Chapter 4: Tobias

I packed all of our stuff into the bags the bureau provided us, there wasn't much to begin with but Tris needed some medicine and healing salves just in case and it took up most of her bag.

She could stand for long enough that I didn't feel worried leaving her to shower alone, but Amar and George were waiting for us in the car. Tris walked into the room just as I was packing the last of my very meager possessions.

"Ready?" She asked hanging the towel on a bedpost. "Alright they're waiting for us, we should go." Pulling her shoes and jacket on she followed me out to the hallway.

Everyone had said their goodbyes earlier in the day, we would probably see Caleb and Cara around the city but Christina and Peter would still be in the compound. Of course she promised to come visit and somehow, even though it'll be difficult for her to be back I know she means it.

"There you are, thought we were gonna have to send in a search party for you two." Amar calls from the driver's seat. "So here's the deal, we're gonna clean up Dauntless and take inventory first that way we can get supplies that we need. A lot of the others have already moved back in to try and feel normal again but the training facilities have remained untouched. Next we need to figure out how to recruit."

George turned in his seat with a wide smile. "I have some thoughts on that."

By the time we got to headquarters there was a firm idea of what they would do for the first training class. Tris and I dropped the bags off in my…our apartment and only took a moment to look and see what had changed.

The training room had been raided, the guns and ammunition all gone, even the practice rounds used during initiation. Most of the throwing knives sat untouched on the table, there was a chance that someone could use a knife while fighting but I had been saying for years it was a useless talent anyway.

The mats for fighting, punching bags, and hand tape all sat untouched. I guess they didn't have much use for that stuff. It was easy to see that we would need targets as well as guns and ammo for training but that was pretty much it.

Meanwhile, the Pit remained almost untouched. The tattoo parlor was the same although without Tori it seemed dark, Bud sat in his chair staring at the equipment. The only thing that seemed like it hadn't been touched at all was the cafeteria, the tables and chairs were all in the same place, there was still food being served buffet style although not as much as before.

Only a few tables were occupied, Tris and I sat with George and Amar letting them know what we found in the training rooms. Zeke and his mom sat at another table with Shauna, catching my eye he nodded, maybe he would be able to forgive me after all. Nodding back I returned to the food in front of me listening to the others talk about recruiting for the force.

"So we're really still going with this?" There were a lot of things that were going to change, but stick four former Dauntless back in their headquarters and there are things that will stay the same too. Together we decided on a few traditions that would stay in place if only because they were fun. Some we decided to keep because they had a purpose and had proved to work in the past.

"We only a few weeks so let's get what we need and start to figure it all out."

That night Tris and I cleaned up the apartment the best we could, it had collected a lot of dust and smelled stale, but somehow she found a candle that made it better. The bed was still unmade from when I ran out during the first simulation, glasses still in the sink from my late night waters, and I didn't want to think about what was in the fridge.

After an hour of making it habitable we finally changed and crawled into bed. I got used to sleeping in just shorts when I moved in here by myself, but with the war I started sleeping in my clothes. Now, with Tris I had to find a comfortable middle ground. I decided on shorts and a shirt but when she emerged from the bathroom wearing only one of my shirts and her underwear I decided to even the playing field and leave the shirt off.

It was nice knowing that we could sleep without worrying about what was going on around us. It had been too long since I was able to fall asleep without thinking of everything that could go wrong while I slept. Now, with Tris in my arms, I was able to sleep soundly.

The next morning we woke up around the same time and got dressed for breakfast. There wasn't much to do until the recruits showed up so after eating I went to the training room and started taping my hands.

"Hey," I didn't hear the door open or hear Zeke walk in. "Listen I wanted to talk to you."

"Alright." The tension was palpable; I could tell that if Zeke would be anywhere else right now he would be.

The light was gone from his eyes, his smile not as wide and I know that part of that is because of me. "Tris pulled me aside this morning and told me what happened. She saw it happen, the wall blowing up I mean and while I know that you were a part of that I also know that you weren't the one to blow up the wall and you didn't tell my idiot brother to sit next to it." Thinking back to when I joined Dauntless I remember Uriah following Zeke around cracking jokes with us, watching as he got his first tattoo and as he jumped into the net. "There was too much going on to know what would happen and I know that you were only trying to do what you thought was best. I can't promise that everything will be back to how it was before, but you're one of my best friends and one of the only few left Four."

Pulling him towards me Zeke's tears start to soak through my shirt. Zeke the one who was with me when I got my first Dauntless tattoo, Zeke who gave me my first sip of alcohol, and Zeke the one who dragged me on a double date believing an Abnegation wouldn't mess it up. When I had no friends he was the one to welcome me in and to make me feel like I belonged, he helped me and kept me from destroying my chances within the faction.

There was so much I owed him for and instead I helped kill his little brother. "I'm so sorry Zeke, I know there's nothing I can do to make up for this."

"Shut up, you'll help keep this city safe and keep shit like this from happening again. Okay?" Rubbing his eyes with the heel of his hands Zeke slapped my arm and left the room without another word.

It felt good to be back in the training room and sweating while punching something hard and knowing that I wasn't doing it because I would need to punch another person. That part of Dauntless is over, beating the crap out of others doesn't make you brave it makes you ruthless and that's not something that this city needs.

Before I switched factions I was told that physical training mean that the initiates wore padding to protect themselves and the fight was over when one of them conceded instead of when one of them couldn't stand any longer. Eric and Max's reign of terror is over.

It must have been hours because Tris wandered into the room and stopped me. "Your knuckles." I hadn't even noticed they were bleeding.

"My hands are none of your concern." I reply with a smile, there's so much I still need to say to her but I can't just yet. "What's up?"

"Just remembering all the good times," Her eyes were on the targets used for knife throwing practice. "Remember when you cut my ear?"

"How could I forget?" She stood in for Al when Eric wanted to teach him a lesson for not throwing well enough, and she was making him angry. I tried to help but she just thought I was a jerk and that cutting her was because I was ruthless like him. "You were a quick learner."

She picked up a few of the blades and ran her hands over the cool metal, when the initiates were learning how to do this they all just started throwing as soon as they could get their hands on the knives, but Tris figured out how to stand and how to use her arm. She wasn't reckless then and I hope that she won't be reckless anymore.

Now she held the knives lightly not wanting to think of them as weapons but as tools. "Part of me wants to teach them how to throw these, and the other part is glad we're not doing that anymore."

The tape I'm picking off my hands in bloody and pulls at the cracks in my knuckles but it doesn't hurt, "I agree, I think it's useless."

"Will you be going by Four or Tobias?" It's a simple question but holds a lot of weight.

"I'm not sure, I like that you're the only one who calls me Tobias. Maybe I'll let you keep that to yourself and have everyone call me Four for now." The stupidity of not wanting anyone else to call me by my given name is selfish but I have always been selfish so it doesn't matter much to me. "Do you think you'll have everyone call you Tris or Beatrice?"

Her smile is broad and gleams. "I like that you're the only one who calls me Beatrice anymore." Setting the knives down she kisses me gently. "It's time for lunch, that's why I came to get you."

"Alright let me just wash my hands and I'll meet you there."

There are a few more people that there were at breakfast, they look like they were from the fringe trying to find a safe place but still skittish around people who look like soldiers.

Grabbing food and sitting with Tris and Amar I can't help but realize that even though I was trying to leave this place it feels like home to me now.

"Four, I was just talking to Tris about your new office." My eyebrows raise at my old instructor. "Yeah you get an office with your own computer and a desk. It's the price of being an important part of this new system you actually have to act like you're important."

"I guess this is what happens when you're first in your initiation class."

I smirk at Tris since we were both first in our class so the comment is as much a dig at me as it is at her.

Amar waits until we're done eating to show us the offices up in the Pire that we get to use. The seventh floor isn't touched at all and he found a pair of offices that connect through a door in the wall so we could yell to each other and check up on everything.

Immediately we each choose the room we want and try to settle in.

"There's more in here than I've ever owned in my life." Tris yells to me, "Never thought I'd actually need a filing cabinet to hold everything."

We go through the files and initiation plans, most were from the past couple of years where everything got to be more of a competition than a learning experience. I see notes from Eric and Max about making sure the initiates are wound up and ready to fight.

"I think we can go ahead and get rid of the fear landscape plans," Everyone agreed that we wouldn't make anyone else go through that since there wasn't a purpose to it so I throw the folders into a pile on my left. "And I guess we'll have to find padding for everyone to wear during physical training."

My fingers are thick and my hands are calloused, I wasn't made for filing paperwork but Tris has gone through twice as many files as I have with her thin and nimble fingers. Her organization makes sense only to her as I watch her sort through the files placing them in one of four piles.

"Things are changing for the better here," She says keeping her eyes on the folders. "We're going to help people learn how to defend others instead of hurt them."

The idea of helping rather than hurting makes me happier knowing that I'm not going to make people fight each other and put them in the infirmary.

Everything will be better.