I FINALLY HAVE REVIEWS ON THIS STORY AND THAT'S THE GREATEST FEELING IN THE ENTIRE WORLD! THANK YOU SO MUCH IF YOU REVIEWED, FAVORITED, OR FOLLOWED THIS STORY. IT MEANS THE WORLD TO ME!

This chapter is my favorite one that I've written so far. It's just the beginning of everything, but I think it worked out pretty well.

Lance wasn't allowed to train us by himself anymore, he had to have a supervisor. I figured someone reported him for training unfairly and this was his punishment. If I didn't feel so dead inside, I probably would've been smug about his demotion. I couldn't shake Eric's words, I thought he genuinely cared about me so I pushed him away. It turned out that he just wanted sex from me, apparently that was all any guy in the world ever wanted from me.

"This is the gate. If you don't rank within the top five after initiation, this is most likely where you'll end up," Lance said, avoiding my gaze completely. "There's a chance that you could get promoted from here, but it's slim. Most people who start out guarding the fence guard it for life."

I remembered looking at the rank board hanging in the training room yesterday. I was ranked number five out of the transfer initiates with Frankie, Leo, T, and Elijah ranked above me in that order. If I kept working my ass off, I would have a good enough rank to avoid gate duty because I knew that meant I had to interact with the Amity and that was the last thing I wanted.

"Marhysa?" my entire body stiffened and my blood was ice in my veins. "Marhysa, is that you?"

I turned around on my heel and saw that Wyatt was standing there in a long sleeved yellow shirt with the top three buttons undone and faded denim jeans with the knee torn out and ragged. He had a carefree smile on his face that made my heart clench painfully and I had to dig my nails into my palm to stop myself from bursting into hysterical tears.

"My name's Rhys, Marhysa died a long time ago," I spat at him. "You know all about that, don't you?"

"You've lost weight since you've changed Factions," he told me like I wasn't seething with anger so much that I was shaking. "You look really good, I might want to take you back to those orchards for round two later…"

He tossed an arm over my shoulders and pulled my body close to his. Before I could stop myself, I flipped his body over mine and pressed my boot against his throat. I wanted to crush his windpipe and watch the light fade from his eyes. I had no sympathy, I had no feelings other than anger and sadness eating away at my insides.

"Transfer, take your boot off of him right now!" the man overseeing Lance shouted at me. "You'll be Factionless within the hour if you keep that up."

"Come on," T said from behind me, grabbing my arm and yanking me off of him. "I know you want to kill him, but that won't undo anything. It'll just make you a murderer and Factionless, and god knows you couldn't handle either of those things."

T moved me away from Wyatt and the gathering Amity members. My entire body felt dirty from his touch and I wanted to shower desperately. I also wanted to cry until I couldn't make any more tears and dissolved into a puddle on the packed earth beneath my feet. I focused on controlling my breathing because the last thing I needed was to have a panic attack in front of every one of the initiates, my trainer, and the one supervising him.

"That was him," I whispered to T, trying to make it look like I was listening to Lance lecture us about the importance of the gate guards.

"I figured that by the way you went total rampage on him," he replied. "I wasn't going to stop you, I'm sure there's something cathartic about hurting the one that hurt you…"

Our shared broken pasts made us bode together so well and I was beyond thankful for it. I couldn't handle life if I had to keep that secret to myself for much longer. It would've eaten me alive.

"The train's coming, initiates," Lance announced, drawing everyone's attention. "You've got the rest of the day off. Do with that what you wish because training is over. You've got Visiting Day before you're ranked and the bottom two are dropped."

I had completely forgotten about Visiting Day. My mom would be coming to see me, I knew that for sure. She was going to come and make sure I was in one piece and being careful like she told me to during the Choosing Ceremony. I felt excitement flickering meekly at the pit of my stomach and the ghost of a smile pulled at my lips. I'd missed her like crazy!

"Good, I was beginning to think I'd never see that sight again," T said before we started running to catch the train. "I bet you that I can make it on the train before you!"

"Loser has to let the winner choose their first tattoo!" I shrieked in response, trying to gain speed and pass him.

He shook my hand before loping off ahead, his long legs proving to be helpful. He dove for the door handle and maneuvered himself inside gracefully. I pouted as I did the same and landed on my feet in front of him.

"I was thinking "Tobias is a badass" written across your chest would look great," T said after we'd sat together against the wall of the train car. "What do you think?"

"I think that if you make me get that tattoo it'll be your windpipe I'm bruising with my boot next time," I threated him.

Whenever we made it back to the compound, I made good on our deal. T led me into the tattoo shop and started looking through the many books for the perfect one. I sat in one of the chairs and waited, looking around the room and taking it all in. I refused to let him see that I was a little bit freaked out by the thought of getting one.

I heard a chair a few down from mine squeak as someone sat down in it. I looked over and felt my heart give a painful lurch. Eric was already looking at me with something unrecognizable in his cloudy blue eyes. He wasn't as hard as he was the other day, but there was a coldness that I knew reflected my own.

The tattoo artist was applying one to the side of his neck, a set of thick black lines by the look of it. I figured Eric would be watching it with rapt attention, but he was focused on me. Studying would be the only word that described what we were doing because it was so intense.

"I found the one you're getting, but you're not allowed to see it until it's done," T said, making me break our intense eye contact to look at him.

"If this tattoo is terrible, I'm going to kick your ass," I told him, punching his shoulder roughly. "I kind of want to like my first tattoo."

He just brushed me off as the lady came over to me with the tattoo machine. It was a weird, scanner thing that looked like something out of the infirmary. She put the tattoo that T had picked out onto the scanner and placed it over my collarbone where T instructed. It stung worse than getting my industrial, but it was almost pleasant. It made me feel warm under the skin like sitting in front of a fire on a cold night.

By the time it was finished, I was reluctant to get up and leave the feeling. I knew for a fact that I would be coming back for more tattoos. The woman handed me a mirror similar to the one I'd used to look at my industrial so I could see the tattoo for the first time.

It was written in black script along the bottom of my collarbone. It made tears spring to my eyes because T knew me so well. He picked out a tattoo that represented what I was feeling and going through, making me feel happier than I've been in a while. He wanted me to know that he believed in me.

"I am free," I read the words in a quiet voice. "T, this is perfect. I could've never picked one out that was this amazing or had the nerve to go through with it."

It was written in script right along the bottom of my left collarbone. The script was black, much like all the other Dauntless tattoos, running the entire length of the bone. It was a little red around the edges, but I could tell that I was going to be obsessed with it.

"Get up!" Lance shouted, bursting into the dormitories just after lights out that night. "Get your asses up. You've got five minutes to get ready and meet us at the tracks. If you're not there by train's leave, you're Factionless."

That threat was becoming a whole lot less intimidating the more he used it. I just pulled off my sleep shorts and replaced them with my cargo pants and wrapped a jacket around my tank top-clad torso. I shoved my feet into my boots and left my hair down; I could pull it up whenever I got to wherever we were going if I needed to.

The more I had to run to get onto the trains, the easier it got to do. I couldn't believe the amount of strength I'd developed over the time that I'd been here. I wasn't a weakling anymore, I could defend myself. I was tired of being sad and weak, I was going to be unapologetic and strong now like I knew I could.

Fuck Eric for making me feel like an insignificant slut. Fuck Lance for making me yell at Eric and ruin everything. Fuck Wyatt for making me hate everything in the entire world including myself. I was going to be stop living my life in fear of what could happen to me again and start living it in the now.

There was a pile of guns on one side of the train car and box filled with paintballs on the other. I raised my eyebrows as excitement filled me up. This was going to be a Dauntless experience, it was going to go with my tattoo and making me even more free.

"Grab a gun and a box of paintballs," Lance instructed, gesturing to each of them in turn.

T handed me a gun after he grabbed his own and before I handed him a box of paintballs. I slung my gun over my body by the strap and pushed the box of ammo into my jacket pocket. I was really good at shooting guns and this had the possibility to make my ranking even higher.

I looked at the faces in the train car and realized that a bunch of them were strangers. Then I saw the girl from the first day when I jumped from the rooftop that was at the bottom with Lance. I bet the strangers were the Dauntless-born initiates, we were all going to be doing this together. That made my excitement spike even higher, if I could beat them, I definitely could secure my place in ranks.

"We're going to be playing capture the flag, splitting all of you into two teams. It'll be an even split made of both transfers and Dauntless-born," the girl explained. "One team will get off first and hide their flag, then the second team will do the same."

"This is a Dauntless tradition, it's very important. Make sure that you take it seriously," Lance said, sharing the attention with the girl which surprised me. "Before any of you ask, there is no prize for winning other than the glory of beating the other team."

"Lance and I are your team captains," the girl said with a smile. "We're doing transfers first and I want the stiff."

T perked up quickly in surprise as he slipped over to her team. She ended up choosing me, Bailey, Elijah, Kadence, and Maddison. She chose the slight initiates that could move faster and stay camouflaged in the night. That alone told me that she was a Dauntless-born because Lance was going for brawn. Too much noise and not enough strategy.

I was proud of myself for realizing what she was doing, I'd learned more than I realized during initiation. The six members from Dauntless were also slight like we were while Lance's team was large. Teagan, the leader of my team, was smart and tactful in a way that I dreamed of being.

"We're hiding our flag first," Teagan announced, leaving no room for Lance to argue. "You do whatever you'd like, but we're going to win."

She walked over to the door and jumped out with all of us following her lead. Yet again I landed on my feet without the slightest stumble unlike the other transfers. I looked like the Dauntless-born kids and it made pride surge through me.

"I wasn't lying, we are going to win. Tell me what you're thinking and I'll tell you if it's a good idea or not," Teagan said, looking at all of us with a playful light in her eyes.

I looked around at the abandoned park we were in to try and find a good spot to hide the flag. It was big and bright orange so it was definitely going to stick out, we needed something far away so the color would be hidden.

"The carousel," T said suddenly. "It's far off and it'll be easy to protect from there. Post someone around the perimeter of it and shoot whoever they see that's not us."

"That's a good move, stiff," Teagan said, slapping T's shoulder appreciatively. "Now it's time to split up into groups: the ones to protect our flag and the ones to go get the other flag. I need the best shooters on the going team, and the best eyes on the staying team."

"Rhys, T, and Elijah are the best shooters from us," Kadence announced, pushing us all forward with a proud smile. "What about yours?"

"That would be Zeke, Lauren, and Fiona," another girl with an eyebrow full of piercings volunteered. "The rest of us can keep a hell of a guard."

"Good teamwork," Teagan complimented. "Alright, I want you all out with your eyes peeled to find that flag. Shoot as many as you want as long as you don't get yourself caught. Have fun and trust your teammates, they may end up being your family."

I decided that I liked Teagan, she was alive and happy in a way that I envied. I hoped that I could look like that one day. Maybe I already did, I didn't feel as hollow anymore..

"Let's fucking do this!" I said, slapping T's shoulder and hopping up and down. "I'm ready to win!"

"I admire your fire, Amity!" Teagan said, slapping her palm against mine. "Listen to her, she's got the heart to win it all. She's in command."

I saw a couple Dauntless-born initiates raise their eyebrows, but they didn't question her authority. I felt a little bad for them, I'm sure they knew Teagan personally. If I pulled this off and we won, I would definitely climb ranks and that fueled me onward. They would get over it if we won tonight.

"I don't want to step on any toes," I told them quietly as we walked into the park. "What do you think we should do?"

"We need to get a high vantage point," Lauren said, looking for high spots. "Like that train track in the sky over there."

I followed her finger and saw that she was right. There was a long metal track stretching towards the sky that looked just like a train track, except a little smaller. It went into a loop at the top before coming back down to the ground. I had no idea how a train could stay on it without falling off, but the people that came before us were odd creatures.

"Okay, we'll guard down below while you go up," Zeke told me, smiling happily. "You're smallest out of all of us and nimble, you'll get up there fastest."

"Come with me," I said to T, adrenaline pumping through my veins and making me bounce on my toes again.

"Uhm, I think I'm going to stay down here and do guard duty," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and avoiding my eyes.

"I've got your back, Amity," Zeke said, taking off towards the track.

I laughed and chased after him, enjoying the way the wind tore through my hair. Zeke stepped back and let me walk up the track first. I made sure my gun was securely behind my back as I climbed the track like the rungs of a ladder. I heard Zeke's laughter echoing mine as he climbed up just behind me.

When we reached the top, I took in a deep breath and let it out. I could see for miles from where I was standing, I felt like I was on top of the world. I let that feeling keep me filled up as Zeke and I looked around for the flag.

"Do you know what color their flag is?" Zeke asked me, craning his neck to check for the flag waving in the dark.

I saw a flash of neon yellow in the distance and pulled my lips up into a smile. "I think it's yellow and being hidden at the end of the pier."

He held up his palm to me and said, "Way to go, Amity!"

I slapped my hand against his and followed him back down the tracks. I let him tell them where the flag was as I continued to bounce in excitement. Fiona took over tactics this time, realizing that I wanted to share the victory with all of them.

"Zeke and Amity found the flag, so they're going to be part of the recovery team. T, you go with them while we cover you guys," she said. "Shoot whoever gets in your way, apologize later and make sure they're not on your team."

"Wait, it was impossible to see how many people were guarding the flag. Someone needs to go scout it out," I said suddenly. "All of us running in is sure to get us all shot."

Fiona raised her eyebrows in appreciation instead of annoyance like I figured. "Way to go, Amity. I thought this lot was going to go along with it, good catch. I'm assuming you want to be the one to do the scouting."

"Me and Lauren," I said, hitting her shoulder with mine. "You down to go scout out a bit?"

"Hell yes! I want to shoot someone with this puppy!" she announced, bouncing on her heels like I was. "Let's do this!"

She and I went out into the dark, making sure to stay silent as we went. When we made it to the final tree line before the big break for the pier, we stopped and spilt up, agreeing to meet back in ten minutes time. I went to the left and she went to the right. I thought I was being stealthily, but someone's arms wrapped around me from behind and held me so I couldn't move.

"This is a switch of positions, isn't it, blaze?" Eric rasped out into my ear. "I was going to shoot you, but where's the fun in that?"

I tore myself out of his grip easily, but I knew he expected that. His gun was hanging by his side and he made no move to grab it. I had mine clutched in my hand, aiming it right at his ribs because I didn't trust him. I still remembered the carved out feeling from the other day; he had way too much power over me and I hated it.

"Why shouldn't I shoot you right now?" I asked, tightening my grip on the gun and pointing it closer to his body so if I shot it, it was going to hurt like a bitch.

"I hate you so much, Rhys," he finally said to me, making me raise my eyebrows. "I hate how crazy you make me. I hate that just when I think I have you figured out, you throw a curve ball and fuck it all up."

That wasn't even close to what I thought he would say. I thought he was going to call me a slut again or knock me out or something violent. I guess that showed through on my face because he kept talking.

"You're so fucking gorgeous, I can't get your laugh out of my head. The other night at that party, you and I were just so good," he ranted. "I've never been good at keeping things good, but it was so easy with you."

"You're a liar, you told me that you were just doing that to have sex with me," I argued back with him, trying to hide my surprise. "You can't just say something like that and then give me a confession. You can't make me feel like I'm caving in on myself and then tell me that I have a nice laugh and think that everything is okay between us."

I pulled the trigger on my gun and saw him wince at the pain as the purple exploded along his ribcage. I thought he'd say something snarky or rude, but he didn't do either of those things. He pushed my gun out of the way and pulled my body close to his. One of his hands was on my waist and the other was cupping my face so gently that it threw me for a loop. I had no idea Eric could be gentle…

"You're such a bitch, blaze," he smiled. "I can't believe you lasted as long as you did in Amity."

Before I could argue with him about that, he lowered his mouth down to mine. The rough Eric was back as he took control of the kiss. He traced his tongue along the seam of my lips, sliding it inside when I parted them. It was rough and demanding, but it was all Eric. I was standing on my tip toes to get as close to him as I could, giving in.

He retreated a bit to let me take charge and it made me smile against his mouth. I sucked his bottom lip into my mouth and drug my teeth over it as I let it go. I stood back flat footed and looked up at him in confusion.

"You shot me, you better go get your flag, blaze," he told me in a ragged breath. "It's pretty guarded, but you can get in if you're smart."

I just nodded and turned around to go meet back up with Lauren. She was waiting for me and took my disheveled appearance as I'd fought with someone. I didn't disagree with her, the other answer wasn't something I wanted to share just yet.

"Let's go report and win this thing," she said, running back to the group with me easily keeping up with her.

We reported our findings to the group and decided to split up yet again. I was the smallest and easiest to disguise so I would be doing the sneaking. While we were gone, there was a shooting contest and it was decided that T and Zeke would lead the raid because they were the best at hitting moving targets.

I just agreed and went in with the others. The gunshots weren't as loud as real ones, but it was loud enough to get their attention. I couldn't watch who was getting shot because I had to focus on getting to the flag without getting caught.

"Don't freak out, but I didn't want you to go in by yourself," Fiona whispered, falling into step with me. "You and T are pretty impressive transfers, especially considering your home Factions."

"Wait until we actually win this thing to be too impressed," I whispered to her before I shot one of the kids running at me. "We've got a flag to capture right now."

She shot two more kids and I got three by the time we made it to the end of the pier. She and I looked at each other before reaching out and grabbing it together. We turned around and ran to the other end of the pier with it held as high as we could get it in the air.

Joyous whoops filled the air as our team piled up on top of us. The big group of us ran to our carousel with the flag held as high as Zeke could reach. We'd given it to him because he was the tallest and we wanted everyone to see what we'd done. Plus we were sharing the pride for winning over the other team.

"Hell yes! Way to go!" Teagan shouted, jumping off her horse and pounding the air with her fist.

There was laughter everywhere and I was suddenly hoisted up into the air again. I was on T's shoulders and when I looked over, I saw that Lauren was on Zeke's. She handed the flag over and the two of us held it up into the air again as we made our way back to the train tracks.

"How does it feel to lose for the third year in a row, Lancey?" Teagan taunted as we all met up together. "When are you going to realize I'm better than you in every conceivable way?"

He just scowled at her and pouted like the rest of his team. I found myself looking through the crowd until my eyes landed on a familiar set of blue ones. Eric was looking up at me with a smile on his lips that I knew he would deny later, but it made me feel even warmer inside anyway.

T sat me back down on my feet as we saw the light of the train approaching. I was light on my feet and felt like I could take off and fly at any second. Like I could sprout wings and fly up in the dark clouds.

I was free, I was Dauntless.

Thanks for reading!