Disclaimer: I not own the rights to Twilight or Divergent. Those rights are reserved for Stephanie Myer and Veronica Roth. I do own the original characters created for this storyline. Please support the official release.
Writer's Notes: Hope everyone is having a great week! Sorry for the late update! School is back in session for the kiddos and myself so schedules are all over the place but don't fret! I will always provide an update. As always I appreciate all of you! Don't forget to follow, favorite and review!
Bella lay on the hospital bed in the clinic. Her side was being stitched up correctly by Denise, one of the medical trained in Dauntless. Her hand was already stitched up and bandaged correctly, but that didn't matter to her. She thought about Al, the sheet draped over him, discarded like he was rubbish.
Eric walked in, nodded to Denise and she stopped what she was doing then she left. Eric sat where Denise had sat and picked up where she left off.
Bella's blue-green eyes turned to look at him. "What are you doing?"
"Fixing your side." Eric said and continued placing stitches. "Al is being cremated. Christina said it was important."
"Of fucking course it is Eric." Bella spat out. "What was the point of all that? What does Max want with me?"
Eric sighed. "He wants to do an expedition beyond the wall."
"What does that have to do with the sparring games?"
"He wants you to lead it." Eric said and then placed the bandage over her side once he got all the stitches put in place.
"Why me?"
"Because you were the last one. You fought for your life." Eric said and his steel eyes studied her. "We don't know what is beyond the wall Bella. It's dangerous. Your ability to withstand pretty much anything is what caught his eye. I have orders to drop you from the other round for Dauntless training."
"That's what we wanted right?"
Eric was quiet a moment. "We wanted to avoid anyone seeing your fear landscape and discovering that Charles is your father and that you're Divergent. I didn't want… this."
Bella sat up now, ignoring the pain in her side when she did. "Eric, I don't have a lot of choices. If Max wants to put me on a mission outside the wall, then that is my role."
"It's too much to put on you."
"Well then I won't go alone." Bella said. "Find a team that are willing to explore beyond the wall. I'll lead whoever you put in front of me."
Eric didn't like any of this. He didn't want her to be on the front line of any of Max's suspicious plans. "Bella…"
"Eric, I will be fine. I survived today… I can survive beyond the wall. Are we finished?" Bella asked, raising a brow.
Eric just nodded. "Yeah. Four will be by later to move you from the recruit quarters." He said and stood. He wanted to say something else, but instead, he just walked away.
Lukas went to the clinic to look for Bella, but she was already gone. He got held up with Four, helping take care of Al being cremated. Peter's body was requested by Candor and the request was granted. Edward's body was requested back to Erudite. Al on the other hand, was not requested and Lukas found that odd. The other's that died, Erin and Jack. They too would be cremated, but the ashes would be discarded. He walked out of the clinic and went straight to the bazaar. Losing Al today, hit Bella hard. It hit them all hard.
He walked into the bazaar, he didn't see her and that made him frown. He went to the bar and nodded to the bartender, Jim. "Yo, have you seen Bella?"
"Saw her with Eric a bit ago." Jim said and then moved to serve drinks on the other side of the bar.
"What direction did they go in?" Lukas asked.
"Uh. Not sure man." Jim said. "Want a beer?"
"Nah. Thanks." Lukas said, tapping the bar before he walked away. He headed towards the tattoo shop. He was trying to think like Bella right now. He walked in and saw Tori cleaning the table. "Hey, have you seen Bella?"
Tori's dark eyes looked up at Lukas and shook her head. "No. I thought she would come by. Those games were brutal this year."
"Yeah." Lukas agreed. He sighed. "Okay. If you see Bella at all, tell her I'm looking for her."
"Will do." Tori said and watched Lukas leave the tattoo shop.
Bella looked around the room that was assigned to her. Eric came back and found her at the bazaar and decided to assign her her new room since Four was still handling the aftermath of the Sparring games. It was a decent size. There was a full bed with dark blankets. A dresser and a closet and a personal bathroom. There was a window that looked out on the fairgrounds and she was really far up, on what would be the sixth floor. The closet had clothes in it that Eric had put there that was all Bella's size. All of her jackets hanging had a red stripe on them showing that she was moved to Dauntless leadership. She sighed then shrugged on one of the jackets and then she strapped on the belt that had a palm pilot, cuffs, a taser gun and also a handgun. There was a brief knock on the door and she looked up.
"Come in."
Eric walked in carrying something. He closed the door behind him. "So, here are all the maps that we have of the city." He said and he spread it out over the bed.
Bella looked over the map silently at first. "Does the train go beyond the wall here?" She asked and pointed at a spot on the map.
Eric nodded. "It does, though it circles back in on the far end."
"And no one has ever jumped a car and ventured outside the city?" Bella asked.
"No, the security measures at the wall would stop the train so no one would be able to leave the wall on the train." Eric explained.
Bella was quiet then. "Okay. What about coming in?"
Eric frowned. "No. There wouldn't be… any reason."
Bella just nodded. "Okay. Max wants me to lead an expedition outside the wall. His message is clear." She said and unclipped her palm pilot and handed it to Eric for him to read the message from Max.
[Max] Pick five recruits and go on an expedition beyond the wall tomorrow.
"That's it? No other briefing?" Eric asked.
Bella shook her head. "None. I'm thinking he's trying to test recruits. He wants to see if any of them survive outside the wall or if it is survivable outside the wall. We're the guinea pigs. It's why he had no problem bumping me up to leadership. He doesn't think we'll survive."
Eric didn't like this. "But you're the top recruit obviously."
"That doesn't matter to him. I'm stronger than the other recruits, obviously, but it's clear he doesn't think I'm so superior to where he wouldn't risk my life. He values you more and Four."
"That doesn't make sense."
"It does. You're second in command here at Dauntless. Four has been in leadership what… five years now?"
Eric crossed his arms. "I can send Four on this expedition with you."
"Don't bother." Bella said and sighed. "Listen, I'm not afraid to go beyond the wall, but I'm not going to toss lives away at the same time. I want the best. I don't want to drag the bottom of Dauntless through the ringer."
"You mean your sister."
"She may have barely escaped being cut from Dauntless, but that doesn't make me think she's actually suited for Dauntless. She made the change because she didn't want to feel stuffy anymore. Not because she actually was Dauntless material. I don't have respect for that."
"She's your sister."
"Not my sister." Bella corrected. "I am YOUR sister. I am not hers."
Eric was quiet a moment. "You grew up together. Were raised together. She is your sister Bella. You can't turn that off just because of DNA."
"Eric, she's already berated me for my lifestyle changes. Like I'm supposed to be a stiff forever. She's the one that can't handle the change. I'm not going to apologize for who I am and neither should she. She wants to be beligerant about me changing, let her. I'm not taking her on an expedition I know she'll get killed doing." She said and her palm pilot beeped. She looked down at it.
[Max] On a second thought. Take Tris, Christina, Will, Lukas and Jasper. Those seem like a good group of people. Well balanced.
Bella sighed. "Never fucking mind."
"What?"
"Max wants me to bring Tris, Will, Chris, Lukas and Jasper." Bella relayed.
Eric's brows knitted together in confusion. "That definitely doesn't make sense. Sending Lukas and Jasper?"
"Max is a mad man. I won't pretend to understand his thinking process." Bella said. "I'm leaving tomorrow, so I need to find them and let them know we're heading out early. We won't be back for at least a week." She said and looked at her watch. "Chris and Will are probably back in the sleeping quarters. Tris may be at the bazaar."
"No she's not. Four was handling Al." Eric relayed.
"Oh shit." Bella sighed. "Okay. Find Tris, tell her what the plan is. I'll go hunt down Lukas. Chris and Will are probably with Tris."
Eric nodded. "Sure." He paused. "Bella, please be careful. No one has been outside the wall. I don't know what you will encounter out there. If it's even safe. If anything is radioactive…"
"I know and we will try our best not to get killed." Bella said and then she clipped her palm pilot to her hip again. "We'll be fine." She lied. She was certain that things would not go smoothly and that this would be the worse experience. Someone was going to die tomorrow, she felt it in her core, but she shook it off. Her and Eric left her room and they left going back downstairs. They made it to the training area, before Lukas met them.
"I have been looking for you everywhere." Lukas said, looking at Bella, his eyes showing how worried he was.
Eric patted Bella's back. "I'll find Tris, Chris and Will." He said and left her with Lukas.
"What's going on? I thought you were-"
"I'm okay. Just some stitches. Listen, Max wants us to go on an expedition beyond the wall tomorrow. He specifically ordered it to be you, Jazz, Chris, Will and Tris."
"What why? You were just injured, Bella, you can't-"
Bella cut him off. "Lukas, I can't deny an order. I am also your superior now, so you also can't deny an order. We will leave out early in the morning. Be prepared for anything."
Lukas was worried. "No one has been beyond the wall."
"Well, tomorrow we will be the first people." Bella said. "I need to find Jazz."
"Bella…"
"Lukas, I'm not going to argue with you. I can't. I have to do this. This is my job now. You get that right? This was always supposed to happen. We were supposed to finish with being recruits, get assigned our jobs and do our jobs."
"You can get hurt."
"And?" Bella shook her head. "Lukas, when I have this jacket on. I am a leader in Dauntless." She said motioning to the patch on her jacket. "I will have to give you orders and you will have to follow them. We are not discussing this. It isn't up for discussion. This is going to happen regardless if we want to do it or not, so I suggest you stop." She was getting irritated and part of it was because she didn't want to drag him outside the wall either. She wanted him safe and it was because of love. Being in Dauntless made it hard to love a person and that was her weakness. Lukas would always be her one weakness. "I love you." She said, her voice softer now.
"I love you too." Lukas said. "We have to be careful."
"That's the plan." Bella said. "We'll get through this. Together." She said with a nod, reassuring him. She leaned in and kissed him softly.
Lukas kissed her back. "Together." He murmured.