Not in the mood to play whatever game the other Amity girls were playing, you sit away from them. They sat at the right end of the table so you sat on the left. You lay your head down on the cool surface of the table. You close your eyes but then suddenly feel someone tapping on your knee.

What the?

Your eyes shoot open and you look under the table. You immediately see two turquoise eyes staring back at you. Eren grins at you, motioning for you to come join him.

"Eren, what the hell are you doing down there?" you hiss, looking around to make sure no one was watching us.

The Dauntless were too busy watching two other Dauntless- A boy with multi colored brown hair and a girl who had cold merciless blue eyes and blonde hair tied up in a small bun- arm wrestle. They pounded their fists on the table to cheer on the competitors. To no surprise, the Erudites were studying and reading. The Candor were shouting at each other, having a debate of some sort, but it was still friendly. The only Candor who isn't taking part of the debate was Eren's sister, Mikasa. Not only was she not participating, but she was staring right at you; her metallic looking eyes were practically piercing your soul. You look away quickly and check out other tables, trying to ignore the feeling of Mikasa's eyes on the back of your head.

Abnegation were sitting quietly, staring at the table. All the faction kids were distracted by something, meaning it was okay for you to disappear under the table and talk to Eren. Eren grins in triumph as you duck under the table and take a seat on the floor next to him.

"Sorry, this is the only way we can talk," Eren apologizes, shifting to make more room on the floor for you. "You looked like you needed someone to talk to."

"It's fine," you say, hugging your knees to your chest. "And thanks. I'm not lonely or anything, just… nervous. For the test and all."

Eren nods.

"There's nothing to be nervous about," says someone from beside you.

You swing around and are greeted by Armin's sweet baby blue eyes and soft smile.

"Hey Armin. Where'd you come from?" you ask.

Armin scoots further under the table and answers, "um… I was studying with everybody else, but I saw Eren go under the table, and then you, so I followed to see what was going on."

Studying?

When you had looked over at the Erudite table, he wasn't there. Had he already been making his way here when you were looking?

"He's lying," says a strong female voice that came from behind you.

You look over at Eren and see Mikasa has joined us under the table, sitting next to her brother.

"Mikasa!" Armin cries.

"You mean you weren't studying with the other Erudite students?" Eren asks curiously.

Armin frowns at the ground, avoiding our stares and Eren's question.

"No. He was getting picked on by those Dauntless brutes," answers Mikasa in a low dangerous tone.

"That's terrible," you gasp, looking at Armin sympathetically. "Are you okay?"

Armin gives me a weak smile and replies, "yeah. The torment wasn't too bad this time. They just scattered all my books and papers is all."

"That's still uncalled for!" Eren growls. "When I join Dauntless, I'll teach all of them a-"

Mikasa covers his mouth and glares at him.

"We aren't supposed to talk about what we'll choose at the Choosing Ceremony," she hisses.

Ripping Mikasa's hand off, Eren returns the glare. They both have frightening glares; each one deadly, insane and soul piercing.

"Who's gonna hear me? We're under a table for god sakes!" Eren snaps.

You try to suppress a giggle at that, but it comes out anyway. Eren smiles at your laughter, sneaking one last glare at Mikasa. Armin, clearly not wanting to talk about his bullies anymore, changes the subject.

"Are you still worried about the test?" he asks.

You had actually forgotten about the test until he mentioned it. Does this mean i'm not nervous anymore?

"Uh… Yeah, kind of," you answer, fidgeting.

"What? Really?" Eren says. "What are you so nervous about anyway?"

"Yeah," adds Armin, "the chances of failing and becoming factionless are very low."

"failing" and "factionless" are the only words you hear and your eyes widen. Eren quickly tries to divert your focus.

"You're a really peaceful person, (f/n). I bet you'll be right back with Amity and with your family!"

Peaceful? Was that the best compliment you could come up with, Eren?

But I don't want to be an Amity! I cant be a banjo-strumming softie for the rest of my life!

Mikasa must have seen your panic increase because she says, "give up guys. It's not working."

Eren and Armin look at you sadly, and you try to smile at them.

"Thank you for trying, guys. You made me feel a little better," you say to try to reassure them.

They smile and Eren is about to say something but then we hear the lunchroom get quieter. The scientist must be ready to start calling names.

"We better get going," says Mikasa.

"Good luck," Eren and Armin both say in unison, flashing me smiles before scurrying out from under the table.

Eren bumps his head on the edge of the table on the way out, causing an immediate laugh to escape your mouth. He yells out a foul word then sticks his tongue out at you. Him and Armin then proceed back to their tables. Mikasa gives you a nod and a small "good luck" before crawling out and joining her brother. You quickly make your way out as well, resuming your seat at the end of the table. You rest your head down on the tabletop and listen to the names as they're called.

"Eren Jaeger," calls a female voice.

You lift your head to see your brown haired friend walk towards his future; the future he's been longing for all his years in Candor. On his way, he catches your eyes and winks. You smile at him.

"Mikasa Ackerman", calls a male voice.

Expressionless and unreadable as usual, Mikasa walks past the lunchroom to her designated tester.

Another male calls, "Armin Arlet"

You watch Armin walk confidently towards the scientist that had called his name. Armin is bound to get Erudite and he probably knows it too.

I wish I was that confident in my test results.

Since all your friends had gotten called, you lay your head back down on the table. You hear a name you don't recognize, then, your name. Your head shoots up from the table and your eyes dart around, trying to match the icy stern voice that had called your name with the face of a tester. There was only one left standing in the lunchroom and he was looking directly at you. The moment your eyes meet his, you look away, standing up quickly and making your way towards him with your head down. You could feel your cheeks slowly beginning to burn; the feeling then made it's way to the tips of your ears. You're tester and all the kids in the lunchroom were staring at you, and it increased your anxiousness greatly.

No matter what you had done that morning, you weren't able to calm your nervousness for this moment. There were two questions that were twisting your nerves:

Do I need to leave Amity?

And

Will I become factionless?

You hadn't really been worried about the factionless thing untill you passed them on the street on the way to school this morning. Then it hit you that if you didn't belong in Amity, what faction did you belong to, did you belong in any? These thoughts, as you said before, never ceased, so you are still thinking them as you walk towards the Dauntless man that called your name. He only made your tension worse because he seemed to be observing you (like everyone else in this damn lunchroom). You suppose it's because you weren't acting like an Amity should act.

Should I smile, giggle, skip?

No, you were way too nervous. If you tried any of that, it would be an utter failure and you would make yourself look like a dork. With that in mind, you approach the man the way you want to.

"Follow me," he demands as soon as you're standing in front of him.

He turns his back to you, and you follow him into the testing room.

"My name's Levi by the way," he says in a bored tone, opening the door to the testing room.

When you enter the room, you slowly take in your surroundings. The room was covered in mirrors so you could see your curious gaze wherever you looked. (f/n), you need to stay focused! your subconscious ordered. You make your way to the chair in the center of the room, but occasionally glance back at the mirrored walls. You dont know why you were so fascinated with them; it was just odd. Why mirrors? They must've seemed fascinating because they were a distraction from your nervousness about this test.

The test seemed more intimidating now that Levi was pulling a bunch of wires with electrodes attached to the end of them; he moves your hair to the side and you practically choke when he comes towards your forehead with them. You try not to shiver, shake, or twitch, but you can't help it. Levi notices you flinch and frowns, but presses the electrodes to your forehead anyway.

"Relax," he says, as he attaches another electrode to the left side of your forehead. "This entire test is a completely painless process. These won't hurt you."

You admit, after knowing you weren't about to get electroshock therapy or something from these wires, you relaxed a little. Although, you were still a little apprehensive. His cold, stern voice wasn't exactly reassuring.

"Thanks," you say anyway; even though he did little to nothing to calm down your nerves.

"Lay back in the chair. I know you're not exactly in a relaxed state, but try to bare with it. There isn't a big likeliness for failure on these test, you know," he says, pressing an electrode to his own forehead.

You felt your cheeks and the tip of your ears burn, so you lay back. For some reason, you felt like you had already just screwed up a part of the test. Levi quickly turns his back to you to attach another wire to the computer. The wires now connected the computer to Levi and Levi to you. He turns to face you again, but this time with a small glass vial full of clear liquid. Apprehensively, you take it from his hand. You look down into the liquid and frown.

"Is this water?" you ask, bringing the cup to you lips, but not quite drinking it. "What is this?"

What, did they think a glass of water was going to relax me or something?

"Does it matter? Drink it," Levi demanded in an irritated tone.

I'm putting this liquid into my body! It does matter!

But, instead you mutter, "well, it sorta matters."

Then you take one look at Levi and realize he was not a person to argue with.

You tip the cup forward into your mouth and drink the contents.

It doesn't taste like anything, you thought hazily. Then you feel your eyelids grow irresistibly heavy and then shut.

. . .

When you open your eyes, you're still in the testing room, and still lying in the reclined chair.

Did I fall asleep? was the first thought that popped into your mind. Then, where's Levi?

Frowning, you look around the room, but there was no Levi in sight. All you could see was your frantic expression plastered on every mirrored wall.

Everything looks normal. The walls, the chair, me.

Somehow though, it was not normal. You could tell by the dream-like state the room had; you don't know how to explain it, but the atmosphere had a peacefulness to it that was almost eerie. It felt like the nightmares you used to have when you were a child. In those nightmares, the dream was always at it's most peaceful, serene state before something jumped out and tried to kill you.

Should I leave the testing room?

Something inside you tells you that you should, but at the same time you feared leaving the room. You felt outside the this metal testing room door, instead of the normal lunchroom full of pre-faction teens going about their business, there'd be that scary monster waiting. It would jump out of it's hiding place and shatter the serene feel to this dream. But, you were tired of the suspense; you didn't want to just sit here and wait for it.

I need to face this head on.

You stand up from the reclined testing chair and walk over to the door, reaching for the door handle and twisting it. Pushing the heavy metal door open, you walk out into the hallway then shortly find your way to the lunchroom. The lunchroom was completely empty. The long tables, that were usually filled with students, were instead stacked up against the window, blocking all but little slivers of light from entering the room. You didnt like that; it made the room too dark.

This is so weird, You think to yourself as you look around. Too distracted by your other surroundings, you accidentally bump your hip into something. You think it's just another random lunch table, but when you turn around to look there are two small round tables instead. There was a random object on each one. On the table to your left there lay a knife that's size would make it appear as more of a sword than knife. The table to your right had a large hunk of cheese laying on it.

"Choose," demands a cold male voice, interrupting the silence of the room.

The voice makes you jump out of your skin. Your eyes frantically scan the room but there is still not a soul in sight.

"Where the hell did that come from?" you whisper, gazing up at ceiling as if the voice somehow came from the sky.

"Choose," repeats the male.

The voice seemed to be coming from everywhere; it even seemed to echo from within your brain. Something about that made you want to listen, so you return your gaze to the objects.

"Wh-What am I choosing for? Why do I need to choose just one?" you ask, staring down at the knife and the cheese.

You don't know what drew you to it, but your fingers slide over to the knife handle.

Am I going to kill someone? Or something?

"Am I going to use this on someone?" you ask out loud; your voice shaking. "Or something?"

No answer. This scared you. You almost felt alone, but then the voice returns.

"Choose!" he shouts, the demand in his voice increasing.

His voice was sharp and it hurt your ears. The fact that he kept repeating that demand without any explanations made you irritated, but then a thought hit you.

He did answer my question.

Choosing a knife would mean that, yes, I would have to take another beings life. You could choose not to do this though. Choosing the cheese would mean making peace with whatever it is. Naturally, the humane (and Amity) thing to do would be to take the cheese. Something about that option made you feel doubtful though. Is peace always going to solve things? The knife seemed the sure fire way to solve whatever problem it is you were going to face.

No, (f/n), a good Amity girl would not think things like that. Peace is always the best answer.

You look around at the empty lunchroom again. There was no one to tell you otherwise though. In this reality, whatever it was, you felt there was no judgement in whether you took a step away from your faction or not.

Hadn't I always told myself I didn't want to be a banjo-strumming softy for the rest of my life?

My entire life, I was always filled with that deep desire to stray away from the option of peace. Just once, I wanted not to stop acting like an Amity for the hell of it. This wasn't exactly the situation I was asking for, but at the same time, it was everything I had been asking for.

"Choose now!" growled the male voice.

You close your eyes. Your hand was still lightly touching the rough yet smooth handle of the knife.Although your hand was shaky, you grip the knife handle as hard you can and lift it off the table. You don't open your eyes; the knife was too much proof about how Amity could never truly be your home.

"You're a really peaceful person, (f/n). I bet you'll be right back with Amity and with your family!" Eren's voice repeats in your head.

No Eren, I wont. You think sadly, moving the knife behind your back.

Now that the knife was no longer in your field of vision, you open your eyes. You expect to see the two round tables still standing there, but instead you are faced with an enormous growling dog. You feel your breath hitch and your heart stop completely. Your immediate reaction is to scream, but you were so frightened that the sound that comes out of your throat is more of a squeak. You were afraid of dogs when they were regular sized, but this dog was nearly as tall as you.

Dogs are NOT this big in real life. But isn't this real life?

The dog barks fiercely at you and the sound sends a piercing pain into your ears. It was so loud that, for a second, you couldn't hear anything except high pitched ringing. You would cover your ears, but you felt the slightest movement would cause the dog to rip off your limbs with it's large sharp teeth. Also, moving your hands from behind you would bring the knife into view.

The knife… (f/n), you could save yourself from this. This could be over in a heartbeat if you just used the weapon you were given. You chose the knife didnt you?

The dog barks again and you flinch, stepping back, and as soon as you realize that you have the ability to move, you run like hell. Which probably wasn't the smartest idea because the dog chased after you at break neck speed. Of course, with four legs, it was much faster than you. But you didn't think about that; in fact, you couldn't think at all. At least, you couldn't think of anything except that dog ripping your flesh off. The dog was practically breathing down your neck as you ran.

This is it, (f/n). One swing and you could end this. Right now.

There was so much adrenaline pumping in you that you couldn't argue. Crying out, you spin around, clutching the knife handle with both hands as if it was a sword. You went into the swing with such strong force but, when you see the blade about to go through the dogs fur and hit it's flesh, you stop. You may have had the strength to pick up the knife and consider the thought of taking a life, but you could not carry the murder out. Your weapon clatters to the floor, and you have to fight your adrenaline as hard as you can to stop running; there really was no point in running anymore.

Immediately, you feel the dog's body weight overcome you and tackle you to the ground. You let out a cry of pain when your head hits the cold hard tiles of the lunchroom floor. Although, this pain was nothing compared to what this dog was going to do to you. It barks and snarls in your face. It's teeth and lips only centimeters from your face, and it's hot breath was making your nostrils burn. You pinch your eyes shut and prepare for the worse, but then miraculously the dog stops snarling.

It's face seemed to have backed away from yours. Hesitantly, you open your eyes to see what was going on. The dog seemed to be distracted by something; it's head and body were blocking your view from whatever it was. Tilting your head as far to the side as you can to see, you spot not a "what" but a "who". Your vision was blurry, and you realize that you have been crying, but you are still able to make out the red and yellows of an Amity outfit.

Your hands were pinned underneath the dog, so you try to blink the tears out of your eyes so you can see better. The dog was distracted by a little Amity girl. She was patting her legs, trying to get the dog to come over to her. She gave a small whistle, and smiles as she pleads for the dog. The dog was frozen, and there were no signs of playfulness in it's eyes at all. You didn't like this; this dog was obviously dangerous and you didn't want that little girl saying the wrong thing to make it attack.

"Stop," you choke out.

Your voice was scratchy from the screaming and crying, so you clear your throat.

"Stop!" you shout, but still not very loud.

The little girl seems to be completely oblivious to my pleas, and she begins running towards the dog. She had a wide smile on her face and her arms were spread out to embrace the dog. Being so close to the dog, you could hear the growl in it's throat. It's weight on you begins to lighten and it was slowly forming an attack position towards the little girl.

"STOP!" You scream; this time it was much louder and angrier.

The girl does not stop, and the dog begins charging towards her with a barking ferociously. You dont know what got you moving, but all of a sudden you lurch up from your spot on the ground and break into the fastest run you've ever done in your life towards the dog. You would never be fast enough to push the girl out of the way and you definitely weren't strong enough to pin the dog down either. That left only one way to stop the dog from attacking the girl. You had tried to avoid this option, but there was no other way to save this little girl's life.

I guess I was right. Peace may not always be the answer.

On the way towards the dog, you crouch down to grab your knife. You somehow manage to catch up to the raging animal and as it is about to pounce on the girl with it's mouth wide open, you jump after it. Bringing your knife into the air, you lower it into the dog right before it could sink it's teeth into the girls' face. You don't bring up the knife until you feel the dog go still. Tears stream down your cheeks as you feel the life of the dog fade from beneath you. Then, you are no longer in the lunchroom. The dog, the girl, and the knife were completely gone.