Disclaimer: I don't own divergent

Beatrice Prior, Wednesday, 5:02 pm, Dauntless compound- Amar's office

"What do you mean?"

As soon as the words were out of my mouth, my mind ran wild. Amar's face gave me no indication of the issue, instead, he typed a few words into his laptop, only a second later knitting his brows together; a frown disguised in his face.

"Your parents never transferred the initiated spending points into your account," Amar spoke.

My parents are dead is what I wanted to tell him.

Despite it being a legal obligation that every parent or caregiver puts a certain amount into their child's initiate point spending account when they transfer or choose to stay, I already knew my Aunt and Uncle had found a loophole through it. My lips pinched into a thin line, I didn't say anything as I watched Amar type away at the laptop.

"You shouldn't need it anyway, once you become a member we can sue them, but for now, there's not much we can do," He said, "You already get provided with the basics, if you need anything extra, let me know and I can put in a request."

My face felt as if it burnt red, my gaze shifting to the small thin strip of bandage that was on the inside of my elbow; where the nurse had taken blood from me a few minutes ago. I stared at it as if it was the most interesting thing in the world. Of course, this happened to me, I doubt my Uncle and Aunt thought I would even pass initiation, no matter where I went.

"Name?"

My eyes met Amars as I frowned.

"Beatrice," I sounded unsure of my own name, it almost felt wrong to say the word.

"You want to keep your name as Beatrice?" He asked with a hint of amusement as his lips threatened to twitch the slightest bit upwards.

Beatrice reminded me of the Abnegation girl who got her parents taken away; the Abnegation girl in blue clothing or the girl who didn't exactly belong anywhere. I didn't want to be Beatrice anymore, I had made it to Dauntless already, I couldn't afford to lose this.

"Tris," I said.

The words felt foreign on my lips, but not in a bad way.

I like Tris.

Beatrice Prior, The same day, 5:24 pm, The dorm rooms

The door shifted behind my weight as the darkness revealed a room.

Black coated the surface of almost every piece of furniture in the room. A bed lay adjacent to the door with pillows so dark, black wouldn't be enough of a word to describe them. The only hint of variant in the colour was the carpet that was light enough to be deemed grey.

To the right of the room, what was remaining of the sunlight seeped through the glass panel that made up one side of the wall with a small transparent door that slid to reveal the balcony. A sharp cough brought me out of my gaze.

My lips moved on their own accord, "Stiff"

Mentally wincing at the name that escaped my lips, a sour taste filled my mouth. The abnegation boy sits on the bed on the opposite side of the door, his grey clothes stripped off and instead replaced with Dauntless black.

"Four," he offered

"Four?"

"My name," the boy clarified.

All of a sudden, it clicked. Amar's words rang in the back of my head. Four and six, the lowest number of fears he had heard of.

"Your fears," I mumbled as if the statement would be any news to him, "Tris," I said, offering my hand to him for the formal dauntless handshake.

His gaze wavered as he eyed my hand. His hand met mine halfway as his larger hand enclosed my smaller one, his grip more steady than I would have anticipated.

"Nice to meet you, Tris"

Beatrice Prior, The same day, 6:02 pm, The dining hall

"It's beef," Christina said.

My eyes lingered on Four as he hesitantly stabbed the rounded meat and placed it on top of the circular pieces of bread. I tried not to stare as I took a bite of my own hamburger.

This was his first time trying food that wasn't as plain as Abnegations.

I remember my first time vaguely. I wasn't content with leaving Abnegation, despite Erudite food being more flavourful and extravagant, I never found myself consciously acknowledging it. I was wallowed in self-pity, trying to ignore everything good in the world; trying to justify the way I felt.

"Put this on it," I said, separating from my thoughts as I pushed the small bowl of red sauce towards him.

"You've never had a hamburger before?" asked Christina, her eyes wide as she picked up on Four's rigid posture.

"Abnegation eat plain food," Will told Christina.

"Extravagance is considered self-indulgent and unnecessary," Four added as he took a bite of his hamburger. If he liked it, he made no attempt to show his contentment, though as the ends of his lips twitch up, I can tell, the new taste is welcoming to him.

This isn't like abnegation.

This is dauntless.

Beatrice Prior, Thursday, 5:12 am, The dorm room

Clanking.

It was the first word, the first sound and the first thing I wanted to curse out today.

The echoing sound of metal being bashed against one another echoed against the walls of the hallway, vibrating inside my head and bouncing against every wall. It seemed like to the dauntless, an alarm clock would be a foreign object.

Four was first to move as he left his bed, cracking the door open just enough for the dim yellow light of the dauntless hallways to infiltrate our room. I pressed my hand against the edge of the wall as I twisted from my bed, peeking through the same slit.

The air was cool against half my face as Amar stood a few feet away in the middle of the hallway with some sort of metal pan in his hand in an attempt to wake up the rest of the initiates. Though, it seemed what had really woken me up was the woman standing beside Amar.

Tori.

I can't say I had paid much thought to whether I would see Tori after my aptitude test, it hadn't crossed my mind even after I had landed in Dauntless.

My eyes darted across her face, her lips, with the faintest smirk as the groan of initiates filled the hallways. Her eyes were dark and angular and similar to ones I had seen somewhere before, though I couldn't put my mind to the exact person.

"You have five minutes to get up and be in the dining hall" Amar called out after almost every door had a pair of tired-looking initiates in dauntless black peeking through them.

A collective groan led by no other than Uriah washed over Amar's words. The dauntless borns didn't have an issue protesting their displeasure while transfers who were listening in through the cracks of their open doors nodded; still too scared to say anything in fear of upsetting a dauntless.

"Five minutes otherwise you can continue your precious beauty sleep with the factionless" Tori said, immediately silencing the uprising.

Amar opened his mouth to talk as he shared an amused look with Tori who kept a stoic expression until most of the doors were shut and the sound of clothes ruffling could be heard.

"I think you may appear in some of their landscapes"

Beatrice Prior, The same day, 6:03 am, The training room

"The first thing you will learn today is how to shoot a gun. The second thing is how to win a fight."

The words left Amar's mouth in a bland tone, almost as if they were integrated into his head, like a speech that he practised every day leading up to the choosing ceremony.

Tori pressed a gun into the palm of my hand, she hadn't looked at me since I got here, I almost wonder if she's forgotten about me; if I'm just another blurred face in her memory. She does the same to every initiate as we stand in a line. Amar had revealed at breakfast that Tori would be a co-instructor for this year's initiation, though he offered nothing more.

"In theory," Amar started, "Initiation would be divided into three stages. Your progress would be individually measured and you'll be ranked according to your performance in each stage." Each stage of initiation is intended to prepare you in a different way. The first stage is primarily physical; the second, primarily emotional; the third, primarily mental."

"However,"

The word hung in the air like a stifled breath. There was more to Dauntless initiation.

"Max has just informed Tori and I that Jeanine Matthews has proposed some changes to the initiation process, and, Dauntless feels," Amar paused for a second as if he were trying to find the right word, "Inclined to accept."

"So dauntless initiation will be different to the years before?" A dauntless born girl- Shauna, had asked.

Tori was the one to answer this time, "So far, we don't know, Max hasn't told us what changes we'll be getting, but in the coming days, we'll find out and explain the changes" She said, "Jeanine could propose anything, so I would expect anything but what we're used to" she mumbled, a hint of bitterness in her words.

"Perhaps Jeanine is just trying to make things fairer for transfers"

The statement was made by a Candor boy. I distinctly remember him being the boy who jumped off the train and onto the rooftop first.

Peter.

He stood beside the mousy-haired girl- Molly, another hunched-shouldered Candor boy with carrot-red hair and an ex-erudite who looks as if he is already dauntless; with piercings in so many places I cannot count them.

"Now that the dauntless borns don't know what to expect, I think things will be more fair" Peter stated with a nonchalant shrug of his shoulders, his words were laced with cockyness.

"We'll continue with training as normal for now," Amar stated, brushing over Peters's little speech. The gun in his hand clicked as Amar turned to face the target, his shoulders were squared as he stood with his feet apart, held the gun in both hands, and fired. The bang is so loud it hurts my ears.

Almost in sync, all the initiates are drawn to look at the target. The bullet went through the middle circle

Gunshots filled the room as initiates fired their own.

Beatrice Prior, The same day, 12:43 pm, The dining hall

At the beginning of lunch, I began wondering if my arms would fall off.

My forearms throb from holding up the gun and my fingers are hard to straighten. I massage them on my way to the dining hall.

It turned out that despite what I thought, I was capable of shooting a gun. Of course, I appeared no good besides the dauntless borns who hit one of the inner rings almost every time, but I managed to hit the board after my first few attempts which Will had no problem teasing me about.

Besides myself, Eric, the former erudite with metal all over his face, Peter and Four had also been fairly consistent with shooting. By no means were we great, but I think hitting the outer rings of the board with a few close holes in the middle was more than enough for me today.

My cheeks dusted with a pink hue as I brought a spoonful of dauntless food to my lips. Most at the table looked just as exhausted as I did. Christina who sat beside me was slumped against the table with her head against the hard surface.

"Can I sit here?"

The question came from the largest Candor initiate, Al. Will's roommate who the ex-erudite admitted had sobbed for most of the night.

My lips turned upwards, though the action seemed half forced, coming out as a half grimace.

"Of course."

The now filled table consisted of Chistina, with Will opposite her and now, Al. Uriah made sure to shoot me a particularly pained glance as Al took the last seat at our table, and maintained eye contact with me as he sat at the table a few meters away with his brother, the girl from before- Shauna, and two other dauntless girls.

Four appeared to be the only one sitting at a table alone, he turned at the weight of my gaze as his eyes slid to mine. I offered him a small smile, but his eyes only lingered for a second longer before he turned away without reacting.

It seemed like his seat at the table from last night was something he didn't want. Four was one of the first to arrive in the dining hall, if took a seat at the back as if he didn't want to be disturbed.

"Everything here feels so dauntless besides me," Christina exclaimed as she sat up.

Will and Al nodded in tow with her words.

"We should do something dauntless," Al said before pausing, "I want to get a tattoo" he announced.

From beside Al, Will asked, "A tattoo of what?"

"I don't know." Al laughs. "I just want to feel like I've actually left the old faction. Stop crying

about it." When we don't respond, he adds, "I know you heard me." The last part was directed at his roommate Will, however, from the small glances at Christina, it seemed like the rooms besides Al's, like Christina's room, could also hear his weeping.

Christina merely poked Al's arm before she nodded, "I think you're right. We're half in, half out right now. If we want all the way in, we should look the part."

Like matchsticks besides each other, Al's idea of getting a tattoo spread from him to Christina to Will who agreed.

"So after practice, we can head to the tattoo parlour, explore the place" Will suggested.

Al beamed and Christina shot me a look. It took me a second to realise I hadn't said anything.

My lips pressed together, having another tattoo wouldn't make me dauntless, even if I looked like one, it wouldn't change anything but my appearance, and even if I wanted one, it's not like I could get one, those things require points, I reminded myself, points that I didn't have thanks to my uncle and aunt.

Christina seemed to interpret my answer as she frowned, "Come on Tris, it'll be fun" she urged.

"Maybe another time," I said trying to soften my rejection, "I think I'm just going to call it a night after practice," I explained.

The conversation halted for a moment before Christina told me that she would be taking me up on my word and the three began talking about what tattoos they had seen.

Despite already being forced to reject my first social outing, I didn't find myself dwelling too much on it, instead, my thoughts drifted to ones of initiation, something told me that whatever Jenine was conjuring up would change the process for good.