. I knew that I had to say something but I found myself unsure of what I could say. They were Amity. They wouldn't understand. Eric knew the truth of what he had to say but I was sure that he didn't want to have to tell my parents that I had murdered Jeanine Matthews. So I held up a hand to silence him and spoke quickly.

"She was going to kill me. There was nothing that I could do. She was going to start a war against the Divergent. Against me. So I did what I had to do. I - I killed her. She shot me before she died. That's how I got the bullet wound," I said, jamming my words together.

"You - You killed her?" Dad asked, stuttering over his words.

Tears formed in my eyes at the looks that my parents were giving me. They were afraid of me and I couldn't blame them in the slightest. Maybe it wasn't even fear. Maybe they were ashamed of me. I wouldn't have blamed them for that either. We were Dauntless but we were supposed to be protectors. Not killers. I had killed someone. Part of me knew that I was never going to be able to go back to the way that I was before. Killing someone changed you. I already knew that.

"Mr. Freesia, you must understand. She had no choice," Eric told them.

I gave him a thankful nod before turning back to my parents. They still looked unnerved but they nodded at me anyways. "No choice?" Dad asked.

"She would have killed me. She tried."

"It was one of them or the other," Eric explained.

My parents nodded again. They were slow and doubtful nods but at least they hadn't gone running. "And what about you, Eric? We heard that you were there as well," Mom said.

A stony glance fell over Eric's face and I knew that he was searching for the right words. Maybe he didn't love me but he did care for me. He didn't want my parents thinking that the man that their baby girl was with had been working to start a war only to keep his position in Dauntless. I knew that he was looking for some way to tell my parents that he was working for the same woman that had shot their daughter. He was looking for a way to tell them that we were not on the same side. So I opened my mouth before he could.

"He saved my life."

"Really?" Mom asked.

"Alex -"

I immediately cut over him. "Eric stepped in and pretended to be on Jeanine's side to gain her trust. When the time came he turned on her and helped me. He's the reason that I'm still alive," I told them.

So maybe it was a lie but they had to believe me. They had to believe that Eric was not the bad guy. "Alex, I didn't -" Eric tried again before I cut him off.

"He's being humble," I told my parents with a smile. I laid my hand over his and brought it over my stomach, feeling the pain from the stitched over the bullet wound. "Eric is the reason that I'm alive. Eric and Four. I'd introduce you but I don't know where he is."

"He's in the other room. I'll bring you by a little later," Eric offered.

Mom waved me off and brushed a few more strands of hair off of my forehead. "No matter, we'll thank him later. Eric," Mom started.

I glanced over at her and watched as she stared at Eric carefully. Dad had a straight look on his face as he looked to Eric as well. "Ma'am?" Eric asked.

"I don't know what happened tonight. I don't know if I really want to know everything that happened tonight. But the one thing that I do know is that no matter what happened, you've been here for my daughter. Thank you. For everything that you've done for her, thank you. If there's ever anything that we can do for you, just name it. And if you're ever in Amity just come by for dinner."

My jaw dropped open at her words and I smiled softly. Eric looked a little nervous as Mom pulled him in for a hug but he hugged her back anyways. Dad leaned over afterwards and shook Eric's hand tightly. "I'll always be there to look out for her," Eric said.

A small blush rose to my face and I giggled softly as both of my parents kissed me on the forehead. Eric watched with a smirk on his face as we talked amicably back and forth. He had never really seen me with my parents before. He must have been shocked to see us together. I explained to my parents what had happened during my Aptitude Test and told Eric all about how I had hidden myself during Stage Two of training. Of course it wasn't long before we were interrupted by the same doctor that had tried to keep my parents out earlier.

"Mr. and Mrs. Freesia," the doctor greeted. "I hate to interrupt the reunion but you will have time to speak with your daughter tomorrow. Right now we need you both to fill out some paperwork."

My parents both nodded, promising me that they would come back tonight and check on me before I fell asleep. I kissed them both goodbye and watched as they left, Mom keeping her eyes on me until she no longer could. I waved them off happily. It was the first time in a long time that I'd felt like I was actually able to talk to them without feeling like I was hiding some huge part of myself. Once they had disappeared from the halls Eric turned to me, a hard look on his face.

"What?" I asked.

"Why did you lie to them? I didn't save your life," he said.

I shook my head and grabbed his hand, pulling him into me. "You did. Believe it or not, you did. I would have never done the things that I did had you not convinced me to. You didn't tell me anything directly but you did make sure that I was strong. You made sure that I would never give up. You saved my life. Thank you, Eric," I told him.

"Don't thank me, Amity. Never thank me."

But I did have to thank him. He'd done more for me than he could imagine. He didn't seem to believe me but I left no room for argument. I leaned into him but barely made it more than an inch. My stitches began to stretch and I hissed in pain. Eric seemed to notice it as he pushed me back against the bed. He didn't bother backing away before leaning down to me and kissing me deeply. I smiled into the kiss and wrapped my arms around his neck. Somehow I hadn't lost Eric during everything. Somehow we were going to be able to stay together.

"Alex?" an absolutely stunned voice called.

I turned back to see that Buck was standing at the door with his jaws hanging open. The rest of my Dauntless friends were with them and I smirked lightly, a blush coloring my cheeks. Why the hell were they the people that the doctor hadn't announced? I supposed that it would be easier than having to explain everything later. Heather was somewhere in between smiling like she was about to burst and smirking so hard that her lips looked like they were about to split. Oh yeah, she was happy that we were caught.

"Eric?" Buck continued.

His voice was completely horrified and I smiled to myself. Eric looked towards the Dauntless members and I was sure that he was about to explode. "Well, duh," Heather snapped.

Every head turned to her and jaws dropped again. Heather had just given away the fact that she had always known about Eric and me. "You knew?" Buck asked her. He still sounded horrified.

"Of course I knew," Heather huffed proudly. "She told me first. I'm honestly surprised you dingbats didn't figure it out."

Shouts immediately started echoing through the room. Obviously they hadn't seen this one coming. I rolled my eyes and watched as Eric stood from the edge of the bed. My friends were all watching him with close eyes and I saw that his jaws were clenched. He liked people looking at him but only because they were afraid of him. Not because they were curious. He stood quickly and shoved the people standing closest to my bed away from him. The rest jumped out of his way quickly.

"Move it, initiates!" Eric snarled.

All of my friends jumped away from him in fear and I smirked at them. They were no longer initiates but I was sure that Eric would never see them that way. They would always be the pathetic little initiates in his mind. Draven took a step forwards and I smiled as he grabbed my hand. Heather grabbed my other and leaned to kiss me on the cheek. She had tears in her eyes and I smiled up at her.

We all sat together and talked quietly, sometimes joking and other times being serious. They never asked what had happened last night and didn't pressure me to tell them more than I was comfortable with. They were all good people. They were all going to be here for me no matter what. Heather was loud in saying that she was thrilled that I was alive and strong. Dante had told me that it was cool that I was the first one to get shot. He had earned a good punch in the stomach for that one from Lisa. Buck had wanted to see the scar. Serena had hit him for that one.

And of course we had spent most of the time together with me getting raked over the coals for not telling them about Eric. I had been forced to tell them how we had gotten together and when. Cole had commented that I was nuts for jumping into bed with Eric. No one had hit him for that. I would have but it still hurt to move. We had all sat together and laughed, pretending that nothing had happened, pretending that we were still the happy initiates we always had been. It was nearly half an hour before a man in a suit pushed my friends out of the room, each of them promising to see me again once I came back to Dauntless

I smiled and waved at them all, calling back goodbye's to them. It wasn't long before they all disappeared out of the room and I was left with the man in the suit. He made me a little bit nervous. I would have rather been dealing with Johanna or Jack Kang. Someone that I was at least familiar with. He walked up to my bedside but kept a fair amount of distance from me. It was something that I was grateful for.

"Good afternoon, Miss Freesia."

"Hello," I greeted awkwardly.

"I'm glad to see that you're awake and moving around. My name is Niles."

Nodding at the man, I shifted awkwardly in the bed. I wasn't sure what to say. "I would introduce myself but I somehow think that you already know who I am," I said.

He nodded at me and I got the chance to look him over. He had dark hair that was slicked back and his suit was a starch white with plain black dress pants. It was obvious enough that he was from Candor. I wondered if maybe Iris and Florian had told him who I was. They were here, I knew that they were, but they were yet to be allowed in. It seemed that I wouldn't be allowed anymore visits from friends or family for a while. The man nodded at me and I watched him closely.

"Yes, I do know you. No need for formalities, Miss Freesia."

I had been referred to as that rather than my real name more times today than I had been in my entire life. The man was snappy and I watched him curiously. "I don't know what you mean," I admitted.

"Unsurprising. I'm only here to deliver you some news. In three days' time you will stand trial," Niles said, looking the least bit impressed with having to take the time out of his day to speak to me.

Thankfully I managed not to let my jaw drop. It came very close. I wasn't quite sure that I'd heard him right. No one else had mentioned anything like that. Not even Eric, who wouldn't have hidden any bad news from me. Maybe he didn't know or maybe he didn't remember. I merely stared at him with a blank face. I was supposed to stand trial in three days. What the hell were they having me stand trial for? I wasn't aware that anyone in Chicago even had trials.

"Trial?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Trial for what?" I asked, once my head wrapped around the thought that I was being put on trial only a few hours after I had been shot.

Despite the look of steel that was on my face my hands were shaking. They were putting me on trial. I'd heard that there were trials in individual Factions for crimes that were committed there. But I wasn't aware that we had trials for large crimes like the one that I had committed. Would it even be a trial or an execution? Even though we didn't have them I was smart enough to know what happened to people that ended up on a trial. They were usually marked as guilty. And I didn't want to know what would come of that.

"Multiple charges. The murder of government official Jeanine Matthews," he said. I was definitely guilty of that. "Hiding and acclaiming your Divergence." Also guilty. "Stealing a newly developed serum and using it on a leader of the Dauntless Faction." Eric. I had done that. I was guilty of everything.

But what they weren't taking into account was the reason that I had done all of these things. They didn't realize that I had put my life on the line just so that I could avoid a war. "So you're putting me on trial for trying to save this city?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Will I get my chance to say my piece?"

"I assume so," Niles said carelessly.

"I tried to stop a war. I did stop a war! And you're putting me on trial for it?" I snarled at Niles.

He merely shrugged. He didn't care because he wasn't involved. He was Candor. He stayed out of arguments that weren't his. He was just here because he had to deliver the news. "You can argue your point in three days. You will stand trial in front of the government officials from every Faction. The trial will occur in Dauntless," he said.

And suddenly being alive didn't seem like such a good thing. Not when there was a chance that I could be dead again in three days. But this time not at my hand. "Everyone will be there?" I asked.

"More than likely. You will be under supervision until the trial," Niles added, drawing my attention back to him.

I wasn't sure why he had even worded it like that. I was no fool. I had Erudite in me. Supervision did not mean that people would be watching over me. It meant that I was going to be a prisoner. "You mean I'll be under arrest," I growled.

"If that's what you'd like to call it."

"So what happens now? If I'm considered guilty or innocent?" I asked Niles.

Niles shrugged again. I could tell that this was not the first time that he had been forced to do this. "If you're deemed innocent you will be allowed back into the folds of Dauntless. However you will be stripped of your number one ranking. More than likely you'll be on Fence duty for the rest of your life. It's the best case scenario," he said.

Bile built in my throat. I had fought so hard for that spot and I was going to lose it because I had stopped a war. And that was my best case. "What's my worst case?" I asked.

"If you are deemed guilty you will be executed. Hanged, more than likely." The thought was sickening. "Do take care during your recovery. We look forward to seeing you in Dauntless in three days," Niles said, before leaving the room. I was fucked. Fucked in every single way. I was guilty. And everyone knew it.

Three Days Later...

My dilemma had gotten no better over the last few days. I had thought of every single thing that I could do to avoid the trial but nothing worked. I had even confided in all of my friends to see if there was any way to get out of it. To see if there was any way that the people might realize that I was innocent of any wrongdoing. So far we had come up with nothing. And it was even harder to make progress with the trial considering that no one was allowed into my room without a guard standing in the corner.

Eric had been the first person to come and see me once Niles had left. He had confided in me that he was to be on trial too after I went through mine. Unfortunately he was not going to be able to help me. They weren't going to listen to his words. Four was in the same boat. But at least I had seen that he was healthy and alive. My friends in Candor, Amity, and Dauntless were all too young and low in ranking to do anything. The other Dauntless leaders didn't know me well enough to stick up for me. Cameron and Zeke had thankfully promised to stand up for me. So far they were the only two that I trusted to stand with me. I had a feeling that I might get a vote from Johanna as well but that might get passed over considering I had come from Amity.

So far there was nothing that I could do. I was going to have to go through the trial and try to convince everyone that what I had done was for the good of everyone else. Everyone that I loved was already back in their homes as I prepared to make my way into the Pit for the trial. I had been deemed strong enough to stand trial this morning and that had gotten me a one way ticket onto a train back to Dauntless. It had felt like I was walking into the Faction for the first time. Although this time there was no excitement. Only nerves.

Currently I found myself standing behind the stage that had been set up on the top of the Pit. I was listening to all of the voices down below me and my heart was pounding. Although it still wasn't as bad as when I had gone into Erudite a few days ago. But there had been a calmness washing over me. I hadn't been thinking about what would happen if I was successful. I had never thought about how my actions might fall back on me at some point. Not just me, plenty of others. Everyone was here to watch me and judge me on my trial.

The leaders were all here. Max, Eric, and the others; Jason, Cora, and Rick. There was also the other higher up Dauntless members. Among them, Zeke, Four, Lauren, and Cameron. Tori was there as well with some that I had never seen before. Harrison, Shauna, and Gus. They were the only ones whose names I had learned. There weren't many people here from Amity considering my close connection to them. Johanna was really the only Amity here. From Candor was Jack Kang - who was being closely watched - and Niles. Abnegation had sent a few members as well. Marcus Eaton was the only one that I cared enough to watch. Erudite had also sent people; none of them were familiar to me.

The voices all cut themselves off as I was pushed myself up onto the small stage that had been set up. My friends were in the audience and each one gave me a small smile, nodding at me as if to tell me it was going to be okay. I wanted to tell them not to lie to me. I knew that it wasn't going to be okay. For the most part everyone was just looking at me with curiosity. Only those from Erudite seemed angry with me. And even some of them looked bored.

As I walked into the center of the stage I heard Niles clear his throat. He moved to the side and I watched as another man, Jason I was pretty sure that his name was, walked out onto the side with him. They were each standing on the other edge of the platform that I was perched on. Niles still looking like he didn't care about what happened to me. I wondered if he ever showed any form of emotion.

"Alex Freesia. Are you aware of what you stand here accused of?" Jason asked.

I nodded weakly. "Yes," I said, not trusting myself to say anything else.

"And how do you plea?" Jason continued.

"To which one?" I snarled, slightly louder than I had meant to.

If my question had caught Jason off-guard he didn't make it clear. Instead he coughed once before opening a small letter. "To any and all crimes you have been accused of. Murdering - excuse me - assassinating Jeanine Matthews, hiding Divergence - a crime in itself, and stealing a newly developed serum only to use it on a leader without permission," Jason explained.

My legs were shaking as my mouth flapped open and closed for a moment. I couldn't deny it. I was guilty. They all knew that I was guilty. But I couldn't just say it either. They would hang me. "Can I get a chance to speak for myself? After I plea?" I asked Jason.

He looked to the others that were sitting on the panel and I watched as one by one they all nodded. "You still have rights. You may speak as long as you feel the need," Jason said.

It gave me a chance to do something about this. It gave me a chance to show that while I wasn't innocent, I wasn't guilty either. "I plead guilty to all charged crimes," I said softly.

Of course the room was so silent that there was no need to speak up. I saw Heather squirm in her seat, clearly wanting to say something, but Cole held her down. Eric and Four were both nodding at me. They already knew my plan. They had both agreed to it. And it had better work. Because I was about to drag them both into it. All of the government officials began to nod to each other and I heard a few of them begin to question what to do with me. But with the raise of a hand Jack Kang silenced them all. I knew that he had already been on trial but they had confirmed that Jack had no idea as to what was going on.

"You mentioned wanting to say something. Would you care to speak on your behalf?" Jack Kang asked.

I nodded slowly and proceeded to pace on the stage. "I want to tell you all my story. I know that you all know what I am. You all think that Divergent is - is a dirty word," I said awkwardly, feeling incredibly stupid. I was no diplomat. "I'm here to tell you that while I am guilty of the crimes that you've called me out on I am not guilty of any wrongdoing. So I ask that you all give me a chance to let you know my side of the story. The story that shows that we, Divergent's, are no different than you."

I looked towards the government table and took a slow breath in as I saw that some of them were shaking their heads. I'd had a terrible feeling that some of them may not care about what I had to say to them. "We've already determined that she's guilty. She admitted to it. We need to find a suitable -" Marcus Eaton began before being cut off by Johanna.

"Let the girl speak."

Glancing towards my former Faction leader I smiled at her and nodded, grateful that she had given me a chance. "Thank you. As many of you know I'm from Amity. This year I took the Aptitude Test. Just as we're all supposed to. I had no clue where it was going to put me. Everyone seemed so confident. My best friends knew where they were going. My neighbors all knew where they were going. People even thought that they knew where I was going. But I didn't have a clue. I just knew that I didn't want to stay in Amity. Is that so wrong? Is it so wrong that I didn't know where I belonged? Did any of you never feel like you knew where you belonged?" I asked.

At first no one answered me. But slowly nods were spread throughout the crowd until over three quarters of the crowd were nodding. At that I took it as a sign to continue speaking. "I took the Aptitude Test and was told something that I didn't think was possible. I scored four of the five Factions. Erudite, Amity, Abnegation, and Dauntless. I was terrified. The woman who administered my test told me how dangerous it was. She told me that I would have to lie to everyone. To never let anyone know what I was. So I didn't. I kept it a secret. I lied to everyone. I lied to my family. I lied to my friends. I lied to all of Dauntless and Amity. To everyone. Just to keep a secret that I didn't fully understand. I lied to myself, telling myself that I was something dangerous. Have I ever seemed dangerous to any of you?" I asked.

Some people began to shake their heads no. My friends, some higher-up Dauntless members, Eric and Four. But no one on the government council made a move. So I continued to speak. "Being here in Dauntless was the best time of my life. I fought for the spot that I had here. All of you watched me go from a girl that could barely do a push-up to someone that was at the top of the Dauntless leader-board. I did that without help. I did it without the Divergence. I did it because I wanted to be here. Because I was desperate to be here. Because this is my home. Like all of you have found homes in your Factions, I've found my home here."

Certain members of the Faction were smiling at me and I even caught some nods from nameless members that I had seen wandering the halls before. Maybe I wasn't alone here. "But like everything else my happiness wasn't to always be there. On my way to training one day I overheard a conversation between Max - the old Dauntless leader, and Jeanine Matthews." I knew that Max was currently awaiting his punishment. They had already considered him guilty of crimes against Factions. "They were plotting to start a war. I wanted to say something to all of you, to any of you, but that would have meant exposing myself. Exposing myself as a criminal, despite the fact that I hadn't committed any crimes other than being something that people don't understand."

They had to know the truth of everything that had happened. "They were planning on starting a war in between the Factions. She was planning on using the compliance serum, that I'm accused of using against a leader here in Dauntless, to control an army of Dauntless." Murmurs escaped through the crowd. "She was planning on using this army to attack Abnegation. She believed that they were the only ones that would risk hiding Divergent's. Candor would have supplied the serums so they would have been partially at fault.

"As far as Amity, she was planning another small attack there to ensure that they would not stand in the way of her revolution. She was planning on faulting the Dauntless for the attack, leaving Erudite to swoop in and save the day. With all of the Factions in utter disarray it would have left her open as the sole leader of Chicago. She had lists of every known Divergent in the city. She had my name in the file as well. She made it clear that she knew who I was. An attack on Amity from the Factionless told her that I was one," I explained.

This time when the chattering started it didn't stop. Everyone was speaking loudly back and forth between themselves all asking if what I was saying was the truth. "Enough!" Marcus Eaton shouted, silencing the room.

I noticed Four stiffen from where he was standing in the far corner. "Please, be quiet," Johanna said.

The room slowly quieted itself. "Why should we believe you? There's no proof. You killed Jeanine. Do you think that if indeed Max is guilty of this he will tell us the truth? You have no proof that there was ever going to be an attack," Marcus said.

For a moment my head spun. I wasn't quite sure what I could say or do that would prove that I wasn't insane and hadn't just dreamed up the entire attack. That was when I remembered. The file. The file was all of the proof that I needed. The only problem was that I had no clue where it was. Since I had seen it in Erudite last I knew that it had been moved. But its location had more than likely gone with Jeanine to the grave. Once more I had nothing.

"There's a file. I've seen it. I know where it is. I could bring you to it," Eric said, making everyone turn towards him.

"He's telling the truth. It's how I found out about these plans," I said.

"I'll get it now. Let her continue with her story in the meantime," Eric said.

He thought a lot faster on his feet than I did. I nodded my thanks to him as he turned and left the room, followed by two other Dauntless men. I watched them go for a moment, thankful for Eric but also well aware of the fact that I would now have to defend why he had known where the file was. Honestly I was more concerned with himself than with me. I was the one that had accidentally dragged all of these people into this.

"Alex, please continue with your story," Johanna said, startling me back into the present.

"Oh. Of course," I muttered stupidly. "Time went on here in Dauntless. Things went back to normal as I continued to hide my Divergence, praying that what happened with Jeanine was just a lie. But I knew that it would come back to bite me. And it did. Just a month before Phase Three ended Jeanine and Max called me in. They told me that I was to show up to Erudite on the day of the final test to do something for them. I was afraid of it for weeks. It kept me up all hours of the night. I was terrified of what was going to happen. Finally I confided in Four," I said, feeling horrible for selling him out.

All eyes turned to look at the trainer but he merely nodded at me, letting me know that it was okay to continue speaking. "Four was there for me. He is a Divergent as well. He helped me along and we came up with a plan. A terrible plan, but it was something. So the night of the final test we went to Erudite. It was supposed to be only me but Four came too. We killed six of Jeanine's guards. And then it was only us. I don't remember much of what happened after that. Eric had to tell me. There was something called the Box. Inside was a way to destroy Divergent's. It could only be opened by a Divergent. One that was able to show that they could have the Aptitude for all five Factions. Many had tried. All had failed. A failure meant death. Jeanine was sure that I would be able to do it," I said slowly.

Instead of chattering starting up again the people in the room simply stared at me. "I went through each of the Faction simulations. I passed all of them, unlocking the Box. I was the only person to do so. The Box could never be opened. Jeanine couldn't get what she wanted. That was why I gave Eric the compliance serum. When I came to I ordered him to destroy the Box. He did. Because I told him to. In a fight I shot Jeanine. Before she died, she was able to shoot me. I lived. She didn't. I killed her not because I wanted to but because it was for the best of Chicago. I knew what I was doing when I walked in there. I knew that I was risking my life. I knew that I would end up on trial. But I did it because I wanted to save this city. Even if it meant my own safety and my own life I knew that I had to do it," I said proudly.

Smiles were being exchanged between my friends as they all looked up to me with grins. Everyone seemed proud of me. Even Zeke and Cameron were grinning up at me. Four seemed proud as well. It made my heart warm slightly. Maybe there was a chance that I could get out of this thing relatively unscathed. Maybe I would be able to make the impossible happen. The moment that Marcus opened his mouth to speak Eric walked into the room, the file in his hands.

"Let's see this," Marcus said with a scoff, grabbing the file.

Minutes passed as they all read over the file, everyone from the government. Sometimes there were little cries of shock and other times there were soft mutterings in between them. One by one they all sat back in their chairs, each looking at me with a look of something in between belief and fear. Fear of knowing just how close they were to a war and just how little they had known of it. Maybe if I was lucky they would actually take pity on me. Although they all looked stunned out of words. With the exception of Marcus Eaton, that is.

"So the file was the truth. It really did exist. Maybe that clears you for reasoning behind your crimes. We understand that you killed Jeanine for the good of the city. But that still doesn't excuse you or your one true crime. Being a Divergent. There's nothing that you can do to clear that," Marcus said.

It seemed that a few people were trying to speak to Marcus but I held my hand up, silencing them. There was still one last trick that I had up my sleeve. "Tell me, how many of you actually knew what a Divergent was before all of this?" I asked. Less than ten hands went up in the crowd of over five hundred. "How many of you think that someone will more than one Aptitude is actually a crime?" A few hands went up but as the minutes of silence passed most of the hands went down. Marcus Eaton was the only hand that remained up. "This should be something that helps the Factions come together. Not tear them apart."

"It doesn't matter," Marcus said.

"It always matters," I interrupted.

"You are a Divergent. The punishment for this crime is death."

"We don't have to kill each other. We can be better than this. We can learn to work together and grow. This city has been so segregated since it was built. Maybe it's time that we change this."

"It doesn't matter. You are a Divergent and you will die. You know this. There is nothing that can be done. You may choose -" Marcus continued before he was cut off.

"Marcus, might I have the floor for a moment?" Cameron asked.

Marcus scowled and snarled under his breath before finally nodded. "Be brief," Marcus instructed.

"Alex, I haven't known you the entire time you've been in Dauntless but for the time I have known you, you have been nothing but the exemplary Dauntless character. You are everything that Dauntless values. You are brave beyond a doubt, to a fault maybe," he said, with a small laugh. "I don't believe that she is a monster because she's different. She's right. This is something that can be used to our favor. Relations between Factions have been strained since the beginning. I know this because I am an Ambassador for Dauntless. I've seen how terrible things are. People like Alex, they can help."

No matter what happened to me I would always be grateful for Cameron. I smiled at him and nodded. I was slightly surprised when someone else spoke up. "I would like to call all charges towards Alex Freesia to be dropped," Zeke said.

My eyes shot over to him and I smiled. Marcus looked infuriated but I knew that this was a part of the trial. If someone called forth a test of innocence it was up to the majority to clear the accused of all crimes. If the majority of everyone in the room called for my innocence then I would be cleared of all crimes. I would probably sent to the Fence for the rest of my life but I supposed it was better than being dead, I supposed. I might still be able to see Eric from time to time.

"All who support charges against Alex Freesia to be dropped say I," Marcus growled.

"I!" Heather was the first to chirp.

Everyone turned to her. I laughed and smiled and her, listening with a small grin as the rest of my friends followed suit. Not a moment later both Zeke and Cameron said it. Four and Eric followed quickly after. Tori, Lauren, and the remaining leaders of Dauntless followed them. In the next thirty seconds it seemed like the rest of the room had all finally said I. Within a minute I realized that everyone in the room, including on the government panel had said it. The only person that hadn't was Marcus.

He sighed before standing and silencing the rest of the room. "Thank you for your votes. Alex Freesia, you have been reinstated as a Dauntless member. However that does not mean that you have regained your spot as the number one ranked initiate -" Marcus began before being cut off by Cora, one of the other Dauntless leaders.

"Marcus, thank you for officiating this trial," she said.

It was the first time that I had ever heard her speak. It was nice that the first time that she would speak would be to defend me from whatever Marcus wanted to do to me. Cora was an older red-headed woman and everyone glanced back at her. She wore a sweet smile as she strode forward towards us. It was only a moment before she stepped up onto the stage with me and smiled, grabbing my hand and turning us back towards Marcus.

"The trial is over. Not just for Alex. For everyone. Four and Eric, you've both been cleared of any wrongdoings by the grace of the leaders of Dauntless. Max's fate will be decided soon. From here on out the decision of what to do with Alex lies in the hands of Dauntless. And I for one would like to allow her to regain her place as the top ranked initiate," Cora said.

Grinning at her, I said, "Thank you," softly and shook her hand.

"I would like to second that," Jason said.

"Thank you," I repeated.

"There is one other thing that I would like to say. We are now short one leader. A head leader. I would like to nominate a new one," Jason continued.

All eyes turned to him in curiosity. Mine did as well. I didn't think that it worked like that. I thought that they were just chosen by the Head Leader. Actually I wasn't really sure how it worked. I thought that it was something that I would never learn. I always thought that I would be too low-ranked to ever hear about new leader nominations. I figured that he would either nominate Cora or himself but the name that spilled from his lips nearly made me keel over.

"Alex Freesia."

Murmurs arose at the sound of my name as all eyes turned back and forth between the two of us. Some people were smiling and others looked thrown off. I wasn't sure what to do. I simply stared as Jason like he was insane. I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to do now? Was I supposed to say something in response to the nomination or was I just supposed to stand here and wait for them to figure out what to do?

"I agree to the nomination," Cora added.

"I second the nomination," Eric put on.

This time Marcus spoke up he wasn't cut off. "As much as I'm sure you'd love to see Miss Freesia on the leadership you have a personal connection with her. Votes by members with personal connections cannot be deemed valid," Marcus said, making me scowl at him.

"No matter," Cameron spoke up, moving through the crowd. "I second the nomination."

At least someone else thought that I was worthy. I smiled softly as member after member added onto the nominations that would make me the Head Leader of Dauntless. It wasn't long before everyone had called out an affirmative and I blushed softly. I had never thought that they were all going to look at me like this. I had thought that they were going to make me out to be some monster. Eric grinned up at me and I blushed as all members of Dauntless stood. It only took a few moments for the rest of the Factions to line up and leave, letting Dauntless settle the rest of its issues in peace. Eric walked up onto the stage with me and after a few moments of receiving congratulations from friends were were finally left in peace. Only the Dauntless remained.

"There's one last thing we must deal with. Max," Jason said, pulling him out into the open, up onto the stage on my side. "Max, you have been a good leader to us for years. But we have a new leader now. You tried to cripple the Faction system and kill one of our own. These crimes are worthy of death."

"Please don't kill me. I don't want to die," Max said, trying to remain composed.

The rest of the Faction began to shout their agreements and I felt a small bit of bile rise in my throat as I thought about what had happened to Jeanine just a few days prior. As much as I hated Max for what he had done to me earlier, I knew that we couldn't. It would just put us right back to where we were beforehand. With me in charge, I wanted to make the changes that I thought would make Dauntless the home that I knew it could be. We couldn't kill Max. So as much as I hated myself for it I stepped forwards.

"Stop! We can't kill Max," I said.

Murmurs escaped through the crowd. "Thank you," Max muttered. I ignored him.

"What he has done is heinous. He cannot be trusted. But to kill him would make us just like him. We must show that we are better than that. Dauntless is brave. And sometimes to be brave is not the easy choice. To take the easy way out would be to kill Max. But that makes us just the same as him. To be brave is to forgive, but not to forget. I say that Max, you can live out your days in peace. But you will live them out as either a Factionless man or on Full-Time Fence Duty. The choice is yours," I told him.

He looked shocked that someone who had only been an initiate a few days ago was now giving him a choice between being Factionless and living at the Fence for the rest of his life. It didn't surprise me. What did surprise me was how authoritative I sounded. I'd never heard myself sound like that before. Max stuttered over his words for a few moment before finally spitting out his answer quietly.

"F - Fence Duty," he answered softly.

I nodded and motioned for a few Dauntless men to come up onto the stage. "Take him away. See to it that he is not harmed on his way to the Fence," I instructed them.

They both nodded at me and I watched as they moved Max off of the stage and towards the trains. "Good choice," Cameron muttered to me.

"There's one other thing that I wanted to say. Head Leader... it's an honor. But it's too much power for one person. So here's what I have to say. No more Head Leader. We can have leadership still but I believe that we don't work under a dictatorship. That's what we had while Max ruled. The leaders, we will still be. But no one will just be another worker. Everyone deserves a say in what happens. Even someone who just works at a store. If Dauntless wants to stay a Faction... a family, we need to work together. We do that by ending the rule we had here before. We work together. If you'll have it, I'd like to offer some suggestions," I said softly.

"But we'll still have the leaders?" Tori asked.

I nodded at her and smiled, stepping down off of the platform to stand next to Eric. "Yes. We still need someone to speak with the other Factions, people to be a voice for Dauntless. But that doesn't mean that they have to rule everything. I want to see a Dauntless where even a simple Control Room worker has a say in what happens," I said, shooting a smile over to Four. "Dauntless is a Faction of the brave. But being brave doesn't mean cruel. I think that some of us have forgotten this." I shot Eric a quick smirk. He merely stomped on my foot. "If you'll still have me as a leader, I'd like to make Dauntless what I've always thought that it could be."

The air in the room was so much different from when I'd first walked in. The tense air was gone and replaced with something lighter. It seemed like something akin to happiness. "I think we can at least give it a try. Welcome to Dauntless, Alex," Eric said.

"No more calling me Amity?" I asked.

"Oh, no. You'll always be Amity."

The rest of the Faction erupted into cheers as people began to swing around the room, all laughing and cheering among themselves. My friends each came up to give me a hug and lift me into their arms. Zeke and Cameron followed after and Tori made sure to hug me as well. Even Lauren and Four along with the other leaders had hugged me tightly. It seemed that I had finally found my place. Maybe they weren't all fond of what I was, since no one had said anything about what I was, but it didn't matter. Rome wasn't built in a day.

The only thing that mattered was that things were going to change today. I knew that things were going to change. It would take some time. There was no way that we were going to make Dauntless the way that I had always imagined in just a few weeks, but today was the start. It made me happier than I had been in a long time. Eric was the last person to greet me and when he did it was not with words. He grabbed the back of my head and pulled me into him with his bone-crushing grip. The bullet wound stretched painfully but I wasn't going to tell him to leave. So I raised my lips to his and kissed him deeply, praying that this moment wouldn't end.

Our lips moved together and I soaked up the sound of the wolf-whistles from my friends around me. No one seemed keen on leaving my side anytime soon. I had never thought that the day would come when I could kiss Eric in front of them. Hell, I had never thought that anyone would know what I was. I had never thought that I would be a leader set out on a mission to change Dauntless. The whole thing seemed almost like a dream, but even if it was, it was a damn good one. So maybe this wasn't the way that I had thought that my life in Dauntless would work out, but it was the way that it had. And I would never want it any other way.

A/N: Another edited chapter down! Let me know what you think! Until next time! -A

danicrouch860: See look at that! I'm not that bad! Alex is alive and well! :)

kuppcake: Oh I'm so sorry about that! I hope that this chapter made up for the sadness of the last chapter!

fish.353: Oh trust me I knew from the beginning that Alex was going to kill Jeanine. And look at that, she's not dead! I like her too much to kill her.

lovespirit: She isn't dead! I'm really glad that you liked their little battle and I'm sorry about her "death" scene. I just had to do it! I hope that this was quick enough.

amandalbsantos: See I didn't kill her! I'm not that cruel! Eric deserves to be happy in my story since he got a terrible ending in the real story. He sure as hell better value her now lol!

Anon: Well I hope this made up for the last chapter!

gurpreet: I know! I make it a point to always finish my stories so when I get close to the end I get a mix of being super excited and kind of depressed. And yay, Alex lives on!

mmelody6: Sorry about the last chapter, but look, she's alright!

Debbydq: Yes everyone was just fine! Thank you! Of course I had to put in that little cliffhanger! Terribly sorry! Eric and Four will have a strange relationship since they both clearly love her in their own ways. Of course! And now their relationship is really out in the open!

leek812: I'm sorry! But look, she's alright!

VageHearts: Glad that you like the long chapters! She is incredibly risky lol. Unfortunately Damien certainly wasn't a good guy lol. And I'm glad that you liked how long they took to kiss!

Zaruka: I'm sorry! It's a good thing that Jeanine is dead and the message in the Box may come into play if I do decide to do a sequel. No truth serum here! I think they've had it with serums lol. There was still some hope!

Talia: Well I'm glad that you were speechless! I like hearing that you enjoyed the battle! I'm sorry about the last part, trust me it hurt to write. Thank you so much and I hope that this chapter put back a little bit of your soul! I'm glad that you liked Eric in the last chapter!

blauhoernchen55: Sorry about the last chapter! I'm so glad that you've liked the story so far and that you liked how Eric stood up to Jeanine. I hope that you liked this chapter!