Tris stood slowly, Four's eyes on her the entire time. She didn't know whether to go to him, or leave him be. The hard look on his face broke for just a second; it pulled at her heartstrings to see the aching sadness there.

"Four," she said rushing towards him. "What happened? Is everything okay?" Her eyes flicked over to Amar for a second.

"Go to bed, Tris."

"But―"

"Tris!" There was a finality to his tone. She glanced at the few people looking in her direction before hurrying down the hall, slamming her door shut.

She sat on her bed with her back against the wall and drew her knees up, annoyed at how easily he'd dismissed her until she heard ― and felt ― his door slam shut. Her eyes squeezed closed when she heard him yell, his burst of anger resolving into a noise that could only be described as a sob. Curious, she leaned over and held her ear against the wall.

Four dragged his shirt over his head, pressing his palms into his eyes to stop the burn. He wished he could just shut off his emotions and go through life doing what he needed to do to survive without having to worry about the relationships he formed. It was why he had a hard time allowing himself to get close to anyone: they always hurt him in ways that were completely unforgivable, or left him entirely. He was tired of the crappy hands he was constantly being dealt. It was emotionally draining.

He took a deep breath and lay down. On the other side of the wall was someone he wanted to let in. He thought about the pain it might cause to extend that trust, or the damage that might be done if he was honest with her. He was willing to hurt himself, to take that risk, but he wasn't willing to hurt her. They might have only known each other for a couple of weeks, but he felt like he'd known her for years.

He reached out, placed his hand on the wall separating them, and closed his eyes. Tris sighed when she didn't hear anything after his sob, and curled up under the covers, snuggled up to the wall.

The alarm on his watch beeped. He groaned and turned it off, staring at it. When it went off last night, he didn't expect to hear Amar telling him to get his ass out of bed and over to the main entrance. It was not how he wanted to be informed of a mission gone wrong. Or a death. He rolled back into the position he was in before, a small smile finding its way onto his face. Despite everything, he had fallen asleep trying to be closer to her.

He pulled on sweats and a t-shirt, and was surprised to find Tris already up and waiting for him in the hallway. The uncertainty and apprehension in her eyes startled Four, but then his reaction to her kindness the night before came flooding back into his memory. He closed his eyes and ran his hand down his face.

"Tris, I… I shouldn't have yelled at you last night." His voice was deep, still thick with sleep. "Some shitty things happened, and I really don't want to get into it right now, but you didn't say or do anything wrong." The truth was he just wanted to get into Dauntless to work out some of his frustrations. Tris visibly relaxed and nodded her head.

He pushed himself hard, harder than he had planned on with Tris being there. He couldn't shake the sense of responsibility he felt. If he had been there instead of a few of the more inexperienced guys, it would have never happened, and two people wouldn't have lost their lives.

When they were done he turned the shower hotter, hoping the heat would wash away not just the physical pain, but the emotional, too. He knew Tris was his responsibility, but while he was busy enjoying every second he could get with her, his fellow patrol members were out risking their lives. He sucked a breath in through his teeth, his skin turning redder by the minute. It should have been him.

Unless otherwise needed, all deceased bodies were cremated at the Bureau. With no spouse and no next of kin to inform, they didn't waste any time. Four stood there, holding Green's badge, the picture of his mother covered in dried blood.

"You okay?" He turned to see Amar standing behind him, feet spread and hands clasped behind his back. A true soldier. One he didn't even hear come in.

"No." He didn't feel like sugarcoating things. He wanted to let it all out. "I should have been there."

"Why? You think things would have turned out differently?"

"You know they would have."

There was a silence between them, and Amar knew it was nothing more than Four blaming himself. He blamed himself for a lot of things: his mother, his father's treatment of them both, his lack of control over his life. It ebbed and flowed, but Four took on more blame than he thought necessary, and Four always seemed to feel that he deserved it.

"So what if I did take you. What then?" Amar's voice was louder than it was a few seconds ago. "It would be you in that urn? Is that it?"

"Maybe it should be." Four's voice was low, menacing.

"You're fucked in the head, you know that?" Amar began to pace back and forth. "Even if you did go on the mission, you wouldn't have ended up here."

"And neither would he. He would have sat his happy ass at the fence instead of being dragged along just to prove some point. Don't think I don't see it, Amar. Your jealousy and my… stubbornness are like oil and water, and you know that."

Amar did know. On more than one occasion, the two of them had almost come to blows, but in the end they always worked it out. Four was the best thing that had ever happened to Amar. He showed him what it meant to love and care for someone, even if the feelings weren't returned. As much as it pained him to admit it, they probably would have been toxic for each other. He let out a heavy sigh.

"You wouldn't have been left to guard the vehicles. It might not have been that different."

"Yeah. Smart move putting that responsibility on the guy who puked at the first sign of fear, who also happened to be recovering from a leg wound."

Four was not in the mood for Amar's bullshit. He knew the reason Amar took Green was to prove that he didn't need Four now that Tris was in the picture. He could see the gradual shift while it was happening. Some of the blame lay on Four for not speaking up sooner, but Amar would have to accept that he wasn't entirely innocent, either. He watched Amar carefully, trying to judge if they were going to have another fight or not.

"I know." Four's eyes narrowed, and Amar sighed. "I fucked up. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have taken him."

"Sorry doesn't change dead."

Amar knew Four was right. His petty jealousy had cost someone their life. He knew he could never have Four in the way he wanted, but whenever George left him to do work in other cities, loneliness crept in and old feelings resurfaced. If I can't have him, nobody can was an old, familiar demon that Amar had to work hard to push away. He stood there as Four opened the urn that contained Green's ashes, and placed the badge inside. "They should be together," he said quietly.

Tris didn't say anything when he sat down next to her in the cafeteria. Despite his silence, she knew something serious had happened. Between the return of the battered and bloody patrol team in the middle of the night, and his vigorous attempts at knocking the stuffing out of the punching bag that morning, he was different. She watched as he pushed the food around on his plate, not really eating any of it. It hurt her to see him this way.

"Four?" She looked up to see Zoe, and then immediately shifted her eyes over to Four. He raised an eyebrow. "David would like to see you. Both of you." She looked at Tris, and Four had to work hard to restrain himself from telling her to fuck off. He gave her a quick nod.

"Come in." David wasn't as welcoming as he was the first time they met, and Tris felt a slight twinge of panic. "I was glad to see you cooperating, Miss Prior, but now that we've effectively wasted a week giving you time to acclimate, I think it's time for you to do as we asked."

"She didn't ask for that week," Four said. His face was hard, and he looked at her quickly before turning back to David. "And Matthew wasn't here."

"Semantics," David replied. "Besides, she could have worked with another geneticist. I'm beginning to regret putting you on this detail, Four."

"Excuse me?"

Four only respected David because he had to. There was always something about him that set Four on edge, but he could never quite place what it was. He thought back to the time when he was new to the Bureau: David wasn't nearly so callous then. Granted, time and circumstances have the ability to change things, but Four didn't think this type of reaction was warranted.

"Would you like to be excused?" It was a challenge Four didn't expect.

"No, Sir." He clenched his jaw tight.

"Very well, then. As I was saying, Miss Prior, I expect you to work with Matthew and I expect results. He's waiting for you in his office. Now, if you please, I am very busy at the moment."

Tris could see the rage building up in Four. She felt that same rage inside of her. Her mood matched Four's face, and it became a silent battle between the two of them as they walked to see who would reach Matthew's office first. She was practically jogging to keep up with his long strides. He didn't bother to knock this time, startling Matthew as the door flew open.

"What the hell happened out there and what the hell crawled up David's ass?" Matthew looked between the two of them. They were both breathing hard and Four was already pacing a small hole in his rug.

"Four, Beatrice. Close the door and we'll talk."

"It's Tris, now," she corrected, closing the door and taking a seat. Four continued to pace.

"Nice." Matthew smiled. "So, I gather you talked to David this morning?" Four snorted and glared at him. "Well, I can't really answer your second question with any accuracy since I wasn't there, but I do have an idea. Sit." Four paused for a moment, then took a seat.

"I was collecting random samples in Indianapolis. It's another city, like Chicago, only they already shut that experiment down," he said, looking at Tris. "Just ask if you don't understand." She nodded. "David told us that he had some intel on a possible Divergent. Even better than this one might turn out to be." He motioned to Tris. "I tried to talk him out of it. I mean, now that Indianapolis is an open city, there are thousands upon thousands of people in there that are untagged, and he wouldn't divulge the source of his intel. Anyway, I was collecting samples as they were trying to track this person through the city, and David didn't anticipate the people figuring out what we were there for so fast. They weren't too happy to see us."

"What happened?" Tris asked. Her excitement rose as she thought about a city with no walls. A city of pure freedom.

"What always happens. One person starts shouting, another one flaunts a gun. Everything goes downhill from there." Matthew shrugged and Tris's hopes deflated. "When we got back to the vehicles, some of them had already beat us there. They were trying to steal them, of course. Probably thought that they could get a hefty price for something like that. That's when Green and Myers got shot. Sorry," he quickly added, realizing how he sounded.

Four nodded. He knew Matthew wasn't trying to be indifferent, but it always came off that way. Sometimes Four wondered if having an Erudite aptitude turned off your emotional capabilities. He knew Matthew felt compassion, he just wasn't sure if he knew how to actually show it. Four looked up to see Tris's eyes locked on him. It made him feel like he was on fire.

"On the way back, he was... well, he was pissed. He was typing on his tablet, muttering and doing this weird… I don't know, maniacal laugh. For a minute I was sure he had lost it and that I was going to have to restrain him until we got back. I don't know if he was talking to someone or just writing up a report, but he was all of a sudden calm and back to normal after a few minutes. Or as normal as David gets." He pulled a necklace out of his shirt and stuck it in his mouth. Tris raised an eyebrow at him; he spit it out.

"So, what does that have to do with me?" Tris asked. "He made it seem like it was my fault that you guys were gone for a week and I didn't do any testing."

"Eh, forget him." Matthew waved his hand. "I really don't have an answer for you, but it's not your fault. You want to do some stuff today? Hopefully get him off everyone's backs?" She really didn't want to, but she knew from their interaction with David that not cooperating could have serious ramifications for Four.

As they made their way towards Matthew's lab, she stopped, the Candor scales catching her eye. "Why don't you just ask me?" Both Four and Matthew turned around.

"Ask you what?" For the first time, Matthew had a confused look on his face.

"I don't know. Just ask me anything. Maybe I know something and I don't realize I know it. I mean, it's truth serum, right? I can't lie if I know the answer."

"I don't think it works like that, Tris," Four said, shaking his head.

"Now, wait just a minute," Matthew said. "We've never tried anything like that before. I mostly agree with Four, but it can't hurt to try and at least rule it out. If you're willing, that is." She nodded.

Four paced as Matthew pulled a syringe and a vial of light blue liquid out of a cabinet. Tris sat in one of two chairs in the center of the room. They were surrounded by a handful more, and a few tables off to one side, but she assumed this was where she would need to be.

"Now, I have to warn you, Tris. If you try to lie, the serum will be very painful. The purpose of it is to prevent the subject from stating anything other than the absolute truth, so that you'll just blurt it out if you know the answer. I just want to make that clear to you before we begin." She nodded as Matthew walked over to her. He gave her a reassuring smile as he motioned to her neck. She pulled her hair to one side, her eyes catching Four's as the needle pinched. She swore the expression on his face changed.

She felt an odd sensation in her stomach, like someone was trying to pull it down to the ground. She looked up and her head spun. Or maybe it was the room. She didn't like anything about it, so she closed her eyes.

"Are you Divergent?" Matthew asked.

"Yes." Tris was surprised how easily the word left her mouth.

"Do you know why you're Divergent?"

"My genes."

"Do you know how your genes healed themselves?"

"No."

"Do you know why you got three aptitudes?"

"No." Her face turned into a grimace, and she could feel a heat burning inside of her.

"Is she lying?" Four asked.

"I don't know. Maybe I'm not asking the right question." Matthew thought about how to rephrase it. "Did you want a different aptitude?"

"Yes." Her face relaxed, the pain subsiding.

Matthew focused on her for a moment, trying to figure out her thought process. "Do you think your Divergent result was because you wanted to get something other than Abnegation?"

"Yes." Matthew nodded as he mulled her responses over in his head.

"That's not how it works, is it?" Four asked.

"No. I mean, at least I'm pretty sure it's not. Never really thought about it before. Anything you want to ask her?" Matthew said with a wink. His face quickly became serious when he saw the look on Four's. "Okay. I was just kidding. What's your name?" he threw out. He knew he needed a few base questions to compare with her other answers.

"Tris."

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Wait!" Four strode up next to Matthew. "What's your name?"

"Tris."

He turned his head towards Matthew, in disbelief that he caught it and Matthew didn't. He was about to reach out and shake Matthew, when he saw recognition cross his face. "Oh! She's, well, she's not lying, but she's not exactly telling the truth, either. Quick. Go to the cabinet and pull out a clear vial. It's the only one there, so don't worry about grabbing the wrong thing. And a new syringe. Please," he added when Four shot him a look.

He injected the antidote into Tris and waited patiently for her to come around. "Nothing?" she asked. Her head was fuzzy as small pieces slowly came back to her.

"No, there was something. Just not what we were going for," Matthew said. "How did it feel when you lied about knowing why you got three aptitudes?"

She thought about it for a moment. "Like I was on fire. But I didn't really lie, did I?"

Matthew shook his head. "But you didn't tell the truth, either. The interesting part was what happened after that."

"I'm confused."

"When we asked you what your name was, you said Tris instead of Beatrice."

"Okay…" She had no idea what that meant.

"You lied, technically. You should have defaulted to Beatrice because that's your given name, but you didn't. And you weren't affected by the serum." Matthew's eyes were alight as he spoke.

"So what does that mean?"

"It means we need to do a little experiment."

They set up a series of questions before injecting her again. They practiced a few times, having her repeat things that weren't true to see if they could modify her results in any way. She was excited this time as the serum took over.

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"What is your name?"

"Tris."

"What is your favorite color?"

"I don't have one." Matthew smiled while Tris's face was blank. Her favorite color was green, but being Abnegation, she wasn't supposed to have a favorite anything. She must have been able to pull from her upbringing to answer deceitfully.

"What was your aptitude?" They both leaned in as they waited for her answer.

"Dauntless." Her face contorted, but only slightly.

"What is two plus two?"

"Five."

Matthew's mind went into overdrive. The questions had been arranged so that her answers would progressively become outright lies. She showed some signs of feeling the serum, but was able to answer in the end without giving anything away. He was sure this was a first.

"Well, it was a success," Matthew said as she came around. Four was standing next to him, a smile on his face. "You managed to evade the question that had multiple answers with only a small tell, and lied your way through the others. Congratulations, Tris. You're officially the coolest person we've ever had here. Besides me, of course."

She laughed at Matthew's lame attempt at humor. It faded quickly, though, when she realized that maybe she really was what they were telling her all along. She was suddenly afraid what that meant for her future.

A/N:

To the Guest reviewer, I update every Tuesday/Friday! :D

Also, I know some of you are getting antsy for a little action or for things to get rolling along, and we're getting there, I promise. Like, next week I promise lol. As always, thank you for your reviews! I hope everyone has a great weekend, and a Happy Halloween!