OKAY...Sorry for the wait, but I have been having an unusually hard time deciding how to word these next few chapters. So thank you all for your patience. I have been thinking alot about my sub plots and about my characters and for your patience i will let you have a small surprise that may not be repeated ever again. Limited time only.

Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 26

Tobias and I walk towards the room that Shauna is sleeping in. His hands are rough and scarred from all the fights that began after Shauna's injury and the Erudite attacks. We weren't ever looking for the fight, but they seem to be coming to us anyway. It seems like everyone is one edge and one glance or careless word is getting everyone into trouble, it won't be long until Candor asks us to leave. The Dauntless are getting restless here, Candor is treating us with more contempt and no one knows what move to make. Tobias scowls at the space ahead of him, "Tobias?"

He looks down and his eyes soften the slightest, "yes." His hair is longer than i have ever seen it, the back of his neck covered by soft curls that brush along his shirt collar. It makes him look wild and dangerous, two words I wouldn't use to describe Tobias if we were still in Abnegation. I used to cosnider him unpredictable, however I have grown smarter. The look in his eye that I can never quite place is not uncertainty, rather it is bravery. Granted a darker and more violent kind of bravery, but bravery none the less. He peers at me and I realize I have taken too long to answer.

"Do you have a plan?" I twist a lock of hair back behind my ear. "For Sunny and I, are we going to stay with the Dauntless or return to the Factionless?" The thoughts of returning to Evelyn makes my head throb with powerful laps of anger.

Tobias scowl only deepens, "honestly, I think we are going to end up with the Dauntless. Evelyn can't be trusted right now, her own politcal agenda has nothing to do with Erudite or what they have done to Abnegation. For Evelyn, this entire attack is just a well-timed window for her to gain control of the people..." Tobias stops short of Shauna's door and takes both my hands in his, "Tris, they want me to be present for the sentencing of the traitor Dauntless and the leader we captured."

"The one I stabbed?" The thought of me plunging my knife into someone else would have seemed so ridiculous just months ago. As a matter of fact, if anyone had told me that this would be my life right now I would have laughed in their faces. Laughter, the word sounds so...strange in my mind. Its too bad I don't laugh too often anymore, I could use it.

Tobias nods, "yes, Eric." He lets go of my hands and rubs his palms against his jeans, "Tris, according to Dauntless law a traitor in this kind of degree would be executed." He takes a slow breath, "I'm not sure if I am ready to be a part of that."

"But you shot that boy when we were saving Zeke from the simulation in Dauntless. Is it so different?" I ask, even though I know the answer. It is different, before this we were just children playing a part. Kids dressed up in adult clothing playing grown-up, it wasn't real yet. The death of our faction was real, even the actual simulation itself was real to us. But when it came to us actually pulling the trigger and watching our hands get covered in blood, we didn't really understand it. We know better now. When Tobias shot the boy in Dauntless, it was a reaction that had little thought. I barely remember his name. But we know Eric's name, we have seen him, interrigated him, and looked him in the eye.

"Yes, it is." Tobias tucks my hair back behind my ear and cups my cheek, "it's very different. But you knew that..." He lowers his voice and draws me close to him. Our lips barely a breath apart. "I'm scared Tris."

"Of seeing the execution..." I swallow a lump in my throat, "or that you will have to be the executioner?"

"Neither." Tobias lips brush against mine and I can feel his heart beating into my palm. "I''m not sure what scares me, but its not the act of justice. Eric deserves whatever punishment he will recieve for the countless lives he knowingly brought to an end."

I place my hand more firmly against his chest and look up into his eyes, "you're afraid you will hate the Dauntless? For the way they take vengence?"

Tobias stares back at me and takes in another slow breath, "no, I'm afraid I will love it."

My lips brush against his without hesitation. It is not a kiss full of passion, rather it is one of support. I understand Tobias's fear, I often find myself proud of a fight I've one or patting Sunny on the back for giving that girl who called her a'Stiff' a black eye instead of handling it with a selfless and respectful attitude. We are growing to love the very things we were raised to hate and to stand against. I pull away from Tobias and offer him a soft smile, "I love you, Tobias. Nothing else matters except that I am in love with you, Tobias Eaton."

Tobias kisses my temple, "we should relieve Zeke before he is too tired to get to his cot for some rest." We open the door to Shauna's room and find Zeke already passed out in his chair beside the bed, Tobias chuckles under his breath. "Zeke?" Zeke lays still and Tobias slings an arm around his back and pulls Zeke up. Tobias looks to me, "you think you can handle this while I clean him up? I," Tobias smells Zeke and cringes, "I'm going to need to get him to a shower, give him something to eat, and get him settled into bed. I might also have some extra errands to run to cover for Zeke's duties, will that be okay?"

I nod and plop into Shauna's chair, "hey, Shauna. It's me, Tris. Right now we are changing shifts, so I hope you don't mind thatI keep you company for a few hours. Zeke really needs a shower,so he won't be back for a while." Shauna doesn't open her eyes to look at me although, she slightly squeezes my hand. She's been sleeping a lot lately, which I would too if I had been paralyzed. Tobias disappears out the room with a half-asleep Zeke stumbling beside him, maybe in another time this would be a diferent scene. Maybe in a time were Tobias and I chose Dauntless, Tobias would be disappearing with a stumbling Zeke from the bar. The thought makes me laugh a little and Shauna smiles beside me. Maybe she knows what I'm thinking.

I take her hand and squeeze it, to remind her that I am here. After a few minutes she opens her eyes and yawns. "Tris?"

"Yes?" I brush some of her hair offer her forehead and give her a small smile.

Shauna gives me her own small smile back, "tell me about your life before?"

"Before?"

She nods, "before the attack? What were you and Tobias like? What were your futures going to be?"

I nod and think back to the life we had before, it seems so distant now. So far away, like it was some one else's life and not my own. "It all seems so far now, but we were normal quiet Abnegation. Our fathers worked together, so we grew up aorund the same people. We were never really devoted to being selfless, we sometimes did things like look in the mirror or climb the Ferris wheel. We even jumped on and off trains."

Shauna laughs a little at that, "I knew you were Dauntless deep down in there, it just took some freedom for it to come out."

"Ou rlives were simple, we lived across the street form each other. Our parents had given us their blessing."

Shauna's eyes widen,"you get married that young in Abnegation?"

"No," I shake my head, "in Abnegation, we do things just like you. There is courting and engagement and eventuaklly marriage. However, in Abnegation when a man offially courts a woman he must have the appproval of both of thier parents. Once that approval is given, couting can begin offically. When two people begin to offically court each other, however, it basically means he intends on marrying her. Very few courtshps end in a break up, most end in marrriage."

"Woah," Shauna giggles, something she never does so I am going to assume its the pain medication that is being pumpoed through her veins doing most of the talking. "Were you going to marry Tobias?"

I straighten my shoulders, "yes, I was. We were going to get married after a while and then be moved into a family home in a different secor of Abnegation...I...I wanted children. That was the life we had planned out, before the attack."

Shauna frowns, "I'm sorry, Tris."

I shake my head dismissiely, "don't be. There's nothing I can do to change it, besides I wouldn't have you and all my friends in Dauntless if it weren't for everything that has happened."

"But, Tris," Shauna licks her lips and stares at me unblinking. "Tris, you can have that still. You can still get married and have kids."

"I don't think so, Shauna. Our faction is gone."

"And which Faction is that?" Shauna shakes her head side to side, "the faction you chose may be gone, but the Faction that chose you is still here."

My brows knit together and I'm sure my confusion is written plainly on my face. "What are you saying?"

"Tris," she smiles, "you may have chosen Abnegation, but Dauntless has chosen you."

Sunny POV

The tips of my grey shoes look bright against the dark sky above me. There are no stars out tonight, the moon isn't even hanging in the sky to cast a shadow around me. I feel free at night. While Tris and Tobias are free to run around Candor to be leaders and mediators, I stay up here on this roof. I'm imprisoned here, every time I try to escape the chains tethering me to this wretched place yank me back. I even have the scars to prove it. They might not be visible but they're there, they have dug into my wrists and ankles, the shackles alone tearing through my tender skin. At night though, I can't see them. The shackles look more like elaborate jewelry than bonds to keep me anchored. In the darkness of the night sky I can't see the blood stain left from Marlene's body.

I was never particularly close to her, as a matter of fact, our friendship was one of circumstance. We happened to be at the same place at the same time and had the same friends. We were merely a product of our mutual need to stay rooted in our small clique. We weren't bound together by anything before the simulation that took her life. Except for him, we were destined to be tied together because of him.

He was so different from the world I knew. So opposite of my world, so colorful and fascinating. Sometimes, I want to run up to him and pull his face to mine and stare into those milky dark brown eyes and tell him I'm sorry for everything I've done. How I would trade everything for him to be happy. If I could go back and make Tris save her instead of me to see him smile I would. How I would rather see him happy with her, how I'd rather live my life alone and miserable for him. How I love him and yet I find myself pushing him away because I don't know how to show my emotions. I only know how to strangle them in selflessness or acts of stupidity, my cowardly attempt at bravery. "Sunny?" His voice is soft, a whisper.

I shut my eyes and will my voice to remain calm, "yup, that's me." I can feel his presence beside me. His breathing matches mine, it always has. "Are you here to yell at me again?"

"No." I''m glad for the moon's decision to run away tonight, I can't bear to see the pain in his eyes. The pain I caused.

I open my eyes and turn to stare at him, "oh?"

"Look, the decisions you've been making are tearing me apart inside." Uriah frowns and I can hear my heart snap. "Look, I know we aren't that close..."

I cut him off, "we aren't?" That wasn't meant to slip out, but it did. And my voice cracked, however he doesn't seem to catch on to my disappointment.

"Are we?"

I shrug, "I don't know. I don't really know anything anymore."

"Sunny, I yelled at you because I care about you. Don't you see how stupid you're acting, I know that what happened to Marlene really hurt you..." He keeps speaking but my mind is reeling. He honestly thinks I'm acting like this because of her. I'm sad, it's true, but its him that makes me crazy. It's him that drives me insane, drives me to prove that I can be Dauntless. I can be brave, granted I don't do it in the smartest ways but I try. I try to show him that I can fit into his world. I used to be normal, I used to think reasonably, but one day he smiled at me and his hand brushed mine and I fell into him. My heart was torn to shreds by Caleb, I didn't think I could ever be drawn to someone again. And then Uriah appears, always nice to me, always looking out for me, always being the man who was there when my brother and father and Caleb could not. Tobias tried to fill that void, to be there when I needed him too. But it wasn't the same. Watching everyone else be in love was almost as painful as watching Robert and Caleb let their blood splatter into a different bowl. Uriah's voice comes into focus as he says my name, "so Sunny, how do you feel about that?"

"Hm?" I look to the sky. It's quiet for a long time, long enough for me to feel his anger rising. He stands up and paces, he keeps questioning me and I keep responding with a shrug, maybe he will see that I don't want to talk and he will leave me alone. I always get irrational around him.

Uriah runs his hand over his forehead, "What is with you? Don't you have any feelings!" His tone is angry, irritated, pained.

I snap, "don't I have feelings? How dare you ask me that? I have too many feelings." I remain calm.

"You what?"

I have a choice to make as I stand tall. I can either run or face this. I can confess my feelings now and deal with the damage later. I decide for the first time in my life to be truly brave. "I have too many feelings Uriah. More than I know what to do with."

He nods, "and?"

"And they are driving me insane, okay? You're driving me insane!" I feel tears pool into my eyes.

"Me? How?" He sits on the ledge and frowns.

I wipe away the tears running down my cheeks, "everything about you drives me crazy, your laugh, your smile, your everything. You have no idea the power you have over me, its like you control me with just a word sometimes. If your goal was to come here to convince me to start sitting out all our missions and battles, fine you won. I can't fight you, I can't. I'm always fighting everyone else for your attention, just a few seconds Uriah. I don't need much, never have. I just need you to stay not to leave, to forgive me. Do you know how badly I want to make things right? I would rather live my life miserably and watch you be happy with someone else than for us to be like this. For me to be out there trying to prove myself while you have to keep scolding me, I don't want that."

Uriah stares at me, "what are you saying?"

"God, Uriah. I'm saying I...I don't know anymore. All I know is that I can't let you leave me, I can't okay? I have had too many people abandon me. Too many people decide I'm not worth staying for...So just...just go alright? Go like everyone else. I've made a mess of things, again. I keep doing that, I keep running off and saying things without thinking and it always ends me up here. On this roof. You always do this to me, I never make any sense around you. I can't figure out which emotions go where."

"Are you saying you have feeling for me?"

My eyes widen, "maybe I am. I'm not good at sharing my feelings. I...I am going to head to bed." I run to the door and head down the steps until Uriah tells me to stop. I turn to look at him with tears springing from me eyes.

"What happened to you? You were never like this?" He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear, "what happened to you Susan?"

I look at the ground, "I got lost in the casualties. I went crazy, what do you want me to say? It all started to unravel when I watched my parents get gunned down in their front yard and a kind Dauntless boy with milky brown eyes told me go down the back alley by the canning center where the other Abnegation had fled."

Uriah's eyes widen, "I forgot about that. With all that's happened, I haven't really thought much about that night. That was you, Sunny?"

I nod, "I should go. Boys don't fall in love with poor, mad girls." I twist my arm out of his grasp and head to the cot where I cry myself to sleep for the third time this week.