As the unofficial ceremony came to an end, all the novices were led through a set of tunnels and narrow corridors by Ivan, until we hit yet another intersection.

It was here that he joined us. There was no mistake in recognizing him, the same great height, and now we could see a weird long dark brown almost black coat/jacket he wore.

"Dauntless-born initiates follow me, you, I don't think, would require the tour of the premises."

Stated Ivan with a chuckle.

"Hope some force saves you from the capable hands I am leaving you in initiates."

He concluded before departing.

"Transfer initiates please follow me this way."

The tall one said heading into another of the narrow corridors without waiting for anyone.

His words had a weird tone,not a bad one but certainly different from that of others an accent, is I think it was called.

We followed him quietly and it gave me some time to observe my surroundings, cement and rocks were what made up the entire building this far.

There were around fifteen of us, the transfers, and we were confused as he came to a stop at a door that read 'stairs'.

Turning around, he faced us and said,

"Initiates, I am Belikov, one of your leaders.

Welcome to Dauntless, but you aren't a part of the faction yet," he said cutting the chase and continued "because we look for and accept only the bravest and the best."

He didn't need to ask for silence, since his attitude, grave voice and intimidating gait were enough to command everyone's attention. Silence reigned.

" In order to be accepted in the faction, you'll be going through initiation. A training regime to bring out the best in you, and further strengthen it. "

He paused for a brief second as murmurs broke through the crowd, and the meaning of his words sank in.

" What a weird name! "

Said someone.

" Hush! You'll offend him. "

replied another voice.

" They lied. "

A voice accused.

" I want to return to my faction. "

Stated somebody.

It was a small corridor and it was impossible that he hadn't heard all that was being said but it was as he had pulled up a mask, hiding all his emotions behind it, since not a muscle of his face twitched, his expression remained calm but stoic as ever.

" You mean to say that we can still end up factionless after all this? "

A tall girl, with black hair, dressed in the attire of Candors finally spoke out loud, voicing the most common of our concerns.

"Yes, you can but.."

He was replying when someone interrupted him.

"Hey Belikov, I hear the first jumper is here on tour with you, mind if I greet her? "

Said a male. He had green eyes, very unlike mine and brownish tousled hair, he was tall but not taller than cov-man here.

And looking at aforementioned cov-man, I noticed that he probably didn't like the unkempt person much.

'Was it his unkempt and disheveled appearance that caused his aversion?

Was it his Attitude? Was it Jealousy?'

I wondered.

Without waiting for Belikov's reply, he made his way, only to stop in front of me and stretched his hands, that greeting yet again, I stretched out my hands, formally but it surprised me when he flipped my hands in his and brought it to his lips planting a light kiss on the back of my hand, after shaking it.

"I am Adrian young lady, it has been a pleasure meeting you...?? "

He smiled introducing himself, ending his sentence as a question.

"Rose..."

Was all I could say as I stood dumbstruck. His gesture had stunned me, it wasn't bad, but it wasn't something I was used to, his nonchalance and carefree attitude had surprised me and his actions had caused all the blood to rush to my face.

'Why did he do that? Was it common? Was it him only being friendly? Did I have to reciprocate his actions? I hope not? Why would he...?'

My mind raced as I stood transfixed at the place too shocked to even speak, and he continued to stand with my hands in his.

"Ahhhmm."

Belikov cleared his throat, snapping me back to the present, as I suddenly withdrew my hand from Adrians.

Adrian' s smile only grew wider.

"Ahhhh, another stiff I see."

He commented, angering me, but cov-man beat me at chastising him.

"Its derogatory to abnegation initiates, I would request you, Mr. Ivashkov, to refrain from calling people names."

"As you say leader! Until then Belikov, Rose!"

Said Adrian bidding us goodbye.

The rest has remained eerily quiet throughout the exchange.

"Yes, you can end up factionless, but if you work hard through the initiation, you can save yourselves from the fate."

Stated Belikov, completing his previously interrupted words, benefiting from the silence and effectively breaking it.

I couldn't place my finger on it, but something in the stoic leaders form had faltered as he mentioned the factionless.

Turning around, he leaded us towards the door and through the stairs, that opened into a huge and fairly crowded corridor, rather an open area.

"This is the pit, your home for the next three months or more... That is the Chasm, he said pointing towards a huge water fall like structure...and that..."

He continued pointing out and naming , various corridors and structures along our way.

The place was old and most of it was roughly, half or fully constructed, despite which it was strong and well maintained, he mentioned.

Of all locations, what stuck in my mind was that of the gym.

The dauntless compound was a multi-leveled /multi-floored structure unlike abnegations and well spread out, the gym was on the second floor, there were three gyms and we had been instructed to report to gym 2 at eight,the next morning .

It was on the third floor that he left us in a huge room, furnished like a bunker, with several beds arranged in two neat rows .

"This is your temporary residence, the basic necessities are to be collected from the distribution counter on level five.More of your questions would be answered tomorrow morning.

I'll leave you all here, you have the rest of the day free, adjust yourselves and settle in, reporting time is 8 for tomorrow morning, gym 2."

He said leaving me.. us in the room to fend for ourselves and him leaving brought back all the discomfort that had been held at bay for so long.

'A new place. A new person. A new identity. A new faction.'

The reality came crashing down upon me.

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I'm alive and back with another chapter. Hope you enjoyed this one. Let me know in the comments below. Hope you have a great day ahead!