Hello!

Disclaimer: I do not own the Divergent series nor any of it's characters - this is intended as a piece of love and admiration for the work.

Rated T: violence and swearing.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

Enjoy!

Chapter One

A cool breeze brushed past her ankles, her dress fluttering around her bare knees as she shivered and hugged herself closer in an effort to ward off the chill. It was much colder on the roof than she had expected, and she regretted ignoring her mother's advice that morning to wear pants instead of a dress. There was a lot of advice from her mother that she ignored.

She stood in a small crowd, all huddled together on the top of a plain, inconspicuous building in Dauntless. The skin on her hands and legs stung from the small cuts and grazes that littered them thanks to her jump from the train but the pain was the furthest thing on her mind as she stared up in shock at the man standing in front of them.

"Who will be the first to jump?"

She didn't think that man was the right word to describe him. He was tall, standing a good few inches above everyone else, made of pure muscle and yet, despite his imposing size, he moved with the grace of a panther, every action precise, calculated and lethal. No, he was definitely not a man. He was Ares personified, a god-like being built entirely for war.

The crowd shifted anxiously at his words, some peering fearfully over the edge of the building at the dark abyss that awaited them, others looking at their peers in an attempt to assess the competition. She was the only one to straighten in excitement, immediately drawing the attention of the Dauntless leaders as they analysed their future members.

Henley Taylor was a small girl, in every sense of the word. At five foot, three inches she just barely reached the shoulders of the shortest male initiate. Her sunflower yellow dress was obnoxious and irritating, a flash of colour in the otherwise dark, grey concrete jungle. Her hair fell in wild, messy curls that brushed the top of her shoulders, unusual for a member of Amity to have such short hair and the only suggestion that maybe she didn't stumble into Dauntless by accident. Her blonde hair, lightly tanned skin and bright clothes made her a beam of cheery sunlight in the hard stone faction of the brave, shining the fact that she didn't belong like a beacon. And yet… "I will."

And yet she was the first to volunteer.

She watched the leader who had introduced himself as Eric narrow his eyes as she approached the ledge, visibly annoyed that the Dauntless born were letting some soft, weak hippie from Amity outdo them. Her legs shook slightly as she straightened up on the rim of the building and a small smirk tugged at his lips, clearly getting some cruel sense of satisfaction from her caution. She felt distantly vindicated that she wouldn't give him anymore than that. Henley wasn't staring at the bottomless depths below her in fear or worry; instead, her eyes were alight with exhilarated anticipation. He gritted his teeth.

Something about him nagged at the back of her mind - he was familiar somehow but she couldn't figure out from where. He glared darkly at her and she made her first mistake.

His contempt irritated Henley, stirring her competitive nature. She wanted to prove herself; she wanted to be more than some Amity softie and she hated that he looked down on her for it. He obviously didn't like that she was the first jumper and she gave him a small, sly smile, mocking his anger. His eyes darkened and true fear shot down her spine for the first time that day. Maybe she shouldn't have done that.

She took a deep breath, the muscles in her legs tensed and he called out just in time to stop her.

"Are you sure you want to go first, initiate?" he taunted, raising a pierced brow. "How do you know we aren't teaching you a lesson about stupidity and recklessness? What if you're jumping to your death?"

Henley paused but didn't know how to answer him so she just shrugged before launching herself off the edge, a breathless laugh escaping her lips at the momentary feeling of weightless freedom.

Dauntless was everything and nothing like she had expected. It was loud, dark and dangerous, a strange mix of wide, open spaces and long, winding labyrinths. She couldn't decide if she liked it or not.

After everyone had jumped, and she hadn't plummeted to her death as some had tried to lead her to believe, they were separated into Dauntless born and transfers. A man had introduced himself as Four and had led them away on a tour of the compound. He was stoic and didn't speak much but Henley thought there was a warmth to him that had been absent in Eric. She couldn't help the relief that flushed through her system at hearing that Four would be doing most of their training and not the cold war-machine disguised as a Dauntless leader. She didn't think she would survive his version of teaching.

They trailed after Four down a dimly lit, twisting hallway, the sound of hundreds of people talking over one another getting louder and louder the deeper they went. Henley desperately tried to memorise their path but it was a futile task, the series of mazes they had been led around were too big and complicated for her to remember.

"Do you have any idea where we are going or how to find our way back?" Henley whispered to a girl on her left, looking around with wide, fascinated eyes at the walls made from sharp, jagged rock, so different from the light, airy wooden homes of Amity.

The girl next to her snorted, an amused grin flashing across her face. "No, I'm assuming he is leading us to our probable deaths."

Henley laughed. "Or maybe the bear we're supposed to fight with our bare hands."

The girl snorted again, holding out a hand. "I'm Bella, Candor transfer." She had long, thick hair framing her face in small ringlets and dark brown skin that glowed under the old lighting of the compound.

Henley smiled widely in return, enthusiastically shaking Bella's hand. "Henley, Amity transfer."

Bella eyed the yellow dress. "No shit."

The noise echoing down the hallway was deafening now and Henley tried to stifle the butterflies rising in her stomach at what was to come. What if they were expected to perform some amazing physical feat in front of the entire faction? She didn't think she would win in a fight and she had no idea how to use a gun, let alone all the showy tricks and flips she had seen the Dauntless perform at school. Next to her, Bella tried to look unaffected, holding her head high and her eyes blazing confidently but Henley could see the slight indent on her cheek from where Bella was chewing the inside of it, obviously a nervous habit.

Four led them through an archway and the class breathed a sigh of relief when they realised it was a dining hall. Four nodded and left them to fend for themselves while he sat in a dark corner, fully living up to Henley's impression of him as a brooding, Byron type figure. She half expected him to pull out a book of angsty poetry.

The hall was less of a room and more of a cavern, large and echoing, with an uneven ceiling that looked like it had been carved straight out of a mountain. Henley usually felt small in comparison to everyone else but here, standing in what was easily the biggest room she had ever been in, she felt invisible. It was oddly liberating.

Bella and Henley shared a glance and sat with the rest of the transfer initiates, nervously picking the only free space on a long table that stretched almost the entire length of the hall. It was near the front, next to the leaders' table and the initiates reluctantly sat down, scared it was another test. They watched the leaders, especially Eric, who they were all rightfully wary of, out the corner of their eyes for a while and when they were ignored, relaxed, beginning to pile their plates high with food.

They were still apprehensive that Eric would suddenly decide to test them, already familiar with his propensity to torturing initiates, which was not at all aided by his icy demeanour. Even now, as they stared at him, he was glaring darkly at his food and refusing to speak to those he was seated with.

"Jeez, do you think that guy ever lightens up?" A boy from Erudite asked, flicking his dark bangs out of his eyes.

"He probably glares even in his sleep," Henley agreed from opposite him, scooping some peas onto her plate.

"Keep it down, you two, he can probably hear you," another Erudite hissed, settled comfortably next to the boy and swatting him on the arm in what seemed to be a well practiced move. She glanced at the two girls opposite her. "I'm Eliza and this moron is Felix."

Henley and Bella both smiled, offering up their own names as everyone around them started to chat cheerfully.

Henley went back to her meal, peering at it curiously. She grabbed a soft, round circle and sniffed it experimentally.

Across the table, Felix started laughing. "What are you doing? It's a hamburger."

"A hamburger?" Henley asked, eyeing it suspiciously. "So it's made of ham?"

Everyone around her paused, halting their conversations to stare at her incredulously. To her dismay, the leaders' table all looked over in interest at the sudden drop in noise and she tried to ignore their gazes, uncomfortable with all the attention that seemed to centre on her strange upbringing.

"Wait," Bella said, holding up her hands, "you've never seen a hamburger before?"

"No," Henley confirmed, "Amity doesn't eat meat – killing an animal is considered an act of violence." She started poking the burger.

"Holy shit, this is hilarious," Felix said, strangely delighted by Henley's fascination with the food.

Eliza rolled her eyes. "No, it's a travesty. Amity is depriving you of all the good stuff, be grateful you escaped."

Bella sighed impatiently and grabbed a bun, shoving the meat inside and forcing it back into Henley's hands again. "Just eat it."

To Henley's dismay, everyone was still watching her like she was some weird science experiment and she saw no other option but to do what they wanted. The meat smelled strange but not bad and she took a big bite.

The sound she made was obscene. "This is the best thing I have ever eaten," she moaned, mouth still full of burger. Eliza wrinkled her nose at her, ever the prim and proper Erudite with impeccable manners.

The boys they sat down with had gone strangely silent, most having blushed a bright red at the sound Henley had made. A few of the Dauntless sitting nearby and eavesdropping on the conversation were snickering at them as Henley gazed dreamily at her food. "I'm never eating anything else ever again," she told the table as she slowly came back to reality, catching the boys' odd looks. She glanced around in confusion. "What?"

Bella just smirked and patted her head, "don't worry about it."

Henley frowned at them for a moment before shrugging it off and going back to eating, more concerned with the almost religious experience she was having. If she had known the other factions had food like this, she would have tried to leave years ago.

Dinner at Dauntless was a loud and busy affair and the familiarity of it put her at ease for the first time all day. Meal times at Amity were also spent with the entire faction, although they had less fistfights break out and more music. The atmosphere of camaraderie and laughter was similar enough to home at least that Henley found herself joking freely with Bella, momentarily unconcerned with what was ahead.

"Aw, look at that," a tall boy with close-cropped hair sneered, leering over the table at them, "an Amity and Candor getting along, how cute, breaking social boundaries like that." He was also from Erudite and he gave Felix and Eliza a dirty look to which they responded with heavy scowls.

Henley's temper flared and she opened her mouth to reprimand the boy when a heavy arm landed across her shoulders, pulling her close. "Except this girl isn't just any flowery Amity," the arm said.

She jumped and looked up in surprise before her face broke out into an excited grin. "Zeke!"

"I knew you would choose the best faction, Alley Cat," he told her, looking like a proud mother hen.

"What is going on right now?" Eliza asked, looking from Zeke to Henley and back again.

They had caught the attention of the surrounding Dauntless members once more. Henley shifted awkwardly under all the attention.

"You two know each other?" Bella gaped, looking blindsided and slightly envious. "How?" Inter-faction friendships weren't against the rules, but they were heavily frowned upon and often discouraged. A friendship between a member of Amity and a member of Dauntless was completely unheard of.

Zeke laughed and ruffled Henley's hair, knotting it slightly and, if it were possible, making it messier. She scrunched her nose in annoyance and tried to wriggle out of his grasp but he was too strong and too big. "Its my favourite story about my favourite Amity," he told everyone, forcing a seat for himself in between Henley and an older Dauntless member, he paused, "well, I guess former Amity now," he amended.

He stole some fries from Henley's plate and gestured wildly with his hands, chewing loudly. "It was about a year ago, a bright, summer's day," he began, dramatically gazing into the distance.

Henley rolled her eyes and shoved him with her shoulder. "It wasn't that exciting, honestly."

Zeke snorted, "to you, maybe, but it was pretty damn exciting for us to watch an Amity member try to commit murder in broad daylight."

Zeke had drawn in an audience now, even the nasty boy from Erudite was interested enough to forget that he didn't like her.

"I didn't try to murder him," Henley muttered, sulking into her dinner as her input went mostly ignored.

"So there I was, on border patrol at the fence," Zeke started, his voice taking on a low, conspiratorial tone. "We had been told to keep a close eye on the people working in the fields because there had been some concerning reports about disturbances at the border. I was standing guard at the trucks and – wait," to every initiates horror, he turned to Eric's table, pointing at a broad, scruffy looking man with a full beard. "You were there, Hunter, and," he became slightly awkward, gesturing more hesitantly, "and you, Eric."

"Yes?" the man in question asked, raising a cold eyebrow with a deadly look in his eyes. Zeke took the hint to leave him alone.

"So anyway, Hunter and the other leaders were there for an inspection or something, I don't know, I can't remember, and we were…" Zeke carried on but Henley was no longer listening, remembering that day with perfect clarity.

He was right, it had been summer's day, a hot one at that, and Henley and her siblings had been forced to help out in the outer fields, along with almost every available member of Amity. It had been an unusually hot summer and the long hours toiling under the burning sun had put a lot of their older members on bed rest after getting severe cases heat stroke. The rest of Amity had been forced to pick up the slack and Henley had been reassigned to help the new initiates in the potato fields on the outer perimeter, where they were close to the water pipes and irrigation system that wound around the whole city. Potato farming is backbreaking, extremely muddy work and Henley had been hot, sticky and very irritated, covered in several inches of dirt.

She had been next to the Dauntless guards, who had taken refuge from the glare of the sun in the shade of their big, military trucks, sipping cool bottles of water. Henley had been seething with jealousy and kept darting longing looks at them, not paying much attention to what she was supposed to be doing.

An initiate, Candor-born, was also fed up with the suffocating heat and finally snapped, boiling over and taking out what was probably several weeks worth of supressed rage and negative emotions out on Henley.

"Stop eyeing up the guards like a slutty school-girl with a crush and start paying attention to your work, bitch."

Everyone had frozen; time itself seemed to stop for Henley's siblings, who knew what was coming.

At first, Henley had been shocked, staring at him with wide disbelieving eyes. Never, in all her years, had she heard anyone in Amity speak so nastily, let alone to her. His words, while stunning her, did not make her cry and instead they lit a small fuse inside her chest, stoking the flames of a furnace he did not want to see explode.

Henley had dropped her shovel as everyone stood in an unsure silence, the calm before the storm. The initiate had opened his mouth again to speak and the fire inside Henley's eyes had sparked, erupting into a blazing inferno.

She had snarled and the initiate had flinched back, rapidly putting space between them as Henley aggressively took her gloves off and threw them to the ground. According to Zeke, the Dauntless guards had watched in amused, mild interest as the whole drama unravelled before them.

Just as Henley had thrown her second glove to the ground, her younger brother had called out. "Henley, don't!" He was a year younger than her but seemed years ahead of his age. Their father had always called him an old soul. Henley had ignored him as the initiate had started running, attempting to put the large military trucks between him and his assailant. Quickly realising she would end up running in circles around the truck if she tried to chase him; Henley had started clambering up on the back of the truck, attempting to go over it.

"Say that again, you bastard!" She had yelled as her brother caught up to her. The two siblings shared the same green eyes, the same blonde curls and the same dusting of golden freckles across their nose and cheeks but where Henley was small, Brook was tall and broad. He had grabbed her by the waist and easily dragged her away as she reached the top of the truck, carrying her from trouble despite her struggles.

The initiate, both stupid and guilty had made the mistake of calling after her. "So-so –sorry!"

Brook had groaned loudly as Henley struggled even harder, fuelled by her rage. Some of the Dauntless guards had started to egg her on, cheering and whistling which only served to wind her up more.

"Suck my dick, fuck-face," She had snapped back at her adversary, somehow managing to twist free of her brother's grip. Before he could catch her, she had made a break for it, sprinting full speed at the initiate and landing a solid blow to his jaw, sending him sprawling in the mud. He had groaned and blood started dripping from his mouth as she settled on top of him, pulling her fist back to land another punch when one of the guards, Zeke, finally stepped in to do his job.

"Hey, little alley cat," he had laughed, easily stopping her arm and pulling her away with minimal effort on his part, "you did good."

She had glared up at him but stopped trying to resist, letting him set her down on the back of the truck to inspect her hand. With him standing over her, her view of the messy scene had been blocked but she could hear her brother pulling the initiate up, checking him over and then leading him away. The remainder of their small group had followed, leaving Henley alone with the Dauntless guards, who crowded around her, slapping her on the back, congratulating her and offering tips to improve her technique.

She had been staring up them in confusion when the guard who had helped her prodded her knuckles, causing her to hiss in pain and pull her hand away to her chest, defensively guarding it.

"Yup, your knuckles are definitely broken and you're lucky you didn't break your thumb as well," he had said, patting her on the arm comfortingly. "I'm Zeke. Don't worry, I can teach you how you how to properly throw a punch without hurting yourself."

"Still, it was one hell of a hit!" One guard had enthused, giving her a cheesy thumbs up.

"No it wasn't," another had grouched, "it was sloppy and uncontrolled."

"It was good for a little Amity slut with a school girl crush," Zeke had teased, grinning at her cheekily and instead of getting mad, she had laughed, a thrilled, adrenaline pumped laugh that had left her breathless. She had glanced up mid laugh and caught the eye of a Dauntless member standing off to the side, lounging against a truck in boredom, who she now recognised as Eric. He had given her a dismissive glance and sneered before turning away.

Henley was startled back into the present quite literally as Zeke gave her a particularly hard slap on the back, just about finishing up his story. "And that is how a forbidden friendship between rival factions began."

He was a good storyteller, knowing how to work the crowd and when to pause for dramatic effect. Henley rolled her eyes at him, not particularly pleased that he had aired the story to what was in reality only a small group of people but what felt like half of Dauntless.

"So what?" The hostile Erudite bit out, "an Amity punched someone? Big deal, it takes more than that to be Dauntless."

Zeke gave him a flat look. "Are you, an Erudite initiate, really telling me, a Dauntless born, fully fledged member, what it takes to be one of us?"

An embarrassed flush tinted his cheeks and he shifted awkwardly. "No, I'm just saying, it's not that impressive."

Eliza rolled her eyes at him, "shut up, Vincent, you're just jealous that this means she has a leg up on you."

Vincent glared but turned away, not bothering to dispute her claim.

"Good riddance," Felix muttered, giving Henley a reassuring smile. She felt a small bubble of affection for him.

"One thing that has always bothered me," Zeke said, facing Henley again, "is where you learned to swear like that in Amity?"

Henley laughed, "Old Man Joe!"

"Who?"

"He's a Dauntless born transfer – one of the oldest people in Amity – and he never quite kicked the habit of swearing. No one really pays him much attention though because he is so old. I used to hang out with him a lot."

Bella wrinkled her nose. "Why? What was so good about hanging out with an old man?"

Henley sighed. "He was the only other person who hated the peace serum just as much as I did."

This peeked Eliza's interest and she leaned forward eagerly. "What was that like? I heard that Amity administers the serum to the people who can't remain peaceful."

Felix piped up as well, his voice taking on a conspiring tone. "I heard that they lace the food with it and don't tell people, so most of Amity is taking it without even knowing about it."

"I heard that too," Eliza agreed. "Is it true that when you get in an altercation they put you in a room and force you to take it. Like some weird torture chamber?" She waggled her eyebrows jokingly, morbidly excited at the idea.

Henley stared at them with wide eyes, an uncomfortable lump in her throat that wouldn't budge even when she took a sip of her water. Zeke noticed her reaction and patted her shoulder comfortingly. "Hey, how about we get back to eating and leave the interrogation for another day?"

Felix and Eliza sighed but let the subject drop, getting into a small argument about who could have the last potato. Henley gave Zeke a grateful smile and went back to her food, telling herself it was all right now; she had escaped and found a new home. Hopefully.

Dinner was finished with an impassioned speech about what it meant to be Dauntless and what it took to make it there by Max, another leader, before all the new initiates were led away to get some sleep.

Henley stifled a yawn as they were guided through another dark corridor, thinking longingly of her soft bed at home and wondering, not for the first time, if she had made a horrible mistake.

They arrived at a large metal door at the end of the hallway and Four pushed it open, everyone cringing at the loud screeching noise it made as it scraped the floor. Rushing eagerly inside, the exhausted initiates found themselves severely disappointed.

The room was large but dark and uninviting. There were several small, hard beds taking up most of the space and not much else. Every bed had a small trunk at the end of it for storage but all Henley had with her were the clothes on her back. Four led them around a corner and showed them the shared, open bathroom, suppressing an amused smile at the horrified faces on most of his new students.

Henley wasn't bothered. Amity was all about sharing, love and the freedom to express oneself and communal living was an important part of life there. Judging by Vincent's expression of mortified consternation, it was not typical of Erudite and she smirked at having at least one advantage over him, even if it was just the ability to shower publically.

The initiates settled down into bed fairly quickly, now wearing the thick, surprisingly soft pyjamas provided for them in the trunks by their bed. The room was uncomfortably silent as they laid there in the dark, each person too caught up in their own thoughts to bother anyone else. Henley quietly mourned the lack of windows, wishing she could see the stars, or at the very least the moon but instead she could just barely make out the grey tiles of the ceiling.

Unease spread down her spine as she lay there and thought, trying to sleep but unable to switch off her brain. She didn't belong in Amity. She wanted to belong in Dauntless but she saw the way they all looked at her. They thought she was too soft, too weak, too Amity to succeed. What if they were right?

Thank you for reading!