CLOVE POV

Clove didn't even try and sleep the night after Initiation. The visions of her fear landscape still lurked on the edges on her mind, waiting to leap forwards every time she closed her eyes. The fact that they were in now- Dauntless, safe…possibly, didn't bring her much comfort from those images.

She was sitting with her legs dangling over the edge of the Chasm when a noise from the Pit began to interrupt even the deafening pounding of the water below her. Instantly she knew it was bad news.

She leaped to her feet and flattened herself against the cavern wall, sliding her way silently in the shadows towards the dim, flickering light of the Pit. At the entrance she stopped at the sight of another shadow, another person flattened just ahead of her against the wall.

Her heart skipped for one moment until the figure turned towards her and in the silhouette of the dim light she recognised the person clearly as Cato. She resisted the urge to growl with frustration. She should have known he would have been lurking nearby somewhere- watching over her like she needed some protection. She knew it was because they watched each other's backs, not because he thought she was weak, but years of being underestimated in the Training Centres of District 2 still made her angry at any hint at her weakness.

She slid up in the deep shadow beside him, feeling the warmth from his skin radiating onto her bare arm. There was an unspoken assumption between them that whatever was happening in the depths of a Dauntless night was bad news for them. Together they crept to the edge of the Pit.

It took a moment for Clove's eyes to adjust to the sea of movement before her. Wave after wave of black clad Dauntless were walking- no marching. They were in lines, unnervingly neat and orderly. No one spoke and only the sound of tramping feet in heavy boots filled the air- the sound that had been audible even over the raging waters of the Chasm. Clove crept around Cato a little way to see better. She peered down the length of the Pit; the lines of Dauntless continued on and on out through a hallway at the far side. They all looked like zombies, blank faces and glazed over eyes shining by the dim light of the Pit. On the edge of the group Clove spotted a familiar figure- Tris, treading evenly behind one of her friends, looking as zoned out as the rest.

It took Clove half a second to fall into step behind the nearest column. She knew Cato would have decided the same thing, spurred by the instinct to stay hidden, which meant being part of the group now. It was easy to pretend to be a mindless soldier, they were from District 2 after all.

They were swallowed up by the mass of Dauntless, driven along like twigs in a raging river, through corridors and into a wide open space. The columns broke and wove out, circling to tables lined with the one thing Clove had feared most of all- piles of black menacing guns, and the Dauntless were lifting them and readying them as if they were toys.

She couldn't hesitate, it could mean instant death if anyone realized she wasn't a robot like the others, but she couldn't bring herself to lift the weapons and sling the ammunition over her shoulder.

She couldn't look at Cato, he was somewhere behind her. She felt alone as she neared the table. Everyone was following some kind of psychotic, mind controlling order, and she and Cato alone seemed to be awake.

The few seconds of relief that she had been able to feel when their scores had accepted them once and for all into Dauntless, had vanished. She was never going to feel safe anywhere. They'd fled one war and found another, here in the Dauntless headquarters where row after row of mindless people were arming themselves with automatic weapons. For what? What were they being led out there to? Were they being led to kill or were they going to be the ones killed?

She'd run out of time, not that it mattered anyway. She stood at a table and she was forced to watch the movements of a shapeless figure in front of her as they picked up their weapon. She couldn't predict what they were going to do, she was half a second behind everyone around her, but she was in the middle of the room. She couldn't' turn and look to see if there was anyone to notice that she wasn't automatic like everyone else, she just had to hope that for once in her life luck would be on her side.

She was watching the person in front of her so closely that it took her a while to realize that she wasn't the only a step out of time. Tris' blonde hair was in front of her and one to the right, and as Clove's gaze flickered sideways for a second she caught a slight fumble. It was miniscule, barely noticeable, and Tris was covering it well, but Clove caught in that moment that she and Cato perhaps weren't the only ones awake. She didn't like Tris but the knowledge that she was with them in this, even if they couldn't know it, gave Clove a little flicker of hope.

A/N: Basically, this short chapter goes out to that anon that has had so much perseverance. You're brilliant, really. And I'm sorry that I've become one of those people who start writing a story and never seem to finish it. It annoys me no end, believe me. I sincerely hope that one day I will refind my ability to write this story, but as it is, the flame has flickered out a little bit. Believe me, I wish it was otherwise. So please, take this short 1000 words as a peace offering and maybe one day in the future there will be a conclusion to this story. Thank you everyone for reading and for reviewing and being wonderful in general.

-Lu