The Day Before Tobias's Choosing Ceremony

Tobias fiddled with his school papers. He was almost at the end of the road now, and he wanted all of his ducks in a row when he officially finished school. He finally got everything ready for his aptitude test tomorrow. He was actually quite nervous. But no matter what the test result was, he had already made up his mind a long time ago. He was choosing Abnegation. There was no doubt about it. Even though they haven't known each other for very long, meeting Tris was the best thing that ever happened to him. She had helped him fix his problem with his father, which really was the only reason he had wanted to leave his faction in the first place. With his father no longer hurting him, and with the chance to be with Tris, the choice was clear. A feeling of dread washed over him. In his life so far, things didn't just work out like this. He couldn't help but waiting for the other shoe to drop. Tomorrow the choice would be made and he would be free and clear. He decided to stop worrying. Nothing was going to happen to stop this.

Finally the time had come for this test. He went into a little room with a lone chair in the center and computer set up alongside of it. A Dauntless woman, who introduced herself as Tori, started explaining the test procedure to Tobias. It was everything he had expected. She finally gave him the drink to start the simulation. The aptitude test was a jumble of choices. Some of the choices were clear, some were challenging. Raw meat or Knife? Easy: Knife. A big scary dog comes, Tobias scares him with the knife but the dog goes after a child. Tobias throws himself at the dog to protect the child. The dog disappears. Suddenly he is on a bus, a scarred man asks him if he knows the man on the front page of the paper responsible for his injuries. Tobias thinks he does but can't remember. He feels like something bad will happen if he admits to it. He denies knowing the man.

Suddenly he wakes up and the test is over. He had made it through. But something is wrong. Instead of Tori telling him his results, she is at the computer typing away. She looked concerned and nervous. At first, Tobias waited because maybe it was some sort of expected glitch. The longer he waited, the more he realized it must be something more.

"Is everything ok?" He cautiously started.

Tori turned toward Tobias, she finally finished what she had been doing on the computer. She took a deep breath.

"Your recorded result is Abnegation." For some reason she didn't seem sure.

Tobias couldn't say he was particularly surprised by the result. He had expected it, but he could see that there was something else going on. She didn't want to meet his eyes.

"Ok, but what happened on the computer?" He pried.

"Look, I can't tell you much right now," She looked as if she was arguing with herself. He could sense that she had so much more to say but she was stopping herself.

Tobias started shifting in his seat. What was going on here? This was supposed to be simple part. His test result was supposed to scientifically tell him where he was suited, the choosing part was supposed to be tough.

"What can you tell me?" he was also concerned now and he was trying very hard not to be scared.

"I wasn't lying before, your result is Abnegation…," she said carefully, "… and Dauntless."

Tobias stood up. That couldn't happen. The test was supposed to tell you which result. There was never more than one.

"But how is that possible?" Tobias was suddenly scared. He knew this wasn't normal. He had been waiting for something like this to happen to ruin his plans. Things had been going too well. Nothing was ever easy for him.

"It's called Divergent. You were lucky to get me as your test administrator." Tori said. She seemed really nervous now. "Listen, you can't trust anyone, and if this gets out everyone close to you is in danger. They just don't go after you, they go after everyone you love. Divergence is the enemy to them, and they see anyone sympathizing with Divergents as targets as well. They don't want it to spread. They will kill you. You need to separate yourself from anyone who you can put in danger. I would just choose a different faction and keep to yourself."

"Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping me?" Tobias couldn't understand. If divergence was so dangerous, why would someone risk their own life to help a stranger?

"Because I'm Divergent too. And I wish someone had told me. Because I didn't cut ties with my family, and my brother died for it. This is serious; don't think it's not.

"What is Divergent?" Tobias couldn't believe this. This was the worst thing that could happen to him right now.

"Look, I don't have time for a lecture on it, but it's when they can't categorize you in a faction and you belong in more than one. You're dangerous because they can't control you."

"Who are "they"? How does someone become divergent?" Tobias's head was reeling. He had so many questions.

"I can't say anymore. I've told you enough to make your choice. Don't just think of yourself. Be smarter than me. Protect them." The pain in Tori's voice was evident. She had suffered a great deal. She was giving him a gift, a warning.

And with that she ushered him out the door of the examination room. But now instead of the answer he thought he would have from his test result, all he had were questions. And he had no time. He had to make a decision by tomorrow and he didn't even know where to turn to find the answers he needed. There literally was no one to talk to about this. He didn't know who he could trust. He knew, of course, that he could trust Tris, but he needed to protect her.

Tris.

She can't know about this. She needs to be safe and Tobias had to make sure of that. That means that it had to be over between them and she can't know why. He was going to have to break her heart to save her life. This was going to be the hardest thing he ever had to do. He couldn't take the chance that Tori was wrong. He saw the pain and fear in Tori's eyes. She was definitely not lying to him, as much as Tobias wished she was.

Two months ago, he had been ready to walk out of Abnegation and never look back. Things were so different now. He wanted to stay more than anything. But if he was as dangerous as Tori said, he couldn't do that to Tris. He loved her too much to put her in danger. He would somehow have to say goodbye.