CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX: A Young Man Feels So Far but So Close

This is not going to go well, Tris thinks as they fly across Kadara in Sloane's private shuttle. His pulse stutters in his veins, loud in his ears, as he struggles to think of a way this can possibly turn out well. He keeps coming up empty. There is no way this can go well. Reyes is going to challenge Sloane to a duel, revealing himself as Charlatan, and either he dies to Sloane or the Ryders will shoot him for killing Sloane. Those are the only two ways this can go.

And he doesn't know how to stop it. Doesn't think he can.

They arrive outside a cave. Why is it always caves? Clever, sure, and well-hidden, private, but still – caves? He's starting to miss actual architecture. They climb out of the shuttle and head inside. It's all happening so fast; he can't quite wrap his mind around everything. This morning, Reyes was his friend, maybe starting to be something more, and then Keema knocked on the door and it all shattered. Then his family arrived, and now he's here. How did this happen?

Where did it all go so wrong?

"Remember," Sloane says as they walk through the tunnels, "your job is to protect me. Do this and I might consider letting you put an outpost here."

Oh, Tris realizes. That's why they want to help her so much. She must have mentioned it before; if they please her, they can build an outpost and she'll, what? Protect it? Let it exist without attacking it? He doesn't know. But it suddenly makes sense as to why h is father is being so incredibly stubborn. He glares at the back of Sloane's head for manipulating them like this.

"We won't let anything happen to you," the Pathfinder assures her.

Tris sighs as they keep walking. Finally, the area brightens a little and they enter a large cavern of sorts. There's a rock wall on the other side, light spewing in from behind it. There's a shadow moving up there; he barely sees it, but now that he has, he can't take his eyes off of it. No one else seems to have noticed it yet. The shadow moves, disappearing from view entirely, and Tris swallows and looks back at the rest of his group.

They are gathered in the center of the cavern.

"I thought you said this was the place?" Erin asks.

"It is," Sloane says, nodding.

"Then where's this asshole?"

"I don't know."

Don't show yourself, Tris thinks. Just let them think it's a hoax.

"You look like you're waiting for someone," Reyes says, stepping out from behind a large boulder atop the rock wall.

Tris stares at him. Reyes stares back, clearly not expecting him.

"What is this?" Sloane huffs, annoyed. "We're here for the Charlatan, not some second rate smuggler."

Don't do it, Tris mentally pleads, slowly shaking his head as Reyes watches him.

"Sadly, the Charlatan couldn't make it," Reyes says, shrugging nonchalantly. "They send their regards. And I ask that you don't shoot the messenger."

"This is bullshit," Erin says, rolling her eyes. "We come all this way for some showdown and they're not even here?"

"The Charlatan asks for a duel," Reyes continues, focusing on Sloane. "Since they can't be here in person, they ask that you duel me."

"So the Charlatan must trust you, huh?" Erin asks, frowning at him.

Reyes shrugs. "Not really. Let's just say they have something of mine and I want it back."

"You're willing to die for it?"

The smuggler smirks. Tris can see it from here. "Who says I'll be the one dying?"

"A duel?" Sloane asks skeptically. Tris remembers her background. She worked in security; she knows how to shoot. A duel is probably child's play for her, and she thinks there's no way she could lose. Tris really hopes Reyes knows what he's doing.

He also hopes Reyes knows this won't stop his family from interfering.

It's a nice ploy, but in the end, it won't work. They will shoot the messenger.

His anxiety spikes again, pulse stuttering. How can he fix this?

"A duel," Reyes confirms with a nod. "Me and you. Winner takes Kadara Port."

"You're just going to kill each other?" Erin asks.

"Two people killing each other is better than a lot of people killing each other," Reyes replies, shrugging. "According to the Charlatan, anyway."

"And they aren't willing to take this risk on their own?" Sloane asks dubiously.

"It wasn't supposed to happen like this," Reyes says, sighing. "From what I can gather, a few members of the Collective jumped the gun and started everything early, so the Charlatan is otherwise engaged right now. But if you can't beat me, you definitely can't beat them."

"Fine," Sloane huffs. "I'll take those odds. Do you think your boss will mourn you?"

"Only one way to find out," the smuggler says, jumping down from the rock wall. He lands in front of them, and walks toward Sloane. Tris takes a few steps back, away from the incoming firefight, keeping his eyes on his family. They step back as well, seemingly respecting the terms of a 'duel', but he doesn't know how long that will last.

I hope you know what you're doing, Reyes, he thinks, glancing back at the smuggler. He and Sloane are circling each other now, fingers wiggling near their holsters, ready to snag their weapons and fire at each other.

Then there's a light gleaming behind Reyes, up on the rock wall. Tris barely sees it, barely has time to acknowledge its existence, before a loud gunshot echoes through the cavern and Sloane falls to the ground, limp and lifeless, a hole in her chest from a gun Reyes didn't fire. Reyes makes a gun with his fingers and says a quiet, 'bang', smirking down at her. Tris stares at him for a moment. What just happened?

"That's dirty," Erin snaps immediately, causing Reyes to look at her.

"You can leave," Reyes says. "You had no part in this. The Charlatan has nothing against you."

Erin's gun is up, trained on the smuggler. The Pathfinder is reaching for his weapon as well.

"This was a duel," Reyes tells them. "Nothing to do with either of you."

"But you tricked her," Erin says. "You had a sniper fire for you. That's cheating."

"I don't see why it should matter to you," Reyes says. "You had no loyalty to Sloane; you just met her."

"She was going to let us set up an outpost," the Pathfinder finally speaks.

Reyes inclines his head slightly. "You can still do that. I'm sure the Charlatan will allow it, if you remain out of things."

Erin shakes her head. "I don't think so, traitor."

Then she's firing her gun, trained on Reyes's chest.

Tris's mind blanks. No.

He reacts without thinking. One second he's behind the Ryders, and the next he's in front of Reyes, slamming into him after charging across the cavern. Reyes falls backward, ass hitting the ground, out of the line of fire.

Tris doesn't know what happens after that. Not really.

His body glows blue, and this energy surges through him. The bullet ricochets off his back thanks to the body barrier, and he spins to face his family. Erin takes a small half-step back, staring at him, horrified.

"Enough," Tris snaps, glaring at them. There's this energy around him, crackling and bursting. He can feel it, can hear it resonating in the silence, but he can't see it. He's too focused on his family, on the anger burning through him, igniting in his chest and leaving his hands clenching into fists at his sides.

"Tris," his father says slowly. "What is happening?"

"Shut up," Tris snaps, glaring at him. "For once you're going to listen to me, do you fucking hear me?"

"You can't talk to us that way," Erin says, frowning.

"I'd listen to him if I were you," Reyes says from behind him. He's okay. Tris saved him.

A small part of him relaxes, but only a tiny bit. They shot at him. They tried to kill him, even after the duel was finished, even after Reyes offered them the same thing as Sloane, even after they had no real part in this showdown.

"Why can you never listen to me?" Tris asks without meaning to. The words just slip from his lips.

"Tris," the Pathfinder says calmly. "Relax. We can talk about this on the ship, in private, like you wanted."

"You tried to kill him," Tris growls.

"He killed Sloane while cheating," Erin replies.

And yeah, that hurts. It hurts that Reyes even lied about the duel, that he cheated like that, but at the same time, he remembers that the Charlatan is supposed to be cunning and sly, so of course he would challenge Sloane to a duel he had no chance of losing. That's just his way, right? And the Ryders have no part in any of this.

"No one else is dying today," Tris says, glaring at his sister. "Do you hear me? Enough."

"Since when are you the boss?" she asks, before looking at their father. "You're the Pathfinder. Are you going to let him talk to you this way?"

The Pathfinder watches him for a moment, thoughtfully. The body barrier dies down a bit; maybe he's getting through to him. He can only hope, after all. Then regret crosses his father's face. Tris blinks and the Pathfinder is across the room, slamming into him with a biotic charge, which is wrong because Alec Ryder is not a biotic. Tris staggers back a step but before he can make sense of what is happening, something presses to his side and electricity shoots through him, burning beneath the failing body barrier.

His whole body seizes, stiffening, and then he falls limp.

He's vaguely aware of his father catching him, of Reyes shouting, gunfire, and then the cool dirt ground beneath him.

Then there are more hands on him, and he's being lifted. Dragged away.

His mind finally blanks as sweet darkness encases him.