Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent or any of the characters or events that take place in it. In no way way am I making a profit from this story.


The morning of her Aptitude test, Mary sat with her aunt Eugenia at the breakfast table. They chatted about the weather and how the snow peas would go after the frosty nights they'd been having. They didn't talk about the Aptitude test as Eugenia could see that Mary didn't want to talk about it. She might not be her mother but she still knew Mary well.

The train into the city left at 8:30am so Mary had to leave home earlier than usual. She saw her friends, Natasha and Charli, waiting at the end of the station. To Mary, they seemed to be the perfect examples of an Amity teenager. She wondered how they were actually friends considering they were so different. Mary liked them but still couldn't imagine the rest of her life with these two girls and the rest of Amity.

Mary didn't talk much on the way into the city. She sat on the train trying to think about what the test would be like. No one's supposed to talk about the test or what their results were but there were always rumours. Some said that they stuck a needle into your neck, while others said that you physically had to act it out. No one that Mary talked to had any idea about what the test involved. But Mary was still excited in an anxious sort of way.

With smiling faces and laughter the Amity group of 16 year olds filed of the train. The Erudite, Candor and Abnegation factions were already waiting outside of the building. The Dauntless were always fashionably late. Once inside the factions still didn't mingle. Even though the five factions all represented good traits in people it didn't mean they were encouraged to create relationships with the other factions. Mary noticed this immediately when she walked into the large lobby.

Mary was called into one of the smaller rooms were the test was held. The walls were covered in mirrors. She caught her reflection in one and noticed that something was different. She still had the same frizzy, brown locks and olive skin like her father, and chocolate brown eyes and high cheekbones of her mother but there was still something off. Mary couldn't pick it, so instead she ignored it. The Abnegation woman who ran the test introduced herself and instructed Mary to sit down on the chair in the centre of the room. Mary sat still with a blank expression on her face while the woman attached the electrodes to Mary's forehead. Mary drank the serum quickly and fell into the simulation.

At first there was nothing but darkness and Mary panicked. She then calmed down when a room appeared around her. A woman's voice spoke to her but Mary couldn't identify where it came from. The woman told her to choose but Mary didn't understand until she turned around. There were two small tables standing there. One held a knife and the other some cheese. Mary didn't understand what to do. Why would she need a knife or some cheese? The woman told Mary to choose again when she hesitated. She thought about the possible scenarios where cheese or a knife could be used and have the same effect. She couldn't think of any. Mary decided that neither was necessary and the tables disappeared. They were replaced by a snarling, dog. Mary yelped and backed away from the dog, now wishing that the items were still there.

Mary thought hard and instinctively wanted to run but her mind told her something else. Mary was taught at school that if a wild animal was to appear on the farms you didn't draw attention to yourself and you submitted if necessary. Mary remembered this and knelt to the ground with her head bowed. The dog continued to run at her and Mary knew she should move but something was holding her to the floor. She shut her eyes and prayed that the dog wouldn't tear her to shreds for being stupid and not moving. When Mary opened her eyes she was back in the mirrored room. The Abnegation woman stood from the computer and congratulated her for completing the test. She had gotten a strong Erudite result. The woman reminded Mary that she could choose whichever faction she wanted and that the test was just a strong recommendation. On the inside Mary wasn't listening to the woman as she couldn't, over her laughing and yelling with excitement in her head. She know knew what was different about her reflection. Mary had a future that she knew would be full of excitement and knew things.

Mary was leaving Amity and she couldn't wait to go to the Erudite Compound with others who were just like her. she wouldn't have to hide or act differently because she would spend the rest of her life with others like herself. She felt bad that she wouldn't see Natasha or Charli again, or her aunt or father. But the future outweighed those sad memories as Mary looked ahead.