Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters from Twilight or Divergent. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Veronica Roth.

Writer's note: Welcome to Valiant!

Did humanity exist? The world crumbled into itself, giving way to a nuclear wasteland. But life would still prosper, or at least, it would try…

[Seattle, 2356]

The city of Seattle. Probably once, a great city, but now it was home to the five factions. Erudite, Candor, Amity, Dauntless, and Abnegation. Erudite were the elite or at least that is how they viewed themselves. They were superior with their intellect. They were the creators, or inventors. Candor were the honest. They were the ones that upheld the integrity of the faction system. They didn't believe in anything other than the truth, and facts. Amity were the peaceful ones; tending to the farmlands that provided the entirety of the city with food that was needed to continue to survive. Dauntless were fearless and the police force. They enforced the rules of the wall that surrounded the city, and they also pushed away the factionless. The ones that just… didn't belong to a faction. Then there was Abnegation, the civil servants of the city. They believed in "them before us." They fed the factionless. They were selfless and made up the council. They made the decisions; despite Erudite thinking they were superior. It is believed that Abnegation made the best council because they were selfless and would never put their faction above any other faction.

Every year, all the eighteen-year-olds had to do what was called the choosing. They were now adults in the world. They were given an aptitude test to test what faction they would do best in. Sometimes, that meant changing factions. After this test, the choosing ceremony took place in Candor, where they would have to choose their new factions or remain with the one, they were in.

Bella Swan, only daughter. Her father was Charles Swan, and her mother was Renee Swan. They were both on the council. Her best friend was Beatrice Prior, who had a twin brother, Caleb Prior, and both her parents were also part of the council.

They were connected at the hip almost. They explored Abnegation whenever their parents were too busy to notice.

Bella snuck peaks at herself in the reflection of her spoon sometimes, wondering if there was a beauty behind the Abnegation mask, but she would never say anything out loud. Her mother was the more spontaneous one, or so that is how Bella viewed her mother.

"Catch." Edward Cullen said, tossing an apple in Bella's direction.

Bella caught it; her reflexes oddly faster than others for being in Abnegation. She smiled at Edward. He was eighteen too, and the middle child out of three. Emmett was his older brother, who stayed in Abnegation from last year's choosing. Edward would choose this year, and then Mary Alice would choose next year. She admired Edward. His hair was a chestnut color and was combed neatly on his head. His green eyes sparkled when he looked at her. "Thanks." She said and took a bite of the apple.

"How'd your test go?" Edward asked, trying to pry. They weren't really allowed to talk about their test results.

"Wouldn't you like to know." Bella teased. "The choosing is today. Are you nervous?"

"A little bit." Edward admitted. He fell into step with her, as they walked down the road, heading towards Candor.

Beatrice caught up to them, Caleb right behind her. "Hey guys." She said.

Bella smiled at her best friend. "Hey Beatrice." She said and looked at Caleb. "Caleb." She said with a nod.

"I know today is a big day." Caleb started. "We should all, just be calm and be prepared."

Bella raised a brow. "Someone is extra nervous." She teased and took another bite of her apple before handing it back to Edward. "It's just another day." She said and then focused on the Candor skyscraper up ahead. Her heart fluttered in her chest. Of course, she was nervous. Her test results had been inconclusive. She wasn't sure what to think about that. The woman from Dauntless that did her test, was very worried, and had rushed her out of the room, that she was just so confused. She just didn't want to be a disappointment. Not just to her parents, but she didn't want to be a disappointment to herself.

The four of them walked into Candor. There were so many other eighteen-year-olds there, waiting nervously as well, as they filed into an auditorium styled seating. The bright white stage had the Candor emblem on the floor, and there were five bowls with the different faction symbols engraved in the large stone bowls. Bella sat down next to Beatrice, with Edward on the other side of her. Caleb sat next to Beatrice and still shifted nervously.

Everyone was there from the city, even her parents, who she glanced back at, and she got smiles from her parents and little nods. She turned back around, and then blew out a breath as a woman wearing Erudite blue and white took the stage. Her hair was a bright blonde and was brushed neatly and fell just below her ears. Her name was Jeanine Matthews, and she was the leader of Erudite. There was another man with her, an Asian man who wore the white and black colors of Candor. His name was Jack Kang, and he led Candor.

"Today is the day that you will choose where you belong, for the rest of your lives. You're adults in the world now. Our faction system has supported us for two centuries. We've lived peacefully amongst each other with this system, and today is part of how that system works. Yesterday you took aptitude tests. This is a guideline on where you belong. Of course, you do not have to choose the faction from your aptitude test, but it is strongly encouraged." She said and paused. "When you hear your name, you will come to the stage, and you will pick up the ceremonial knife. You'll lightly cut your hand and select the faction bowl you choose." She instructed and looked at Jack and gave a nod.

The names weren't in any real order alphabetically it seemed, but it went according to faction. Erudite had been first, Candor second, then Amity. Abnegation was last to go, with Dauntless going ahead of them. Abnegation was always last.

Over two hours had passed, and Bella was starting to get antsy. They had all been quiet, as they watched the events unfold in front of them.

"Edward Cullen." Jack called.

Edward glanced at Bella and then stood, walking to the stage. He picked up the knife, and sliced his hand, wincing a little as he did. He moved his hand over a bowl, closing his eyes.

"Erudite." Jack said, and Edward was ushered over to the blue sea of young adults that cheered for him.

Bella and Beatrice glanced at each other, shocked at his choice, but remained quiet.

"Caleb Prior." Jack called after a few other names were called.

Caleb got up, and walked nervously up to the stage, and grabbed the knife, and sliced his hand, as Edward had done, and many others. He moved his hand over the Erudite bowl, and Jack was announcing his new allegiance, and Caleb was moving over to where Edward was in the sea of blue, that cheered for him as well.

"Beatrice Prior."

Beatrice stood and went to the stage. She followed suit, slicing her hand, but this time when she moved her hand towards the bowl, she hesitated briefly, before she closed her eyes and thrust her hand over the simmering coals in the bowl that was Dauntless.

"Dauntless."

Bella blinked a few times, watching her best friend walk down into the leather cladded Dauntless who patted her on the back and welcomed her into the fray.

Other names were called, but Bella could only focus on her heart, how it leapt in her chest as she anticipated hearing her name.

"Isabella Swan." Jack said finally.

Bella stood, her legs feeling like rubber somewhat, but she forced herself to walk to the stage. She grabbed the knife, slicing the cool metal over her hand, not feeling a thing because her focus was on trying to keep her heart in her chest. She looked at the bowls. The test was supposed to help her choose. She knew that Abnegation was home, that her parents were loving, and that there was comfort… but there was something… missing. She moved her hand over the bowl, and her blood dripped, sizzling on the coals that was Dauntless. She was handed a cloth and she pressed it to her hand as she was ushered into the sea of Dauntless. Beatrice was waiting on her, and she smiled at her friend. The anxiety she felt started melting away. She now knew that she made the right choice to go to Dauntless.

When the ceremony was over, they left the auditorium and rushed outside. She followed the other Dauntless as they hollered and cheered, rushing towards the train tracks that the train rode on.

The train was always moving, never coming to a stop. Bella didn't know where the end was for the train, but she just knew that she had to catch it. She had watched the Dauntless kids before, leaping onto and from the train without fear. It excited Bella to think about running free like that. The train came around the corner and everyone started running, so she picked up the skirts of her grey dress and started running as fast as she could. There were a few others that were at the front that hit the release button on the side of the train, opening the box car and pulling themselves up on it. One by one, Dauntless born, and new Dauntless caught the train.

Bella pulled herself up and turned and grabbed Beatrice's hand and helped her up onto the train, and they fell backwards onto the cool metal floor of the train, laughing together. Their hair was falling out of their tight buns, but neither cared about that right now.

There was another girl sitting on the train, her smile bright as she looked at Bella and Beatrice. "I'm Christina." She said.

Bella smiled at the girl. She was wearing Candor garments. Her hair was shorter, brushing her shoulders and was dark, as was her eyes. "Bella."

"Beatrice." Beatrice introduced.

It was a brief period of time where they just got to sit there and catch their breath before the Dauntless born were leaping off the train on top of another building.

"More jumping." Christina said, appalled. The three girls got to their feet and then waited at the train car door and watched as the city flashed by them.

Bella took a breath, waiting for her turn to jump, and she did, leaping across, rolling when she hit the gravel on the rooftop and was laughing with Christina and Beatrice when they got to their feet. They saw the others gathering towards the edge of the building, where another man was standing, his hair a darker shade of blonde was styled on his head, slicked back, and the sides and back of his head was shaved close. He had piercings in his brow, and ears. The dark ink of his tattoos popped against his ivory skin. The tattoos on his neck, darkening stripes going up. The tattoos on his forearm were like mazes drawn in black ink. They were interesting, or at least Bella thought so. There was another man with him, slightly shorter than he was, who wore the same dark clothing of Dauntless, but less tats and piercings. He didn't seem to be the leader here, the other man did, and Bella could see the red stripe on his Dauntless uniform.

"Listen up. There's one way into Dauntless and you have to jump." Red stripe spoke. His voice was a catch between deep and high, and it was serious. Everything about him, looked serious.

"Is there something at the bottom?" One guy ventured to ask; he wore the blue Erudite attire.

Red stripe raised a pierced brow. "I guess you'll just have to find out. Who's first?"

There was a moment of silence. Bella didn't know why she did it, but after looking around at some apprehensive faces, even the ones of Dauntless born, she rose her hand. "I'll go." She said, her voice even.

Red stripe looked at her as she walked closer from the back. His eyes were a steel blue, and they seemed intrigued. "Alright stiff. Get up there." He said.

Bella's dark eyes looked at the small wall on the ledge. She shrugged off her gray overcoat and she stepped up there. Red stripe reached up automatically with a hand to help her get up there and she took it. She looked over the edge, her heart starting it's climb into her throat. The dark abyss below wanted to swallow her, so she closed her eyes and stepped forward. The wind rushed by her, her hair coming undone now from its already loosened bun. She didn't scream, just let the darkness overtake her until she hit something springy. A net. She smiled, her eyes opening as she looked up at the top, the piercing blue of the sky above shone down on her.

The net dipped and hands were helping her out of the net. Dark eyes focused on her. "Name?"

"Bella." She said automatically. No one really called her Isabella anyways.

"First jumper, Bella." Dark eyes said, and his hands went to her waist as he lifted her out of the net and onto the ground beside him.

There was some cheering for her as she walked towards the small sea of Dauntless. They were waiting for the new recruits, and were there to welcome them, she assumed.

Bella turned and looked back towards the net and the dark eyes. His hair was dark as well, and his arms were muscular, but she noted that red stripe's arms had been bigger. Beatrice hit the net suddenly, and she was grinning as well, as dark eyes helped her to the edge.

"Second jumper, Tris." Dark eyes announced and everyone cheered, including Bella.

As recruits, they were ushered into an area where they were given their clothing. They longer belonged to their previous factions. They belonged to Dauntless, the military force of the city. Bella, Tris, and Christina stuck together as they were given their clothes then moved into a larger room. Bella looked around at the rows of cots.

Red stripe was there now, and Bella wondered if he really jumped too, considering his hair still looked perfect.

"Change. Your clothes go in the incinerator. Meet back in the pit." Red stripe barked out, before leaving.

Tris looked around, frowning a little. "The Dauntless born aren't here."

Bella looked around too, seeing various people hesitantly going to a cot. Men and women were housed together, so there was no privacy. "Maybe they don't have to change because they're already wearing black." She pointed out. She set her clothes on a cot next to Christina, and Tris took the one on the other side of her. Bella didn't hesitate in changing. The faster you changed, the less likely others would gawk, but Tris was more reserve.

Bella pulled her dress off, only in her bra and panties. She picked up the black sports bra, and panties that she was provided, and she unsnapped her bra first, before pulling on the new bra, ignoring her surroundings. She did her panties next, sitting down on the cot to help give herself some more privacy. She pulled on the tight pants. They were leather, and oddly not as restricting as Bella anticipated. She stood, grabbing the shirt, and pulling it on. It was tight too across her breast, and wished she had a bigger shirt, but she shrugged it off. She pulled on the jacket that was also leather. She left her hair down. It went past her shoulders and to the middle of her back. It fell like a wavy curtain, and she wished she could cut it at least somewhat.

Once dressed, the three girls wandered out, finding the others in what was referred to the pit. It was the room right next to where they had just made their leap of faith.

Red stripe was there, with dark eyes, and some other men. There was one man, his skin was dark like a deep chocolate, his eyes just as dark. He was shorter than both red stripe and dark eyes, and he too had a red stripe, but his had a black thin stripe through it, and Bella wondered what that meant.

There was some light whispering, before Red stripe spoke up. There was a board with numbers on them. Numbers 1-21 were white, and then 22-33 were in red. It was blank at the moment.

"Take a good look at this board. There's a new way of doing things this year. If your name is not above the red, then at the end of the round, you're out." Red stripe said, his voice still stern.

There were some harsh whisperings then before someone said something. "Out of what?"

"Out of Dauntless." Red stripe said and more people looked around scared. "You got to pick us, now we get to pick you."

"Why weren't we told about this before?" Another guy asked.

"So you could what? Choose differently? If you're too scared to take part, then maybe you shouldn't even be here anyways. There's the door. But oh, don't expect mommy or daddy to take you back." Red stripe said, his voice like ice.

Bella and Tris exchanged a look, but they were still silent.

"First, we'll let you eat, before we place you on this board. This is an initial test to see how strong or weak you are." Red stripe said and paused and looked over at dark eyes. "I'll take Dauntless born, you take the newbies." He said gruffly, and dark eyes only nodded. "Dismissed." He said and walked off.

"Alright, chow time. Make sure you eat something and make it back to the pit in thirty minutes." Dark eyes spoke. His voice wasn't as harsh as red stripes, and Bella thought that maybe it was because dark eyes wasn't a leader or something.

Chow was simple, nothing that Bella wasn't used to in Abnegation. At least there was more meat here in Dauntless she mused.

"So, the tall broody one is Eric. He's one of the leaderships here." Christina said as they gathered back in the pit first before the others. "The other one, the tall, dark and handsome. That's Four. He's the mysterious one. Apparently, he's turned down a leadership role several times. No one knows why." She explained. "The top leader here in Dauntless was the other guy, Max. He's supposedly stone cold. No emotions. It's probably why he's the top leader."

"How did you find this out so fast?" Tris asked, amazed by Christina's detective skills.

Christina smiled. "While you two were eating, I was asking questions." She said and waggled her eyebrows.

Bella smiled. "Well, either way, we need to make sure to stay out of the red. What do you think they're going to test us on?" She asked.

Christina thought about it. "Probably Dauntless stuff."

"We don't know anything about Dauntless." Tris said with a frown.

"That's not true." Bella put in. "Dauntless study hand-to-hand combat, weapons training, and they do physical fitness."

"How do you know?" Christina asked.

Bella looked between the two. "Have you not been to the communal library?"

Tris and Christina shook their heads.

"So, there you can learn about all sorts of stuff. Of course, most of it is just the history of the factions. We learned some stuff in school, but from what I know, school is different for each faction." Bella explained.

"Yeah, we learn more techniques on how to tell when someone isn't telling the truth based off facial cues, and body language. We also learn how to uphold the judicial processes of the faction system." Christina said.

Tris sighed. "I just… never paid attention to much. My parents had us out feeding the factionless in all my free time, and if I had free time, I spent it with Bella, but it was only after school sometimes."

Others started filtering into the pit, having their own conversations. Soon, everyone was there, and so was Eric and Four.

"Alright Dauntless born, with me." Eric said and the Dauntless born followed into a different section of the room.

Four looked at the newbies in front of him. "Alright. We're going to do some physical tests. Push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups. I don't care where you came from before. This is Dauntless, so no more talking about previous factions. I just don't care. We're going to do it the Dauntless way, and that's it." He said. "Break out into partners, there's an uneven amount of you, so one group will have three."

Bella, Tris, and Christina smiled at each other. They stuck together, and then started doing the exercises. They didn't have issues with the sit-ups, but the pull-ups seemed to be harder for all three of them. Push-ups weren't hard for Bella it seemed, but she still wasn't as great as she would have liked.

Eric walked over. "Impromptu sparring. Let's go." He said.

Four sighed. "Alright stop. Let's go." He said and they went to a new room, that had a stage on it. There were weights, and punching bags, and other equipment that Bella figured was used as part of their training.

Eric had a palm pilot thing in his hand, and he was looking at something when Four walked over. "What?" He asked, raising a brow.

"You don't think this is excessive? I got all the newbies, none of them will really know how to fight." Four said, his voice low.

"I don't give a fuck." Eric said. "Alright, who wants to go first." He said and crossed his arms. He looked around the room.

Bella sighed and raised her hand.

"Ah, a stiff. What was your name sweetheart?" Eric asked, his voice amused.

"Bella." She said simply as she got up on the stage.

Eric nodded. "Alright Bella, let's see how you do against James."

James had blond hair that that was pulled back in a bun, but the sides of his head was shaven. He had a couple piercings, in his ears, but Bella didn't note any tattoos on his arms or neck. His navy eyes were piercing, and cold. He was one of the Dauntless born.

"This isn't-"Four started, but Eric shushed him.

Bella took a stance. She read a lot of books, some of them were interesting like history of certain martial arts that predated the nuclear fallout. So, she remembered what the people looked like in the pictures.

James tilted his head to the side and grinned, a wicked grin, but he took a stance too. He moved first, going at her fast.

Bella moved out of his range as he threw himself at her, and she protected her face in case he tried to punch her in the face. When he went at her again, she moved her leg out, tripping him up and he hit the matted floor of the stage with a thud. This only pissed him off, so he growled and went at her again, his movements sloppy now. She saw his guard drop, and she swung her leg around fast, her foot catching him in the throat, cutting off his air supply then, and he gasped for air, stunned, and she followed up with another kick to his gut and he fell backwards onto the stage, still dazed. She moved on top of him, straddling him, and then she slammed her fist down into his face, hitting him in the eye, and then again in his throat, before he passed out. She moved off him, her hands still up, but James didn't get off the mat.

"Impressive." Eric said. "Lukas, get him off the mat." He said to another guy, who looked even scarier than James did.

Bella got off the stage and stood quietly next to Tris and Christina, who were just shocked that Bella actually didn't get her ass handed to her.

"She fought dirty." Lukas complained after he pulled James off the stage.

Eric raised a brow. "Dirty? She's a stiff. James is twice her size. Part of being Dauntless is being resourceful. Read the situation, and then use what knowledge you have to subdue your opponent. Speak out again and you're not going to like what comes next." Eric barked back at Lukas at the end.

Lukas remained quiet and ran a hand over his shaved head, his mouth still stuck in a scowl.

After what felt like an eternity, and what really looked like a beatdown on newbies, the board updated automatically from Eric's palm pilot.

Tris was in the red, her name in the 31st slot. Christina did okay in her spar against Jessica, another Candor transfer, and was 18th. Bella was 15th. They all went back to the sleeping quarters, where Tris was icing her face. Peter, another Candor transfer, knocked her out in one hit. Her eye was starting to bruise.

"I'm going to die." Tris said as she sat on her cot.

"That won't happen. The sparring was just… not evenly matched." Christina said.

"Yeah, but Bella beat a Dauntless born. She's always going to be above the line. I'm ten away from the bottom of the white. There's no way I'm going to survive this place."

Bella sighed. "You just got a rough start. If we work hard, and train, then you won't be sitting on the bottom. You'll be up there in the top."

"That's easy for you to say. I just suck." Tris continued to be negative.

A guy approached then. His hair was a darkening blonde, and it hung to his shoulders. His eyes reminded Bella of honey. One time her mother brought some home, and it was such an unusual color. "Hello."

"Hi." Bella said with a smile. "What's up?"

"I just wanted to congratulate you on being in the top 21." He said with an easy smile. "I'm Jasper." He introduced.

"Bella, this is Tris, and that's Christina." Bella said politely. "Wait, you're one of the Amity transfers, right?"

Jasper nodded his head. "Guilty."

Christina laughed a little. "That's crazy you're in the top 12."

Jasper smiled. "Well, just because we're all about peace and love, don't mean we don't roughhouse when we're not supposed to." He said playfully.

"I suppose that's right." Bella said.

Four entered the sleeping quarters now. "Chow time." He said briefly, and then left.

Bella helped Tris to her feet and looked at Jasper. "It's nice to meet you, Jasper."

"Likewise. I overheard you talking about training, I'd like to help if I can. I know I'm no Dauntless born, but I think I can help."

"Sure, the more the merrier." Tris said, her voice still sounding defeated.

"Don't mind her, she's still sulking." Christina said, smiling at Jasper. "We're happy to have whatever help we can get." She said, and then the four of them went off to get dinner chow.