JUMP.

A grunt escapes her lips as she lands roughly on the hard cement rooftop, her brother lands ungracefully beside to her as he stumbles and slips - scraping his palms against the gravel. Caldera lets out a harsh breath of air, her heart is pumping against her ribcage so harshly she's sure it's going to leave a bruise on her skin.

"Holy shit."

Caldera laughs softly with her brother, who doesn't offer her a hand, but instead yanks her up by her (newly dirtied) blazer. She examines her palms and gingerly touches her face to see if she can feel any notable cuts.

"Listen up!"

Caldera removed her blazer, dropping it to the floor as she looks up towards the origin of the voice. Standing on the ledge is an older Dauntless member, beside him another.

"My name is Max. I am one of the leaders of your new Faction," he doesn't introduce the other male at his side, "Below us is the entrance to the Dauntless compound."

Caldera's mouth parts in surprise and she can see her brother's attention snap towards her, burning holes into the side of her head. Needless to say, she wasn't the biggest fan of heights, and if she was putting Max's words together correctly, she wasn't excited about their next test.

JUMP.

"If you can't muster the courage to jump off, you don't belong here in Dauntless," He pauses, looking around for dramatic effect, "You initiates have the privilege of going first."

"Is there - Is there anything at the bottom to stop our fall?" An amity girl asks, her eyes glancing from Max's, to the second unnamed leader, and then finally to the ledge.

"Why don't you find out?"

It's the first time the unnamed male speaks, and Caldera's eyes jump over to him. His eyes scan the crowd of initiates, all of whom have now quieted down. Their eyes meet for a fraction of a second, and for a moment she thinks that he will call her out, tell her to be the first to jump.

But Synodic steps up, looking over his shoulder to give a small smile to his sister. Caldera takes a single step forward, so she can watch her brother stand on the ledge. She can already feel her throat constricting with nerves and she starts to feel dizzy just looking at her brother.

"Well," Synodic laughs nervously as he looks down the ledge, he turns back to the initiates and mock salutes them before letting himself fall back and off of the ledge.

Caldera's heart is pounding and she wills herself not to look in another direction.

Max lets out a an amused snort at her brothers antics before looking to the crowd of initiates.

"Well?"

She can feel a few eyes on her, and soon the few eyes of the initiates becomes the eyes of the two Dauntless leaders up front. She's expected to go next, after all her brother had the guts to go first.

But he only went first because it was what he did. Synodic always went first, as a reassurance to her that he would be there when she arrived.

Caldera tries to swallow spit but her mouth is dry and sticky. She takes a single step forward, and then another, until she finds herself looking at the ledge she has to stand on.

"Sometime today would be nice."

She's only heard his voice once before, but she's already familiar with the gravelly drawl of the unnamed leader. She looks at him through peripherals while clenching her fist. Caldera steps onto the ledge with a shaky breath and even squinting she can't make anything out of the dark, wide hole.

She takes in a deep breath and steps off the ledge. A scream doesn't rip through her throat like she assumed, and she's can't will herself to keep her eyes open for her own fall..

The breath she's holding is knocked out of her once she finally hits the bottom.

A net.

Her body stings from both the fall of the train and from the impact of the landing on the net and she takes a large gasp of air, filling her lungs as if she had been held underwater for an hour.

A hand reaches towards her and she grabs it, clutching both palm and wrist as she is yanked away from the net and onto her feet.

"Siblings?"

Caldera looks up at the voice, another Dauntless looking at her with a raised brow. Her brother stands behind him, a smug and prideful look crossing his features as she stands on her own.

"Twins," Synodic corrects.

A low whistle sounds from somewhere else, another Dauntless member who came to watch the initiates cry and yell, "What a way start to your year, huh, Four?"

Caldera wants to ask why the name Four, but bites her tongue against doing so, and instead nods at him as she adjusts her shirt, "Thank you."

"What's your name?" Four asks, only nodding to acknowledge her gratitude, "Choose wisely, you don't get to pick a name again."

Caldera nods and takes a deep breath before speaking her name.

"CAL."

AUTHORS NOTE

Thank you for reading!