Sorry, rankings have been fixed. Don't know what happened but my word doc kept loosing the rankings.
CHAPTER FORTY TWO
TOBIAS POV
"Where's Tris?" I ask Caleb as I walk in the door.
"In the spare room," he says.
"What is she doing in there?"
"Sleeping. She said she wanted to lie down and when I went in there to get a book she was asleep on the bed," he says.
"Why wouldn't she sleep in our bed?" I ask.
"Don't know," Caleb says. "Where did you get all the books from?"
"Your old room," I say. "Every time we go and visit mum and dad Tris steals a couple of your old books out of your room. She says it makes her feel like you are closer."
"I thought you two hated reading," he says.
"No, we just didn't want you to know we enjoyed it. You would have talked our heads off," I say.
I walk into the spare room and Tris is asleep on the bed. I decide to lie down next to her and then I shake her shoulder. "Wake up sleepyhead," I say softly.
"Hey," she says as she rubs sleep out of her eyes.
"What are you doing in here?" I ask
"I couldn't face our room," she says.
"What was in your fear landscape Tris?" I ask
"Nothing," she says.
"Nothing? But you had six fears. There must have been something," I say. I actually already know. Max told me what had happened. But she can't know that I know. I need her to be able to tell me herself. I don't want her upset with me or Max about it.
"I'm glad you didn't have to watch it," she says.
"Do you want to tell me about it?"
"Not really. But I will. Caleb asked me about it but I wanted to wait and tell you together. I didn't want to have to relive it twice," she says.
"We've got time; do you want to talk about it now? Get it out of the way?"
Tris just nods her head. So I shout 'Caleb' really loudly. I don't want to have to get back up and get him, it is also what Tris and I used to do when we all lived in Abnegation. It used to drive dad nuts when we would do it.
"What?" Caleb comes bursting into the room.
"Tris is going to tell us what was in her fear landscape," I say.
"Awesome," Caleb says.
"Only you could get excited over a fear landscape Caleb," Tris says.
"Just wait until he has to go through it," I say.
"I do," Caleb says. "I'm totally excited about being able to do that. Do you know how it works? It is really fascinating."
Tris sits up on the bed. Caleb is sitting crossed legged at the end of the bed and I am lying next to Tris.
"Well four of the fears were the same as you saw in my fear simulations. The crows," Tris says.
"Crows?" Caleb asks.
"Yeah, I got attacked by crows, it's a control thing. Then I was in the tank of water. Then in the body of water. Then I had the one that I was told to kill my family. Then I had two new ones. I didn't have the one where I was tied to the stake and Peter was burning me alive, which is good. So the next one was Max telling Caleb that he had failed Dauntless and that he was being kicked out," she says. She has a few tears falling. I sit up and wipe them away.
"Hey it's okay, Caleb wouldn't know how to fail at anything," I say. She gives a bit of a laugh.
"So what was the last one?" Caleb asks sounding extremely excited.
"It was horrible," she says. She lets out a small sob.
'Hey it's okay. It wasn't real remember?" I say.
"Yeah, I know. But it felt so real. I got home and found you and Lynn in our bed and you told me you didn't love me like that and you kissed her," she says.
"Well we both know that is never going to happen. Especially not with Lynn," I say hugging her to me as tightly as I can.
"Why couldn't that happen?" Caleb says.
"Caleb really? Is that the question you want to ask right now?" I say.
"You may be smart but geez you are so dumb some times," I say.
"What, it wasn't real, so?" he says.
"Well it didn't end there," Tris says. "I couldn't handle what I saw and I didn't know how I was going to calm myself down so I ran out of here and went and jumped into the chasm."
Tris is full on crying now. I don't think I have ever seen her this upset in my entire life. She has always been the strong one in our relationship.
"You would kill yourself over a broken heart?" Caleb asks.
"No, I don't think so. All I could think was that I needed to get out of the sim and it was the quickest way to do that," she says.
"Lucky you won't ever have to find out," I say. Tris half laughs and half sobs, it comes out as almost a snort. Which makes us all laugh.
"That is like extremely smart Bea," Caleb says. "To be able to keep your head enough to find the quickest way out of the simulation. That is brilliant."
"So what made you come in here?" I ask.
"I got home and it all just still felt so real and I saw our bed and it made me want to cry. So I came in here," Tris says with more tears falling.
"Does that mean we need to change rooms?" I ask.
"No," Tris says while nodding her head yes.
I have to stop myself from laughing at her response. "Let's just try and sleep in our bed tonight," I say.
"This bed is really comfy," Tris says.
"I think we should try and face your fear Tris," I say.
"Maybe," she says.
"Come on we need to get up. We have to go and see the final rankings," I say.
"Can't you just tell me?" she asks.
"No. You have to be there. Plus, don't you want to see how our friends went?" I ask.
"Fine," she says with a huff. "I just need to go and wash my face."
The dining hall is a mass of black. It feels like the whole of Dauntless is in this one room. The noise level is crazy. I watch as Tris is standing with our friends. Caleb included.
Max, Scott and I stand on a table at the end of the dining hall. Max has a microphone in his hand and he starts to speak. "Okay quiet down," he says. This is Dauntless and I don't think we really know how to be completely quiet. "QUIET!" he shouts.
"Thank you. Today we are welcoming a new group of members into our ranks. They have been through our most rigorous training program for initiates ever," he says. With this a cheer goes up.
"We believe in bravery," he says. Another cheer from the crowd. "We believe in taking action. We believe in freedom from fear and in acquiring the skills to force the bad out of our world so that the good can prosper and thrive. If you also believe in those things, we welcome you."
The room erupts in more hollers and hoot from the crowd.
"Today I would like to mention two initiates in particular," Max says. "Peter. Drew. Could you please stand." I watch as Peter and Drew both jump up onto a table. Peter has a smirk on his face. I can't wait until it is wiped off his face.
"The two initiates that stand before you decided that it would be fair to hold another initiate down while the other beat her. All because she was ranking above them," Max says.
The crowd becomes outrages at this. You can hear calls of, "cowards!" "throw them in the chasm" and a few other not so nice words that totally fit.
"Yes, well, if they were members they are some of the options we may have taken," Max says. "However they aren't members and I have decided that we don't need members who act the way these two do. So I would ask that both you Peter and Drew make your way over to the door. There are a few friendly guards waiting to escort you to the factionless sector."
I have to hold back from laughing as the smirk has been wiped off Peter's face and both he and Drew can see that there is a large crowd of people that they need to get past before they reach the door. Some have already started to throw food at them. Peter quickly jumps off the table and is trying to run toward the door with Drew close on his heels. Although most members are giving them a punch or a shove as they move past them.
"Okay now that we have been able to take out the trash," Max says. Of course there is more cheering. "It is time to let you see who our newest members are and their ranks. So please look up to the screen behind me. Congratulations new members."
We quickly jump from the table so that everyone can see the list and this is what it looks like:
1. Tris
2. Uriah
3. Lynn
4. Edward
5. Marlene
6. Gabe
7. Jett
8. Myra
9. Kat
10. Rita
12. Mel
13. Will
14. Molly
15. Blade
16. Ash
17. Christina
I quickly make my way over to our group of friends who are all hugging and congratulating each other. I walk over and give Zeke a hug. "Congrats man. You must be proud of him," I say.
"Damn Four. Couldn't you have given him seventh place?" Zeke says. I look at him puzzled. "We had a bet going that he couldn't beat my ranking. Now I owe him my Dauntless cake for a month."
I can't help but laugh. This is going to be so funny to watch for the next month. "Don't laugh at me man," Zeke says. "This is a tragedy."
"I think you will survive Zeke," I say. "Now I have a girlfriend I need to congratulate."
I walk up to Tris who is hugging Lynn. Glad she isn't being weird around Lynn after the fear landscape. I can't help but to hug them both. I don't know what Tris would have ranked if Lynn hadn't helped her but I do know that it made stage one a lot easier than it could have been.
"Congratulations," I yell so they can both hear me.
"Thanks Four," Lynn says. While Tris lets go of Lynn and hugs me close to her. "I'm proud of you," I say.
"I love you," Tris says.
"Oh dear," Lynn says next to us.
"What?" I say.
Lynn just points. We probably couldn't hear her unless she shouted anyway. A few feet away Will and Christina look like they are in a heated conversation. Will is pointing his finger up and down like he is scolding a child. Christina has arms flailing around her, like she is speaking with her hands. Next thing we see is Will storming out and Christina slumping to the floor.
"Quick, we need to get her before someone steps on her," I say. Tris and I rush over and I pick her off the ground and put her on a seat.
"What happened?" Tris asks sitting next to Christina.
"He dumped me," she says through tears. "He said it was my fault that he ranked so low. That if he had trained harder and not spent all his time with me then he wouldn't have to get a job as a fence guard."
Tris has put her arm around Christina and I am crouched down in front of her.
"That's not true," I say. It may be a little. But she doesn't need to hear that right now. "Christina go and celebrate with your friends," I say. "Don't let this take away the fact that you are now a member of Dauntless."
"Thanks Four," she says.
"What's up?" Lynn asks. Tris tells her what has happened and in true Lynn style she tells Christina, "screw him."
"Tris," Max calls. "Congratulations on coming in first."
"Thank you," Tris says.
"Have you thought about what job you would like to have?" Max asks.
"Yes. I think I would like to stick with ambassador," Tris says.
"I will note that down. I still need you at the job choosing tomorrow to make it official," he says. "Four can you please offer the position to Uriah? I am not going to offer the job to a lower ranked initiate and I don't want it on the advertised list of jobs."
"Sure, I'll talk to him before the job choosing," I say.
We stayed in the dining hall for hours. I think every member in the dining hall came and congratulated Tris on ranking first. We would usually have had a banquet but we are going to wait until the trials are over. It was after midnight before we got to go home. I still had to have interviews with the initiates tomorrow morning before job choosing in the afternoon. It is going to be a long few days to come.
I spent the morning with Max and Scott. We interviewed the new members that were ranked sixth to twelfth to see what interests they had in the hope it would help us to give them two options to pick from at job choosing. Now I am standing with Max while they come up and tell us what they would like for a job. We also have Alice here from housing to organise where they are all going to live. Most will have to share and depending on their rank will also make a difference on what type of apartment they get.
So this is how the job choosing went:
Tris – Ambassador – living with me.
Uriah – Leader in training – leaders wing, Marlene moving in with him.
Lynn– Personal trainer and sniper – leaders wing, Rita sharing with her.
Edward – Weapons development – moving in with Myra.
Marlene - Assistant to leaders – leaders wing, with Uriah.
Gabe – Control room – sharing with Jett.
Jett – Tattoo parlour – sharing with Gabe.
Myra – Doctor – doctor's quarters with Edward.
Kat – Control room – sharing with Josh and Mel.
Rita – Nurse – sharing with Lynn.
Josh – Kitchen – sharing with Kat and Mel.
Mel – Retail – sharing with Kat and Josh.
Will – Fence guard – sharing with Blade and Ash.
Molly – Fence guard – sharing with Christina.
Blade – Fence guard – sharing with Will and Ash.
Ash – Fence guard – sharing with Will and Blade.
Christina – Fence guard – sharing with Molly.
The only person who was upset was Christina but Alice told her she could sleep on the floor in the pit if she wasn't happy. Tris felt bad for her and tried to convince me to let her stay with us. I put my foot down, there was no way I was letting her stay with us. She was still really upset with being dumped by Will. That was until Gabe asked her out. We will all have to stay tuned for what happens with them.
Caleb is also going to be studying to be a doctor. So he will be moving up to the doctors wing. It is good that he and Myra will be able to study together. He also asked Rita out on a date. I think it will be good for both of them. Rita is going to be working in the infirmary as a nurse so they will be spending a lot of time together. The first six months Rita has to go to Erudite for training. Caleb, Myra and Rita have already agreed to share an apartment in Erudite. They only have to be there four days a week so they will spend three nights a week in Erudite and the rest of their time in Dauntless.
Myra was excited that she would be able to see her family again. Although from what Cara told me, they are all going to be so busy with their studies they won't have much time to socialise. Caleb and Myra will be doing this for the next four years. Caleb still needs to do his initiate training; I have given him Lynn as his trainer. But that is only going to take a few weeks. Training for him at Erudite doesn't start for another two months so he and Myra will just work in the infirmary helping wherever needed until then.
Max has asked that Uriah and Tris start their jobs tomorrow. He wants all leaders and leaders in training and ambassadors at the trials tomorrow. He wants us to show a united front. Scott has been spending most of his days at the trials. Watching the ten members who were also implicated in the mess questioned. We have to sit down next week and decide what to do with them. I haven't read over the trials yet so I have no idea how deep they were in on any plans. I will just have to wait and see. Eric is the first trial that I will be going to tomorrow morning. That will be followed by Vera and then Graham. If there is enough time we will also be watching Jeanine's trial tomorrow otherwise it will be the next day.
I have already heard that a lot of high ranking scientists from Erudite have been executed for their involvement in what happened. It seems that there were a lot of people who believed whole heartedly in what Jeanine was doing and had no regrets in what they had done. I have no sympathy for those people. To think that they wanted to control us and then kill innocent people including children, the thought just makes me sick.