When Districts Collide

Chapter 2: Wren

Tobias left after about fifteen minutes of stuffing ourselves with cake, which was so much better than the Capitol's. When I met him outside, he was talking to Isaac and Theo. I stopped dead in my tracks. He never said that we would be doing this now.

"Oh, hey, you made it!" Tobias gave me a quick hug and drank what was left in his flask. "I'm going to need this. God, I haven't done this for two years." He turned to Isaac. The smell of the rum was left on his breath.

"Haven't done what?" I jumped into the conversation.

Isaac answered. "He's taking us all ziplining. Some of the others are coming. People you don't know. But don't worry, you're a leader. You're cool." he joked with me. I was one of three who was the most talked about, as a victor. The ultimate Dauntless. A prize I was less than willing to receive.

"You're ziplining? But your fear of heights!"

"I know. I've only done it twice. Once when I first came here, hence the fear, and the second time was with Zeke, Christina, and a few others, who should all be coming in a minute..." he squinted into the distance to look for them. "You're lucky I'm taking you, I don't do this for just anyone."

"So you're actually doing it then?" Came a voice a few yards away. I could make out the faces now, a girl with long dark hair, in what seemed to be crutches of some sort, a boy with bronze skin walking with her, and Christina, who kept up a couple feet with them.

"Zeke," he ran up and hugged the boy, clapping each other's backs.

"Four, it's been too long."

"You still living in Denver?"

"Took the train up this morning after I got your message last night. Shauna came too, hope you don't mind the extra."

"No problem. How's it going, Shauna?"

"Not bad, we're going to the Capitol soon to see what they can do with my legs. The doctor in Denver said they might have a solution."

"That's good. Guys, I want you to meet Wren."

"I know you, you were a victor. Nice job." Zeke held out his hand and shook mine. Shauna nodded, and Christina gave me a hug as she walked over. He never bothered to introduce the rest of them, so they all must have known each other. "So, what is she? New girlfriend already? I'm actually shocked." he seemed so.

"No, no way. Nothing to you, Wren." he shook his head as Theo cringed at Zeke's tone from before. I stepped by Isaac to make the point greater. "No, she's just a very good friend that we're introducing tonight to Dauntless traditions, since she never experienced them before."

"You've never been ziplining?" Zeke asked me. I shook my head. He and Shauna seemed appalled. "Four here hasn't either. At least, not while keeping his eyes open."

"Not true, I kept my eyes open the last time." he argued back.

"Well, are we going to sit here bantering about it or are we going to do it?" Shauna asked.

"Let's hop the train." and so we ran. Zeke and Shauna were in the back, Shauna trying to run walk, but I guessed it was hard for her to do that in the crutches.

The train was coming just as Zeke made it, getting Shauna aboard first and then climbing in after. I had waited last, seeing as it made sense for everyone else to get in first, and I pulled myself in, landing into my nightmare, on top of Theo.

"Whoa, sorry." I got up off of him and sat in the seat next to him. "Hi." I smiled. It was one of the first words I directly said to him in two months, and all I could think of was hi? Even Four looked at me and shook his head.

"So, Theo, when was your first time?" Zeke looked across the car.

"Well, um, let's see, it was probably during initiation. Four took me, but he never actually got on the train, just loaded me up with a bunch of Dauntless born, so I made friends."

"There he is, Four, no stranger to fear, accepting it in his wake. All except heights."

"Well, three others." Christina added next to him.

"We're here." Tobias said, ignoring them.

We all got off the train and went into the Hancock building. I remembered Theo telling me about it, how he wanted to come up here one day at sunrise with me. I looked at him and made eye contact. It was strange, looking into the brown eyes, since my time had been occupied with blue. His were much prettier, more mysterious. I stared until I realized that Christina was pushing me into the elevator. That seemed to snap him out of it and he fell in with the group as well.

We rode up to the top floor, the three digit button staring me into the face. There was only quiet, with someone occasionally clearing their throat. I saw Tobias' jaw clench uncomfortably and Christina put a hand on his shoulder to steady him. I was okay with heights, and saw that Christina was there to help him, so I didn't bother to help. I had not, however, realized how uncomfortable he was in small spaces. I forgot about that one. That made me step to the side a little bit to give him room, only to end up shoulder to shoulder with Theo. Oh how Fate played it out. He looked down with me with a small smile and I smiled back, starting to laugh. I didn't know why I was laughing, probably from the tense excitement to come, but soon that got him laughing, which got Zeke and Shauna started, and Isaac, and eventually even Four. By the time the door opened to reveal a ladder to a hole in the roof, we were all giggling a little bit for no reason, making us laugh even more.

Zeke was the first one up, and he helped Shauna as he held the ladder, grabbing her hand and pulling her up. Then it was Isaac, then Christina, Four, Theo, and me. As soon as I got to the top, my first instinct was to peer over the edge. To do so would frighten Tobias, who was in the middle, a safe distance away with Christina, but I wanted to see. I took Theo's hand instinctively-my first mistake-and went over with him to look at the lights in the city-my second mistake. My third mistake was pointing out the bar near Erudite headquarters that we had one of our first dates on. My final mistake was using him to brace the wind.

"We're at the top of a hundred floor building, and your first instinct is to look over the edge?" he said to me above the wind.

"We're at the top of a hundred floor building, and your first instinct isn't?" I shouted back.

"True shit." he laughed and held my shoulders steady. What was that, the fifth mistake, letting him? How many more until he figured out how fast my heart was beating, and not out of fear?

"Come on you two, let's go!" Zeke shouted, hooking Shauna up to the device. It was a sling that she entered in head first on her stomach, and he let her go. Faintly in the distance I saw a group of people standing at the bottom, other members, to help break her fall. After about a minute or so, we heard the cheers, and he strapped the next person in, Isaac. He was daring and went in feet first. Then Christina went. Then Theo went. After Theo was caught by the members, it was me, Tobias, and Zeke left on the roof. I was next.

"You can totally do this. Get in head first, okay?" I looked back at Tobias, who gave me a thumbs up. He better had been going after this. My heart sped up even faster as I got into the sling, my head past the building. "Ready?" I nodded. "Go!"

He pushed me off and I was flying. I was actually flying, airborne in the embrace of the wind. The sling held my body, but I was free enough to wriggle my arms out and hold them to the side, catching the wind in my hands as they cupped around the air. I imagined Tris doing this, as Tobias said she had. I imagined him doing it as well. I could understand his fear, but not enough to hate it at all. This was the most freeing thing I had felt since before the Games. I felt amazing, and it was sad to think that after such an exhilarating joyride, I had to stop.

There was a big painted target about ten feet in front of me when I stopped, purely for show, I hoped. Knowing the Dauntless like I did, I wasn't so sure who had the gall to run into it. I looked down from where I was at rest, and people were lining up in a huge blob of hands and arms, ready to catch me. Four central people were there under me, the ones I trusted to be there and not let me fall. I squirmed out of the holds and fell twenty feet to the ground, feeling hands engulf me and lower me to my feet. They all cheered and waited for Tobias to come down. Theo turned to me and grabbed my arm, and I realized he was making sure that Tobias had someone to catch him. Christina and Isaac also came to grab, even though he still had about thirty seconds to go. We heard the shouting as he came blundering down and stopped, again, ten feet from the target. His breaths were heavy and his face was flushed, but he looked at me and gave me a huge smile.

"Still afraid, Four? Or can we finally change your name to Three?"

"Petrified." he was released from the holds and fell into our grips, giving me a gigantic hug after being lowered. "Never doing that again." he said to me.

After Zeke was lowered to the ground, we had all gone back for drinks at the bar. It was only about eleven thirty, and I didn't have to get up for work until about nine. Zeke and Four sat at one table, but Christina and Shauna went to Candor. They seemed to be good friends, more than her and Four. I didn't know why they didn't want to come back to Dauntless, but then I remembered that Christina could never live here with her memories and Shauna, with her legs, was probably not looking forward to the paths.

As the two of them sat together, I was with Isaac and Theo. We all ordered a different dish and I was the only one ordering a mixed drink, again. Maybe it was the ziplining, but I wasn't feeling as panicked. Four would have attributed that to Theo, and maybe it was. But all I knew then was it was a good feeling.

"So, Wren," Theo started an actual conversation. "Afraid of heights yet?"

"Considering I've jumped off of two rooftops now and gone ziplining, I would say heights and I have an amicable relationship." I smiled. Maybe this would be easier than I thought. "What about yourself?"

He took a drink. "I like to think that heights are just another thing we have to deal with, I don't prefer them, but when a girl you like takes your hand and pulls you to the side to look at things with her, you don't normally object." Well, now that that was out in the open, how about my heart stops racing? Every time he spoke, the fluidity of his voice worked itself through my veins, spiking it more than the alcohol. He was just so wholesome in everything he did.

"I'm going to see if Four is paying for the check or not." Isaac said to leave us alone. He seemed almost as surprised as I was.

"Have fun." he said back, not taking his eyes off me. "Did you have fun?" He asked.

"I had such a blast. Thanks for catching me."

"It was my pleasure. Sorry about the hand on your ass, I had absolutely no intention of putting it there."

"Oh that was you!" I laughed, and he joined. Were we actually flirting? We skipped this stage the first time. "I thought that was Isaac at first. I would rather it be you, so I'm glad it was." Did I really just say that?

He chuckled and took another sip. "How have you been lately? I only ever see you at meals. And you don't come to a lot of them. How much do you eat?" he was a bit concerned, but played it off.

"I mean, I do eat, and I've been well." Lie. "Work's been going good, Four and Isaac are teaching me the ropes. You should come back, Four wants to keep an eye on Peter."

"He hasn't been too much of a problem. He was sorry to hear about...us...but he's been quiet lately."

"Good. You should still come back. I'm still waiting for all those things and Dauntless secrets you were going to teach me." I leaned over the table. He reciprocated my move.

"Did you hear about Cali's wedding?"

"Yeah, she told me a few days ago. We're not really in contact anymore."

"Wait, so you weren't invited?"

"No, not formally, were you?"

"Yeah, Adam and I both were. I wonder why you weren't? Well, there was a plus one on the invitation. Maybe she assumes you'll be the plus one."

"Didn't Four get one?"

"Yeah, surprisingly he did. I think it's because Jada told her that he's a leader now. And as if I would take him to a wedding, that would be almost sacrilegious of my mental shrine to Tris."

"Oh, so you two really are just friends?"

"Did you think any different?"

"I just saw that you had a key to his apartment and you two seemed to spend a lot more time together so I assumed-is that the necklace I gave you?" He saw the glint beneath my jacket.

"Yeah, I never take it off."

"Wren, you don't need to wear it, we've broken up, remember?"

"Yeah," my heart sank at him mentioning our relationship. "But I want to. It's beautiful. And about that, Theo, I was thinking-"

"Can we not do this here, at a bar?" his eyebrows furrowed. "Let's go back to my room. We can talk there."

"Are you sure?"

"Absolutely. Come with me." he grabbed my hand, told Four we were leaving, and went back to a room that was almost foreign to me.

AN: Yes, yes, this is one of those purposefully messing up times. See, I had originally written the draft of this before the FOUR series came out. So I had to guess at his fear of heights. But then I read it, and ultimately didn't feel like changing it because of the plot, and it was funny. So, I'm keeping it this way. But I do know what I'm doing, promise. Kind of...anyway. Hope you enjoyed!