Forgot to put this on the last update- I do not own anything associated with Divergent or the Vampire Diaries. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.
"Are you okay?" Liv asks when I get back. "You look sick."
"The serum made me feel funny," I tell her, and that technically isn't a lie. The serum itself didn't make me feel funny, but the results I got after I took it definitely did.
They buy my answer and cheerfully go on chattering, but I can barely find it in me to talk. How am I Dauntless? Sure, there has always been something appealing about them- how fearless they are. They live in a constant state of danger, whereas everything about Amity is safe. Still, just because I got Dauntless on the Aptitude test doesn't mean I have to pick to be in that faction.
I barely talk on the way home. My friends all don't seem to notice-they simply chalk it off to me still feeling sick and talk among themselves, all of them excited now that they know where they belong. Now their Choosing Ceremony has become that much easier.
Mine hasn't.
Liv and Luke walk with me to my father's house, since their own is close by. "Let's all ride together to the Hub tomorrow," Liv proposes. "Just in case, you know, it's the last time we're all together." So she IS leaving Amity. I simply nod to her and walk up the steps. I'll have to remember to study their faces extra hard the next day, so I don't forget.
"Caroline," my father's partner Steven greets me, hugging me to his side. I've always liked Steven- it was never his fault, what happened between my parents. I never blamed him. That wouldn't be Amity of me. "You okay, hun? You look sick."
"I feel kind of sick too," I admit, and again, it's not a lie.
"Oh, that serum made me feel that way too when I took my Aptitude test," he sympathizes, as if he has any idea how I feel right now. Steven always knew where he belonged-he was born in Amity and knew that was where he should stay. Suddenly, I can't help but feel jealous of him.
"There's my girl!" Dad comes out from the living room, and again I am smothered with a hug, like I hadn't seen him the day before. "How was your Aptitude test?"
"It was alright," I say vaguely. He doesn't try to ask me what the result was- we all know that's not allowed, and I'm thankful he can't ask me. I'm not sure if I'd be able to lie straight to his face. "What's for dinner?"
"Omelets," Steven grins. Breakfast food for dinner- my favorite. That means they're celebrating me about to become a full fledged member of Amity, except I'm not sure if I will be anymore. I don't know where I belong.
Dinner is how it always is, except everything I do seems forced. Smiling doesn't seem to come as easily to me as it did just 12 hours ago. "Oh," Dad says about halfway through dessert-which just happens to be more berries. "I heard some news today. Mikael Mikaelson's last child is choosing tomorrow as well. His only daughter- Rebekah, I think her name is."
"How many children does that man even have?" Steven asks.
"He had six." Dad grimaces. "The youngest died a few minutes after he was born." Mikael Mikaelson is the head of Erudite, and as far as I'm concerned, a cruel, terrifying man, though I'd never admit that. They say he grew cruel after his wife died during childbirth, but I have a feeling he was mean before that, too. "Anyways, he doesn't care where she goes, I'm sure. His two eldest, Finn and Elijah, stayed in Erudite, and his two other sons transferred. I suppose it would be nice to have that many kids. It wouldn't matter who transferred and who stayed, since it's so unlikely for all of them to transfer and leave him alone." My heart plummets, and I don't talk for the rest of dinner.
I don't sleep well that night. How could I? Images of dogs and knives run through my head, and I wonder how ashamed my father would be if he knew how easily I had killed an animal, even if it had been attacking me. 'Violence is never the answer,' he tells me. 'There is always another way around it.' But what was I supposed to do? Lay down on the ground and let it attack me? No- I had done the right thing. I freeze. That is certainly not the way an Amity would ever think. I am already thinking like a Dauntless.
The next day, mom lets me sleep in. For once, I'm not required to get up at the crack of dawn, which I'm super grateful for, since half of the night I was up with my thoughts. I finally drag myself out of bed and look at myself in my mirror. I can't see the Amity princess anymore. The yellow nightie looks strange on me, and I suddenly realize that yellow isn't really my color. But I don't look Dauntless either. Not yet.
"Today's the day," Mom tells me cheerily once I make my way downstairs. "I have some things to wrap up here, but I'll meet you at the Hub."
"Alright," I nod, walking past her to the door, but her hand on my arm stops me.
"Remember, Caroline," she murmurs. "Wherever you go, I'll still love you." I don't know how she knows that I may not pick Amity, but I guess it always was easy for her to read me like an open book. I only nod and squeeze her hand, letting my eyes roam over her because this might be it, the last time I live in the same faction as my mother, before I turn and walk out of the house.
"Ready?" Liv calls, already waiting for me by one of the wagons.
No, I'm not ready at all. "Yup," I tell her. Matt and April get in with the twins and I, and I find my eyes lingering on the Amity compound as we trot down the road towards the city.
"You're sweating," Luke accuses, and I freeze, thinking he's talking to me, but his eyes are focused on Matt.
"Come on, man, how are you not?" The other boy asks. "This is the biggest day of our lives."
"But no pressure, right?" I say dryly. Everyone laughs, but I'm not really joking.
When we get there, the other factions are already flooding in. Liv and Luke say goodbye, and from the way they're staring intently at all of our faces, I know that when they say 'goodbye,' they mean forever. They move to find their sister Jo, and April moves to find her own family. I can see Matt's gaze raking through the Candor, looking for his sister Vicky, no doubt, and I squeeze his shoulder before spotting my father and making a B-line towards him.
"There you are," he smiles. "Come on, let's go find our seats."
We enter the Hub together, and I try to make the smile on my face as believable as possible. "Oh, boy," Steven murmurs from my other side, and I follow his gaze to the middle of the room, where Mikael Mikaelson and Grayson Gilbert seem to be in a standoff. A blonde girl stands behind Mikael, scowling, and behind Grayson are his wife and their children. I never really gave the Gilbert family a second thought- they all look like the perfect Abnegation family. The only time I've ever even talked to them was at their eldest daughter Tatia's funeral a few years back.
Dad, ever the peacekeeper, makes a B-line towards them. Everyone knows Erudite is responsible for the horrible things being written about Abnegation, but the Choosing Ceremony is not the place to have it out. "Grayson," my father greets with a nod. "Mikael. How are you today?" Immediately, the Gilbert children relax- all except one, one of the Gilbert twins. She-Katerina, I think her name is- always fascinates me the most. No, she doesn't try to stand out, per se, but she doesn't try to blend in either, which is not really something that happens in her faction.
"Bill," Miranda Gilbert nods politely. "Steven." Her eyes go to me, but before she can comment, Mikael does.
"I wasn't aware your daughter was choosing today," he says, staring at me, and it takes all of my willpower to send him a sunny smile instead of shuddering.
"Yes. Your daughter is too, is she not?" Dad asks.
"Yes, I am," Rebekah nods.
"And your daughters too, right Grayson?" Mikael asks, but I don't miss the sneer in his voice.
Grayson ignores it. "Yes, Elena and Katerina will be choosing today." I smile at them, and Elena, the twin with the pin-straight hair, smiles back, though Katerina only gives me an disinterested look before turning away. It only makes me more fascinated with her.
Crisis averted, we say goodbye as Mikael goes in one direction and the Gilberts lead their four remaining children-Jeremy and Amara are the two younger ones, I think- to the Abnegation section. Dad doesn't say anything, but I know inwardly he's sighing in relief.
After a few minutes, we all settle down, and Grayson gets on the stage. Mom slips in a little late, but she sits down right next to me, squeezing my hand through the entire speech, the one we hear each year. If I transfer, I have no idea how I'll survive without her as my anchor.
I only pay attention to a few of those choosing (once again, the names are drawn backwards alphabetically, which means I won't go for a while). The first is April, who stays in Amity like I knew she would. The next that catches my attention is a Dauntless boy named Stefan. He transfers to Abnegation, and I sigh a little in relief. If I transfer to Dauntless, it won't be the only almost unheard of transfer to happen today. Next I watch Liv-Olivia- and she chooses Candor, like I suspected. Luke does a moment later. They both glance at me with regret in their eyes, but I only smile at them. They aren't leaving me behind.
"Caroline Forbes." I jolt, and my mom stands up, letting me scoot into the aisle.
"I love you," she whispers, and maybe she already knows I'm leaving, even if I'm not 100% sure myself.
I walk to the stage, and I can feel my whole faction's expectant eyes on the back of my neck, burning a hole through me. Grayson hands me the knife used for the ceremony to me with an encouraging nod, and I bite my lip, looking down at the five bowls- glass for Candor, water for Erudite, grey stones for Abnegation, soil for Amity, coals for Dauntless. My eyes linger a little longer on the coals, and then I'm slicing my hand open.
I'm not smiling anymore, because I can't see any way that my five year plan will work out. I don't want to wake up every day at the crack of dawn. I don't want to come home every night with dirty hands and a dirty face. I don't want to end up settling for Matt, or some other nice Amity boy. I don't want the regret in my mother's eyes to transfer into my own.
I glide my hand to the side, and a single drop of blood falls down. When I hear the sizzling sound of it on coals, I can breath again.
"Dauntless."
So yeah, I ALMOST made Caroline divergent, because she's a vampire on the show, but if I made everyone who is supernatural on TVD, the only non-divergent characters would be, like, Matt and April lmao. But anyways, I hope you're liking the story so far!