Life during a war
Chapter 3: Candor
It has been a week since we found out about the baby that is currently growing inside of me. Only Susan and Tobias know at the moment. Yesterday Tobias and arrived at Candor only to be arrested and held in a cell, waiting to be questioned under truth serum. I have been throwing up on the floor all morning so the room smells of vomit but Tobias doesn't mind, neither do I, it's just a symptom of being pregnant.
Tobias and I are sitting in the corner of the room; there isn't a bed or anything in here, when the door opens. Christina and Will rush into the room, I stand and embrace them. Christina's fingers dig into my bullet wound and I cry out in pain.
"Got shot," I cry. "Shoulder. Ow."
"Oh God!" They release me. "Sorry, Tris."
"That's okay." I say.
"Why is there vomit on the floor? Are you sick?" Will asks.
"No, I'm not sick. I'm pregnant." I tell them and they look at me, shocked. But then they smile and Christina squeals before wrapping her arms around me again, avoiding my shoulder this time.
"Congratulations." She says.
"Thank you." I say.
She lets go of me and Tobias wraps his arm around my waist as he stands next to me.
"We have to take you both now." A guard says and we walk out of the room. Tobias slides his hand into mine and squeezes it. I squeeze his back.
"Don't worry about the truth serum," Christina says. "It's easy. You barely know what's happening when you're under. It's only when you resurface that you even know what you said. I went under when I was a kid. It's pretty commonplace in Candor."
"Is everyone else all right?" I ask. "Uriah, Lynn, Marlene?"
"All here, except Uriah's brother, Zeke, who is with the other Dauntless."
"What?" I ask, shocked.
"I know, no one saw it coming." She says.
…
The questioner, Niles, calls Tobias forward. Tobias squeezes my hand before walking over to the chair in the middle of the room and sitting in it.
Niles opens the black box which contains two needles, one for Tobias and one for me. He also takes an antiseptic wipe from his pocket and offers it to Tobias. We didn't bother with that kind of thing in Dauntless.
"The injection site is in your neck." Niles says.
Tobias applies the antiseptic to his skin. Niles steps forward and plunges the needle into his neck.
"I will ask you a series of simple questions so that you grow accustomed to the serum as it takes full effect." Niles says. "Now. What is your name?"
"Four." Tobias answers.
"That is a nickname." Niles says. "What is your real name?"
"Tobias." He says.
"Did you know that?" Christina asks me.
I nod.
"What are the names of your parents, Tobias?"
He opens his mouth to answer, and then clenches his jaw as if to stop the words from spilling out.
"Why is this relevant?" Tobias asks.
The Candor around me mutter to each other, some of them scowling. I raise my eyebrows at Christina.
"It's extremely difficult not to immediately answer questions while under the truth serum. It means he has a strong will. And something to hide." Christina tells me.
"Maybe it wasn't relevant before, Tobias, but it is now that you've resisted answering the question. The names of your parents, please."
Tobias closes his eyes. "Evelyn and Marcus Eaton."
Everyone recognises Marcus' surname. I can tell by the clamour that arises in the room after Tobias speaks.
"So you are a faction transfer, are you not?"
"Yes."
"You transferred from Abnegation to Dauntless?"
"Yes. Isn't that obvious?"
I bit my lip. He should calm down. He's giving away too much.
"So I must ask: Why did you transfer?"
Tobias glares at Niles, and keeps his mouth shut. Seconds pass in complete silence. The longer he tries to resist the serum the harder it seems to be for him.
"This is horrible, wrong." I say.
"What?" Christina says. "It's a simple question."
"You don't understand." I say, shaking my head.
"You really care about him." I nod before looking back at Tobias.
"I'll ask again. It is important that we understand the extent of your loyalty to your chosen faction. So why did you transfer to Dauntless, Tobias?"
"To protect myself," Tobias answers. "I transferred to protect myself."
"Protect yourself from what?"
"From my father."
All the conversation in the room stops.
"Thank you for your honesty." Niles says and the rest of the Candor repeat the saying.
"Is your allegiance with your current faction, Tobias?" Niles asks.
"My allegiance is with anyone who does not support the attack on Abnegation." He says.
"Speaking of which, I think we should focus on what happened that day. What do you remember about being under the simulation?"
"I was not under the simulation, at first." He answers. "It didn't work."
"What do you mean, it didn't work?"
"One of the defining characteristics of the Divergent is that their minds are resistant to simulations. And I'm Divergent. So no, it didn't work."
Christina nudges me with her elbow.
"Are you too?" She asks me. "Is that why you were awake?"
I nod.
She looks at me in awe.
"Do you know what it means?" I ask.
"I heard about it when I was young." She says. "Like it was a fantasy story. 'There are people with special powers among us!' like that."
"Well it's not a fantasy, and it's not that big of a deal." I say. "It's like the fear landscape simulation-you were aware while you were in it, and you could manipulate it. Except for me, it's like that in every simulation."
"But Tris, that's impossible." She says as she puts her hand on my elbow.
Niles quiets everyone down and turns back to Tobias.
"Now, when you say 'resistant to simulations' what do you mean?" Niles asks.
"Usually, it means we're aware during simulations. But the attack simulation was different, using a different kind of simulation serum, one with long-range transmitters. Evidently the long-range transmitters didn't work on the Divergent at all, because I awoke in my own mind that morning." Tobias says.
"You say that you weren't under the simulation at first. Can you explain what you mean by that?"
"I mean that I was discovered and brought to Jeanine, and she injected a version of the simulation serum that specifically targeted the Divergent. I was aware during that simulation, but it didn't do much good."
"The video footage from the Dauntless headquarters shows you running the simulation. How exactly do you explain that?"
"When a simulation is running, your eyes still see and process the actual world, but your brain no longer comprehends them. On some level, though, your brain still knows what you're seeing and where you are. The nature of this new simulation was that it recorded my emotional responses to outside stimuli and responded by altering the appearance of that stimuli. The simulation made my enemies into friends, my friends into enemies. I thought I was shutting the simulation down. Really I was receiving instructions about how to keep it running." He says.
"We have seen footage of what ultimately happened to you in the control room, but it is confusing. Please describe it to us."
"Someone entered the room, and I thought it was a Dauntless soldier, trying to stop me from destroying the simulation. I was fighting her, and…" Tobias scowls, struggling. "… and then she stopped, and I got confused. Even if I had been awake, I would have been confused. Why would she surrender? Why didn't she just kill me?" His eyes search the crowd until they find my face. "I still don't understand, how she knew that it would work. I think my conflicted emotions confused the simulation. And then I heard her voice. Somehow, that enabled me to fight the simulation."
I have tears in my eyes, but I blink them back.
"I recognised her, finally. We went back into the control room and stopped the simulation."
"What is the name of this person?"
"Tris." He says. "Beatrice Prior, I mean."
"Did you know her before this happened?"
"Yes."
"How did you know her?"
"I was her instructor. Now we're together."
"I have a final question. Among the Candor, before a person is accepted into our community, they have to completely expose themselves. Given the dire circumstances we are in, we require the same of you. So, Tobias Eaton: what are your deepest regrets?"
"I regret…" Tobias tilts his head, and sighs. "I regret my choice."
"What choice?"
"Dauntless, I was born Abnegation. I was planning on leaving Dauntless, and becoming factionless. But then I met her, and… I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision. Choosing Dauntless in order to escape my father was an act of cowardice. I regret that cowardice. It means I am not worthy for my faction. I will always regret it."
For a moment we are all silent. I don't know who starts the whisper; it seems to originate from nothing, to come from no one. But someone whispers, "Thank you for your honesty." And the rest of the room repeats it.
I don't join in.
I am the only thing that kept him in the faction he wanted to leave.
Me.
I'm not that special.
I love him.
He loves me.
We're having a baby.
I am distracted from my thoughts when my name is called. It's my turn to go under the truth serum.
Hey guys, hope you enjoyed it. I will update soon, I promise. The next one will be Tris' questioning under the truth serum.
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