A/N: This chapter also has an M-rated version. If you'd like to read it, you can find a separate story through my author's page that has all the M-rated scenes, including the full version of this chapter.

Also- this is the last chapter! I do plan to write an epilogue sometime this week, but this is the end of the actual story. Thank you so much for reading, and for your reviews, they mean so much to me! I'll say this again when I post the epilogue, but I have some other things in the works, so be on the lookout for the two stories that will be published soon- one I've been working on for a little while, and another that is a collaborative effort between me and FourTrisHEA, which we are really excited about as well. Oh, and you should definitely go check out her stories, if you haven't yet!

Chapter Disclaimer: This chapter contains implied adult-intimate situations and references to sex. If you are uncomfortable with this, please do not continue to read.

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Tobias

We run. Tris stumbles and I decide we have gone far enough- we will wait here to regroup with the others. I hope they all make it out of that building.

I pull her into my arms, gasping for breath and coughing, my chin resting on the top of her head. After a moment I pull away, checking her all over- somehow I just have to see for myself, reassure myself, that she's alright, and she is. "Did they hurt you?" I ask frantically.

Tris shakes her head. "Not really. My arms were tied above my head for a long time, so my shoulders are sore. But I'm okay." I see a few figures coming towards us- Zeke, Shauna and Edward. "I'm so sorry about your mom, Tobias," Tris says with tears in her eyes. I don't know how she can be so compassionate to the woman who just kidnapped her.

"I'd choose you everytime, Tris," I say, crushing her lips to mine.

"I will choose you every time, too, Tobias," she whispers, just as more of our friends reach the group, coughing and panting.

"Is anyone missing?" Zeke asks, looking around.

Will looks frantic. "Where is Christina?" Down a few blocks I can see the factory completely up in flames.

Lynn shakes her head. "I saw her go down, Will. I think she was dead before the fire could even get to her. I'm sorry." Next to me, Tris stifles a sob. Will's hands are in his hair and he looks around like his eyes won't focus- probably much how I looked when I found out Tris was missing.

"She could still be alive," he says desperately. "I need to go look for her." Zeke catches his arm just in time, and Tris approaches and wraps her arms around him.

"It's too late, Will," she says. "If I thought there was any chance we might find her alive in there… I'd want nothing more than to run in there and find her, too. But it would be a suicide mission to retrieve a dead body, Will. You wouldn't make it out of there alive. We need to choose life- we need to choose the people that are still here," she says, locking eyes with me. And I get it. She is giving me what she didn't the first time around- she is choosing life, and by choosing life, she is choosing me. The building is beginning to cave in. Will sits on the curb, head in his hands, and Al drops down next to him- just to be there. It's the best thing anyone can do.

We sit in stunned silence, until someone suggests we get ourselves to the Dauntless infirmary.

Uriah

I am surrounded in darkness, just like I was for so long before Tris and I died and came back. Am I dying again? Did I come back, only to not even make it through initiation this time? Did I at least save Marlene, Lynn, Tris?

I hear a faint, steady beeping sound, and it gradually gets louder and clearer. I force my eyelids open, but the light is too bright. Finally I realize that a hand is holding mine, so I squeeze it. It takes a few tries to get a response, but when I finally do, I hear a gasp, followed by Marlene's sweet, musical voice. "Uriah? Are you awake, baby?"

"Mmhh," I groan. "Turn the lights off please, my head hurts and it's too bright."

Marlene laughs and removes her hand from mine. A moment later, she says, "it's safe to open your eyes now, Uri, I turned off the lights."

And when I open my eyes, the first thing I see is the beautiful girl that I love so much. "I missed you, Marlene," I tell her, reaching my hand up to touch her cheek, and she leans in and kisses me tenderly. "What happened? Are we back at Dauntless? The last thing I remember was fighting Eric and I'm pretty sure I was losing."

Marlene laughs slightly. "Well… yes. You're in the Dauntless infirmary, and you were indeed losing." Marlene fills me in on what happened- the mission to rescue me, the condition I was in when they found me, taking Eric, Jeanine and Caleb prisoner. She tells me that a team was organized by Jack Kang to arrest the other Dauntless leaders, too, and since they were taken away, the rumor mills have been going wild. Marlene is one of the few who have any idea what actually happened.

"Four, Zeke and Edward took Jeanine, Eric and Caleb to Candor, along with that hard drive you took out of that computer," Marlene tells me. "And ah… Tris and I stole Jeanine's car to bring you back here." I can't believe we did it. We stopped Jeanine and Eric. Marlene won't throw herself off a building, my faction will not be forced to murder innocent people, we won't have to go to the Bureau…

But then I notice the way Marlene is chewing on her fingernails and avoiding my gaze. Something is wrong. There's something she didn't tell me. I know it. She said she and Tris stole a car to bring me back but… "Marlene," I say cautiously, "is Tris here?"

And that's when Marlene's eyes fill with tears, and my stomach drops like a rock. They had a car, what could have happened? "Marlene?" I swallow past the lump in my throat. "Marlene, what happened to Tris?"

She bites her lip and takes a deep breath, about to answer me, when the door opens. "Hey, you're alright!" Zeke says happily, though I detect a hint of sadness in his eyes. "What did the doctors say?" he asks Marlene.

"Surgery on his leg, had to insert a metal rod. Moderate concussion and a slight skull fracture but he'll be fine. The chemicals didn't cause permanent damage to his eye, either." Wow, we hadn't even gotten to that yet and I had been too worried about everything else to ask. "Did you find her?"

"We did," Zeke smiles. "Do you know what happened Uriah?" I shake my head no, and Marlene and Zeke explain about Tris's kidnapping and how Al helped Mar get me back here. If I didn't know they'd found Tris I would be freaking out right now. Zeke tells me about how they rescued Tris, and about Evelyn and Christina's deaths. Good riddance when it comes to Evelyn, but Christina's death hits me hard. We were pretty close at the Bureau, after she lost Will and I lost Marlene; this time, it's Will losing Chris. I just wish we could have saved everyone.

I ask if I can have a minute to talk with Tris, and Zeke leaves to get her. "I'll give you two a few minutes, too," Marlene says. I start to protest, but she puts a finger to my lips. "I know there's nothing for me to worry about between you two, and you have a bond that no one else can quite understand. I think you both need this." I nod and thank her for understanding, and as she leaves, Tris passes her on the way in.

Tris rushes in and wraps her arms around me as best she can with me laying in this bed. I kiss her on the cheek, and laugh at the blush on her cheeks when she pulls away from me. She grins, lightly punching me in the arm. "Shut up, Uri."

"So we really did it?" I ask. "We stopped a war?"

"We stopped a war," she nods, smiling, but then her lip trembles slightly.

"Marlene told me about Christina, and Evelyn. I'm sorry, Tris. How did it happen?"

"Chris I'm not sure about… I guess she was killed fighting off the factionless in that factory Evelyn was holding me in. Or at least unconscious, and the whole thing burned down with her in it." Tris bites the inside of her cheek and looks down at her hands. "I'm not worth other people's lives," she whispers.

I sigh. "You're not worth less than anyone else either, Tris," I tell her. "Christina was there helping get you out because she loved you. She knew this could happen. It was her decision, and you need to accept that, instead of feeling guilty for it."

She doesn't look convinced, so I continue. I know how she is, I know how she holds onto guilt, and I hate it. She will never believe her own worth. "Look, Tris, five of you came to Erudite to rescue me, right? Someone could have been killed there as well, but you all still came, you weren't going to just let me die there. You were one of those five people who risked your life for me. Was it worth it?"

Tris looks shocked. "Of course it was! I could never just leave you to Jeanine, let her torture and execute you!"

"And Chris felt the same for you, or she wouldn't have been there," I interrupt. "I know you, Tris. I know you put everyone else before yourself and I think you're pretty amazing for it. But you deserve this as much as anyone else, probably more- maybe no one else knows everything you did the first time around, but I do and you deserve this, and so does Four. Make Chris's death worth it by living the best life you can."

Tris chews on her lip, deep in thought for a minute, then finally makes eye contact with me and nods. "Thanks, Uriah. You're right."

"I always am," I tease, and she laughs.

Tris

When we're done at the infirmary and have then eaten dinner, we go straight to Tobias's apartment and both immediately flop down on his bed. Tobias pulls me close to him and I lay my head on his chest, our legs tangled together.

"I've never been so scared in my life, Tris," Tobias whispers, "as I was when I thought I might lose you."

"I love you, Tobias," I tell him. Those three words don't feel like enough to express the intensity with which I love this man. It surges through every inch of my body whenever he is near, the need and want, adoration and devotion. I love him through and through, his strengths and his weaknesses, his virtues and his flaws. Something about him makes me makes me feel like I am about to turn to liquid, or burst into flames.

And this man… he loves me in return.

Somehow our bodies have shifted, my head is no longer on his chest, and our faces are inches apart. We are sharing the same air. But we're not close enough.

Tobias leans in just a little further, and his lips just barely brush against mine as he says, "I love you, too, Tris." Then we finally connect. Our lips move against each other, my body presses against his, and we fit perfectly, like pieces of a puzzle. Our tongues mate, and my body is buzzing with the passion I feel for him. We move slowly, neither of us wanting to rush, both of us reveling in this perfect moment together, as we take our time undressing one another.

We take our time, as if we are memorizing every part of one another, and our lips rarely disconnect. We whisper I love yous and we gasp out each other's names, Tobias repeating mine like a prayer, as we both come undone. Tobias collapses next to me and pulls my sweaty body against his and pulls the blanket over us.

"I love you, Tris," he whispers, kissing the top of my head. "I don't know how I could ever live without you."

"You'll never have to find out now," I promise as I drift off to sleep.

Tobias

Two days have passed since we came back to Dauntless with Tris, two days since my mother died. A lot has happened in that time. The leaders and main conspirators in Jeanine's plot have been tried under truth serum; punishments range from execution for those leading this plan (such as Jeanine, Max and Eric) to memory serum, being made factionless, or at the lowest level, jail time.

Tris's brother, Caleb, was sentenced to a year imprisonment. Tris and Caleb's parents have forgiven Caleb, but are glad he has that year of jail time to contemplate his choices. They love Tris and accept me, and I know Tris is overjoyed that they survived this. I just wish that she could see them more often, but maybe that's something that we can improve with all the new leadership in place throughout the city. While 'Faction Before Blood' has protected me well from Marcus, in most families it only brings heartbreak.

All in all, there have been twenty-one Dauntless members and several dozen Erudite implicated, including Tris's fellow transfer initiate, Peter. As he hadn't actually participated in a crime as yet and is just an initiate, it was left to Dauntless to deal with. The tricky thing about leaving anything to Dauntless to make decisions on… is that all of our leaders are being executed. It was necessary to quickly appoint new leaders, which was done by a simple nomination and show of hands voting process with any faction members who showed up to participate. Tori, Harrison and myself were the three chosen, though we previously had five leaders- which is funny, because Tris says that we were the three chosen the first time she went through all this, too.

We, as a leadership team, decided that we would like two more leaders, but that we will pull them from the current initiate class after they complete their fear landscapes, which we pushed out to next week. Recent events have certainly proved that there are many brave, smart initiates who are determined to do the right thing- I know I want Tris on leadership at the very least. We also have decided Peter's fate, and will be turning him out to the factionless. A miserable coward like him has no place in Dauntless.

I stand on a wooden box in front of the chasm. This may be my first time conducting a Dauntless funeral, but I know, unfortunately, it won't be the last. Tris stands right up front between Will and Uriah and the look on her face makes my heart break, though I'm thankful for her conversation with Uriah a few days ago. I don't know exactly what he said to her, but I know it was the right thing. Myra and Al have been staying at Dauntless while we sort out their situation- currently, discussion with Johanna Reyes from Amity are going well- and Al has been a helpful support for Will as he grieves the girl he loved, who was taken from him much too soon. I keep a close eye on Uri because, well… he's drinking… on crutches… by the chasm.

Harrison sounds the gong and the Dauntless quiet down- as much as Dauntless do, anyway.

"We are here," I begin, "because Christina, an initiate, died helping her friend and fellow initiate. Christina was brave in her final moments; she did not hesitate to help someone who needed her protection, and she proved herself truly Dauntless. It would be easy to mourn her loss tonight, but we did not choose a life of ease when we became Dauntless, and tonight we celebrate her bravery and her sacrifice. Christina was not yet one of our members, but she was certainly one of our bravest!"

Yells and cheers ring out, and flasks are raised to the air. Uriah passes a flask to Tris, and I see her take a swig before handing it to Will. My gaze lingers on his red, puffy eyes and tear-streaked face. I don't want to imagine what my reaction would have been- what it was- when Tris died. I force myself to look away.

"To Christina!" I shout, and the crowd chants her name over and over, continuing even once the syllables lose all meaning. I step down from the wooden box and wrap Tris in my arms.

An hour later, members have scattered from the area by the chasm, but we remain, along with our friends, telling stories about Christina and laughing, and it feels good. Right now, I can finally see why Dauntless treats death the way they do- they treat it the same way they treat life. Abnegation always treated death as a somber occasion, which makes sense, except that looking back, that's also how they treated life. In Dauntless, life and death are both approached as something that should be lively and full, and that's how Christina lived her life, as well.

Tris

When I enter Tobias's apartment, I automatically take off my shoes by the door and head straight for his bed. I smile remembering coming here after the fear landscape last time. That was when he first showed me his tattoo.

As Tobias is now a leader, he had to stay back to finalize the rankings, so I wait here for him to come home. For the last week, since we got back here to Dauntless, I have been staying here with Tobias instead of in the dorms, and last night he asked me to move in, instead of getting my own apartment when the rest of the initiates do tomorrow. Of course, I said yes.

I look up when I hear the door open, and Tobias smiles at me as he slips off his shoes. "You were incredible, baby," he says as he crosses the room and sits down next to me on the bed. "I guess they can call us Four and Six."

I laugh. "You know, last time I had seven fears, not six."

"Did you?"

I nod. "My fears were mostly the same this time. In the one where I have to shoot my family, you weren't there the first time around."

"So what fear have you overcome?"

I smile and feel my cheeks heat up. "I had a fear of intimacy," I admit. You said maybe someday, if I still wanted to, we could..." I swallow and glance away. "And then maybe you wouldn't be in my fear landscape any more, and then everyone could call me Six." Tobias laughs. Somehow it feels really special to me when he says the same things he did the first time. It's like he's still getting to experience our relationship building in a similar way, even though everything is a bit different this time, because I am different.

"Well, while I'd wait as long as you needed me to, I'm kind of glad that you overcame that fear," Tobias says with a smirk before leaning in and gently pressing his lips to mine.

The kiss starts out tender and sweet but I quickly deepen it. My fingers tangle in Tobias's hair as he gently runs his hand up my side, under my shirt. He pulls me closer and I feel his erection pressing against my leg; my hands automatically begin to move to unzip his pants, then I roll away from him onto my back and groan. "I wish we had more time right now," I pout. The banquet will begin in twenty minutes and we obviously both need to be there.

Tobias smirks. "Me too, but we'll have plenty of time tonight."

"And tomorrow, and every night after," I smile. "We finally have all the time in the world."

"Before we go to the banquet, I wanted to tell you something," Tobias says. I turn on my side and keep eye contact with him. "You know what my tattoos mean to me, who I want to be. And I think the most important part of being smart is to be smart about the choices I make, because choices affect more than just ourselves- they affect the people around us, who in turn affect the people around them." I nod. I don't know where he is going with this.

"I don't regret choosing you over my mother the other day, not at all, so please don't think that when I say this." A knot forms in my stomach as I nervously wait to hear what he has to say. "I want to press charges against Marcus. I think Evelyn's hatred for the faction system stemmed from the abuse Marcus inflicted on her, on us. I want to honor my mother by standing up to him. I don't want that bastard to get away with all the damage he has done. It's also something I carry with me and I doubt myself- I chose this faction for cowardly reasons. I think the only way to get past that is to be brave now and do what I should have done back then."

I am in awe, and pride surges through me like a shockwave. Tobias may have been forced to tell about Marcus in Candor under the truth serum last time, but I never thought I'd see a day that he would voluntarily admit what his childhood was like.

"I'm so proud of you, Tobias," I say earnestly. "That's a difficult choice to make, and I know how closely you have guarded that secret. It take a lot of courage to make a decision like this. You're going to be an amazing leader, you know."

He pulls me on top of him for a slow kiss, but we begin to hear loud footsteps out in the hall. "The banquet," he says with a groan.

"Come on," I laugh. "I want to go see if I still make first rank."

Uriah

While we wait for the rankings, Marlene, Lynn, Edward, Will and I play a drinking version of a card game. We're all a bit buzzed now and I think it has helped ease all our nerves. I know I shouldn't be too nervous, but somehow I can't help it. Marlene looked so nervous earlier I was afraid she might be sick.

Tris slides into the empty seat next to me and I see Four doing something with a computer in the corner- probably getting the program ready to display the rankings on the giant screen on the wall. We all abandon our game and wait anxiously.

"What if I get stuck guarding the fence?" Marlene groans. "Or worse, what if I get cut?!"

I chuckle. "You won't get cut, Mar, and I don't think you'll be guarding the fence, either."

"You'll do great!" Tris chimes in.

Will looks dejected, as he always does lately. "Well, I guess we're about to find out." He motions to Four, who is climbing onto a table, microphone in hand, as Tori and Harrison stand off to the side. Four taps on the microphone and slowly the chatter surrounding us dies out.

"We have a batch of new members to welcome into the faction. We believe in freedom from fear. We believe in justice. We believe in ordinary acts of bravery. We believe in action. We welcome you as you have shown us that you believe in these things, too." Cheers roar through the crowd, and Four patiently waits for the noise to die down. Marlene and I grin at each other; the anxiety is still there, but excitement is overtaking it. Tris bounces in her seat next to me.

"I know what you're all waiting for: the rankings. So now I'll stop making you wait. They will appear on the screen behind me." As he says the last word, the screen lights up with a numbered list with the names and pictures of the initiates. As I read it, yells and applause, pounding fists and feet, all echo throughout the room.

Tris

Uriah

Edward

Lynn

Marlene

Gabe

Will

Kate

Luke

Tyler

Marlene tackles me in a hug, and I almost fall out of my seat. A moment later she's sitting on my good leg, and she cups the back of my head in one of her hands and pulls me in for a passionate kiss. When we break apart, I notice Tris and Four making out nearby and laugh.

The next hour is a blur as Zeke and Shauna, Mom, people I barely know and people I don't even know the names of are all congratulating us, but Tris and me in particular, as they walk past. Tris and Four have joined in on our drinking game. I nudge her. "You're finally Dauntless enough to celebrate, huh?"

"As I have heard you say many times, Uriah, I'm Dauntless through and through."

We laugh, we drink, we play. Four actually genuinely laughs and smiles- a lot. I never thought I'd see the day that happened. Tomorrow, we get our own apartments, and choose our jobs. We get to do all the things we didn't before. We finally get to experience life as it should have been, thanks to that second chance.