A/N: Welcome to my first fanfic. I do not have any rights to the Divergent Series. Each of the characters in this story is intended to be a person of color. While Dauntless University is fictional the concepts around Historically Black Colleges and Universities are real.

Tobias stood in the middle of his living room surrounded by boxes and bubble wrap. He was a bit overwhelmed with the amount of packing he still had left to do, but he was ready for this fresh start. Tobias still had a week to finish packing before the movers would come to collect his belongings but he was eager to get most of it done today. He looked around as he packed up his personal contents of the luxury condo in downtown Chicago on Lakeshore Drive. He knew he was fortunate to have lived the life he lived as he looked around the place he had called home for the past six years. It was spacious, with two levels that held three bedrooms, a study, a billiard room, and a magnificent view of Lake Michigan. His father, Marcus had purchased the condo for Tobias when he decided to move back to Chicago from just outside of London.

Tobias had spent most of his life growing up in Chicago until he had chosen to return to the United Kingdom to attend Oxford University. Tobias' parents were both British. His mother, Evelyn, was a highly respected art history professor at Oxford. His father was a very successful British businessman and well known throughout Europe and the United States in certain circles. Marcus' parents who were a part of the Windrush generation had immigrated to the United Kingdom from Jamaica after World War II. With nothing but pure ambition and a promise to himself to make something better of himself, Marcus set his eyes on moving up in the world and making a fortune to never have to return back to his meager beginnings. When he met Evelyn at a holiday party for her father's shipping company he had been taken by her similar ambitions to climb the social ladder and acquire power and respect among her peers. They had quickly got married not long after meeting and had Tobias in their early 20s. Evelyn's father had built a multimillion-dollar shipping business which Marcus had quickly climbed his way to top of and made a name for himself in London. He quickly climbed the corporate ladder of his father-in-law's company after starting out as a low-level sales agent by revolutionizing and automating the business aspect of Allegiant Shipping through technology. Marcus was very gifted in working with computers and software development. While he was good at what he did for the shipping company, he waited until the right time to start his own tech company and began testing and developing computer software. After selling the first patented software he created, he amassed a sizable fortune by the time he was 30.

Tobias' mother, Evelyn was biracial, her father had immigrated from Greece during World War II as a child during the Nazi occupancy. Evelyn's mother was from Zimbabwe and considered royalty among her tribe and had come to the UK to study at Oxford and fell in love with Evelyn's father. When Evelyn's father passed away, she and Marcus decided to sell the shipping company which left them even more well off and provided Tobias with an inheritance once he turned 30. Marcus had moved the family to the U.S. when Tobias was six to take a position as the CEO of Divergent Enterprises global tech company based in Chicago while still keeping controlling interest in the tech company he had started. After the move, Evelyn taught at Northwestern but opted to move back to the UK when offered a position at Oxford when Tobias was 9. He spent very little time visiting her in England and she only ventured to the States at most a few times a year. Tobias didn't feel a real connection with her even though there was something inside of him that desperately wanted it. Oddly as Tobias grew up he became the spitting image of Evelyn's father unbeknownst to him. He'd always thought he didn't look much like his parents with some people even questioning if both his parents were Black. Evelyn hated discussing her parents so Tobias knew very little about his maternal lineage since his grandmother had died when Evelyn was a teenager and his grandfather when he was too young to remember. When it came time to go to college, he opted to go to Oxford in an attempt to please his mother and try to rebuild their relationship. It had always bothered him that she had no interest in coming back to the States to be with him and his father and she never asked to have him live with her full time with her in the U.K. He never really understood why his parents were still married or why they had taken such little interest in him. They tolerated each other and made appearances if need be for high profile business and society functions together but he knew each of them carried on privately with extramarital affairs.

Even though Marcus and Eveyln provided for Tobias financially, ensuring he received a great private education they never provided any emotional support for him. Luckily Tobias was unofficially adopted by his best friend's family in elementary school. While Marcus and Evelyn Eaton were his parents on paper, The Pedrad Family was his real family. Zeke Pedrad and Tobias bonded on his first day of school. Zeke's mother, Hana was a surrogate mother to Toabis and saw him as one of her own. She was more a motherly figure to him than Evelyn had been for most of his life. The Pedrads weren't a wealthy family. Hana was an elementary school teacher at the private school Marcus and Evelyn had chosen for Tobias in Chicago, the Francis W. Parker School. Because Hana was a teacher there, Zeke and her younger son Uriah were permitted to attend tuition-free. On the first day of first grade, Tobias met Zeke when the class went out for recess. Two of the class bullies tried to intimidate Tobias, and Zeke stepped up to have Tobias' back even though they had just met. Being two of the few people of color at Francis Parker School strengthened their bond along with their mischievous nature. While Tobias was more reserved and quiet and loved reading, Zeke was talkative and outgoing. Zeke was always coming up with pranks that Tobias would analyze and figure out the best plan of execution.

The two had been inseparable ever since that first day and once Uriah started school he was never far behind. It wasn't long before Tobias was spending every free afternoon and weekend with Hana and her boys that he could. Zeke and Tobias played high school football together. Tobias knew he didn't want to play football long-term even though he was very gifted at it, even better than Zeke. He received several scholarship offers from top schools but ended up turning them down to go to Oxford for his undergraduate and master's program in History with the goal of becoming a professor like his mother. He didn't regret not playing college football but part of him did regret going to Oxford. His mother and father had encouraged him that Oxford was where he needed to go and it would be good for him to spend time in their home county. Deep down he's always craved for his parent's approval and affection so he went with it thinking it would make both of them happy. He thought that spending more time with Evelyn, as he had always wanted as a kid would strengthen their relationship but even with him there Evelyn showed more interest in her high society life she had built than building her relationship with her son. In the end, Tobias opted to return to Chicago for his Ph.D. in History at Northwestern.

Tobias and Marcus didn't have the best relationship either. Marcus had been a typical wealthy businessman first and a parent second who spent most of his time wrapped up in his business dealings. Tobias was often left by himself or with the nanny or chauffeur when Marcus was tied up in meetings or on business trips. He spent as much time as he could with the Pedrad Family, often staying behind at the school every afternoon to do homework with Zeke while Hana finished up her workday, and eventually, Hana started asking him to come home with them for dinner. Soon Tobias started to ask to spend the night on the weekends and whenever Marcus had business trips and Tobias became more and more a part of the Pedrad Family. While Marcus hadn't taken time to show much interest in Tobias and his studies, he had been vocal about his disappointment in Tobias choosing a career in academia like his mother. He had constantly pushed Tobias into law or business so he could take a position with his company but Tobias had inherited a love of research and history from his mother. However, Tobias made sure he did pay attention to Marcus about business and investing. He knew his father had been smart with his money over the years and Tobias wanted to do the same with his trust fund.

Tobias began teaching full-time in the African American Studies Department at Northwestern when he graduated with his Ph.D. He loved the university setting and teaching but he felt restless in Chicago. He had recently gotten out of a long-term on and off relationship with a woman named Nita that just wasn't going anywhere. She was a lawyer for Marcus' company. She was successful and absolutely beautiful but Tobias had grown tired of her high maintenance nature and selfish attitude. When Nita announced she was breaking up with him, he was more relieved than anything. He loved Chicago, it was his home, but he just needed a change. He really didn't have anything holding him here. This journey was finally about what he wanted. After spending so much time trying to please both of his parents to no avail, he was going to do what he wanted. He was nervous and excited at the same time. He could feel that this was the path he was supposed to be on and happy that he would be with his true family again.

Tobias, Zeke, and Uriah had a unique bond. Zeke and Uriah had accepted Tobias as their brother and their closeness never faded even when they parted ways for college. When it came time for college, Zeke had received a full football scholarship to play for the Daultness University Warriors in Charleston, South Carolina. After a successful career on the collegiate level, Zeke was drafted after his senior year by the Chicago Bears and played 7 seasons at wide receiver before a knee injury forced him to retire. Around the time Zeke was contemplating retiring from the NFL, his college football coach Amar called him and encouraged Zeke to apply for an assistant coaching job with the football team at Dauntless. It was a great move for Zeke and it would put him in a great place for the head coaching job when Amar decided to retire. Things worked out well and Zeke accepted the position, moving him and his wife Shauna to Charleston. The first season in Charleston went well for Zeke and he had settled into his new role and new life in the south. He knew Tobias better than anyone and he knew he wasn't happy in Chicago and needed a change. Tobias didn't really have many close friends outside of Zeke and Uriah and Zeke knew Tobias was lonely after he moved. When Zeke heard that there was an opening in the history department, he encouraged his adoptive brother to apply. After several interviews and a trip to South Carolina, Tobias was offered the job as the head of the History Department at Dauntless.

Tobias was excited about taking this new position at Dauntless and in his academic career. The history of the Historically Black University was beyond impressive. Spending a good portion of his academic career overseas, there were those who had made it known that they weren't sure Tobias was a fit for the head of a history department at a historically black college. However, Tobias had made a passionate and compelling case to win them over and show he was the man for the job. The history of race in the United States had always fueled an interest in him as a young child. He had eagerly asked questions of Hanna whenever he spent the weekend at the Pedrad house and it inspired him to trace and explore everyone's family history and connection to slavery. For his Master's thesis at Oxford, Tobias had focused on the experience of enslaved Africans in British colonies in the Caribbean compared to that of the experience of enslaved Africans in the United States. His dissertation for his Ph.D. focused on the effects of slavery on family bonds in the African American community. He had received a research grant at Northwestern that focused on researching the influence of religion on the African American culture. He was finally making a name for himself through his research and courses at Northwestern and had even appeared as a guest on CNN with Don Lemon on a segment discussing the lack of African American History taught in U.S. schools. After his CNN appearance, he had been asked to write several articles highlighting his research for media publications across the U.S. including the New York Times. Now he would have the opportunity to oversee the curriculum developed for the History majors and the African American Studies program. He would also be in charge of finding research grants for the department. Tobias had never spent any real-time in the Southeast United States other than visiting Zeke one time during college so he was eager to explore the stories and history in South Carolina. He wasn't sure what this move had in store for him. He was nervous and excited at the same time. As he tapped up the box in front of him, he smiled, ready for whatever fate had in store for him with this fresh start.

A/N Check out my Pinterest Board to see the inspirations for each of the characters and sites for this story and more rdixon417/the-history-of-fate/