I know - have known - that the city is unsafe. We travel in groups and have armed guards outside the Pire every time we expect food deliveries. I know it's dangerous, but it's easy to forget that. In the Fog of War you expect tragedy, but when it intrudes into our lives in the moments we least expect it it's worse.

You're not on your guard for it when you're smiling to yourself imagining your boyfriend as a lanky schoolboy clothed in grey with awful handwriting and ideas bigger than he is. The knowledge that while I was lost in thoughts of a history that was more fantasy than reality while he fought for his life stabs at me.

The need to hurt whoever tried to kill him burns in my stomach, unfurls through my veins until it heats every part of me. I wish I could give in to it instead of sitting impotently in this sterile white waiting room. But my departure wasn't as unnoticed as I thought it was; I barely got five feet out the door before Zeke clamped his arms around me and drug me back in. If I was bigger my kicking and screaming might have been less of a petulant temper-tantrum and more of a threat.

Tori's hand wrapped around mine feels restraining, not comforting. It's the same way Uriah's arm feels around my shoulders as I sit sullenly between them; loose, but ready to hold me in place if I try and make a break for it again. I stare across from me at Zeke and Harrison until they become blurs against the wall behind them. I can't take part in their obsessive discussion; one topic leading to another, leading to another until they end up back where they started, over and over again, ad nauseum.

They easily dismiss the idea that the attackers could have been traitor Dauntless; they would have been recognized. No one knows for sure if any Erudite escaped; destroying their computer system destroyed their members list as well, so there was no way of checking. They could easily have disguised themselves as factionless and attacked Tobias in order to provoke a war between us and the real factionless.

It would have been nice to have a clear enemy to exact revenge on, just like Tobias had Peter and Al and Drew when they attacked me. If what he felt is anything like what I'm feeling it's a wonder he didn't kill Drew; I don't know how he stopped.

Even the good news that Tobias didn't have any bleeding or swelling in his brain doesn't make it easier to sit here and do nothing but wait. Maybe once I can finally talk to him, do more than try and reassure myself that he's alive, it will wane. I doubt it. Dauntless and Abnegation taught me actions, not stillness are the way to master my emotions.

Christina breezes through the door carrying a mug and a muffin. Uriah gives up his seat to her without question. The coffee is weak and watery, but I drink to please her, although consuming anything solid is so unappealing I can't force the muffin down. Her presence does comfort me though.

The doctor comes through the swinging doors again, and this time I remember to look at his name badge when he stands in front of me. It says Dr. Braydon in neat block script. "We were able to manipulate his arm back into his shoulder without too much trouble. He'll have to keep it in a sling for a few weeks, but as long as he's careful with it, it will heal perfectly."

He has a stud pierced into the skin between his lower lip and his chin. As he talks it bobs up and down, catching the light. "The effects of the concussion will probably last ten to fourteen days; maybe a little longer because of the severity of it." He hands me a sheet of paper packed with information about physical and emotional effects to expect, and instructions for what to do once he's released.

Christina leans over and reads it. "Crankiness, tearfulness, and 'displays of emotion inappropriate to the situation'? And Four was such a happy-go-lucky guy before he was thrown from a train," she deadpans, eliciting stifled guffaws from everyone except the doctor who gives her an annoyed huff.

"Two of you," he eyes our group of half a dozen, "can see him at a time." I don't know who I expect to join me, but Tori is the one who follows the doctor and I. Her hypocrisy is infuriating. She, more than anyone, should understand my desire to exact revenge on someone. The fact that she sent Zeke after me feels like a betrayal.

I check on the doorstep, my heart in my throat as I take in the scene before me. Someone has cleaned Tobias up, but his face is still bloody and raw on one side, glistening under a thick coat of salve. His arm is resting across his bare chest, which is covered in dusky bruises, but at least his shoulder is no longer grotesquely contorted. Still, he looks frail under the white sheets swaddling him, and I hate it; I hate seeing him looking so... weak.

His eyes peel open slowly as he feels my hand wrap around his own. His knuckles are already starting to scab over, and for some reason it's that, that makes tears prickle my eyes. He fought back. And lost. It's naive and childish, but Tobias has always seemed invincible to me. But the boy before me isn't and it's a hard pill to swallow.

His fingers flex around mine when I lean forward and kiss his forehead gently, a few tears sliding into his hair. I don't care that Tori's here, intruding on a moment that should be only for Tobias and I. "Is Zeke okay?" All the times he scolded me for worry about others before myself and the first question out of his mouth is whether or not his best friend is okay. I almost laugh.

"He's fine. Nothing more than bruises. Tori can go get him from the waiting room if you want to talk to him," I reassure him. The blood staining his clothes was Tobias'.

Tobias shifts, looking over my shoulder. "Hi, Tori."

"Don't 'Hi, Tori' me, Four. What the Hell were you thinking riding back on the train just the two of you? How many times have we told the Dauntless to travel in groups of six or more, and you can't-"

"Is this really the time?" I snap, interrupting her yelling only to have her turn on me.

"Yes, it's the time! I've got you, ready to run off on a suicide mission to do God knows what when we don't even know who we should be running at, and him getting himself thrown off trains and nearly killed because he can't even follow his own advice. And if you had slipped away-"

"Do not lecture me about revenge," I say, my voice low and deadly. "I'm not the one who ignored all the warning signs with the factionless because I was so intent on it." It's a low blow I know, but I'm past caring, especially if she's going to rat me out.

"Jesus, enough!" Tobias interrupts, sitting up slightly. "Go get Zeke and Harrison!" Tori gives him one contemptuous look and storms out. I open my mouth to ask about Marcus and Evelyn's fight, to tell him about Susan, but he speaks before I can. "Do you remember what I said after Shauna was shot?"

Of course I do. It's not everyday your boyfriend tells you that if you 'senselessly' throw your life in danger he'll break up with you. "Yes." My muscles lock down, bracing for impact even though the only thing he's throwing are words.

"I meant it. If you're going to run off and do something stupid every time something happens, we're done."

I should shrug it off, he's injured and anger is a side effect of concussions. But I can't. My knuckles are white where they're gripping the railing of his hospital bed. "Maybe you should," I grit out, "if you're going to threaten me with it every time I 'do something stupid'." His eyes snap up to mine; whatever he was expecting me to say, it wasn't that. "Don't throw it in my face as a way to get me to behave myself like I'm an errant child. And in case you haven't noticed I don't have the market cornered on stupid behavior tonight."

Our argument is cut short by Tori's return. Tobias' eyes roam over Zeke, reassuring himself that he's okay."What happened? I don't really remember... I just have flashes of stuff." I can tell it frustrates him, not being able to rely on his memory.

Zeke launches into the story again, and as soon as he's done Tori and Harrison fill the silence with the same surmises they killed time with while we waited. Halfway through their recitation the doctor comes by and tries to throw someone out; he did say only two visitors after all. I stand to leave, but Tobias' hand holds me in place, and before the doctor can do more than make empty threats Harrison ushers him out in the hallway to reason with him that as a leader the 'two visitors' rule doesn't really apply here.

"What did that Abnegation girl want today, Tris?" He asks when he comes back in.

I glare at him on the other side of the bed. I wanted to talk to Tobias about this privately, but I guess after our faction is attacked nothing's private. "Marcus wants to see me." I pull the note out of my pocket and pass it to him.

"No," Tobias spits out.

"I think she should go," Harrison says reasonably. "He might know something about who attacked you."

"He doesn't."

"You don't know that. He sent this message before you were attacked; he could have been trying to warn us."

"He wasn't."

"Okay, then what do you think this is about?" Harrison asks evenly, his voice as impassive as his gaze.

"He wants safe haven here; Evelyn has made the Abnegation sector... unsafe for him. Or so he believes."

"Can you blame her?" Tori scoffs.

I can't. I doubt anyone else can either. But I keep my mouth shut. I need Tori and Harrison to reason with Tobias, to at least give the appearance that my desire to see Marcus is something I'm doing in service to our safety and not my desire for revenge. I don't like manipulating people, and I like it even less when it's Tobias, but sometimes unpleasant things necessary.

"I told him everyone was welcome here as long as they agreed to our rules, everyone but him."

Harrison nods in agreement. "Be that as it may, I still think Tris should go, and I will go to the Abnegation sector and talk to Evelyn. We can't rule anything out, and if this is Erudite escapees trying to destabilize the new government other leaders may be in danger too; we have to warn them. Tori?" He looks at her questioningly.

"I agree."

"Tris?"

I shrug. "If you think it's a good idea," I say noncommittally.

He finally looks at Tobias, seeking his assent. He reaches out for the slip of paper Marcus sent me, his eyes scan quickly over the short message before landing on the map at the bottom. "This is in part of the city above the Hancock Building; totally abandoned. Are we sure she's not walking into a trap for the good of her faction?" His voice is terse, belying the frustration he feels at being overruled.

"No, we don't."

"Then she's not going alone. I want Zeke and Uriah with her at all times, and I want at least four others there ahead of them, scouting." He looks at me. "If anything looks suspicious to them you're coming back here without argument, understood?"

I can't help bristling at his tone, but I nod in agreement all the same. The conversation shifts to arranging the details of my trip. Apparently if Tobias can't stop it he'll settle for micro-managing every detail. He reels off the names of the people he wants scouting, and I won't be taking the train or walking there; I will go in one of the cars we took from the Erudite.

When the others leave the silence between us is heavy under the weight of things left unsaid, of the fight left unfinished. He leans back wearily against the pillows, pinching the bridge of his nose between his fingers. "If I go to sleep will you be here when I wake up?"

He's still angry, and so am I, but if Tobias has taught me anything it's that you can be angry at someone and love them and ache for them all at the same time. "Yes."

I wake to the sound of Tobias retching. Before I can do more than gape at him where he's hunched over dry heaving into a bag a nurse bustles in and injects a sickly yellow medication into his IV line.

"Dizziness and nausea are side effects of the concussion," she says. All I can do is nod dumbly in response. Within ten minutes Tobias is leaning back against his pillows, color returning to his cheeks as he sucks on ice chips.

My muscles are sore from falling asleep curled in the chair next to his bed, though I've only been out for a few hours. "Why don't you go back to the apartment? Sleep for a few hours. I can send Zeke or Uriah to come get you when we all meet later."

"Are you sure?" I don't really want to be away from him, but there isn't anything I can do for him either.

"Sleep, Tris."

I push myself to my feet and kiss his forehead again. "Do you want me to bring you anything?"

"A shirt would be nice." He's still bare from the waist up. "Later though; go sleep." He waits until I get to the door to speak again. "Tris?" I turn to face him. "Don't think I don't know what you're doing."

The Pit is deserted as I walk through it, the sound water crashing through the Chasm echoing harshly without the softening effects of hundreds of voices mixing with it. I force myself into the shower, reasoning that if I do it before I fall asleep my hair will be dry by the time I wake up. By the time I get out I don't even have the energy to change. I curl up under the covers still in a towel, curling into a ball under our quilt to chase away the chill.

Usually it's hard for me to fall asleep without the warmth of Tobias, the weight of his arms around me, but this time it feels like I've barely closed my eyes before someone's banging on the door. I stagger over to it, nearly losing the towel along the way. "What?" I ask through the door, unwilling to open it in my nearly naked state.

"Tris?"

"Who else would it be?"

"Oh, yeah," I hear an embarrassed laugh on the other side and realize it belongs to Uriah. "Come on, we've got to go back up to the infirmary."

"Is everything okay?"

"It's fine, there's a meeting though and if we don't hurry we'll be late."

"Okay," I scrub at my face with my free hand, trying to rub the sleep out of my eyes. "Okay, give me a minute."

I'm awkwardly hopping up and down on one foot as I pull my boot onto the other when I open the door to see Uriah smiling at me. The Pit is humming with life, everyone on their way to breakfast or their jobs as we wind our way through. I wonder if Tori and Harrison are going to tell them about what happened to Tobias; I don't hear anyone gossiping about it as I expected to.

"I don't think this is going to be as fun as going to Amity. But, still... I love bodyguarding you, Tris, we get to do all kinds of cool spy stuff." Uriah says good naturedly once we gain some privacy in the hallway to the infirmary.

I stop dead in my tracks. "What?"

His expression is a curious mix of guilt and anxiety, like a kid knowing they've been caught doing something they shouldn't be. "It's just... Tobias was worried because you still couldn't shoot...," he splutters. "And, he's just trying to keep you safe, Tris," he finishes in a plea.

I push past him, the swinging door to the infirmary banging loudly as it smacks into the wall I throw it open so forcefully. Uriah's still babbling behind me when I'm stopped by a wall of bodies crowding around Tobias' bed. I prod someone I don't know out of my way with a finger in the back, too angry to be courteous.

There's a map spread out on the bed over his legs. An older woman whose hands are covered in intricate tattoos is pointing at a group of intersecting lines on the map while the other presses to her ear, and I hear the tell-tale crackle of a radio.

"It's an abandoned church," she says as her finger moves across the map. "Houses, here and here; old storefronts across the street. They haven't seen anyone since they got there." She holds her hand up for silence, and the air shifts tense in the little room. "There's a balcony." Her voice is slow and careful, trying to relay what she's hearing without missing what she's being told. "Jackson says he can stay there all day if he needs to."

"Good. I want the others at the back and each side of the building; Bud will be out front with the car and can guard the entrance," Tobias says. He sounds like a general ordering his troops, which is pretty much accurate, I guess. He nods to me as I hand him the shirt. He gently puts his injured arm through one of the sleeves and then carefully pulls it over his head, smoothing it out with one hand once it's on.

"Bodyguards? Really?" I snap once everyone else files out.

"I'm sorry, it's just slipped out," Uriah says apologetically from where he's hovering nervously in the doorway.

Tobias looks at me, his eyes hard and defiant, challenging. "Yes, bodyguards. I'm not sending you out there into what could possibly be a trap unprotected."

"Is that why Zeke and Uriah were with me when I went to Amity? Were you worried about a trap then, too?"

"You just couldn't keep your mouth shut, could you?" He snaps at Uriah. "And I'm not going to fight with you about this, Tris. If you don't like it, don't go. End of discussion."

"No, it's not."

"Yes, it's is! Why can't you let me keep you safe?"

"Tris, we have to go," Uriah says. When I make no move to leave I feel his hand wrap around my arm and tug me towards the door. "C'mon, we have to go." Tobias and I glare at each other a minute longer before I turn away and march out the door. I hate fighting with him.

xxxx

The Erudite cars offer a much smoother ride than the old clunker Marcus, Christina, and I took to Amity. They glide easily over potholes and broken patches of asphalt, swinging smoothly around gaping holes that expose sewer lines. The interior is plush and padded; the seat covered in soft fabric and as comfortable as any couch or armchair I've sat on. It's quiet too; hybrid engines and solar panels whispering instead of the rackety banging of a regular combustion engine.

Quiet enough that Zeke barely has to raise his voice above a whisper as he sits next to me, telling me about what it was like in the days after I sacrificed myself to the Erudite. Tobias and I have never really talked about his mother, certainly not how her 'death' and subsequent resurrection affected him. After listening to Zeke I wonder if it didn't leave deeper, longer lasting scars than anything Macrus could inflict with a belt, and my leaving him opened them up again in a way that has yet to heal.

It's warm inside, but when I press my hand to the window it's cold. I see the Ferris wheel Tobias and I climbed at Navy Pier from a distance; the memories make me smile. The further north was travel the more deteriorated the city outside the window becomes. Houses made of wood are overgrown with vegetation; nature reclaiming what belonged to it in the first place.

The building Bud stops in front of is unremarkable. Without a word Zeke and Uriah exit and stand on the sidewalk, waiting for me. "Where did you learn to drive?" I ask him. It's inconsequential, but I'm curious.

"I was Amity before I transferred to Dauntless."

"Oh," is all I can say.

The air is sharp and bitter with cold, the wind stinging my face and making my hair whip around. It's a relief to get inside. Marcus is sitting halfway to the alter, placidly staring at the crumbling cross above it.

"I'm glad you decided to come," he says without turning to face me where I sit, a few pews behind him.

"I was asked to come by our leadership. There was an attack last night, some of our members were hurt."

"Evelyn?"

"If we knew it was her, why would I be here?"

He turns to face me, seeing Zeke and Uriah for the first time. "Is that why you're not alone?"

"Yes."

"I don't know anything about it."

I stare at him narrowly, looking for a tick that might give away a lie, but I see nothing. I also don't feel as though I'm being manipulated as I so often have around Tobias' parents. "Then what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Tobias... he listens to you."

"If this is about Evelyn threatening you, don't even bother. You are not welcome in Dauntless. And I am not your friend; do not ask me for favors."

"Part of your factions bargain with the factionless was that they get control over the Erudite data, correct?"

"Yes."

"Did you never wonder why?" His voice is smug with the knowledge that we didn't; that our agreement with the factionless was in many ways rash and ill-planned.

"It wasn't my place to wonder. I was not, and am still not, a leader."

"Did anyone?"

I stare at him coldly. "If you're going to play games we're done here."

He holds his hand up placatingly. "They didn't destroy all the data. They wanted something very specific and they got it."

"And you're not going to tell me what it was, are you?"

"No, I'm not. I need safe haven for myself and the Abnegation that remain loyal to our founding principles. In exchange for that I will tell you what I know."

"Was your original faction Candor, Marcus?"

"No, Erudite. And I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"You remind me of someone I met who used to be Candor," I shrug. "He believed in only doing things for other people when they could do something for him, or when he owed them a debt. I think you two would get along very well."

"I don't like going against my Abnegation principles, but times change and survival is more important right now."

"Then why don't you go to Amity?"

"Because they can't protect us."

"You mean they can't protect you."

"No, us. If Evelyn was persecuting us because of... personal reasons, I would leave." A memory of Johanna Reyes tickles the back of my brain and brings a smile to my face. "What?"

"Sometimes the people we oppress become mightier than we would like," I quote her as accurately as I can remember.

"I don't know what you've been told-"

"You're a liar, Marcus. How do I even know you have anything to bargain with?"

"I told you the truth about the information the Erudite stole from us."

"I need something better than your assurances this time because you're right, times do change. If you want our protection you're going to have to share what you know first." As I watch his face hardens into a mask and I wonder if he's thinking about hurting me the same way he used to hurt Tobias. "You don't like it, do you? Not being the one in control." I rise to my feet, Zeke and Uriah mimicking my actions. "You know where to find us if you change your mind."

A/N: Ah... yeah. I didn't tell you who did it. I do know, but this chapter got long, and I'm toying with the idea of keeping it ambiguous. I think some things are better left up to the reader. We'll see :) I am so sorry that it took me as long as it did to get this chapter up, but w/ the holidays things have been crazy. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU everyone who has favourited, followed, and reviewed this! You're making me feel like a rock star; honestly though, it was a wonderful Christmas present to see how popular this fic is.