I stare at my bloody knuckles, the warm liquid trickling down my fingers and dripping on the floor. These days, after my Leader training I directly go to the gym. Even though I am an official member and even training to be a Leader, I feel like I'm too weak. That, and with the initiates coming in a few days, I need to be in the best condition to train them. I raise my head and see myself in the mirrors that are on the side of the room. Since I came here, I filled out and now have a slighty more curvy body. But don't be fooled, all of this is muscle, result of my hard training. Suddenly, someone barges right in.

"Tris! There you are! I've been searching you everywhere. You need to come and eat, even Four is already there. Oh dear, those bloody knuckles are not pretty, let me bandage them."

"Okay, but you do know the iniates are coming in two days, right?"

" 'Course I know, I'm training the Dauntless born with Uriah. I don't know what all the fuss is about."

"I need to be strong. I need to be able to keep them in check. And I'm still not completely sure I can do that."

Christina immediately stops rummaging around the gym's medical supplies and turns around to look at me. Then, she strides towards me and hugs me tightly.

"Don't say that. You're one of the strongest person I've ever met. If not the strongest. Peter tried to kill you and you managed to fight back and survive. When Al had to stand in front of the targets, you stood up for him. No wonder he loved you. Not only that but you managed to finish first of the initiation. And most of all you left your family to do what was best for you and for an Abnegation, it is pretty hard."

"But you also left your family," I state.

Christina turns her head away as if slapped and her eyes glaze over, almost as if a mist had settled on her normally warm brown eyes.

"That's... different. Now come and eat." She says, my knuckles completely forgotten. She clutches my hand, pain evident on her face. I decide I'll leave it for now, she clearly needs space on that subject.

I sit down next to Tobias and hold his hand. He slightly frowns when he notices my bloodied fingers. But he quickly dismmises this he asks me

"Where were you? I thought your training finishes at 5 p.m. It's already 7p.m."

"I trained at the gym for a bit."

"Oh, alright. Well, I saved you some Dauntless cake."

"Thanks."

I start eating and Uriah, as chatty as ever, starts talking about how he will train the initiates. Yep, that's right he will be training them with Christina and honestly I think it will be chaotic.

"So Tris, will you let them know you're the saviour or you'd rather make yourself known as Six?"

"I think I'll introduce myself as Six, I don't want my reputation to get ahead of me."

"You, know I think it would quite be quite badass to come in and go, 'I'm the one who saved your life'. No?"

I simply shrug, I've already made my decision.

The dinner goes by quickly, and before I even know it, I'm on our secret spot near the Chasm with Tobias. I just remember that I wanted to tell him something that has been on my mind for quite a while. I turn towards him and look in his eyes.

"I thought about it for a while, and I realised it would be better if we didn't expose our relationship to the iniates. I'm afraid they will think I got in Dauntless just thanks to you."

"Tris, we both know that you finished first at the initiation, have only six fears and can get through simulations in under five minutes. You are not a coward, unlike a person who needs someone to get them in a faction. But if you are sure it's what you want, fine by me."

I gaze at him with love. How did I get such an understanding boyfriend? We talk about everything that crosses our minds, free of everything. When 10 p.m. strikes, Tobias walks me to my apartement. When we arrive at the front door, he kisses me and wishes me goodnight. When I enter the space I've grown to call home, I sigh. I'm tired but I still need to go to the Leader training tomorrow. Actually, I'm so tired that I barely make it to my bed before falling in a dreamless sleep.

I'm waken up by the relentless bip of my alarm. I groan, even if it's Sunday, I still need to train for all the morning, it's supposed to be an exception but I still have to drag myself out of bed. I decide that as I'm already a bit late, to skip breakfast and just get a muffin.

As I enter the room, I immediately sense the atmosphere is quite tense like something big is going to happen. I am greeted by Max, who is standing behind a desk, a paper in his hands.

"Hello Tris. As many Leaders before you, you will need to pass a test that is to determine if it is worth to continue your training."

I gulp. Not that I'm scared but I wasn't informed, though it was probably part of the plan, and this test might be anything from physical to mental. Regardless of my reaction, Max keeps going.

"This," he announces, showing me the paper, "is the Dauntless manifesto. I will pick three sentences from it and you will comment them."

I nod, pretty confident about this test.

"First, 'We believe in freedom from fear, in denying fear the power to influence our decisions.'"

I laugh a bit, isn't it obvious that's what our Faction stands for? But I choose carefully my words before answering.

"I agree wholeheartedly with that. In Dauntless, we praise ourselves on the fact that nobody can use fear to trap us. But I'd add a slight precision about the 'freedom from fear' part. Fear in certain situations keeps us alive so we don't use this as excuse to jump off a building without net and claim that we are 'free from fear'. This is just stupid."

Max keeps his face blank of any reaction and continues.

"Second, 'We believe in action.'"

"Action is the key to many things such as change, nothing happens with only word. But we need to think before actually doing it because an impulsive action is just as bad as none, even worse."

"And the last one, 'We do not believe in silence.'"

I bite my lip, this one is tricky. I can't obviously disagree but on the other hand refraining from talking my mind would go against that very belief. I exhale and start answering.

"I disagree with this one. People can keep silent if they want to, we can't force someone to say what they think. It isn't a sign of cowardice, it's a sign that people know when their speech is most useful.

He nods, and answers.

"Thank you for your answers, you're free to go,"

I exit the room, surprise by how short this was.

I am now near the Chasm and contemplating the turmoil of the water. I initially wanted to find Christina but I realised I needed some alone time. Since I got in Dauntless, my life had been caught in a whirlwind of emotions and action. On an impulse, I leave the Dauntless compound and hop on a train that's coming by. If during my intiation I went to Erudite to find Caleb, I'm not going to make this mistake again. This time, I'm going to Abnegation to see my parents.

When I'm walking down the streets I grew up in, I feel out of place. I stand out with my tatoos and tight fitting clothes. As I knock on the door of what I used to call my home, I'm apprehensive. Who knows if my parents still want to see me?

"Beatrice!" my mother exclaims, a large smile breaking out on her face."Come, I've been preparing tea. We have a lot to talk about."

I smile in relief, I guess a small part of me expected to be sent away. When I enter the house, I notice nothing has changed. Even the vase, only element of decoration we are allowed to have, is angled the same way. My mother motion for me to sit down and pours me some tea.

"It's wonderful to see you again Beatrice, how did initiation go?" my mother says a still smiling broadly. I remember that she probably was Dauntless before, so I'm able to talk freely.

"I finished first, and am now training to be a Leader. So you could say it went well. Actually, I was hoping you could tell Dad I'll probably see him soon, they are debating whether they should bring me to the next Monthly City Council or not." I reply, and add as an after thought."And also, it's Tris now."

She hums, thinking.

"I certainly did hope you'd say you'll come to this Council because Jeanine's trial is going to take place, she'll be under truth serum. They might need you to testify and I'm counting on you to put this crazy woman in prison. I don't think Erudite is inherently bad but with her at the head of the faction, it brings out their worst side."

"I guess. But Mom please be honest, why did Erudite want to overthrow Abnegation and destroy the Divergents? What is happening? Why us?"

She sighs and looks around us, trying to make sure nobody can hear us or is too close to the house. And then finally she answers.

"I knew you'd ask that. If you want to know, go to the Factionless headquarters, you can ask a Factionless to show you the way, in eleven days at 11 p.m. and say 'I'm here to know,'" she says quickly, "But now you need to go, the initiates are coming tomorrow and you need to rest."

Then she accompanies me to the train and waves me good-bye. While I'm on my way back to Dauntless I realise that I don't know how she knows I'm training initiates. As I jump off from the building to enter the Dauntless quarters, I try to keep myself from being afraid of tomorrow.