A/N: This chapter spans the three decades after the Choosing Ceremony. I'll only cover the major turning points, so there will be large time jumps between sections. In order to reduce confusion, the ages of the class of 2251 during the specified year, not necessarily the main characters of each section, are in parentheses. For example, the scene with George is labeled "Age 20," meaning that Tori and her peers are twenty years old during that time, not George.
By the way, this website should really allow longer chapter names. I had quite a bit of trouble naming this one.
YEARS 2251-2281: AGES 16-46
Just After the Choosing Ceremony
Marcus
When the Abnegation initiates arrived at their section of the city, they were given a brief tour of the main buildings and left in a large hall to intermingle. Marcus scanned the group of 16-year-olds, searching for the transfers. The true Abnegation-born are too brainwashed to be of much use, but perhaps I can get some of the new arrivals to realize just what they can do to the other factions by being in government. Besides Evelyn, there were only two other transfers. This fact alone didn't surprise Marcus—choosing Abnegation meant depriving oneself of TV and internet, a fate worse than death for most teenagers. What was surprising, however, was the fact that the transfers came from Dauntless…and Erudite.
That's odd, thought Marcus. No Erudite or Dauntless have transferred to Abnegation in a long time. He tapped Evelyn on the shoulder and whispered, "Those two over there, what were their names again? Natalia something and Andre Corr?"
"Andrew Carr," Evelyn corrected him. "I didn't catch the girl's name either, but Andrew was in my class."
They must've had a very good reason for leaving. I wonder what that is?
Ignoring Evelyn's protests, Marcus made his way over to the Dauntless girl and Erudite boy. "Hello. I'm Marcus. Welcome to Abnegation." He smiled reassuringly, the way his father did at council meetings to win people over.
Both of them eyed him warily. Finally, the Erudite said, "Nice to meet you. I'm Andrew, and this is Natalie." He held out his hand.
"The Abnegation don't shake hands," said Marcus informatively. "We simply incline our heads in greeting."
"Really?" asked Natalie. "I never noticed that…"
"There are actually a lot of quirks to Abnegation life. If anything is strange to you, feel free to ask me about it," Marcus offered. In time, if you prove trustworthy, I might even tell you things about Abnegation that most of its members don't know.
"Thanks," said Andrew cheerfully. At that moment, he spotted Evelyn, who had gradually drifted over to join them. "Hey, Evelyn, you transferred to Abnegation too! Who would've known?"
The girl narrowed her eyes. "Don't make fun of me. You know very well I never belonged in Erudite. In fact, I think I'm the one who's supposed to be asking you why you transferred."
She obviously has some kind of grudge against him, Marcus thought. Still, it won't do to turn potential allies into enemies. He shot Evelyn a warning look before saying quickly, "What she meant to say was, Abnegation doesn't get many transfers from Dauntless or Erudite, and we're curious as to why you decided to come here."
Andrew frowned. "The Erudite are arrogant, self-righteous gits. Why wouldn't I want to leave? Unfortunately for me, this is probably the only place I can survive."
"Hear, hear!" cheered Natalie.
Excellent! That makes three Erudite haters in this year alone! thought Marcus gleefully. "We Abnegation aren't supposed to insult others," he muttered, "but just between you and me, I think you have a point."
"Why the sudden change in attitude?" Evelyn asked Andrew, sounding more curious than hostile now. "I thought you loved computers and stuff."
The former Erudite hesitated. "Let's just say I finally saw the faction's evil side. You probably knew it all along."
Marcus was relieved that Evelyn seemed satisfied by this answer. Turning to the Dauntless girl, he asked, "So, we know you hate Erudite too, but why did you leave Dauntless?"
Natalie looked taken aback by the question. "Oh, um…I-I'm just not brave enough to survive initiation, I guess. I'd rather help than harm…"
Liar, Marcus thought, watching her fidget nervously. Johanna had taught him the signs of dishonesty; this girl was hiding something.
"How long are we going to be stuck here?" Evelyn demanded suddenly. She gestured to the Abnegation-born initiates, who had run out of things to talk about and were now staring into space.
"Yeah, shouldn't someone be assigning us dorms or something?" wondered Andrew. "It's almost dinner time."
All three initiates turned to Marcus for guidance, which pleased him immensely. My future anti-Erudite squad, right here, waiting to be trained. Straightening up, he answered, "Well, this tradition is supposed to be an exercise in patience, you see…"
July 20, 2255 (Age 20)
George
George sat on the floor of the Pit, gazing at the bright moon far above the glass roof. "Ahhhh, it's so peaceful here."
Beside him, his girlfriend Phoebe nodded. "Yeah, this place looks totally different at night. D'you reckon we should go, though? We're not supposed to be out this late."
George shrugged. "These people are Dauntless. Something tells me they don't care about rules too much."
"Mm'kay. Say, what job will you pick when initiation's over? Personally, I'd like to be a leader if I rank high enough."
The boy shuddered. "Not me. I hate admin work. I think I'll fight for entertainment."
"Is that why your sister didn't become a leader?" asked Phoebe. "I heard she came in first in her initiate class, after all."
"Are you kidding me? All those meetings would drive her nuts." George tried to picture Tori in a business suit and burst out laughing. "Her motto's always been 'Punch first, talk later.'"
"She'd be a pretty poor diplomat," the girl agreed. They sat in companionable silence for a while, each imagining his or her future. When the last of the lights lining the cave walls turned off, Phoebe stood up reluctantly. "I really should be going."
George nodded. "'Kay. I'm gonna stay here a while longer." He pecked her playfully on the cheek and watched her turn down the winding tunnels to the initiate dorms. When she was gone, he lay down on the cold stone floor, tracing the patterns of stars with his fingers. I hope I make it through initiation. It'll be nice to see Tori again after all these years…
Without warning, a black shape covered the sky and clamped down on his face. Before he could do more than let out a muffled scream, other hands bound his limbs together and began dragging him over the cave floor.
WHAT'S GOING ON HERE?! He twisted his head to look up at his captors. Six hooded figures met his gaze.
"LET ME GO!" George yelled, struggling against his bonds. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"
In response, one of the figures tied a piece of cloth over his face. Soon, the roar of water became audible.
Oh, they're going to make me hang over the railing of the Chasm for breaking curfew, George thought. But then the hooded menaces hauled him off the ground and pushed him slowly over the railing, not giving him a chance to grab onto anything.
"MMMMMMMPPPPHHHHHHHH!" George went into full panic as he realized what was happening. SOMEBODY HELP ME! PLEASE! THEY'RE GOING TO KILL ME!
In the end, nothing he did had any effect. The attackers kicked his legs over the railing. He tumbled end over end, into an eternal darkness where the sun never shone.
Tori, when you find my body…it wasn't suicide. I was murdered and I don't know why.
SPLASH!
"That ought to do it," said one of the hooded men, squinting into the darkness. "Contact the boss."
One of his companions nodded and dialed a number into his cell phone. "This is Division Epsilon. Subject Wu has been terminated."
Five miles away, Iris and Leon crossed another name off their list. "Good. Eliminate the remaining targets and we will wire the money to you shortly."
October 18, 2263 (Age 28)
Natalie
Natalie stood in the kitchen, watching in mild amusement as Andrew and Marcus typed out line after line of obscure code on their smuggled laptops. Every few seconds, one of them let out either a shout of glee or groan of disappointment.
"NO! The files have been erased!"
"Whew, at least they didn't plant any Trojans."
"Eat firewall, stupid Erudite hackers!"
They look like little boys playing a video game, thought Natalie, stirring the noodles slowly on the stove. It's hard to believe they're actually defending the fate of the city. Twice a week, the three of them met at Natalie's house, which had WiFi from the nearby government buildings, in order to check on how the Abnegation database was holding up. A few months ago, Andrew had discovered that the Erudite were attempting to hack into the government files. As he and Marcus were the only computer-savvy people in Abnegation, they had taken it upon themselves to defend the database.
When Natalie finished cooking, she carried the plates over to the table and carefully set them down around the men's computers.
"Come on, you two. Take a break! It's time for lunch."
"In a moment, Nat," mumbled Andrew, his eyes glued to the screen. Marcus didn't even react.
Sighing, Natalie reached out and slammed the lid down on both computers. "Eat already!"
"HEY!" Andrew and Marcus shouted at the same time.
"You two have been on the data network for five hours!" Natalie chided them, carrying the laptops out of their reach to the living room. "I doubt the Erudite will be getting through anytime soon."
"But still!" protested Andrew. "You can't just close our computers like that in the middle of a session!"
"You'd better get used to it, dear, because we're getting married in three weeks," laughed Natalie.
"Speaking of which," said Marcus slyly, "whose last name are you going to use? Or are you going to create a new one? And who's moving in with whom?"
They all smiled. It was a long-standing faction joke that the Abnegation only ever argued just before they got married, over precisely those two issues. Oftentimes, the degree to which both parties would insist on letting the other person keep his or her last name and house was simply hilarious. Not in our case though.
"We're using Natalie's surname. She is the last descendant of Edith Prior, and I want to get rid of my last name," stated Andrew firmly. "The Carrs are evil Erudite who kill innocent Divergent. I left them long ago and it's time I abandoned the name."
They were silent for a moment, pondering his solemn words. How terrible it must be to come from such a rotten family, thought Natalie. To lighten the mood, she added, "And he's moving here for the WiFi."
"Lucky you!" cried Marcus. "Both Evelyn and I got assigned to houses near the factionless sector, so I really had nothing to choose between."
"How is Mrs. Eaton, anyway?" Natalie inquired curiously. For some reason, Evelyn had effectively vanished from sight after she got married. Was it just my imagination, or did Marcus just grimace when I mentioned his wife?
"Lying on the couch, complaining about how the baby kicking her won't let her sleep or something," said Marcus dismissively. "I don't even want to think about what will happen after it's actually born."
Natalie exchanged a glance with Andrew. Isn't he excited at all that he's going to be a father?
Her fiancé shrugged and gave her a look: Marcus has his ways. Don't pester him further.
Natalie nodded slightly and quickly changed the subject. "Do you two know the reason Erudite is hacking us now? I mean, those files have been there since the start of the Faction Experiment! Why the sudden interest?"
"They finally figured out there was important stuff here?" Marcus speculated.
"No," said Andrew heavily, twining noodles slowly around his fork. "The attacks started a week after Jeanine became leader. I'll bet one of her first acts in office was to assemble an army of hackers to comb through all the other factions' data."
"Sounds like the sort of thing she would do." Natalie felt hatred boil inside her at the mention of her old adversary.
"Is this the same scum who tried to kill you all those years ago?" asked Marcus.
Andrew nodded. "I was hoping she'd be dead by now. Goodness knows what she'll do now that she's in office."
"That's why we should try to get on the council," replied Marcus simply. "We could shore up security during work, when we have WiFi, and keep that evil woman in check at the same time."
"We're both trying, but it's not working," replied Andrew wearily. "The more we want to get elected, the more the Abnegation think we're greedy. Besides, I'm from Erudite, which makes people naturally suspicious."
"Why don't you try for councilmember then, Natalie?" asked Mr. Eaton, finishing his plate and carrying it to the sink.
"I'd rather help the factionless and seek out the Divergent for when, you know, it's time to open the gates," Natalie replied. Even though Marcus found out all the critical information for himself, it still feels strange to be discussing this stuff out loud.
But Marcus didn't pay attention to her reply, for at that moment, Andrew also finished his meal and retrieved the laptops from the living room. Okay, back to zombie mode it is.
September 2, 2272 (Age 37)
Marcus
"Can't I leave you two alone for EIGHT HOURS without you getting into some kind of trouble?!" Marcus roared.
Tobias shrank into a corner and curled up. Coward. Evelyn, on the other hand, stood her ground. "The Dauntless child attacked him first! So what if Tobias punched him back?"
How DARE she talk back to me like this?! Marcus unfurled his belt and lashed out savagely. "IT DOESN'T MATTER TO THE OTHER PEOPLE AT THE PARK WHO HIT WHO FIRST! ALL THEY WILL REMEMBER IS THAT THE SON OF AN ABNEGATION LEADER ATTACKED SOMEONE!"
"Image, image, image. That's all you care about!" Evelyn spat, blocking her husband's blows with a chair. "You just want a perfect wife and a perfect son to trick the world into thinking what a perfect Abnegation you are. Well guess what? I. REFUSE. TO. PLAY. THAT. ROLE!"
Marcus abandoned his whip and grabbed her by the wrist. "Abnegation is about putting others' needs beyond your own! That is the life you chose when you transferred here!"
Evelyn kicked him hard and twisted out of his grip. "May I remind you," she growled, "that it was you who convinced me to come here in the first place! I should never have trusted you over my Aptitude Test results!"
She's even stupider than Johanna! fumed Marcus, his nerves fraying to the breaking point. What nonsense will she come up with next? "You idiot! Where else could you possibly have gone?!"
"Anywhere besides Erudite, really," Evelyn answered bluntly. "I have almost equal aptitude for all five factions."
Marcus froze. She's got to be joking. "WHAT?!"
"You heard me. I tested factionless."
Marcus felt his world turn upside down. He'd been taught to keep the Divergent at arm's length—they had the potential to save the world, but were highly dangerous to associate with. He'd always assumed Evelyn was Abnegation from the way she never fit in with the Erudite, assumed her genes would be able to dilute his Divergence so he might have normal offspring...but now…
"YOU LIED TO ME!" He lunged forward and struck Evelyn as hard as he could on the side of the head. She crumpled to the floor, yelling in pain.
"Mommy!" Tobias screamed.
Marcus dealt him an equally hard blow, the fire ablaze in his eyes. Tobias, a mutant that should not exist, a horrible hybrid of Divergent and factionless. What have I done? The boy broke into grating sobs that only made his father whip him harder.
Evelyn slowly stood up and clenched her fists. "I'm not a liar. You never asked about my Aptitude Test. You couldn't care less."
"What-?" Marcus spluttered, but realized, for once, he was out of excuses.
"I should've listened to Zachary," his wife muttered wistfully to herself. "He was right. No faction can be my home."
"Who is Zachary?!" Marcus demanded furiously.
Evelyn flushed. "A-A childhood acquaintance."
"Don't try to fool me!" spat Marcus. "Who is he?" But he didn't need her to answer. He read the truth in her eyes. "HOW DARE YOU?! I WILL EXILE YOU, RIGHT AFTER I BREAK EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !"
"YOU BEAT ME ALL DAY AND YOU EXPECT ME TO REMAIN FAITHFUL TO YOU?!" Evelyn screamed defiantly. She leapt aside as Marcus barreled towards her in a blind rage.
"GET BACK HERE OR YOU'LL WISH YOU WERE NEVER BORN!" Marcus roared.
Evelyn scrambled under the table and sprinted for the front door. "Don't bother. I'm out of here!"
As much as she disgusted him, Marcus still felt horrified by her announcement. How in the world will I ever explain this?! "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING?"
"To join Zachary." Evelyn smirked. "I should've done this years ago."
"YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I TELL YOU TO!" Marcus blocked the door and slammed his wife against the wall. He could already picture the headlines in his head: Abnegation scandal! Councilman's wife has affair and runs away to factionless sector! If Evelyn disappeared before he could formally exile her, his reputation would be ruined. "You insolent, ungrateful little—"
"Release me this instant," Evelyn warned, "or I'll go straight to Candor headquarters and show them my scars. I don't care at this point if the Erudite get a field day out of this."
Marcus stopped. Having his abusive nature revealed to the world was infinitely worse than having people find out about his wife's infidelity. He dropped her roughly and hissed, "Well then, GET OUT and NEVER COME BACK!"
"With pleasure." In an instant, she was gone.
How will I cover this up? The gears in Marcus's mind whirred to life, churning out a mash of excuses, lies, and tricks. I'll have to tell everyone that Evelyn died. As he turned around, he saw his son, who was still whimpering in one corner. I'll have to beat the Divergence out of this boy like my father did to me. Marcus retrieved his belt and wound it up. "You've been a bad boy Tobias, so I must punish you. This is for your own good."
THWACK!
June 17, 2275 (Age 40)
Johanna
"As you know, I'm turning seventy this year—"
Johanna strained to hear the old man's voice over the cheers of the Amity. He looks rather sad, she observed. Why?
"—in light of my ailing health, I feel it's time I passed on my representative duties to someone else. I would like you all to nominate a successor."
Johanna was surprised. Standing under the large green tree in the middle of the greenhouse, Jerry Lloyd looked as vigorous as he had on the day she took the choosing knife from him. He just doesn't want to hold onto power too long, she realized. That's typical of the Amity. An instant later, however, all thoughts of the current leader's health vanished from her mind as nearly everyone in the room shouted out one name:
"Johanna Reyes!"
She looked up in shock. "What?"
"We have a request for Johanna Reyes as leader. Are there any more nominees?" Mr. Lloyd called out. The Amity were silent.
Johanna ducked her head. I must've heard wrong. Why would they pick a former Candor to represent them?
"Okay, then, who votes for Johanna?" Everyone in the whole faction raised his or her hand. "Congratulations, Johanna Reyes, you have been elected the new head of Amity!"
Wait, what just happened? Johanna looked around in a daze. Everyone was looking at her expectantly, and she realized they were waiting for her to give some kind of speech. She stumbled up uncertainly to the roots of the great tree as Jerry took a seat. Am I dreaming? "Um, first of all, let me say that I am very honored to be chosen to represent my faction, and will do everything in my power for the benefit of us all—"
A loud cheer went up that continued for almost a minute. When the commotion died down, Johanna continued, "—but I am rather curious as to why so many of you nominated me. After all, there are many fine individuals in Amity whom I feel could do far better than I in this position."
"You are trustworthy, Johanna," answered an old woman sitting near the front.
"And you have a clear idea of what's right and wrong," someone else chimed in.
The Amity nodded their heads eagerly. Johanna smiled to herself. Those are both Candor traits. I thought the Amity hated Candor. Who knew? Perhaps the factions needn't be at odds with each other all the time. This last thought, however, made Johanna slightly uneasy. Trouble was brewing between Abnegation and Erudite, and as faction representative, she was now more bound to the faction's customs than ever. If all-out war breaks out, I'll be unable to intervene.
April 15, 2280 (Age 45)
Evelyn
Evelyn stared at the body, too shell-shocked to utter a word. Her mind simply refused to believe that her beloved Zachary was the man lying in a pool of blood before her. It can't be. He's survived too much to die like this. This is the corpse of some random guy I never knew.
"I'm sorry," Therese murmured. "We were going to swipe some food from the market when we ran into a band of drunk, trigger-happy Dauntless. It was all I could do to get away. But Zach was closer to them, and…"
"Dauntless, huh?" muttered Evelyn darkly. It was funny in a sick way, really, how the factions seemed to be taking turns torturing her. First it had been the smart-mouthed Erudite children, then the smoothly deceptive Marcus with his talk of "the hidden power of Abnegation," and now this. Is Candor next? Or Amity?
Mistaking her companion's silence for grief, Therese said, "We could get Cody and the guys to track down those murderers. They may be Dauntless, but we have strength in numbers."
That won't be enough. That'll never be enough. I'm sick of being pushed around by the factions, Evelyn thought, feeling a sudden rage build within her. "I'm going to make them PAY for what they've done to me! EVERY LAST ONE!"
"What are you talking about?" asked Therese curiously.
But Evelyn wasn't listening. She'd made that remark out of anger, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense. The factions need to go. Now. Pacing by the rusted railroad, pieces of information she'd been unconsciously gathering all her life began falling into place. Things she'd learned while in Erudite. Snatches of conversation she'd heard between her ex-husband and other leaders. Pieces of advice Zachary had given her over the years. Who can help me accomplish this? The factionless can never take down the city, not in this famished state. I could perhaps trick the Dauntless into fighting for me. Serves them right. But why would they even listen to me, though? It's not as though I have any connections…
Connections. It was a word Marcus used all too often. And remembering him made Evelyn think of someone she hadn't given a thought to in years. "Therese, are there any techies among us?"
The older factionless woman thought for a minute. "Hmmm….Norman got kicked out of Erudite for stealing classified data, so I reckon he knows his way around computers."
Evelyn smiled. "Perfect. Tell him I need to send a message to a young man called Tobias in Dauntless."
August 16, 2281 (Age 46)
Jeanine
Jeanine scanned the list of new Erudite initiates, only superficially noting how many had come from each faction. Over the years, these names had ceased to interest her. Over a third of them would be gone by the end of initiation, anyway. Today, though, a name happened to catch her eye: Caleb Prior, Abnegation transfer.
The woman stared at the name. Prior? Is this the accursed Natalie's son? She shook herself mentally. No, it can't be. No child of hers would come to Erudite. Nevertheless, her curiosity was sparked. She had to be sure. Jeanine picked up the phone on her desk. "Bring up initiate Caleb Prior to my office immediately."
In a few moments, a boy in his mid-teens was escorted into the room by two guards and left there. Jeanine surveyed him critically. His features looked oddly familiar, if somewhat scrambled: black, slightly wavy hair, a hooked nose, and dark green eyes. This had better not be who I think it is. "You are Caleb Prior, yes?"
"Yes."
"What are the full names of your parents?"
Caleb hesitated, looking around the sleek office. "A-Andrew and Natalie Prior."
Jeanine grimaced. How ignorant do they think I am? This boy is obviously on a reconnaissance mission for his father. Did they really think I'd tell their filthy progeny anything worth hearing? I must see to it that he does not pass initia—
"Please, I'm not associated with them anymore," the boy burst out suddenly. "I don't agree with their government policies at all. That's why I left!"
She looked up sharply. Well, that certainly changes the variables of the situation. If he's telling the truth. "Do you have any siblings?"
"One. I have a younger sister, Beatrice, who transferred to Dauntless." Caleb looked genuinely frightened now.
Natalie in miniature, thought Jeanine in disgust. "Well, Caleb, because of your origins, you will have to strive harder than the other initiates to prove your loyalty to this faction, do you understand?"
The boy nodded quickly. "Of course."
With his half-curious, half-nervous expression, Caleb looked so disturbingly like his father that Jeanine shuddered. Wait a second. Andrew. "Caleb," she said carefully, "how proficient are your computer programming skills?"
His eyes lit up. "Oh, I love working with computers, although I haven't had much time to use them because I grew up in Abnegation."
Intrigued, Jeanine pulled up the portal in the data network that linked to Abnegation's computers, which had the firewall that had stumped her for so many years. I wonder if he inherited any of his father's talent. Turning her laptop screen to face Caleb, she commanded him, "I have here a simple model of a data center. In order to assess your computer skills, I would like you to attempt to hack into this system."
He nodded and immediately began to type.
"Um, I think I've broken into it," Caleb muttered hesitantly after ten minutes of typing.
Jeanine bit back a yelp of surprise. "You did?!"
"I hacked into the data center," answered Caleb, wiping his forehead wearily. "That…that was some complex simulation. I actually felt like there was someone on the other end trying to stop me."
The Erudite woman could hardly contain her excitement as she spun her laptop back around and saw that, indeed, the boy had just accomplished in a matter of minutes what scores of Erudite professionals had not been able to do for years: get to the data stored in Abnegation's government computers. Ha! The joke's on you, Andrew. You are defeated at last, and by your own son! "Your performance was outstanding, Caleb."
The boy beamed. "So, that was a test of loyalty as well as skill, right? You wanted to see if I would be willing to attack my own faction?"
"Yes, and you passed." Sitting back in her chair to regard Caleb, Jeanine uttered her first sincere words in years. "I hope you work hard and become a full member of Erudite, Caleb. Talent such as yours is much needed here."
Trivia #2 Answer: So, which children in chapter two got together? It was Evelyn and Zachary! It was because of him that Evelyn decided to organize a factionless mafia.
Keep PM'ing me if you have any questions! And, of course, read and review!