DIVERGENT DAUGHTER

Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent Trilogy in any way. They are property of Veronica Roth

Eric. I was doomed to spend the rest of my life with Eric. Max gestured me to come forth but I shook my head and wrenched my arm out of Christina's grip. I turned on my heel and sprinted away from the crowd. Many Dauntless attempted to grab me but I twisted out of their grip. I wouldn't be Eric's plaything, not now, not ever.

I could see the light of above ground ahead of me. I knew I would be factionless once I left the underground but I didn't care, anything was better than the fate they wished to resign me to. My foot had just found purchase on the bottom rung of the ladder when I felt muscular arms wrap around my waist and haul me up.

"No!" I shrieked, clawing at the arms that confined me, "I won't go back. I won't be his."

"That's enough," whispered a deadly voice in my ear and I froze. Tears slid down my cheeks and I turned in the arms to sob into the muscular chest behind me. Four's hands slid from my waist to my shoulders, one tangling gently in my hair, the other cupping the nape of my neck.

"We'll figure it out, but you can't destroy yourself in the process." His voice whispered silkily against my ear. I looked up into his blue-black eyes and felt my sadness seeping from my body. I leaned up to his face for a kiss. Our lips were a hairsbreadth away when a silky voice we both knew and dreaded interrupted us.

"I think it would be best if you took Tris to the operating room now, Four," I looked over Four's shoulder to see Eric standing there, his arms crossed over his chest, a smirk playing on his lips. "We wouldn't want anyone to accuse you of being a traitor to your faction by contaminating the test results of the experiment, now would we?"

I looked into Four's eyes, saw the defeat there, and let loose a wail of despair. He couldn't help me, no one could. I tried to flee again but I felt Eric help Four restrain me as they started to drag me away from the opening. My screams seemed to be having a profound effect on Four who was visibly cringing. Eric, however, was emotionless the whole time. They dragged me to the infirmary where Erudites in white lab coats and blue scrubs were waiting. A few Amity people in red scrubs were there as well. One took my hand and guided me away from Eric and Four.

She took me to the back washroom and handed me a gray gown to put on. She helped me out of my clothes and pinned my blonde hair on top of my head. When I slipped the gown over my head, she took a warm cloth and began wiping my face off with it. She smiled and whistled as she worked, her happiness lulling me into a comfortable state.

"Are you ready, dear?" she asked me. I nodded and stepped back into the operating room. Four was gone, but Eric was still there, his black uletarian clothes a sharp contrast to everyone in the blindingly bright colors in the room. His face was passive as they laid me down on the bed and positioned my feet into stirrups with a sheet over my legs to give me modesty. The Amity woman was still holding my hand. Without even looking behind her, she grabbed Eric's wrist and guided his hand into mine. He looked at her with a cocked eyebrow and a gaze that would make most men quake in their boots, but she just smiled.

"She's going to go under in a few minutes. This procedure is something new and frightening for her. Give her some comfort. She is, after all, going through the procedure to give you a child." Her cheerful voice had the slightest bit of condemnation. Eric gripped my hand more firmly and I clung to it as if I was gripping at a straw in the sea that could save me.

"Shh," he whispered, "I'm here. I know I'm not who you want, but I'm here."

They started bringing out the medical instruments and began to put needles into my body and inject me with certain anesthetics to make my vision blurry at the edges. I felt my grip on Eric tighten and the heart monitor they hooked me up to showed the spike in my pulse.

"Tell me who you want," whispered Eric. I ignored the monotone in his voice, almost certain that someone was giving him the words to say to calm me.

"I want my mother. I just want my mom," I whimpered, not caring how coward like I sounded. I wanted to be a child again so that I could have my mother chase away my fears. An Erudite placed a breathing mask over my face and said:

"I want you to count backwards with me from ten. 10…9…8…7…"

"6…5…4…" as my vision started to go blurry, Eric's hand was replaced with a softer, smaller one. The fresh scent of soap and laundry detergent was the last thing I registered before I went out. It gave me strength.

I awoke with a fuzzy feeling in my head. I was in a hospital bed and I had an IV still in me. I looked around and saw Eric sitting in a chair by the bed seemingly asleep. It amazed me that he could look so deadly while asleep. Anger surged through me at the sight of him and I kicked him to wake him up.

He started with a snort and glared at me, his eyes flashing pure hot rage in my direction but the rest of his face stayed passive.

"What?" he asked angrily. I momentarily faltered and began to stutter.

"Is… did they… is it over?" I asked meekly and Eric's eyes cooled significantly, as he chuckled and patted me on the head.

"Do you mean, 'am I pregnant?'?" He asked as he stroked my face in a gesture of mock affection. "No, little Tris, you're not pregnant, yet."

"What?" I yelled disbelieving. I felt all the blood seep out of my face and my hands were shaking. "Then what was the point of what I just went through?"

Eric's laugh rumbled deep in his chest as his eyes danced maniacally in his face matching the glint of his piercings. He leaned over and quickly kissed me causing me to jerk away from him and my heart to hit the floor.

"Calm down," he said still chuckling. "The procedure was just to give you a physical, and take some blood and genetic samples. I had to give mine too, but mine was much less formal with a magazine and a date with my hand. You're going to get pregnant by what they call in vitro fertilization, Tris, so they can control the genes that our child gets."

Our child. The words hit me like a ton of bricks. I started sobbing. Tears and snot ran down my face, but Eric just stood stoically beside me making no move to comfort me. He just released a sigh.

"They injected you with a high dosage round of hormones to prep your eggs for harvesting," he said. "I see they're already starting to have an effect on you. Great."

I didn't even acknowledge him. I curled up in a ball and ignored him as he continued to speak, explaining the procedure.

"You've got about eight more weeks before they'll ensiminate your eggs to try to get you pregnant. Odds are, the eggs won't take in your womb and we'll have to do the procedure over again, and then there's a good chance that you'll miscarry the first and second time you are impregnated and the procedure will start all over again." I couldn't help but notice how he took particular glee in the literal hell I was going to go through to bring his baby into the world. His baby. Again, the words made me want to vomit.

"Does it not even bother you that I could get pregnant with your baby just to lose it?" I asked through clenched teeth. He just shrugged.

"You're going to have a healthy baby at the end of it, no matter what the price. We'll keep going through this until you do. Every fetus that doesn't make it is just a failed experiment that wasn't strong enough to survive in this world."

His loveless analysis of his own potential children made me choke on a sob. He would never love his child and he certainly held no love for me. My life was going to be nothing but misery.

As if he were reading from some manual that they had given him, he stiffly reached out and stroked my hair.

"You just rest now," he said without any emotion though the words were supposed to be comforting. "after you have a nap, they'll discharge you and we can go home."

"Home?" my head snapped up at the word "Where is home for me now?"

His smile was pure malice as he answered

"With me," he said, "you live with me now."

I groaned and retreated down into my covers and wished they could just bury me here. I'd sleep alright and wish to God I'd never wake up.