A/N: Well, here goes nothing..! The very first chapter of my story, the very first publishing ever! I'm so excited! Please forgive me for any grammar or spelling mistakes. English is not my native language, but I'll try my best.

Disclaimer: of course I do not own any of the (fabulous) character's from Divergent! None of it is mine, except for my original parts of the plot and of course... Jada Torres! She is completely mine. I hope you guys like her and the story, have fun reading. I hope to update regularly, since the story is almost complete.

Chapter 1

~ 17 years before ~

Loud and piercing cries disturbed the normally so peaceful atmosphere in one of the blocks of cottages in Amity. Passing men threw a glance at the house where the sounds were coming from, while walking ahead with their harvested crops for the day. The passing women stopped their soft and cheerful singing for a second and shared a happy, knowing smile with each other.

Inside that cottage, a panting young woman let out another anguished scream, before she fell back against her pillow. She was pale as a ghost and thick droplets of sweat covered her face and chest. Her long dark brown hair sticking to the side of her face.

"Make it stop, Sarah! Please... Make it stop, I can't take it anymore!" The elder woman winced visibly at the sight of the young woman, who's face was contorted by her agonizing pain. "You can do this, Olivia! Don't give up now, sweety. You are almost there, just one more push!" She encouraged the woman who was about to give birth. A very long and painful birth one might add, considering the Amity only believed in the pure and natural way to deliver their babies.

Olivia got to experience that 'wonderful' point of view for the last fifteen hours and it was absolutely excruciating. She threw her only companion in the cottage an evil glare, before another contraction interrupted her murderous – and not so Amity-like – thoughts. The sound that escaped her lips during the following wave of the contraction must have reached the cottages two blocks away. But soon, the agonizing scream was replaced with a whole new sort of sounds. The soft and slightly hoarse wailing cries of a newborn baby.

"You did it, sweety! You did it... Say hello to your beautiful baby girl!" Sarah picked the baby up and placed the still in blood covered infant on her mother's chest. Sarah smiled widely, like an Amity high on peace serum, at the sight of the beautiful and wailing baby.

A few tears run down Olivia's face as she cradled her precious baby tightly to her chest. While still panting, a broad smile was thrown at her friend, all previous thoughts forgotten. Despite everything that she had been through, she was never happier then in this exact moment. Sarah crawled next to Olivia on the bed and wiped her forehead with a wet washcloth. "She's absolutely perfect and she already has such beautiful and dark hair," Sarah gushed over the baby. "Have you picked a name for her yet?" Olivia nodded with her eyes closed. "Her name is Jada", she mumbled softly. Sarah grinned at the sight of the blissful expression on her friends face, she looked absolutely content. But it was only mere seconds later that her eye was drawn to the dark stain in the sheets. A huge dark red stain, right between Olivia's legs. Sarah shot up from the bed and wildly pulled at the sheets to see where it came from. Her eyes widened and her breath stocked in her chest. She grabbed the still peaceful face of her friend and slapped her roughly against her cheek. "No... no..., Olivia! Olivia?! Nooo... nooo, this can't be happening... this can't be happening! Wake up! Wake up, Olivia!"

~ Present day ~

"You crazy bitch! You broke my nose!" The boy sneered while grabbing onto his bleeding nose with both hands, clearly in a lot of pain. His angry friends surrounded him and took him away to the other side of the hallway, all the while yelling spiteful insults at the furious girl who was still held back by a young male. A few seconds passed, while the girl kept panting and struggled to break free. "Let me go, Uri! Now!" She barked. The young dark male with buzzed black hair grunted in protest, but let his arm slip away from her. He knew that if she really tried, he couldn't hold her much longer anyway.

He took a step back while the girl crashed into the hallway floor on her knees and grabbed the broken necklace in front of her. She took it roughly of the floor and quickly stood up again, putting the necklace in the front pocket of her black hoodie before she rubbed her now throbbing hand on her black leather pants. "What the fuck, Jade! I know that fucker deserved it, but you know better than to pull something like this again! You're gonna get into serious trouble." Uriah sighed and pulled the girl at her arm towards him. Her dark brown eyes were still spitting fire, but the rest of her face softened a bit at the sight of his worried face and those of her friends that gathered behind them by now. Jada glanced over at them and grabbed Uriah's shoulder with her undamaged hand. "Don't worry brother, I can handle myself," she softly spoke before she planted a sloppy kiss on his cheek and clapped his shoulder. Uriah rolled his eyes and watched her walk over to the other two girls of their group. They all turned to leave for the next class when loud thumping sounds of footsteps in the hallway made them stop in the process. "JADA TORRES!" The bouldering words didn't sound very promising. Jada eyed her brother wearily, before sneaking a peak at the tomato-red face of principle Ferguson. Next to him stood that filthy piece of Candor-shit and his fucking annoying groupies. Jada grinned at the sight of Peter's now swollen nose and the dried-up blood above his lips. Principle Ferguson unfortunately didn't look so amused. "In my office, NOW!"

~ Max' POV ~

"Sir, I'm sorry to disturb, but there's a phone call for you. Principal Ferguson from the school. He says it's important." Both men looked up at the leadership assistant that barged into the office. It was Hetty, a middle aged woman that had been working there for as long as anybody could remember. The dark, older man, that was sitting behind the desk sighed deeply. "You can put the call through to my cell, Hetty." The woman nodded curtly, before she walked back out and closed the door behind her. The younger, blond male that sat in front of the desk groaned annoyed. "Just tell that idiot to handle his own shit, Max! He's fucking calling us every week by now!"

The dark male brushed his hands over his short ring beard while he leaned back in his chair, not responding to the complaint. His phone started ringing and he picked it up. "Yes put him through, thank you Hetty." The man put the phone on speaker and placed it in front of him on the desk.

"Max Davis speaking." "This is principal Ferguson from the Chicago Middle School. Again, I might add... I'm afraid I had to suspend one of your dependants today." Max groaned under his breath. "I'm sorry to hear about that, principal Ferguson. But why are you calling me? Our assistants handle those kind of things, you know that." "Because it's Jada Torres, sir." Max rubbed his hands over his eyes, letting out a deep sigh. The blond male raised his eyebrows at the reaction of the dark male. "I see." "Frankly, she's impossible to deal with, sir. She's always smart-mouthing her teachers and you know she's been in and out of fights the last few years. Today she even broke the nose of one of her fellow students. We can't handle her anymore. There's only a few more weeks left until her graduation and I don't want her back. She's suspended for the rest of the year." The blond male that was listening in on the talk couldn't help the gloating smirk that appeared on his lips. He found it absolutely hilarious that the principal whined like a pathetic little bitch, all over some young Dauntless girl.

"Thanks for informing me, principal Ferguson. I'll deal with it. So you can go back to kiss some Candor asses again," he barked at the phone. They heard the other male take in a sharp breath. "Sir! How..." "Because it's always a Candor, isn't it?" Max retorted quickly. The principal just huffed a last time, before Max swiped at the screen to end the phone call. "Goddammit! Just a few more weeks... why the hell can't she just put up with it a little while longer! Her mother's going to have a fit about this..," Max complained out loud, while dialing another number. "Max?" "Zeke, I need you to go pick up your sister from school. She's suspended for the rest of the year." The male on the other line groaned loudly. "What the fuck is it this time?!" "I don't know, you should ask her. Your mother is home, so just make sure you drop her off at the apartment, alright?" "Yeah, I will. Thanks, Max." The dark male put his phone to the side and leaned back in his chair, taking a deep breath to calm himself down.

"What's the deal with her? I know we've received many complaints from the school about her, but I can't remember her causing trouble inside the faction. Unlike her brothers, that is...". The blond man asked curiously. Max sighed again, clearly still frustrated by the phone call. "It's complicated, Eric. I've seen her grow up into a great girl. She has a lot of potential, but that hotheaded temper of her always gets her into trouble. She's exactly like her father in that regard." "Trevor Torres." Eric stated. Max nodded. "He was one of my best friends, you know. The youngest leader we had at that time. Just about your age now. He was brave, courageous. And a fucking hothead." The dark male smirked while reminiscing. "You've probably heard he and Isaac Pedrad, the father of Zeke and Uriah, gave their life to save their men. I was close with both of them. It's such a shame they aren't here anymore. But mark my words Coulter, Jada Torres is also going to be a force to be reckoned with."

Jada stood in the door opening of the train cart, holding on to one of the handles. Her long and wavy dark brown hair fluttered on her back because of the wind. Riding on the train always gave her a exhilarating feeling. Seeing the landscape pass by. The wind rushing against her face. It always brought on a feeling of freedom and excitement for the young female. But the penetrating look of the other current passenger prevented her to truly enjoy her train ride back to the Dauntless compound this afternoon. Well, at least he was silent now, she mused. Definitely a improvement from the earful she had gotten at the beginning of their journey back.

Several minutes later the train reached the platform on top of one of the Dauntless buildings. Jada prepared herself to jump, but she was grabbed by her wrist and forced to jump together with the other passenger. Once they stood on the concrete platform, Jada scowled and rolled her eyes. "What the fuck Zeke! You think I'm gonna run away or something?" The dark male scowled right back at her and tightened his grip on her wrist. "With you...I never know," he retorted. Without releasing her wrist, he suddenly wrapped his arms around the smaller girl and laid his chin on top of her head. While he held her tightly, he felt the tension leaving her body. Jada also wrapped her loose arm around his waist and let a sigh escape. "I do love you, you know," Zeke mumbled. "Yeah, yeah, I know", Jada answered, still somewhat annoyed. "Alright, only one more angry lecture to go. Come on, I'll walk you home before I have to get back to work. Off to Mama Bear!" Zeke grinned and shoved Jada in front of him to the grey steel entrance. Jada closed her eyes, threw her head back and grumbled loudly. 'Mama Bear' was not a pleasant sight when she was angry.

Jada laid on the bed in her room. A typical Dauntless room of moderate size, with some sort of beige colored walls and all black furniture. On one of the walls was a large mirror, that made the room optically larger. Uri and Zeke called that thing her window, for the lack of an actual window in her room. They always joked that her view was the best when one of them stood in front of the mirror, obviously praising their own good looks. But Jada didn't mind the absence of a window at all, she felt comfortable and save in her own earthy and cave-like room. She threw a look at her desk. On the right side of it stood a couple of frames with pictures of her family and friends. Smartphones were only available to the highest ranked members, so photographs were rare in Dauntless. Jada treasured hers deeply, most of them made by Zeke since he had a phone as a patrol squad leader. But there was one picture that was made before Zeke was even born. A picture of a man in his twenties, with short and wavy brown hair and strikingly green eyes. It was her father, Trevor Torres. A legend within the faction and the youngest leader at that time, or so Jada was told. She never got to know her father. The only memory she could recollect was a moment when she was being cradled on his lap and he called her his little princess. She remembered his distinct smell of some sort of cologne, mixed with cigarette smoke. He didn't smile on the picture, but Jada found him to be rather intriguing with his slightly tinted skin. She must have gotten most of her looks of her father, with her similar pronounced cheekbones and wavy dark brown hair. But she had a much fairer skin tone, although not as pale as the most of the white people in Dauntless. And her eyes were dark brown, rather dull if she compared it to her father's green eyes on the picture. But she couldn't even remember how he looked like in real life.

It didn't matter anyway, because her father died when she was only three years old. In those days there was a heavy war going on against rebellious factionless. All of Dauntless' available men and women were assigned to participate in patrolling and guarding the city, including the leaders. Jada's father oversaw the elite patrolsquad of his best friend, squad leader Isaac Pedrad. Jada was told that their squad was ambushed during one of the patrols and found themselves in an firefight with an overpowering number of factionless. Trevor Torres and Isaac Pedrad gave their life that day, so that the rest of their squad could escape and safely return home to the Dauntless compound. Hana Pedrad lost her husband and had to raise their two boys, Uriah and Zeke, alone. Jada became an orphan, because her mother had died when she gave birth to her. She had no other family members left in Dauntless. But despite her grief and hard financial situation, Hana Pedrad took Jada in and raised her as one of her own. Hana made Jada keep her last name though, in remembrance to her father. But Jada also very much felt like a Pedrad. She loved her mother dearly and even the two knuckleheads, that had quickly became her brothers in every meaning of the word.

Jada sighed and took a quick glance at the picture of her father. She wasn't sad about him, because how could you miss someone when you never even knew him? Sadness and grief were pointless really, cause nothing could change what has happened. But that didn't mean that she wasn't angry. Angry about how unfair life could be and really angry about those fucking factionless that killed her father and the father of her brothers.

All the older Dauntless members still remembered Trevor Torres and his final act of braveness. Jada was proud of him and she wanted to keep the picture as a reminder. At that thought her hand slipped inside of her hoodie and she took the broken necklace out of the pocket. It was a silver necklace, though not so shiny anymore. There was a silver pendant hanging on it, with an engraving of some sort of black tribal star figure with Dauntless flames in it. Jada loved the pendant. Not only because of the pretty figure, but mostly because it had belonged to her mother. To her birth mother to be exact and Jada was glad to have something from her. But it would've also been nice if her father had shared any other things or information about her mother. Like how she looked like, or her name for instance. Jada snorted at her own sarcastic thought. No point on dwelling on it now.

She kept moving the pendant between her fingers, staring at it. Peter had provoked her today at school, but what else was new. The guy was a son of a bitch, whose only purpose in life was to bully other people. Most of their schoolmates fled away if Peter picked on them. Especially those timid Stiffs. But Jada refused to take even one step aside for that scumbag. No, she absolutely relished in bringing Peter down. And so she did, every time Peter harassed her or one of her friends. She'd beaten the living daylight out of him, every chance she got. At those times she saw red and let all of her pent up aggression come out. Today was the same, when Peter picked a fight and snatched her necklace of her neck. As soon as the silver clinked on the floor of the hallway in the school, all hell broke loose. Jada jumped on top of Peter and punched him hard in his face, cracking his nose. She couldn't help but grin again at the memory. He had punched her back in the ribs, but not hard enough to get her off of him. Not even Peter's minions dared to touch her in her crazy frenzy. Uriah had to pull her off to stop the fight. Normally her brother would have gladly participated in the fight, but he had been right to – at least try – to keep her out of trouble. Because she had been a regular visitor of the principals office these last few years. After every talk about her bad behavior of 'the day', principal Ferguson always called to the Dauntless Leadership department and screeched to someone unfortunate to pick up the phone to 'collect their devil's child'. More often then not, it was Zeke who had to pick her up and accompany her back to the compound, because her mother worked long shifts as a fence guard and was away from home most of the time. It had become a routine by now. The rest of such days she was grounded, to cool off. But the following day she normally joined her loud Dauntless friends again, hopping on the train to the school in the middle of the city.

Well, it looked like her schooldays were now definitely over though. Principal Ferguson was furious with her after the stunt she pulled today and kept yelling shit about the complaints he was sure to receive from Peter's parents from Candor. He suspended her for the rest of the school year, which was about to end in four weeks anyway. Jada shrugged at the thought. She didn't care about it too much, it was her last year in school anyway. In a couple of weeks they had to take the aptitude test and the day after that was the Choosing ceremony. She was in the top of her class and the exams were already over and done with, so it wasn't like she had to worry about not graduating. Not that the Dauntless cared much about graduating to begin with. But unfortunately, her mother didn't share that Dauntless moral, nor Jada's carefree attitude about it. No... Hana Pedrad was absolutely livid when she found out about Jada's suspension. And although Hana was the most caring and loving mother, when she was angry she was a force to be reckoned with. 'Mama bear', as the siblings called her teasingly, had no trouble at all with chewing out one of her own cubs if she thought it was necessary. Jada hated to disappoint her mother like that. But it's not like she could help it. That hotheaded temper of her just got the upper hand. The wrath of her mother unfortunately always came to mind after acting on it.

Speaking of the devil, after a soft knock Hana Pedrad entered the room of her daughter. The curvy, middle aged black women strode across the room to the single sized bed and took a seat next to Jada. Jada looked up and let her gaze fall over her mothers features. Hana had shiny and straightened black hair, always pulled up in a knot on top of her head. She had round cheeks and plump lips, with still only a few wrinkles here and there. Jada was alway envious of those full lips, that Zeke and Uriah both seemed to have inherited. Hers were nothing spectacular. She had a spare upper lip and only a slightly plumber lower lip. But those lips harbored a perfect row of white teeth, so her mother always told her to put those lips to better use then spitting out nasty words and to give the world more of her dazzling smiles.

However, Jada had nothing to smile about when she thought back to her mother's previous rampage. But it seemed 'mama bear' was back in the loving and protective mode now, fortunately. Hana's lips curled upwards as she took Jada's bruised hand in her own and let her thumb slide over the pendant that Jada still clutched tightly. Her mother let out a deep sigh. "I remember the day your father told us about this pendant. He seemed very emotional, thinking about it and about your mother..." The women's eyes were staring ahead, while reminiscing the memory from the past. "He was so damn proud of you kid". Hana squeezed her hand slightly. "And so am I, honey. You've grown into an extraordinary brave young woman and I can't tell you enough how proud I am of you. But it's a mother's prerogative to worry about her children. And I'm always concerned about the problems your smart mouth and temper can get you into, you know", she chuckled. Jada finally grinned and pushed herself up on her elbows to sit upright. "Well, you certainly take after your father, no doubt about that, little warrior princess. I love you, you know", Hana continued. Jada hugged her mother and buried her face in the crook of her neck. "I love you too, mom. I'm sorry about today. I'll behave for the next few weeks, I promise", she mumbled. "You bet your pretty little ass you will, I've already made a huge list of chores for you. You won't even have the time to cook up something that can get you into trouble again," Hana bellowed. She kissed Jada on her forehead, before her youngest let herself fall back on her pillow and groaned in protest. "And don't even think about corrupting Zeke to let you off the hook, otherwise he has his own punishment coming," the older woman warned sternly before making her way out of the room.

~ Two weeks later ~

Jada pulled her long hair back in a messy ponytail and put on her boots before she left the apartment, slamming the door shut behind her. It was just the second week of her suspension and the brunette was already fed up with the chores her mom left for her to do. "Oh honey, if you're done with the laundry, I'm sure Angus from next door could use some help with his groceries". She could still hear the sweet but stern voice of her mother in her head. Jada genuinely liked their neighbor Angus, a old man in his sixties. But he was just so fucking slow. The man had insisted to go with her to the grocery store and the trip had literally taken hours. It was safe to say that afternoon really did a number on her patience. No more visits to Angus in the next couple of weeks, she thought to herself.

But now she was in a much better mood as she moved through the bare concrete halls of their apartment section and descended on the iron stairs to make her way to the cafeteria. She planned to meet her brothers and friends there for dinner and was excited to see them again. Not having to go to school wasn't a big deal for her, but she did miss seeing her friends. Though she wasn't a social butterfly and needed her own space from time to time, they had always formed a tight-knit group while growing up.

The days during her suspension were now mostly spent running laps around the Dauntless compound or training in the gym, besides the chores she had to do of course. Jada welcomed the extra hours of training she was able to do these weeks. She already had a self-imposed and impressive training schedule for years now. With her 5'5 feet, she was the smallest girl of their group, but certainly not the weakest. On the contrary, she didn't settle for anything less than to become the absolute strongest and most skilled female fighter within the faction.

Everyday she put a lot of hours into running, training and fighting. Weapon and knife practice unfortunately weren't allowed for dependants yet, but physical training was only stimulated by the Dauntless leadership. They strived to keep up with all the expectations that came with being the faction of the fighters and protectors of the city. If you weren't in shape, there would be no role for you in the line of action. And since Jada wanted nothing more than to be able to fight and contribute to keeping the city safe, she didn't have any other option then to work her butt off.

But for now, it was time to eat. Jada walked through the Pit to reach the big mess hall. All the Dauntless members could get their meals there for free, three times a day. But not everybody made use of it for all the meals, considering the part of being 'free' sure did influence the quality of the kitchen. Jada didn't care and ate whatever was available. She couldn't expect her mother to buy them more expensive groceries from her modest salary. And although Zeke didn't live with them anymore, her brother Uriah definitely could still eat for three. Everybody always wondered how he never got chubby as a kid, since he had the appetite of a horse.

Even now, when she had gotten a tray of food and approached their regular table in the cafeteria, she chuckled at the sight of her brother attacking his dinner. "What's so funny?" The subject of her thoughts asked , his mouth full of hamburger. Jada shook her head with a smile, before she wiggled herself down on the bench between Uriah and Lynn. "Nothing to worry your little brain about, starving brother. Feed that monster in your stomach and please keep your mouth shut. We don't need to see you mixing your cow." "I'm a growing boy, sis. My body needs all the food it can get to be this amazing", he retorted grinning. "I think your mouth indeed needs all the food you can shove into it, to stop you from talking amazing shit, bro," Jada snapped back at him. The rest of their table erupted in amused chuckles, before they returned to their own conversations. They were used to the banter between the siblings by now, after years of hanging out with them. Jada grabbed her own hamburger from her plate and started eating too. All of their friends were already seated at the same table and seemed to have just started on the meal before she got there. Jada enjoyed the first few bites in silence, just letting the buzzing noise from the cafeteria and the talking of her friends surrounding her. Lynn elbowed her in the side after a few minutes. "How you're holding up, Jade? Did you do something fun today?" Jada snorted at the questions from her brown haired friend. "The afternoon was wasted on stupid chores, but I've been training the entire morning with Amar. That was fun. And speaking of training, are we still on for tonight Four?" Jada turned her attention to the male across of her. Four was the same age as her brother Zeke, both of them being 22. He transfered to Dauntless and Zeke immediately befriended the broody and mysterious stranger during initiation. Four ranked first that year and he was considered a true Dauntless prodigy ever since, with his outstanding fighting skills and only four fears. Hence the nickname Four. Aside from his job as a supervisor in the control room, he trained the transfers during initiation. Jada wanted to learn from the best, so soon after Four became a member she roped him into helping her train. From a young age she was trained by Amar, also an excellent fighter and a former initiate trainer himself. But Four could teach her some other things. She was grateful he would help her and quickly befriended him herself, just as the rest of her family and friends did. Even her mother had practically adopted him as a third son.

Four nodded in reply to Jada's question, before he took a gulp of his drink and slammed the cup back on the table. "Anybody else that wants to join us in the training room?" He asked around. "I'm in, but I'm not gonna sparwith you again Jade. This pretty face gets to stay that way, at least until initiation starts, thank you very much", Marlene dramatically said while gesturing to her face. Everybody chuckled at the dramatic blonde, undoubtedly remembering the black eye Marlene sported for days after her one and only sparring match with Jada. Jada rolled her eyes, before she eyed the rest of them. Zeke's shift was about to start in a couple of hours and his girlfriend Shauna also had to work in the infirmary for the night, so they were both out. Lynn also declined and muttered something about babysitting. Uriah wanted to join them too. Jada didn't miss his sneaky glance at Marlene before he answered though, making her smirk. The boy has had a crush on their pretty friend for quite some time now, it was hilarious to see him trying to impress her.

~ Eric's POV ~

Eric was eating at the Leadership balcony, together with a few leadership-assistants and his fellow leaders Tori, Jackson and of course their headleader Max. Tori's husband was there too, as well as Jackson's wife and his two kids. Though those brats were mostly running around, instead of eating their food. Eric had frowned once again at the sight and the lack of control their parents seemed to have over them. Not that he could give a damn about it. The kids knew him well enough by now not to bother him.

The blond leader was sitting closest to the railing, able to oversee the rest of the large mess hall.

He was just finishing his hamburger, when he noticed a particular group standing up from their table. They were putting their trays and dishes away, still loudly chatting and goofing around with each other. His cold gaze focused on the only one that silently walked along with them. A short brunette. Jada Torres. The girl that Max received the call about, a few weeks ago during one of their meetings. She was suspended for the rest of the year. And Eric had noticed her several times since then. She was running around through the compound at the most ungodly hours in the morning, before she started her work out in one of the training rooms. Seeing her current outfit, he was sure she was about to go work out again. Probably to fight. He had caught Max a couple of times, watching her on the video surveillance in the evenings. Most of the times the girl was sparring with one of her friends or some other Dauntless member. Eric hadn't seen that much, but she seemed good.

Too bad she was a part of the fucking puppy-pack that always seemed to trail his nemesis. Four. He could drink the blood of the guy, ever since they went through initiation together. The girl had the same arrogant confidence about her that Four possessed too. Always striding through the compound as if they fucking owned the place. Eric broke his stare at the girl and quickly looked over the rest of their group. Zeke Pedrad was Four's best friend. He and his girlfriend Shauna had befriended the guy during their initiation. And then there was Uriah, the younger Pedrad and two other girls of the same age. Eric's eyes widened suddenly at the thought that popped up in his head. If he remembered correctly, all of the four younger ones were up for the Choosing Ceremony this year. Those damn brats were becoming initiates. And he had no doubt that all of them would return to Dauntless.

He started to grin maliciously, before putting his fork with vegetables in his mouth. This could be interesting. "Max," the young leader barked. "I forgot to tell you that I've decided to volunteer for overseeing the initiation this year. On the condition that you let me off the hook for the next couple of years, of course." He looked up at the headleader at making his offer, an indifferent expression on his face. Max had put his beer down and gratefully grinned in response. "Perfect Coulter, saves me the time to make you three draw some straws or something." Eric smirked and took a drink of his own beer. In the corner of his eyes he saw Tori, the only female leader, give him a mistrustful look from her place at the other end of the table. Eric couldn't care less, he knew she questioned his motives. She always did. But he was also sure she wouldn't put up a fight over it, since neither of them looked forward to the extra work. Jackson threw him a grateful smile, obviously happy he dodged the bullet this year. Eric couldn't take the smirk off his face. This was going to be a perfect opportunity to make Four's life miserable as hell. He gladly would take on the extra work it would cost him.

~ Zeke's POV ~

Four walked back with Zeke and Shauna to their apartments, to change for work and training. After initiation, both males got a nice apartment in one of the better sections that Dauntless had to offer. Shauna and Zeke already dated on and off before initiation, so when they became members – and Zeke finally grew up according to Shauna – he had asked her to move in with him. The auburn-haired girl didn't even have to think about it, so they now shared an apartment on the same floor as Four for the last couple of years. If Four hadn't turned down the leadership position that he was offered, he even could get a more luxurious apartment in the Leadership wing. Sitting his naked ass down in a nice hot tub, as Zeke so frequently and disturbingly envisioned out loud. But his friend didn't need much to be happy in life, certainly not an over sized apartment with a hot tub if that meant it came along with the strings of leadership attached to it.

Zeke halted before his door, making Shauna slightly bump into him, and brushed one of his hands through his frizzy black hair. "Four, I know Jade is probably already recruiting some guy to fight with her tonight, but please don't let it get out of control, alright? Initiation is only a few weeks away and I want her to start without any injuries. Got that?" Zeke's voice almost sounded threatening. Shauna put her hands around her boyfriends arm, trying to calm him down. A hint of a smile tugged at the corner of Four's lips. His best friend was always concerned about his younger siblings, especially about Jada. Four admired their strong bond and he understood the protectiveness of Zeke. Hell, even he felt protective over all their younger friends. But really, if there was one person that could handle herself, it was that little mischief. He had trained with her for a couple of years by now and she was already the strongest and most skilled female fighter he knew. None of the females in Dauntless were a challenging match for her anymore, so under Four's supervision he had her train against some of the men from time to time. Uriah didn't care much about it, he sparred with his sister regularly. But Zeke always stayed wary about it and certainly refused to fight against her. Four knew that his friend was overly protective over his little sister.

"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on her," Four says while clapping his hand on Zeke's shoulder. "But really Zeke, your sister can kick your scrawny ass to the curb if she has to. She should be more worried about you." Four chuckled. Shauna even laughed out loud, before Zeke stomped his friend playfully against his chest. "Very funny Stiff, but you've heard me. If I see even one new bruise on my baby sister you're gonna pay for that," Zeke barked before entering his apartment. He heard his friend laugh, before he walked along to his own apartment a few doors down. Shauna called a quick goodbye to Four and followed the dark male inside, shutting the door behind her. Zeke threw his keys on the dresser besides the door and pulled his girlfriend on her arm to the couch. He crashed down on the large grey sofa and yanked her right on top of him.

Shauna laid her head on his chest and hummed contently when Zeke's fingers massaged her scalp. She loved the moments like this, when they simply relished in each others company. Zeke thoughts had drifted off to his little sister again though. He knew he shouldn't worry so much about her, but that just came with the role of being an older brother. He absolutely adored his sister, right from the moment the tiny girl came into their lives and had them wrapped around her little finger. No matter how hard the circumstances were, he had loved her instantly. Jada was only one year younger than Uriah, so those two grew up close and did almost everything together. But Zeke never felt left out, the bond with both his brother and sister was strong.

Because of a mix up in Jada's registered birth year by the administration office, she had to start school at the same time as Uriah and his friends. The mistake was corrected later on in the year, but his mother and the Dauntless leadership had agreed to let her stay in that class. However, that also meant that she now had to participate in the same Choosing ceremony as Uriah and the rest of the classes in their year. Choosing day was now only two weeks away. Uriah, Lynn and Marlene all had turned 18 this year, but Jada only recently turned 17. Zeke groaned at the thought of his baby sister having to choose and going through initiation at that age. He could curse his mother now, for that stupid decision years ago.

"Stop worrying so much! Four's right, you know. I know you're concerned about Choosing day, but we both know that all of them will stay right here. And they will be fine. I'm not even concerned about Lynn and Jade is fucking capable of knocking her out in ten seconds," Shauna said, grinning at the thought of her younger sister being knocked out by Zeke's much smaller one. Though she was a nurse, Shauna was through and through Dauntless and could appreciate a good fight. Even at the cost of her own sibling. Zeke kissed Shauna's forehead and tightened his arms around her frame. "I know, baby. But I can't help myself sometimes. Jada prepared for this her whole life, always training to become stronger and to be the best. So I know I don't really have to worry about her passing initiation, but I still don't like to see her get hurt, you know. She's brave, but she has a lot of anger issues, waiting to explode on her when something stands in her way. She really has a knack for getting into trouble and those problems can become a whole of a lot more serious after Choosing day," Zeke said concerned, letting out another heavy sigh. Shauna lifted her head up and threw him a comforting look before she planted a big kiss on his lips. "I love you for who you are, baby. Protective Zeke is very, very sexy." The auburn-haired girl winked at her boyfriend. "I can only imagine how hot you would look as daddy Zeke, when we have kids some day for you to hover over," she giggles. Zeke gave her a mischievous look, before rolling them over and attacking her lips in a frenzied kiss. "That requires a lot more practicing, baby. Let's continue right now!" He jokingly responded, clearly in a better mood than before. Shauna wrapped her arms around his back, a happy smile on her face when she kissed him back. Mission accomplished.

A/N: I would love to know what you think of the story and this first chapter so far! It'll get more interesting soon, though. Promised. Please review.

X Jess