Hi everyone! Here's chapter 2 of the sequel.
Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent!
Sera
Iris actually giggled. I blushed. 'Believe it or not, but as my brother Nick looks just like your brother, you kind of look like the younger version of our mother,' I said, trying to turn it into a joke. She grinned in a way she always did when I made a joke, causing my heart to skip a beat.
Mom... Please recognise us...
'Do I look okay when I get older?' She joked in return. 'You look perfect,' Savannah squealed. Iris looked at her and smiled. 'I can't believe how much you look like... Well... Your mother,' she said and stroke Sav's hair softly. 'Iris!' Tim called, beckoning her. 'Coming, Tim!' She called back, and nodded at us. 'If you need anything, please call me, all right?' She said, walked over to Tim and looked at something he wanted to show her. We were all silent for a little while when Nick broke the silence. 'I think I'm going insane,' he admitted. 'So our parents have no idea who we are,' Melody said. 'I'm still wondering where our fathers are.' 'We have yet to find out why they don't remember us,' Lake said. We discussed it for a little while when we heard another familiar voice. 'Hi! Iris told me there was a group without money looking farmished and voracious,' aunt Jenna said. My head jerked up, it was her! Brown eyes, brown hair, quirky... My mother in law.
Julian and Melody looked happy to see their twenty year old mother, yet slightly sad. Let's be real. It was pretty cool to meet our parents when they were young... But it pretty much sucked because they had no idea who we were. My parents were the firsts to have children, Nick and I should have been four, but instead, we probably didn't exist, because she didn't recognise Nick's name. I dropped the menu I was holding. Holy crap! WE DIDN'T EXIST! Nick and Juke eyed me worriedly as they'd caught on to my sudden distress. Our parents were living a life without us, because that's what we requested after all, right? Damn... This was our own wish, our own fault! I felt sick to my stomach, how were we going to fix this?! 'I've got a few samples for you here. No charge of couse, Iris and I don't want you to starve,' Jenna said with a smile as she put down a plate with all sorts of pie slices, cakes, brownies, bagels, croissants and a large water can. Tim put down some cups. 'Thank you so much,' we all said genuinely. Jenna smiled. 'Don't worry about it, the more the merrier. Try the samples so you'll know your favourite for next time!' She winked and walked away. What she didn't know was that we grew up with that food, we knew exactly what was standing in front of us.
Nick and Julian looked at me as soon as Tim and Jenna were gone. 'What just happened, Sera?' Nick asked worried. 'It's our own fault, Nick!' I hissed, scanning the room for Iris, Tim, Rick, Emma or Jenna. 'We wished that we'd never been born... Well... I have the feeling that we're not born in this story. We should have been four, mom looks like she's 21 or something!' The others fell silent and grew pale. 'You're right...' Nick said, and his voice broke. 'All right, so the children have probably never been born, but why are we here then? To see how happy they were if we'd never been born?' Julian asked, his voice a mixture of anger and devastation. 'We have yet to find out... Juke,' Melody sighed. As we fell silent again, we decided to distract our minds by eating the delicious goods in front of us. I grabbed mom's brownie, her cheesecake for Nick and her chocolate chip cookie for Savannah. Julian grabbed Jenna's cherry pie, Melody took Jenna's mocha pie for Lake and her mother's chocolate cake for herself. It were our favourites and they always brought a smile to our faces. Iris came to check on us when we had devoured the goods. 'Did you all like it?' She asked happily, squatting down next to Sav. 'It was amazing, Iris. The two of yu are very talented bakers.' We all nodded agreeingly. 'Yes, thank you,' Julian and Nick added in unison. 'No problem at all, thank you!' She said, and started cleaning the table.
'Iris,' Melody started, causing Iris to look up. 'Hi, I'm Melody. I just wanted to ask, my parents happen to know a few people here in Chicago, and we wanted to see whether we could find their children around here somewhere. Do you happen to know a Tobias or a Zeke? Julian and my parents were friends with Tobias' parents, and Nick, Sera and Savannah's parents were friends with Zeke's parents,' she said. HOW SNEAKY! Lake was smiling at his girlfriend, and Nick looked impressed. I sat up straight, moment of truth! Had I been right? Iris raised her eyebrows and seemed to be thinking. 'Right. Yes, I do know them. Tobias, Zeke and my brother Amar co-own a gym called The Pit,' she said. 'To get more information on Tobias and Zeke you should ask the waiters though, they're somewhat more familiar.' She smiled and walked away again. WHAT?! Nick caught my eyes, and he looked like he was about to scream. 'WHAT!' He hissed. 'They have been together since they were FOURTEEN! They're in their twenties, they should be getting married right about now!' I let my head fall into my hands. Savannah sniffled right next to me. 'So mommy and daddy are not together?' She asked softly, her voice trembling. Nick took her in his arms. 'No, Sav. But we'll get them back together, even if it's the last thing I do.'
My head jerked up, and so did Lake's. We stared at each other and nodded, knowing that we were thinking about the same thing. 'Maybe that's our goal, Nick!' I said, feeling like my heart had filled itself with regained hope. 'We messed up, because not only WE are gone, but also ALL RELATIONSHIPS! I think we have to fix this and bring them back together. We have to push them towards each other!' Nick's eyes lit up and he smiled. 'They are still so much in love after all these years, I'm sure we'll get there. And the same for Tim and Layla AND Zeke and Jenna!' He hissed softly. Julian and Melody nodded happily and Lake smiled big as he looked at his father. 'I'm not sure where my mother is, but once I find her... I'll make sure she and dad will find each other,' he promised. 'But then there's the question... How do we do that?' Melody asked. 'Let's all focus on our own parents and getting them back together,' Julian suggested. 'We know them best.'
I nodded. 'Nick, you should take Savannah and find dad. I'll try and talk about him with mom,' I said to Nick, who nodded in return. 'Of course. I want to see daddy, but why should I go Sera?' Savannah asked confused. I smiled. 'Because he's always loved the sight of you.' She blushed slightly, and stood up. Julian stood up as well, looking at Melody. 'I'll go and find dad as well. Lake, do you want to come and make an attempt at finding your mother?' Lake nodded and followed the guys and Sav. They walked away, and it took Iris and Jenna ten seconds to replace them. 'So, tell us,' Iris said, grinning at Jenna who finished her sentence. 'Which guys were your boyfriends?'
Nick
Wandering through the city made us feel weird. We should be in Abnegation right now, had it been our Chicago. We were looking for our dads whom we would have to befriend. Julian didn't think his job would be too hard. Mine would. My dad wasn't exactly the easiest one to befriend probably, as he was quite tough and taciturn sometimes. Not to mom, Sera, Sav or me, nor to his friends, but to other people; especially the initiates he trained sometimes. Dad was intimidating, just like his father grandpa Masters. Aunt Beth, dad's little sister, always said that her brother had two sides. The first one was Four, the Dauntless part of dad, his tough side. The second one was the person he was around his loved ones: Tobias: dad. Loving and caring, protective maybe but never harsh. However, I was afraid of meeting Four today. Sera knew that, which was why she sent Savannah with me. Savannah looked so much like mom that she had always been a soft spot to dad. She was my secret weapon, even though he didn't know us, he couldn't be rude to us once he saw her, right? 'I think we have to become friends with Zeke first,' Lake said to Juke. Juke chuckled and nodded. 'Zeke is happy, quirky and willing to talk. I don't think my dad is either one of those three without my mom,' I said, and both of them agreed immediately.
'Yeah, I'm happy I'm not you,' Lake admitted and slapped my shoulder. I laughed, 'gee, thanks mate.' 'No it's just, I hope I don't get to see your dad's angry side,' Lake said, shivering. Lake was hardly afraid of anything, but everyone was afraid of Four, it was just common knowledge. Okay, besides mom and aunt Jenna, but even uncle Zeke could be slightly scared sometimes. The only ones arguing with dad when he was in Four mode were my grandparents Masters and aunt Beth. Beth seemed to have an effect on dad that even mom didn't have. I got that though, because I loved Catherine and she could calm me down... But even though Sera and Savannah could be pains in the butt, they had the same kind effect on me as Beth had on dad. We had been walking around for twenty minutes when we found what Iris had been talking about. The Pit. It was actually five minutes from Isenna's, but we'd scanned every street for the Pit. We looked up from under our soaked caps and saw a big building. It was mostly black and daunting. 'We're home!' Sav exulted, causing us to grin. We ran inside, and entered a big hall. It was filled with people in sweats, chatting while filling their water bottles. I looked around and saw an employee at the front desk.
'Excuse me,' I said, 'where can we find Zeke Pedrad, Tobias Masters and Amar Valentine?' The girl behind the glass looked weird and opened the window. 'Why?' She asked and raised her eyebrows. Juke walked up to me and leaned against the glass. 'We're family, in town for the week. I'm Zeke's cousin and these boys are Tobias' cousins,' he said. What? They would kick us out, and besides, what were we even going to say to them?! The girl looked suspicious, but when she looked at Julian, she must have seen that he looked enough like Zeke. Apparently she wasn't entirely convinced. 'Tobias' name is not Masters, family would know that,' she snapped. Wait, what? Dad's name was Masters, just like ours! We had been right about all the other names, so why was this one wrong? 'I'm sorry, yeah his parents got divorced a little while ago. He took his mom's name, we're from his father's side though,' I lied. The girl stared at me, her big blue eyes full of suspicion. 'Right. His name is Tobias Eaton, should you ever want to send a postcard,' she said sarcastically, then grabbed the phone to call the three guys. I hardly noticed her tone, my mind was racing too fast. Juke, Savannah and Lake looked confused.
Eaton?
I'd heard that name before, I'd heard dad say it when he was telling mom about a faction meeting. I clenched my fist and pushed myself to remember it. When I finally did, Amar, Tobias and Zeke were walking up to us already. 'Marcus Eaton, Abnegation's former leader. Dad always spoke very badly of him,' I hissed to Juke and Lake. I knew that mom was originally from Abnegation, but dad wasn't. No I had no time to think about that at that moment. I felt nervous, because Tobias was looking taciturn, as if we were wasting his time, yet slightly curious to see who we were. I hadn't noticed my heartbeat accelerate until the three guys stood right in front of us. 'Cousin!' Uncle Zeke said happily, hugging Juke. He must have noticed the resemblance between Julian and him, because he knew exactly who to greet as cousin. His eyes were not sincere though, he knew we weren't real. 'Let's talk inside the training court,' Amar suggested, and we all followed him quickly. I looked at my 21 year old father, it was insane to see him so young. I liked him so much better as dad, but I could envision us becoming friends if I could earn his trust. His blue eyes were almost black because of the situation, and he leaned against the wall with his arms folded.
'Who are you exactly?' Zeke asked confused. 'I'm Julian, or Juke better said. This is Lake, Nick and Savannah,' Julian introduced us. 'We were sent here by the ladies from Isenna's.' Tobias' eyebrows shot up immediately. 'Why would they send you?' He asked, his voice low and intimidating, but that didn't stop Sav from smiling at him. 'We're willing to work out,' Lake said. 'And Iris sent Savannah along for Amar,' I said quickly, putting my hand on her shoulder. Amar looked at Sav and gasped slightly. 'Jeez, I get that. She looks just like my sister when she was that age. And still,' he said surprised. Tobias' eyes squinted as he scanned Savannah. This whole situation annoyed me, Damn it, why had we been so STUPID. Why did our parents have to take the hit?! Sav blushed slightly and nodded. 'I look like Iris,' she said, then looked at Tobias. 'Do you think she's pretty?' That amazing sneaky girl! Tobias looked slightly confused, then smiled at Sav. 'Yes, I do.' Uncle Amar punched him. 'Shut up! You've been down that road before!' I raised my eyebrows at Juke. 'Before?' I asked. 'Yeah, he dated my sister for a wile until she opened Isenna's and he became co-owner of the Pit,' Amar explained.
'I'm standing right HERE,' Tobias growled and gritted his teeth. 'Look,' Juke said, raising his hands. 'We're here because... Well we have no idea where we are. We kind of woke up far from home and we're searching for our parents. It seems like we're stuck here for a while because we have no money... So we're looking for...' he started, then struggled with coming up with a fake reason. 'Friends,' Lake said, finishing his sentence. Tobias folded his arms and looked at Amar, who looked surprised. Zeke seemed like he was sorry for us. 'We can do friends, that's for sure,' the latter said with a smile, poking the other two. 'I'm the nice one.' Juke, Lake and I laughed as Amar and Tobias glared at him. Savannah giggled and shook her head. 'I like Tobias,' she said, and hugged his leg. He gasped softly and looked down at her. 'Sav!' I said quickly, wanting to pull her back when Tobias raised his hand and gave me a small smile. 'It's okay. I like you too, Savannah.' She did it. She freaking did it. Tobias had been so taciturn, and it was like she could just melt him. Only she could. Savannah looked up happily, then hugged Amar. 'I like you too, you look like Nick,' she said. Amar lifted her up, 'jeez it's like I'm holding my sister,' he laughed. 'And who's Nick again?' He asked. 'Here,' I said, raising my hand. 'I'm her brother.' Amar nodded, 'visibly.' I chuckled and stroke Sav's hair. 'There's another one of me. My twin sister Sera, but she looks an awful lot like our dad, not like our mother, right Sav?' Savannah nodded happily.
Amar put Sav down again and she smiled at Zeke. 'I like you too,' she said, spreading her arms. I grinned, she was quite the little entertainer. Lake and Juke grinned at me. I glanced at Tobias and caught him smiling at her as she hugged Zeke. 'Guys, even though you've brought the cutest girl, your story is weird,' Amar said, causing the other two to look serious again. I nodded. 'We thought the same thing, really. We got into a huge fight with our parents, and the next morning we were stranded here in Chicago,' I explained. 'We have nothing on us, no money, no ID, nothing at all,' Lake added. Zeke looked surprised. 'I hope y'all were just real good sleepwalkers, because if it were you're parents... Dang that's cruel,' he said, folding his arms. Well... You would know, UNCLE Zeke. But I was sure our parents had nothing to do with it. Lake shrugged his shoulders, 'we have no idea. The sleepwalking thing should be impossible though, we're with six people.' 'Six?' Amar said surprised. 'Yes! Our sister Sera, Juke's sister Melody and us,' Savannah said happily. Tobias raised his eyebrows. 'And you've left Sera and Melody at Isenna's?' He questioned. 'Yes,' I nodded, 'why?' Zeke laughed. 'They won't want to leave, bro!' We laughed along. 'The girls were extremely nice and giving. They gave us food because we were starving,' Julian said with a smile. Amar smiled back. 'That's how I know my sister,' he said, playfully nudging Tobias. The latter's face changed as if thunder had stricken and looked angry. 'Don't you dare,' he growled, then walked away. Amar and Zeke shared a look and Zeke sighed. 'I'll go, he'll probably kill you.' Amar nodded and Zeke ran after Tobias.
'What did just happen?' Julian asked surprised. Amar sighed. 'I went too far. He's had a terrible childhood, causing Iris to beg our parents to take him in, which they did when Iris and Tobias were sixteen. They'd already been dating for two years back then. I can't tell you more about his childhood though, besides that it was really bad. My sister practically saved him. However, after da ting for five years, they called it quits because they were... Too busy. Which wasn't true, but you'll have to stalk Iris or Tobias subtly for the real reason. They'll kill me both if I tell you,' he summarized shortly. I nodded quickly... What had happened to my father? Savannah seemed like she was about to cry, so she hid her face in the fabric of my jeans. 'One question,' I said to Amar. He nodded, checking whether Zeke was returning already, but he wasn't, so he looked back at me. 'Iris made it seem like she didn't know Tobias and Zeke that well. What's that about then?' I asked inquisitively. Amar sighed and rubbed his neck. 'She's still very much upset about the break up, and Zeke used to be her best friend before he and Jenna broke up too.' Julian's eyes widened, and so did mine. Our parents were supposed to stay together! They worked in our real life, why didn't they work here? Maybe if they were still in love... Tobias did seem like he wasn't over it. We had to find out about the real reason our parents had broken up, and maybe we could fix it.
Zeke ran back into the room and nodded. 'All right, he's calmed down. Taking it out on the punching bags instead of you. You can go in,' he said to Amar, but I raised my hand. 'Let me do it,' I suggested. Both raised their eyebrows. 'Bro, do you want to die or something? Haven't you heard us talking?' Zeke asked surprised. I shook my head. 'It'll be all right. Let's go Savannah,' I said and followed Zeke's directions on where to go. I found Tobias punching a punching bag, as he had often done in Dauntless when something was bothering him. 'Tobias,' Sav called softly and we walked up to him. He turned around quickly, cursing under his breath as he did. 'Did Amar send you?' He groaned, ruffling his dark blond hair. His eyes were almost black, showing us he was really upset. I shook my head. 'He didn't. We're hardly familiar, I know that... It's just,' I started, fiddling my fingers- something mom had passed onto me. She claimed to have gotten it from grandma Valentine. 'We know someone who went through the same thing,' I explained. Tobias looked surprised and took off his boxing gloves. 'How would you know what I went through?' He snapped, throwing the gloves away.
'Well, what Amar said, plus your reaction to it... It got me thinking,' I lied, covering for Amar telling us that story. Tobias stayed quiet, probably mentally arguing whether he should tell us. I could tell he didn't want to be rude to me because Sav was there. Had it just been me, he would probably have yelled at me to mind my own business. 'The one person we know who went through that was our father,' I said truthfully. Tobias looked a bit shocked at my revelation, and looked at Sav who looked sad. 'I'm sorry,' he said, looking back at me. 'That's terrible, but that doesn't mean that you can help me,' he said firmly. I shook my head. 'It definitely doesn't, however it does mean that we understand your emotions to a certain extent. Our dad is the best dad in the world, because he is so strong, but that's because he told us.' Jeez, my lies were thrown around like they were candy. 'We could be of listening help to you should you ever need us,' I explained. '"We" means Sera and I, not Sav of course,' I said quickly. Sav planted her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows.
Tobias chuckled, 'she really is a tiny Iris. I mean mini-Iris. The real Iris is already tiny.' I laughed and nodded. He looked at me and smiled. 'Thanks, Nick.' He then stared at the punching bag, and back at me. 'Didn't you say you have no money?' I nodded, 'flat broke.' He nodded. 'What would you say about a practice day tomorrow, which will decide whether you're qualified, and if you are you can work as my trainer assistant?' He suggested. His eyes had gone back to the caring blue, and I smiled big and nodded eagerly. 'Yes! That would be amazing, Tobias, thank you so much for the chance! Iris and Jenna can't feed us forever,' I said genuinely. 'They probably would, though,' Tobias joked, and smiled at Savannah. 'Nick will do great! Our mom and dad taught him and Sera how to fight. One day they'll teach me too, but daddy says I'm too little,' she said, her voice pouting. Tobias smiled and stroke her hair. 'You'll get there Savannah, I'm sure you'll do great one day.' Savannah started glowing. 'Well Nick, let's show me one of your combination punches then,' he said, and handed me some gloves. I grinned, 'Let's see what I can do.' Tobias grinned. 'I'm more interested in what you cannot do.'
Tobias was the best.
Now how could I get him back to being my father?
