Chapter 18 (Tris' POV)

It's really hurts, and it's suffocating. I don't know what to believe. Maybe Tobias was telling the truth about Hestia. Maybe I judged too early- it could have completely been Hestia's fault, not Tobias'. But then why didn't he push her off? I can't stay here. I never felt like this before in Christina's apartment; she is, after all, my best friend. The lights are shut, and so is door to Christina and Will's bedroom. For the first time in a long while, I feel like I can't stand to be in here.

I look at the clock. 10:47. What happened to 10:46? Did Six just get pushed off? Has the time for Four and Six, Tobias and Tris, passed?

No, you love Tobias. Part of my voice argues.

Yes, he wouldn't like someone like you. Another says.

I can't stay here. I jump up and walk to the door, silently walking out, making sure to lock the door as I leave.

I wander to wherever; I'm not even looking where I'm going. I'm trapped in my thoughts. Should I go ask Tobias for forgiveness? Is he the one who should ask for forgiveness? I don't know.

I look up and take in my surroundings. I was in the Pit, next to the chasm. Most of the people who are out are near the bar, drunk and laughing. I remember when, a year ago, Tobias had saved me from Peter, Drew, and Al. I wonder how Al's doing. What happens after someone dies? Is there an afterworld, or rebirth? I never really thought about dying before, but surely, it can't be worse than the pain of seeing Tobias, my Tobias, kissing Hestia.

I am so wrapped up in my thoughts that I don't notice something's wrong until the last second. I jump back, away from the chasm. How dare they! Trying to sneak up behind me. Jose and Hestia, those idiots!

"What do you think you are doing, initiates?" I ask fiercely. I am in no mood for their BS.

"Getting rid of you, of course! What else?" Hestia smirked.

It's happening again. First, it was Peter and his friends. Now, it's Jose and Hestia. Except this time, there's no Tobias to save me. I try to sound stronger than I am, and say "Good luck trying."

"Thanks!" a voice comes from behind me. What? Guess it isn't just Jose and Hestia after all. Justin's in it too. Before I can react this time, a rag is thrown over my mouth and tightened. But they haven't tied my arms yet, or my feet. I may not be able to scream, but I can run, or I can fight. Even though I'd like to fight, I'd probably lose, since it's 3 to 1, so I run. But before I can get far though, I fall. I can't believe that I didn't see Hestia's foot. The air is knocked out of me, and I groan, but get up anyway. I reach up with my arms and pull off the rag.

Hestia's the nearest to me, and I punch her. "Shouldn't have forgotten that my arms are more important than my mouth in a fight!" I say, before punching her again in the temple. She drops, knocked out already. I turn swiftly and get into a stance, taking note of my surroundings.

Chasm 15 feet away. I must move farther away.

I look at Jose and Justin. Jose is about 10 feet in front of me, and Justin is about 20 feet to the left of me. Jose would be easier to knock out, because he's so slow. But first, I must make sure that Justin doesn't attack when I'm fighting Jose.

"Are you guys seriously trying to get rid of me like this?" I smirk at them. "I already knocked out one of you, and I'm sure I can take on you two as well!"

"Oh shut up, you stupid little Stiff!" Jose sneers and charges toward me. Bad mistake. I easily step aside, punching him in the nose as I did so.

"Oww!" he groans from the floor. I turn around. Now, Justin and Jose are nearer to the chasm than I am.

"C'mon, fight me! Or are you scared of a 'stupid little Stiff'?" I taunt.

Jose looks up from his spot on the floor. His nose is a bloody mess. He glares at me, and I raise my eyebrows, but I freeze when I see the knife he brings out from the hidden sheath in his jacket.

Jose gets up. Knife is in hand. Holding it wrong. Use it to my advantage!

I dart toward Jose, and surprised, he stands there. But a millisecond before I would have knocked the knife out of his hand, he moves away. I stop, and turn, but Justin is on top of me, and punches me.

He hits, but before he can dwell too much on his triumph for that one punch, I roll on the floor and jump up suddenly, trying to ignore the pounding in my hand. Meanwhile, Jose's advancing with the knife in his hand. I don't let fear control me. I must fight my way out. Once I am not between them and the chasm, then I can run. But now, I must fight. I fake dizziness, which isn't hard, and just when Jose is close enough, I kick him in the groin. Or try to. I miss. Before I can move my leg back, he swipes down with the knife. The pain in now in both my head and leg. I push it out of my head, and back up. I underestimated his hit. I fall, winded and weak, my leg gushing blood. So that's the damage. Suddenly, Justin's there, and a kick is aimed at my chest. My breath is knocked out of me. I'd like to say I could get up and fight, but seeing how deep the blade went scared me. I can't stand up, not when the blade sliced through almost a quarter of my calf. I can't fight, not when I'm so winded and lost so much blood. So I do the last thing I can. I yell, "FOUR!"

I didn't mean to yell that exactly, but it was the first thing I can think of. But before I can see what happened, or whether he arrived, I pass out, and slip into darkness.

Water... My throat feels like sandpaper, my head is pounding, and my leg feels like it's being burned.

"Water," I croak out.

Suddenly, hands are there, holding a cup to my lips. I gulp down the water, grateful for the temporary relief in my throat.

I try to lift my head, see who it was, even though I recognized the hands that gave me water, but a wave of dizziness comes over me.

"Tobias," I say, before I drop my head back onto the pillows.

"You sure, Tris?" a feminine voice asks. I knew it was Christina.

I nod slightly, but even the slight movement takes enormous effort.

I look up in a few moments after Christina went out, and there he is.

I wonder if he heard me when I yelled for him... yesterday? I don't remember. I think that it was yesterday. Maybe someone else heard me.

"Who's training the initiates?" I ask.

"Uriah put both classes together and he's taking care of them. Christina's been here, and... so have I," he replies, his eyes flicking toward mine, intense blue. But the dart away before I can read what he's thinking.

"What about them?" I ask, curious. He knows who I am talking about.

"I was walking by the Pit, going... somewhere. And I heard your voice, so I came running... Hestia was knocked out on the floor"- he glanced at me again before turning away- "and she's in bad shape. Broken arm. Fell the wrong way. Jose tried to fight me, but he was knocked out pretty quickly, and apparently I gave him a concussion and is now residing in the infirmary as well. And Justin tried to run."

"Tried to?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.

"He's in the infirmary now. With injuries that are far worse than what Jose got."

"I see..." I don't know what to say. I'm just really glad that they got what they deserved.

We sit there in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Tobias speaks up, breaking the calm atmosphere.

"Tris, I hate to bring this up when you're in the infirmary with all these injuries, but it's necessary... What happened a few days ago with that initiate, Hestia? It wasn't what it looked like. Honestly! She kissed me out of nowhere, and I was going to push her off when you turned around. It was less than a second. Tris, please forgive me, it wasn't what it looked like!"

I know that there's a large possibility that he was telling the truth, but I wasn't sure... I mean, it looked like he kissed her first, and it couldn't have been just a second. If it was, surely I would have seen!

I don't reply, and turn around, facing the blank wall.

"I'll ask the nurse to get you some pain med, and then you can get some sleep. You need to rest," he says, in a strangled voice.

Too tired to protest and too guilty to say anything, I nod again and retreat into my world of thoughts.

A/N: I know this is a little late, but my extended family arrived and it's been hectic. And they'll be staying for a while, and my aunt's getting married on Friday, and a bunch of other reasons. But I uploaded a chapter anyway, and it's not that short, so I hope it satisfies you...

On a far more important note, I have a plan forming about how Tobias would apologize, inspired by a reviewer. It will be the next chapter. Promise :) And now for the reviews:

divergentoverblood: . . . You did not just say you got bored reading a Percy Jackson book! No sir (ma'am) NO! Booklover4610 I think we've found a monster from Tartarus! Lol, JK, it's cool. It's just... How? PJO and HoO are the best fantasy books I've ever read- but that's just my opinion. Just, read all of them- you won't regret it! Anyway... Tobias giving Tris a 5 layer Dauntless Cake? Awww you got me hungry! That's a good idea- maybe I should expand on that for their wedding (you all knew that they were going to get back together anyway, so :P)

DivergentLife: I'll consider it... Maybe I can do a continuation, like the second year that Tris is an instructor with a whole new batch of initiates. But it really depends on how things turn out. Maybe all the extracurricular activities will overwhelm me and I won't be able to do a continuation, maybe not. But if I have enough time to update at least four times a month, I'll definitely write a continuation.

Manic Mama: Aww... Thank you so much. It honestly means a lot, everything that people think about this fanfiction. You're in Australia? Oh my gods that so cool! I've never beenanywhere outside of the United States, except for when I was not even a year old. You've trained as an English teacher? That's so amazing- ELA was my best and favorite subject (and it still is!) Thanks for the encouragement and support! :D

happyReader: Thanks! This is a little later than usual, but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless :) And yes, the meeting with Max was about Divergents :)

fanficforyou: Thank you! The next chapter will include Uriah and Marlene's engagement, and Tris will forgive Tobias in the next chapter too. Hestia's punishment is also thought out, but that will be the chapter after the next chapter, maybe. Idk yet... Well, Tris did throw the engagement ring to Tobias the day that she saw them kissing, so they're not exactly engaged anymore... And you want to jump right into marriage? :P Boy you have big dreams and high expectations (not that it's a bad thing, of course! :P)

NotJustAShadow: Tobias will fix this in the next chapter. And yes, Hestia will be fighting in the next chapter (or the one after that), but against Alyssa? I'm not so sure. Maybe someone else will get the honor... Oh my gods YES Uriah is one of the BEST characters ever. A tattoo... Hmm... IDEA! Thanks for the inspiration! The idea I just had will be used in the next few chapters :D

Booklover4610: I sort of combined all my favorite characters together to make Skye (Jace Herondale, hence the blonde hair and good fighting skills, Uriah, because who doesn't like Uriah, Prince/King Maxon Shreave, because he's amazing and caring, and a bunch of other people). I'd say more but everything's been PMed to you, so yea :P

mahomiefresno: Well, that's a good idea, but I won't write scenes like that- I'm still an innocent child :P I mean, I guess it's what couples would do, but I dunno, I have another idea, inspired by NotJustAShadow and Booklover4610, and it's pretty good (even if I do say so myself! :P) so yea... But thanks for sharing your thoughts!

louisseatordido: Four will make it up to Tris, don't worry! I have an idea, inspired by all of the reviews, so you'll see what happens in the following chapter :)

Artofskating: Proposing with Dauntless Cake! That's so Uriah! How'd you guess? :P I love Uriah- he's an amazing character, and one of my favorites. But not as much as Percy Jackson, and Booklover4610 would probably agree :P

partymouse: Something dangerous? Well, they did in this chapter, but it isn't what will bring them back together... Good guess though! And thanks for reviewing!

Hang on tight- the next chapter will include an engagement, a forgiveness message, a party, and more!

To my fellow fangirls and fanboys: Be sure to give thanks tomorrow and be grateful for our books! Life without books is no life at all!

~myperfectionismyimperfection