Visiting Day. It's the day every transfer dreads. Will their parents come? Will they try to make polite small talk with the child who chose to leave them? Will they berate them? Or will they not come at all, choosing to sever all ties with the faction traitor?

The only one who doesn't seem bothered by the tension is Skye, but Leo doesn't have the energy to wonder why that is. He's too caught up in his own worries

"You need to eat," she reminds Leo at breakfast, as he picks at his food.

"I'm not hungry," he snaps, before leaving the table.

He retreats to the dorm and sits down on his bed, head in his hands. Skye finds him almost immediately and sits beside him. "So," she asks, "are you more worried that they will come or that they won't?"

He shakes his head. "I don't think they'll come. They're probably visiting my sister."

"Well, maybe one of your parents could visit her, and the other could—"

"They won't come," he repeats, more harshly.

"Are they disappointed in you for choosing Dauntless?"

"I think they were more surprised than anything. Everyone expected Jemma and I to stick together for our whole lives. We'd both pick Erudite, work side by side, live in houses next door to each other..." Images of the life they could have led flash through his mind, and he swallows the urge to cry.

"And then you left. And she stayed."

"I don't regret it. And I don't hold resentment for Jemma, either. I mean, she was one of the two brightest kids in our class."

"Who was the other one?"

"Me."

Skye smiles, but she looks shocked at the revelation that he could have been successful in Erudite. Most people only leave a faction if they know that they have no chance at a decent life. "Why did you leave?"

He pauses, choosing his words carefully. "Erudite is for people who value knowledge and learning. Jemma was always that person. I mean, she loves homework more than life itself."

"And you don't love learning?"

"No, I do. But I think there are things more important than knowledge. I'm smart, and I want to be smart, but that's not the most important thing. For me, the most important thing is courage."

He shifts in his seat. "Like I said, I don't regret my choice. But…I do miss her like hell."

"I'm sure your parents understand," Skye says, but he can hear in her voice that she doesn't believe her own words.

"Yeah, they might understand me leaving Erudite. But what no one saw coming was me choosing Dauntless. I think they expected me to choose anything else. There I was, the biggest scaredy-cat in Erudite, and I choose Dauntless. But I think that's part of what you need to really belong in a faction. I mean, if you've never been scared, how can you know how important bravery is?"

"I think that's the smartest thing a brave person has ever said." She pauses, then adds "Or maybe it's the bravest thing a smart person has ever said."

In the moment of closeness, he feels the need to make a confession. "I didn't quite tell you the whole truth about my name when we first met."

"Me neither," she offers.

"Jemma and I, we didn't talk about what factions we were choosing—that'd be against the rules, and Jemma likes following the rules—but we talked about what we'd do if we ended up in different factions. And we decided that we'd split our name. I'd take the first half of our last name, and she'd take the second. That way, Jemma and Leo Fitzsimmons would become Jemma Simmons and Leo Fitz."

"That's sweet," Skye remarks softly.

"But the reason we did it was…they say 'faction before blood,' right? So we figured, if we didn't end up in the same factions, we'd have a hard time with that rule. If we split our name, we lose the one thing that connects us. So now there's an initiate in Erudite named Jemma Simmons, and she has the same birthday as me, and she kind of looks like me, but that's it. We're in different factions. We've got different last names. How could we possibly be siblings?" His voice cracks on the last sentence, and he hides his face in his hands, because he might start crying, and no girl except Jemma has ever seen him cry.

They're silent for a moment, before Skye stands. "I know what we are going to do."

"What's that?"

"We are going to go down to the Pit. We are going to look for your parents. If you find them, you are going to hug them and tell them that you're doing great and ask them to tell Jemma hi for you."

"And if they aren't there?"

"Then we are going to go get tattoos."

He looks up. "Why in the hell would we do that?"

"Because Dauntless get tattoos."

He's starting to understand. "And we're Dauntless," he says, needing her to confirm it.

"Yes, Leo. We are absolutely Dauntless."