"I sneaked out, when you were asleep, because I didn´t want to worry you." Eric started his story, addressing both, me and Tris. "We called everyone out for an emergency at 1 am, so all available soldiers were gathered in the pit. There we briefed them and gave the marching orders, always watching for suspicious activity. None of them knew beforehand what was happening, which was exactly how we had planned it." He stated, looking awfully pleased with himself.
"We moved out at 0200 sharp and arrived 45 minutes later at their main quarter. They didn't expect us, so we had a huge advantage, because most of them were asleep and not armed. We had not just our normal guns, but also the stun guns, filled with sleeping drugs, so we wouldn't have to shoot everyone.
Just as we went into the warehouse, they gave alarm. But either way it was too late for them." Eric shrugged his shoulders at that, while watching me.
Tris had pulled away from Tobias, looking at Eric dubiously. "What the hell does that mean?!"
Eric, being not in the least intimidated by the small woman with the huge bump, only rolled his eyes. "We put explosives everywhere and send them to hell. Way easier than to execute the lot of them after imprisoning them."
I took a step back, unbelieving, that what he just said was the truth. "Eric, there could have been children in there!" I hissed at him.
From the corner of my eye, I saw Toby shaking his head exasperatedly. "He's kidding. We would never do that. We went in and shot as many people with the drugs as possible, only using real bullets when inevitable."
I slapped Eric's shoulder. He really ought to lay off these jokes, they were the reason, people thought he was a psychopath. "You bastard!"
He just looked at me, without blinking.
It was scary.
"Nice to know what my wife thinks of me. I think I´ve earned her undying love and trust." Eric said sarcastically, making me want to stick out my tongue at him. Not that I would do something as childish as that.
I totally did.
It cracked Eric up and he came over to me, to hug me to him.
Have I ever mentioned, how I love it, when he does that…?
"We could do some trust building exercises?" Smiling mockingly, I faltered, when I saw an evil glint flash through his eyes.
"If you want to. We can totally go down to the chasm now and I´ll show you what trust means." I gulped, knowing exactly what he meant.
"Oh, love, that won't be necessary. Your wife trusts you with all her heart. And you have to tell her what happened after that. The way Toby looks, there must have been a fight."
As he looked a lot annoyed and slightly amused, by my avoiding techniques, that were totally awesome, I let out a breath.
Crisis averted.
"Yeah, your brother was intelligent enough to get himself shot."
"Hey!" Toby shouted insulted. "I covered your ass, so show a little gratitude."
"I guess…" Eric answered, before turning at me and smirking. "If nothing else, knocking you up has in fact saved my ass. A few months ago, number boy over there, would have let me take the bullet and then would have danced on my grave afterwards."
"Well, I guess he´s right…" I heard my brother mumble from somewhere behind me.
I looked from one, to the other, freaked out by their casual joking.
"If you don't tell me right now, who the fuck shot my man, so I can get out there and kill him with my bare hands, you both will be sorry!" Tris shouted, took a vase and hurled it against the wall, where it shattered into thousand pieces.
Hormones.
All three of us were staring at her, as if she´d gone mad and I waited anxiously for a cry to sound through the flat, but it didn't come. I guess my boy was a heavy sleeper, like I used to be, before I came alerted to every single sound in our house. Always looking for the impending doom, I knew was to come.
"All right…" Eric trailed off, looking cautiously at Tris and taking a seat on the counter. "We got in there, while most of the factionless were still asleep, as were those, who got shot with the stunt guns. Then we cornered them in different rooms, to our best abilities, with the plans Four was able to sneak out. The two of us and a few of our best soldiers then went to the leader quarters, where were more guards stationed and we had to kill a few of them, to get in there."
Eric stopped talking, as I handed him a coffee, knowing he´d need it to get through the day and looked over to my brother, who was thoughtfully fiddling with the straps of his sling. "So you found them?" Meeting his gaze, he knew, who I was talking about.
"Yeah, we did." Tobias exhaled deeply, biting the inside of his cheek. "Evelyn was still awake and in what seemed like a meeting with one of her commanders, or what the hell they call them."
As Eric saw my questioning expression, he took mercy on me. "We got her in custody. Down in the cells. But the other guy was able to shoot Four, luckily only hit his shoulder. We´ve got him, too, since he seemed important. But not enough to get real gun training, the way he held his handgun."
She was still alive and somewhere here in the compound. The woman I thought dead for 16 years…
"What will happen to them?" Tris inquired, watching her fiancé with sympathetic eyes.
"They´ll face trial in candor." He replied, taking her hand. "And all the factions will decide together, since it was a major threat to the whole faction system."
Stepping in between Eric´s legs, he slung one of his arms around my waist and I sagged against him, as he supported my weight. "What will happen to them?"
"As of faction law, it´s either exile or execution. Since there are so many of them, I don't know yet, but the important ones will be injected with the truth serum at their trial." Eric said, being the best informed out of us.
"Amity and Abnegation will vote for exile, while Dauntless and Erudite will demand execution, so it will be on Candor to decide their fate." I observed, not knowing if that was good or bad. They were supposed to be the most suitable ones for that, but I don't know…
I turned my face, so it was only inches away from Eric's and looked deeply into his eyes. "Do you think I can see her?"
"Absolutely not." His voice was as hard and cold, as his eyes and I found myself pleading with him.
"Only five minutes, Eric, please! I haven't seen her in 16 years and if she´s…
I just want to say goodbye to her…" I buried my face in his chest, as I started to tear up. I didn't want this to happen like that. And I wanted to see her for a last time. There was one question I had to ask her.
"Eric…" I heard my brother from behind him. "She deserves it."
"You damn stiffs." Eric cursed under his breath, before grabbing my chin and lifting my head up, so he could see my tear stricken face.
"Theo stays with me. You have five minutes. Not one second more."
.
.
.
The first thing I realized, as I was walking to the holding cells, that were located far under the pit, at least seven stories, was, that it was cold.
Really cold.
I even could see my breath forming little clouds in front of me, as I walked down seemingly endless flights of stairs.
At the end of the last one was a metal door, only accessible with a special card. The guard in front of me, that had orders from Eric himself, hold his against the scanner, successfully unlocking it.
I stepped through the door and the air got slightly warmer, but it was still freezing, as the guy led me through rows and rows of steel doors, all holding a little window, showing the captives. Every single one of them looked like they´ve been captured last night, as roughed up as they were, so I guess that they were all part of the factionless rebels.
The guard finally stopped in front of one of the doors in the back and started to unlock it.
"You have five minutes." He informed me passively, holding the door open.
I hesitated for a second. Thinking if this was really what I wanted, but I knew I had to face my mother, otherwise I would forever regret it.
So I summoned all the courage I could and stepped through the door.
The cell was sparsely equipped, only a simple metal bed, screwed to the floor, with a thin blanket on top of it, a facet and a toilet in the corner. The walls were all as dark, as the stone our whole compound was built of and the light came from a single fluorescent tube, that shone bright, but cold.
And there, on the uncomfortable bed sitting, her almost black hair going down to her waist and deep blue eyes looking up at me, was my mother.
She looked like I remembered her, only thinner, a little older and a lot less bruised.
"Amelia, is that you?" She breathed, before standing up and rushing over to me, holding out her arms.
But I shied away from her embrace.
Noticing my reaction, she let her arms fall to her sides and smiled somehow regretfully.
"Mother." I acknowledged her, almost flinching myself, because of my cold voice.
"You´ve become a beautiful young woman. The only flaw you ever had were your eyes. The same colour as your fathers."
She tilted her head and took all of me in.
"Don´t call him that! He never acted like one, so I won't grand him that title. Not now, that I know, how a real father should treat his child." I exclaimed, being hurt by her statement. The first thing she said to me, after 16 years was, that I resembled my father.
"You are right. I´m sorry, my dear." Evelyn smiled at me. "I believe congratulations are in order. My daughter having her own baby. I wish I could meet him, but under the circumstances…" She trailed off, before taking my hand.
"I know you have a lot of questions…"
I interrupted her, being fed up by her attempts at appeasing me.
"Oh, do you? I mean sure.
Let´s start.
But where? Maybe why you left us with an abusive bastard, left us behind, in a house, where we could have died.
Or shall we speak about all the time I thought you were dead, but you were really much alive?
Why you never told us or how you wanted us to betray our faction, our family the moment we were free of him?
If you´d asked me in the 18 years I was living in hell, I would have followed you without looking back once and I´m sure, Toby would have done the same. But to come here, to destroy the life, we had to fight so hard for, that is something I can't forgive you."
Evelyn sighed deeply, before looking at my chest and smiling. "I know, you´re mad at me and you have every right to be, but I did everything I ever did, to protect you. Living the life, I was living, was not something I wished for any of my children. At least the two of you were warm in the winter and had enough food to survive.
You have no idea what they would have done out there, with such a beautiful, young woman like you and I pray, you´ll never find out." She took a step towards me, raising her hand and pulling the necklace out of my sweatshirt.
She looked down at the locket, the one I had left at Eric's apartment and only recently started to wear again, and smiled melancholic.
"This was your late grandmother´s, I always loved it and I see you hold it dearly, too."
I looked at the woman in front of me, the one I shared most of my appearance with, the one who smuggled orange juice into our home and suddenly, I felt it.
All the years of suppressed pain, when I was thinking of her.
Every memory that sliced my heart like shards of glass.
And I knew that eventhough she did all these unspeakable things, she was still my mother and I loved her.
I would always miss her.
Or at least the woman she used to be.
Or maybe it was the little girl, I missed. The one that was painfully unaware, of what was expiring behind closed doors in that grey house.
In her grey life.
Where there was no good or bad, only in between.
Where no one was focused on themselves, as they blurred, as they lost themselves.
By turning away from their reflections, they really disappeared, fading into the shadows, that surrounded them.
By choosing not to hear one of their owns crying, they managed to turn her world from grey to black.
Her despair, her pleading for someone to come rescue her.
And none of them could see it.
Not until her blood was sizzling on burning coals.
Not until she defied her father, defied her destiny and defied the laws of this fucked up society.
Not until she chose to change from grey to black, chose to be brave, instead of selfless and chose to rescue herself, instead of relying on others to escape her personal hell.
And in a cell, hundreds of feet under the surface of this city in ruins, one of the only stains of colour in her once grey life, was brushing away the tears, that after all this time, managed to fight their way out.
.
.
.
Next chapter will be trial in candor and a little bit more drama in form of a revelation… As if there wasn't enough of it in their lives :D
Thanks for reading! :)