Disclaimer: I don't own Divergent.

At four o' clock in the Erudite sector, everything is completely silent. As initiation day looms over the heads of the prospective members, all activity grinds to a sudden halt. The students are locked away in their classrooms, heads turned obediently toward their schoolbooks, their chatter silenced. The perfectly paved roads are blocked off with tall metal gates, stopping the usual flow of traffic. All construction work ceases. The gleaming glass buildings tower over the streets like sentries, daring anyone to stroll through the doors and create unnecessary noise.

But that will not happen. According to the Erudite faction manifesto, on the day of the annual Initiation Intelligence Test, not a sound is to be made while the initiates are hard at work. This is the exam that they have prepared for over the past few weeks - for some, over their entire lives. This is the exam that they cannot fail.

And so, the only faint noise at this hour is the panting of the Dauntless policeman in the street. As his watchful eyes traverse the length of the road, searching for any rule-breaking drivers, he wipes his sweaty forehead with one hand and wonders why he even took this job. "Goddamn fear landscape," he mutters, taking care to keep his volume low. "If not for that bitch, I'd have been ranked first."

He leans back against the lamppost and dreams of another life, a life spent working for the Dauntless leaders, away from the dreadful Noses. And then, just when he's starting to think there won't be any excitement today…

Screech! A shiny silver car, no doubt driven by an arrogant Nose, speeds into view. Tires squealing, throwing up dust everywhere, the vehicle makes a sharp right turn and smashes right through the barrier.

"Uh - hey!" the policeman hollers. He's so stunned by what he just saw - a Nose of all people, speeding? - he momentarily forgets that it's his job to stop them. He pursues the car, waving his arms like a drunk in the factionless sector. "You - you can't do that! It's, uh, testing day!"

The car vanishes around a corner. The Dauntless man snickers a little. Someone's getting fired, he thinks, then his face falls when he realizes that, if anyone's getting relieved of their duties, it's him.


Even after leaving behind the squeaky-clean streets and towering steel buildings, the silver car doesn't slow down. It finally screeches to a sudden stop, next to a stretch of cracked pavement in the factionless sector.

The driver's side door opens. Out comes Margaret "Maggie" Kwan, the no-nonsense head of the Erudite Board of Education. As usual, she wears a crisp blue suit and a stern expression. She marches around to the side of the car and throws the passenger door open.

Sitting in the backseat is Maggie's nine-year-old son, Eric. Her colleagues on the Board of Education say he is just like her, in many ways - he has her pin-straight black hair, her piercing dark eyes, and her ability to conceal the slightest trace of emotion beneath a mask of cold logic. And yet, none of them know what really goes on behind the scenes. While Maggie's expression never wavers, Eric stares up at her with a look of pure terror in his eyes.

Maggie reaches out and seizes her son's wrist. Her sharp fingernails dig into his skin. Her fingers squeeze so hard, they're sure to leave bruises.

If a reporter for the Erudite Sun-Times were there, Maggie would not have dared to lay a hand on her son. But right now, in the most deserted part of town, there are no witnesses. Well, except for a stray dog, and two alley cats, and three factionless hoodlums skulking around. And a factionless woman with a baby.

Still, according to Maggie, there are no witnesses.

"Well, then get out!" she screams at Eric. She tugs on his wrist. "Go be factionless, then!"

"Mom, stop -" But the force of his mother's anger is irrepressible. He's yanked forward, out of the car. Even then, Maggie's grip doesn't falter.

"Don't argue! If you don't want to follow my rules, then you can leave!"

"Mom -" Eric's voice rises with panic. Maggie flings him onto the curb. He lands hard, and from his jacket pocket, there's a sudden splintering sound. Maggie ignores it. She turns on her heel, re-enters the car, slams the door shut, and drives away.

Eric struggles to his feet. "Mom, come back!" he calls out, desperation in his voice. "Please, Mom? I'm sorry! Please…" As he watches, the car disappears around a corner.

"Please come back." His voice trails off. The tears come. For who knows how long, he stands there, sobbing into his hands, his Erudite knowledge not enough to tell him what to do next.

A million thoughts race through his mind, all at once. Did Mom abandon me here? She wouldn't do that, would she? She couldn't do that! Actually, she could - she's somebody important. She could pay someone to cover up this case of child neglect…

But then the sheer volume of activity in his brain becomes too much for him to handle. Much like when he is at school, and the headmistress is making him recite all one hundred and eighteen elements in the periodic table, as a punishment for not getting full marks on the previous night's assignment. And then, because the assignment in question required him to list Erudite's past representatives, he accidentally slips up and starts to say, "Melvin Rogers" when he meant to say, "Boron", and it comes out sounding like "moron", and the headmistress orders him to the front of the room to get a lashing with a ruler…

Enough! He can't take it anymore. He is sick of thinking Erudite thoughts, living the Erudite way of life. He just wants to be a normal kid, with a kid's thoughts. So he puts all logic into a separate compartment of his mind, to be used for later. Right now, he wants to talk to someone.

His feet wander this way and that. He searches the group of factionless for a friendly face.

His mother always warned him to stay away from the factionless. "You know why they're poor?" she'd say. "Because they failed. They didn't work hard enough to pass initiation. They just want to party and have fun, and not think about the future. That's why you need to study, so you don't end up like them."

Though Eric would not dare argue with his mother, a part of him thinks she's wrong. If someone accidentally slips up and writes down "moron" in the Writing section of the Initiation Intelligence Test, because they're exhausted from staying up all night to study, they shouldn't automatically be made factionless. Especially if they're smart. Wouldn't that be illogical?

Besides, it couldn't possibly be true that all of the factionless are lazy.

So Eric wanders over to the factionless woman with the baby. Her cheeks are smudged with dirt and there are bags under her eyes, but underneath it all, she has a kind face. Maybe she can help him.

Then she takes note of his Erudite clothing, his blue school uniform, and her face scrunches up with worry. She scoops her baby up and scurries off.

"Wait!" Eric calls out, feebly. It's too late. She's gone.

In front of him are the three factionless youngsters. They don't look too friendly. Their grins are menacing, showing yellowed, rotten teeth.

Eric tells himself that that's not their fault. They probably don't have access to whitening toothpaste, since the Erudite prefer to keep those luxuries for themselves.

Of course, Eric thinks, that's why they hate him. To them, he's nothing but an arrogant Nose.

As the youngsters approach, Eric considers his options. Will he try to fight them off? No. It's three against one, and each hoodlum has at least a hundred pounds on him. The next best thing to do, is run.

He turns and hightails it out of there. Only one thought flashes through his mind - I'd never make it in Dauntless.

He keeps running. He sprints faster than he ever has in his whole life, faster even than at the annual school track meet. And then, up ahead, he spots a large, empty warehouse, constructed from worn red brick and fortified with grimy glass windows. It's a huge, silent, barren structure, and inside, there won't be anyone to judge him or tell him he isn't good enough.

It's dark inside. Usually, Eric is afraid of the dark. But this time, he feels relief as the unending blackness swallows him.

AN: On Eric's last name - I know the movie character's last name is Coulter, but in the books, it's implied that Eric picked before Tobias at the Choosing Ceremony, and they were going in reverse alphabetical order that year. So his last name could not possibly start with C.

Also, fun fact - that bit at the beginning about the Erudite policy of silence on initiation day, was inspired by a real-life custom, on the day of the national college entrance exam in South Korea.