ONE YEAR LATER - TRIS
The train comes to a stop on the platform and I watch, excitement mingled with sorrow, as Peter pushes Shauna's wheelchair over the lip and into the car. Tobias extends his hand toward me, still concerned that I will over exert myself despite my having been officially pronounced healed by Bureau and Erudite doctors months before.
In the past, I might have held it against him. I don't now. We know we are strong, and stronger still together.
"Get a move on Tris, we haven't got all day!" Christina says laughing as she jumps onto the train. I can tell she would have rather been running alongside the train and jumping onboard as we used to. But we wanted to make sure Shauna could come, though I was surprised she was interested.
The train car begins to move forward again as Cara directs it toward the Hancock building. Zeke, Christina, Shauna, Matthew, Cara and Peter have asked to join us today. I am thankful as always for the friends I have been able to keep. For the forgiveness I have been granted.
The others joke and make small talk as Tobias and I stand at the doors, watching the Hancock building grow larger in front of us. He is hiding his fear well. As always. I take his hand and let him anchor me in the car. My other hand grips the blue and grey urn that holds my brother's ashes. Blue and grey, for each of the factions that helped shape the person who was my brother Caleb.
Traditional Erudite ceremonies are cursory affairs where tribute is paid to the contributions and work of the deceased before everyone goes back to their individual projects. Abnegation funerals are quiet, somber events. Today I would say the final goodbye to Caleb, and pay tribute to him in the only way I knew how.
Chicago has changed so much in the past year that it is hardly recognizable. Many factionless left the city following the peace brokered between my parents and Johanna Reyes. It was no surprise that Johanna was elected as the leader of this new version of Chicago. Tobias and I have a neighbor, an expert in the old histories, who calls Chicago 'the fourth city' because it has had to rebuild itself four times.
Our new city embraces the ideals represented by all the factions, and now members who display an affinity or talent for a particular faction can seek additional training in the ideals and skills traditionally associated with that faction, but they are also required to learn and participate in complementary factions. We envisioned this system so that the weaknesses of each faction would be bolstered by the strengths in the others. So far, it is working. And the intermingling of the factions will help ensure that the manipulation that led to the persecution of Abnegation can never occur again.
People from the fringe who have flocked into the city, eager for the possibilities the new system will allow have also brought with them ideals from past that have provided a loose framework for the new government.
Tobias yells over the noise of the wind that we are almost to the Hancock building. His arm circles around my waist, pulling me closer and fitting me into his side. I smile up at him and take a moment to remember our wedding:
It was a small affair, though Johanna wanted to use it as a celebration to bring the whole city together. Tobias, who had just taken a job as her assistant, insisted that we had had enough attention and it was time we were afforded a little privacy.
The ceremony took place at Abnegation Headquarters on the wooden floor of the largest meeting room. Johanna presided with Christina and our other friends gathered around us in a circle. The vows were simple and to the point, and as soon as they were over, Christina and the other Dauntless set about cheering and filling the empty building with noise.
When we made to exit the building we found that Johanna had only allowed us to keep the ceremony private. Outside we found dozens of people gathered from every faction, grateful for the sacrifice we had made to bring them their freedom and safety, and who insisted on joining us in celebrating our union. And perhaps best of all, there was cake.
The train slows to a halt before the Hancock building and I jump off, a feeling of great joy welling up within me. Peter and Matthew help Shauna off the train and into the elevator, the rest of us crowding around afterward. Zeke hits the button for floor 99. I expect to feel Tobias stiffen behind me, but the grip of his hand is just as calm as it was on the train. Strong. Not afraid. Perhaps now he is only Three.
As the elevator ascends Christina and Shauna talk about their work for the city helping people from the fringe relocate into Chicago. Cara and Matthew work in the old Erudite labs, and though they are tackling many projects, the one they are currently discussing is the designs for a system that will enable paralyzed individuals to recover the use of all their limbs with the aid of robotics. They have made it their private mission to help Shauna to be able to walk again. Our other friends have integrated into jobs that traditionally were filled by Dauntless: policemen, guards, trainers.
I have taken a job in the newly formed Education Department set up by Johanna's government working to integrate the training and core ideals of each faction into a greater whole, and setting up a system that will pass those ideals on to future generations. In my spare time, I help with the training of those who show an affinity for Dauntless. We teach the entire Dauntless Manifesto so as to discourage thrill seeking and ruthlessness, but emphasize honoring ordinary acts of bravery and the courage it takes for one person to stand up for another. Then we send our students to Erudite to learn how to make logical decisions, and Abnegation, to learn how to care for others, that the strength we gain as Dauntless, may never be turned in cruelty against others.
We ascend higher, and the change in pressure causes my ears to pop. I am grinning in anticipation, and grip Caleb's ashes tighter. I don't think he would have ever been able to bring himself to make the leap off the Hancock building when he was alive. But then, until I saw him in the Weapon's Lab, I didn't think he was strong enough to be selfless either. Perhaps he would have surprised me.
TOBIAS
Tris looks alive with energy. Her face flushed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. She looks strong. She is strong. I don't often allow myself to consider what might have happened if she had not survived that day at the Bureau. I am sure it exists somewhere in my fear landscape, waiting for me. But I do not dwell on it. Instead I bask in the knowledge that she is healthy, and that we have each other. Life damages us, every one. We can't escape that damage. But I have learned as well: We can be mended. And Tris and I, over the course of the past year, we have been mending each other.
The elevator doors open and I feel the panic start to grip me. I clutch Tris' hand tighter as she pulls me forward, laughing, "Come on Four. We will do this. Together." At the top she pulls me closer and kisses me.
Zeke runs over to the zip line and clips on the first harness.
"Christina," he says. "It's all you."
Christina stands near the sling, tapping her chin with a finger.
"What do you think? Face-up or backward?"
"Face down, head first." Tris says as though there is no other choice.
"Backward," Matthew says. "I wanted to go face-up so I don't wet my pants, and I don't want you copying me."
"Going face-up will only make that more likely to happen, you know," Christina says. "So go ahead and do it so I can start calling you Wetpants."
Christina gets in the sling feet-first, belly down, just as Tris suggested. They share an excited smile. "This one's for you Caleb!" Christina yells just before she plunges over the side. I can't watch. I close my eyes as she travels farther and farther away, and even as Matthew and then Shauna do the same thing. They each take a moment to say something about Caleb, who made the ultimate sacrifice out of love for his sister, and allowed her to come back to me. I can hear their cries of joy, like birdcalls on the wind.
Cara goes next, taking a deep breath. Soon it will be just Tris and me with Zeke to help us into the harnesses. Cara climbs into the sling, unsteady and Zeke straps her in. She crosser her arms over her chest, and he sends her out, over Lake Shore Drive, over the city. I don't hear anything from her, not even a gasp.
Tris turns to me, "I think it's time." And I know she doesn't mean for me to go. She means to say goodbye, finally, to Caleb. She steps into the harness and has Zeke secure the urn behind her so the ashes will stream out behind her. Tears shine in her eyes as Tris reaches for me, pulling me closer to the edge than I want to go, but I move toward her on wooden legs.
"See you at the bottom." She whispers in my ear, kissing me deeply. I nod, stepping back from the edge, joining Zeke. And then she disappears, and I can hear here joyful cries fading into the distance as she hurtles away from me.
Then it's just Zeke and I left, staring at each other.
"Let's get this over with." I say, and though my voice is steady, my body is shaking, "Before I chicken out."
"You're Four, Dauntless legend!" Zeke says, grinning, "You can face anything." I cross my arms and inch closer to the edge of the roof. Even though I'm several feet away, I feel my body pitching over the edge and shake my head again, and again, and again. I turn my thoughts to more pleasant things, clinging to the thought of Tris and my apartment in the city, 100 stories below us, safe on the ground. I picture carrying her across the threshold of our new home, an Abnegation tradition showing love for your wife in providing them a safe place to live. The place where we will raise our kids. I can picture where Tris placed the glass statue, the gift my mother gave to us before she left the city, the memory of her enduring love for me. It sits in the center of our mantle. Perhaps in time, I will talk to Tris about asking my mother to come back and join us in the city.
"Hey, come on. You don't want to keep her waiting down there do you?" Zeke says pulling me back into the present. He puts his hand on my shoulder, comforting.
"Of course not. I'm just waiting for the ashes to get out of the way first." It's a lie, but a pretty good one.
"Of course you are." Zeke says, and I know he doesn't buy it. Thinking of the future ahead of all of us, I find I can smile, and it helps calm the hammering of my heart.
I climb into the sling, my hands shaking so much I can barely grip the sides. Zeke tightens the straps across my back and legs. I stare down Lake Shore Drive, swallowing bile, and start to slide.
Suddenly I want to take it back, but it's too late, I am already diving toward the ground. I'm screaming so loud, I want to cover my own ears. I feel the scream living inside me, filling my chest, through and head.
The wind stings my eyes but I force them open, and in my moment of blind panic I understand why Tris goes down this way, face-first-it makes her feel like she's flying, like she's a bird.
Just as I am able to appreciate the expanse visible before me and the security of the harness and sling preventing me from reaching a swift death, I realize that I have stopped moving.
The ground is only a few feet below me, close enough to jump down. I see the others, Tris in the middle of them, her eyes shining and proud. They have gathered in a circle, their arms clasped to form a net of bone and muscle to catch me in. I press my face to the sling and laugh.
I twist my arms behind my back to undo the straps holding me in. I drop into their arms like a stone. They catch me, their bones pinching at my back and legs, and lower me to the ground.
There is an awkward silence as I stare at the Hancock building in wonder. Tris embraces me, clutching me tightly to her and I kiss her, her lips, neck, and face. Someone coughs in an obvious and unsubtle manner.
Breaking apart, Tris keeps my hand in hers and looks around at all our friends. When she speaks, her voice rings clearly in the cool Chicago morning air. "My brother Caleb wasn't a perfect man. He was at war with himself much of his life, his nature fighting against the teachings of our parents, and perhaps at times, against his better judgment. Guilt almost drove him to do the right thing for the wrong reasons. But in the end, it was love that took him from us, love and a truly selfless act. Caleb Prior was Erudite. He was Abnegation. He was more than both. He was so brave."