So…I'm alive.

I've been incredibly touched by the insane number of reviews the last chapter garnered, and I just want to let you guys know that, yes, I do read EVERY SINGLE review and PM I get, and it makes me feel so insanely happy.

Like, I might as well have ingested some peace serum. ;)

Newayz, sorry for the long wait! It's holidays now, so I should be at my computer a lot more often. I also gave you lovelies two fears in this chapter instead of just one like I normally do. I estimate this fic to finish in another five chapters.

Happy reading!

Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent.

*Tris POV*

The waves pull and push against me as I fight to keep my head above the water. I try to quell the rising panic in me as I search for Tobias. The ocean waves pulled him away from me, and I can't see him anywhere.

Suddenly, I am dashed violently against a jutting rock. It bangs against my hipbone, and I feel the jarring impact in my bones. I wince but hold on to the rock, grasping it like a life vest.

My hair falls over my face, wet and streaming. I brush it away impatiently and scan the ocean. In my moment of scrutiny, my grasp slips and I find myself swept away by the waves again.

I try to think clearly. The ocean was a fear of helplessness, the fear of being out of control. To beat this, I have to regain control again. The only way to do that is to get out of the raging waves.

But I won't go anywhere until I find Tobias.

"Tobias!" I scream as loudly as I can, hoping he will hear me.

"Tris!" I hear a faint reply from somewhere to my right. "Tris!"

I start swimming in that direction, but I'm not making much headway. The sea is too strong for me to fight.

I grit my teeth and refuse to give up. The point of this fear is to teach me to be in control again. I will master this. I will reach Tobias.

Before I can swim any further, I am swept right into him. He quickly wraps his arms around me, and pushes my hair out of my face. "Are you okay?" he asks quickly, eyes making a quick inventory of my upper body. "Ye-yes," I stammer, nearly numb from the cold. "W-we n-need to g-get out of here."

"Tris, c-can you swim?"

"Yes. Let's go."

We both kick at the same time, and eventually we make it far enough that there are rocks we can climb up on. I grab the wet, cold rock and hoist myself up, Tobias following after me.

Immediately, the fear landscape moves on.

I'm tied up to a stake, and I know instantly what's going to happen.

Tobias is next to me, tied up as well. He struggles violently against the ropes binding him. "It won't work, Tobias," I say calmly. "They won't break."

He stops. "What happens in this fear, then?"

I don't need to reply because that's when Peter steps from the shadows. The people around him are like a punch in the gut. Christina and Will flank him, their faces showing no mercy at all. I know this isn't them, that it's some hallucinated version of them the simulation has presented, but I can't help believing.

There was a period of time, during initiation, that they did act with apathy toward me.

The next person to step forward is like a knife to the heart.

Caleb smiles maliciously, and his green eyes-so much like my mother-are mocking and sarcastic. This isn't the Abnegation brother I once knew. The brother who played Candor with me at the dining table, who helped me with complicated math problems and cooked dinner with me even if he didn't have to.

Peter sets fire to the stakes bounding each of us. The fire is nothing but a spark at first but as the people assembled before us laugh, it grows bigger, licking my feet.

I scream as the pain sweeps through me. This seems to encourage those around me and the fire gains strength, the smoke threatening to suffocate me.

"Know what that is?" Peter laughs derisively. "That's the smell of a burning Stiff."

My eyes lock on Caleb, nearly pleading, but he's laughing with Christina, both of them facing away from me. "Tris! It's not them!"

I faintly hear Tobias's voice but it sounds so far away-as if it's coming from the end of a very long tunnel. The fire is at my calves now and the pain nearly causes me to black out.

I try to fight, to summon my strength, but it's as if it all seeps away from me at the jeers of the crowd.

"Stupid Stiff!"

"How'd she think she'd ever be Dauntless?"

"Delusional, I suppose."

I close my eyes, ready to resign myself to a painful death.

I love you.

The words suddenly flash in my mind, and it's like my mother is here, here next to me, speaking those words in my ear. I love you, Beatrice.

I open my eyes and look out over the crowd, eyes landing on Peter. I look straight into his green eyes and do the last thing he would expect. I laugh.

The jeers and laughs of the crowd die away and almost instantly, the fire dies down, only at my ankles now. I lean down and stick out my hands, allowing the flamed to eat away at the charred rope.

They fall apart and I step away from the stake. To my right, Four moves away from the stake as well, and his blue eyes are full of an emotion I can't identify.

"How did you do that?" he asks abruptly as the background begins to fade away.

I look away from his eyes. "I've always been underestimated by people. I guess the simulation picked up on that."

"No, how did you manage to defeat the fear? I nearly thought you were just going to let yourself burn."

"I thought that too," I said, suddenly ashamed. "I don't know what happened really. I remembered my mother telling me she loved me, and then it gave me the strength to face Peter."

"Love is a very powerful thing," Tobias murmurs, eyes still fixated on mine.

"And I suppose you would know that, wouldn't you?" I smile, taking his hand.

"You changed me, Tris Prior," Tobias says suddenly. "I was just starting to accept my new situation and suddenly this girl just pops into my life and changes everything. She annoys the hell out of me at times. She's stubborn like you wouldn't believe. Sometimes that smart mouth of hers lands her in deep trouble. And I realize that I can't live with myself if I don't care for her, protect her, love her. I don't know what you did to me Beatrice,but I can't not love you for the rest of my life."

I smile and reach up on my toes to loop my arms around his neck. "I think you don't have an option, Four. I'm always going to be around whether you like it or not."

"That doesn't sound like a problem at all," he smiles, and for the moment, everything is perfect.

Yes, I know the last part is random but it felt perfect to me. And at least I didn't give y'all a cliffhanger! Or maybe I should next time…. *evil grin*

Give a gal some love and let me know whatcha think! Please review!

Till next time!