Chapter 18

Tobias

I enter our bedroom, and stop dead. Tris is lying in bed, with one arm slung over her eyes, and the other resting on her stomach. Her chest rises and falls easily with the rhythm of sleep. Her blond hair is splayed around her head, and her lips are slightly parted. She looks like an angel.
I smile. I don't understand why Tris is in denial about herself. She denies that she's beautiful, and smart, and brave, and everything I wish I was. And she's wrong.
I crawl onto the bed, and it squeaks a little, but not loud enough to wake Tris. I position myself above her, and gently poke her ribs. She doesn't move. I poke her stomach. No response. I smirk, and gently press my lips to hers. Her eyes fly open, and she smiles into our kiss.
"Good evening, Mr. Eaton," she says seductively, and I tug on her bottom lip with my teeth. She sighs.
"Evening, Ms. Prior." She twines a hand in my hair, and the other explores my chest. She runs her hand over my tattoos, and I shudder at every touch. Each brush of her fingers on my skin sends a shock of electricity to my very core.
We kiss for what seems like forever, but still not long enough, until I break the kiss and she sighs. "It's time to go, Tris," I say, and the smile slide off of her face like a waterfall. I sigh and wrap her hands in mine. "It'll be okay. I promise." She looks down at the sheets, ignoring me, but I put a hand under her chin, forcing her to meet my eyes. "Why are you so nervous?" I ask her, and she looks everywhere but at me. After a while, she answers.
"I... don't know, Tobias," she says quietly. "Just the thought of Eric scares me. All of... everything began with him. I was constantly scared that one night I would wake up to the roar of the chasm, and hands gripping me, seconds from throwing me to my death. And I know that Eric is dead, but seeing his twin... I don't know what it's going to do to me. I'm just overreacting. I'm sorry." Tris bites her lip, holding back tears, and I press my lips to her forehead, then lower my eyes so they meet hers. Or try to.
"Tris, listen to me. No, look at me." She is still avoiding my gaze, and I need her to look at me when I say this. Her eyes finally meet mine, and I continue. "I don't think you understand who you are. You are without a doubt the bravest person I have ever met. You put me to shame. You can overcome any obstacle, and even if you can't you'll face it anyways. You have nothing to be afraid of, Tris. You're strong." She smiles and kisses me.
"Thank you," she whispers against my lips, and I hold her for a few seconds before sighing and standing up. "Get ready. We need to catch the train in 15 minutes." She nods, and meets me at the door a few minutes later. Together we walk to the train platform.

Tris jumps on the train first, and I can't help but stare at the way her muscles ripple beneath her clothes. How flawless her form is, now natural it comes to her. She disappears into the car, and I keep running beside it. She pokes her head out, sticking her tongue out at me, and with a burst of speed I jump into the car and knock her over. I jump on her and pin her arms down above her head.
"Gotcha," I whisper in her ear, and I attack her sides with my fingers. She giggles and screams, begging me to stop, and eventually I give in and roll off her. She lays beside me and props her head up with an elbow. She looks beatiful. Her hair flows just past her shoulders now, and her eyes speak volumes. It's as if her heart is in her eyes, and I'm sure I look the same way.
"I love you." We both say it at the same time, and our eyes widen simultaneously. We both laugh and blush, also at the same time. I close the distance between us and crush my lips against hers. We stand up and walk to the door of the car. We stand side by side, one of us each gripping a rail. My other arm is around her shoulders, and hers is snaked around my waist. The wind blows her hair around, but she ignores it, staring into the night sky.
"How much do you love me?" she asks, and I turn to her.
"How high can you count?" She shrugs and I smile. "I want you to imagine the whole Earth is covered in water. No land, no civilization, not even life. Just a sphere of water." She screws her face up, trying to conjure the image in her mind, and nods. I continue. "I want you to count every single droplet of water that would be in that sphere. And multiply it by ten, for four and six." She can't comprehend the size of the number. Which is good. "That number, whatever it may be, is the smallest part of how much I love you. There are no words to describe how much I love you, Beatrice Prior." Tris blushes and stares up at me. I lean down and kiss her, putting one of my hands on her cheek. I break away, and look at her grinning. "Same question." Tris thinks about it for a while. After a few minutes she brightens. "Remember when we were on the net, talking about space and stuff?" I nod, and we both smile. We close the distance between us for yet another kiss. "I told you that the universe is always expanding. That, Tobias, is how much I love you. With every second of every day, my love for you increases. I will never not love you; it's impossible." I look into her eyes, unable to find words. Tears well up in my eyes, and for once, I do not care if she sees me cry. Because these are tears of joy. I pull her into my arms, and breathe the scent of her in. She smells like coconut. It soothes me when I'm agitated, calms me when I am angry. Her presence is enough to make me forget about everything that troubles me. I hold her for the remainder of our train ride, until the train begins to slow in front of Millennium Park.

Tris

I follow Tobias as he leaps out of the train, landing in a somersault. I land on my feet and keep running, landing smoothly. I stop to catch my breath, but I know that the reason my heart is racing has nothing to do with the jump from the train. I feel Tobias' fingers lace with my own, and despite the situation, I smile. We turn towards the giant lima tree statue, which is located across the giant expanse of grass, and begin to make our way towards it. My heart reate increases with each step we take. It's almost like he can hear my heart, which I wouldn't doubt, because he asks me if I'm okay, and I nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. I promise. Let's just get this overwith."
As we approach the lima, I can make out a figure pacing beneath the rusted leaves. The closer we get, the more detail I can make out. I notice his shoulder length jet black hair, the piercings in his face, the tattoos peeking out from the collar of his black jacket. The last thing I notice is how ridiculously similar he is to his deceased twin.
As soon as we reach the tree, I look at Axel's eyes, and at once I can see that this man is not Eric, no matter how much he may look like him. Axel's eyes hold more pain and hurt than any humab should ever have to endure, and I flinch as gaze lands on me. Tobias and I stop, with about ten feet between the two of us and Axel.
He nods to Tobias. "Tobias. I knew you'd come." Tobias nods, not saying anything. Axel's gaze shifts to me. His eyes travel up and down my body, not greedily, but assessing me. They are calculating, and colder than the deepest reaches of the Arctic we learned about in Upper Levels. "You, I weren't so sure about." And in roughly one and a half seconds, he closes the gap between us, so fast that I barely notice until he is standing directly in front of me.
I meet his gaze, willing myself not to flinch, and he says four words to me, the four words I needed to hear most in that moment. "I am not Eric." And he spins on his heel, pacing again. Now I can see that this man is more lethal, more dangerous, than Eric could ever dream of being. When looking to his eyes, I see things other than pain and sadness. I see intelligence, logic, and a hint of compassion. The urge I am now realizing I had, the urge to hit him, has disappeared. Axel paces in front of Tobias and I, and we are quiet until he speaks. "I guess I'll delve right into it," he says, which strikes a chord of worry within me. He stops pacing, and faces us. Axel takes a deep breath before speaking again.
"Your whole lives, up until a couple of months ago, you were taught that the factions had always been here, they were the only way to live. Correct?" I nod, feeling like a student being taught by an Erudite teacher. I guess technically I am. "When you arrived at the Bureau, David peeled this away. He told you that the faction system was placed here to right the wrongs that human nature supposedly caused. He informed you of the Purity War, a war between the citizens who were genetically damaged, and the ones who weren't." I feel Tobias stiffen beside me. The terms "genetically damaged" and "genetically pure" still set him off. With obvious effort, he keeps listening. Axel continues. "And David told you that what we call the Divergent were people whose genes had healed. He wanted an army of Divergents." How does he know all this? Axel glares at me, and I realize too late that I said that out loud. With a roll of his eyes, he keeps speaking. "I called the two of you here tonight because I know I can trust you with this information. There are no cameras that can see or hear us here, and what I am about to say does not leave this spot. The two of you can not speak of it. If you feel you have to, pass notes or something. Not a word is to be spoken about this. Do you understand me?" I look at Tobias, and the two of us nod.
"That is a lie. A blatant, disgusting lie. In fact, the truth is the exact opposite." He pauses, to let this sink in. And it does. "So.. what are you saying?" I'm not surprised that my voice is unsteady. Tobias hasn't spoken at all. "I'm saying that the point of the Chicago experiment, the point of us, was to breed an army of people who were susceptible to mind control. An army of people who could at any moment be put under a simulation. This city is a war camp."

Haha... plot twist. And cliffy. Hope you enjoyed it!