I really pushed myself to put up this chapter today since this story got its 100th favorite this morning! Thank you to everyone that has reviewed/favorited/followed and just overall supported this story. It really means a lot to me to know that people like my work. This chapter was originally going to be broken into two chapters, like in the book, but I decided to merge them and give you all one long chapter instead.

Also, I want you all to know that I'm going to work really hard to update at least the next four chapters before I go back to school on September 7th. I don't know how often I'll be able to write, since I'll have more things to do, so I want you all to be able to see at least all of Monica's fears before there is another potentially long hiatus. To avoid that, I have this theory that I will work really hard to get homework and stuff done Monday-Saturday so then I can have Sundays to be as lazy as I want without feeling guilty about it. However, I know that this is probably not realistic, so just be prepared for another long hiatus (hopefully not a year-long one, but you never know).

Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent books, movies or anything that is canon.

Today is Visiting Day. I'm excited at the idea of seeing my mother, but I'm trying not to get my hopes up. Eric came in this morning and gave us a speech about how Dauntless takes "faction before blood" very seriously and to not seem too attached to our parents – if they show up. I would imagine that she would come, out of the kindness of her heart. But, Amity and Dauntless are polar opposites. She definitely would not feel very comfortable being here at all, even if it is just for an afternoon.

After Eric leaves, Will, Christina, and I head for the Pit. Tris is trailing behind us and Al is nowhere to be found. On our way there, while it shouldn't matter, I can't help but worry what my mother would think about my outfit. Amity doesn't have tight clothing like Dauntless does. They believe that tight clothes are too tense for the peaceful atmosphere of the faction. I have to keep reminding myself that it doesn't matter what their values are. I'm not Amity anymore. Even though this is what I have been working so hard to prove to everyone here, the thought still makes me feel uneasy.

When we enter the Pit, we see multiple groups of families happily conversing, pretty much all Dauntless born initiates with their Dauntless families. While I'm looking around, I see that Peter's parents have come, which surprises me, and that Molly and Drew are standing off to the side looking a little down. Their parents didn't come. At some point while I was distracted, Will and Christina left my side to go to their families. I smile to myself. I'm happy for them.

After I continue looking for a few more moments, I spot my beacon of hope. I see a sliver of red sifting through the sea of black clothing. My feet start moving forward on their own accord toward it. As I get closer, I see what I was desperately hoping to, and the tears begin to form. She came. Once she sees me too, she smiles that beautiful smile that I didn't realize I missed so much until this moment. When we finally make it to each other and she pulls me into one of her famous hugs and begins to stroke my hair, I know that despite all of the stress and craziness of Dauntless, everything is going to be okay.

"Oh, my sweet girl." She takes my face in her hands once we pull out of our hug.

"Mama, you came."

"Of course I did. Did you think I wouldn't?"

"It's just that… Dauntless is so different from Amity. With the fighting and everything, I can't help but think that you would be ashamed of me." I may not be Candor, but my mother is the one person I've never been able to lie to.

"Monica, you're Dauntless. You're brave. I could never be ashamed of who you are." I smile, relieved, and pull her in for another hug. After we break away, we start walking around the Pit and I tell her all about Dauntless. Training, how different the people are, everything.

"What are your instructors like?"

"Well, first there's Four", the puzzled look on her face makes me fair. pause. "Yes, his name is a number. He's your standard Dauntless soldier, I guess. He's a good trainer. And he's fair. And then there's Eric, who's a completely different story. He's a leader and he's overseeing our training. Um… oh God. Speak of the devil and he shall appear." I notice while I'm speaking that Eric is approaching us. I look back to my mother and she smiles at me. I slightly shake my head with a questioning look. Before I can ask what she's smiling about, Eric is in front of us and ready for an introduction.

"Hello, my name is Margaret, Monica's mother. It's a pleasure to meet you." She holds out her hand to him, which is strange because we usually greet people with a hug in Amity, but luckily, she can tell that Eric would never go for that. Either that, or she knows the customary Dauntless greeting. Whichever it is, I'm glad she didn't go in for a hug. I don't know who would be more embarrassed: Eric or me.

"Likewise. I'm Eric, I'm monitoring your daughter's training. She's doing very well here. She's high in the rankings. I'm sure she'll have no problem finding a good job once initiation is over." What? Is this really Eric, or am I dreaming? And he mentioned the rankings. I'm pretty sure he's not supposed to saying anything about them to us before they are revealed. My suspicions are confirmed when he gives me a look that tells me to keep my mouth shut about it.

"Well, that is excellent news." Despite my nerves, my mother's praise makes me smile.

"Well, I have some business to attend to. Enjoy the rest of your reunion." He gives me look that I can't quite place before he leaves.

After he's gone, mom gives me that smile again. "He doesn't seem that bad."

"Mom, that's because you're a guest from a different faction. If he treated you the way he does everyone else, Max would probably have his head. And besides, that's the most I've ever seen him be nice to someone. He was probably just reassuring you or something."

"And he's handsome."

"Eric? Handsome? No way." This is the best I can do, but especially considering the blush that creeps across my cheeks, she and I both know I'm lying.

"Okay, fine. His exterior is incredibly handsome. But on the inside? Not so much."

"Really?"

"Let me put it this way: One day, he made one of my friends hang over the side of the chasm. Then, another day, he threw knives at me and made Four throw knives at one of my other friends. So, yeah. His personality isn't that beautiful."

"Did you ever think that maybe he just acts that way with you because your initiates?"

"Well, a little, but it's not just me. He treats everyone like that."

"I saw the way he looked at you before he left."

"What, you think Eric likes me?"

"I think he might."

"Come on mom, that's crazy." Before she can respond, I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn and see two more people from Amity, a man and woman that only look vaguely familiar.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but have you seen our son Danny? We can't find him anywhere." Oh, crap. I've completely forgotten all about Danny.

"Um, he actually didn't make it in. One of the first things we had to do was jump off of the train onto the roof and he didn't want to jump."

"So, he's factionless." The tears forming in their eyes have made it too difficult to look at them, so I look down slightly.

"I'm afraid so. I'm sorry." Through their sobs, they thank me for the help and make their way towards the exit. I can't imagine how awful that must feel, to know that your child is factionless. When I turn my attention back to my mother she is staring towards another part of the room, eyes wide.

"Mom, are you okay?" I turn to look where she is, but she immediately snaps out of her trance and redirects my attention back to her.

"I'm fine dear. Don't worry about me. Let's talk more about you." For the rest of the afternoon, we talk about everything. I tell her absolutely everything I can think of about Dauntless. When I have nothing more to say, she takes over and tells about how Amity has been everything from the crops to about the new members that she has come across.

When it gets later into the early evening and closer to dinner, the parents begin to leave.

"Well, I guess I should be heading back now."

"Okay. Mama, are you going to be okay without me?" This is my biggest concern.

"Of course sweetheart. I don't ever want you to feel guilty for leaving me, okay? This is where you belong."

"Okay."

"Before I go," she starts as her hand heads towards her pocket. "There's something that I want you to have." She pulls out a necklace, a locket with the Dauntless symbol hanging on a black chain.

"Your father gave this to me. And I want you to have it. It would make more sense for you to have it now." I stand there, momentarily shocked, unable to do anything but stare. My mother has never been eager to bring up the subject of my father. Once I recover, I take the necklace out of her hand and open the locket. On one side is a recent picture of my mother and I that a friend took while we were working in the strawberry fields. On the other side, there is a picture of a man smiling holding a baby. I can only assume one thing.

"Is that him?"

"Yes. I know that I've never liked to tell you much and some things I was forbidden to tell you, but I want you to at least have a picture of him." Both of our eyes mist over and I pull her in for a hug.

"Thank you. I love you Mama."

"I love you too Monica." When we pull away, she takes my hands in hers and looks into my eyes.

"I wish you luck in everything you do."

"You too Mama."

"Goodbye sweetheart."

"Bye." I put on my locket as she turns and walks away. While I'm sad to see her go, it doesn't hurt as much as I feared. We both know that the other is doing well and is going to be okay where we are. And that's all I need to know to make the tears stop falling and a smile to form as I head to dinner.

After dinner, we all head back to the dormitory and it's hard to ignore the fact that we are walking a little faster than we usually do to get there. The knowledge that we will be getting our rankings tonight makes us all a little anxious, especially me given what Eric said to my mother. Part of me thinks that he was just saying it to make her feel better, but the other part thinks that he may have been telling the truth. When I think back on it, I did really well in knife and gun training and I only lost one of my fights. I guess that would put me at a high rank, but I'll have to wait and see to be sure.

When we walk in, we head to the back of the room where Four, Eric, and Max are waiting for us. I'm surprised to see Max, since we don't see him around much, but since this has to do with the future of Dauntless, he must be obligated to be here. Once we all form around them in front of the board, Four begins to speak.

"After the first round of fights, we ranked you according to your skill level. The number of points you earn depends on your skill level and the skill level of the person you beat. You earn more points for improving and more points for beating someone of a high skill level. I don't reward preying on the weak. That is cowardice. If you have a high rank, you lose points for losing to a low-ranked opponent.

"Stage two of training is weighted more heavily than stage one, because it is more closely tied to overcoming cowardice. That said, it is extremely difficult to rank high at the end of initiation if you rank low in stage one." I can't help but glance over at Al. He looks as uneasy as I feel for him.

"We will announce the cuts tomorrow. The fact that you are transfers and the Dauntless-born initiates are not will not be taken into consideration. That said, here are your ranks." Max pushes a button, and the screen lights up with our names and I am shocked.

Edward

Peter

Monica

Will

Christina

Matt

Molly

Tris

Drew

Al

Myra

When Eric said my ranking was high, I didn't expect it to be that high. I look at Tris and Christina, and I can tell that they are shocked too. There is a heavy, uneasy silence in the room, that is, until Molly shatters it and points to Christina.

"What? I beat her! And she's ranked above me?"

"Yeah, and?"

"If you intend to secure yourself a high rank, I suggest you don't make a habit of losing to low-ranked opponents." Four replies in a sharp tone, silencing the grumbling of the other initiates. Molly begins to stalk towards Tris, but then turns and leaves the dorm instead. I look over at Matt, who gives me a dirty look before heading over to his bed. This worries me because there is no way that he would be happy with sixth place, especially since I'm the one who helped put him there. Peter is also disturbingly quiet. Peter would never accept second place.

Tris, Will, Christina, and I head out to celebrate, but Al decides to stay in. We try to convince him not to jump to conclusions, but he still seems really down and I don't blame him. Unless the Dauntless born performed horribly in their training, he will probably be factionless. This thought makes celebrating a little more difficult.

Later that evening, a blood curdling scream jolts me awake. I jump upright in my bed while everyone starts rushing around and someone turns on the lights. I go over to where everyone is standing and I let out a scream at what I see. Edward is lying on the floor next to his bed, holding his face where there is a butter knife from the dining hall sticking out of his eye. Once I shake my shock away, I get down on the floor with Tris, trying to calm him the best we can. Once the nurse arrives, Tris and I step back and look around the room. Our eyes meet in confirmation when we realize that there are two people missing from the room: Drew and Peter.

After the nurses take Edward to the infirmary, Tris and I change our clothes and clean the blood off of ourselves the best we can. We then get as many paper towels as we possibly can to clean up the mess in the dormitory. We both can tell that no one else wants to do it, and it's also hard to sleep after witnessing something like that. As we begin cleaning, Christina walks up next to us.

"You know who did that, right?" she asks.

"Yeah."

"Should we tell someone?"

"Do you really think they would do anything or even listen to us? After they hung you over the chasm, made us beat each other unconscious, and threw knives at us?" I ask. No one responds.

For the next half hour, Tris and I work to clean up the blood and Christina helped replace the paper towels. After we're done, we get back in our beds in a useless effort for sleep that everyone struggles to achieve.

The next evening, Christina and I go to hear the rankings and when we return to the dorm, Edward and Myra's beds have been stripped. Tris comes in later and asks us where they went.

"They both quit," Christina tells her.

"Even Myra?"

"Yeah, she said she didn't want to be here without him. She was going to get cut anyway. At least they didn't cut Al."

"Who else got cut?"

Christina shrugs. "Two of the Dauntless born. I can't remember their names."

Al was supposed to get cut, but Edward's departure saved him. I realize that someone also changed the numbers next to everyone else's names on the ranking board. I am now second, and Peter is first. He got exactly what he wanted. And the thought makes me sick.