CHAPTER 1: How Dauntless Lost The Sunlight

"Second jumper, Daisy Moore."

"Did someone push you, Sunshine?"

"No, I was about to push you though, Champ."

"The name's Eric. Eric Coulter."

"Duly noted."

Eric Coulter, A.K.A Champ, was the first one to jump off a building to get into Hauntless. Daisy Moore or Sunshine as Eric calls her was the second one to jump. Today the city held the choosing ceremony, everyone this year has now chosen a faction they believe they belong to. They chose Dauntless, they weren't Dauntless-born but for reasons unknown to everyone but themselves they chose to leave home for a lifetime in Dauntless. Daisy is wearing a bright yellow sundress and brown sandals with her hair in a now very loose braid. Eric's wearing a blue suit that has a little dirt on it from jumping and his wild hair is slick back. It was clear which faction they came from, she's from Amity and him, Erudite. A very young black man helped them out of the net once they jumped, there are a few other people around the room but they didn't seem as important as the man in front of them. They look at one another challengingly but don't say anything until they see the next initiate fall. Once he hits the net he bounces a little before the man helps him down. It's a boy from Abnegation making the two roll their eyes, he looks around him while the black man asks.

"Your name is?"

"Uh… It's…"

"If you don't like it, pick another name. Pick wisely because this is the only time you can."

"It's… Four. Four's my name."

"Third jumper, Four!"

"Why didn't you just be the fourth jumper." Eric snorts while folding his arms, "Or call yourself three, Stiff."

"What's your real name?" Daisy then asks while they hear another guy falling into the net, "Aren't you proud of your birth name?"

"My real name IS Four." He spits out without looking at the two, "What's yours anyway?"

"Sunshine."

"No!" Daisy snaps before shoving Eric annoyed, "It's Daisy Moore. What's your last name?"

"Don't have one."

Four answers while looking at the initiates fall one by one until they are all down here. Eric and Daisy send each other a curious look before going back to a nasty glare. Once everyone is in the room they count roughly 50 initiates. Half of them are Dauntless-born and the other half is transfers. She's the only one from Amity, a handful are from Abnegation, a couple is from Candor, the rest are from Erudite which is where Eric's from. As they look around most of the Dauntless-born look rather rough, Eric is clearly the roughest looking out of all the transfers. Daisy doesn't look much of a threat from the look of her body but the second you see her face you know she's here to kill. No one in Amity looks like they have the need to fight, she does. They all seem to want peace, not Daisy, she looks like she's built from heavy flames. It makes them all wonder how Amity could raise a girl like her on their peaceful little farm. Eric's body looks as if he's been in Dauntless since birth but his expressions look as if he could possibly be from Erudite. The black man looks at the two of them in the middle of all the initiates and sees something behind their eyes he hasn't seen in a while. Making a mental note of it he then announces to the class.

"My name is Max, I'll be your trainer for the next few weeks. This will be my last year training initiates until I'm a leader here in Dauntless."

Eric and Daisy smirk at his words, it's clear they both plan to become a leader here. Which is maybe why Max saw the fire in their eyes that he doesn't see in the rest of the class. They look different from the rest of the class, besides wearing their former faction clothes. They look ready to do everything they can to get what they want. They watch the others around them like their nothing unless they're a threat to them. It seems clear to the two that the only threats they see are each other. The only thing that makes them look Dauntless is their expressions, their wardrobe and hair definitely look like their former factions. Max says one last thing that makes everyone in the room worried in fear beside Sunshine and Champ.

"Since this is the last time I train Initiates the next few weeks I will be rougher with you guys than I was with any of my previous classes. If you're scared, get out now. I don't have time for failures. I train true Dauntless and if you're not really one of us then don't waste my time."

Eric Coulter and Daisy Moore grin with excitement without noticing Four besides them looking rather ready to start. The three didn't know it now but they soon will find out they aren't competing with everyone in the class. Their only competition is the three of them.

"Here's the report you wanted. Don't forget the meeting tomorrow at eight."

"Can't wait."

Snapping at one of the Dauntless leaders and his former trainer, Max, Eric keeps typing on his laptop in his office. Max rolls his eyes at him before setting the files down and looking around his office. It's a mess, it's been a mess for years but it wasn't always. His office is pretty big, Eric is one of the main leaders after all. One wall is full of floor length windows, another side is filled with shelves covered in books, files and more. In one corner are boxes for what Max can only believe to be more files. Eric's desk is somewhat in the middle of his office, the desk has books and electronics all around it on the floor. The desk itself it the only thing in the room that seems clean and well kept. Eric has been a leader for years now, Max trained him to be a leader, not even a year after he joined Dauntless. In the past decade on three people from Dauntless became leaders, two of them are Eric and Max. That's how hard it was to become one.

"I'll see you tomorrow then." Max nods his head with his hand going into his pockets on his way out, "Get some sleep tonight. We don't need to on the verge of passing out in the meeting tomorrow."

"Noted. Bye."

Eric mumbles as if he's not even acknowledging Max, this only makes Max roll his eyes and leave the office completely. At the moment Eric was emailing each faction about their security while he was getting emails from Erudite courtesy by Jeanine Matthews. Once done with the emails and ignoring Jeanine's email he goes to the files Max gave him. Jeanine was always requesting things from him and his faction, it was always about the same things. The factionless and Divergents. Opening the files it's a report from two and half years ago, it's about an outburst by the factionless. He needed to make another copy of it to send to Jeanine, she's been wanting this file for months but he has gotten around to do it. More like he didn't want to get around to it from what he'll see inside the file. When the file is laid out open to him the first thing he sees is an old familiar face.

The first paper he sees has a picture of a woman, it's one of the former leaders of Dauntless. She's not smiling, more like smirking in the picture, it's the photo idea Dauntless has of her. The file behind it says all the basic information about her background. It has her age, weight, height, her qualifications, her former faction before Dauntless which was Amity, and when she became a leader. At the bottom of the page is it's written in his handwriting, DISAPPEARED DURING BATTLE WITH THE FACTIONLESS. BODY UNFOUND. He sighs at he looks at the words intently, he could still remember the day he had to write that like it was yesterday. At the top of the file is her name in bold letters. DAISY MOORE, DAUNTLESS LEADER. He clenches the page as he stares at the picture. Memories of all sorts cross his mind while looking at the photo. Not a second later he faxes it to Erudite before putting the file in a box labeled, Sunshine.

"Hey, you got a second?"

"No."

"Come on." Four, a trainer for initiates, comes into the office with a few papers, "I just need you to look over the names and scores for them."

"Why?" Eric spits out while turning away from the box to his least favorite person, "I don't train initiates anymore."

"Because two of the students are tied." Four explains while handing him the papers, "I need a second opinion and you're the only one still awake."

"I'll cover it tomorrow." Eric snaps while throwing the pages on his desk, "You can leave now."

"Just do it by tomorrow afternoon." He glances at the box that says Sunshine and a pained expression forms, "... I need to document them by then."

"Fine." Eric then shoves him out of his office without a thought, "You're dismissed."

He turns back around to grab his jacket but not before glancing at the box he had just opened. The box is filled with reports, photos, and files. It's everything that has to do with Daisy Moore, everything in his office that is about her is in this box. It's sitting by his desk collecting dust but he doesn't have to nerve to throw it out even when it's been useless for almost three years now. There are photos in it that are of her in dauntless and places she might have disappeared to. Everyone report in there is about people who thought they were what happened to her or saw where she left. The files are everything Dauntless has on file about her. None of them mattered though, none of it helped him find her. Odds are she's been dead, they never found her body so no one was sure of it. She's become quite a story in Dauntless because of it, people know her more from the bedtime stories than when she was actually leading dauntless. He's heard the stories, no one bothered actually telling him in fear and other knew better not to bring up her name in front of him. But he knows what people say, what people call her. She's the lost Sunlight.

Parents would tell stories about her to their kids, children always asked about her since she's in their school books. The books tell the students how she was the first Amity to transfer to Dauntless, how she was ranked first in her class. They'll read about how only a few months later after initiation she trained to be a leader. She was a leader for six years until one day a battle broke out in the fields of Amity. The Factionless were stealing crops and other things from Amity. They notified Dauntless immediately for help and Daisy Moore came to help. The books say she took a group of well-trained soldiers out to end the battle and died fighting. That's not how the bedtime stories are told about her though, the stories are much different.

The story is called, How Dauntless Lost The Sunlight. People say when Daisy came to Dauntless she brought the sunshine from Amity with her. Her skin was so bright and clear that she lit up any room in Dauntless. Her smile was warm as a summer's day and her heart full of fire and passion like the sun itself. She was as sweet as Amity can be at times but was also harsh and rough like Dauntless. She was top of her class by being both Dauntless and Amity, soft yet harsh. She became one of the most selfless leaders in Dauntless, she was loved by all of them despite her anger a brutality because she showed moments of love and care. When war broke out in Amity she was the first one to go to them since it was her childhood home. When she left she took the Sunlight from Dauntless, everyone there waited for her to come back to light up the faction once again. She never did though, her or the sunlight never returned. Once she had saved Amity she disappeared. People say she died on during battle, then others believe she was taken by the factionless, a few even think she decided she's hiding at Amity for the rest of her days. The stories always end the same way, however. It ends with the people in Dauntless waiting for someone to return the sunshine, to return Daisy.

"You're doing it wrong, Sunshine."

"Fuck off, no I'm not."

"You are too."

Eric snorts while setting down his gun and going behind her. The class of initiates is out on the roof of a building learning how to shoot long distances. Max, their trainer, is on the other side of the building showing a handful of kids how to hold the gun properly. Most of them haven't even learned how to shoot close distance. Only five of the students were shooting long distance, that included Eric, Daisy, and Four. The three of them quickly move on from shooting four yards away to longer distances since they pick up what Max say pretty quickly. However, Max hasn't had time to show Daisy how to shoot long distance since most of the class couldn't even hold a gun right. Daisy had decided quickly that once she's a leader she's going to make sure there is more than one trainer during initiation. Max has no time to teach all the kids, especially when half of them don't listen to him correctly. When Eric moves closely behind Daisy she stiffen before turning and glaring at him.

"And what do you think you're doing, Champ?"

"I'm throwing you a bone, so shut up." Eric grins dangerously while wrapping his arms around her to hold her wrists, "Keep both eyes open when you shoot."

"I'm not an idiot." She snaps while trying to put some distance between them, "Know how to shoot a motherfucking gun."

"Without aiming correctly it's doesn't matter."

Eric mumbles into her ear while coming closer to her from behind. She tenses from how close he is but doesn't move away from him like she did before. Eric's head is right beside hers as he helps her aim at the target. His stiff chest is against her back with his thick arms around her told her wrists. Hating how he's acting like the trainer she tries to act like she's showing this herself. If she could find any other way to master long range shooting then she would do it in a heartbeat. She needs to learn this so she wouldn't be behind Four and Eric. Max doesn't even notice Eric helping from yelling his heart out at the other initiates for their stupidity. Four looks at the two close together before rolling his eyes and shaking his head, every time he saw them they were either arguing or secretly help each other.

At the beginning of their training, Eric and Daisy would constantly challenge one another for first ranking. They would only one to fight and compare themselves to each other since they were in the top five since the beginning. As weeks past, however, Four noticed that when one was struggling to be in the top three the other would help them slightly. It's as if the challenge of being ranked first isn't as fun if it not between the two of them. After they helped one another they go back to saying they are better than the other and pick another fight. When Four tried to break the fight they would start yelling at him instead of each other. He didn't dare help out Eric but when he would try to help Daisy Eric would get in the way and help her instead. It's clear Eric didn't like anyone around Daisy beside him but she didn't notice.

"Stiffen your arms but relax the rest of your body." Eric orders while moving his hands to hers holding the gun, "Steady your hands."

"That's what I been doing!"

"Stay like that until after you shoot."

Not wanting to do what he says she does it anyway and it hits the center of the target. She lights up instantly since she hasn't been able to do that for the last hour. He moves her with his body to aim at the next one. Once she shoots that one they move to the next one and then the next until he finally releases her. His hands slowly move down to her waist to hold as she continues to shoot. When he's sure she can do it on her own he moves his hands off her completely but not before lingering on hand on her lower back. She hits one on her own and sighs in relief that she's able to do it. Eric smirks when seeing her determinedly shoot herself before going back to his gun beside her. When he gets in formation she turns to look at him and nods shortly at him with no smile but with a light in her eyes. He raises a single eyebrow at her before they both return to training. They continue to shoot for half an hour until Max come behind the three and nod in approval.

"Good job. You three will move to the next stage…. Daisy, did I show you hot to shoot long distance yet?"

"Well, you see..." Daisy puts her gun down and turns to look at Eric embarrassedly, "Actually-"

"She learned to at Amity." Eric speaks up before she can finish, "Some of the guys there know how to."

Eyes bugging out of her head Sunshine looks at Eric is a surprised expression. Why wouldn't he tell Max he taught her? He would get more points for doing what he did and he would also be able to brag more about it. Instead, he lies to Max, she has no clue on why he would though. He's always tried to have one up on her just like she did with him. This would be a perfect time. Four raises an eyebrow from hearing his lie but doesn't say anything about it. He's surprised Eric did that but it wasn't farfetched. Four notices the way Eric looks at her when she's not looking and the way he taunts her almost flirty like. Nod raises an eyebrow impressed before looking at the three and suggesting.

"Clean up here and I'm moving you to the next station."

Once Max goes back to the rest of the students Daisy comes up to Eric and shoves him. She looks rather pissed from what he did. He doesn't move from her shove, he simply stands their unfazed. This only makes her try to shove him again but this time he grabs her wrist when pushes him the second time. He steps closer to her with his hands wrapped around her wrist when he doesn't move Daisy looks up at him and asks clearly annoyed.

"Why didn't you tell him the truth? I would think you want the extra points."

"When I beat you it's not going to be because I was kissing up to Max." Eric smirks dangerously while coming impossible closer and whispering in her eye, "It's going to be because I'm better than you."

"Good luck with that, Champ. You're going to need to beat me."

Walking out of his office Eric throws on his jacket and head down the hall. A few drunken members see him walking causing them to sway to the opposite side of the hall. They try to seem less drunk as they pass him and don't dare look his direction. Since Daisy disappeared less and fewer people have been able to relax near him. Only a few have the courage to look him in the eyes and even few actually speak words to him. Before Daisy disappeared people had the guts to talk, look and even insult him since Daisy was always there to unconsciously make sure nothing existed between Eric and someone. When she did die everything changed, he was more cruel, rough and brutal than ever before until one day people just forgot he ever had a caring side of him. A few remember though, a few remember the days Daisy was around. Going into the elevator he comes face to face with his second favorite person, Tris Prior.

She's standing in the elevator awkwardly when seeing Eric come in. Moving quickly to the other side he's going to she looks down at the ground. He was one of his trainers during initiation, along with Daisy and her current boyfriend Four. When she was in initiation Eric passed a rule where if you weren't ranked high enough you'd be factionless. Daisy didn't like it but she agreed with it since too many people came who didn't offer any quality skills for Dauntless. Fortunately, she passed and later on publicly starting dating four. When Tris became an official Dauntless member her and Daisy close friends, along with a girl named Christina and Four. Eric never likes Daisy hanging out with them but he didn't ever have a say in the matter. Christina and Tris use to be brave enough to talk to him when Daisy was around but then she died they didn't even look his way. Every time he sees them he remembers Daisy and his mood instantly gets ruined. They wait in silence until the elevator stops and the doors open. That's when Tris sprints out from not wanting to be that close to Eric. He rolls his eyes while the elevator doors shut once again.

When it opens again it's on his floor, only the leaders of dauntless and other faction leaders sleep on this floor. The first rooms are for other faction leaders when they come to visit. The further down you go is where the leaders of Dauntless live. Reaching his door he takes out his key card and swipes it for the door to unlock. Before he heads in he glances the door near his on the left side. That was once Daisy's apartment, it has dead daisy flowers in front of the door. Four and Max would put a Daisy in front of it once a month, Eric didn't have the heart to do the same. Most of her things are out of the apartment but there are still a few boxes in it that is the definition of her. Eric wouldn't allow anyone to live in the apartment and wouldn't let them sell the last of her things. To him having a few things left of her in that apartment made him feel like she wasn't truly gone. No one dared question his actions either so they're still in that room collecting dust. Taking a deep breath he finally opens his door and goes inside pretending it didn't still sting when he looks at her front door.

"Do you see that?"

"See what?"

"There's someone coming toward the wall."

"At this time of night?" A Dauntless guard leader then yells, "Shine a light over there! It might be an attack!"

A light turns on and they move it to the figure moving in the high grass. It appears to be a person in black. As they look closer they realize it's a woman walking like she about to pass out from exhaustion. A guard leader calls a few men to go outside and check it out, while everyone aims their weapons at the woman. She falls a few times and it seems to be impossible for her to get up but somehow she manages. The men on the wall see a few guards head toward her with flashlights on and guns at the ready. As the men get closer to her they begin to see more of her than before. She's covered in blood and mud, they aren't sure if the blood is hers or not. Her hair is long and untamed in her face so they aren't able to identify her, it seems as if it hasn't been brushed in months. Her clothes are black making them think she might be from Dauntless. One of the guards stops walking when he sees the tattoos on her neck.

"She has the Dauntless leader symbols on her neck."

"Do you think…" Will, one of Daisy Moore's passed initiates, blurts out loud, "It's maybe-"

"No." One of the guards snaps quickly, "I know what you're thinking and it's not possible."

When the guards get closer to her she raises her head to see where the light is coming from. A sigh of relief comes out of her as she stops walking and waves her arms in surrender. It's Dauntless members, tears coming involuntarily out of her eyes. They stop when they believe to be close enough to her. When they look at her this time they know the blood is her own. How was she able to walk all the way over here with that much blood coming out? Where did she even come from? Her clothes are ripped and wanting to fall off her body. Trying to stand up straight causes her pain and forces her to fall to her knees once again. It takes her a moment to steady herself on her knees but once she does she coughs out in the weakest voice anyone has ever heard.

"Don't shoot- I'm unarmed. Please, don't shoot."

The woman is fighting so hard to stay away, it's clear she's lost a lot of blood. How she's standing they don't know. They didn't know but she's been spending the last few days to be right where she is. The woman has been threatened, tortured, tested until a few days ago when she found a way out of the hell she's been living in. She's spent months wanting to just end it all, to end her life for good. She didn't see what the point was of living anymore but a face in the back in her mind kept her going. The face wore a snarl for a smile and glaring eyes with a piercing right about the eyebrow. Thinking of the face one more time she takes a deep breath and tries hard to stay awake.

"Who are you?" A man shouts at her without lowering his weapon, "What faction do you belong to? Are you factionless?"

"Dauntless." She croaks out while trying so hard to stay standing, "I'm Moore… Daisy. Daisy Moore. A leader of…"

Not being able to finish her sentence she falls to her side emotionless, this time she doesn't move to stand up again. Some of the soldiers look around in confusion about who she is and the others panic from realization. Will's eyes go wide and without a thought, he drops his weapon and sprints to her. Another one gets on his radio and begins spitting out commands. He kneels down beside her and pushed her wild hair out of her face. Her face is covered in cuts and bruises, her lip is busted open. How she was able to stand seconds ago is a miracle to him. Will looks passed the cuts and bruises, looking at her closely he knows who's exactly she is. She's one of his trainers and an old friend, tears threaten to come out of his eyes from the sight of her. Will then looks up and yells at the patrol guards while shouting frantically.

"It's Daisy Moore! Someone help me! She's a Dauntless leader! Notify Dauntless immediately and get mechanical care here at once."

"It can't be. She's died years ago."

"She only disappeared."

"How do you know it's actually her?"

"Guys, it's fucking Daisy! Her, Eric and Four trained me during initiation." Will yells at them for their stupidity and when no one moves to help him he declares, "Help me! I will not hesitate to get Eric Coulter and make sure all of you are factionless by tomorrow."

"We need back up down here now. We found her. The former Dauntless leader, Daisy Moore." The guard on the radio announces, "Tell Eric Coulter, he's going to want to be here but we need medical attention stat."

"God…" A guard comes to stand beside her, "Where has she been for two and a half years?"

"Who cares." Will snaps while inspecting her wounds, "She's back now."

He checks to make sure she's still breathing before pulling her close to his body. Another guard helps him pick her up and carry her to the wall. The rest of the guards aim their guns out in the open in case anyone surprises them. Daisy is limp in the men's arms, her eyes are shut and her breathing is low. All that matters is that she's breathing, now all they need is to get her back alive. So many questions go to the men's head on how it's possible she's alive. They were told she was dead from battle. The only sane one in the group is Will, his main focus is on keeping her alive. He remembers seeing her training as hard as she could, he can picture the days where she dragged him to a bar. If he didn't bring her back then he failed Dauntless. She's a leader no matter how long she has been gone. Slipping out their grasps Daisy falls onto the ground with a hard thud causing her to groan in pain. The guard who let her slip curses and kneels down grab her again. Her eyes are closed as she whimpers from the firing pain in her body but she manages to softly grasp Will's shirt as he tries to pull her back up.

"Eric…" She whispers while pulling pointlessly at Will's shirt, "Get Eric. I need Eric."

"Eric, who?" A random guard asks in shock as he tries to keep up with everyone running to the wall, "Eric Coulter? Why the hell would she want Eric Coulter?

"The moment I know you're safe, I'll get him." Will pushes her hair out of her face again to help keep her awake while ignoring everyone around him, "I promise. I'll personally tell him but I need you to stay alive a little longer."

"Okay…I can do that." She cries out as they pull her back to her feet, "Just get me, Eric Coulter."

"I will. It's going to be okay. You're safe now."

With that promise from Will the Dauntless leader lets her body finally give out. She made it, she made it back. Daisy's going to see Eric again, she's going to be able to look at his actual face and not imagine it. His voice won't be in her head this time, it will be heard from her ears. She's going to get to hug Tris and Christina again. Four's smile won't be made up, it'll be in front of her this time. That's if she makes it back to Dauntless alive.