As promised, we've arrived at the end (for real this time, honest!). This 'extended ending' turned out to be so so much longer than I expected but it kind of ran away from me and I felt I had to see the plot through to its proper conclusion so here we are. Please let me know what you thought if you're so inclined to do so. -Serenasshirtcollection x

Life was very different for the next few days. Candor was holding Beatrice in a sort of witness protection and Jeanine was in Erudite's cells, "just as a precaution" Jack Chang had assured a few days after he'd first agreed to house the case. They could all sense the factions' growing doubt about Jeanine's innocence so it made logical sense, she didn't fight it, but he was visibly upset as he told them of her impending incarceration, Candors don't have a particular aptitude for disguising their emotions. She appreciated his loyalty even if she did wish he'd stop being so sentimental.

Initiations had been paused in Erudite, with most of the senior staff in custody it had seemed strange to go on and phase 2 was all part of their scheme anyway. So, Beatrice was left with nothing at all to do whilst Candor processed the case. She couldn't see her family, she hadn't since they left the file with them on Saturday, and she couldn't see Jeanine.

She was barely sleeping, spending every waking hour reading, studying, anything to take her mind off it, and passing her nights with a mixture of nightmares and stargazing. The Candor house she was staying in was more than nice but she could barely process the luxuries she'd been afforded. Its city-facing garden was the only thing she genuinely appreciated. In the early hours of the morning, after she got bored tossing and turning in her bed, she would go out and look at the night sky. She'd gaze across the city and to the eye-shaped window of the Erudite building where she knew Jeanine would be. It was strange, they'd not really been in the habit of spending more than two hours or so together each day, even less in recent weeks, but suddenly having no contact at all had filled Beatrice with a deep desire to be in the other woman's presence all the time. There was a knawing feeling in her stomach that hadn't gone away and her heart was beginning to feel so heavy that she was sure she'd soon be unable to carry it around. She sat there each night willing herself to do something Dauntless like break into the jail but her trained Erudite sensibilities told her not to be reckless and she always returned regretfully to her bed just to lie awake until morning.

Finally, the day of the trials came around.

Jeanine was stood at the window of her cell as she had been for the last two days and nights. Maybe it was early in the morning, she didn't know for sure. Her watch was confiscated when she was locked up so she'd resorted to alternative methods of telling the time, watching the crowds of people ebb and flow below her in a predictable routine. The bright blue river of her own faction crashing and breaking against the stark black and white of Candor, the dull grey of Abnegation blended in with the paving slabs and the black of Dauntless with the shadows, only the occasional flash of red revealing their presence. Even more rare were the bright sunflowers of Amity, washed far from home by some special duty or another. She'd always thought of the faction system as an organism, each individual like a cell maintaining the life of their little experimental world, but from her elevated perspective, she'd grown to understand it more as a landscape; a harmonious balance between different elements. Through her imprisonment, she'd come to believe that she had been wrong in her lifelong view of their world. The factions don't work in isolation towards a common end goal, they work together, in symbiosis. It was painful to reflect on her misguided past but if Andrew Prior of all people had forgiven her then she could too. Today was her first step. She watched the river enter the Erudite building. It was early morning, probably.

"Jeanine." It was a young Candor man, dressed in a crisp white shirt and black suit. He led her wordlessly into a car, black eyes watching her wearily for the whole duration of the journey to his faction. She was led through grand hall after grand hall and then corridors that seemed to be much longer than the total length of the building and eventually they emerged into a sort of holding area. White marble columns that had been there since before modern Chicago was founded were the main feature, matched only in their attention-commanding presence by the large mural covering the floor, it was justice scales, naturally. The short black bench she was directed to wait on was pitifully small in comparison and she felt that was probably intentional.

Her people clock was replaced by another, noise. The growing crowd on the opposite side of the door she was facing cemented what she already had guessed was happening. The louder the sound of people talking, the closer her trial was. She was swiftly joined by her fellow accused, all looking at her with disgust as they entered, if no-one on the other side of the doors knew of her betrayal then they certainly did, but she ignored their daggers and focused on those heavy black doors and the clamour behind.

Beatrice was waiting in a section of the auditorium reserved for the non-Candor public. Though she'd been sheltered from it, she knew there had been widespread panic within the council about the possible implications of the trial so senior faction members were invited to attend alongside the regular onlookers. Her parents were close by but they'd exchanged no more than a smile with Beatrice. Max was the only faction leader actually present, Johanna sent a representative like Marcus and of course, Jack and Jeanine were both otherwise involved.

The room itself was far more foreboding than anything she'd seen even in Erudite. It was black. And dark. Its irregular shape might have been an octagon but the sheer volume of people made it hard to see the walls. The small amount of illumination came from ceiling mounted light strips that glared so bright she couldn't look directly at them. An illuminated Candor symbol marked the entrance meaning the doors must be perpendicular to the wall, she cursed, she'd hoped to catch a glimpse of Jeanine before she was called. There was a long strip of floor that led to the witness box, a cruel central platform surrounded by mirrors that were also topped with unbearably intense lights. The mirrors didn't fully enclose the defendant, no, then the onlookers wouldn't be able to see in. When you were stood in there, there was nothing else to look at apart from the crowds and yourself, no respite from your current situation. That's where Jeanine would be.

Eventually. There were a lot of peripheral people to get through first. They all said the same thing, the plans had grown organically from Erudite's desire to find divergents and Jeanine's involvement was what had let them progress further, there were some mentions of some information or other and brief references to Dauntless that neither she nor Max seemed to understand, but it was always the same overarching story- Jeanine was the driving force. She was the one that wanted to seize full control of the council, at any cost. Jack Chang thanked them for their candour, the crowd echoed his words and then the next defendant was brought out, injected with serum, told of their accusations, questioned and then thanked for their misinformation on Jeanine. Beatrice grew more and more uncomfortable each time she was forced to thank these people, her palms were soon clammy and no amount of rubbing on her legs would dry them. She zoned out, she couldn't listen to this anymore.

Collective anticipation filled the hall as Jeanine clicked her way into the room. Her eyes were glazed over and focused on an empty spot on the far wall, risking searching for Beatrice's would only expose her to judgement from others'. Besides, she could deal with this herself, she knew exactly how the serum worked and she had nothing to hide. She tilted her head on command and made her way into the box as she felt the textbook effects of the truth serum begin to take hold.

Mr Chang repeated "May the truth set you free" for the ninth time. It failed to break into Beatrice's still fuzzy consciousness, his next two words were what dragged her back into sharp focus. "Jeanine Matthews," She snapped her head up but could only see a glimpse of Jeanine's side through the crowds and the mirrors. "You are accused of authorising a conspiracy to attack Abnegation and divergents. Is this true?"

Beatrice subtly weaved her way into a better view just in time to watch Jeanine's lips purse before she whispered, "Yes." There was a gasp and some mutters and someone had to call for order before they could continue.

"Why?"

"To collect evidence."

"Evidence?"

"Of the plans. It is all logged. They'd made all the arrangements before I sanctioned it. I simply asked to be granted access and in exchange let them continue but the plan was always to stop them." Even when drugged, she spoke with clear and calm elocution.

"You mean to say you deceived your faction?" This was something they'd only remembered to worry about when it was too late. Jeanine had still gone against Candor's values of honesty. They blamed duplicity for the last war, were they going to be able to accept that duplicity had saved them from another?

"For the sake of the greater good, yes." Everyone in the room seemed to process this for a long while before Jack resumed his questioning.

"You say for 'the greater good', the greater good of whom?"

"Of Chicago. Of Abnegation and of divergents. Tris has shown me that they are not as dangerous as we fear, just different."
Beatrice cringed and her parents stiffened in her peripheral vision. She knew it was a difficult thing for them to get used to and something they'd have preferred to have some time alone with before it was public knowledge.

"Tris?"

"Beatrice Prior. My soulmate." Everyone who knew her name turned to her instantly and those who didn't soon followed. Few were malicious, most appreciated Jeanine for what she had done, but they were all shocked. Even Jack was taken aback.

"I see"

Jeanine was dismissed and the court took a break to decide how to proceed. Beatrice was immediately swamped by questions, disbelief, demands for her to be trailed even but thankfully Candor officials swept in to maintain the order.

Not long after, Jack Chang returned and announced that all of the other defendants were to get sentences of various lengths but Jeanine was to be acquitted of her charges. He applauded her efforts but spoke of how her methods were not to be replicated. She had certainly dropped in his standings but that was nothing compared to what they had achieved.

Jeanine never cared much for others' opinions anyway. She told him as much once he returned to the room she was being held in and he rolled his eyes but couldn't argue, he's the same after all.
"I want to see Beatrice." She demanded, now she was a free woman once more. This moment marked the beginning of something. What, she wasn't quite sure. The full weight of her new responsibility to restore the trust in Erudite and re-educate people on divergents hadn't quite hit her, she was preoccupied with matters closer to her heart than even her faction. Tris wanted her relationship with Jeanine to be public knowledge, but what exactly did that mean for them now it was? Beatrice made her happy, destiny was right about that, but years of self-enforced emotional detachment left her at a bit of a loss as to how to proceed.

As ever, her professional role stole her attention from her personal life.
"I'm afraid your faction has other plans for you." Jack nodded to two of her surviving faction members by the door, she had official duties to attend to. Reluctantly, she let herself be escorted back to Erudite after Jack had agreed to personally get a message to Beatrice that she would see her afterwards. They would have to discuss everything later.

An efficient fifteen minutes after leaving Candor, she was re-dressed and poised in front of the elaborate camera set up. In the car, she had drafted what she was going to say but there hadn't been time for proofreading so she was more nervous than usual.

A young member of her faction raised her blue-clad arm and held up three fingers in Jeanine's direction. She looked at her notes once more. Two fingers. She took a deep breath.
One.
Now.
"People of Chicago, this is Jeanine Matthews. Today we prevented a tragedy, but we are not finished. The faction rivalries that threaten the future of our system cannot be tolerated. Some rogue members of my faction felt they knew better than our system which has sustained our peace for years and they were wrong. These individuals may have been stopped but we must all work together to ensure no-one is allowed to get close to disrupting the peace again." She paused and felt a shiver run down her spine as she thought about what would happen if their system broke down.

"On behalf of Erudite, I would like to thank Abnegation and Candor for their assistance in restoring our faction to its core purpose, the pursuit of knowledge. Divergents aren't to be feared. They may be different from ourselves but decades of service to our system is a credit to their loyalty and value to us. Divergents could be an asset to our future and we at Erudite would like to study their potential." Maybe it was the adrenaline rush or her temporary lack of a personal assistant to keep her in check that led her to note down this last sentence, it was unclear, she could assess its irrationality later though. Right now, she simply smirked and tried to picture Tris in front of her as she concluded, "I myself would like to study one particular divergent closely, very closely indeed."