Author's note: This is set 6 months after Tris's iniation. Choosing happens at the age of 18 instead of 16. Eric and Four are 20, Caleb 19 and Tris and her fellow initiates are 18. Four is in leadership in this story, and Tris had been working in the tattoo parlor. I don't own these characters, all credit to Veronica Roth.

Tris POV

I wake up disoriented and cold, surrounded by grey walls. I'm in a bed, for the first time in days. I'm aware of another person laying next to me and I turn expecting to find Tobias but instead I see Christina, sleeping next to me peacefully for the first time that I can remember since our initiation days.

Jeanine Matthews is dead, I remember hearing those words before finally allowing myself to succumb to the exhaustion that has plagued me ever since Dauntless was turned into drones who's task was to eliminate my former faction. I lay in bed, looking at the ceiling, reliving the events of these past several days.

I remember that my friends were turned into mindless soldiers, used by Jeanine in an attempt to overthrow the government. She was aided by some of our own Dauntless leaders, and many Dauntless traitors. How did this go on in our faction; the faction that promised to protect and serve? I watched helplessly as Christina, Will and others killed innocent men, women and children while under the Erudite simulation.

During initiation, my instructor Tobias Eaton, known in Dauntless as Four, discovered my divergence during the fear simulations. With his help, we hid my divergence and I was able to come in first place in my initiation class. Tobias and I also started seeing each other romantically during initiation, and he confessed his love to me right before the Erudite simulation started. Neither of us were affected by the serum used for the simulation because of our divergence, but we played along to avoid discovery. The last time I saw Tobias, he and his estranged father Marcus were leading me to where my parents were hiding out during the attack.

At some point I was captured by Jeanine's minions, and once I was freed I was brought here to Abnegation. The details of my confinement and rescue aren't clear to me, it's almost as if my brain is blocking those days completely. but now that I am awake and somewhat alert I need answers. I slowly slip from under the covers in an effort to not disturb Christina. I make my way downstairs, where I can hear low voices.

Uriah looks up at me and asks "You finally wake up?" I nod and look around. I see my brother Caleb, Peter, Will and Marlene sitting around the dining table. There are a few other people that I don't recognize.

"How'd I get here?" I ask him. "Where's Four?"

Uriah sighs, he looks exhausted and pained. He doesn't answer me, but instead walks over to the table where my brother is sitting, sits down and leans towards Caleb speaking so that only he can hear him. Caleb looks up, turning his attention to me, then taps Peter's shoulder and gestures for him to follow. Both men walk over to me, and my brother is the first to speak.

"Beatrice, what do you remember?" He asks me.

"Why are you asking me questions? I need answers. Where is Four? He was with me before I was captured. Was he captured too? Is he ok? How'd I get here?" I ask angrily.

Caleb sits and gestures for me to do the same. Peter sits next to me and I insinctively move away from him. Caleb runs his hand down his face, leans back and shuts his eyes. I look over at Peter and say "One of you needs to start talking now!"

"Beatrice, I need you to tell me everything that you remember." Caleb says quietly.

I sigh in frustration, but realize that I won't get any answers until I appease him. "Waking up surrounded by my friends being mind controlled. I blended in and pretended to be under the same sim. I found Four on the train, and realized he was also pretending to be under the sim. We looked for Mom and Dad, and we found Marcus who told us that they were hiding in the basement of the church. We were heading to the church but someone must have attacked us and knocked me out, and when I woke up I was in Jeanine's lab." I shake my head, willing myself to remember the rest. "I don't know what happened. Everything is fuzzy, I know someone rescued me, and that person told me Jeanine was killed, and brought me here. I'm trying to remember. Can you please tell me where Four is? He was with me, did they hurt him?"

"Do you remember how you got to Erudite at all? Or what happened in Jeanine's lab? Or anything while you were there?" Caleb asks.

I sit back on the couch and I can feel Peter's stare. I look over at him and his expression is unreadable. "You were there. You were working with her. Why are you here?" I exclaim, I try to get up from the couch and suddenly Peter is there holding my arms down. "You were there too Caleb! You were working with Jeanine!"

"Tris, calm down. We're going to explain everything." Peter says, he's still got his hands on my arms but he's making no move to hurt me. I sit down.

"You both need to explain this now. Stop fucking asking me questions."

"You were knocked out and delivered to Jeanine. I was there, but I was only pretending to work for her, in an effort to save my own ass really since the sim didn't work on me. We got you out of there Tris." Peter replies.

"I also was only pretending to work with Jeanine. It was all part of a larger plan to bring her down." Caleb adds.

"We who? Who brought me to her to begin with?" I ask, my voice raising.

"Beatrice, I need you to calm down, please." Caleb replies gently.

"How'd I get there? What happened to Jeanine?" I ask angrily. The front door opens and I see Eric, Edward and Lynn walk in, along with another man who I don't recognize. "What the fuck is he doing here?" I yell, jumping up and making at attempt to lunge toward Eric. "He's a fucking traitor, why is he here?" Peter and Caleb restrain me.

"I see you're finally awake and I assume no ones filled you in." Eric sneers. "You'd think you'd be a little happier since your life was spared."

"What the fuck? You all better explain everything right now, because from where I'm standing it looks like I'm being held against my will by a bunch of fucking traitors." I spit.

I'm pulled back to the couch. "Sit." Peter says to me. I huff and sit down.

"You were brought to Jeanine by Marcus and Tobias Eaton." Caleb says, looking directly into my eyes.

"No, I'm not listening to this. Why are you lying to me?" I ask, tears threatening to spill.

"Tris, it's true. I was there when they brought you in." Peter replies. "I was tasked with guarding you."

"Beatrice. Tobias Eaton is a faction traitor, working with Jeanine and also the factionless. His mother Evelyn is the leader of the factionless, and she, along with Marcus and Tobias were working with Jeanine to overthrow the government." Caleb says.

"You want me to believe this garbage?" I scream. "Evelyn is dead! We went to her funeral Caleb!" Eric makes his way over to me, kneeling in front of me and forcing me to look at him.

"Tris, it's true. Evelyn is very much alive, and she was working with Jeanine, Marcus and Four." Eric says.

"Why should I believe any of you? Maybe Four stopped her, he probably stopped the simulation too." I reply.

"Four didn't stop anything. I killed Jeanine. I put a bullet right between her eyes. I stopped the simulation, Tris." Eric replies.

"You'd love for me to believe that." I yell.

"Jeanine was running tests on you Tris. You were the number one divergent on her list. She needed you to complete sims and for some sort of testing." Eric replies.

"You were working with her." The tears finally fall. "Four saw you meeting with her. You and Max." I cry harder.

"Tris, I was a mole. Edward was the mole in the factionless. Caleb was the mole in Erudite, and Peter played the willing helper until we could get you out of there." Eric says. Caleb sits next to me and takes me into his arms. I cry into his chest.

"Where's Four?" I cry.

"He's with Evelyn." Caleb replies.

"No, he wouldn't do this."

"Tris, he did. He delivered you to her." Peter says.

"How'd I get here?" I ask.

"We brought you here. Caleb, Eric and me." Peter replies.

"Why?" I sob.

"None of us believed in Jeanine's plans. We came together to stop her, and to save you. She wanted you because she believed you were the strongest divergent. She knew you had tested for three factions." Eric replies.

"You're lying to me. All of you." I scream.

"Someone please go get her friend for fucks sake. The Candor girl." Eric says.

Caleb gets up and walks upstairs to get Christina. I see Peter get up and walk towards Uriah.

"So now you're going to guard me?" I ask Eric.

"No ones holding you here. If you want to go, then go." He motions towards the door while glaring at me. I glare back.

Peter returns with Uriah in tow and my brother brings a sleepy Christina downstairs.

"Uri, Chris, please tell me what's going on." I plead.

"She doesn't believe us." Eric retorts.

"Tris, they're telling you the truth." Uriah says. "They stopped Jeanine."

"And they rescued you and brought you here. Whatever Jeanine gave you made you sleep for days, and have terrible nightmares. We took care of you Tris, we all took turns." Christina replies.

"You trust them?" I ask.

"Yes. They're the reason we're all here and alive." Uri says.

"What about Four?" I ask, tears burning my eyes. "They say he brought me to Jeanine but there's no way he'd do that."

"You didn't show her the footage?" Christina asks Caleb incredulously.

"What footage?" I ask.

Caleb sighs and runs his hands through his hair. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"I agree." Peter replies.

"If you want her to believe you you'd better show it to her. I didn't believe you until I saw it myself." Christina says.

"Someone needs to show me this footage. I want to see it." I yell.

"I will. You have a right to see it." Eric replies, reaching for a tablet. I see Caleb shaking his head.

"I can't watch this again." He says.

Eric moves to sit next to me, he brings up a video on his tablet. "Tris, before I hit play on this you have to be sure you want to see it. It's going to be hard to watch."

"I'm sure."

Christina moves to sit on the other side of me, while Uri and Peter sit across from us. Eric presses the play button. I see a split screen, showing video feed from two different cameras. It's showing Abnegation and the sim, I see soldiers marching past the cameras, and some shooting and killing Abnegation citizens execution style. I turn to look at Eric and he motions for me to keep watching. Soon, I see Tobias, Marcus and me walking into the frame. We are standing next to a building, carefully examining our surroundings. Tobias is leaning close to me and appears to be talking to me. Suddenly, Marcus points at something that grabs my attention, and when I look towards him I see Tobias hit me with the butt of his rifle, knocking me to the ground. I see myself struggling against him, and him straddling me while he beats me with his fists and then starts to strangle me. Marcus pulls him off of me, yelling something to Tobias, and Marcus reaches down to check my pulse. He then injects something into my neck, picks me up and begins walking while carrying me over his shoulder.

I'm full on crying now. Eric stops the video and Christina wraps her arms around me. "Is there more?" I croak. Eric looks at me without his normal glare, and simply nods.

"Are you sure you want to see it?" He asks. I nod.

"Erudite disabled the cameras inside their buildings, but they didn't get some of the ones outside." He says while pulling up another video.

This angle shows the steps to the main Erudite headquarters. I watch as eventually Marcus, Tobias and I come into the frame. Tobias is now carrying my limp body. I watch as they march right up the stairs, and into the glass building. You can see through the glass that I'm being handed over to Dauntless traitors. Eric stops the video.

"I can't believe I trusted him." I cry. Christina continues to hold me. Eric looks at me with sympathy before getting up so Caleb can sit down next to me.

"What happens now?" I ask, moving out of Christina's embrace.

"Marcus is unaccounted for, but Evelyn and Four are confirmed alive and with the rest of the factionless as far as we know. Edward hasn't been discovered as a mole yet, so he plans on rejoining them." Peter replies. "Having him continue as a mole with the factionless is imperative."

"Does Four know that I know about him?" I ask. No one answers. "Why aren't you answering me?" I yell.

Eric looks at me solidly from his kneeling position in front of me. "He thinks you're dead. Jeanine was supposed to kill you once she was finished with what she needed from you. Once he heard that we'd killed Jeanine and rescued you he tasked Edward with killing you, and Edward reported that he had completed that task." He replies.

That one sentence is my undoing. I throw myself forward and break into hard sobs. I'm aware of arms around me, but nothing else. The man who claimed to love me, who protected me, who opened up to me and let me see his biggest fears hand delivered me to a monster then ordered my death. I cry until I have no more tears.

I jerk awake, not realizing I had even fallen asleep. I'm back in the same bedroom I woke up in earlier, and I'm being held by strong arms. Arms with maze tattoos.

"You fell asleep earlier downstairs, I carried you up here. Don't freak out." Eric says from behind me. "We've taken turns with you to help with the nightmares."

"I'm sorry." It's all I can think to say. He moves his arms but makes no move to get up.

"It's fine." He says gruffly.

I sit up and swing my legs over the side of the bed. I bend slightly, holding my head in my hands and putting my elbows on my knees. I feel Eric move on the bed behind me.

"I'll send Christina up." He says. I reach out to stop him. "What?" He asks.

"I have more questions. Do you mind staying?" I ask.

"Are you sure you wouldn't be more comfortable with someone other than me?" He asks, his expression is hard.

"You just held me to ward off nightmares, and it apparently isn't the first time. I am pretty sure you're not going to kill me." I see the briefest smile before his expression returns to its normal hard glare.

"Fine. What do you want to know?" He asks, sitting back down on the bed with his back against the wall.

"Did you know Four was a traitor?"

"I found out the day before the war started." He replies. "I wanted to warn you, but I could never get you alone. You refused to talk to me."

"I had no idea." I reply.

"That's pretty obvious." He replies while rolling his eyes.

"Can you not be an asshole for a few minutes at least?" I ask. He chuckles.

"I didn't know Stiffs cursed."

"I didn't know you could laugh or smile." I retort.

"There's a lot you don't know about me." He replies.

"Apparently so, but I'm not the best judge of character remember? What's going to happen to him?" I ask.

"Jack Kang wants Evelyn and Four captured alive so they can have a trial. He says the public needs to see someone punished for this war. He's not happy that I killed Jeanine, and he's still not fully convinced that I was not working with her."

"Why did you kill her instead of capturing her?" I ask.

"You really don't know do you?" He asks, he almost sounds angry.

"Know what? I've told you what I remember."

"It doesn't matter. I had a chance and I took it. She would have been executed anyway." He replies.

"Why do you do that?" I ask.

"Do what?" He barks.

"Push people away. Get pissed instead of talking. Act like an asshole, look at people like that." I reply meeting his hard glare.

"Why do you care? Look, I need to get downstairs. You can sit up here and mourn number boy breaking your precious little Abnegation heart or you can get out of your damn feelings and actually be helpful. Figure it out." He gets up and quickly leaves the room, I hear his boots stomping down the stairs.

I scream in frustration into my pillow. Then I decide to go downstairs and join the others.

"Hey Bea, feeling better?" Caleb asks.

"Yeah. Where is Christina?" I ask.

"She went with Will to do some surveillance." He replies.

"Ok, what's the plan?" Eric asks, looking at Peter.

"Edward has rejoined the factionless, he plans on reconvening with us tomorrow. Uriah, Lynn, Marlene, Will and Christina are out doing surveillance. And we're still dead." He replies.

"Dead?" I ask.

"Yeah, Evelyn thinks we're all dead." Caleb replies, offering no further explanation.

"Where are mom and dad?" I ask him.

"Probably Amity. Most of the Abnegation survivors are there. Along with some Dauntless I believe." he replies.

"I want to go there." I reply.

"No." Peter replies.

"I didn't ask for permission."

"You don't need to, you're not going. If anyone loyal to Jeanine or Evelyn sees you they will turn you in. You will not leave here." Caleb says.

"It's not safe here either. We have a handful of people staying in a house. If they find any of us they'll kill us. You all must know that. We need to go to Amity, we need to find the loyal Dauntless and we need to make a plan. Sitting here hiding isn't going to get anything done." I yell.

"She's right." Eric says. "We need the numbers. Amity may or may not support us, but we have to try."

"There's no way I'm letting her out in the open like that." Caleb says.

"I'll go with her. We can leave tonight. You two can wait for our scouts here and then make your move to Amity tomorrow night." Eric replies.

"She's my sister, I'll go." Caleb says.

Eric scoffs. "What are you going to protect her with? Your brain? You're Erudite enough to realize that an untrained soldier is not what she needs."

"I could go." Peter says.

"You tried to throw her into the chasm. No way in hell you're going to be alone with her." Eric says.

"You had someone throw knives at her, someone we now know wants her dead." Peter replies angrily.

"What?!" Caleb yells.

"All of you, shut the fuck up!" I yell. Everyone quiets and looks at me. "Peter, you stay and protect my brother until the others get here. Eric, you and I leave tonight. Done."

"You trust him more than me?" Peter asks.

"What do any of us even know about trust? It's not like any of us even liked each other a few days ago. We're here because we're forced to be." I reply coldly.

"That's a great way to treat people who risked their lives to save yours." Eric scoffs.

"Well if it was such a bother you should have just left me there to die." I retort.

"You are such a fucking child." Eric replies.

"Yeah, that whole two years you have on me makes you the authority on adulthood."

"That's enough, both of you." Peter says. "What the fuck? You know there's an issue when I have to be the voice of reason. We may not have liked each other a few days ago, but we're what we have left now. It'd be a good idea to find a way to get along and work together."

Eric and I continue to glare at each other, but we don't speak.

"You two should sleep. We'll wake you when it's time to leave." Caleb says, motioning to Eric and me.

I nod and turn towards the stairs. I hear Eric following behind me. I go back into the same room I slept in earlier and he stops in the doorway.

"Do you want me to stay in here with you? The nightmares and all."

"No. Go away." I reply with my back to him.

"I'll go to the other room." He says. I walk towards the bed to sit down and I can feel the tears I've been trying to hold back slipping down my cheeks.

"Are you ok?" I jump at Eric's voice. He's still standing in the doorway.

"Does it look like it?"

He sighs and doesn't move from the doorway.

"I don't need you to stand there and watch me cry, although I'm sure you enjoy it immensely."

"Whatever. I liked you a lot better when you were drugged." He mutters and walks away.

I cry harder, but finally lay down in the bed, pulling the covers around me. I feel the bed dip and someone crawl into the bed behind me. I turn around expecting to see Christina, but I'm surprised to see its Eric.

"Why are you here?" I sniffle.

"You need me to be." He replies, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me close.

"You hate me." I reply.

"You hate me." He replies.

"Why did you kill Jeanine?" I ask.

"Does that really need to be answered? She's dead now." He replies.

"I can tell it was personal." I try to look up at him, but his arms are too tight around me. I can hear his heartbeat racing in his chest.

"I don't want to talk about it Stiff." He replies coldly.

"I'm here to listen whenever you're ready."

"Why do you even care? You hate me."

"I don't hate you, Eric." I reply quietly. "Do you really hate me?"

"Does it look like it?" He asks. "Go to sleep. We have a long night ahead of us."

I close my eyes, and listen to Eric's heart beating until I doze off.