Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent or any of the characters. Please note: Same as the last one, this chapters contains a lot of dialogue directly from the text. This is necessary for the story to progress appropriately. The next chapter will mainly entirely original content.
Let's roll!
Time to break the news to the new initiates. I lead them to the dormitory in silence and none of them say a word the entire way there. This is the first time I'll get a good look at the new recruits. With eleven dauntless born in the running, nine transfers and only ten spots total I doubt many of them will make it through to become full members.
As we reach the wooden door that leads to their dormitory I stop, turn and cross my arms. I wait as they quickly gather around me. I scan their faces and see a mixture of fear and confusion. Not a single one of them looks Dauntless to me. Although one Candor boy does stand out. He is quite tall, around my height and even wider than I am. If it wasn't for the pathetic look on his face I would say he might have potential. I take in their outfits: five Candor, three Erudite and the Stiff from earlier. I guess she is the only one I'll have to pay special attention to. I was surprised and a bit impressed to find out at dinner that she had volunteered to jump first upon arrival at the compound.
"For those of you who don't know, my name is Eric," I say. "I am one of five leaders of the Dauntless. We take the initiation process very seriously here, so I volunteered to oversee most of your training."
Volunteered my left foot.
"Some ground rules," I continue. "You have to be in the training room by eight o'clock every day. Training takes place every day from eight to six, with a break for lunch. You are free to do whatever you like after six. You will also get some time off between each stage of initiation."
"You are only permitted to leave the compound when accompanied by a Dauntless," I add. "Behind this door is the room where you will be sleeping for the next few weeks. You will noticed that there are ten beds and only nine of you. We anticipated that a higher proportion of you would make it this far."
"But we started with twelve," the Candor girl I met earlier protests.
"There is always at least one transfer who doesn't make it to the compound," I shrug. "Anyway, in the first stage of initiation, we keep transfers and Dauntless-born initiates separate, but that doesn't mean you are evaluated separately. At the end of initiation, your rankings will be determined in comparison with the Dauntless-born initiates. And they are better than you are already." And I doubt any of them look like they are about to wet themselves right now. "So I expect –"
"Rankings?" a mousy-haired Erudite transfer cuts me off. "Why are we ranked?"
Here it comes. I smile, readying myself for the outrage I am sure they are about to express.
"Your ranking serves two purposes," I say, starting them out gently. "The first is that it determines the order in which you will select a job after initiation. There are only a few desirable positions available."
"The second purpose," I smile just a little bit wider, "is that only the top ten initiates are made members."
No one moves an inch as I take in the sea of shocked faces before me.
The petit Candor girl is the first to open her mouth again, "What?"
I ignore her outrage and push on. "There are eleven Dauntless-borns, and nine of you," I continue. "Four initiates will be cut at the end of stage one. The remainder will be cut after the first test."
"What do we do if we're cut?" a Cander boy with green eyes says.
"You leave the Dauntless compound," I say indifferently, "and live factionless."
I watch as the mousy-haired Erudite clamps her hand over her mouth and begins to sob. I can already tell that she won't make it through initiation. I would have expected the Stiff to be the first to be cut but looking at her now I can see the resolve on her face. She isn't breaking down, if anything she looks colder than she did in the dining hall. Interesting.
"But that's…not fair!" the broad-shouldered Candor girl says.
My god these Candor transfers need to learn how to shut up.
Her voice sounds angry but she looks terrified. "If we had known—"
I cut her off, too irritated by all of their outbursts to let her finish. "Are you saying that if you had known this before the choosing ceremony, you wouldn't have chosen Dauntless?" I snap. "Because if that's the case, you should get out now. If you are really one of us, it won't matter to you that you might fail. And if it does, you are a coward."
I've had enough of this. I open the door to the dormitory.
"You chose us," I says sternly. "Now we have to choose you."
And with that I turn and walk away, leaving them to discuss what they have just learned among themselves.
As I make my way to my apartment I think about the candidates. There's the big Candor one, he shows a bit of potential. He will probably make it through the combat trials but based on his response today he may or may not make it through the sims.
There's the tall Candor girl, if any of the female initiates are likely to excel in the combat trials it would be her, but inferring that she wouldn't have chosen Dauntless if she had known how the initiation process worked makes me question how brave she is.
There's the small Erudite who started crying. She won't make it through the combat trials. The two other Candor boys didn't show me much either way. So they're up in the air. Same with the two boys from Erudite.
That leaves the Candor girl, Christina, who clearly doesn't know when to stop talking but she did seem spirited and that could get her through to the sims if she works hard.
And lastly the Stiff, Tris. The potential Divergent who has already proven to be more Dauntless than the rest by volunteering to be the first jumper upon arrival and reacting with what looked to be courage and resolution at the idea of the trials.
She may yet prove to be a threat.
I hope you enjoyed it! As always, any feedback is appreciated. :) As mentioned at the beginning, the next chapter will mainly entirely original content.
