A/N: Here's chapter 16! I tried to update quickly to make up for that long wait last time! I am hoping this is how quickly I will be updating from now on. Anyways, hope you like it! Fon't forget to review! And I am soooo close to 100 followers! I will post the next chapter as soon as I get there! Well, here's the story!
Disclaimer: All rights belong to Veronica Roth.
The sun has risen high in the sky, and when I check my phone, I see that it is 8:37. Shit. Training starts at eight. "We're late." I tell Tobias.
"No we're not." He responds cooley, "Training doesn't start until 9." I realize that he is right. We no longer use fear simulations, only the landscapes, on new initiates. After initiation they are given an oppurtunity to try the fear simulations, but as new leaders, we decided that they are too emotionally stressful on the initiates.
As for determining Divergence, new tests are offered to everyone that will succesfully prove Divergence. If you have been determined Divergent, you are allowed to exit that factions into the outside world. Of course, Tobias and I were given this oppurtunity, but we decided that we should stay for now. Maybe someday we will venture outside the fence.
"Right." I say, grabbing Tobias's hand and jogging to the fear landscape room.
When we arrive at the doors, I run up to the door of the small observation lab where the serums are stored. I order a mixer machine, (I never bothered to remember the actual name,) to make up two serums per Tobias's landscape, and per mine. It takes something close to ten minutes for the serums to develop, so we will have enough time to go through Four's. We have to take the initiates through mine anyways in a little while. I pick up the needles and gently set them in a box for each set, then bring out Tobias's landscape syringes.
He takes the box and opens it, pulling out one long syringe. The protruding needle used to make me want to dash for an exit, but now it doesn't frighten me at all. Tobias pulls it up to my neck, and injects it cleanly. I do the same for him. Then we open the doors, and step into the dark room. For a moment, it stays dark, and I worriedly wonder if something is wrong, and then a setting starts to materialize.
We are somewhere very high off of the ground. I look down, and a pulse of adrenaline rushes through me. My toes hang off Of the edge of the small platform we stand on, and wind smacks my face, threatening to send me speeding towards the ground. Tobias steps up and grabs my waist, as if he thinks I am really in danger. "Tobias," I begin, as I twist my body to face him. "It's not real." He takes a deep breath.
"I know." And with that, we step off, and we are falling together.
The scene turns into blackness, and we land in a box. Tobias's breathing quickens, and he looks panicked. "It isn't real." I tell him. I grab hos face and force him to look at me. "It's. Not. Real." I repeat. Tobias looks away and bites his cheek. Then he looks back at me.
"But it feels real Tris. It feels very real. It feels like we are trapped in a very small space with not a lot of air to breath. It feels like you are in danger. I can't lose you. I can't lose the only thing I have left to live for!"
I put his arms around me and turn around so that we have more space. "It's a fear landscape Tobias. You have to face your fear, or calm down. So we're going to face your fear together because I don't see you calming down anytime soon. C'mon. Let's crouch." We crouch, and then sit, me sitting on Tobias, all pushed together, and it feels like every part of my body is in contact with his. The box scruches down to our size, and I hear a whimper from Tobias.
"Tris. What if my fear isn't of small spaces anymore. What if it's of losing you. What if we have to wait here until you die of no air. Or you get crushed or something."
"Tobias, listen to me. That isn't this fear. None of this is real. We just have to get a little bit smaller and it will be over."
He is quiet for a moment, and then responds with a shakey, "okay." I make myself into a ball and he hugs into me, the box shinking more.
"This is good." I say, trying to encourage him that we are making progress.
"No, this is much, much, worse. This is definitely worse." He says.
But just then, the box disappears and we are standing in a training room. Four stands next to a table with 10 or so throwing knives on it. A 7 or 8 meters away, a target is pinned up, with a simulation me tied to it. Simulation me is looking sadly towards Tobias and the knives.
And then I, real me, realize what he is supposed to do. Tobias does too, and in an instant, he drops the silver knife, and watches it clatter to the floor. I walk over to him and try to touch his arm.
But I can't.
Something is blocking me. Part of the simulation. "Tobias!" I shriek. He doesn't respond. He can't hear me either. I suppose that means he also can't see me. I am proved right when he looks around, yelling for me. He looks back at simulation me. She is crying now. Yelling at him. Swearing even.
"Just do it! Do it already! God damnit Four! Throw the knives!"
He starts shaking his head frantically, repeating over and over that he can't. She keeps yelling. Louder than before. Swearing violantly at him. He yells back and breaks down. He balls up and starts to cry. It is not often that you see Tobias Eaton cry. I bang on whatever is keeping me from getting through.
Maybe I can break through it. I'm Divergent. I will it to become ice. Just like the tank, and kick it hard. It cracks, and I bang and kick until it breaks. It shatters and I run through, grabing the knife out of Four's hand, but it is too late once I understand what he was doing. He was slitting his neck. Blood drips down him, staining his shirt. But he is not dead. His eyes widen when he sees me, and he begins to understand.
I throw the knives at myself, and my simulation body falls lifeless, straining against the ropes. "C'mon." I say, I help him up, and his injuries and the blood fade. His next fear is the woman. The fear of killing the innocent. He grabs the gun and points it at her. She looks frightened, but he shoots. He drops the gun, and we walk away. The scene fades, and we are back in the dark room. I flock on the lights, and run to hug Tobias.
"I'm sorry you had to kill yourself." He says.
I laugh a little. "It's nothing."
