Hello I own nothing, I got a review. I was a little confused by. Why would Christina be mad at Ava? Will isn't dead, he was shot in the arm and knocked out instead. SO review and thanks for reading.

"Let's go," I was happy to be leaving "Gladly," Tris said hugging her brother before him and Susan went in another direction.

"Here we go," Tobias said "I have a question" I say as we walk over the fallen building large slabs of concrete.

"So are you going to help your mother destroy our world? I heard your conversation, she wants you to become important, I can't believe you would go with such a plan. Or fathom it. Can't you see what she is really doing? I am more worried you told us to trust you, but you don't tell us about anything, so how can we Four," his eyes trained on me.

"Or maybe she tells the girl you love that she means nothing to you that, she is temporary," now his steps falter, his eyes move to Tris "Tris, did she?"

"You think Ava is lying, not a very good brother. Your mother is using you," we walked leaving Four "I know, on some level I know. But Tris you are permeant in my life as much as the air I breathe," she takes his hand, forgiving too easy.

"The chaos without the factions isn't a world I want to live in," Tris says and that hits Four "I agree Tris, people wouldn't know how to function. Evelyn is moving herself into a position of power because that is what she wants, power."

Candor headquarters is large enough to contain an entire world. Or so it seems to me. It is a wide cement building that overlooks what was once the river. We can't see anything beyond my reflection in the glass doors. I don't look my best, I am tired and my hair down in a wavy curly mess.

The lobby is large and well-lit, with black marble floors that stretch back to an elevator bank. A ring of white marble tiles in the center of the room form the symbol of Candor: a set of unbalanced scales, meant to symbolize the weighing of truth against lies. The room is crawling with armed Dauntless.

A Dauntless soldier with an arm in a sling approaches us, gun held ready, barrel fixed on Tobias.

"Identify yourselves," one of the women says. She is young, but not young enough to know Tobias.

The others gather behind her. Some of them eye us with suspicion, the rest with curiosity, but far stranger than both is the light I see in some of their eyes. Recognition. They might know Tobias, but how could they possibly recognize me? Maybe Tris?

"Four," he says. He nods toward me. "And this is Tris and Ava. All Dauntless."

The Dauntless soldier's eyes widen, but she does not lower her gun. Some help here?" she asks. Some of the Dauntless step forward, but they do it cautiously, like we're dangerous.

"Are you armed?"

"Of course I'm armed. I'm Dauntless, aren't I?" I snap out her eyes on me. Stand with your hands behind your head." She says it wildly, like she expects us to refuse. I glance at Tris who looks between me and Tobias, why is everyone acting like we're wild beasts?

"We walked through the front door," Tris says slowly. "You think we would have done that if we were here to hurt you?"

Tobias doesn't look back at either of us. He just touches his fingertips to the back of his head. After a moment, we do the same.

Dauntless soldiers crowd around us. One of them pats down Tobias's legs while the other takes the gun tucked under his waistband.

Another one, a round-faced boy with pink cheeks, looks at me apologetically "I'm going to assume you want to keep your hands, if so keep them off of me. I have a knife in my back pocket. Tris does too. Touch her you die."

He mumbles some kind of apology. His fingers pinch the knife handle, careful not to touch me. Then moves onto Tris.

"What's going on?" asks Tobias.

The first soldier exchanges looks with some of the others.

"I'm sorry," she says. "But we were instructed to arrest you upon your arrival."

"Isn't this a warm welcome," I say they don't handcuff us but lead us to the elevator bank, it will do us no good to ask them why, they wouldn't answer, so I wait, we will find out soon enough. We go to the third level, where they take us to a small room with a white marble floor instead of a black one. There's no furniture except for a bench along the back wall.

Tobias sits down on the bench, his brow furrowed. Tris walked back and forth as I think If Erudite didn't take over Candor—and Edward told us they didn't—why would the Candor arrest us? What could we have done to them?

"Can you please calm down?" Tobias says. "You're making me nervous."

"This is me calming down." Tris says back.

He leans forward, resting his elbows on his knees, and stares between his sneakers. "The wound in your lip begs to differ."

His eyes move to me standing against the far wall "Sometimes," he says, "I worry that you don't trust me."

"I don't Four, until you give me a reason. I love you, you're my brother I thought it was us together, but now it's Tris and I against you and Evelyn. I hope you know what you stand to lose, whether Tris says it or not, you will lose her," I say.

"I will earn your trust Ava," his lips brush my forehead and I want to trust Four, he is all I have other than Tris right now.

The door opens. A few people file in—two Candor with guns; a dark-skinned, older Candor man; a Dauntless woman I don't recognize. And then Jack Kang, representative of Candor.

By most faction standards, he is a young leader—only thirty-nine years old. But by Dauntless standards, that's nothing. Eric became a Dauntless leader at seventeen. But that's probably one of the reasons the other factions don't take our opinions or decisions seriously.

Jack is handsome, too, with short black hair and warm, slanted eyes, like Tori's, and high cheekbones. Despite his good looks, he isn't known for being charming, probably because he's Candor, and they see charm as deceptive. I do trust him to tell us what's going on without wasting time on pleasantries. That is something.

"They told me you seemed confused about why you were arrested," he says. His voice is deep, but strangely flat, like it could not create an echo even at the bottom of an empty cavern. "To me that means either you're falsely accused or good at pretending. The only—"

"We don't have time for this. What are we being accused of?" I interrupt him I could be Candor, Eric always warned me my mouth would get me killed, and his wicked smile filled my head before I have to shake it off.

"He is accused of crimes against humanity.

"You two are accused of being his accomplice."

"Crimes against humanity?" Tobias finally sounds angry. He gives Jack a disgusted look. "What?"

"We saw video footage of the attack. You were running the attack simulation," says Jack.

"How could you have seen footage? We took the data," says Tobias.

"You took one copy of the data. All the footage of the Dauntless compound recorded during the attack was also sent to other computers throughout the city," says Jack. "All we saw was you running the simulation and her nearly getting punched to death before she gave up. Then you stopped, had a rather abrupt lovers' reconciliation, and stole the hard drive together. While this one was using the computers. One possible reason is because the simulation was over and you didn't want us to get our hands on it."

"Nothing we say is going to matter to them, unless it's under their Truth serum. I will do it," I say.

"You all will have to," Jack King says.

"All right, then." He checks his watch. "It is now noon. The interrogation will be at seven. Don't bother preparing for it. You can't withhold information while under the influence of truth serum."

He turns on his heel and walks out of the room.

"What a pleasant man," says Tobias "I found him to be pleasant," I say they look at me "At least you know where you stand here," I say.

A group of armed Dauntless escort Tris and I to the bathroom in the early afternoon, I shower feeling better the water dirty at our feet "Tris it will be fine, I didn't mean to sign you up for something you didn't want to do," she gave me a weak smile.

"I know, but I have nothing to hide," we dry off seeing Dauntless clothes I pull on the leather pants, bra and black tank top with my jacket, this was mine, I know because late one night I sewed the Amity symbol into the lining of it. "Where did you get this?"

"We were just told to give you those clothes," she said as she marched us back to the holding cell "What's so important?" Tris asked than I showed her, she smiled our friends are here.

"Hungry?" he says. He offers us a sandwich from the plate next to him Tris just cuddles up next to him, I take one sitting on the floor.

"Are you afraid of saying anything?" he asks Tris "Not, really," she mused but if she had killed Will that day she would be "You Ava?"

"No,"

"How about you Four, should I give them some question I want answered?" he raised his eyes to me "You would have done well here in Candor. I won't lie to you Ava," I close my eyes and rest, Tris doing the same. There's no clock in the room, so I can't count down the minutes until the interrogation. Time might as well not exist in this place, except I feel it pressing against me as seven o'clock inevitably draws closer, pushing me into the floor tiles.

Tris is sleeping for some time, Tobias and I say as silent as possible so she can rest my head resting on the wall, my thoughts on Eric. The doors opens and Tris nearly falls but Tobias' arm holds her in place, I stand with them as a few Dauntless walk in but one shouts out our names over and over.

Christina with Will at her side, they shove others out of the way.

Her smile is warm, Will has a small limp but it's better than being dead Christina throws her arms around Tris as Will hugs me "Thank you Ava, I would be dead if it wasn't for you,"

"Hey, no thanks. Tris was forced to shoot you," he gave a nod "At least she didn't kill, me. I wouldn't have blamed her though,' he smiled.

"Got shot," Tris says. "Shoulder. Ow."

"Oh God!" She releases her. "Sorry, Tris."

"I am sorry Will," Tris said but he hugs her "No, I am sorry Tris,"

Christina lunges at me, we hug "God I missed you Ava," she had tears in her eyes "I missed you too," I held her tight like if I let go she might vanish.

"You okay? I heard you were here so I asked to escort you," she says as we leave the holding room. "I know you didn't do it. You're not a traitor."

"I'm fine," I say. "And thank you. How are you?"

"Good," she smiled at Will.

"Don't worry about the truth serum," she says. "It's easy. You barely know what's happening when you're under. It's only when you resurface that you even know what you said. I went under when I was a kid. It's pretty commonplace in Candor." As a kid they made you use this stuff, that's pretty low, at least to me.

The other Dauntless in the elevator give each other looks. In normal circumstances, someone would probably reprimand her for discussing her old faction, but these are not normal circumstances. At no other time in Christina's life will she escort her best friends, now a suspected traitor, to a public interrogation.

"Is everyone else all right?" I say. "Uriah, Lynn, Marlene?"

"All here," she says. "Except Uriah's brother, Zeke, who is with the other Dauntless?"

"What?" Zeke, who secured my straps on the zip line, a traitor? Tris gasped, I was shocked not Zeke, this was a lie it had to be. The elevator stops on the top floor, and the others file out.

"I know," she says. "No one saw it coming."

She takes my arm and tugs me toward the doors. We walk down a black-marble hallway—it must be easy to get lost in Candor headquarters, since everything looks the same. We walk down another hallway and through a set of double doors.

Another Dauntless has Tris, a male has Four, but that is for another time.

Here the marble floors are white, with a black Candor symbol in the center of the room, and the walls are lit with rows of dim yellow lights, so the whole room glows. Every voice echoes.

Most of Candor and the remnants of Dauntless are already gathered. Some of them sit on the tiered benches that wrap around the edge of the room, but there isn't enough space for everyone, so the rest are crowded around the Candor symbol. In the center of the symbol, between the unbalanced scales, are two empty chairs.

Tobias and Tris hold hands, as I stand watching everything, my eyes and mind soaking everything up. I spot Jack Kang in the front row of the tiered benches.

An old, dark-skinned man steps forward, a black box in his hands.

"My name is Niles," he says. "I will be your questioner. You—" He points at Tobias. "You will be going first. So if you will please step forward …"

Niles opens the black box. It contains two needles, one for Tobias and one for me. He also takes an antiseptic wipe from his pocket and offers it to Tobias. We didn't bother with that kind of thing in Dauntless.

"The injection site is in your neck," Niles says.

All I hear, as Tobias applies antiseptic to his skin, is the wind. Niles steps forward and plunges the needle into Tobias's neck, squeezing the cloudy, bluish liquid into his veins.

I will ask you a series of simple questions so that you can grow accustomed to the serum as it takes full effect," says Niles. "Now.

What is your name?"

Tobias sits with slouched shoulders and a lowered head, like his body is too heavy for him. He scowls and squirms in the chair, and through gritted teeth says, "Four."

Maybe it isn't possible to lie under the truth serum, but to select which version of the truth to tell: Four is his name, but it is not his name.

"That is a nickname," Niles says. "What is your real name?"

"Tobias," he says.

Christina elbows Tris and me. "Did you guys know that?"

We nod and she seemed a little upset, like we left her out.

"What are the names of your parents, Tobias?"

Tobias opens his mouth to answer, and then clenches his jaw as if to stop the words from spilling out.

"Why is this relevant?" Tobias asks.

The Candor around me mutter to each other, some of them scowling. I raise my eyebrow at Christina.

"It's extremely difficult not to immediately answer questions while under the truth serum," she says. "It means he has a seriously strong will. And something to hide."

"Maybe it wasn't relevant before, Tobias," Niles says, "but it is now that you've resisted answering the question. The names of your parents, please."

Tobias closes his eyes. "Evelyn and Marcus Eaton."

Surnames are just an additional means of identification, useful only to prevent confusion in official records. When we marry, one spouse has to take the other's surname, or both have to take a new one. Still, while we may carry our names from family to faction, we rarely mention them.

Eaton is a powerful name.

"Do you have a sibling," Tobias clenched his jaw "Yes,"

"Their name, please," Niles says.

"Ava Eaton," murmurs throughout the crowd.

Niles waits for silence, then continues. "So you are a faction transfer, are you not?"

"Yes."

"You transferred from Abnegation to Dauntless?"

"Yes," snaps Tobias. "Isn't that obvious?"

"One of the purposes of this interrogation is to determine your loyalties," says Niles, "so I must ask: Why did you transfer?"

Tobias glares at Niles, and keeps his mouth shut. Seconds pass in complete silence. The longer he tries to resist the serum the harder it seems to be for him: color fills his cheeks, and he breathes faster, heavier. My chest aches for him. The details of his childhood should stay inside him, if that's where he wants them to be. Candor is cruel for forcing them from him, for taking away his freedom.

"This is disgusting," I say hotly to Christina. "Horrible. Wrong." Tris adds, grasping at anything to express her anger.

"What?" she says. "It's a simple question."

I shake my head. "You don't understand."

Christina smiles a little at me. "You really care about him."

I am too busy watching Tobias to respond.

Niles says, "I'll ask again. It is important that we understand the extent of your loyalty to your chosen faction. So why did you transfer to Dauntless, Tobias?"

"To protect myself," says Tobias. "I transferred to protect myself."

"Protect yourself from what?"

"From my father."

All the conversations in the room stop, and the silence they leave in their wake is worse than the muttering was. I expect Niles to keep probing, but he doesn't.

"Thank you for your honesty," Niles says. The Candor repeat the phrase under their breath. All around me are the words "Thank you for your honesty" at different volumes and pitches, and my anger begins to dissolve. The whispered words seem to welcome Tobias, to embrace and then discard his darkest secret.

It's not cruelty, maybe, but a desire to understand, that motivates them. That doesn't make me any less afraid of going under truth serum.

"Is your allegiance with your current faction, Tobias?" Niles says.

"My allegiance lies with anyone who does not support the attack on Abnegation," he says.

"Speaking of which," Niles says, "I think we should focus on what happened that day. What do you remember about being under the simulation?"

"I was not under the simulation, at first," says Tobias. "It didn't work."

Niles laughs a little. "What do you mean, it didn't work?"

"One of the defining characteristics of the Divergent is that their minds are resistant to simulations," says Tobias. "And I am Divergent. So no, it didn't work."

More mutters. Christina nudges me with her elbow.

"Are you too?" she says, close to my ear so she can stay quiet. "Is that why you were awake?"

I look at her. I have spent the past few months afraid of the word "Divergent," terrified that anyone would discover what I am. But I won't be able to hide it anymore. I nod.

It's like her eyes swell to fill their sockets; that's how big they get. I have trouble identifying her expression. Is it shock?

Fear?

Awe?

"Do you know what it means?" I say.

"I heard about it when I was young," she says in a reverent whisper.

Definitely awe.

"Like it was a fantasy story," she says. "'There are people with special powers among us!' Like that."

"Well, it's not a fantasy, and it's not that big a deal," I say. "It's like the fear landscape simulation—you were aware while you were in it, and you could manipulate it. Except for me, it's like that in every simulation. I just shut it down, or change it. Tris is Divergent too, dummy." She smiles widely, like she's proud.

In the center of the room, Niles has his hands up and is trying to silence the crowd, but there are too many whispers—some hostile, some terrified, and some awed, like Christina's. Finally Niles stands and yells, "If you don't quiet down, you will be asked to leave!"

At last everyone quiets down. Niles sits.

"Now," he says. "When you say 'resistant to simulations,' what do you mean?"

"Usually, it means we're aware during simulations," says Tobias. He seems to have an easier time with the truth serum when he answers factual questions instead of emotional ones. He doesn't sound like he's under the truth serum at all now, though his slumped posture and wandering eyes indicate otherwise. "But the attack simulation was different, using a different kind of simulation serum, one with long-range transmitters. Evidently the long-range transmitters didn't work on the Divergent at all, because I awoke in my own mind that morning."

"You say you weren't under the simulation at first. Can you explain what you mean by that?"

"I mean that I was discovered and brought to Jeanine, and she injected a version of the simulation serum that specifically targeted the Divergent. I was aware during that simulation, but it didn't do much good."

"The video footage from the Dauntless headquarters shows you running the simulation," Niles says darkly. "How, exactly, do you explain that?"

"When a simulation is running, your eyes still see and process the actual world, but your brain no longer comprehends them. On some level, though, your brain still knows what you're seeing and where you are. The nature of this new simulation was that it recorded my emotional responses to outside stimuli," Tobias says, closing his eyes for a few seconds, "and responded by altering the appearance of that stimuli. The simulation made my enemies into friends, my friends into enemies. I thought I was shutting the simulation down. Really I was receiving instructions about how to keep it running."

Christina nods along to his words. I feel calmer when I see that most of the crowd is doing the same thing. This is the benefit of the truth serum, I realize. Tobias's testimony is irrefutable this way.

"We have seen footage of what ultimately happened to you in the control room," says Niles, "but it is confusing. Please describe it to us."

"Someone entered the room, and I thought it was a Dauntless soldier, trying to stop me from destroying the simulation. I was fighting her, and at first it was one solider than changed to another…" Tobias scowls, struggling. "… and then she stopped, and I got confused. Even if I had been awake, I would have been confused. Why would she surrender? Why didn't she just kill me?"

His eyes search the crowd until they find Tris face. I wrap my arm over her shoulder.

"I still don't understand," he says softly, "how she knew that it would work."

"I think my conflicted emotions confused the simulation," he says. "And then I heard her voice. Somehow, that enabled me to fight the simulation."

"I recognized her, finally," he says. "We went back into the control room where Ava was finished shutting down the stimulation, I took the data,"

"What is the name of this person?"

"Tris," he says. "Beatrice Prior, I mean. And Ava Eaton,"

"Did you know her before this happened?"

"Yes."

"How did you know her?"

"I was their instructor," he says. "Now we're together, and Ava is my baby sister," "I am so not his baby sister, I am so not," I whispered but I guess that's how he sees me, a baby.

"I have a final question," Niles says. "Among the Candor, before a person is accepted into our community, they have to completely expose themselves. Given the dire circumstances we are in, we require the same of you. So, Tobias Eaton: what are your deepest regrets?"

I look him over, from his beat-up sneakers to his long fingers to his straight eyebrows.

"I regret …" Tobias tilts his head, and sighs. "I regret my choice."

"What choice?"

"Dauntless," he says. "I was born for Abnegation. I was planning on leaving Dauntless, and becoming factionless. But then I met her, and … I felt like maybe I could make something more of my decision."

Her he meant Tris, I look at her a tear falls down her face as I bump her shoulder.

"Choosing Dauntless in order to escape my father was an act of cowardice," he says. "I regret that cowardice. It means I am not worthy of my faction. I will always regret it."

I expect the Dauntless to let out indignant shouts, maybe to charge the chair and beat him to a pulp. They are capable of far more erratic things than that. But they don't. They stand in stony silence, with stony faces, staring at the young man who did not betray them, but never truly felt that he belonged to them.

For a moment we are all silent. I don't know who starts the whisper; it seems to originate from nothing, to come from no one. But someone whispers, "Thank you for your honesty," and the rest of the room repeats it.

"Thank you for your honesty," they whisper.

I don't join in.

"You are worth it, I know you are thinking you somehow aren't worth it but you are," I whisper to her, her eyes are glossy as she falls into me.

Niles stands in the center of the room with a needle in hand. The lights above him make it shine. All around Tris, the Dauntless and the Candor wait for Tris to step forward and spill her entire life before them, I am next.

The thought occurs to me again: Maybe I can fight the serum. But I don't know if I should try. It might be better for the people I love if I come clean.

She walked to the center of the room her back straight, the room as Tobias leaves it. As they pass each other, he takes her small hand and squeezes her fingers. Then he's gone, and it's just her and Niles and the needle. I watch her wipe the side of her neck with the antiseptic, but when he reaches out with the needle, she pulled back.

"I would rather do it myself," Tris says in a firm voice, holding out her hand.

"Do you know how?" he says, raising a bushy eyebrow.

"Yes."

She moved it to position it over the vein in her neck, insert the needle, and press the plunger. Someone comes forward with a trash can, and the needle gets tossed in. She looks ready to almost collapse on her way to the chair—Niles has to grab her arm and guide Tris toward it.

Tris point of view….

Seconds later my brain goes silent.

What was I thinking about? It doesn't seem to matter. Nothing matters except the chair beneath me and the man sitting across from me.

"What is your name?" he says.

The second he asks the question, the answer pops out of my mouth. "Beatrice Prior."

"But you go by Tris?"

"I do."

"What are the names of your parents, Tris?"

"Andrew and Natalie Prior."

"You are also a faction transfer, are you not?"

"Yes," I say, but a new thought whispers at the back of my mind.

Also? Also refers to someone else, and in this case, someone else is Tobias. I frown as I try to picture Tobias, but it is difficult to force the image of him into my mind. Not so difficult that I can't do it, though. I see him, and then I see a flash of him sitting in the same chair I'm sitting in.

"You came from Abnegation? And chose Dauntless?"

"Yes," I say again, but this time, the word sounds terse. I don't know why, exactly.

"Why did you transfer?"

That question is more complicated, but I still know the answer.

I was not good enough for Abnegation is on the tip of my tongue, but another phrase replaces it:

I wanted to be free. They are both true. I want to say them both. I squeeze the armrests as I try to remember where I am, what I'm doing. I see people all around me, but I don't know why they're there.

I strain, the way I used to strain when I could almost remember the answer to a test question but couldn't call it to mind.

I used to close my eyes and picture the textbook page the answer was on. I struggle for a few seconds, but I can't do it; I can't remember.

"I wasn't good enough for Abnegation," I say, "and I wanted to be free. So I chose Dauntless."

"Why weren't you good enough?"

"Because I was selfish," I say.

"You were selfish? You aren't anymore?"

"Of course I am. My mother said that everyone is selfish," I say, "but I became less selfish in Dauntless. I discovered there were people I would fight for. Die for, even."

"Tobias and Ava, Christina too," I say I feel it in my heart, Ava smiles.

The answer surprises me—but why? I pinch my lips together for a moment. Because it's true. If I say it here, it must be true.

That thought gives me the missing link in the chain of thought I was trying to find. I am here for a lie-detector test.

Everything I say is true. I feel a bead of sweat roll down the back of my neck.

Lie-detector test. Truth serum. I have to remind myself. It is too easy to get lost in honesty.

"Tris, would you please tell us what happened the day of the attack?"

"Ava woke me up," I say, "and everyone was under the simulation. So we were forced to play along until I found Tobias."

"What happened after you and Tobias were separated?"

"Jeanine tried to have me killed, but my mother saved me. She used to be Dauntless, so she knew how to use a gun."

My body feels even heavier now, but no longer cold. I feel something stir in my chest, something worse than sadness, worse than regret.

I know what comes next. My mother died.

"She distracted the Dauntless soldiers so Ava and I could get away, and they killed her," I say.

Some of them ran after us, and we killed them. But there are Dauntless in the crowd around me, Dauntless, I killed some of the Dauntless, I shouldn't talk about it here.

"We kept running," I say, "And …"

"And we found my brother and father," I say, my voice strained. "We formed a plan to destroy the simulation."

The edge of the armrest digs into my palm. I withheld some of the truth. Surely that counts as deception.

"We infiltrated the Dauntless compound, and my father, Ava, and I went up to the control room. He fought off Dauntless soldiers at the expense of his life," I say. "Ava and I made it to the control room, and Tobias was there."

"Tobias said you fought him, but then stopped. Why did you do that?"

"Because I realized that one of us would have to kill the other," I say, "and I didn't want to kill him."

"You gave up?"

"No!" I snap. I shake my head. "No, not exactly. I remembered something I had done in my fear landscape in Dauntless initiation … in a simulation, a woman demanded that I kill my family, and I let her shoot me instead. It worked then. I thought …" I pinch the bridge of my nose. My head is starting to ache and my control is gone and my thoughts run into words. "I was so frantic, but all I could think was that there was something to it; there was a strength in it. And I couldn't kill him, so I had to try."

I blink tears from my eyes.

"So you were never under the simulation?"

"No." I press the heel of my hands to my eyes, pushing the tears out of them so they don't fall on my cheeks where everyone can see them.

"No," I say again. "No, I am Divergent."

"Just to clarify," says Niles. "Are you telling me that you were almost murdered by the Erudite … and then fought your way into the Dauntless compound … and destroyed the simulation?"

"Yes," I say.

"I think I speak for everyone," he says, "when I say that you have earned the title of Dauntless."

Shouts rise up from the left side of the room, and I see blurs of fists pressing into the dark air. My faction, calling to me.

But no, they're wrong, I'm not brave, I'm not brave, I shot Will and I can't admit it, I can't even admit it….

"Beatrice Prior," says Niles, "what are your deepest regrets?"

What do I regret? I do not regret choosing Dauntless or leaving Abnegation. I do not even regret shooting the guards

.

"I regret …"

My eyes leave Niles's face and drift over the room, and land on Tobias. He is expressionless, his mouth in a firm line, chest squeezes, and I can't breathe.

I have to tell them. I have to tell the truth.

"Will," I say. It sounds like a gasp, like it was pulled straight from my stomach. Now there is no turning back.

"I shot Will," I say, "while he was under the simulation. I shot him. He was going to kill me, but I shot him. My friend. If Ava didn't say something I may have killed him, just because I was angry, I was angry they killed my mother," I say tears falling.

Will, with the crease between his eyebrows, with green eyes just smiles at me with Christina under his arm.

I feel bare. I didn't realize that I wore my secrets as armor until they were gone, and now everyone sees me as I really am.

"Thank you for your honesty," they say.

I walk forward touching Tris's shoulder "They hold nothing against you," I whisper as I walk up the steps towards Nile who now holds another needle ready for me.

Ava point of view…

I let him inject me after I wipe my neck my eyes stay focused on my friends not on Niles as he tossed the used needle in the trash. I sit in the chair, I can feel it but it doesn't feel like much of anything, but I sit in the chair that waits.

"What is your name?"

"Avalon Eaton, I prefer Ava," I say, I didn't feel the need to answer but it was easier, I had nothing to hide.

"What are the names of your parents, Ava?"

"Evelyn Eaton, my father is unknown to me," I say I heard it going through the crowd. My fear coming back to haunt me, but I am not them, I am whoever I choose to be.

"You are also a faction transfer, are you not?"

"Yes,"

"You came from Amity? And chose Dauntless?" my voice was tense, I wasn't feeling the need to tell this Candor man anything.

"Why did you transfer?"

"Because, I made the choice to. I wanted to live a new life,"

"Ava, would you please tell us what happened the day of the attack?"

"I fell asleep with Tris, and woke up to some noise our friends dressing, their faces blank, their eyes glossed over. I woke up Tris, we figured we had to play along for our own safety, but then we got separated." I say.

"What happened after you and Tris got separated?" he asked.

"I was on a different car. Once in Abnegation, Dauntless were taking orders without thought or hesitation, they started killing Abnegation members. I was looking for Tris' family to save them, but instead I found Tobias and Tris. But we got separated when my now ex showed up, I was forced to shoot him, he is alive but I ran in one direction and then in another," I just lied under the serum as my eyes met Tris'.

"Tris and I, with her father went back to Dauntless to save our Dauntless friends and her old Faction. Her father died, he was a brave man, I was the first to go at my brother to remove the gun from his hands then I let her take over, I knew she could wake him up. They love each other. I worked the computers, shutting down the system, Tobias had to be fully woken up for it to be shut down. He took the data."

"So you were never under the simulation?

"No, I am also Divergent,"

"Just to clarify," says Niles. "Are you telling me that you were almost murdered by the Erudite, your ex-boyfriend … and then fought your way into the Dauntless compound … and destroyed the simulation? Fought your brother and shut down the simulation?"

"My ex is a Dauntless leader Eric," now loud murmurs can be heard "I think I speak for everyone," he says, "when I say that you have earned the title of Dauntless."

Shouts rise up from the left side of the room, and I see blurs of fists pressing into the dark air. My faction, calling to me.

"Ava Eaton," says Niles, "what are your deepest regrets?"

I think but nothing comes to mine "I have none, you can't regret something you wanted. Something that made you happy at some point,"

"Thank you for your honesty," they say, it is said many, many times as I walk away.

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