Hey guys this is just a quick filler chapter to help progress our story along. I have found a more efficient way to update my account from my tablet, so updates will be regular once again. Sorry guys for the long wait just be patient with me. I get to see Insurgent tomorrow so freaking excited guys. Fangirling so hard! Enjoy the chapter and as always comments, questions, concerns, or suggestions are always open to me. I will respond as soon as possible, also guys if you want to send me your email, you have to space it out like this or else it doesn't appear: email email .com -You have to space it out, I have had a few people try to give me their email in other ztories and it hasn't worked so try it like this. Thanks!

Chapter 25

On days like today I find myself on the roof. On days when all I can see is her face every time I blink, when all I can hear is the sound of her body slamming into the pavement below. On those days I wind up here, laying on my back, with one arm and leg dangling over the side of the edge of the bulding. Half of me safe from falling, the other half hanging precariously over the edge. I lay somewhere between life and death, between Marlene being here and her being gone. The wind presses my shirt to me and slowly my eyes open to the clear blue sky above me.

To be honest, I wasn't best friends with Marlene. I wasn't even that close to her. But she was one of a few friends I have ever had. Someone clears their throat and I barely tip my head to the side, "hm?"

"Tris, while I applaud how Dauntless this is, it isn't very healthy."

I roll my eyes, "Sunny, in comparison to the things you have done in the past three weeks I think I am much healthier than you are." There was a time when I would never dream of saying something like that to Susan. And there was a time when she would have been shocked, even hurt at my accusation. Now though, we no longer handle things so delicately. Now we no longer care.

She sits against the parapet and rolls her eyes back to me, "am I dead, yet?"

"No."

"Then it's not a problem." Sunny plays with the end of her hair. "How did we get so jaded, Tris?"

"Doesn't matter. It's what we are now..." I pull myself back onto the safety of the roof and sit beside her. "You know, I should probably talk to you about your behavior and try to talk some sense into you. Tell you to remember where you came from."

"I would just roll my eyes, tell you to mind your own business, and ask you if you're hungry." Sunny smirks and closes her eyes.

I nod, "to which I say I am hungry. And when Tobias asks later if I talked to you, I have an answer."

"And when Tobias asks if you talked some sense into me, I will have an answer." Sunny pulls herself up and offers a hand. I swat it away and bring myself up. "I'm thinking that if we ever get to go to Dauntless, I am going to get my nose pierced." We walk down the stairs of the roof and run through the hallways that twist and wind through Candor. I brush past a few of the Dauntless I have become friends with, but they do little to acknowledge me. Sunny and I stand in line to get a grey mush slammed onto our plate, the Candor have ceased to care about the level of food we are fed. It has become one of the reasons why the Dauntless are eager to leave Candor, among other things. A hand slinks around my waist and pulls me to the side, "Tris?"

I look up into his deep blue pair of eyes, "mhm."

"Look, Dauntless is talking about leaving for the compound soon. We have to take care of the Dauntless traitors still in the infirmary, but after that we are leaving. Candor is increasing their communication with Jeanine. We think they are preparing to give us up to the Erudite if it means saving their skin. Tonight, one of the Candor representantives is supposed to meet with Max, one of the former leaders of Dauntless. I want you, Christina, and Uriah to watch from above. Take Sunny with you, but keep her in check. Zeke, Shauna, and I will be watching at a closer distance. I want you focused on anything that Erudite might try to sneak in while Candor is focused on this meeting. Tonight at eight, roof."

Sunny cuts inbetween us, "where are we meeting at eight?"

Tobias smiles, "Tris will fill you in. Are you feeling better?"

"Yeah, I guess." She brushes the comment aside and falls into a seat next to Uriah. Tobias slowly scowls and looks down to me. I can read the worry in his eyes, however he doesn't say anything to me. After a brief moment of silence and a kiss on the cheek Tobias leaves to handle some other Dauntless affairs.

(Line Break)

Wedged between Uriah and Christina I press the binoculars to my eyes. A lone Candor leader stands along a bridge waiting patiently for this Max to come. A tall figure in black approaches the Candor as Will snatches the binoculars out of my hands, "Max doesn't look himself."

"Really?" Sunny pulls them from Will's hands, "if that's him on a bad day, I don't want to know what he looks like on a good day."

Everyone snickers and quiets down as the Candor man begins to speak. This is actually really boring, I imagined stake outs being more...fast paced? Dangerous? Perhaps even suspenseful? "I can't hear anything," Sunny moves a few paces closer. Uriah elbows me and points to Max. I focus my attention of the former Dauntless leader's rigid and tense posture. Out of my curiosity I somehow snatch the binoculars back and stare at Max.

"I think he's under simulation, guys." I point ahead, "look his eyes are glazed over and his lips are moving in a wierd way."

Uriah leans forward, "I think maybe you're right. I think Will was onto something, Max doesn't seem hims-...Where did she go this time?"

"What?" I look behind me as a frown settles on my face, "oh that's just great." Sunny is gone. I had one job. I had one fricking job and I screwed that up. I slip the gun into one of the belt loops of my pants, "Uriah, come with. You three stay here."

Uriah and I follow after the glint of blond hair through the bushes. "Why does she think she can ust slink off like this? Tris, I can put up with all the late night dares, but running ahead into enemy territory? What is she thinking?" His rant dies down as we appraoch her.

Sunny crouches a small distance from Max and looks behind her to see us. She casts a wicked grin and motions us over. "You can hear better here."

Max's speech seems delayed as his lips move, "we demand that Dauntless leader Eric is released, we demand that all Divergents in your custody are handed over, and we want a list of those who no did not get punctured by our serum needles."

The Candor considers this slowly, I reach for the binoculars and try to find where the Erudite who are controlling Max are hiding. I lose focus as a loud popping noise accompanied by a crowd of birds flying into the distance gathers my Candor gasps but Max seems unfazed despite the hole through his chest. Blood pools from the area and drenches his shirt. Four figures take off in a sprint as the footsteps of traitor Dauntless approach, it only takes me a breath to follow their lead. Bullets whir past me and loge themselves into nearby walls and sidewalk beneath me. I keep my pace until a scream from my left slows me down, I watch Shauna collapse on the ground with red staining the pavement.

Flashes of my mother pound my skull.

Everything is happening at once, the screaming pounding into my ears, the gunshots blurring together. My mother, the Dauntless, more gunshots are fired, screams, deafening screams. I begin to let out my own scream, to mix with the others and melt into the air. Tobias hand covers my mouth as I cry and thrash out.

A blur of red. I watch her frame covered in a blur of red, her knees sinking into the pavement. Her head slamming into the ground, a sea of crimson consuming her body.

She can't be dead. I have to help her, if I get there fast enough I can save her. I kick against the solid body holding me back and dragging me away. I let out a muffled yell and soon tears blur my sight and I go still. The strength that was just forcing me to fight has drained from me, like my mother's blood.

I shake my head, I couldn't save my mother, but I can save Shauna. I pull her up into my arms as Zeke runs beside me and takes her legs. Tobias starts to shoot at the Dauntless trailing behiind us. "Sunny go ahead and get a nurse! Uriah help cover us."

Bullets fly back and forth as we carry Shauna inside, her screams piercing the air around us. I focus ahead, on Shauna, and let everything else fade out.

...

"Who shot Max?" I ask.

Sunny and Uriah shake their heads. Tobias frowns, "wasn't me either. Zeke?"

Zeke barely shakes his head, all eyes flick to Lynn. She gives us a sheepish grin, "I'm a good shot, huh?" Her joke falls flat as we wait for news on Shauna's condition.

My leg keeps shaking, I can't seem to control it. Zeke holds his head in his hands while Tobias paces in front of us. A nurser clad in black scrubs and a white stethescope, "are you all here for Shauna?"

All eight of us stand, "yes we are." I don't know which one of us said this, but I'm grateful to who got their mouth and mind to work together.

"Follow me, she is unconscious right now, however she should wake up soon. We removed the bullet from her back...I know this is going to be hard for you especially as Dauntless, but Shauna will not be able to walk. At least not with our technology here in Candor. She will be paralyzed, unable to walk, run, or do anything else requiring the use of her legs."

Sunny nods, "thank you. Can we see her now?"

The nurse nods and opens the door to the infirmary, Shauna lays bandaged together in a bed, her eyes flutter open slightly before falling closed again. Zeke settles into the chair beside her bed and takes her hand, "you guys can go. I can watch over her." No one moves until Tobias pats Zeke on the back and leaves, slowly we all file out leaving the two of them alone. Tobias and Will head to speak with Tori while Christina and Lynn head to bed.

The last three of us walk through the hallway until Uriah pulls Sunny aside, "what were you thinking?"

"Uriah, I'm tired-"

"No, Susan. What were you thinking? Sneaking off like that?" Uriah clenches his fists.

"Don't call me that! My name is Sunny. And you have no right to question me. I'm alive, right? You two caught up with me!"

Uriah frowns, "no. If you want to be stupid that's your choice, but don't expect me to be there for your funeral." Uriah stalks off down the hall. Sunny kicks the wall beside her and goes in the opposite direction. I stand there for a moment and head towards Uriah wondering how in the world things got so complicated.