Author's Note: Look who's updating all fast and stuff! Now, some of you may be saying "GIVE DAUNTLESS TITANS A BREAK AND UPDATE ALL TOO WELL ALREADY!" And I will, don't worry. But I've been updating this story more often because I plan for this to be longer than All Too Well. So the more I do of this now, the close to the end we'll be by the time I Start College. With all that out of the way, on with the chapter!

DISCLAIMER: Nope, don't own anything.

Chapter 9

After my mother leaves, I head back to the dormitory, expecting it to be empty. To my surprise, I find Sergei sitting on his bunk, staring at the chalkboard with the rankings written on it.

"Hey, there you are. Your parents were looking for you."

He looks up at me, but doesn't answer me. I tentatively walk over to him and sit next to him, being careful to leave a few inches of space between us.

"So… Did your parents find you?"

"No, I was kinda hiding back here so they wouldn't find me."

"Why would you avoid them?"

"Because they would ask me how I'm doing and they'd know I'd be lying to them. They always admired the Dauntless; they'd be disappointed that the only thing that saved me from getting cut was a terrible accident."

"But you lost your fights on purpose. And why did you change factions just for your parents?"

"I didn't just change for them. I chose Dauntless because… Have you ever read the Dauntless manifesto?"

"No?"

"Well, I did once… One line really stuck out to me. 'We believe in ordinary acts of bravery, in the courage that drives one person to stand up for another.' That's what I thought Dauntless was about. Protecting people; not beating the crap out of each other for no reason. I wanted to stand up for people; like what you did for me."

I smile a little then look down at the floor, remembering yesterday's fight.

"It's a beautiful thought… About yesterday, I didn't-"

"You don't have to apologize Kori. One of us had to win and I could never hit you."

I don't question his need to emphasize that he would never hit me.

"Well, look on the bright side. Maybe it'll be better when initiation's over."

"If I make it through initiation."

My father once said that simply being near someone is the greatest comfort. I hope he was right, because I don't know how to respond to that. Eventually he speaks again.

"You know, I feel braver when I'm around you. Like I could fit in here the way you do."

I had hoped Rachel and Karen had been wrong about Sergei's feelings for me. Before I can tell him that I don't fit in here, he wraps his arm around me. I get up off the bed and walk towards the door. Before I leave, I turn to Sergei.

"I, uh, um… I'm… Sorry."

"I-It's fine… I just remembered I have… Something to do. I'll see you tomorrow. Sorry. About your parents! Not… The other thing."

"Right. See you tomorrow, Kori."

With that, I rush out of the room and don't stop walking until I find myself in an unfamiliar hallway. The hallway is empty and quiet so I sit down and close my eyes, trying to figure out the events of last night and today. We all knew Xavier stabbed Vic and ironically, being brave and telling someone wouldn't solve the problem. I can tell that Robin knows the truth. And if Robin knows, Jason knows. Jason just doesn't care and if the other leaders are like Jason, none of them will do anything about it.

Then there's my mother being Dauntless, and knowing what Divergence means. I can't even begin to make sense of that.

Finally, there's Sergei. I know I don't like Sergei in the same way he clearly likes me. I don't know if I like anyone… Except maybe Robin, who just confuses me even more…

Luckily, my train of thought is derailed by a giggling couple coming down the hallway. They stop when they see me and I recognize them as two of the Dauntless born initiates that were on my capture the flag team. The boy is tall, and has red hair and blue eyes and the girl is skinny with short hair that she's dyed pink. The boy speaks to me.

"You're the stiff that was on our capture the flag team, right? The one who thought to climb the Ferris wheel?"

"Wally, don't be so rude! Don't you remember what Pam said about that transfer from last night?"

Wally looks embarrassed and scuffs his feet on the ground.

"Right, sorry… Uh, what's your name?"

I raise my eyebrows at the two.

"Uh… I'm Kori… What are you guys doing?"

The girl grins in a sneaky way.

"Kori. Well, I'm Jenny, that's Wally and we're going on a little initiation ritual. It's typically only for Dauntless born, but do you wanna come with? It'll be fun."

"Uh…" Well, it's either whatever they're doing or go to dinner and face Sergei. "Sure."

"Great, now come on, Roy's gonna kill me if we're late!"

Before I can blink, Wally's grabbing both my wrist and Jenny's and dragging us along at what could be considered an inhuman speed. I turn to Jenny since Wally seems preoccupied.

"Who's Roy?"

"Wally's older brother. He's getting us into this thing."

"I thought this was an initiation ritual?"

"I may have stretched the truth a bit."

I shake my head and Wally drags us to a building where another red haired boy stands waiting. He frowns when he sees me.

"Why'd you bring the stiff, Wally?"

"Lay off, Roy. She just saw a guy get stabbed in the eye."

Roy looks as uncomfortable as I feel when Wally speaks so frankly of what happened to Vic. He shakes his head and leads us inside where we are piled inside an elevator with a bunch of other Dauntless members. A girl with bushy brown hair steps on my foot and doesn't apologize then calls out.

"What floor?"

I look at the panel of buttons behind her and smirk.

"100!"

The girl glares at.

"How do YOU know that, stiff?"

"We're in an elevator with a bunch of Dauntless. Why DON'T you know to go to the top floor?"

"Why you little-"

"Pam*, that's enough. Just push the button."

Wally looks nervous all of a sudden.

"Does the elevator even work?"

Roy punches his shoulder.

"Of course it does. You think I'm dumb enough to forget to come early and turn on the generators?"

"I do, actually."

"Watch it little brother, or I might not tighten your straps enough and…" Roy smacks his hands together. "Splat."

"Yeah, and our mother would boil you alive."

I smile sadly as I watch the brothers interact. It makes me miss my sister. I snap out of my daydreaming when I notice a girl with blue eyes and orange hair staring at me.

"Can I help you?"

"I know you. Robin told me about you, stiff."

Robin's been talking about me?

"What did he say about me?"

The girl smirks in a haughty manner.

"He said you were a stiff. Why do you ask?"

Well, that's disappointing.

"If my instructor is talking about me, I have the right to know what he says."

The girl shrugs.

"Well, Robin talks to me all the time. We were in the same initiation class. He helped me with fighting styles. It was really nice of him."

A strange feeling grows inside of me. On the one hand, yes, I knew Robin was nice. On the other, for no apparent reason, I really wanna punch this girl in the face. I hear Roy call to her.

"Yes, you're so freakin' special, Babs. We get it, you're in love with Robin, give it a rest!"

Babs blushes furiously.

"Shut up, Roy!"

I speak up again before Babs can punch Roy.

"Do you know if Robin's coming tonight?"

Babs shakes her head.

"No, he never does anymore. Probably just isn't exciting. Not much scares him, you know."

I do know that not much scares Robin. But I also know one of the few things that does scare him is heights. Or, as he likes to say, falling. Either way, whatever we're doing here probably involves both.

We reach the top floor and climb to the roof through a hole in the ceiling. The wind whips strongly around me, just like it was on the day of the Choosing Ceremony. I look over at the edge of the roof and see a cable running down to the ground. Attached to the cable is a sling made out of a sturdy looking black fabric. The sling looks big enough to hold a person and that's when I realize what we're doing up here.

We're zip lining to the ground. As I watch Roy secure Pam into her sling, I briefly wonder if this is a suicide mission disguised as a game. This is not the first time I have wondered this since I arrived at the Dauntless compound.

There are seven people in line ahead of me. That's seven people I get to watch glide screaming into the night. Babs is ahead of me and I'm determined to appear braver than her. Lucky for me, she screams like a little girl. As I'm smiling to myself over this, I feel Roy helping me into my sling. I gulp and slide forward on my stomach. I hear Roy chuckling.

"You scared, Stiff?"

I clear my throat while he's adjusting my straps.

"Of course not."

"Good. Cause there's no turning back now."

I hear everyone count down from five and then I feel myself shooting forward. It's horrific at first, and then it's wonderful. It feels like I'm flying; I want to throw my arms out. I find myself laughing hysterically from the pure joy of this flight. The wind rushes loudly around me, I'd be surprised if anyone could hear my joy.

Unfortunately, it's over all too soon and I am slowed to a natural stop at about 30 feet off the ground. I slide to a sitting position and see the group of people who have already gone forming a net with their arms. It is the ultimate act of teamwork. I have to trust them to catch me. I take a deep breath, close my eyes and slide off of the sling.

The impact of my body against their arms is abrupt, but not as bad as I imagine it would be to hit the ground. They lower my feet to the ground and I can't help but giggle, still high from the adrenaline rush. Jenny pats my shoulder.

"So how was it?"

I giggle again.

"When can I go again?"

Jenny laughs, but stops when a piercing scream rings through the night air. The members laugh.

"Is that Roy's brother?"

"No way, Roy would punch him for screaming like that!"

"He sounds like a dying cat…"

Everybody turns to me in shock when I make the comment and starts laughing. I feel bad for making fun of Wally, but it feels so good to be accepted. Wally comes to a halt above us and we form the net of arms to catch him. A hand grasps my shoulder and I turn and see Babs. She clears her throat and looks ashamed.

"I, uh… Guess we can't call you stiff anymore. Kori."

I can't hide my grin as I am once again reminded that this is where I belong.

I return to the dining hall smelling like wind and find Rachel, Gar and-unfortunately- Sergei, waiting for me. Rachel glares at me while Gar and Sergei can't stop laughing. Gar looks up at me.

"Dude! You totally missed it! Rachel almost punched and Erudite representative!"

"Really?"

Rachel somehow manages to narrow her eyes even further and speaks in a deadpanned monotone.

"Yes. I was busy defending YOUR old faction while YOU were busy having fun with your new Dauntless buddies."

I suddenly feel guilty for running off without telling any of them and attempt to mollify them.

"They're not my friends. Most of them just called me stiff and one girl even stepped on me. So tell me about how an Erudite almost got punched?"

Gar dives into the tale and Rachel seems to relax. I only half listen to Gar as I realize if I want to be Dauntless permanently, I have to stay ahead of my friends in the next round of initiation.

At least I can relax with them tomorrow.

*Pam= Pantha

Fun fact! This was the first bit of Fanfiction I've written on my new laptop! Okay, to those of you who have read the books, are the rest of you as pissed off as I am that Uriah isn't gonna be in the movie?! I mean, how can they-? I don't even… This is not the place for this. Anyway, on a lighter note, it is currently July 19th where I am. You know what that means? It means it's officially the 10th anniversary of the very first episode of Teen Titans! *throws confetti and blows party horn* Yay! Ah, I remember watching the very first episode of Teen Titans… Damn, I'm getting old. But not old enough for Teen Titans to be on Boomerang! AUGH! I'm getting angry! I'm gonna celebrate in the morning; I need to sleep off my anger. Good night, my lovely readers! R&R! –a very frustrated Starprincess