AN: A day off was needed to recharge the mental battery, and to enjoy time with family. I hope the religious holidays treated everyone well, and thank you for the reviews and understanding the slight delay. See you all on Wednesday.
He can't believe this is actually happening, and that once again Tris changed the plans. He's angry at her, but at the same time he realizes that for the first time in his life, he has someone who actually loves him.
After the initial shock wore off, Jeanine wasted no time getting Eric and Tris into the chamber they would be using for the sims. The two of them are holding hands, hooked to leads for the sims and also medical equipment to constantly monitor their vitals as per the agreement between Tris and Jeanine. They received a warning from Caleb that the anti-gravity feature of the room was able to be enabled, and slowly they became weightless.
"Eric." Tris says, "If anything happens-"
"It won't, you got her to agree." He interrupts.
"If anything happens to me, I need you to know that I love-."
"You will not say those words to me as a form of goodbye." He commands, "We will not leave each other and when we're done with this you can tell me then."
"Eric..."
"Beginning Simulation" A mechanical voice calls out, and slowly Eric's view of Tris and her leads fades away.
The acrid smell of smoke fills their nostrils, and when he blinks to clear his vision he sees nothing but smoke surrounding him.
"Tris!" He calls out.
"Over here." She replies but her voice seems so far away.
A burning chunk of metal narrowly misses his head as he scurries away from the decrepit building he is standing next to, he keeps looking up and around for her but he sees nothing but smoke, fire and destruction.
"Where are you? Keep talking to me!" He shouts.
"I can't get to you, baby I'm stuck, there's something holding me up here…" She replies and he can hear the sounds of her struggling.
He finally sees her, several stories up and stuck under a burning piece of metal. He leaps into action, throwing himself onto the side of the building and climbing the structure as it gives way beneath him. He can feel the concrete begin to crumble beneath his hands as he moves higher, and when his hand touches a piece of scorching metal he jerks away, losing his grip.
He reaches for the exposed wires of the building and hoists himself up, feeling the burn against his hands but ignoring it when he hears the screams of his girlfriend.
"Hold on!" He yells as he scales the wire, swinging himself closer to the building and leaping to the exposed floor.
"It's burning me, baby please hurry-" She then screams and he leaps into action, moving through the crumbling structure until he's level with her, across a large gap of open space.
He looks over and sees more exposed wire and cable blowing away from the other building due to the wind from the raging fire. He doesn't think, he just takes off running and leaps, barely grasping onto the hot wire and yelping out in pain when it sears into his skin. He keeps climbing up, feeling his hands splitting and blistering and he finally is level with her. He swings himself into the opening where the window once was and he ducks away from the plume of smoke and flames that blow through.
He keeps walking until he gets to her and he realizes she's pinned by a much larger metal piece of the building than he had imagined. He looks around quickly and finds another metal rod and he begins dragging it towards where she is.
"Eric you can't, the building is collapsing-"
"I'm not leaving you here." He pants as he begins to wedge the rod he found under the beam, "Babe, I am going to move this slightly like a lever. When I do, I need you to push up on that beam as hard as you can and try to scoot out. We have no time, so give it your all. One, two, three!" He pushes the beam up, screaming out in pain and closing his eyes tightly.
"I'm out, baby I'm out." Tris calls out and when he finally looks at her he can see her obviously broken leg.
"I've got you." He scoops her up and runs to the ledge, listening to the building shift and ducking more heavy concrete debris.
"Leave me here, save yourself." Tris cries out.
"I am not leaving you." He keeps running around the building until he finally sees an option, "There's water down there, we're jumping down. We will be okay. Say it."
"We will be okay." She says.
"Hold on." The words barely leave his mouth before he's leapt off of the building and they're free falling.
When they hit the water, they separate from the impact and he can feel himself being sucked further and further down. He takes all of his energy and pushes her up to the surface before everything turns black.
"Dauntless Simulation Passed"
Tris surfaces and gasps for air, she can see the fires roaring around her and hear the crash of debris falling.
"Eric!" She calls out, frantically looking around but not seeing him anywhere. She can feel the excruciating pain from her broken leg, but she ignores it and dives below the surface.
She swims through murky water until she sees him, floating peacefully. She reaches for him, grabbing both of his arms and pulling him towards her. She begins kicking towards the surface, dragging him along while her lungs scream for air. When she finally sees the surface, she pulls him towards it and then uses her own strength to push him above the water.
"Eric, wake up, baby please wake up." She says as his head limply rests against her, "Oh god, please wake up."
She feels for a pulse and cannot find one and she finds superhuman strength to move him into a position where she can do CPR. She has no way to get him to the shore, and she continues to breathe air into his lungs.
She sees lightning strike a building close by and she jumps at the loud thunder that follows, but she continues to breathe for Eric and her. She can hear an unfamiliar sound, a buzzing noise that eventually gets closer as rain begins to pound against them.
She can see a boat.
"Help!!!" She screams, "Please help me!!!"
The small boat turns towards her and the two men inside finally come into view, "Young lady, you are in a world of trouble. Is he breathing?" One of the men asks as they approach.
"Barely, he needs medical attention. Please help him."
"We are almost at weight for this little boat, and this storm is looking bad. We can only get one of you up here." The man replies.
"Take him, he needs it." Tris insists.
"Miss, if we take him we may not make it back for you before the storm. He's in bad shape, maybe we should take you instead-"
"No! He'll die, please take him."
The two men look at each other and finally nod in agreement, and Tris helps as much as she can to hoist him into the small fishing boat. The rain pounds around them, and lightning crackles through the sky as they finally get Eric into the boat.
"We'll try to get back you." The man says.
"Please just save him, I don't care what happens to me, save him, please." Tris cries, her tears mixing with the lake water and the rain.
She watches as the other man continues CPR on Eric, and he meets her eyes briefly, "We have a better chance of saving you, young lady, please come with us."
"No, you can and will save him, he's the key to everything. He's my everything. When he wakes up, tell him how much I loved him and that I never wanted to leave him. Please tell him."
"We will. Good luck." The man calls out as they speed away in the choppy waters.
"Abnegation Simulation Passed"
The room is so stark white, bright in a way that hurts their eyes when they open them.
"You're okay." She breathes out when she sees him and he grins at her.
"Of course I am, it's just a sim babe." He replies.
"I'm glad you're here. I'm sorry I kept you waiting." Andrew Prior says as he takes a seat in what they now realize is a conference room.
"It's no problem." Eric says.
"I didn't expect you to be here too, Beatrice is there something I need to know?" He asks.
"Oh, yes, Eric and I are together, so whatever you and I talk about can obviously be discussed in front of him." Tris replies.
"Very well. I understood you wanted to discuss some things with me, things you've never told me before?" He asks.
"I do." She replies nervously and she feels Eric's hand rubbing her back.
"What kinds of things, Beatrice?" He asks.
"It's about my upbringing, um, the way you and Natalie raised me in Abnegation." She states hesitantly.
"What about it, Beatrice?" Andrew asks.
"It was too much." She whispers.
"I can't hear you, please speak up. You can talk to me." Andrew replies gently.
"I can't do this…." She trails off and buries her face into Eric's shoulder and he wraps an arm around her.
"I can." Eric replies, "If he'll actually listen."
"Of course I will listen, please go ahead." Andrew replies as he turns to face Eric.
"She came to Dauntless a shell of who she is today. I expected sheltered, we all know that Abnegation is strict, selfless, all that shit that you all brainwash them with." Eric stops speaking suddenly and Andrew urges him to continue, "What I didn't expect was to find a woman who was wrapping herself as tight as she could to make her breasts appear smaller. I didn't expect someone who'd lose her first fight because she was distracted by her shirt showing maybe an inch of her stomach when she threw a punch. I never expected someone who got points docked because she refused to wear her standard issued uniform. I finally found out it was because she felt it showed too much of her neck. I'd never had someone so close to failure because she had been brainwashed into thinking that a normal body development was ungodly. You and your wife did that to her, you both taught her it was disgusting to be a developed and beautiful woman."
"Yes, we did, and I am ashamed." Andrew replies.
"You're ashamed? Really, that's rich. Think about what she went through. I watched her make friends, and I watched as those friends peeled back every layer of damage that you and your wife's words had done to her. She got stronger, she stopped hiding who she is physically and she started to flourish."
"She's a strong and stunningly beautiful woman." He replies.
"She's so much more than that. Your daughter has been living for someone else her entire life, first for you and your wife, next she started dating Four to protect his secrets, then she got involved with me to protect mine. I know that no father wants to hear this, but Tris and I are consenting adults, and if I ever have a daughter I'm not going to shame her if she wants to get sexually involved with someone without marriage or a commitment. Tris and I started as sex, then it turned into love, and here we are. However, for us to get here, we had to undo the fucked up shit that you and your wife taught her. That woman has sacrificed every ounce of her happiness for someone else's, she made it through years of you two lying to her about her mother, the shame you instilled in her, she'd finally moved past it yet you still can't her the credit she's due. She is the most selfless, loving, caring, beautifully amazing person I know and she shows me how much I mean to her every day. That's love, that's Dauntless, and that woman is my light. I will never let you or anyone else dull her shine."
"Nor should you. This is quite the fine man you have here." Andrew addresses Tris and she nods her head against Eric, "Eric, do you love my daughter?"
"Of course I do."
"What are your future intentions with her?" He presses.
"Whatever she wants, she makes all of the relationship decisions. She knows I am in love with her and want whatever she is ready to give." Eric replies, "I never wanted forever before her, now I can't wait for this shit to be done so we can start."
"Beatrice?" Andrew turns his attention towards her.
"I love him too, and want to spend the rest of my life with him." She admits.
"Im sorry for the way I treated you. It doesn't change our past, but I do hope it can change our future. I was wrong, Beatrice. I was so incredibly wrong. Can you forgive me?" Andrew asks.
"I don't know." She whispers in response.
"Candor Simulation Passed"
Eric and Tris both blink their eyes and look down at their entwined hands, flowing in the anti-gravity chamber.
"Is it over?" Tris asks Eric.
"I don't think so, we only made it through three." He replies.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like your plan worked darling. It won't allow us to start the simulations again, I believe we may be at the point of failure." Jeanine says, her red lips turned down in a frown, "We're done here."
"What do you mean done?" Eric calls out to her retreating figure but they're left alone in the room.
Four rushes in, pressing some buttons on the screen before they are gently taken to the ground and the leads retract. The door opens and Caleb follows him inside, helping him to disconnect the vitals monitors from Tris and Eric.
"What's going on?" Tris asks.
"She started the war." Caleb says frantically.
"What? How?"
"You two have been here for days working on these sims, and in that time she had us administer the serums in Dauntless. The box was nothing more than a distraction. We had no choice, they caught us completely off guard and none of us were prepared to stop them." Four replies.
"Fuck, we have to get out of here, we have to stop this." Eric says. He takes the weapon Four offers and passes it to Tris before taking one for himself.
They move from one empty hallway to another, watching their surroundings and trying to avoid camera detection.
"Where's Jeanine?" Tris finally asks.
"She's on her way to the HQ room she built inside of Dauntless." Caleb replies.
"We need to head there." Eric orders and Tris places a hand on his arm.
"Something doesn't feel right…" She trails off.
"Babe, we don't have time for this, we have to go." He argues and she shakes her head and yanks him to a stop.
"We're going to fail this sim." Her ice blue eyes plead with him and he narrows his grey ones at her.
"Tris, the sims stopped working, you've got to snap out of this, we have to go. Hey, no tears, you know I don't do tears, please don't cry babe-"
"We don't have time for this shit, we need to go!" Four yells. Tris turns her attention to him and he looks away, watching down the hallway.
She looks at Caleb and he looks extremely nervous, "Tris, now is not the time for theatrics." He says as his hazel eyes meet her ice blue ones.
She pulls Eric down to her and kisses him, savoring the sweet taste of his lips and enjoying the way his tongue tangles with hers. She then moves her lips to his ear, "My brother just called me Tris. Baby, this isn't real." She whispers softly.
"How…." Eric trails off, before he starts fading away, just like Tobias and her brother.
"Erudite Simulation Passed"
"Impressive." Jeanine says as she looks through the glass at Tris, "How on earth did you do that Beatrice? I know you prefer Tris, but since you had quite the revelation during that last sim I didn't want to throw you any softballs."
"Why am I awake, that was only four sims?" Tris asks.
"There was a complication." Jeanine replies, her red lips turning down.
Tris looks to her left and Eric is gone, "Where is he? What happened?" She asks and begins struggling against the leads.
"Beatrice, look at me, please." Jeanine says and Tris shakes her head almost violently.
"Where is Eric?"
"You asked us to stop the sim if it became overwhelming for one or both of you. His vitals were alarming so we paused things, he's getting the medical care that he needs." Caleb explains, "You saw him failing the last sim-"
"Caleb, I need to get out of here, I need to go to him, Caleb please, you can get me out of here-"
"Beatrice!" Jeanine shouts and Tris stops moving, "This was your plan, and we have executed it flawlessly. The rest of this sim is for you to complete. When you've kept your end of the bargain, you will be able to see Eric. I'm going to need you to calm yourself and focus on the task at hand."
"You promised me, nothing would happen to us-"
"I am keeping my promise, now keep yours." Jeanine replies, "Caleb, get her under."
Tris closes her eyes, willing herself to calm her racing heart to stop the machines from beeping loudly at her. She takes a breath in, and exhales slowly, repeating the process until she feels a sense of calm.
"Wake up." A familiar voice calls out and her eyes fly open.
"How, what is this-?" She is staring into her own ice blue eyes.
"You've made it, Beatrice, you've gotten to the last sim where you get to face the person you hate the most. It's time to slay your demons." She replies.
"What is this?" She asks the woman, who is an exact replica of herself except dressed in the traditional robes of Abnegation.
"I'm the person you hate the most, Beatrice."
"No," Tris shakes her head, "I don't understand."
"If you truly want to move forward in your life, Beatrice needs to die." Jeanine calls out and Tris jerks her head towards her, seeing her through the glass.
"I don't understand. What am I supposed to do?" Tris asks.
"Kill the person you hate the most. Kill Beatrice." Jeanine replies, before turning her back and moving towards the console.
"Come on, Dauntless girl, kill the part of you that you hate. Kill the Abnegation." Beatrice replies before smoothing her unruly hair into a tight bun, "Or maybe we kill that fake little Dauntless persona you created."
"I'm not going to hurt you," Tris whispers.
"Why not?" Beatrice asks, "You hate me. You hate wrapping your breasts down tightly until you look like a boy. You hate my hair, my plain clothes, my uninteresting face, you hate it all. But, what you really hate is not being brave enough to admit any of it." She sneers.
"She doesn't hate you, she has no reason to, she hates when people try to force her to be someone she's not." Eric's voice rings out and she turns to face him.
"You're here." She smiles.
"Told you I'd never leave you." He presses a kiss to their entwined hands.
"He helped me to stop hating you. He told me that it was other people who were causing my issues, not me. It's not a sin to have a normally developed body, it's not ungodly to be attractive or for there to be suitors at an early age. Girls should be empowered to become successful women and not pushed down at every chance. I know my parents loved me in their own ways, but they took the beliefs of any already smothering faction and twisted them into something else. I have no reason to hate myself, I only dislike the things I was taught. Beatrice, you are strong, capable and will go on to do amazing things. Be proud of yourself."
"Amity Simulation Passed"
Everything is silent, and Eric and Tris keep looking around the room, looking for any indication that they were successful.
"We did it." He breathes out.
"I love you." She says to him and he smiles widely at her.
"I love you too."
A video begins to play, and Tris can feel Eric squeezing her hand.
"Hello," a woman says. "My name is Amanda Ritter. In this file I will tell you only what you need to know. I am the leader of an organization fighting for justice and peace. This fight has become increasingly more important--and consequently, nearly impossible--in the past few decades. That is because of this."
Images flash across the wall, almost too fast for them to see. A man on his knees with a gun pressed to his forehead. The woman pointing it at him, her face emotionless.
From a distance, a small person hanging by the neck from a telephone pole.
A hole in the ground the size of a house, full of bodies.
And there are other images too, but they move faster, so they get only impressions of blood and bone and death and cruelty, empty faces, soulless eyes, terrified eyes.
The woman reappears on the screen, behind her desk.
"You do not remember any of that," she says. "But if you are thinking these are the actions of a terrorist group or a tyrannical government regime, you are only partially correct. Half of the people in those pictures, committing those terrible acts, were your neighbors. Your relatives. Your coworkers. The battle we are fighting is not against a particular group. It is against human nature itself--or at least what it has become."
This is what Jeanine was willing to enslave minds and murder people for--to keep them all from knowing. To keep them all ignorant and safe and inside the fence. For a moment, both Eric and Tris understand.
"That is why you are so important," Amanda says. "Our struggle against violence and cruelty is only treating the symptoms of a disease, not curing it. You are the cure.
"In order to keep you safe, we devised a way for you to be separated from us. From our water supply. From our technology. From our societal structure. We have formed your society in a particular way in the hope that you will rediscover the moral sense most of us have lost. Over time, we hope that you will begin to change as most of us cannot.
"The reason I am leaving this footage for you is so that you will know when it's time to help us. You will know that it is time when there are many among you whose minds appear to be more flexible than the others. The name you should give those people is Divergent. Once they become abundant among you, your leaders should give the command for Amity to unlock the gate forever, so that you may emerge from your isolation."
"The information in this video is to be restricted to those in government only," Amanda says. "You are to be a clean slate. But do not forget us."
She smiles a little.
"I am about to join your number," she says. "Like the rest of you, I will voluntarily forget my name, my family, and my home. I will take on a new identity, with false memories and a false history. But so that you know the information I have provided you with is accurate, I will tell you the name I am about to take as my own."
"My name will be Edith Prior," she says. "And there is much I am happy to forget."
The video stops. The projector glows blue against the wall. Tris and Eric stare at each other, neither knowing what to say. She clutches Eric's hand, and there is a moment of silence like a withheld breath.
Then the shouting begins.