A/N: It's been so long. So, so long. If you forgot what happened in the last chapter, don't worry. I did, too, writing certain parts of this.

Again, the timeline of these past two chapters is technically flipped from canon with respect to Visiting Day and the end of Phase One. I also didn't expand on certain other parts of VD because of how much was covered in Born and Bred. Again, feel free to check that out (after finishing up this fic ;D )

Thanks to the darling Meags for checking this for idiotic mistakes from writing at 1AM.

Without any further ado, enjoy!

All the tension and stress following Edward's attack left our remaining group of transfers reeling. Christina even forgot to be passive-aggressive towards me for the whole day. Once Four let us go back to the dorm there was a rush of hushed conversations.

"Where were you guys?"

"How come no-one saw what happened?"

"It must have been an angry factionless worker. Chauntelle in the kitchens said they've been real quiet all week. Said they get real weird during initiations."

I ducked out of view into my bunk and tried my hardest to blend in with my blanket. The theories and accusations didn't interest me. They terrified me. Edward should have been the model Dauntless. He was pretty damn respected for all his abilities according to our faction's tenants, even by the Dauntless-born. By all right he should have been untouchable. If he wasn't, where did that leave me?

Will and Al adamantly refused to believe that the factionless were involved, suggesting it was jealousy on the part of one of the leaving Dauntless-born. It made sense but everyone was just as opinionated in their own thoughts.

Particularly Peter was against their theory. He was convinced that no one could possibly be intimidated by "that hack's shitty skills." Both he and Molly were firmly pushing for an investigation into the factionless who worked in the kitchens and sanitation crews in the faction.

My own opinion was that regardless of who had attacked him, we all needed to watch out. People continued to talk and I ended up falling asleep. I didn't chose to take a nap so much as I could not keep my eyes open any longer. Even still, I tossed and turned more than actually slept. Christina nudged me awake around noon to see if I wanted lunch. I agreed just so that I wasn't the only one remaining in the dorm.

I had to watch my own back, that was the lesson of last night.

Night thankfully passed without further incident. Between my nap earlier and the bathroom light being left on, it was practically impossible to fall asleep. The beam of yellow-orange incandescent light stretched between the bunks right into my eyeline, wavering every time someone got up to use the toilet.

I woke to Al's dry-heaves echoing from the bathroom at some point after two thirty.

And again at four.

Still, I finally managed to stay asleep for a few hours.

My normal wake-up time came and went. I wouldn't have been able to get up even if I wanted to. I got up with everyone else when Al shook the bed frame - again - to climb down and get ready.

We were spared the misery of beginning Stage Two of training by an even worse indignity: it was Visiting Day.

My heart sank as soon as I realized that the holiday snuck up on us. Typically the day was some time after Choosing so that families could go and visit their newly-placed children. It allegedly helped to ease the transition. Caleb and I had Chosen at the same time so I'd never experienced Visiting Day other than watching a few older acquaintances return to Abnegation for dinner one evening.

With the way Dauntless ran initiation, I couldn't see them wanting us to go out to see our families. "Hey Al," I called quietly. "D'you remember if Four said anything about Visiting Day?"

The taller boy paused while putting his shirt on. "I think he said there's a reception in the Pit?" he replied, just as confused as I was. "Someone mentioned it yesterday - I know I heard something - but with all the stress…" he trailed off.

"Yeah," I said after he didn't speak again. "Well, I guess they'll tell us if there's something we need to know?" I eyed Will just a few feet away, but he looked pointedly away to start up a loud conversation with Christina.

Excellent. She must have remembered she was mad at me. I was waiting for her to resume her rant from the other night, though that required her to actually speak with me.

Al finished struggling with his shirt and shoved his hands in his back pockets. "Do you want to sit together if we both don't have… visitors?" He avoided saying "family" with all the grace of a dog on an ice patch. "Figured you and I could stick together. Team bonding and all that."

I nodded because what else was there to do? Of my original friends I was down to the literal last one. And we weren't even that close. Al wasn't exactly killing it with his rank, either. By the time initiation was over, would he even still be in Dauntless? Before I could spiral further down that path, I was interrupted. One of the Dauntless-born sauntered through the door, ignoring Molly's spiteful snarl. "Right, since you guys haven't been here on Visiting Day before they wanted me to tell you how it works," the girl asserted.

"Any visitors you have are gonna be in the Pit. They can go anywhere as long as they're with you. Typical exceptions being the places that we can't go. Armory, command center, shit like that. Same rules of initiates not leaving the compound without an actual member of Dauntless apply," she explained. "Any questions, shove 'em up your ass."

I didn't blame her for walking out without a second glance. Will and Al had said some idiotic things fairly loudly in the dining hall last night about the Dauntless-born knowing who stabbed Edward. Mostly I wanted to know where Four was. He typically gave us the information rundown on the day. Our trainer had been absent since picking us up from the training room yesterday morning.

I didn't get to dwell on Four's whereabouts. With the girl leaving, there was a surge as the transfers suddenly realized they would get to see their families again. I scrambled to put on a clean shirt - I'd meant to bring my now-enormous pile to the laundry room yesterday originally but had completely forgotten - and flatted out the creases in my pants. Al trailed behind the rest of the crowd as I shoved on boots and tied a maroon bandanna around my hair. There wasn't enough time to hustle through a shower. Not unless I wanted to be left on my own.

Anxiety danced in my stomach as we wound through the halls to get to the Pit. Would my parents be there? My brother? The chances of a faction like Erudite having an elimination process like Dauntless seemed pretty low, so I wasn't worried about him being Factionless. The question was if he, like I, would be prohibited from leaving his faction's section of the city until fully initiated. If he couldn't, there was always next year, I reasoned.

My parents though, they had no reason to not come. Other than the chance that they took my betrayal of Abnegation personally. My father in particular being on the council might not be ready to forgive me. Al and I climbed the stairs in silence, both wallowing in misery.

As we moved through the halls, a memory came back to me from when Caleb and I were still in Lower Levels at school. I remembered being excited that we were taking the bus to a new place that wasn't the community center for volunteering or the school for classes. It was an old train station, the tracks long since removed to build up the lines that went to and from Amity. Caleb and I played hopscotch on the squares of light that streamed through the empty panes, following our parents. It was fun until we got deep inside the station.

My mother led us through one of the old platforms to a series of tunnels. The bickering started then. Maybe it had been going on all day, I was a bit too young to be able to remember that now. I did realize why I suddenly thought about that day; my mother kept combating my father with "but it's Visiting Day" until she just stopped in the middle of the hallway. The blue lights and her suddenly-quiet voice turned her to ice. Her words in that musty hall escaped me now, but they were powerful, stalwart. I remembered my father shaking his head before taking Caleb and I back up to the train station and to the bus.

My mother didn't come home until late that evening. She never spoke about it again, and we never took the bus to that train station again. I tried to force the rest of the argument back to my memory but already it was running out from my recollection. Did… did we have family in another faction?

The blue-light halls certainly matched those in Dauntless, though the bulbs could be used in any tunnel in the city. Will had spent a good ten minutes the other day talking about how the shade was picked to help attune eyes back and forth from dark environments to full brightness of being outside. It was possible then that we were visiting one of the other factions. Erudite and Candor could have still have sections of their faction underground. Faction history spoke about how all five were originally underground until they dared to live above-ground again. I was hazy on when exactly that happened or if the factions changed locations, but it was technically possible that the tunnel we'd been in had gone to Dauntless or another faction.

I wondered if this wasn't the first time my parents would be coming to the Pit to visit someone they knew in Dauntless. It also might not be the first time they don't visit another faction. The thought didn't make my trip any more bearable.

Distracting myself, I started up a conversation with Al about what food the kitchens would trot out for Visiting Day. He thought the day might merit cake once again, but I pointed out how much more they'd need to make with visitors filtering in and out all day. Chocolate was expensive from the point values I'd seen in the shops. I suspected it was grown in one of the greenhouses maintained by the coalition of Amity and Erudite farmers. Cocoa didn't exactly flourish in Chicago's climate.

Still, whatever the farmers were doing had to be enough that we could still get the delicious chocolate. Cake hadn't been served since the Choosing Ceremony, but there were always chocolate chip muffins - for a little while - in the mornings to tide my growing sweet tooth over.

We got to the Pit and everything was in chaos. Typical and yet not so typical. There were far more young kids roaming around and the color palette of the room was so bright. Even when visiting in other factions the Erudite kept to their sky blue blazers or pale turquoise pants. And while there were never any direct Amity transfers, there were still quite a few extended families milling around talking to their cousins, siblings, or other relatives. Their bright yellows and oranges clashed horrendously with Erudite. Only the subdued visitors from Candor looked like they may have belonged here on a typical day.

I spied Christina and Will only because she was making a fuss as she fought with her starkly-dressed mother. Frowning, I ignored Christina's shouts of "Prude!" to focus on looking for my own family. One or two grey spots caught my eye but they belonged to a very dusty Candor child and an ancient matriarch. Not my family then.

"Hey, I see my dad. And ma," Al said, pointing his finger towards a Candor justice and her husband who looked painfully out of place. I saw immediately where Al got his height from as well as his "please kill me" expression. The apple didn't fall far from the tree there. Maybe their visit would go well, then, if fear and hesitation also ran in the family.

Still, I had been ragging pretty hard on my friend so I pressed my lips into a smile and offered to walk over with him. Al jumped at the chance and started dragging me towards the pair.

Before I got very far though I was tapped on the shoulder quickly and gently. When I looked to see who it was, my smile turned genuine. "Mother!" I cried out. I threw my arms around her and allowed myself to sink into her hug. I breathed in her smell - so different than the steel and concrete of Dauntless. "I didn't see you there."

Her laugh ruffled my hair. "Hello my dear. I only just got here. The bus was running late," she explained. She gently tucked my hair back around my ears and stepped back to look me over. For all the commotion around us, I could only focus on our reunion. I lost sight of where Al went off to. "You look well," my mother said earnestly.

"And you, as well," I quickly replied. Old habits sprung up and I moved just so to be at a respectable distance. The hug had surprised both of us, I think, and now with my mother looking me over intently I realized how different I was from when I'd left.

I barely even looked the same with my hair tied back and my clothes form fitting. My muscles were developing gradually, and I wasn't hiding from anything. Confidence. I had confidence. As soon as I made that revelation, I also realized that the shirt I'd grabbed liked to slip off of one shoulder exposing - horror of all horrors to my Abnegation heritage - my bra strap. Shrugging my shoulder I tried to settle the fabric to sit like a proper shirt. The motion made the neckline dip to fully showcase the ravens flying across my skin.

My mother's eyes went from the strap to the ink. Then she looked back at my face and sighed, her lip still curled in a smile. "You've grown so much already. Oh I wish your father was here to see it."

I convinced my mother to stay for lunch, wheedling the extra half hour out of her after an offhand comment about not getting the chance again for another whole year. Plus the fact that my father had refused to come down only added to the guilt trip. My mother acquiesced and I studied her from the corner of my eye the whole time as we moved from the Pit to the dining hall. She didn't even flinch at the steep walkways or need to ask where the line in the mess started, confirming my earlier suspicions.

After we had chicken patty sandwiches I broached the subject casually. It came out that my mother, head of the volunteer effort in Abnegation, had grown up in Dauntless. She didn't seem comfortable discussing it any further so I dropped the subject. That still left me with questions of whether I had more extended family - besides my deceased maternal grandparents - in Dauntless. Next year I would press the subject.

Next year. The thought of waiting a whole year before getting to really talk with my mother and to see my father again was depressing. Such was the cost of leaving Abnegation. Faction before blood. Eric's words from a few days ago rang out in my head. I thought I'd fully understood what they meant at the time. I hadn't.

Our goodbye was far less touching than the reunion. "You shouldn't seem too close to family," my mother had whispered when we stood to bus our trays of food. "It makes you look easily influenceable. And Abnegation isn't as strong as we used to be as a faction." So, we parted with a handshake and flat promises to speak again if we ran into one another.

I wanted to say more. I wanted to ask if I should try to speak to Caleb once initiation was over. It ate at me that I was only afforded the chance to talk to my mother and no one else. My teeth clamped down on my tongue as my mother departed from Dauntless.

Sighing, I wrapped my arms around my stomach and looked around the Pit. It was still pretty hectic, though the crowd had thinned out. People were still eating lunch in the cafeteria or in the few cafes around the Pit. Tori waved at me from a few yards away but I didn't feel like going over to talk to her. She had just come in with a small group of Candor men and women and was helping them to find where their loved ones might be.

I felt a bit lost and uncomfortable. My first instinct was to find one of my friends but I knew my presence wouldn't be appreciated by most of them. Al was long gone. I tapped my fingers on my arm, uncertain of what to do.

I overheard someone above me on a walkway talking about their most recent mile times and it gave me an idea. Running had become my safe "thing to do" and it would help me to clear my head.

Throwing a smile at Tori as I passed by her, I slipped through the crowd to the familiar pathway to the training room. I put my hair up into a ponytail, wrapping the bandanna I'd put on earlier around my wrist to get it out of the way. Once I got to the room I regretted not getting a water bottle, but the prospect of walking all the way back to the cafeteria was anything but appealing.

A few quick limbering stretches made me regret my wardrobe choices. My shirt moved far too much for my liking, switching slumped shoulders with every shuffle of my feet. I tried to tuck it into my pants but that just irritated me even more. Finally I ended up taking my ponytail out and tightening the fabric by "knotting" the bottom with my hair tie.

"Gorgeous," I laughed to myself, shaking my head. My hair bounced in my face but once I got to a decent speed it was manageable. Then I could think.

My mother's visit had distracted me from my main worries of the day - the unknown assailant - and I double checked that the door was completely open. It unnerved me that there wasn't a single piece of news from either of the trainers or from Eric. I frowned, trying to remember if I'd seen Eric at all since our final fights. When we had sat in the cafeteria the other night we had watched Four and Lauren pouring over papers - our individual stats, presumably. I don't think we saw Eric participating, but then again our group adjourned to the drinking party while the instructors were still working.

My lungs started to burn a few minutes after my legs did. I kept going at a slightly slower pace until I could breathe easily once again. I didn't want to stop completely and lose momentum. My ranking was solid so far, and any training I did certainly couldn't hurt my continued work. We were supposed to merge with the Dauntless-born training group at this point, too. That was something to look forward to in my mind. Maybe the added people would help Christina to realize that she didn't have to be up my ass about how well I was doing. More than likely the Dauntless-born still had a better chance of being, well, better at initiation until we got to Stage Three.

A figure darkened the door frame, blocking out the hallway light. I stuttered to a stop, fists raised to block my face before I even realized the reflex was happening. "Woah, woah, easy there," Eric grunted. His eyebrows lept up and his palms were up in a calming gesture. I took a deep breath and pressed my eyes closed.

"Sorry, it's been a long day," I hissed. I was still fairly out of breath from running and his sudden appearance had made my heart rate skyrocket. Thank you, paranoia. "Thought you were here to gouge my eyes out." I'd like to think that I wouldn't have freaked out quite so much if I hadn't been right next to the door when he'd stepped into the room.

I had to give him credit, he didn't laugh at my appearance or my overreaction. Eric took two slow steps, his feet shuffling on the floor. It struck me as odd that I heard him; normally I had to concentrate to hear his footsteps. I blamed the adrenaline and finally dropped my hands to my side. "No one is harming another one of my initiates," Eric finally replied. "You were pretty ready-to-go though," he added.

"Thanks," I said dryly. My pulse still beat strong enough that I could feel it in my palms, and I bent over to rest my hands on my knees. I finally opened my eyes and peered up at the blonde.

Eric looked concerned, his mouth scrunched into a tight frown. "You sure you're alright?" He asked. His voice dropped low.

That wouldn't do. The last thing I needed was to be thought of as weak. I forced a lopsided smile onto my face and stood up. "Totally fine," I said, cutting off any further discussion. "Winded. Running." Eric didn't look convinced.

I fidgeted with my hair, still trying to look at ease. "What are you doing here anyway?" I asked. Not a masterful pivot in conversation but effective nonetheless.

Eric rocked on the heels of his boots and crossed his arms. "Checking on initiates who like to wander by themselves, especially the ones with death wishes," he answered.

I felt my ears burn red, and I resumed jogging at a comfortable pace. "How is training a death wish?" I called back. My voice hitched up an octave, betraying my attempt to be casual.

"Prior, stop running for five minutes. Talk to me?" He phrased it like a question rather than an order. I slowed to a walk instead of stopping completely. Compromise. I'd let him talk at me but I couldn't face him. I didn't want to look at anyone. Why couldn't I just be left alone to sulk?

Eric muttered something under his breath and strode quickly to catch up with me. He stepped in front of me, forcing me to stop unless I wanted to collide with his chest. "What?" I snapped quickly, mirroring his crossed arms and raised eyebrow.

"Hi," he barked, matching my tone exactly. "You're speaking to me right now, in case you forgot."

"Of course. How could I forget you're a Leader," I sneered. Where was all this frustration coming from? I regretted the words as soon as they left my mouth.

Eric closed his eyes and visibly mouthed counting from one to five. "I'm going to assume all this misdirected anger isn't coming from the girl I guaranteed got the rank she deserved instead of the rank that a pissed off instructor wanted to give her," his voice was controlled, steady, and a little bit menacing. The point was obvious: stop fucking around.

I opened my mouth to rebut - because I clearly do have a death wish - and got cut off. "You and your friends might be a little tired and cranky from Stage One but you do not get to use that as an excuse to be backtalk a direct superior," he finished. Adrenaline spiked in my veins again.

"You honestly think I'm just tired?" I retorted. "Really?"

He shrugged one shoulder, hesitant. I pounced on that hesitation, jabbing one finger at his chest. "I'm tired," I parroted shrilly, "because I spent the past twenty-four hours worrying if - no not if because it has to be someone here - who in this complex stabbed one of the people who lives in my dorm in the middle of the night. I'm tired because I spent all night waiting for one of us to get stabbed or worse shot by said maniac."

Eric's jaw tightened. I didn't care. I wasn't done yet.

I continued, turning to pace back and forth as I raved. "We aren't told anything about what's happening. You're clearly not even investigating because we're just told to go about our lives like nothing happened. A kid got stabbed in the eye with a fucking butter knife from dinner. That happened. But nah, it's Visiting Day. Just smile at your families who have no idea what the hell you signed on to do," I snarled.

"So thanks for your concern, but you asking if I'm alright isn't going to suddenly make me alright. Newsflash - that doesn't work for anyone in the fucking whole city." I finished my rant with an unsatisfactory feeling pitted in my stomach. It didn't feel good to go off on Eric.

Shit.

I tightened my shoulders and waited for the dressing down of the century. I'd just shouted in the face of a Leader who'd basically just told me to stop talking back or so help him.

"You don't think we're investigating Edward's assailant?" His question was quiet and genuine confusion clouded his eyes. "You're kidding me, right?"

I gaped like a fish out of water. My bravado had stolen any further coherent words from me. "No?" I squeaked out.

He sighed and raked both hands through his hair. I realized suddenly how exhausted he looked. "Christ almighty. I thought you were smarter than that, Prior," he groaned. "Of course we're investigating. That's why Kyle watched you for six hours straight. The man can read a room better than a whole security team. We don't have cams in the dorms so everything is straight up manpower. I've got eighteen more statements sitting on my desk from the past thirty-six hours that I still have to comb through because I spent literally all the rest of the day trying to wrangle Lauren and Four to write up full profiles of all you kids who weren't accounted for."

Eric laughed bitterly and shook his head. "I don't blame you for being upset, but Prior, give me a little credit here."

I wanted to crawl into a tiny hole and never have to talk to Eric ever again. "Sorry," I apologized. It was a hoarse whisper. "I didn't… know. Ask. At all."

Silence fell between us. I couldn't take it any longer, and I brushed past him to head for the door. Escape was my only option. He grabbed my wrist loosely, just enough to stop me in my tracks. I could have tugged my hand away easily. "You know you can talk to anyone here, right?" he offered.

I didn't know what to think of this revelation. Kindness and compassion didn't mesh well with the do-or-die persona of Dauntless. "The flip side of 'faction before blood' is that you don't need your family to talk to," Eric continued in that same quiet, level tone. "You can reach out to anyone here and they'll have your back. As long as you have theirs."

I looked back at Eric. I scrutinized his expression for a half dozen heartbeats. There wasn't a single bit of hesitation. He was entirely genuine, letting me know that Dauntless wasn't just tactical squads or "hellians" with bad tattoos.

"Oh." I didn't know what to say. "T-thanks."

He let go of my wrist and sighed. I was free to leave, I suppose. Now I couldn't figure out if I really wanted to. "Sorry-" I started to apologize once again.

Eric shook his head. "Don't. I mean, you shouldn't try that stunt again, but I have a feeling you already know that," he said. "You know I'm not always so easy going."

I stared up at him before a surge of giggles overtook me. "Yeah, you're a real teddy bear," I choked out.

"Hey, come on. I'm not that bad," Eric protested earnestly. "C'mere," he said brusquely. I started when he tugged my shoulder to pull me into an embrace. It was my second hug in so little time and even more unexpected than the first.

It was a hug. From Eric.

I didn't get much of a chance to react. He patted me on the back twice - his hands hitting my shoulder blades squarely - and then let me go just as fast. "See, easy going," Eric grunted.

"Now can I ask if you're alright without getting my head bitten off? Because I'm going to," he added. I continued to flounder, trying to pull myself together.

It wasn't a big deal, I fervently yelled at my Abnegation heritage. Physical contact wasn't taboo here, and I'd seen dozens of Dauntless hug in the way Eric just hugged me. It was a way to show camaraderie.

He smirked, falling back into his normal attitude. It kicked me from my confusion, though, so I welcomed the change. "Are you alright now, Prior?"

I crossed my arms and cocked my hip. "Never better," I replied blithely.

"Is that why your shirt is tied on?"

I almost made a whole minute with him without blushing like a moron. "Ye-up."