Tobias

Being alone in the control room is one of the things that I love the most in Dauntless. I can be completely alone, yet I can know exactly what's going on in every part of the compound. I glance around at each on of the monitors. Nothing is going on that interests me. Then I see her. She's wandering through the pathways, strolling leisurely close to the walls. She stops by the chasm and leans against the railing, her hair draping over her shoulder. I remember the first time I ever saw her standing like that. We had just come back into the city from outside the fence. I was giving her a tour of Dauntless and we came to the chasm. Her eyes widened at the sight. She had seen it a few times before on the cameras, but she had never seen its true beauty in person. She gravitated to the ledge like a magnet was pulling her closer. She leaned over the railing, letting the spray of the waves dance across her face. Her hair fell over her shoulder and I saw her in a completely different way for the first time. Of course she had her issues, everyone does, but in that moment she seemed flawless. She was smiling in a way that I had a feeling she had never smiled before, and she was glowing.

"How's Tris?" She had asked me.

"I'm not really sure," I said. "They're not sure that she'll make it."

"I'm sorry, Tobias," she said walking closer to me. "You know I'm always here for you. She wouldn't want you to be alone."

She came even closer and rested her hands on my forearms. She leaned in and before I knew it, she kissed me hard on the mouth.

"What are you doing?" Zeke startles me.

"Oh, I'm just, ya know," I clear my throat, "monitoring."

"Are you looking for someone in particular?" He glances at the screen.

"No," I respond casually, "not really."

"That's interesting," he nods his head, "because you're positioned right outside of Nita's apartment."

"Oh, is that her place?" I ask, trying to sound innocent.

I don't even remember bringing up that camera.

"Look," he grimaces, "I don't wanna be all in your business, but you might want to be careful. Tris is back now, man. If there's something that you're not telling her, she will find out. Especially with 'Christina the Candor' as her best friend."

"I'm not hiding anything."

"And I'm not gonna question that, my brother. But I think behind the scenes, there's a little more to the story," he pats me on the back. "Are you coming to the party tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll be there," I nod my head.

"That's what's up!" He cheers. "But just so you know, so will she."

"Which one?" I call as he quickly shuts the door behind him.

I sigh and look back to the monitor. Just as I am about to close out of that camera angle, movement catches my eye. Nita walks to her door and slides her key into the lock, but she doesn't turn it to unlock the door. Out of the shadows, a figure approaches her. They have a short conversation, and then the person turns to leave. As he turns around, I get a clear view of Peter's face. Was he just walking by and stopped for a minute for a casual conversation or was this a staged meeting?

I close out of the cameras, but I'm going to be keeping an eye on those two. I find myself going through the various files again, and before I realize it, I have opened the Prior folder. I bypass all of the family photographs that I've poured through again and again, and this time I focus on Natalie's file. Unlike every other member of the city, there is no birth date listed for Natalie. There is no record of her until she entered school, which was when she was almost 16. The only other records in the file are which faction she chose at her choosing ceremony and her Abnegation wedding certificate to Andrew. Her aptitude test results are not filed. Whoever compiled this file, they had to know Natalie's secret. Her file is the only one with missing information. Unfortunately, I have no way of knowing who created this file, or when it was created. All of the file properties have been deleted. I scribble down a list of all of the missing information before moving on to another folder: Beatrice Prior. All of her information is there, including her manually entered result of Abnegation. I begin clicking through the photos.

Most of the ones that I click on first are group photos that were taken at the school. All of the Abnegation kids in the picture are in the back, trying to hide behind everyone else. Tris is on the end. In this photo, it looks like she's maybe 11 or 12, but she's so small. All of the other kids are so much bigger than her. Then I find some that are just of her and they're candid. She's in Abnegation. Why are these photos on a Dauntless computer and who in Abnegation would have been taking photos? Photographs are selfish and vain, so Abnegation people don't have cameras.

The farther I dig into the file, the more photos I find. There are some of all of the initiates in her class, but then there are some of just her. Most of them are candid and of her just walking around in Dauntless. Then there are some of the two of us. Tris and I have never taken a photograph together, yet here are dozens of them. They're all candid, and most of them were taken during our moments alone together. Someone's been watching us. Someone's been watching her since she was born.

I take a deep breath, trying to process all of this new information. All of this makes my stomach ace the way that it did when I was first learning of Erudite's plans before the war. I turn my attention back to the cameras. As I look at all of the different monitors, something catches my eyes. Standing in front of the door to my and Tris's apartment is a familiar figure. She flips her hair and knocks on the door quickly. She has on tight black pants and a tight black tank top, showing off her new tattoos. In my opinion, Nita is trying a little too hard to be Dauntless. Especially now that the factions aren't what they used to be. She tries to casually look around to make sure no one is watching her, and then she knocks again. Tris must still be at Christina's. I think that's probably a good thing. She looks down the hallway and then quickly walks the opposite way.

A figure comes into the frame, but they have their face hidden from the camera. This person knows the location of this camera's location, if not all of the locations of the cameras. And although I can't see their face, I know exactly who it is. Their walk and stature is unlike any other.

Sorry this one wasn't as long as the last one. I've been really busy, but I wanted to give you guys an update anyway. It probably would have taken me until this weekend to have an update that's twice as long as this one ready. Tell me what you guys think: review, review, review! Muah! xox Tris4Eaton