A/N: This started as a series of poems that tell the story of Grace Eaton, Tobias' little sister, in the book Divergent. I posted it on HEX (Hogwarts Extreme) under the same username as the one here (HermioneKatnis123) if you want to go read it. If I get enough reads/likes/comments, then I will also post it here. Thanks, and enjoy!
Two years. Two years of unbearable pain. Of loneliness. Of solitude. Of abuse. Two years since my brother left me and my father. Everything I did wrong would get me a whipping. "The pain is good for you," he would say. "It helps us learn from our mistakes." I know it's helped me avoid one mistake and that would be choosing Abnegation.
Although people seem to think otherwise, I've already eliminated that. Susan, one of the only people who actually talks to me, tells me that I fit well in Abnegation. Apparently, I'm incredibly selfless and ready to help others. I don't think so. I only do it to protect myself from beatings and bruising and having to explain it when someone asks me about it. If anyone asks me about it.
Thankfully, today is not one of those days where I have bruises or scratches or red, puffy eyes. Today, I actually look decent. As decent as I can look with a plain, loose, grey dress that reaches my ankles and matching cardigan and my dark, auburn hair pulled into a knot at the nape of my neck. A grey satchel crosses over my chest and lands on my right hip. It gently hits it as I walk towards the school building, people dressed in blue and black and white and red and yellow bumping into me.
No one notices me. Because I'm in Abnegation and because I'm the daughter of the single scariest, sternest, and creepiest of all the government leaders of this now rundown Chicago. At least, it was Chicago. Hundreds of years ago it was. Now it's just a city surrounded by a giant wall that encloses four out of the five factions: Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, and Dauntless. Amity is the only one outside of the fence and only because they believe in kindness being the reason for peace and they control the farms. Abnegation believes that selflessness is the reason, Erudite believes in knowledge, Candor believes in honesty, and Dauntless believes in bravery and fearlessness.
I reach the school building just as a bus pulls up and a cloud of grey clothing steps out, all in a simple pattern, all with satchels like mine. All grey and simple hairstyles. Nothing to draw attention to ourselves. I smile a bit before continuing, but not before Susan steps up to me. Her blond hair is in the same twist as mine, a few stray strands here and there.
"A stiff with messed up hair!" someone, a Candor by their white and black clothes, shouts, pointing at Susan.
She goes to fix it, but I catch her wrist and pull it down. "It's fine," I say, my voice small and barely heard above everyone else. "It looks just like everyone else's. See?" I pull at a small bunch of hair that's also out of place on my head and make a big deal of leaving it hanging instead of smoothed back. "Nothing wrong with a stay hair."
"Are you ready for the Aptitude tests today?" she asks, grasping her satchel with her hands.
"No. Are you?"
"Yes. I know what I'm going to get. And I know what you're going to get, too."
"But are you sure I'm going to stay?"
"Who knows?" she asks, skipping forward a bit in a way that only the Abnegation can tell. "Maybe you will." I smile as she disappears into the crowd of students before heading to my own class of Biology. Maybe it will tell me a bit about what happens during the test.
"Abnegation: Robert Black and Grace Eaton." Robert, Susan's brother, and I step forward along with two from every other faction. I step into one of the rooms and immediately shy away from the mirrors on the walls, opting to keep my eyes down. No belt, I remind myself. No need to get beaten by Marcus.
"What is it with you and everyone else from Abnegation and mirrors?" Forget the belt. I look up at who spoke. A Dauntless woman in her late thirties stands before me, her hair slightly grey, and dressed in all black, usual Dauntless attire.
"Vanity leads to selfishness," I reply in a monotone and soft way, turning my eyes down again. "And besides. I've already had my three minutes for the next three months." Actually, I don't even get those minutes. My hair is never cut, which is the only time that we are permitted to look in the mirror. My hair doesn't need to be cut since it's always up. Marcus' does, though, and since Tobias left, it's been my job.
"Hmm. Take a seat." I shuffle to the middle of the room to find a dark grey, reclined chair and slowly seat myself in it. She pours something and hands me a glass vial. "Drink it." I gently take it and sip at it until it's gone. And when it is, my eyes close and my head hits the headrest.
I open my eyes to see myself in the Aptitude test room still and quickly lower my head. "Choose." I look around for the source of the noise, spinning on my heel. When I do, I see the base of two pedestals. My eyes trail up it to find to platters, the left one holding cheese and the right a knife. "Choose," the voice says again. Cheese, knife. There must be some animal of some kind if I choose the cheese, but also something that could harm me if there is a knife. But which do I take?
"Choose!" I sigh and clench my fist and close my eyes. I don't want to choose until I go through everything that it might be. After a few seconds, I decide the knife would probably be my better option. But when I open my eyes, I don't see the pedestals anymore. Instead, I see a dog, snarling and snapping at me. My eyes go wide and I quickly crumble to the floor out of instinct. Out of fear. Marcus once set a dog on me. Not on purpose, of course, but he also didn't stop it. My hand goes to the scar on my thigh naturally. Still slightly cold, still a crater in my skin.
The snarling stops and my breath steady, only to pick up speed again when it licks my face. I look up to see a small puppy in front of me. I back away a bit to put space between us before sighing. It didn't bite me. "Puppy." I look up higher at the voice and see a little girl with red hair in pigtails reaching for the dog. I smile at the sight. I may not like dogs, but others do and that's perfect. I start to walk towards her when the snarling starts again.
I don't think. I just run. Towards the girl, scooping her up in my arms and holding her above the dog. She wraps her legs against my waist and her arms go around my neck tightly as the dog snarls and snaps. I kick at it to keep it away. And then, it disappears. And so does the girl in my arms. Instead, I stand in a community room where one person from each faction stands before me. I only recognize two: Jeanie Matthews from Erudite and Marcus. The other three must be the main ambassadors for their factions.
"Grace," Marcus begins, "you have been called here to decide as to what happens with the cities that are planning an attack on us." I nod my head. "Abnegation votes for sharing our supplies with them to convince them that we don't want war. Amity wants to throw a welcoming feast for them. Erudite wants to plan an attack. Candor wants to give them truth serum to see what they want to do. And Dauntless wants to start the war immediately. Which do you choose?"
A voice in the back of my head is nagging me to combine them all. We can share our supplies and have a welcoming feast, but we can also start a plan of action just in case they don't take it, springing an attack and using the serum if we need to. Maybe... "What if we none of it?" They all stare at me, blank-faced and expectant.
"That isn't an option," Jeanie says.
"But it is. We can just as easily watch them from afar and if anything goes out of hand, we know what to do. No planning attacks, no getting rid of our already limited supplies. No jumping at them with random food and festivities just because we can. No forcing anything. How do we even know they plan to attack us in the first place?"
"Spies," Candor answers.
"Spies? You've sent in spies?"
"It's for the greater good," Marcus says.
"But what if it isn't? We have the wall, designed by Erudite. It'll last. And everyone says there's nothing beyond the walls. How is there suddenly something now?"
"Choose," Jeanie says.
"No."
"Choose!"
"I won't!"
My eyes fly open and I'm back in the Aptitude room, the Dauntless woman standing over me. "Not again," she mumbles, tapping at something on the computer, typing something in.
"What's my result?" I ask after a few minutes.
"Abnegation," she says. I nod, knowing that I'm not going to choose that. "And Amity. And Dauntless. And Erudite."
"What are you talking about?"
She sighs and turns towards me. "Each stage is supposed to eliminate one of the different factions until you're left with one. You didn't choose the knife or cheese, so nothing was eliminated. When you surrendered the dog, it showed Erudite-"
"I did that out of fear, not logic."
"-You were intelligent enough to get down," she continues, not fazed by my interruption. "Then you started going towards that girl, I don't know why, but probably to bring her to the dog as Amity does before the dog started snapping again. Instead of trying to calm her down, you picked her up and put herself between the two, and fought it. Dauntless and Amity. And Abnegation. You showed all four again during that trial scene. I hoped that by you choosing one of them you would eliminate the rest, but you didn't. You thought of others, you made the bold and brave choice, you thought things through, and you were considerate of everyone around you, taking in what they thought. Grace," she grabs my shoulder and forces me to look her in the eye, "your Divergent. And don't let anyone know it. Not your friends or family. No one. Especially your faction leaders. It's dangerous.
"Are you well enough to go back to your friends?"
"Yeah," I say after a minute. Divergent. What does that mean?
"Then go. I can't have you here much longer. And, if anyone asks, your result was Abnegation."
"Have you put it in?" She shakes her head. "Can you change it to Dauntless?"
"Why?"
"That's where my brother is. And I can't stay here. Thank you."
"No problem." I smile and walk out. Dauntless, Erudite, or Amity. I already know which one.