Trying to write something on the whim for everyone :) It seems like most people enjoy my POV series as well, so I thought I should get a chapter out, considering this idea popped into my head and I had to scribble it down.
/!\ read for context /!\ Max is a corrupt leader from Dauntless. This is a POV from his perspective, on the moment Jeanine approached him with the master plan, why he agreed to it. If he had not agreed to it, the whole simulation and war most likely would not have happened, so I would like to say I believe this is a important part of the storyline. Here's the POV! I'm also interested in writing a max POV of him meeting Tobias, what do you think?
/!\ important info /!\ i'm planning on finishing this POV series when i get to chapter 10. if you have any scenes you want to see, please pm or review!
Much love as always,
Ain
Max POV
I tap my fingers on the smooth desk. Tap. Tap. Tap.
My restlessness was getting to me. The Choosing Ceremony was coming up soon; at least we'd have another round of initiates to train.
Becoming a leader...not what I expected. It was boring as fuck. Computers, talking, meetings, announcements...how could anything get more boring than that?
I let out a short laugh. Being appointed a leader five years ago, and nothing has changed. Everyday, I do nothing and it's annoying. To be honest, initiation was more exciting than this. Or even my old job at the control room. Anything would be more exciting than this random bullshit. Tap. Tap. Tap.
I groan and rub my eyes. Tap. Tap. Tap. To be fair, I wasn't too patient anyway. From the day I was born, surrounded by the Amity orchards, my parents have always told me how my impatience came from my grandmother, blah, blah blah. Too bad that was probably the only kind thing that they did. Ironic how they came from the faction of peace but turned out to be cruel monsters.
My parents never hurt me. At least not physically. They loved Erudite. Told me to grow up and be smarter, and better, and if a 100% wasn't good enough for them, I was yelled at.
Endlessly.
Mindless torment.
It was awful. But at least they didn't physically hurt me. They weren't even bad people. They just had high standards for me. Standards that I wasn't good enough to reach. And after being surrounded by the Amity sun and the laughter and happiness and the standards, I didn't want to do that anymore. I didn't want to stay at Amity. So I left. Even my aptitude test told me Dauntless.
Tap. Tap. I wonder what they would think of me now. I wonder if they're even still alive. Maybe they're dead. Or maybe I'll see them again, one day, as a leader, and then maybe I can show them how high I've reached. Maybe that will finally satisfy their standards.
Even I know that was wishful thinking.
I will never be enough.
I hear a knock on the door and I jump from the sudden noise.
"Com in." I say, trying to put on my stern face again. It is Rana, the senior leader who appointed me. She smiles at me kindly.
"Hello, Max." she says, quietly coming in. She was always like a kind, second mother to me; the one who appointed me to my leader position when I was twenty-five, then moving me up to senior last year.
"Hi Rana." I say, relaxing. "Do you need something?"
Rana shifts uncomfortably from where she was standing, and I notice she has not closed the door. "You have some visitors. From Amity." she says, twisting her wedding band nervously. I tense up and I feel my muscles ready to spring, ready to jump.
"Who?" I ask, trying to maintain my calmness.
She shrugs. "They claim that they're your parents. Then again, they can't really be your parents if you chose Dauntless after them." she snorts, trying to make a joke, but I can see the tenseness in her eyes, and the reluctance to tell me. I feel my hands tightening into fists, and I try to relax them.
"Tell them to meet me at my apartment." I say, trying to maintain my composure. "No need to make this long and dragged out. Short and sweet." I say, trying to make a joke as well. It doesn't really land. I can see her worry in her green eyes, but she tries to brush it off.
"Okay." she says finally, but her eyes flicker and her expression falters a bit. "You know where to find me if you need help."
I nod, and it isn't until she quietly shuts the door behind her that I relax my grip. Oh my damn God, I am going to stab something. Perhaps the floor. Or maybe through one of my mother's favorite shirts. Or something else.
I am pissed.
I get up and try to calm down but I can feel my heartbeat rising and blood flooding into my cheeks, and I storm out of my office. Time to set those bitches into their current place. Faction before blood, after all. I couldn't have cared less for them at this point.
Sure enough, Rana had sent them to my apartment door, and I can see my mother's familiar afro, I can see my dad's haircut that looks exactly like mine, and they look so fucking out of place in their bright yellow that I have to laugh.
They turn their heads in my direction at the sound of my snort and my mom's jaw falls and my dad's eyebrows shoot as far up as they could possibly go up my dad's forehead.
"Who are you?" I ask, holding back as much as I can to stop myself from glaring.
My mom looks confused. "Who are we? We're your parents, Maxis! What do you-"
"My parents are dead to me as far as I am concerned." I say coldly, and I see my mom's expression fall. "What I meant to say clearer, is, why the fuck are you here?"
My parents might had had me when they were only eighteen, but they sure knew how to yell at their kid. My dad snorts. "Dead to you? We're standing right here, bitch." I jerk back. In all my sixteen years of living with them, my dad had never sworn. Ever. Then again, fourteen years can change a lot about a person. It certainly changed me. I'm no longer the same person.
"What do you want?" I ask coldly, repeating myself. "You certainly didn't bother yourselves to visit once in the fourteen years, so I'm assuming that you only came for something you want. Just tell me so I can kick you guys out, okay? I can't really be bothered with you guys anymore." As soon as the words leave my lips, something changes, and I watch as my dad's expression hardens, my mom's eyes like steel, and certainly didn't match their happy, sunshine yellow clothing.
"I don't think you're really understanding the gravity of this right now, son." My dad says the words like they are poison wrapping around his tongue. "You are such a failure to me. What a damn little son you were! Brought us humiliation and shame. Awful student, awful son. What. A. Little. Failure."
With those words that he says, his eyes like venom, something inside of me collapses. Something shouldn't collapse. I should be strong to bear my parents torment, endless torment. But I'm still so weak.
Suddenly my dad lunges at me and grabs my throat and I gasp for air. Even with fourteen years of Dauntless, I can't even fight a Amity member.
"Listen to me you little scoundrel." he says, his breath hot on my cheek. "One of our friends, Jeanine, is interested in partnering with Dauntless for a alliance between the two factions, and you will be obedient, you will listen to her, you will do everything she says, because we promised her a obedient son. And you fucking will be, sure as hell." He releases me and my parents fade into the shadows as I gasp for air, and fall to the ground. Something inside of me cracks at hearing the words I'd feared for so long.
I feel every positive emotion seep out of my body, falling away like rain. Replaced by hatred.
Twisting around me.
I am hatred.
And I lose myself.
For anyone who isn't understanding, I created a version of Max, who was verbally abused by his parents when he was younger, but unlike Tobias, he did not leave Amity to escape from their torment; he left Amity because similar to Tris, and probably most faction transfers, he admired Dauntless and didn't fit into Amity.
In this POV, it is shown that Max's parents came back; the reason why he adhered to Jeanine's plans was because he was taught to be obedient, and he still feared his parents this whole time. He is driven by a sense of honor, for his parents, and after the words his parents told him for the last time, what he'd always feared, he broke and lost that good side of him. Only the bad side remained, which is how he turned into the reckless Dauntless leader that sided with someone like Eric.
I hope this helped you follow, and let me know if you want to read other stories similar to this!
