I do not own anything associated with Divergent or the Vampire Diaries. If I did, I wouldn't be writing fanfiction.
I don't miss the gasp that comes from the Amity section of the room as I hand the knife back to Grayson. He wipes it off, and even he looks surprised as I walk past him. The Dauntless are cheering, even louder than they have for anyone else, and I suppose snatching the Amity princess is a big accomplishment for them. An Amity transferring to Dauntless is already scandalous enough, but the daughter of two of Amity's leaders? No one imagined that would ever happen.
Matt and April stare at me with open mouths, and so do Liv and Luke from their places with the Candor. Slowly, my eyes slide back to my parents. Steven is pale as a sheet, a hand on my father's. And my father- my father is glaring, a look of betrayal in his eyes. Never has he looked so angry, probably since he transferred 20 years ago to Amity. But mom, mom smiles at me kindly, and I think I catch a glimmer of pride on her face as I walk off the stage to my new faction.
"Welcome to Dauntless!" someone shouts in my ear, and I blink in surprise as I sit down in a recently evacuated seat. I can feel my parent's eyes still on me, but I don't dare look away from the stage for the rest of the ceremony.
"Katerina Gilbert," Grayson calls next, and his daughter stands up, back straight as she walks up to the stage. She takes-no, snatches- the knife from her father, not even wincing as she slits open her palm. She glares right into his eyes as her blood drips onto the sizzling coals.
The Dauntless cheer again, and Grayson looks stricken as his daughter stalks from the stage, not even looking at me as she plops down next to me. An Abnegation transferring anywhere is almost as rare as an Amity transferring to Dauntless. "Elena Gilbert," her father calls, trying to steady his voice, and Elena slips from the Abnegation section, walking to the stage. She doesn't even glance at her sister.
Elena doesn't hesitate either, but her blood drips onto the grey stones instead of the coals. "Abnegation." Next to me, Katerina scoffs.
Matt chooses Amity just like I knew he would, and after that, I zone out completely. Finally, the last name is called, and the ceremony ends. The Dauntless are the first to get to their feet, and Katerina and I glance at each other before getting to our feet as well and following them down the aisles to the door. I don't look at my family again.
All of the transfers follow the Dauntless through the halls and down the stairs, the stairs that usually only the Abnegation ever use. Whoops and shouts fill the air, and around me everyone begins to run, so I follow their example. Once we get to the first floor, we speed up even more, bursting through the doors and out onto the open streets. We are a blur of mostly black, the colors of the transfers dotting through the mass. And even though I stand in yellow and red, I feel at home.
"Where are we going?" Another transfer shouts from behind me.
"Obviously we don't know," Katerina spits at him, and I don't know how she ever was an Abnegation member. Dauntless seems to course through her veins. We stick to each other's sides, a silent agreement to stay together already forming, and follow the crowd down the street. Once we get to the end, there is the familiar sound of a train horn. Only the Dauntless ever use the trains.
I peek over the head of someone shorter than me, and briefly I see blurs of black as the Dauntless jump onto the train. "They're jumping on," I whisper, slightly breathless, and behind me looks of panic flash across the other initiates' faces, but I don't know how they could panic. We've all seen the Dauntless jump onto or off the train at least a few times in our lives.
I line up with it, running a few paces before launching myself into one of the cable cars. I'm tall enough that I'm able to successfully get into the train, but a couple are not as lucky. An Erudite boy and an Abnegation boy-the only other Abnegation transfer besides Katerina- fall behind, and my throat goes dry. They just failed initiation, and we all know what that means. They are now factionless.
"Scoot," Katerina orders, and I obey, moving over so she can plop down next to me, breathing heavily.
"Where do you think they're taking us?" A girl in Candor clothing asks from across us, and I turn to study her. She's beautiful, with long dark hair, green eyes, and dark skin.
"Dauntless headquarters, obviously," Katerina grumbles, and I have to stop from scolding her. This is not Amity. Being rude is not an offense.
"Oh, thank you," The Candor girl rolls her eyes. "I meant where do you suppose the headquarters are?"
"Somewhere on a cliff or surrounded by fire," I decide jokingly, and her green eyes flick to me, her lips quirking up. "I'm Caroline. This is Katerina."
"Bonnie," the girl tells me. "It's nice to meet you both."
"It's nice to meet you, too," I say, my Amity kindness showing through. Katerina doesn't speak, only nodding in her direction dismissively before returning to staring out the cable car door at the landscape as it zooms by us.
After a few moments, the former Abnegation finally turns to me. "I meant to tell you thanks," she starts, and my head cocks in confusion. "I thought me transferring was gonna be the most scandalous thing that would happen this year. But the Amity princess transferring to Dauntless, of all places?" She smirks. "You took the heat off me."
I roll my eyes, and it takes me a minute to realize what I've done. I don't think I've ever really been sassy before. It's something I can get used to.
"What the bloody hell are they doing?" A voice demands, and I look up in surprise to see Rebekah Mikaelson peering out of the car a few feet away from me. I hadn't even realized she had transferred. "Are they really jumping?"
"What?" I exclaim, getting to my feet and moving to stand next to her. Sure enough, those already Dauntless are leaping out of the train and onto the roof of a building. Some do flips-one even does a handspring onto the gravel, which I find completely insane. I can't even imagine jumping off in the first place, which it looks like I'm going to have to do.
"We need to jump soon," Bonnie informs us, and I hesitate.
"Oh, come on, princess," Katerina tells me. "Are you scared? Do you need me to hold your hand?" I study her eyes, and realize that she's not only asking for me, but for herself as well. She'd never admit it, but this scares her as much as it scares me, so without a word, I slip my hand into hers. Bonnie grabs onto my other, and we back up, running forward and flinging ourselves out onto the roof just before the train buzzes away.
Katerina could have made it on her feet, but Bonnie both and I fall on our butts, sending her into the gravel too. She sputters at us with an annoyed expression, and I let my lips twitch up before I'm laughing, Bonnie joining me. "You both are dumb," the former Abnegation states, but her lips are twitching up as well.
"Hey, listen up!" A voice calls, and we get to our feet, turning to look at the man standing on a ledge in all black. He looks to be in his 40's, with dark hair and eyes, and though I can see a hint of kindness as he looks at us all, I can also see that he is not someone to be messed with. "My name is Alaric. I'm one of your leaders of your new faction." He looks behind him, and I stand on my tippy toes to peer over the ledge from where I stand. Behind him is a large gaping hole that fills me with a sense of dread. "Several stories below us is the members' entrance to our compound. If you can't muster the will to jump off, you don't belong here. Our initiates have the privilege of going first."
"You want us to jump off a ledge?" Bonnie asks incredulously.
"Yup," Alaric nods as if it's the most simple thing in the world. She looks like she wants to ask him something else, but seems to think better of it and shuts her mouth. "So, who would like to go first?"
I most certainly do not want to go first. That seems like the last thing I'd like to do. But I can see the people staring, can practically hear the thoughts forming in their heads. Amity princess. Abnegation is usually picked out to be the weakest faction, but Katerina's mouth will prove her worthy soon enough. I'm still just learning how to stick up for myself, which is why I shoot through the crowd before anyone else can. Not that anyone else was going to.
"Hey, Amity's the other way, princess!" Someone calls, but I ignore them, shrugging off my red shawl and letting it fall to the ground as I take Alaric's spot on the ledge. I cannot, for the life of me, see anything at the bottom of the hole, and after about five seconds of peering dumbly into the hole, I take a deep breath. Too late to go back now. Without even looking back, I leap into the darkness.