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.

26. Chapter 26

16 Months Later...

The alarm sitting on the edge of Eric's bed went off loudly and I groaned, rolling over into the pillows. How could it have already been morning? There was no way. I guessed that it was because we were supposed to be awake much earlier today than we normally were. We were here again. Choosing Day. It was the one day of the year where everyone in the compound had to wake up at an ungodly hour just so that we could welcome the newbies. And for the leaders it was even worse.

There were few others that actually had to be awake this early. I knew that Heather would be up around six so she could go and check over the files of the newest additions to Dauntless. The ones that had chosen a year ago today. She had to make sure that they all knew what to do today. The first Choosing Day for recruits in their first year was always the strangest. Three hundred and sixty-five days prior it had been them jumping into the net. Now it was someone else's turn.

For me it had been an entire seven hundred and thirty days since I had made the jump into Dauntless. In Amity I hadn't been able to sleep since I had been so concerned about where I would be going. Now I just wanted to sleep since I knew exactly what I was to be doing. Not that I wanted to do anything that I should have been. This was one of the busiest days of the year for the leaders. Eric in particular, since he had to go and retrieve them. At least I got to stay here all day.

Glancing over to the alarm I saw that it was now blinking at two past five. Eric seemed to finally have gotten sick of the blaring alarm as he smashed the snooze button and rolled back over. I smirked to myself as he rolled over towards me and grabbed me tightly. His grip was crushing around my waist but I didn't mind. It wasn't too often that Eric or I got to sleep in so we enjoyed the few minutes of peace while we could. Typically I was the one that had to wake up first. Eric was an early riser as well though. He normally woke up with me.

Despite the fact that sixteen months ago we had decided that there would be no such thing as a Head Leader, I knew that I was the one that everyone called on to do everything. I had Max's old office, which had been given to me a few weeks after I had taken over my position. The first thing that I had done was trash all of Max's things. I replaced the desk that he'd had with my whitewashed wooden one from Amity. There were some paintings from the Factionless men and women who had sold them to me when I'd been looking to decorate. I barely recognized it as the one Max had once threatened me in.

Not that I spent much time in my office. I liked to be out and about in Dauntless. I was one of the few women that were allowed upstairs in the Wolf's Den. Actually, I was the only one. With the exception of when I dragged Heather, Lisa, and Serena with me. Although they usually didn't stay long as I got rude comments from the men that were actually allowed to be up there.

Dauntless had changed a good bit since I had taken my spot as a leader. And it had all had something to do with Divergent's being exposed to the public. It wasn't just that. It was the fact that a Divergent was now the leader of Dauntless. Or at least one of them.

The change hadn't gone over well at first. Not with the first meeting that had gone on between the five Factions. Everyone hated the thought that a Divergent was now leading one of the Factions. Especially because that same Divergent had killed Jeanine Matthews. It hadn't just been the one trial that I had been through. It had been quite a few. More than I could count. The first one or two months that I had been a leader here in Dauntless had been full of me being brought to different Factions to try and sort out everything that had happened that night.

It had taken my use of the Candor machine that utilized the truth serums for my story to finally be believable. Of course that meant that I had been forced to admit everything. I had been forced to tell people that Tori and Four were hiding my secret, as was Eric. That hadn't gone over well. But I had managed to take all of the blame for myself. It just felt right. I had been forced to restructure the Factions system. Between myself and the other leaders we figured that the only way to avoid another incident like the one that Jeanine had caused would be to destroy the Faction system that we knew and create a new one.

It had mostly been my job to restructure the system. Not that it bothered me. It meant that I could do whatever I wanted. Within reason, of course. Everything had to be approved by the others on the city counsel. The first thing that I had done was work on inter-Faction relations. They had been terrible for the near one hundred years that we'd been living in the Faction system. It was the life that we all knew and it was something that I knew had to be fixed. It would be the only way that we could live in peace.

Erudite had been the hardest to get on board. Half of them were angry that I had killed Jeanine Matthews and the other half hated that a Divergent was running the show in Dauntless. It had taken a few visits from the leaders of the other Factions to get them to even hear me out. The first thing I'd had to do was recount everything that had happened between Jeanine and I since I'd come to Dauntless. I'd been forced to explain to them how Divergence really didn't make me that much different from them.

Needless to say they really didn't believe that. It had been nearly impossible for me to make them believe that I was just like them. They thought that since I had scored Erudite as well on my Aptitude Test I should be forced to show them that I was just like any other Erudite. I had been forced to take the test that they gave their members. It was like an IQ test. I took it and failed miserably. I was on par with a kid in Erudite. After the Faction had gotten a good laugh at me they'd been finally willing to hear me out.

Of course they had laughed a few more times while I was giving my suggestions. The first thing that I had requested was more open communication between the Factions. It all meant that there could be no more secrets. It was half of what had made Jeanine so powerful. No one knew everything about her plans. It was not something that sat well with the Factions, not being able to hide things from each other, but people had taken to it better than I had thought that they would.

There were a few things that I had wanted everyone to do. We had no secrets between Factions. All projects were authorized in pieces by each Faction. It would go through Candor first. They would determine whether or not the project was ethically correct. Then the project went through Erudite. They would consider how much the project would cost and whether or not it was even worth the money or time. We then sent the project to Amity and Abnegation. They constantly had people overseeing the project, since they were the best peacekeepers without their own motivations. Dauntless would protect the project as it was underway and until it was completed.

It was a good system. Despite doubts in the beginning people ended up liking it. Everyone was able to work together and things weren't too high-stress for any one Faction. No one Faction had to handle everything. It also gave everyone a job in each of the Factions. It created more work for people. It was better than everyone who didn't fit in one particular place having to go to either the Factionless or work somewhere like in a store or the dining rooms.

Abnegation had been one of the easiest Factions to teach our new ways. They liked the thought that not one Faction controlled any one thing. And they were the one Faction that didn't seem to mind having a Divergent leading a Faction. They were the most curious about it. They had been the ones to ask what it was like to be Divergent. I'd had the easiest time with them in changing the ways that the Factions related to each other. I'd also met a few members there. One of which I was sure was going to defer. Beatrice, I was pretty sure that her name was. She was like me. She was good at pretending to be Abnegation, but deep down she wasn't.

Amity had been easy to get on board too. Maybe it was because Divergence didn't make them uncomfortable. Or maybe it was because it was my home Faction. Johanna had been good with working with me on almost everything. There were very few plans that she didn't like. I had become quite fond of her over the past few months. She had become something like a second mother to me. She seemed much less intimidating now because I no longer had to pretend that I liked her Faction. She was just fine with me being Dauntless, as long as what I was doing what I loved.

Candor seemed so-so on the change. I was sure that they always would think that the other Factions were liars, simply because we hadn't been placed in Candor. Jack Kang had been good with the changes. I had a feeling that it was because I was one of the people that had kept him out of prison. Although I knew that he wasn't overly fond of the Divergence. Most of their Faction wasn't. I assumed that it was because they thought that hiding my Divergence had been one big lie. They weren't wrong. Although they worked with me well on the changes so I really didn't have that much to complain about.

Dauntless took the new changes with a grain of salt. They weren't overly fond of the changes at first but I was sure that everyone was glad to see Max out of the way. No one had been overly fond of him. And Eric had certainly been nicer to people with Max and Jeanine out of the picture. It made life easier for everyone. Although that didn't mean that he didn't snap at people when they irritated him. And that was a lot. But things were good here in Dauntless. This was my home and these were my people. No matter how upset that they made me.

And they had all managed to make me upset at least once over the past year and a half. My transfer friends had all been almost perfect with the changes, but there had been a brief period of adjustment. They were so used to me being their equal. It was a little strange to adapt to me being in charge and their having to listen to me. We had all walked around on eggshells for a while before finally learning the difference between being an asshole and giving some tough love.

But we were still all best friends, so that was all that mattered. And they had stood behind me when I'd made the demand that no Factions would be in charge of any one thing anymore. I had made sure of that. It was part of why I thought that Jeanine had become so powerful. Because Erudite were the only Faction that knew everything about their own Faction and everything about the others. Instead of Abnegation being the only Faction to run the government, it was now split. They agreed that it was for the best.

The first thing that I had done with assisting in organizing the new government was open a case on Marcus Eaton for domestic and child abuse. The domestic abuse could never be proven, as his wife had died long ago, but the child abuse could. Four stepped up with stories of his own, admitting that it was why he had left Abnegation and defected to Dauntless. Over the next few weeks more people had come forward and expressed knowledge of the abuse towards Tobias Eaton by Marcus Eaton. About six weeks after the case had first been opened Marcus Eaton was convicted. I had left sentencing up to Four.

Not very surprisingly, Four had not wanted his father executed. Instead he was imprisoned in the cells in Erudite. He would live out his life there. Plenty of others ended up there too. A few more members of the government and quite a few from Erudite. There had apparently been more people privy to the knowledge of Jeanine's plans than we had originally expected. There were even a few members of Dauntless convicted that had been convicted. However most of them had been forced to stay on Permanent Fence Duty.

The new government was split between the Factions. Everyone had something that they needed to do and we all had to work together to ensure that we would never fall back to the way that we had been during Jeanine's reign over Chicago. We had made sure that none of the Factions were strictly government. They were all workers as well as government officials. Government officials were now normal workers that the individual Factions decided were the best suited to help run the city.

We had three government officials per Faction. The officials from Erudite were all elderly members. Abnegation was comprised of a man and woman that I had never heard of as well as Andrew Prior. His two children would be Choosing this year. Candor comprised of a two men and a woman. We had offered Jack Kang the position but he had denied, saying that he felt he had enough to do as a representative of Candor. I didn't blame him. Amity was comprised of Johanna, Iris's father, and Florian's mother.

The Dauntless officials had been up to myself and the other leaders. It was a choice that had taken us some time. Being from Dauntless we were prone to being loud and expressive. That wasn't always the best thing when it came to being a government official. It was what had led us to deciding that transfers into Dauntless or older members would probably be for the better. We had all talked about making three of the leaders government officials but after a good amount of deliberation we had decided that it would be too much. So we thought about the others that we could pick from.

My first choice had been Cameron. He had such a good head on his shoulders and he always knew what was best for the Faction. We had taken almost no time in deciding that he would be one of our three. He was originally from Erudite. The next had been Four. He had very begrudgingly accepted. Only after a good berating from myself. He was, of course, from Abnegation. The last had gone to Zeke. He was a level-headed man that I knew could take a hit if he ever needed to. He was the only Dauntless-born on our government officials list.

The entire process of toppling the hierarchy of the Faction system and redoing the government had taken us well over four months. But the process had been worth it. We hadn't had any problems since. Of course there were always the occasional attacks or fights in the streets, but overall it could have been much worse. It was the most at peace that I had seen Chicago in my eighteen years.

Once the political system had been fixed I had turned my attention to internal issues. The other Factions were free to work out their problems on the inside. It was time for me to fix what was wrong here in Dauntless. The first thing that I had tried to eradicate was the expulsion of transfers that didn't rank high enough. I hadn't gotten exactly what I'd wanted, but it was better than nothing.

The choice had come to a vote. It was majority rules. Unfortunately the majority wanted to keep the ranking system in place. I knew why. It was fair. Those who ranked higher had better job choices. So despite losing that choice we had worked to change the process. It was no longer those who were the weakest. Poor attitudes, bullying, and cruelty would get you dropped in points. Cameras were now placed all over Dauntless. If one of the men and women in surveillance caught one of the initiates doing something we deemed inappropriate, rankings were dropped.

It wasn't exactly what I wanted but it was better than nothing. I had also had a few people assist with me in changing how long training went over now. We had decided that eight months was simply too long. With all of the changes to the government we needed new workers. But we also needed the time to train them. We had changed physical initiation to four months. Mental and emotional were two weeks each, totaling to five months. It was three months shorter than what I had been through.

I had also been successful in changing the rule that elderly members had to leave one way or another. The choice had been to kill themselves by jumping off of the Chasm or becoming Factionless. Almost all of the Faction had stood behind me when I had eradicated that rule. Once people could no longer do their jobs they moved to something easier. They would either work in the stores or something that required little physical movement, leaving the physical jobs to the younger and stronger workers. It was actually better than the original system that we'd had. It was one of the better changes.

After that we had moved to the Factionless. Something had to be done. They continued to grow restless and I had known that we'd be dealing with a revolt if I did nothing. I had come up with the idea that if someone who was Factionless married someone who lived in one of the Factions, they would be allowed to live with them. They would not be members and they would not be treated as such, but they would be allowed to live in the retrospective Faction. Their partners simply had to support them.

The idea hadn't gone over well at first. No one was sure how it was going to work. No one was sure that it would even be able to work. But the first people to try it were the Abnegation. And once three members had married Factionless, each of them working out, more had begun to follow the trend. A few months after its introduction I had seen Raven wandering the compound. Jet had asked her to marry him. We'd all been invited to the wedding. She couldn't really come to parties unless accompanied by Jet, and she really didn't get much of a chance to leave their apartment, but she did say that she was happier here.

I'd asked her whether or not she knew what was happening with Skylar. She had mentioned to me that lately Skylar had been getting close with a boy from Erudite. Apparently he was rather taken with her. Raven and I were both hoping for the best to come from that. I wanted to see Skylar happy, in a place that was an actual home to her. The Factionless district was nothing.

Although I had started a campaign with Amity and Abnegation to help clean up the Factionless sector. We had worked on building up some of the dilapidated skyscrapers to make places that were appropriate for people to live. That had been about six months ago. We currently had about half of one of the buildings updated. It wasn't great but it was better than living underground like they had been. We had about fifty-two people living in the building now. In two months were hoping to have about a hundred. The more people we could get off of the streets, the better off Chicago would be.

At some point I wanted to do something else with the Factionless. I hated the idea that the Abnegation were still taking care of them, or else they would have starved. I was slowly starting to work with Abnegation and Candor to give them jobs or something of the likes. We could have them working on sanitation throughout Chicago or something of the likes. I just wanted them to have a reason to live, rather than just kind of hanging around.

It wasn't long after that that I'd been forced to look into something else. It was something that had bothered me since I was a child. The fact that there was only a few hours a day for one day of the year where we got to see each other. Our friends and families that all lived in other Factions. I had decided to speak with the other Factions about opening up inter-Faction travel. I hadn't thought that it would go over well. It turned out that it did.

It turned out that I wasn't the only one that wanted to see their family and friends more often. The phrase 'Faction before blood' was still true but that didn't mean that we couldn't still love our families. Visiting Day was the one day of a year that no one had a job to perform. It was the one day where people could travel freely. But I had worked with everyone else in the government to start a new program.

It was simply called Visitation Rights. It was mostly for parents and children to be able to see each other. But friends also were able to see each other, as were siblings. Every person got one day a month to go and see a loved one. Four hour intervals once a month. It had to be signed off by a leader. If you were a leader it had to be signed off by another leader or a government official. Workers in offices made sure that people got their once a month visits and nothing more and nothing less.

No one had been surprised with the first thing that I had used my visitation for. I had gone to see my baby sister for the first time. Being one of the leaders of Chicago itself meant that I had only been there for a while to see her when she was born. She was about five months old the first time that I had actually been able to see her. Other than at the hospital when she was born. She was absolutely adorable. She was sprouting a little tuft of blonde hair. It was nearly white. My parents both told me that it was like mine was when I was born. She had the same devastatingly green eyes that we all did. Her name was Willow.

Willow was almost a year old. She was standing now and had said a few words. Well something akin to words. My mother was slightly upset that 'Dada' had come first. 'Aly' had come not long after that. It was Willow's nickname for me since Alex was too hard to pronounce. 'Mama' had finally come after that. During a visit to them just a few weeks ago I had brought Eric with me. Willow had said 'Eri' while we were there. I didn't care that Eric had chuckled softly and shaken his head. I knew that he had melted at Willow. He would just never admit it.

I was not the only one that had been enjoying the past few months. All of my friends had been working to have successful lives. Heather was still my best friend here in Dauntless. She had become an Ambassador. Actually, she was one of my many friends that had become an Ambassador. She worked in inter-Faction relations which meant that the two of us frequently worked together, much to our pleasure. We had debated on getting an apartment together but we both knew that we needed the privacy. So ours connected.

Cole and Heather were still together. Unlike Heather, Cole worked in Surveillance with Four. The two men worked on quite a few projects together. Four had been teaching Cole what to do and when to do it for the times when Four would need to be in government meetings. Cole had an apartment two levels below me. I knew that he had been batting around the idea of asking Heather to move in with him. I had been trying to convince him that it was a good idea. Everyone knew that they loved each other so much.

Buck had been enjoying his time in Dauntless as well. He was a weapons master. He used the guns and ensured that they were all in proper working condition. I knew that he enjoyed his job. Although when he used the faulty guns he had been burned by hot brass a few times. I liked to tell him that it made for cool scars. He liked to tell me to shut the hell up. We all enjoyed watching Buck strike out with a Dauntless girl named Mariah. She had bright purple hair and seemed to get on with everyone other than Buck.

Buck and Draven lived together, seeing as there was somewhat of a shortage in apartments right now. Especially with the rather large class we had just put through. There were over fifty transfers last year. Thirty-two were still here. Draven worked as a patrol guard. He typically went through the governmental sections of the City. They were on lock-down for almost everyone. He had to have special permission from me just to be there. I knew that as stressful as his job was, keeping the government officials safe, he enjoyed it.

Jade was one of my absolutely favorite 'success' stories. She had finished in one of the lower rankings but not so low that she was stuck on Fence duty. Instead she had taken a position of a secretary assistant. That meant that she worked under one of the Ambassador's. Since I loved the way that Jade had gotten along with Heather and myself so much I assigned Jade to be Heather's secretary. Now she got to take orders from Heather and I all day long. She genuinely deserved everything that she had worked so hard for.

Dante worked as an Ambassador, just like Heather. The two worked closely together. He worked in the serum department in Dauntless. It meant that he spent a lot of time in both Erudite and Candor as well. I had been worried that he wouldn't like all of the travel but he was fond of it. He got to see his family and friends pretty frequently and he enjoyed the travel. He learned most of his trade from Cameron, who had been spending more time in politics and less with his Ambassador position. But I had told him that he would be allowed to do so.

Jax was something that we liked to call a body guard. It hadn't been his first choice. He had originally wanted to be a trainer. We allowed him to be a trainer during initiation as a part-time position. Most of the time he worked to protect high-up members of the Factions. I knew that it wasn't his favorite job. He liked working as a trainer better. But he didn't mind being a body guard. He did like the people that he got to work with and he liked knowing that he had gone through so much physical training for a reason.

Jet was the only one of us to become an official trainer. During the times of the year where we didn't have new recruits he taught refresher classes. He helped the older members stay in shape, the younger transfers remember what they had learned, and pushed the prime members to work to strive for excellence. During the time where we had new initiates, Jet worked as a trainer for them with Four and Lauren, both of whom were still trainers. He took over Four's spot with the transfers when he had government work to do.

Then there were the Dauntless born. Aaron, Jackson, Michael, and Greg were all working as Ambassador's. Some were working with weapons, others with the other Factions, and some were with the patrol guard. They all remained my friends as I tried to force them into relationships with other Dauntless girls. So far I'd only been successful with Greg. He was dating a Dauntless girl named Hale; their relationship was new. Lisa worked on the patrols and Serena worked in records. It was always useful to have a friend that could get me any information on anything that I needed.

Overall everyone was having a good time living their lives here in Dauntless. Even Eric and I. We were both doing better than I had thought either one of us were capable of. Eric still wasn't particularly friendly, but he was certainly better. He wasn't overly fond of Four but the men had definitely been getting along better than when I had known them at first. I assumed that it was partially because each one had a hand in saving my life. It was the one thing that they had in common. They both cared for me.

Eric and I hadn't moved in together or anything of the sorts but we still enjoyed spending most of our time together. We liked to screw with each other and make each other angry but that wasn't to say that we didn't care for each other. I was sure that we always would. We really did care for each other. He might not love me but that was okay. He didn't have to love me. I just knew that we wouldn't want to be without each other. And that was all that mattered. As long as we were together. And we actually spent very little time apart.

As for Iris and Florian, they were still enjoying life in Candor. I had visited them a few times over the past year or so. Each time they seemed happier to be together. The pair that had once barely been able to stand being in the same room together now seemed about ready to get married. They both insisted that they weren't ready for that though. I had told them that when the day came that they were ready I had better be the first one invited.

Eric's second alarm that sat over by the kitchen counter went off and I stood to turn it off. Eric was still dead asleep. He hadn't come in until late last night; work had kept him up. He always hated Choosing Day. I would be sure to not bother waking him up until he needed to go retrieve the new recruits. That wasn't until mid-afternoon. So I slowly slipped from the bed and shivered at the cold air that hit my bare skin. I walked over and pressed the off button on the alarm, smiling at the picture of me in the red dress.

It was sitting on Eric's bedside table now. It wasn't in a photo frame but it was leaning up against the stone wall. It made me smile every time that I saw it. It told me that he really did enjoy just the simple things like having a picture of me to look at when I was too busy to actually be around. Padding into the bathroom slowly I shut the door softly behind me, not bothering to throw the lock just in case Eric needed to use the bathroom while I was in here. We were always bad about shoving each other around in the morning to try and get ready.

I turned the water on and raised it to one of the warmest settings that it could go on. As the steam rose in the bathroom I turned to look at myself in the mirror. Not much about me had changed. I'd dyed a few of the strands of the underside of my hair a bright red. My tattoos were still the same. I had the Amity tree that had the Dauntless fire on my back, the quote that went across my hip and thigh, and the angel wing that went from my ribs to right over my hipbone.

Recently I had added another two to the collection. I had gotten a small heartbeat symbol on my chest. It was right over where the top of my bra laid. Right underneath was the reason that I had gotten it. The skin was bunched and slightly burned. It wasn't a huge mark but it was just enough that I could tell that something was wrong there. It was the bullet wound from Jeanine Matthews. I had once been ashamed of it. Now I flaunted it. I was proud that I had stood up and fought for something that I believed in. Maybe I'd taken a few wounds in the process, but I was proud of myself.

The other tattoo had come from when the bet between Eric and I had finally come to a head. Considering that we put tattoos on each other we had gone relatively easy on each other. To my surprise, I actually loved the tattoo that Eric had given me. The word 'protector' was tattooed across the top of my right foot. It had been extremely painful but I loved it. It turned out that my name meant protector of mankind. It had inspired me to give Eric a Celtic eternal knot symbol just below his Dauntless leadership tattoos. His name meant eternal ruler. He liked it, even though he'd only called it only decent.

As the water heated up to the point where I wouldn't be frozen I walked into the glass shower. There were a few dark bruises on my thighs and hips. I knew that it was from a sparring match that I'd had with Aaron yesterday when we were both bored. At least I could hide my bruises. Aaron had a fat lip that would not be so easily hidden. I had felt a little bad for the hit but he had deserved it. He had broken the skin on my thighs when he'd dragged me across the mats.

After a few minutes had passed and I'd washed out both my hair and body I placed everything back on the shelf. They were my things but they were small. They were some of the few things that I left in Eric's apartment. I walked out of the shower and wiped off the steam on the mirror. I brushed my wet hair off of my face and turned as the door opened and Eric stepped in. I sent him a small smile. He hadn't bothered putting on any clothes from last night.

He walked over to the mirror and bumped me out of the way. I laughed and grabbed my brush that was on the counter, brushing my hair down so that it fell straight down over my back. The red stood out strikingly against the light blonde. Once I had applied a tiny amount of makeup on my face, mascara, eyeliner, and cover-up (to cover a small bruise from a match with Eric a few days ago) I went to go grab my clothes that were scattered out in the living room.

Before I could leave the bathroom Eric stopped me. He looked exhausted. "Breakfast?" he asked.

I didn't say anything as he pulled me in for a lingering kiss. His hands created goosebumps on my flesh. Of course neither one of us had time for that right now. I pushed him away and stepped backwards. "Please," I responded before turning to walk out of the bathroom.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"Eggs."

"Anything else?"

I turned back and gave him a suggestive smile. "You," I said.

"Don't tempt me."

We both smiled. Before I made it to the doorway I felt a sharp pain on my butt, from where he had smacked me. "Asshole," I muttered.

Eric laughed at me as we both walked into the living room. I grabbed the spare set of clothing that I'd brought last night, knowing that I would have to head straight to work from here. It was rather annoying that I was never smart enough to leave a few spare sets of clothes in his apartment. I walked over to grab my clothes as Eric popped in a few pieces of bacon. It wasn't really like we had to actually do anything today. We would just be showing the new recruits around. It was them that would be stressed out today, not us.

This was actually one of my easier days. I would be going to tour the compound with Four and the transfers. Maybe I'd manage to drag Heather with us too. I grabbed my clothes in my hand and laid them out on the couch, shivering slightly when Eric walked over to me with the food, his hand running across my bare back. I popped a piece of bacon into my mouth as I grabbed my bra and underwear, slipping them both on. I ran into Eric's laundry room and tossed my pants, shirt, and underwear into the basket. I would do the laundry this weekend at some point.

As I ran back into the living room I grabbed another piece of bacon before grabbing my clothes. I pulled on a low-cut tank top that was tight around me. It dipped just low enough to show the heartbeat tattoo. I pulled on a pair of black leather pants after that and fought to close the buttons for a moment. I could hear Eric laughing at my predicament. Once they were situated on my thighs I grabbed a third piece of bacon and ran over to retrieve my boots.

These were only a few of my cheaper clothes. I had worn them just because I would have to be doing a lot of running around today. Today was the one day of the year that I did whatever Four wanted me to do. Eric had once asked me to do the files - just as I had done during my own initiation - but I had laughed him off and ordered him to get Jason to do them. I grabbed my boots and nearly fell over a few times while I tried to put them on.

"Why don't you just move all of your things in here?" Eric asked.

I didn't bother answering him at first. I ran into the bathroom and popped my toothbrush into my mouth. I ran it back and forth for a few moments before walking back out into the living room. "What?" I asked.

"Why don't you just move your things in here?" Eric repeated.

"Are you asking me to move in?" I asked through a foamy mouth.

Eric shrugged his shoulders. "I've asked you before and you always say no," he said.

It was the truth. Eric had started asking me to move in a few months ago. "There's a reason why," I said pointedly.

"There's no point in you not moving in here. Half of your things are already in here. You spend almost all of your nights here. You've spent less than a month in your own room since moving into your own apartment," Eric argued.

He wasn't wrong about that. My own apartment looked like one of the staged ones that we used to allow people from other Factions to stay and spend the night. There was almost nothing in there and it looked like it hadn't even been lived in. Most of the nights that I spent in my own apartment were because Eric or I would be working well into the night and wouldn't want to disturb each other when we came back. But like I had said, there was a good reason that I hadn't moved in.

"You're right. I should move in with you," I said.

"So do it."

"You know exactly how to get me to do that. Come on Eric, I've told you this one before."

I saw him shift uncomfortably on the couch. "We're not playing this game," he snarled.

"It's not a game. Three words... eight letters. Say them and I'll move in," I told him.

I spat out the toothpaste and wiped my mouth before grabbing a bottle of water. I noticed that Eric had stood from the couch. There was something strange in his eyes. It made me curious as to what he was looking at me for. Was he going to say it? He walked over to me and I smiled. His hands wrapped around my waist and one of his hands traveled up to brush my hair back. He moved in to kiss me but at the last moment turned to put his mouth beside my ear.

"I gotta go," he whispered.

I stood, dumbfounded, as he walked towards the door and propped it open. He gave me a wink as he went to leave the apartment. "Wrong combination!" I yelled after him.

But to his credit that was actually a pretty good comeback. I supposed that I couldn't have been expecting anything else from Eric. As angry as he made me sometimes, I wouldn't want him any other way. He laughed loudly and walked out, letting the door shut behind him. I had a spare key to his apartment so I would be able to lock up after him. Despite his words I laughed softly and pulled my hair up into a high ponytail. I fixed his sheets slightly before turning to walk out of his apartment.

My feet led me straight to the main area of Dauntless. I stopped by the dining room first, taking up some of the food that they had set out. I could tell that everyone was in a rush, trying to get ready for the new recruits to come in. We tried to make them comfortable without hiding ourselves. While I ate a few of my friends came over to speak with me. I had asked where Heather was almost immediately; Cole told me that she was still in his apartment. She was apparently trying to work up the energy to get over a hangover and come do her job.

Once I had finished with breakfast I went to go check on a few of my projects. I had stopped by Serena's work area first to make sure that she had the raid paperwork that we needed. Sometime next week we needed to go down into the Factionless areas. They had something boiling down there and we had to put a stop to it. Once I was done with that I checked on our weapons production and testing facility, I went to go check on the in-progress projects, and made sure that all of the first-year members knew what their jobs were.

Thankfully they had all been paying attention during the meeting that we'd had with Four a week prior. A loud bell rang as I made my way to the lower levels, where the net was. The initiates this year were getting ready to come in. I sighed and ran my hands through my hair. They were almost here. As I walked in I saw that it was a similar set-up to last year and the year before. Four was standing at the net, waiting for someone to come through. Lauren was on the other side and a few other members were milling around. I went to stand next to Four.

He looked over and smiled at me. "Good morning," I greeted.

"It's almost one o'clock," Four pointed out.

"Whatever."

A moment later Heather came up to my side. "Morning," she greeted.

"Ready to see what we have to work with this year?" I asked the two.

Four smiled and shook his head. "They can't be any worse than the monsters that I had to train two years ago," he told us.

Funny," I snapped.

Heather and I both laughed loudly and shoved Four. We knew that he was just kidding. Although I could imagine that we had been rather nightmarish two years ago. Four didn't budge as the two of us took a step back. I could hear the shouting and laughter up on the roof. They had just jumped from the train. We waited as the voices came to near silence. I knew that Eric would be speaking to them all right now. And scaring them, more than likely.

"Do you think that there are going to be any Amity transfers this year?" I asked, after a beat of silence.

"No," Four immediately stepped in.

"Really?" Heather asked.

We both glanced up at him curiously. I wanted to know how he already knew that none of the transfers would be from Amity. "None of them are quite as stupid or suicidal as you are," Four added.

I couldn't help it. I laughed loudly. "Asshole," I muttered.

"There's no way that any Amity is following you into Dauntless," Heather put in.

"Why's that?" I asked.

"You set the bar too high."

The three of us all laughed and we looked up. The first one of them had to be coming down any second now. Eric didn't exactly like waiting for the first jumper to volunteer. He would only wait so long before I could imagine that he would throw one of the new initiates over himself. I could see a shadow standing on the edge of the roof. It looked like a girl. I could see a dress blowing in the breeze. That would mean that she was definitely a transfer. It made sense. Eric liked to watch the transfers go first. He had done the same thing during our initiation.

We all watched as she took a step off the edge of the building. She didn't yell but she did make a loud gasping noise as she fell. I watched as she hit the net and bounced heavily a few times before coming to a stop. My eyebrows immediately shot to my forehead. She was from Abnegation. The girl had dark blonde hair that reached about the same length that mine did. Her face was slightly rounded and she was very thin. She looked like she had no muscle on her. Poor thing had no clue what she had done.

Four looked about as surprised at our new addition as I was. He looked just as confused at the sight of her as he had been at the sight of me two years ago. It was different from last year when the first jumper had been a boy from Candor. The girl's brown eyes were looking around the room nervously. I watched as Four grabbed her unexpectedly and pulled her off of the net. She looked petrified but calmed slightly as she looked at him.

"What, you get pushed?" he asked her.

My eyebrows furrowed. That was what he had said to me when I jumped two years ago. "Oh, he just loves saying that. He said the same thing to me when I came down two years ago," I told Heather, leaning over to her.

"Did he?" Heather asked.

"Yeah."

"Shocking."

We both chuckled as the girl took a moment to collect herself, stepping back slightly from Four. "No," she said meekly.

It was hard to imagine that she was from the same place that Four was. They were so different. Heather leaned closer to me and I turned slightly to face her, not taking my eyes off of Four and the Abnegation girl. "I wonder if she mouthed off to Eric too," Heather said.

I let out a loud snort. Maybe one day she would, but certainly not on the first day. Not the way that I had. It was the only reason that Eric had ever looked twice at me. "Look at her," I snapped.

"Put on some clothes from Amity and the two of you might have been the same person," Heather said.

"With two very different personalities. Amity tend to be louder and more outgoing. Abnegation are soft-spoken and withdrawn. She didn't mouth off to Eric. For now she's still a Stiff. She'll grow it of it though," I said confidently.

In some odd way she reminded me of myself. She wasn't as bold or brash but she did remind me of myself. Unsure and the only person like me in a large group of people all like each other. "Already taking an initiate under your wing?" Heather asked, an amused tone in her voice.

"I'm thinking about it," I told her.

My focus went back to Four and the Abnegation girl. "What's your name?" he asked her.

"It's..." she said before trailing off.

Four was not being patient with her. Just the way that he always was. "Is that a hard one?" he snapped.

I watched in slight amusement as she took a step back from him. She was afraid of Four. "Poor girl," Heather muttered.

"You can pick a new one if you want, but make it good. You don't get to pick again," Four warned her, slightly softer this time.

"Okay..." she said, trailing off and thinking. I was glad whoever was behind her was taking forever. "My name's Tris."

She said it so quickly that it almost surprised me. It must have been something that had come to her, just the way that Alex had once come to me. Just then it hit me. Tris... Abnegation... Transfer... Beatrice. This was Beatrice Prior. Even though I'd seen her not that long ago, she looked much different. When I had thought that she would defer I had thought that it would be to Erudite or Candor or something. Not Dauntless. But I was glad to see her here. Four's voice cut off my thoughts.

"First jumper, Tris!" he shouted.

People all began to cheer, Heather and I shouting loudly for the girl. She turned to me and jumped slightly. I gave her a small wink, to which she laughed. "Go, Tris!" I shouted.

"Welcome to Dauntless," Four told her with a strange look.

I walked over to him as Tris went to stand a couple of feet back from us. She was just far enough away that she wouldn't be able to hear us if we spoke. "Be careful, Four," I warned.

He stood and stared at me curiously, clearly wondering what I meant. "What are you talking about?" he asked.

"No relationships with the initiates," I told him in a sing-songy voice.

Four snorted and shoved me roughly. I responded by grabbing his hand and twisting roughly. Four responded with a heavy kick to my shin. I cried out softly and dropped. I would have fallen had he not been holding onto me. We both smiled at each other and I noticed that Tris was watching with us in between looking concerned and amused. My concentration on Four was broken when I heard a boy screaming loudly as he fell to the net. He let out a loud grunt when he hit the net and was pulled off. His name was Peter.

"He looks like Colt," I whispered under my breath to Heather.

She growled in the back of her throat. He did look a little bit like Colt, only Peter had dark hair while Colt's was blonde. We watched as one by one the rest of the transfers and Dauntless born fell. The only one that I already knew was Uriah, Zeke's brother. I shouted as loudly as I could when he fell. I had seen most of the Dauntless born kids before but Zeke was the only one that I had actually spoken to before. I picked out the transfers, sorting them all away in my mind.

There was Christina, who had jumped third, a Candor transfer. She seemed to already be friends with Tris. I smiled. They reminded me of Heather and myself. Will was an Erudite. He seemed nice enough. Al was another Candor. I did not like him. Something seemed off. Molly, an ex-Candor, seemed to be a carbon-copy of Jade. However even Jade was at least pretty. Molly had nothing going for her. Drew, another ex-Candor, reminded me of Hunter. Although, unlike Hunter, Drew had a mouth on him. Edward was an extremely promising-looking ex-Erudite. His girlfriend Myra was much less impressive.

Overall the group was less than spectacular. I had seen much better initiates. I was slightly biased, but I knew that my group was stronger two years ago. Even the initiates last year had been better. These kids were almost laughable. Of course I wasn't in the position to be judging just yet. They might surprise me. But that wasn't likely. I rarely found myself surprised these days.

Four's voice shattered my thoughts. "Dauntless-born, go with Lauren, transfers stay with me. Go," Four snapped when no one made to move.

As Zeke passed me he sent me a little wink. "Good luck!" I called after him.

"Thanks, Amity!"

I giggled under my breath and turned to see Lauren passing by me. She wasn't a leader but we did spend a lot of time together. "This way," Lauren called.

The Dauntless born followed her past the group of transfers. "Even the new Dauntless know you as Amity," Heather teased.

"I suppose I can thank Eric for that," I muttered.

"Hey, Alex. Heather," Lauren chirped at us as she walked by.

"Hi, Lauren," I greeted.

Heather said her own hello and watched as she walked them out of the main area. I assumed that she was going to bring them straight to the dorms. Not that they all really stayed in the dorms. With the exception of the period when we played War Games most of the Dauntless born stayed in their original homes. It was one of the many ways that they lucked out. I was still trying to think of a way to make Dauntless training a little more fair.

"Most of the time I work in Intelligence, but during your training, I'll be your instructor. My name's Four."

Four seemed to be about ready to introduce Heather and I when a Candor girl spoke up. "Four like the number?" she asked.

She was definitely small. She had deeply tanned skin with short, dark hair. She was the one that I had seen Tris with earlier. Other than Tris herself, the girl was probably the smallest of the transfers. The girls seemed so different. The girl, Christina, had said exactly the same thing that Heather had said two years ago. Thankfully other than a few snickers, no one had actually said anything last year.

"Exactly like the number," Four snarled.

Christina was very much like Heather. I had a feeling that the two girls would get along well. "What happened, one through three were taken?" Christina asked with a laugh.

"Oh look, it's you!" I chirped to Heather.

"Except I know what I'm doing," Heather replied.

"Sometimes," I shot back.

She turned to look at me and stomped down on my toe. Thankfully the boots that I was wearing were combat-ready. They had steel covers over the toes. Somehow her foot still hurt me a little bit. A few beats went by as Four walked up to the girl. I saw her shrink back slightly from him. At least Heather was tall. She was only about five inches shorter than Four. Christina, like me, was nearly a foot shorter than him.

"What's your name?" Four asked her.

I rolled my eyes. He was making a show of this just like he had two years ago. He knew her name. He had just asked her a few minutes ago. "Christina," she answered him.

He nodded at her and shifted. "Well, Christina. The first lesson you learn from me if you wanna survive here, is keep your mouth shut. Do you understand me?" he asked her.

It was not a question. It was a demand. I knew the difference. Especially when it came to Four. "Yes," Christina squeaked softly.

Tris looked concerned for her new friend. Four's face turned up in something akin to a pleased smile. "Good. Follow me," Four snapped.

That was enough to silence their little group. No one was expecting Dauntless to be tough right off of the bat, but we were. He walked past the group to pass by Heather and me. He threw an arm over my shoulder and I turned back long enough to see Tris look away with a slightly disappointed stare. Oh, yeah. I was gonna have fun with those two.

"Every damn year I get carbon copies of the two of you," Four told us.

We both laughed loudly and shook our heads. I knew that the kids behind us were trying to listen to our conversation. It didn't matter. We were being quiet enough so that they couldn't hear. "Come on, Four, you could never get someone quite like us. And don't pretend that you don't love us! We make your boring, pathetic life so much better," I told him brightly.

Even Heather snorted at my words. "You give me headache," Four said.

"Likewise," I shot back.

"And that's not totally fair. She's the nightmare," Heather told Four, pointing to me.

"I thought we were on the same side!" I barked.

"And you got me shot," Four added, pulling down his sleeve slightly.

It showed a scar similar to the one that I had on my stomach. "One time!" I shouted slightly louder than I had meant to. "And need I remind you that I got shot too. Hey, I died." Both Heather and Four flinched slightly at the reminder. Eric was the same way. He refused to even talk about that day. "You just got shot in the shoulder."

My teasing did not go over well. "Please don't remind me of that day. I saw you in there. Bloody and dead," Four said softly.

My body gave a soft shiver. I didn't know what I had looked like lying there on that table but I assumed that it wasn't a pretty sight. "I second that. Let's not talk about that day," Heather muttered.

"So who exactly are you two?" another voice called out.

We all turned back to see who was speaking to us. It was one of the transfers. I turned back to see that it was Peter, the transfer from Erudite. I stared at him curiously. He reminded me painfully of a less dangerous Colt. I didn't like the lingering look that he gave me. I didn't really like him at all. I had a feeling that I wouldn't like him much throughout initiation. Heather took my silence as a sign to speak up.

"My name is Heather. I'm one of the Ambassador's here in Dauntless. I work with inter-Faction relations. I make sure that the Factions are all able to communicate with each other effectively. To keep everything here in Chicago running smoothly," she told them.

I nodded at her with a little smile. "And what about you?" Peter asked me.

He was moving towards me with a raised eyebrow. "I'm out and about," I answered carelessly.

"What does that mean?" another initiate, Drew I thought, asked.

""It means that she doesn't do anything," a girl, Molly, said.

My eyes rolled so far back that I was sure that I could see my brain. I could feel that Four wanted to step in to tell Peter and Molly to back off but I placed my open palm against his thigh to stop him. I would handle this on my own. It wasn't a problem. Silly little boys and girls like them were never a problem. We just had to quickly squash the behavior.

"Do you run a shop? Do hair? Maybe you make coffee," Peter teased.

His lackeys, Drew and Molly, both laughed. No one else looked amused. Everyone simply stared at me in curiosity. Probably wondering what I was going to do. I noticed that Tris was sending the three of them an annoyed glare. She was from Abnegation. She didn't enjoy watching people be cruel like that to each other. I stepped forward and gave a sugary smile at the trio.

"What are your names?" I asked them.

Unsurprisingly it was Peter that spoke up first. "Peter," he said as he motioned to himself. "Molly." He motioned to the girl. She had chopped brown hair that hung limply around her shoulders. It wasn't exactly anything impressive. She had broad shoulders and a large stature. It didn't make her pretty but she would be strong. "Drew." Drew had bright orange hair and looked almost like he was in pain. They were a curious group.

"Tell me, Peter," I said, accentuating every syllable in his name, "Do you know the name Alex?"

I knew that he would know me. Everyone knew the name all over Chicago. I was relatively certain that they taught the kids about me in school. They all knew what she had done. I was curious if he knew what she looked like. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Eric walking into the side of the Pit with Cameron at his side. They walked up to Four's other side and the three men watched in curiosity. Peter looked nervous. By now both Drew and Molly had backed away.

"Yeah. Everyone knows her. She's the Amity transfer that ended up as a Divergent. She killed Jeanine Matthews because she was trying to start a war. She's a leader here. She's responsible for most of the changes that have happened here in the City," he told me, almost automatically.

"That's right," I said, nodding slowly at him and taking another step forward. Peter didn't back away but I knew that he was nervous. Everyone else was watching me happily. "What do you think about her?"

Peter's Adam's Apple bobbed in his throat. "She caused a whole lot of trouble. I'm from Erudite. She nearly collapsed the whole system -"

"Recreated," Heather interrupted.

Peter sent her an irritated glance. "She's insane. She destroyed most of what Jeanine worked for during her life. Jeanine was a bitch but at least she wasn't nuts. Not like Alex was. Is. She's Divergent. I don't know why they even let her roam free in this place," Peter said.

With each of his words his confidence had gained slightly. "And what do you think about me?" I asked Peter after a pregnant pause.

"You're just some Dauntless girl that likes to pretend that she's tough. But she really isn't. I've met girls like you. You probably just made it through initiation by the skin of your teeth. I can't believe that you're actually here welcoming us. Although you are a welcome sight," he told me, giving me a once over.

Now there were a number of people gathered around to watch. Everyone enjoyed watching the new initiates get their asses handed to them. There was always one that mouthed off. I had been the one person that had done it in my own year. Even from here I could feel Eric's jaws grinding together and his entire body tightening. He was watching from a few feet back. I knew that he wanted to attack Peter, but I was already on it.

"I think one thing that you ought to know about me, Peter, is that I was a transfer. Just like you. I'm from Amity. Two years ago. My name there was Amarantha Freesia. My name here is Alex. I am a Divergent. I am a leader. And I took great pleasure in bringing down Jeanine Matthews. If you think that it was easy for me to kill her, because I'm insane, just imagine how easy it will be for me to hurt you," I told him scathingly.

It looked like Peter wanted to say something, but I never gave him the chance. I pulled back my fist before sending it into his eye. I felt his jaw crack and possibly dislocate for a minute. Peter's head snapped back and he looked like he might collapse. He staggered back and I watched as Drew and Molly caught him. They helped him stand back upright. Most of the initiates, and Dauntless members that were standing around, were laughing. The only one that wasn't was Tris. She was simply staring at me in shock.

"Now listen to me! All of you! Dauntless is not the place for you if you're going to act like this. We accept and encourage bravery, not stupidity. Not brashness. You will end up like Peter. You aren't the first initiate to speak out of line. You won't be the last. But I promise that if you do this again you will end up in the Factionless district. I am your leader. As is Eric. Four is your instructor. You will treat us with the respect that we've earned. If you do not, this was only a little taste of what I can do. After all... I'm insane."

There was nothing more to say after that. As I walked by Eric gave me a wink and I laughed. "You should have hit him harder," he said.

"He's going to have a hard enough time to get a date. If I hit him any harder I would have broken his nose and that would have been a tragedy," I said, smiling at Eric.

"If he keeps looking at you, I'm going to break his ribs," Eric growled.

Turning back I noticed that Peter was giving me a long look. I rolled my eyes and turned back to Eric, bringing him into a long kiss. "You're cute when you're jealous," I teased.

"Go do your damn job," Eric snapped.

"You know, technically I'm your boss," I reasoned.

Eric smirked at me. "We can wrestle and see who wins?" he offered.

"You'd like that, wouldn't you?"

"I would."

He was giving me a very suggestive smirk. "Alex! Get over here!" Heather shouted.

They were trying to continue with the tour. "See you at dinner," I told Eric, walking off.

Four motioned for the rest of the initiates to walk with him. I noticed that Peter was still staggering from the hit. We walked into the Pit, which was buzzing with life, just as usual. "This is The Pit. The center of life here at Dauntless," Four said.

Everyone was cheering and laughing as we made our way out and to the dorms. We stopped at the Chasm so that the initiates could see it and take a good look, hearing the same speech that Four gave every year. I noticed that neither Tris nor Christina seemed fond of the place. Heather and I let out a little scoff as we moved on and entered the dorms. Neither one of us had ever been fond of this place. It looked no different than it had two years ago.

"You're gonna be sleeping here for the next five months," Four told them.

"Girls or boys?" Christina asked.

"Both," Four answered.

The room went dead silent as everyone processed the information. "Nice," I heard Molly say. I turned back to her and glared deeply. She backed off a few feet from me.

"That works," Peter added.

He had gotten over the incident in the Pit. Although he had a bruise forming on his cheeks. "If you like this, you're gonna love the bathroom," Four told Peter with a joking smile.

"Great," Christina said softly.

The others started walking around the room. They were all clearly disgusted by the place. Not that I blamed them. "Okay..." Will trailed off.

"Seriously?" Christina asked as she paced around the beds, poking at the one that Heather had used two years ago.

Al, I was pretty sure it was, was the next to speak up. "Is there no other area?" he asked. Will led Christina over to the bed that had once been Cole's.

I watched as Tris took the bed that had been mine. I couldn't help but to smile slightly. "Are you kidding?" Christina asked Four, Heather, and I.

Heather and I both nodded. "Welcome home," I said teasingly.

If we had been forced to go through this, so would they. Every single one of us had been forced to go through this. Four walked over to Christina and towered over her. "You should feel right at home, Candor. Everything out in the open," he teased.

The ex-Candor looked in between hitting him and throwing up. She knew that she was going to have a hard time here. "Is this a joke?" Al asked.

Four seemed to finally have grown tired of the game of laughing at the new initiates. He turned to them with a stern face. "Get changed," he snapped before motioning Heather and I out of the room.

"Right," Will said slowly. I could tell that he didn't quite believe what they were going to be living in. "Shower, anyone?"

It was the same joke that at least one initiate tried every year. Not that it ever worked. We all scoffed at him as Four, Heather, and I made our way out of the room to wait for them on the other side of the doors to take them to dinner and burn their clothes. The door slid shut behind us and we all stared at the door in disbelief. It certainly was not an overly impressive grouping that we had this year. Although maybe there was a chance that Heather and Four saw something that I didn't.

"So what do you guys think?" I asked them.

Four and Heather both snorted. I was glad that I wasn't the only one that knew these initiates wouldn't be good. "They'll be even worse than your class," Four told us.

"Hey!" Heather and I shouted.

Four smirked as we both sent him little smacks to the arms and stomach. He laughed at our futile attempts to injure him. "You're such an ass," I snapped at Four.

"And not wrong," Four pointed out.

"I don't know, some of them look like they might be able to show a little bit of promise," I said softly.

Both Heather and Four were looking at me like I was insane. "Like who?" Heather asked.

Honestly there could have been some potential with the new initiates. They didn't all look pathetic. "Christina doesn't look hopeless. Will looks like he might be able to fight. Peter and Drew are pathetic but they could be strong. Edward definitely looks like he could work," I said.

We were all silent as we thought about the potential in the new initiates. "And how many of those words did you really just believe?" Four asked.

"I'm serious about Edward," I said.

"And the girl he came with?" Four asked.

"Myra," Heather offered.

"There was a reason that I didn't mention her," I barked.

We all laughed loudly as the door screeched open and the new initiates began to pour out. The three of us continued to chuckle as we watched them leave. They had no idea that we really thought that they were going to be pathetic. They probably would be for the first few weeks at least. The transfers were all wearing the same clothes that I had worn when I had first gotten here. Just like we had two years ago they were all carrying their old clothing.

Four marched them into the fire pit and I watched as once more they burned their clothing. They all watched curiously. It seemed that Tris and Al were having the hardest time letting go. I gave them both a reassuring nod. It got easier, they just had to wait. Heather headed off to sit with Cole as we arrived at dinner and I waved her off. Most nights we all sat together but there were two nights a week that we all sat with our significant others or fellow friends. We would sit together on Friday's and as a large group we would find another night to sit together.

It was always nice for us to get a chance to sit together. But we had each made new friends in the respective fields that we worked in. It was kind of nice that everyone was making new friends. Not that it mattered. No matter how many friends that we made as we continued our lives here in Dauntless, we all knew that we would still be best friends. I stopped to talk to Zeke and Uriah - asking how Zeke's first day in Dauntless had been as an independent - before moving on to go get my breakfast. I hadn't eaten much today and I was starving by now.

Tonight was one of the nights that we all went to spend with our fellow friends. Tonight I would sit with Four as we listened to the new recruits figure out their first night here in Dauntless. It was a good chance to see what they were like when they thought that no one else was listening in. We walked into the dining room and I watched from the corner as they all picked up food. I knew that Tris would have a hard time. Like Amity, they didn't eat meat. She was looking at her burger in horror.

I felt something came up beside me and I stared at it. Eric. He was staring at the new initiates like they were poison. "You look happy," I teased.

"Pathetic," he snarled.

I looked at him with a quirked eyebrow. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"The new transfers. I didn't think I could see anything more depressing than watching you come in here like a fucking flower."

My eyebrow quirked as I stole a fry off of his plate. He stared down at me and the corner of his mouth quirked up. "Thanks. You really do know how to turn a girl on," I teased.

He took a step towards me and let his body press against mine. I placed my tray on the counter behind me. "You'll come back tonight. You always do," he told me.

"Shows my brilliant decision making."

"We all know that you make poor choices," Eric said.

"Are you counting yourself?" I asked.

He gave me a long look and I smiled. One day he was going to tell me those three little words. I knew that he would, but he would hold it off for as long as possible. I smirked and rolled my eyes as he pulled me in for a kiss. Our lips pressed together and Eric placed a hand on the bottom of my back and pulled me in tightly. I heard a chorus of disgusted noises and gagging. I turned back to see that my friends were all making funny faces at Eric and me. I laughed softly and rolled my eyes, leaning onto Eric's chest.

"I'll see you later. Come by after they celebrate the new arrivals," he said.

"Okay."

We shared another quick kiss as we walked out to the tables where everyone was sitting. Unlike I had on my first day they were sitting at a table near the edge of the dining room. I smiled at the fact that our classes were so different. Four was at the edge of the table and I walked over, chirping hello's to my friends and laughing as Mariah threw her cup of water in Buck's face. I had to stop for a moment to prevent dropping my tray. Once we had all sat together and talked for a while, cleaning Buck up in the process, I headed over to Four.

No one was with him and I frowned. Normally he had plenty of friends with him. I guess no one wanted to have to sit with the new transfers. Not until one of them became interesting. It normally took them a little while to get interesting. Things would change after the first of the fights and once the initiates started to physically change. It would help once they started to get to know the Dauntless born and some of the members. War Games would help too.

"What did he say to her?" Four asked, referring to Buck and Mariah.

"He says nothing."

"And you say?"

"Judging by the look on her face, probably something along the lines of offering her another place to stay the night," I said, snorting under my breath.

Even the corner of Four's lips tilted upwards. "When will he give up?" Four asked.

"Probably never. So how are we enjoying the conversation of the new transfers?" I asked Four as I took a seat.

Peter turned to look at me and I saw him scowl before turning back to his food and returning to his conversation. "They're worse than you were," Four said, picking at his burger.

I laughed and stole the bottle of water off of his tray. He glared at me but didn't make a move to get it back. "Hey, I resent that!" I shouted.

Over the screams in the dining room I couldn't be heard. "You shouldn't," Four muttered.

"No one can be worse than I was. After all, I got you shot," I teased him.

Four rolled his eyes at me before turning to the transfers. I'd heard them all talking about their old Factions. It was just the way that we had been. There was just something about talking about your old Faction on the day that you Chose that made you a little happier. It was knowing that they were all in the same boat. They would get over their homes soon enough. I knew that Four didn't want them talking about their old homes. We had gotten chewed out on our first day for it. Four broke off our conversation to snap at the transfers.

"I don't want to hear about your old Factions. You're Dauntless now," he growled.

"Four, try and pretend that you can be nice," I whispered.

He ignored me. We could just barely hear him over the noise. It didn't matter that his voice was so low. It had scared them all. I could tell that they were all terrified of him. Tris especially. They began to awkwardly shift around in their seats. I almost felt a little bit bad for them. They were an underwhelming group already and I knew that Four was only making things worse. He could definitely be a little scary when he wanted to.

"Were you a transfer, too? Or Dauntless-born?" Tris asked, surprising me. I had thought that she would be silent. She didn't seem like much of a talker.

It seemed that Four shared my thoughts. "Are you kidding?" Four snarled at her.

She looked surprised at his actions. "No."

She was sitting next to him and he shifted so that he was facing her. They were close to each other and I smirked. They would be so cute together. I'd have them together by Christmas. I wondered if that was what people had once thought about Eric and me. Some of them had said that we would be a funny couple before we had actually gotten together. Four's voice brought me out of my thoughts.

"What makes you think you can talk to me?" Four asked her.

Tris's answer nearly made me fall out of the back of my chair. "It... must be because you're so approachable," Tris told Four.

A loud snort escaped my mouth and I covered it with my hand. Four stared at her and I noticed a few people's jaw dropped. No one spoke to Four that way other than me. Just the way that no one had spoken to Eric that way other than me. Christina scoffed as we all stared at each other, curious who was going to speak next. Four stood from the table and I watched them stare down each other. He stood from the table and I watched as Tris shrunk away. She wasn't a large person, just a few inches taller than me.

"Careful," Four snapped at her before picking up his tray and walking away.

"Don't worry about him. He warms up to you, whether or not he wants to," I told Tris softly.

She awkwardly smiled at me. I gave Tris a tiny smile before standing up and running after Four. He was muttering under his breath. "Honestly, Four?" I asked.

"What?"

"That was really smooth. You know most guys, when they think a girl is attractive, they give her a compliment or try to make her laugh. I don't know what it is about you and Eric. For some reason you guys think that threatening a girl is the way to her heart," I told him.

Something about Tris really got to Four. His jaws tightened as he thread ed his fingers together. "I am not attracted to her," he snapped.

He sounded like he was so desperately trying to convince himself that he wasn't. "Sure you're not," I muttered.

"I'm not."

"So you've said."

"She's an Abnegation. And an initiate," Four reasoned.

My lips quirked slightly. "So was I," I told him softly.

I wasn't an Abnegation but he knew what I was talking about. I was from a considered weak Faction and I had been an initiate when Eric and I had gotten together. Four looked like he was about to say something when the alarms started blaring. I heard a few shrieks from the transfers and I laughed. Four actually joined in on the laughter. Cups started clattering as people banged them against the tables and we all waited for it. Eric took a step up to the edge of the Wolf's Den, silencing the crowd.

"Initiates, stand," he ordered.

It wasn't a hesitant as when Max had been the leader. No one wanted to disobey Eric. "Five points says one of them gets dropped on me," I muttered to Four.

"I'm not making you that bet. You'll win."

We both smiled as Eric continued to speak. "You have chosen to join the warrior Faction tasked with the defense of this city and all its inhabitants. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery and the courage that drives one person to stand up for another. Respect that. Do us proud," Eric said softly, but with an authoritative voice.

Cheering broke out in the dining room and I laughed as everyone else stood, moving to grab the initiates. They all looked freaked out for a moment as the members started to pick them up. I couldn't help but to smile. It was fun to watch them do what I had once loved so much. I looked up back towards the Wolf's Den and smiled when I saw that Eric was giving me a deep stare. I knew what it meant. He was telling me that it was time to go back to his apartment. I laughed and nodded.

Four had already passed by me but my friends were all at a table, waiting to see if I would join them. They were sitting away from the initiates. I had a feeling that they didn't really want to be involved in the festivities. We were all busy and nights like these we were all tired. As much as I loved them I knew that I would have time to see them later. So I smiled at them and waved. I saw that Heather and Cole were already leaving too. I couldn't help but to laugh. We were all so similar.

"Hey, I'm heading out. Goodnight!" I yelled to them.

They all stood and waved me off. Buck and Draven both threw arms over my shoulders before nudging me off. "Goodnight!" they all shouted.

Heather and Lisa blew me kisses as Serena tossed a wink in my direction. "Tell Eric we said hi," Serena teased.

"I'm sure he says it back," I said, making her laugh.

Exchanging a few hugs with the rest of my friends - who all seemed to be finding something to keep themselves occupied for the night - I headed towards Eric's apartment. My feet carried me out of the dining room towards the edge of the hallway with the member apartments. I was ready to head through the Chasm into the upper levels when something heavy hit me in the back. I turned around to throw a punch at whoever hit me when I saw that it was Tris. Someone had dropped her. I grabbed her before she could fall to the ground.

"Tris, you alright?" I asked her.

She straightened up and brushed some of her dark blonde hair that had fallen out of the ponytail out of her face. "Yeah. Thanks for catching me," she said.

"You're welcome."

"Sorry about that."

She looked very embarrassed so I smiled at her. "That's alright. I was yanked out of the arms of the members when I was an initiate," I explained.

"At least yours wasn't an accident. I thought that they had a better grip on me," Tris said.

I smiled at her and nodded, leading her over to the edge of the Pit. "Lesson number one here in Dauntless. Never trust anyone to catch you from a fall. It'll help in the long-run," I promised.

"That sounds foreboding," Tris said, making me smile.

She had a good sense of humor. "It is. Just remember that. Lesson number two, if you do trust someone, trust a girl friend. Boys come and go. Girls stay forever," I told her with a smile.

She nodded at me and a soft blush filled her face. Abnegation didn't like any type of attention. In a relationship or even just as a friendship. "Thanks," Tris said.

"You're welcome."

I watched as her eyes traced every line and crevice in the Pit. "This place, it's incredible," she said softly.

I nodded at her and grinned. "I know. I thought so too when I came here for the first time. Amity is gorgeous but it's in the natural way. Dauntless is so intense," I said, glancing around.

"I've seen Amity. It's so pretty."

"It is. I know that it seems overwhelming right now but it will get better. Easier. With time," I told her.

A little breath escaped her and I noticed that she relaxed slightly. I knew that she was just nervous with this being her first day in Dauntless. "Doesn't seem like it," Tris laughed.

"I know. The first few days and even weeks are killer. But suddenly one day you realize that you're stronger. You're not so weak and suddenly things are easier. It'll come. Just don't give up," I said.

"I'll keep that in mind."

"What do you think of the people here?" I asked her after a beat of silence.

She was taking a moment to think of something to say. She didn't want to offend me. It was cute. "They're... scary," she finally admitted.

For a moment she must have thought that she had offended me. I stared at her for a second, wondering if she had really just said what I'd thought that she had. I had to say that I was impressed. She spoke more than the average Abnegation. We both laughed at her words after a minute. She wasn't wrong about the people in Dauntless being scary. Everyone was scary here. I probably was too. At least to people that weren't from Dauntless.

"Yeah. They are. I was somewhere in between amazed and terrified when I first got here. Of course I mouthed off to Eric my first day here and got a great punishment of making files all night long. Had to spar with him, got thrown off the Chasm by him... We had all sorts of fun punishments together," I told her.

Her eyes widened to the point where I thought that they were going to pop out of her eye sockets. It almost made me laugh. I would have laughed but I didn't want to embarrass her. Plus there was the fact that I knew that it didn't sound good. Especially not to those who hadn't been around to see Eric and my relationship grow and progress.

"Aren't you dating Eric?" Tris asked me carefully.

"I am," I told her.

She looked even more freaked out when she realized that we really were dating. "Oh..." she muttered.

"Trust me, he's not as bad as he seems. Just a little rough around the edges. Although I think he's a little too rough for most people. They aren't all so bad. Four is like Eric, but much calmer," I told her, gently prodding.

Just like I had expected a light blush filled Tris's face. Abnegation's were so easy. All you had to do was tell them something about someone that they had a thing for. "There isn't anything between you and Four?" She asked softly. She was so cute. "You guys seemed close earlier."

The insinuation made me slightly sick to my stomach. I loved Four but that was disgusting. "No!" I shouted.

Tris seemed slightly relieved. "Sorry," she said quickly.

"Don't apologize. Four is a wonderful guy, don't get me wrong. He deserves a good girl but that isn't me. He's basically like my brother. I consider him a brother," I told her.

"That's nice," she said.

It was obvious that she had grown up in Abnegation. She wasn't going to tell me anything that wasn't selfless. She wasn't going to admit that she thought that Four was attractive or whatever it was that she thought. I just knew what she meant. She was glad that he was single. She didn't know Four but he was definitely a looker. We all knew that. Before I wanted to take my leave I decided to say one last thing to her.

"Hey, Tris. I know that getting used to Dauntless is a hard go. Especially for someone that's either from Amity or Abnegation. So if you ever need some help, I'm here. I'll be around for most of your training. I came in top ranking so I'm sure that I'll be able to help in some way," I told her.

She smiled softly. Even by looking at her I could tell that she wouldn't be strong. She would have to be a defensive fighter. She wasn't strong enough to be offensive. "Thanks, Alex," she said.

"You're welcome."

"Seriously, that means a lot. I think I'll take you up on that. I can only imagine how hard things are going to get," she said.

"Extremely," I told her honestly.

"Sure you weren't a Candor?"

"In some ways," I joked.

She laughed. "Right. Divergent. I almost forgot," she said.

"Lately I do too. It's all well worth it in the end. Try to get a good night's sleep. I know that it's hard, the first night away from home. But you'll figure it out. Have a good night, Tris. I'll see you around," I told her, before turning away.

Even from here I could feel her smiling at me. "Goodnight, Alex," she called back.

Walking away from her I decided that it was high time that I met Eric back at his apartment. He had probably already been there for a few minutes. As I walked through the halls I said my hello's and goodnight's to people that I knew well. They were all my friends now. It seemed like the people that I had once barely been able to speak to were my family. They weren't all the smartest or the nicest, but they were the family that I had. They were the family that I wouldn't trade for anything.

Coming down the overly familiar hallway I pushed into Eric's apartment and smiled at him. He was leaned up against the counter with a whiskey glass in his hands. As I walked up to him he handed it to me. I took it and downed it quickly. Once it was empty I placed it back on the counter and I moved to kiss him. He tasted like alcohol that I was sure meant that he had been drinking with his friends all night long.

He walked me back so that I was pressed against the counter. His hands were tight on my waist and I smiled at him. "Someone's in a better mood," I teased.

"Now that you're here."

It made a small smile cross over my lips as he brought me into another kiss. After a moment he broke away from the kiss and stared at me. "What -" I started to ask him when I was cut off.

"I love you."

My jaw dropped and my knees buckled slightly. His hands were tight around my arms. He'd probably known that his words would stun me. If he'd really said that. Maybe I was hallucinating. Maybe I'd drank too much and I was really just hearing things. He was not serious. He couldn't be serious. There was no way that he had just said that. He didn't mean it. He never would. I had convinced myself that it was okay. That it would always be okay. I didn't mind that he wasn't in love with me.

"What did you just say?" I asked him.

He smirked and pushed me back so that I stumbled. I fell over the edge of the bed and laughed as he leaned over me. "Three words, eight letters," he repeated my words from earlier.

My cheeks had lit up a brilliant, and certainly embarrassing, red. I couldn't believe that he had really said it. I'd had a feeling for a long time that he loved me but I hadn't wanted to push him too much to say it. I hadn't wanted to make him too uncomfortable. But now he really said it. Unfortunately suddenly a harsh thought hit me. Did he mean it? I had to know. I had to know that it was more than something he had said just to get me to move in with him.

"Do you mean it?" I asked him.

He stared at me for a moment before nodding. He lowered himself so that his lips briefly traveled over my neck. "I do. You know me," Eric muttered.

"I do."

"Do you think that I would say it if I didn't mean it?" he asked.

"No," I said immediately.

Those few words had probably taken him a number of months to work up the courage to say. I knew that it had taken everything in him to say those three words. Honestly I hadn't thought that he would ever say it. Not for a long time. I knew that he wanted me to move in but I also knew that he wouldn't say it if he really didn't mean it. Eric wasn't that type of guy. It was hard enough for him to say it once. I wanted to see if I could push it just a little bit.

"Say it again," I said softly.

He smirked at me and pressed his hips into mine. "I love you," he repeated, pulling my torso up to take my shirt off and toss it into an open drawer.

"You knew that I would just move in?" I asked him with a soft chuckle.

"That was the one thing that you told me that I had to do. And I said it. And I meant it," Eric said softly as he nuzzled into my neck, nipping at the sensitive skin there. I let out a little gasp.

"Will you say it again?" I asked.

"Don't push it," Eric warned. I smiled at him. "I'll always mean it. Initiate."

A loud and rather unattractive laugh escaped my mouth. After a beat I forced Eric's face to look at me. "I love you too," I said softly.

"I know," he said.

It made me laugh again. I'd known for a long time that he knew how I felt about him. I'd just always refused to voice it until the time came that he admitted it to me himself. Eric gave me a sideways smile before moving in for another kiss. I slipped my hands underneath his shirt to pry it from his body. He moved his hands to tangle in my hair and move our mouths together. Eric looped his hands in my belt loops and made me laugh as he tugged me down towards him. A few minutes went by before we came up for air.

"You said it. Now show me," I whispered.

"Now that's not a problem," he said darkly. It made me laugh as he flipped us over into the middle of the bed and went to tugging at my pants to pop the button open.

Eric was not the type of guy that I'd ever thought that I would end up. He was the type of guy that would give my parents a heart attack if they knew what he was really like. My friends were all absolutely insane. My family and oldest friends were barely in my life anymore. But that didn't mean that I didn't love them. I did. I loved them all. My parents, Iris, Florian, Heather, Buck, Draven, Dante, Cole, Lisa, Serena, Aaron, Greg, Jackson, Jet, Jax, Four, Zeke, and Cameron. They weren't even them all. I loved everyone here in Dauntless. I loved my parents. I loved the people that I had come to care for in the other Factions.

My life in Dauntless was not what I thought that it would be but it wasn't a life that I would change for anything else. Sure, there were bottles of empty alcohol laying around the room, the underside of Eric's bed seemed to eat all of my clothes, and we fought like we actually might kill each other. But none of that mattered. This was the life that I wanted and it was perfect. For me.

And as Eric rolled me over in his - our - bed so that I was on top of his hips I smirked. My hands went down to the button on his pants and I smiled into the kiss, the two of us rushing to finish disrobing each other. This wasn't normal and it wasn't nice, but it was my life. And I loved every second of it.

A/N: And it's a happy ending! Thanks so much for reading the entire thing! Let me know what you think. At some point I'm definitely going to write a sequel, but I want to edit some of my older stories first. Feel free to read one of my other ones! As always, until next time -A

leek812: Of course! I hope you liked this last piece.

danicrouch860: Of course! I love her too much to kill her!

kuppcake: I'm sorry for stressing you out! Alex didn't want to be cruel like Max. She wanted to do something harsh but not horrible. And she wanted him to be able to see what he gave up for the plan. Hope you liked the ending!

purplemonkey36: Of course! I love Alex!

blauhoernchen55: Thanks, I'm glad you liked that she was still alive! I'm glad that you like how everything worked out. That would be fun, perhaps if I ever do make a sequel...

mmelody6: Here's hoping that you liked this one!

Talia: Nah, I like her too much to kill her! I'm glad that it wasn't cheesy. He loves her! He doesn't like admitting it but he finally did! Thanks, I hope you liked this one!

Debbydq: Thanks! I loved exploring a Divergent as a leader. It was a lot of fun. There will be one last M rated chapter in a few hours. Thanks for reading!

ThatGirl: Thank you! No your ideas are wonderful! If I ever choose to do a sequel I might explore some of those ideas. I'm really glad that you liked it and thank you for reading!

WillieTheWolf: I'm glad that you've liked it! And I really am happy that you've enjoyed the Divergent as a leader. Of course! The beyond the Fence stuff made the story really odd. Thank you so much! I hope you liked this last one :)