Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight, Vampire Diaries, Divergent, or Shadowhunters/Mortal Instruments. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer, LJ Smith, Veronica Roth, and Cassandra Claire. I do own the original characters made up for this storyline. Thank you.

Writer's Notes: Thank you Roxhall, Goddessnyte, and delia for your reviews! Eric is a sinister bad guy. I don't believe he's meant to be likeable. I hope that everyone is enjoying the story so far. I appreciate all the support I get from you all, and honestly couldn't do this without any of you. Don't forget to follow, favorite, and review!

The next morning, breakfast was strained. Tris was still reeling from what happened the night before. She stayed in Four's room. He slept on the floor, while she got to sleep on a bed for the first time since they got there.

Bella looked up at Tris when she sat down with her food. "Hey, you weren't in your cot last night."

"Yeah, sorry." Tris said and picked at her food.

Al wandered over, his face bruised from not only Bella beating him the spar, but also from Four. "Tris, can I just-"

"No. Get away from me. You're a coward. Touch me or come near me again, I will kill you." Tris spat, and picked up her tray and moved away.

Bella frowned. "What the fuck happened?" She said, looking at Al. She got to her feet. "Did you try anything-"

Al ran off before Bella could say too much more. Bella and Clary exchanged looks. What happened between Tris and Al?

They filtered back into the sleeping quarters, waiting for dark to come because Eric said that this training was going to take place when it was dark out. Tris sat on her cot, while Cristina, Clary, Caroline, Bella, and Will sat and listened.

"He just…he tried to throw me over the side by the catwalk. Him and three others. Four showed up…laid them all out." Tris explained.

Bella shook her head. "I'm so sorry."

There was a commotion, and it grabbed their attention, and they all went to go see what was happening. A rope was found by the catwalk, and Al had hung himself. Tris and Bella gasped, seeing them reel his lifeless body up the side of the wall.

"He…This is my fault." Tris murmured.

Jasper shook his head. "Not your fault. Al wasn't going to cut it the way he was going." He said and his eyes locked with Bella's. They both knew that Eric was pushing Al out. He was the weak link.

When night fell, they all suited up, getting on the train.

"Alright, we're going to pick teams, and play capture the flag so to speak.

"Glorified laser tag?" Marlene scoffed with a smirk.

Eric shot her with the gun, and hit her with a dart. "Nerve darts, simulates the feeling of really getting shot. I'll start." He looked around. "Jace,"

Four and Magnus looked at each other and Magnus nodded to Four. "Tris."

"Uriah."

"Caroline."

"Noah." Eric said, smirking, he was taking all the heavy hitters.

"Cristina."

Eric looked around. "Jacob."

"Bella," Four said, glancing at Tris.

"Peter." Eric didn't hesitate.

They went back forward until their teams were about even and then they leapt off the train when they arrived at their destination, they broke off into their teams, and then went to hide their flag, and waited for Eric's shot in the area to signal the start of the game.

"Okay, what's the plan?" Four asked, and a bunch of people started talking at once, throwing out ideas.

Bella and Tris looked at each other, and then looked around. "You get up high," Bella said to Tris. "I'll take this side, get up high and see if we can see something from different vantage points.

Tris nodded and went towards the Ferris wheel, and started the climb. Four followed her, climbing up after her.

Bella started climbing up the side of a building to get a better look on the other side. Magnus following her up. "You don't have to babysit me. I know what I'm doing."

"I know. What's the plan?"

"Tris is looking from over there. Try to see from different angles." She said and looked around. She didn't see anything other than some of Eric's team hunkered down. "He's using the shipping containers as coverage." She said and then went to the edge of the roof and jumped onto the fire escape, and moved down it quickly and Magnus followed. He was impressed at how fast she moved.

Four and Tris made it over to them, jogging. "They have their flag in that tower." Tris motioned, pointing towards the tallest building, it had a pointed roof, and a balcony that overlooked the yard.

"Okay, Tris, you and Cristina cut around on the right side of those shipping containers. Stay low, and avoid getting shot. I'll draw fire going around this way. Get to that tower, and show no mercy." Bella said to her sister.

Magnus and Four looked at each other, as they watched them form their plan. They didn't offer any other advice, just assistance to execute the plan. The sound of the gun split the air and the game was on.

Bella and Clary moved to the left, popping off a couple shots on the dart, to make sound, so Eric's team would come for them, while Cristina and Tris snuck off to the side. Bella fired on Jace, who was one of the highest scored marksmen right now on the board. Clary backed Bella up, taking turns firing, and providing cover. Eric was in the mix, and Four came to provide support, as he fired on Eric. Bella managed to hit Ed in the leg, and he went down, and then Clary shot Marlene, and then it progressed from there. Finally, Clary got hit in the side and she went down.

Bella cursed, and moved around the side of the container, and came face to face with Peter.

"Haha, told you a stiff didn't belong." Peter said, aiming his gun, but then went to the ground, when Magnus shot him in the back.

"Hmm. Maybe it's you that doesn't belong." Bella said and shot Peter three more times, and smirked before taking cover behind another shipping container.

Four and Eric were dodging each other, and when Eric's gun jammed, Four tagged him four times in the chest, and Eric went to the ground. Jasper turned the corner, shooting Jace, in his shoulder twice, and Jace went down, the pain too real feeling.

Bella shot at Alec, who was quicker than she was with dodging. She almost got hit in the shoulder, but she escaped behind a container. You could hear groans as one by one; the recruits were dropping. Finally, Tris and Cristina exploded onto the balcony at the top of the tower, waving the yellow glow of Eric's team flag.

Four and Magnus smiled at each other. Their distraction was enough to let Tris and Cristina to get to the flag, just like Bella had planned.

Peter groaned, raising his gun to shoot at Bella, but she looked over at him, raising her gun, and shooting him in his thigh, making him think twice.

The trip back to the Dauntless building was an exciting one, as most of them decided to use the zipline back. Once back the board updated, and Bella smiled wide, looking back at Tris.

Tris 27th

She made it. That made Bella feel better, now they just had to keep her above the line. Bella was seventh now, and Jasper was first. Even Cristina moved up, taking ninth, and Will was behind her at twelfth and then Clary was fifteenth, and Caroline was nineteenth. Caroline made some significant progress, and Bella was happy that all her friends she had made, was doing good enough to stay above that line.

[The next day]

Simulations were today, and Bella wondered what kind of fear did she really have? She never really thought about fear. The only fear she had before coming here was of change, but she didn't really count that fear. The wait was what was taking the longest. Some people had a lot of fears it seemed like. Four and Magnus were running the simulations while Eric was absent, which Bella was thankful for. There was another guy with Four and Magnus, they called him Damon, and he was the older brother of Stefan. Stefan had been the quiet one. He didn't talk a lot, he just was there, his sparring was exceptional, and his aim was too. Bella hadn't sparred him personally, but she watched Stefan knock Will out before.

Bella was up next, she joined Magnus in one of the rooms.

"Take a breath. Relax." Magnus said, as he prepped the computer, and then injected Bella with the serum, and watched her eyes flutter closed.

Bella appeared in an empty room. She looked around, finding a door, but it was locked. She frowned, and turned seeing a chair appear in the room suddenly. It was strange, but she walked towards the chair, and then heard Eric's voice behind her.

"You have to choose."

"Choose what?" Bella asked and looked back. Tris was sitting in the chair now.

"Yourself, or Tris." Eric said. "Only one will escape this room." He said and then he was gone.

"Tris, we have to find a way out." Bella said, and they worked together to figure a way out of the room, but then a mist started filling the room. She looked at the chair, picking it up, and throwing it against the wall, the wall cracking. Bella frowned, and then went to the crack in the wall, her hand smoothing over it, and then she slammed her fist against it, and the wall crumbled around her and she fell into darkness.

She was laying on grass, she could feel beneath her. She was blinded, or blindfolded, and her hands were tied behind her back. She could hear someone calling to her. It was Tris' voice in the distance. Bella sucked in a breath, feeling the panic overtake her momentarily. She couldn't get to her sister to save her. She tried calming herself down. This isn't real. Her brain told her and she opened her eyes, feeling the blindfold slip away coincidentally. She was able to look around then, and she was able to see what the situation was. Tris was tied to a pole and flames were licking up around her. Bella pulled her wrists free and rushed towards her sister, reaching through the flames, and untied her sister. She told herself that the flames weren't real so they wouldn't hurt.

She fell into another fear landscape. She saw Charlie, her biological father. She walked towards him. He was standing there, a gun in his hand. He was yelling at her. "No." Bella choked out. "Don't do it." Bella said, and then saw him raise it, pointing it at her, but it wasn't her, it was her mother. She closed her eyes. It's not real. She opened her eyes, and now it was just her and her dad.

"You pathetic- "

"Give me the gun." Bella's voice was calm, but tears were in her eyes.

Charlie handed it to her on the command, and then he faded away. Bella turned and then she was in the sleeping quarters, her towel was around her. She turned Peter, coming towards her. The room was empty except the two of them, and he charged her, tearing her towel from her body. She was vulnerable now, exposed, and that made her doubt herself. She tried to stumble back away from Peter, but his advance was strong.

This isn't real. Her brain told her, and she closed her eyes, and then she looked at Peter, and he stumbled back, gasping for hair, before falling away, fading away.

Bella shot up out of the chair.

Magnus was frowning. "Hey, you're okay." He said, looked at the screen. "Bella…"

Bella looked at him, breathing a little hard. "What?"

"What were your results of your aptitude test?" Magnus asked, his thoughts going towards Ascendant. She shouldn't be able to shatter the fear landscape like that, and to navigate it as fast as she did.

"Abnegation." Bella said simply, not batting an eye, or hesitating.

Magnus pursed his lips, and then turned and did something on the computer. "You finished four fear landscapes in seven minutes." He said and looked at her.

"That's bad?"

"Yes." Magnus said. "You're not Abnegation."

"I am."

Magnus shook his head. "You're not. You're Ascendant." He said, his eyes level with hers. "You can trust me."

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Magnus nodded. She was smart. She didn't want to give herself away. "I know what an Ascendant looks like Bella…because I'm Ascendant." He said lowly. "If you're going to survive the final of round one, which is your fear landscapes, broadcast for everyone to see. Including Jeanine Matthews, you need to pass all your fear landscapes the way a Dauntless would."

Bella looked at Magnus confused. "What…"

Magnus sighed. "We're going to practice more frequently. You must think like Dauntless. If you think like any other way, and you do what you just did. They'll have you killed."

Bella swallowed. "Why would you help me?"

"I just told you." Magnus said. "There aren't many of us. We're in hiding for a reason." He said. "Why most of us end up in Dauntless…I'm not sure, but you need to listen to everything I say."

"Okay. But…what about…"

"Your sister…" Magnus said and sighed. "She's Ascendant too, isn't she?" He asked and Bella nodded. He looked at his watch on his wrist. "She's in the room with Four." He said and looked like he was in thought. "Meet me in the training hall at ten tonight."

Bella nodded. "Okay."

"For now, go back out there, don't talk about this with anyone." Magnus said and Bella got up off the chair. "I won't let them take you Bella."

Bella looked at Magnus. She was feeling a weight lift off her. She was worried about the outcome of what it meant to be Ascendant. She left the room and walked outside, seeing Tris, who seemed to be in deep thought. "Hey."

Tris looked up at her, the look in her eyes telling Bella everything she needed to know. "Four fears huh."

"Yeah. You have what, six?" Bella said with a smile and sat next to her sister.

"Something like that." Tris murmured, and then they waited together while everyone took their turn in their fear landscape.

Ten o' clock that night, Bella slipped out to meet Magnus in the training hall. She looked around at everything, the training dummies, the stage, the throwing knives range. She sighed. She worked hard to be where she was. She couldn't let them figure out what she was.

"Bella." Magnus said softly.

Bella turned and looked at Magnus, but then Four was with him and she frowned, getting defensive.

"Calm down," Four said. "I know. Your sister is the same as you, as Magnus…as me. We're going to work on this together." He said and then Tris was joining them, she looked to Bella and then at Magnus and Four.

Bella nodded. "Okay. So, what do we need to do then?"

"Practice the fear landscapes. Do everything as Dauntless." Four said. "Come on." He said and led them to a room.

Until midnight, they practiced the fear landscapes, Bella and Tris working on doing everything as Dauntless. It was harder, and their time in the landscapes increased, but that was better.

Tris left with Four first, she wanted to do some small workout before she went to bed. Her mind was too active to be sleepy.

Bella didn't know what to think about everything. Her and Tris weren't the only ones, and that amazed her.

"You're in deep thought." Magnus said, as he turned off the machine used for the fear landscape.

"Just thinking about my fears. I don't remember much of my biological parents. They both died when I was young, but I think…now I know why. My parents never talk about Charlie or Renee, so I just assumed that…it was because we're raised to not dwell on the past. But I think it's because Charlie killed Renee…and then killed himself and I witnessed it." Bella murmured.

"I'm sorry to hear that." Magnus said. "You know the fear landscapes are metaphorical. You're afraid of being trapped with no way out. You're afraid that you won't be able to save your sister. You're afraid of the uncertainty of your childhood, and you're afraid of being vulnerable." He explained, and walked towards her.

"Yeah. Maybe." Bella murmured. "I didn't even know I was afraid of those things."

Magnus nodded. "Well, the program is designed to dig out your fears."

"Thank you."

"For what?"

"For not being like Eric." Bella said, and she stared up into his eyes. They seemed to gravitate towards one another, and Magnus reached up, brushing the hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear.

Magnus swallowed. "Well, let's just say Eric and I…don't get along." He offered a smile.

Bella blinked a couple times and then she nodded. "I'm going to go back…take a shower and sleep before daylight gets here and I regret it later." She said and then she left Magnus there in the room, watching her walk away.

Bella welcomed the heat of the shower; her muscles were tired. She cut the water off after enjoying the water a little longer than intended, and then she wrapped her towel around her and started out of the showers, she ran into a hard chest, and looked up. "Oh, sorry." Her towel started to slip.

Jasper smiled. "No worries." He said, and caught her towel, his fingers brushing her skin lightly. "Um. Couldn't sleep?"

Bella swallowed. "No. You know me." She offered a smile. She realized that he wasn't wearing a shirt, and she blinked noticing the tattoo on his chest. She reached, gripping her towel in her one hand, but reached out, her finger tracing the outline of the symbol on his chest.

Jasper watched her, the curious look she got on her face. Her touch stirred him inside. He was quiet, letting her study the tattoo, he enjoyed her touch, so he didn't want to make her stop.

"I didn't realize you had a tattoo." She murmured finally, realizing what she was doing.

Jasper smiled. "Got it recently." He said. "Are you okay?"

Bella looked up into his amber eyes. "Yeah, why?"

"You're flushed." He murmured.

Bella removed her hand, and nodded. "Yeah. What is the symbol?"

Jasper smiled. "I think you know." He murmured, watching her lips.

Bella shook her head. "I…" She looked at the symbol and then she looked back at him. "You're…"

"Shh." Jasper said with a wink. Then he moved closer to her, his mouth covering hers as he moved her to the inside wall, his body blocking hers from view. His mouth warm on hers. It wasn't a deep kiss, but it was nice.

Bella started to pull away when he spoke lowly. "Shh. Don't move." He murmured.

There was a shuffle of feet inside room.

"They're probably training." Klaus' voice was heard. It was low, so it wouldn't wake the others.

"Yeah, getting in extra training to keep ahead of the game." Eric said. "Keep a close eye on Tris. I want to wear her down. She's above the line now. She won't be long." He said and then the shuffle of feet went away.

Bella looked up at Jasper. "I- "

Jasper shook his head. "Shh." He said, waiting, for a long moment before nodding. "Sorry." He murmured lowly.

Bella swallowed. "Why is Eric out to get my sister so bad?"

"It's because she's Abnegation. He can't push you below the line because of your rank, but she's on the edge." Jasper explained. "If your sister gets booted. You will follow her right?"

Bella nodded. "I wouldn't let her be Factionless alone."

"Then that's his plan then." Jasper said. His hand was on her waist, his body pressed to hers, as they hid in the corner still. He looked at her. "We'll talk about this later. Just know, that I am on your side. I'm an ally, and I'll protect your sister to the best of my ability."

Bella didn't know what to say to that. "Why?"

"We have to stick together." Jasper said.

"Thank you." Bella said, staring up at him. They stared at each other like that for another moment before Jasper leaned down again, his lips brushing hers gently. She didn't know what she wanted, but this felt right. She kissed him back, her lips parting letting him in. There was need inside her, one she didn't realize. She had pent up anger, and aggression from being constantly challenged by Eric.

Jasper sensed that urgency in her, but he continued to control himself, and hoped to control her hunger too. He brought the kiss to a close. "Bella…" He murmured, opening his eyes to look at her. "You should get dressed." He said, reigning himself in.

Bella swallowed. "Jasper."

"I have an incredible amount of control, but…I'm nearing my limit." Jasper was honest.

"We…" Bella looked at him, could see the restraint in his eyes. "Okay." She said with a nod, and Jasper moved away, leaving her in the corner, to collect herself.