NOTE: It has been over a year since I have updated the story. I decided to change that when I got a notification today that someone favorited and followed. Please let me know if you would like Anna's story to continue!

I don't know how I did it. I walked away from Four.

"What do you expect? Are we going to be together but fighting on opposite sides of the war? That is not going to work."

That's the last thing he said to me. He didn't say goodbye. He didn't say I love you.

"That is not going to work."

No compromise.

I can barely remember getting to Dauntless. My limbs felt numb, my mind felt blank, and my heart had a slow bleed.

I was happy to be alone because I was devastated. I know I made the right decision to leave, I know that I was being true to myself but I was crumbling without Four. I remember falling into his arms the day I jumped off the roof and into the net during initiation, I felt afraid of everything and oddly free. I probably would have been killed or Factionless if it wasn't for Four's subtle help during initiation. Eric would never had the time to get to know me and change his opinion. Did I owe it to him to stay even though I didn't support the cause? What is going to happen once the war is over? Will it ever be over?

I wandered the halls, alone and anxious but, yet, oddly liberated. It seems nothing can be simple anymore.

My immediate eviction had me arrive in Dauntless the night before everyone else. I was alone in the dark cave-like compound, but I was home. My breathing seemed to echo down the hallways and my steps sounded like screams.

I slept in Four's old apartment. It was blissful torture. His sheets smelled like him. The room felt like him, the old him, the one who caught me, the one I fell in love with. I found myself crying late into the night and having terrible dreams. I was terrorized with memories of Marcus, flashes of pain, and loss of control. I felt like I was back in the simulations but I couldn't wake up. The cracking of the whip, the weight of his body and the feeling of eyes on me—eyes that were not Marcus' but ones that could save me. I searched the room during my struggle to escape. I found him, Four was leaning against the door, doing nothing but watching.

I was shaken awake, freed from the immediate terror, but still drowning in the memory. I looked up in the blue eyes of my savior- Eric.

"Bad dream?" he asked.

"Still just running from the past," I said my voice slightly cracking. "What are you doing in…his apartment?"

Apparently I still have a lot to learn from the Dauntless. The recent arrivals thought it necessary to search every area of the compound before convening to meet. Everyone was afraid that there would be an ambush or something that only a fool would have left Dauntless untouched. I felt like a fool not even considering it but then again I had an emotional day.

I made Eric and I coffee in Four's kitchen and walked with him while he checked the section of the compound he was assigned to.

"So," Eric started while checking under someone's bed, "where is the ever-so-serious Four?"

To cover the involuntary wince when I heard his name checked the closet. He tried to make his question seem nonchalant, but I could tell it was a weighty question.

"He will not be fighting for Dauntless, he has other concerns," I tried to say just as casually. I took extra time looking around the closet, even though one glance was enough to tell that there was nothing these, but I was afraid the tears that started to pool in my eyes would break the surface.

"I want to say I'm sorry, but I can't lie to you anymore," he said while leading me out the door and into another apartment. "I think I've done enough hiding and lie for a life time."

I'm not sure why but his statement made me feel better. It even made me smile a little because it's true; he has lied for a very long time. I liked that he was going to try to be honest, not that I completely trusted him. It almost made me feel sorry for him. He was being the person everyone wanted him to be, can he now even remember who he is? Has his selfhood been stripped away?

After his section was checked, I followed him down to the pit. The group of people gathering there were a lot of people I only slightly recognized from Dauntless. It wasn't the crowd I ran with… They were the ones I left behind. I suddenly felt a pang of guilt that I hadn't even tried to say goodbye to Christina. I know Evelyn said I couldn't, but why should that stop me?

I realized that there were not a lot of people in the pit. We didn't have nearly enough to stand a chance against either side right now. We needed more people.

No one was stepping up to take charge of the meeting. The group was just grumbling angrily amongst each other. I looked at Eric fiercely like I was scolding him. He may not have done things right in the past, but he knows how to lead and should step up now. By the look he gives me back I can tell that he is not going to.

My heart fluttered and I tried to rub the wrinkles out of my forehead. I took a deep breath and spoke loudly: "Quiet." There was stillness in the crowd. I felt inadequate speaking to my fellow dauntless because I was too new, knew no one, and was utterly alone. So I faked it and spoke with authority. "We should start with nominating leaders, that way we will have a group of people to organize our discussions and our actions. I would nominate someone, but I don't know who has the best skills here thus my nomination would be limited. So, who is it going to be?"

We had a direction, which motivated the group to think clearer. People shouted out a few names of people they thought fit for leadership. A man wrote them on a chalkboard that was one used to show the ranking of initiates. The man was in his late thirties, teetering dangerously close the expiration date of Dauntless but still looked fit, mentally capable, and lethal. He turned his baldhead and stern grey eyes to me and asked, "What is your name?"

"I'm Anna."

He wrote my name at the bottom of the list and called for a vote. After three hours and four fistfights, the nine nominations were narrowed down to a council of five.

I was one of the five.

I was one of the five.

I was one of the five.

I don't even know all the laws of Dauntless. I am fresh out of initiation. I am divergent. How was I one of the five?

My eyes met with Eric. He had been very quiet during the process and like he thought, he was not one of the five. But, when I looked at him with my big, bambi like eyes, he smiled. Eric smiled. That doesn't happen much. He was leaning against a wall sized boulder, smiling.

I felt like my world was upside down.

We held eye contact and he mouthed the words: "You can do it."

I felt my cheeks crimson and looked away. He's an idiot. But, he is right. I can do this. After all, I may be new, but I made the plan to save an entire faction. Now, I think I may just have another one to save the city.

I walked up to the other council members. They already were heatedly discussing our future. The council consisted of two women and three men. The other woman seemed very unconventional for dauntless. She was short, soft, with the most beautiful dark skin and brown eyes. The three men were almost indistinguishable from each other. They were all covered in tattoos and huge.

They didn't bat an eyelash when I walked up to them. I waited about two minutes before clearing my throat. It did nothing. I stood up tall took a deep breath and clearly said over their arguing, "Council members, I believe before we decide how to save the city, we need to know how we are going to take care of the people in this room."

This caught their attention. It probably helped that they realized those very people who elected them were just staring at them argue.

"As you can see we don't have very many members, meaning each person is extremely important. I propose we have the members separate into teams and assign them tasks to get the Dauntless compound sustainable again. We need people to prepare food, to clean, to watch any young children, to check the surveillance systems, and to acquire our 'missing' weapons." I held my ground while the entire room stared at me. I almost caught myself smiling because I was proud of myself—but I managed to suppress the urge. Smiling is not very dauntless.

In a softer voice I added only to the council, "Once people are assigned their duties we can discuss and argue in private. We can come to a decision in private, and be united when we present our decision to everyone."

There was two heartbeats of silence before Vera, the other councilwoman, said, "I second Anna's proposal."

Life was going to be very different. The shock (and joy) of being elected almost let me for him. Almost.