i had to split some of this up. enjoy. leave a review.

sorry any typos.

Chapter 17

Natalie

The next morning I wake up and the bitter scent of freshly ground coffee beans fill my nose. I roll over slightly to see my brother who's behind me facing the wall still fast asleep. I'm not sure what time it is. I see the sun peek through the dark linen blinds of the room, it is dusty and pale gold in glow. I hear the city alive with people, trucks, and trains below. I know the noise is distant, but somehow everything has increased in volume in my ears.

I put my hand to my head as I lay on my back and think about yesterday. I felt a lump rise in my parched throat and I swallow hard. Was I some kind of monster?

Amar said we were these so called Resurgents and that's why the DGD took Mom and Dad, but they were really looking for us. Maybe they were trying to bait us by holding them hostage? I peered over at my brother again, watching his mouth slightly agape as his chest undulated calmly. He looked like Mom when he slept.

Maybe we should hand ourselves in to the DGD. Maybe they just want to run some tests on us and then they'll let us go home. The thought is so stupid and naive that I push it away immediately. Whoever these people are and whatever they want, they will not let us go easily. One thing is for certain, they hold all the cards right now. We are powerless. I am powerless.

Or so I believe.

I decided to go shower and I raise out of the bed silently to not disturb TJ. When I get into the hallway, I hear Amar's and George's voices talking and laughing. I catch of glimpse of Amar's back hunched over the counter. He's wearing nothing but a white tank shirt and his smooth dark muscles in his back and arms are exposed.

I tiptoe into the bathroom as quiet as possible and shut the door. I grabbed my clean clothes George had bought for me and my brother before I left the guest room. The plain faded pink t-shirt, dark jeans that flared a little at the bottom, clean socks, a gray bra, and black cotton underwear were all rolled and bunched under my arm. They were simple and not really my style, but I was grateful. He bought us enough clothes to last us a few weeks.

After I shower, brush my teeth, and dry my hair I walk back into the bedroom. TJ is sitting up in the bed, his is hair disheveled and sticking up on one side. He looks sleepily at me and smiles weakly.

"Morning." He yawns stretching his arms to the air.

"Morning TJ. How'd you sleep?" I ask sitting in the dark chair by the window to put on my socks. He shrugs. I didn't hear him cry last night and I was grateful. Maybe we both decided that crying won't bring our parents back. Now we had to fight. That's what I decided anyway.

TJ raises up out the bed, his back still turning to me. I peer away, but then I see his shirt rise up in the back and my face drains of color.

"TJ…your back."

He turns to me, eyes still low and full of sleep. "What is it?"

I stand up and I walk over to him. He raises his eyebrows up at me and stiffens.

"Take off your shirt Tobias." I say.

He laughs lightly and says "Natalie, look we're too old to take baths and stuff together anymore. Don't be weird."

I huff indignantly and shake my head. I turn him around and he yells a little as I yank his shirt over his head. I freeze and step backward, cupping my hand over my mouth.

TJ spins around like a dog chasing his tail and looks at my nervously with his shirt still attached on his head.

"What is it?! What?!"

TJ's back is covered in tattoos. The same exact tattoos our father has. I see the five faction symbols— Erudite, Amity, Candor, Abnegation, and Dauntless, with flames licking up each side.

That's impossible.

TJ spins forward again and the shirt drops. He's clutching his back and staring wildly at me. I go around him and lift it again to get another look.

"Natalie—what is it? Please tell me." He gasps as his voice shakes with fear.

Suddenly George comes into the room with fresh bandages and antiseptic in hand. He sees my brother's back and yelps a little.

"Whoa, TJ. When did you get that done?" He trembles.

My brother still can't see it, so I grab him, walk past George, and head into the bathroom. TJ's skin feels clammy now and I can see small sweat droplets dripping down the dark ink on his back. In the bathroom I raise his shirt off his head and face his back toward the mirror above the sink. I immediately look around for any other reflective surface when I stop and look up his chest. I shutter a little when I see three inked birds on his collarbone,

"TJ, look at your chest."

He looked down at his pale and skinny chest, his eyes hovered before they landed on the birds. His eyes grew wide with shock and he touched the tattoos gingerly with his fingertips.

"But how…" He whispers. I shake my head and point inside the mirror.

He cranes his neck slightly but he still can't see the tattoos. I search the bathroom drawers for anything shiny, running my hands over nothing but a brush, shaving cream, cotton balls, and a razor. Then I remembered that George bought me a small compact makeup kit he found at the marketplace. It was the wrong shade and color foundation, but the thought was nice all the same.

I rushed back into the bedroom and dug it out of the pile of clothes and toiletries near the foot of the bed. As I entered back into the bathroom, TJ was placing his fingers against the three birds. He looked up at me weakly when I returned. I could see goosebumps prickling against his bare chest when I handed him the compact mirror.

He held it up and leveled it at an upper angle to his back. When the tattoos were in sight he gasps slowly. The mirror fell from his hands with a clatter on the dark tile. TJ reached his hand behind his neck and struggled to touch the top of his back. His eyes were glossy and his face drained of color.

"What's happening to me?" He gasps moving his hand now behind his torso to touch the tattoos.

I shake my head. From yesterday's event with my eyes to this now, I knew for certain that whatever we were, it wasn't normal.

George comes in the bathroom from the kitchen and he knocks on the door frame. TJ jumps and yanks his shirt off the floor, putting it back on.

George grimaces and says "I already saw TJ."

My brother closes his eyes and puts a palm on his forehead. He leans against the sink and breathes "It can't get much worse than this."

I agree.

George and I leave TJ to get cleaned up and I go wait in the dining room. The kitchen smells of freshly made biscuits, apricot jam, salty ham, and hash browns. I watch George finish breakfast as he hums to himself. He pours dark coffee into a chrome colored mug and sips the brew. I feel the bitter taste on my tongue and I haven't even drank any.

"No sugar or milk?" I ask. "How do you do it?"

He chuckles before taking another sip. He sits the mug down on the counter and turns back to the stove on his right. "I've been drinking it like that for years. Never really thought about making it sweet. I just need it to wake me up. It's not so bad."

I cringe a little as I see him drink more of it. Soon he sits a grey square plate in front of me full of ham, hash brows, eggs, and biscuits. The steam hits my nose and makes my mouth water. TJ comes from the back clean and fully dressed in a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and high top canvas sneakers. His hair is still a little wet and his face looks blank. I can see the Dauntless flames sneak up through the collar of his shirt. Just the way Dad's do.

George sits another plate of food down in front of him. He then fixes himself one and sits down to join us. I'm halfway through my food when I stop forking hash browns in my mouth to look for Amar.

"Is Amar not eating? I thought I saw him this morning?"

George spreads apricot jam in the middle of his biscuits and says "No, he already left. Left after you got in the shower. He's making sure everything is still on for tonight."

A little bit of potato falls off the end of my fork and I look down. I forgot that tonight my brother and I left for training with the Black Lion of Dauntless.

Black Lion. I still didn't believe someone with that name could exist.

"Why do they call him Black Lion?" TJ asks softly as he cuts his ham into pieces with a fork and knife. He's so well-mannered at times. I just ate mine with my fingers.

George sighs as he chews his food. He swallows and picks up the coffee cup again.

"It's a nickname they gave him in Dauntless. It's not his real name. Apparently they said the way he fought was unlike anything they'd ever seen. I heard the story goes that his punches are so strong, that when they hit it sounds like a lion's roar and that's where the name came from."

I rolled my eyes and shoved another forkful of hash browns in my mouth. As if that's possible. But then again, I am finding out that the impossible may just be more possible and a reality. I remembered placing my hands on the porcelain sink yesterday and both sides cracking under pressure. My pressure.

"How long do you think we'll be training? For a year?" TJ asks looking at George expectantly.

"Depends." George says eying us both. "I don't think we can wait that long."

I nod my head and turn my glass of orange juice on the table with my hand. I couldn't imagine us being gone that long. Besides I don't think that my parents would survive that long.

"How will we know that our parents will be okay when we're gone? What makes you so sure they'll be safe?" I ask nervously.

"We have someone on the inside of the DGD. Somebody who's been following their agenda closely since almost the beginning. They knew that your parents were being targeted but apparently whatever they want with them isn't the worst part. The DGD is planning something even bigger."

I open my mouth to ask what it is when Amar opens the front door and walks in. I watch him move slowly, almost as if he's limping a little. I look up at his face and it is slightly swollen on one side. His dark skin is discolored and I see his knuckles are bloody. George stands up in a panic and rushes over to him. Amar puts up a casual hand toward us and smiles.

"Amar, what happened? Did you get mugged?" George says assessing him worriedly. He peers at his body and I see his black shirt looks ruffled.

"Now you know just any old bastards wouldn't get over on me." He chuckles painfully. He presses his palm into his cheek and winces. "My friend, The Black Lion did this. A little friendly sparring match. Don't worry—i'm fine. The good news is, he'll take you both."

He looks directly at us and I look over at TJ who's watching Amar nervously. If this Black Lion did this to someone like Amar, I shudder to think what he will do to us.

Amar sighs and moves to the table. He plops down next to me and leans back in the seat. George appears with an ice pack which he lays gingerly on his partner's face. Amar gives him a quick kiss on the lips and I turn away. Now I felt like a visitor who's overstayed their welcome. I didn't think about how much of a burden TJ and I were to Amar and George. I'm sure they were glad to be rid of us so they could be alone.

"Why the long face, kid?" Amar says eying me under his ice pack.

I shake my head and say "Nothing. I just realize it's time for TJ and I to leave anyway. We can't keep weighing you both down."

George looks at me with a mixture of incredulity and sadness. Amar sighs and laughs lightly.

"We're not kicking you out cause we want or need to, Natalie. We're trying to allow you to learn how to protect yourselves. You want that right?"

I pause for a moment and think of myself holding a gun, aiming the barrel into someone's head. A rush of heat, excitement, and nausea fills me.

"If not for yourself, then to get your Mom and Dad back right?" He says as George puts a plate of food in front of him.

TJ says quietly "I want to learn. But I don't want to hurt people."

I look over at him and I cannot see him hard-bodied and aggressive. I laugh a little to myself. He glares at me and scathes "It's not funny."

"Well TJ, the point of self-defense is just that, defense. It's not to be abused. By learning how to fight, you're helping people." Amar says sagely.

"Is that what the police believe?" TJ asks.

George nods his head and says "In a sense, yes. Just like the old Dauntless days, it was and still is our duty to protect those who can't protect themselves. But you two can more than defend yourselves, I'm sure of it."

"If Four didn't get so soft over the years, you'd probably know by now." Amar says taking a large bite out a biscuit.

I scowl a little at him. "My father is not soft."

Amar shrugged and said "Four trying to be a politician was never going to work. That kid is a fighter. Through and through."

"I think it's great Dad didn't want us fighting." TJ says looking Amar sternly in the eye. "Mom didn't either. They said violence doesn't really solve anything."

Amar grimaced and shook his head. He continued to eat silently and I wasn't hungry anymore. Neither was TJ who looked over at me with his arms crossed against his chest. George cleared our plates away as we both got up to go back in the guest room we had been sleeping in for the past three days. As dangerous as it probably is, I'm excited to get outside again. I feel like a prisoner here.

TJ sits down on the bed and slides his hand under the back of his shirt. He feels around and I still see the tattoos lick against the side of his neck. He falls back on the bed and sighs as he stares at the ceiling. I lie next to him and look up too. We say nothing. The only sounds come from the muffled noises of the city and our breaths that turn into sleeping sighs.