Chapter 7- At Last

After a thirty minute walk from the abnegation sector of the city we arrive at the government building that houses the big theater that holds the choosing ceremony every year. In order to get to the actual theater we have to go up twenty flights of stairs instead of the elevator, god sometimes I hate abnegation. When we reach the theater Caleb and I head to the check in station to register our names with this year's host, Abnegation. After waiting till all the other kids from the other factions are done it's finally our turn we step up give our name and our identification number we are told to take our seats. Caleb and I finally make it back to our parents me sitting next mom and Caleb dad. We wait till the last of the people show up before the ceremony can begin. Twenty minutes later Marcus takes the stage over the last two years I have tried to avoid him but days like today make it impossible.

"Today is the day that every sixteen year old in our society must go through, the choosing ceremony. We will call your name alphabetically you will come up here and receive a silver knife take the knife make a cut on your hand and then hold it over the one of the bowls that represent the faction of your choice. Gray stones for Abnegation, water for Erudite, earth for Amity, glass for Candor, and finally lit coals for Dauntless; let us begin!"

The first to go is a girl from Amity "Wright, Carol!" She walks up the stage grabs the knife makes the cut and holds her hand over the bowl representing "AMITY!" The process continues and I pay little attention until Caleb smacks me and I realize we're at the P's and then I hear it…

"Prior, Caleb!" my family stands and we all hug Caleb one last time before he walks down the stairs. When he finally reaches the bowls he takes the knife and slices his hand he then walks over to the bowls that's when I notice he walked over to the gray stones of Abnegation not the water of Erudite. My family waits on bated breath wondering if Caleb changed his mind finally a minute later Caleb chooses…

"ERUDITE!" Even over the clapping of the other factions I can hear my parent's release the breath they were holding. Once everyone calms down the next name is read and of course it's my name0

"Prior, Beatrice!" I stand and hug my mother first "I love you Beatrice no matter what" she then kisses my fore head "Thank you mom for everything". Next is my father "I love you baby girl, I am so proud of you go give'm hell" I give him a watery chuckle as he kisses my cheek and gives me a final hug. I start down the stairs making sure to stare straight at Marcus, when I walk pass him I mutter 'Bastard' under my breath. I'm then handed the knife and I realize this is the moment the culmination of two years of emptiness of losing my best friend, longing for Tobias, and training my ass off come into play with just a few drops of blood and I made it. Its without any hesitation that I cut my hand and walk over to the smoking smoldering coals and hold my hand over it listening to the sizzle of my blood, the sizzle is soon drowned out by the sounds of the dauntless my new faction, my home.

I walk to where my new faction is and take a seat next to the other sixteen year olds who've already choose Dauntless. I'm waiting to hear the next name hoping for it to be my cousin's last name I only have to wait for one person to choose and then I hear it…

"Pedrad, Uriah!"

This is the first time I've ever seen him Abnegation doesn't really have classes with the Dauntless we mainly have them with Amity and Candor. I hope he doesn't transfer but as luck has it he chooses, "DAUNTLESS!" The whole faction claps, screams, and whistles their happiness and it's amazing. He jumps off the stairs and takes the empty seat next to me and looks at me and smiles. I can definitely see the relation between us even though he has light mocha skin tone and almost black-brown hair like my mother's, we both have the same subtle but pointy bone structure but that's where the similarities end; he's tall standing at 5 feet 11 inches but I all faireness everyone is taller than me. He has a lean muscular body that was built for running and shooting a weapon, he has a snake tattoo that wraps around his right ear. At this point I've been staring at him that is longer than socially acceptable ad when I finally come back to focus I look into his chocolate brown eyes and he smirks at me here's hoping he doesn't think I am interested in him because 'ewwww', I quickly move my focus to the rest of the ceremony just in time for what looks like the last name it's a girl from Candor.

"Atwood, Molly!" She's tall and broad with hair the color of blood. She quickly makes her decision which of course is "DAUNTLESS!" that's just great she should make initiation fun. When she finally sits down with the rest of us Dauntless initiates Marcus makes his final speech about bringing our new factions honor, he then wishes us good luck through our initiation. The Dauntless are the first to leave the ceremony we all stand up and head for the stairs but instead of walking down them in an orderly fashion we run down them in some cases people jump entire floors when we get to the last floor we burst out the door and start running to where I assume the train will go past for us to jump to take us back to the Dauntless compound, my new home. Once I'm outside I run like I used to as a child without abandon. Since starting my training with my mother I've only had a few opportunities to run like this but since the last time I've done this a year ago I am much faster I'm keeping up with the dauntless which is good because at least I won't have to worry about missing the train which is approaching fast. The train doors are open waiting for the dauntless to jump in; as soon as I'm close enough I jump grabbing onto the door handle and pull myself in 'thank you mom for all the weight training'. As soon as I am in a girl from candor also manages to grab the handle be seems to have trouble with pulling her weight in so I give her a hand. "You ok there?"

She looks at me for a moment before responding "Yeah thanks, I'm Christina by the way" she holds out her hand for me to shake, In Abnegation we bow our heads as a sign of respect which bugs the crap out of me most days so when her she holds her hand out I don't hesitate to shake it.

"Beatrice It's nice to meet you; we actually had a math and faction history together." She thinks about it a minute then says "That's right you were one of the only people from your faction to raise your hand to answer a question. Do you know where we're going?"

"We're going to the dauntless compound I'm assuming, although I have no idea where that's at. You should probably sit down would hate for the wind to knock you over."

"Thanks" she sits down next to me against the train wall and then closes her eyes. Ten minutes later I hear people yelling jump, I quickly stand up and look out to see people jumping off and landing on a roof "Christina get up we have to jump!" I yell loud enough for her to hear me over the wind current

She quickly stands up "Jump off where all that's around are roofs?"

I smile at her "That's exactly what were jumping, Together?"

She looks at me, then the door, and finally back at me "yeah, okay on three"

We count together "ONE, TWO, THREE!" we jump and its exhilarating until it's time to land I bend my knees preparing to land but I know that I'm going to hurt myself if I keep going like this so I decide last minute to roll and when I land I know I made the right decision my shoulder slightly hurts but other than that I'm fine. I look to make sure Christina made it and luckily she has. I stand and walk over to help her up she thanks me and then we head over to where the other initiates and Dauntless are located.

"Listen up! My name is Max I am one of the leaders of you new faction!" shouts a man who's in front of the other initiates he's stand at the edge of the roof like it's a sidewalk which makes me wonder what we'll have to do next. The man is older than the others, with deep creases in his dark skin and gray hair at his temples his face is hard like he's pissed off that he was the one who got stuck with this duty. "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." At the end of his speech there's mumbling among my other initiates until one is stupid enough to voice what the others are thinking "You want us to jump!? Are you crazy?" says an Erudite girl. She has mousy brown hair and big lips. Her mouth hangs open. I have no idea why this surprises her, this is dauntless.

"Yes" Max says he looks amused but who could blame him I'm amused as well. The crowd splits in half, making a wide path that leads to ledge. I look around, no one looks eager to jump off the building- their eyes everywhere but on Max. At this I begin to be irritated am I seriously the only one brave enough to do this? Of course they might think I'm an idiot for actually doing oh well here goes nothing.

"I'll go" I step forward and walk towards the ledge wear Max is standing. Max steps aside, leaving my way clear. I walk up to the ledge and look down, there's a huge gaping black hole that's just inviting me in welcoming me to dauntless. I turn around and look at the initiates Peter a Candor boy who is known for picking on kids from Abnegation says "Look at the stiff go, hope she hits her head." I look at him tilting my head wondering how long he'll last here with my luck he'll make it to the very end.

I step up on to the ledge and smile at them "Well this has been fun but I'll see you all at the bottom" just before I jump off I salute max I hear him laugh right before I jump the feeling is amazing I'm weightless but heavy at the same time I make sure to flip over so when I land it'll be on my back, where I'm less likely to snap my neck. I am laughing the whole time with the biggest smile on my face it's amazing the feeling of freedom I'm feeling but all to soon I feel the net hit my back knocking some of the air out of me. It takes me a few seconds to get my breath back before I roll off the net as I get to the edge pair of strong arms helps me out.

"Thank you" I say before I look up but when I do I see a very handsome man because there is no way this guy could be considered a boy anywhere in the world. I then look at his eyes they are a beautiful indigo blue identical to the boy I have loved for years now, the one who transferred to Dauntless two years ago to escape his abusive bastard of a father.

"Tobias" I gasp out loud…