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Chapter Text

"Erudite."

Wylan felt like a stone was dropped in his stomach, dread washing over him.

"A-are you sure?" he asked, trying not to let his dismay show too much, "can you read it again?"

His examiner was a woman in Abnegation grey with her hair tied back neatly into a low bun, their typical fashion aimed at helping them forget themselves. Wylan always thought that that way of thinking was a bit... depressing? Although, maybe that was because he was raised that way, as Erudite never really got along with Abnegation to begin with.

She shook her head. "Your results are clear, Wylan. You would fit best in Erudite."

Wylan's hopes of it being a misread shattered before his eyes, the examiner even going as far to show him the screen, though the letters only swam in front of his eyes, incoherent to him.

No, he couldn't be Erudite. The Erudite were meant to be smart, the doctors and teachers of society, and Wylan wasn't smart. Hell, he couldn't even spell Erudite!

Sure, he wasn't selfless like Abnegation, or honest like Candour, and he wasn't the bravest, but he thought he could maybe be Amity? Sure, being a farmer didn't really appeal to him, but anything made more sense than Erudite, because if he was Erudite, that would mean- 

What would his father think? No matter what the system or Wylan said, he would never believe he was actually apt for Erudite. He doubted he'd be able to pass any of the tests, he'd get kicked out for being the fraud he is before the first day of initiation even ended, it'd be a nightmare.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, wrenching his mind back to reality. "Are you ok?" The examiner asked. She was only being polite, as the Abnegation were expected to be.

Wylan nodded his head stiffly. He forced out the words "I'm fine," before adding, "just a little bit surprised."

The woman nodded. "That's normal- but at least you can stay with your family."

"Yeah."

***

Wylan didn't say another word until he got home. He crept down the hall and into his room, not wishing to come across his father. He then dropped his bag by the foot of his bed and flopped down onto it. He buried his face in his pillow and let out a muffled scream. 

Wylan now had two options: he could stay in Erudite, where he would either fail initiation and become factionless, or equally as depressing he'd manage to trick his way through, but he'd never escape his father. Or, he could pick a different faction (that he definitely wasn't suited for) and hope not to get kicked out.

He could pick Abnegation, they don't kick out any of their initiates... Wylan shook his head, even if it was the safest option, he couldn't imagine living like the Abnegation do. It wasn't a life.

So he was left with Candour, Dauntless and Amity. Not ideal options. He let out a groan. This was hopeless, he was hopeless.

As he tried to argue the pros and cons of each faction in his head, he eventually fell asleep, his dreams not bringing him much reprieve from his stressful waking hours.

***

Wylan sat among all the other Erudite sixteen-year-olds. They and the teenagers from the other factions formed a semi-circle around the stage, holding five bowls, one for each faction. Glass for Candour, water for Erudite, burning coals for Dauntless, soil for Amity and grey stones for Abnegation. 

Closest to the stage were the families of the initiates, Wylan's father among them.

"Which one are you going to pick?" Kuwei, who sat next to him, whispered excitedly. 

"Huh?" Wylan hadn't heard what he said, having been too focused on the bowls at the front of the room.

"Which faction will you go into?" Kuwei clarified.

"We're not supposed to talk about our results," Wylan answered.

Kuwei smirked. "Well, technically I'm not asking about your result."

Wylan rolled his eyes. "That's not the spirit of the rule."

Kuwei pouted. "You're no fun. I'm going to be staying in Erudite, F-Y-I."

"Good for you." Wylan was glad Kuwei didn't seem to pick up on his absent answers and lack of enthusiasm, or at least if he did he didn't mention it. 

During the ceremony, they always went in reverse alphabetical order, so Wylan knew he would be one of the first to make a decision.

"Nina Zenik."

Wylan watched as the first person was called up, a girl from Dauntless it seemed. She walked up to the front stage with all the confidence of someone who wasn't nervous at the thought of being first. She grabbed the knife that was laid out for them, and sliced her palm with it. Wylan then watched as she held her hand up over the bowl of hot coals, and let her blood drip into it, earning an eruption of cheers from the Dauntless crowd. She grinned took a bow for the audience before walking over to where the Dauntless initiates were meant to go.

Wylan wished he had her confidence.

"Kuwei Yul-Bayur."

The black-haired boy gave Wylan one more grin before practically running up to the front of the room. He grabbed the knife and cut his own hand, and quickly let his blood stain the Erudite water crimson. The people around Wylan cheered out loud as Kuwei left the stage.

"Wylan Van-Eck."

Wylan's throat went dry. He knew he'd be soon but this felt too soon. He pushed himself up out of his seat, feeling heavier than usual as he walked up to the front of the room. With a shaking right hand he picked up the knife, before pressing it into his left. He winced at the pain, his palm stinging as his blood met the open air. He carefully put the knife back down, before walking over to the bowls.

He glanced back at the crowd, only to see his father staring sternly back at him. Wylan felt sick. Time felt like it stood still as he stood in front of the bowls, his choices, his future. He'd be the first initiate to change faction.

Amity. Candour. Dauntless.

Which one should he choose?

Candour. Dauntless. Amity. 

Each second more he took to make the decision felt agonising, and his eyes fervently flicked between the three bowls.

Dauntless. Amity. Candour.

Every option had too many pros and cons, he needed more time to think."

Wylan squeezed his eyes shut, his nails digging painfully into the cut on his hand. 

Pick pick pick-

He stuck out his hand.

And cheers erupted behind him as his blood sizzled against the coals of Dauntless.

Dauntless.

His decision had been made, and his breaths were laboured as if he had just been running.

I'll need to be brave to survive this, he thought, as he quickly scurried over to where Nina, the girl from earlier was standing. He glanced back at the crowd, but his father was no longer looking at him.

Nina grinned at him, and pulled him into a hug once he was close enough.

"Ack!-"

"Welcome to the team, newbie!" She greeted.

"Can you- let go of me?" 

Nina loosened her grip on him, and grabbed him by the shoulders so she could hold him at arms length from her. "You, have just picked the best faction!" She exclaimed. 

"I hope so," Wylan agreed, trying to put a smile on his face despite his uneasiness. 

Nina studied him for a second. "How come the Erudite all wear glasses? You'd think the smartest faction would have a better solution to their poor eyesight by now."

Wylan shook his head. "It's more of a uniform sort of thing- I think?" He realised he wasn't actually sure why they all wore glasses unquestioningly. He supposed it was to make them all look more alike. 

"Then let me-" Nina snatched the glasses from Wylan's nose. 

"Hey!-"

"I think you look cuter without them," she announced. "More like a true Dauntless."

Wylan pushed back the memories of his father calling the Dauntless a "pack of brainless morons," and decided to take the compliment. Calling someone brainless and a moron was kind of redundant anyway. "Thanks."

He took a better look at Nina as she pocketed his glasses. She was a lot bigger than him, which Wylan admitted wasn't particularly hard, and had curly brown hair with bright green eyes. She wore a black jumpsuit, which Wylan thought suited her quite well.

"You're going to love it in Dauntless, there's so many fun things to do-" 

Wylan listened as Nina began prattling on about all the "fun" things one could do in the Dauntless compound, though it mostly sounded dangerous. 

Slowly, more and more people chose their factions, some of them staying while some of them decided to switch. It wasn't long until everyone had been sorted.

"-and we have the best chocolate cake," Nina added, when everyone around them suddenly began running. "Looks like it's go time, come on!"

Without much of a choice, Wylan ran with the group. They didn't slow down for the stairs, and Wylan was startled to see members jumping multiple at a time. One girl managed six. 

Once they made it outside, the group headed for the train tracks. They ran along them for about a minute or two before a train pulled up on their left, not slowing down. Wylan watched as the others started jumping into one of the open carriages, Nina among them. Wylan tried taking  a deep breath (something that is quite difficult to do while running) before taking a go at it.

He wasn't as graceful as he would like, and he found himself hanging off the edge. He went wide-eyed as he came to the realisation that he did not possess the upper-body strength to pull himself up. Well there goes his hopes of being in a faction.

However, as he gave up hope and was about to let go, another boy grabbed his arm, and hoisted him up into the carriage. Wylan blinked as he was face to face with a tall boy in Abnegation grey, his blond hair cropped short. He would say he was surprised, if it wasn't entirely in character for someone from Abnegation to help someone in need out, Erudite or not.

"Thanks," Wylan muttered, more than a little embarrassed.

All he got in response was a grunt as the boy gave a distasteful look at his blue clothes, before walking off to a different part of the carriage. Right.

He spun in a circle, trying to find a place to sit, when he spotted Nina again, waving for him to come over. 

"Hey! Wylan! This is Inej, she's from Candour!"

Damn, this girl sure was charismatic.

Wylan sat down next to Nina and her new friend. Inej was small with dark skin, and she wore a white long-sleeved top with black leggings. Her black hair was tied back in a plait, and her eyes seemed to be studying Wylan as he was studying her.

"Hi," she said, breaking their silence.

"Hello," Wylan replied.

Neither seemed like the talkative type, so Nina butted in. "So, what's it like in Erudite?"

"Me?" Wylan asked, surprised by the question.

"Who else?" Nina asked.

Wylan swallowed. "Well, there's a lot of books," he started with.

"Ugh, I hate books. Unless they're romances, but something tells me that's not the kind of book you're talking about," Nina replied.

Wylan nodded. "Yeah, they're not exactly interesting." 

Not that'd I'd know... Wylan's thoughts reminded him. It was an easier excuse than the truth though.

"I like reading," Inej responded. "My favourites are fantasy books."

Nina nodded. "Especially when they're smutty~"

Inej's face flushed red at that, Wylan's too, and Nina laughed. "I'm joking! For the most part..."

Inej sighed. "I'm going to miss my family though."

"That must be tough," Nina sympathised. "What are they like?"

"My mother is hardworking, always making sure we had good meals even when there wasn't much to work with. She also would always sing songs for me and my father. He's very kind and sentimental, and always cheers me up when I'm down. They also gave me my love for gymnastics."

"Gymnastics?" Wylan asked.

Inej nodded. "After their busy day jobs, my parents would always put on shows for the neighbours. I've been a part of them since I was eight, walking the tightrope is what I'm best at," she explained.

"Eight?! That's so young!" Nina exclaimed. 

Inej shrugged. "I didn't think so, really."

"Are you hearing this Wylan?!" Nina demanded theatrically.

"Yup." Though, eight was the last time Wylan stopped feeling young, as his world crashed and burned around him, he thought somewhat bitterly.

"So what are your parents like?" Inej asked Nina in return.

"Oh, I'm an orphan," Nina replied.

"I'm sorry," Wylan said sincerely.

"That's awful," Inej agreed.

It was Nina's turn to shrug this time. "It's not that big of a deal, I was young, so I don't remember them."

"It's still sad," Inej pressed.

"I guess," Nina replied. 

The two girls then turned to Wylan. A beat passed before Nina asked, "What are your parents like?" 

Wylan grimaced. "It's just me and my father, my mum died when I was little," he said.

This time Nina gave him her condolences. 

"It's ok, I'm over it," Wylan assured her. "My father is strict- but that's just how he is." Wylan fidgeted with his fingers. "He was usually right about things though."

"Parents usually do what's best for their children, even if it doesn't seem that way at the time," Inej commented, though Wylan highly doubted that.

People around them began standing up, Nina included, so Wylan and Inej quickly followed suit. They made their way to the open side of the carriage and Nina turned to look at them.

"I recommend not looking down and not thinking about this next part too much."

What is that supposed to mean- Wylan wondered, as the others began jumping out in front of him.

The first thing Wylan did when he got to the front was look down. His legs turned to jelly as a multi-storey drop awaited beneath his feet. Nina made the jump across the gap and onto the nearby roof to his left, and Inej was much more graceful as she jumped from his right. 

The gap was quickly getting bigger, and Wylan realised it was now or never, and jumped. A scream escaped his lips as he felt himself attached to nothing, the possibility of death mere seconds away. 

He hit the concrete with a thud, he scraped his hands pretty badly and his head hurt, but he was alive.

An almost manic laugh came out as he sat up and looked over the edge. He did that. He jumped from a moving train. Over who knows how much distance of open air. And survived. It was actually kind of thrilling.

He watched the train disappear from view, an initiate still on board.

Someone clapped their hands behind him, making him jump and turn around. A few initiates had approached them, but near the centre stood two people Wylan hadn't seen on the train.

They seemed a couple years older than the initiates, and they looked quite similar. On the left was an extremely tall and muscled man with his dark hair tied back in a bun, and he stood with his arms crossed. On the right was a shorter woman with short hair, who also seemed quite muscly. Their arms were covered with tattoos, something the Dauntless were known for. Wylan thought their expressions were quite stern.

"Alright initiates, gather round!" The woman said loudly, her voice carrying a commanding aura with it. 

Wylan quickly pushed himself to his feet and hurried over to them.

"I'm Tolya, and this is Tamar, and we'll be your instructors during initiation," Tolya explained, "your first task is simple enough."

Jumping from the train wasn't the first task? Wylan thought. 

"Jump down this hole." He pointed to a gaping hole next to him, so deep Wylan couldn't see the bottom. "Who wants to go first?"

Nobody seemed particularly thrilled at the prospect.

"Is there something down there to catch us?" An Amity boy asked. 

Tamar shrugged. "Who knows?"

Wylan psyched himself up. "I'll go first."

Everyone turned to look at him, and Wylan felt particularly small as he walked up to the edge of the hole, like a bug under a microscope.

"And we have our first volunteer!" Tolya announced, his stern face breaking into a grin. Wylan relaxed ever so slightly, the man not nearly as intimidating now. 

Wylan peered over the edge. Dauntless are a faction of bravery, not critical thinking, Wylan reasoned. They want us to show how brave we are, not to see us die on the first day.

Of course, there was always the chance they weren’t as brainless as his father said.

Wylan closed his eyes once more, the stares of his peers boring into his back. 

"No going back now," he said to himself, before stepping off the edge.

He kept his eyes shut as he fell, the air stinging his cheeks as he fell.

Suddenly the air was knocked out of him as he came into contact with the bottom. Luckily for him, it wasn't more concrete but a springy net, keeping him safe and sound.

A bunch of hands came out of nowhere to help him out, something he was grateful for, and once he was out of the net, one of the figures called back that they "have their first jumper!" before turning back to him. "What's your name, kid?"

"Uh- it's Wylan," he answered. 

"Congrats Wylan!" The man told him, hitting him hard on the back. 

"Th-thanks," Wylan replied, still disoriented. 

It wasn't long before the others started jumping down, and soon enough, they all made it to the bottom.

***

Finally, they were brought to the dorms, and Wylan was ready to crash for the day. However, before they could be left to their own devices, Tolya and Tamar had another announcement.

"I'm sure you're all excited to get settled in, but before we do we're going to lay out the schedule for the next few weeks," Tamar began. "Firstly, only ten of you will become Dauntless at the end of initiation."

Wylan heard some of his peers gasp and make sounds of general dissent, however he wasn't too shocked. Ten was a lot lower than he would've guessed though.

"The next week we will be training your bodies to be the best they can be," she continued, ignoring the teenagers' reactions. "At the end of the week two of you will go home. The week after that will be spent preparing your minds for what you may face. Two more of you will go home then. Once the weeks are over you will have your final exams, and the people who score the best will get first pick of jobs, understand?"

The initiates all murmured in response.

"You know what, I have a poem for just this occasion!" Tolya said, noticing the dreary mood.

"And that's all the patience I have for today," an Amity boy who had a cane declared, before walking out of the dorms. Some of the others followed suit, much to Tolya's dismay.

Despite the crazy day and the multiple near death experiences, Wylan was starting to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time: hope.

Hope that, maybe, he wouldn't totally screw this up. Hopefully.

Chapter Text

Jesper found himself in a room with a little over twenty other teenagers, along with their two trainers. 

They had practically hit the ground running, it was the second day and they were already set into pairs to fight each other. He watched as the stiff pinned a Candour boy to the ground easily. "I've defeated him," he said, looking up at Tamar, who was watching them carefully.

"Not until he can't get back up again," she said without much more than a slightly stern expression.

The stiff blinked, as if he didn't understand what she was saying, while the Candour's kid's eyes went wide. As realisation dawned on the stiff, Jesper watched as his face hardened into a scowl, before pulling his fist back.

Jesper looked away, wincing at the sound of his fist coming into contact with the other's face. Over and over again. He only dared to look back when the sounds had stopped, and immediately wished he hadn't.

The stiff was standing now, his face unemotional, while the Candour boy.... he was bruised and bloody, the only indication that he wasn't dead were his quiet coughs and tiny twitches.

Jesper knew that Dauntless would be brutal, but yikes, this is far worse than he could've ever imagined.

So how had he ended up here?

Well, it all began when he had taken the aptitude test, only to come to to see the examiner sitting there with a furrowed brow. 

"What're my results, doc?" He had asked with a grin.

The Abnegation man had given him a serious look. "It seems that you have an aptitude for both Dauntless and Amity," he said bluntly.

Jesper heard a record scratch in his head (metaphorically, of course.) "Huh?"

The man went into some sort of spiel about Jesper choosing the cheese, but also running after the dog, a lot of it he can't fully remember. Meanwhile, Jesper's brain felt like it went into overdrive. He hadn't realised that this was a thing that could happen.

"I am going to input your results as Amity," the man explained. "It is important, that you don't let anyone know the truth."

Jesper nodded fervently, taking the warning to heart. "It's a big secret, got it."

"I'm serious," the examiner reiterated, "having multiple aptitudes, being divergent, is dangerous."

Jesper nodded again, standing up. "Right, well it seems I have a decision to make," he said it with a smile, but he felt nerves creeping in. Being divergent was dangerous? Why?

He strutted back out to the waiting room and took a seat. As he waited for everyone's tests to get done, he found himself tugging on his shirt sleeve. What kind of danger was he in? Was he going to die young, like some kind of disease? Or would people want to kidnap him and run experiments on him? But surely, only the Erudite would have the equipment for that? Right?

These anxieties only got worse throughout the day, and once he finally made it home all he wanted to was go straight to his room. However, his Da stopped him.

"Jesper," he said, "how did today go?"

Jesper avoided his eyes as he replied, "good, it went good." He nodded to drive home the point.

"Jesper," his father repeated, grabbing his arm. "Look at me, son."

Jesper complied.

His Da's eyes, grey like his, studied him, and Jesper felt as if he was looking into his soul. "What's wrong, Jes? What aptitude did you get?"

Jesper blinked, surprised. "We're not supposed to talk about that, Da," he reminded him.

His dad shook his head. "That doesn't matter, something's up with you." As if to drive the point home, he pulled Jespers hands apart, where he was trying to pick at one of his nails. "You won't get in trouble, I promise."

Jesper took a breath. Of course, his Da was his Da, he could tell him, right? It's not like the guards would run in at the mention of his results. "I- they say I have an aptitude for both Amity and Dauntless," Jesper admitted hastily.

Instead of comforting him, telling him it'd be ok, or even saying "wow Jesper, that's cool!" the worried creases of his fathers face only deepened. "Divergent," he breathed, his voice full of fear. Jesper hadn't realised he knew the term for it.

 His Da gripped Jesper's shoulders tightly. "Jesper, listen to me closely," he said, completely serious. "You can never speak of this again, tomorrow you will pick Amity and we will go on like nothing is off. It will be ok."

Jesper wasn't sure if he was trying to convince Jesper or himself. Either way, the weight of his tone scared Jesper. Was it really this serious? "Why- how do you know all this?"

"Your mother," was his Da's surprising response, "she- she also was... divergent."

Jesper's eyes went wide.

"The world isn't kind to people like you and her," his dad said. "Promise me you'll do this."

Jesper's brain was struggling to keep up, but also felt way too far ahead. "Da-"

"Promise!-" His father demanded, his voice harsher than Jesper had ever heard it, and trust him, he had been given out to plenty over his childhood.

Jesper nodded. "I promise."

His father seemed to visibly relax. "Good-" he looked around- "I will get started on dinner then."

Jesper watched as his dad wandered off to the kitchen, his words replaying in his mind.

***

Jesper was nervous during the choosing ceremony. He had barely gotten any sleep the night before, as he tossed and turned thinking about what his Da said. 

He was divergent. He was different. He was in danger. The best way to stay safe was to stay in Amity, with his Da.

It made sense and he loved his Da, but... 

Hearing a faction other than Amity had been exciting, a chance at something new, something flashy, something better. Something more than just being a farmer forever.

So when he heard his name finally being called out, he took careful steps up to the front, keeping his eyes trained ahead of him. His Da was gonna kill him.

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath as he cut himself with the knife, and quickly shot his hand out over the burning coals of Dauntless. He heard cheers as his blood sizzled, but he couldn't focus on them.

He turned straight towards his new faction, and walked over to join them, not letting himself look out at the crowd, at who would be watching him.

No looking back now.

***

"Alright, Jesper and Wylan, you're up next!"

Jesper stood up. They had brought the Candour boy out of the room, but spots of his blood remained. Jesper swallowed, trying to keep down his nerves. 

Across from him the Erudite boy from yesterday stood, his eyes darting around like a nervous animal. Jesper tried to smile, but he was pretty sure it came out more like a grimace.

Wylan's expression seemed to mirror his own, something that surprised Jesper, as he was the first jumper. He supposed not even the most impressive initiates were fearless.

"Fight," Tamar instructed.

Wylan moved quickly, Jesper could admit that as he went for his legs, trying to knock him down. However, Jesper's years spent working on the farms at Amity came in handy as he was far stronger than the boy in front of him.  

Jesper managed to shove him backwards, before lunging towards him. Wylan ducked out of the way, before jumping onto Jesper's back and wrapping his hands around his neck. Jesper easily shook him off, and spun around. He pushed Wylan to the ground, who pulled him down with him.

As he lay on top of him, Jesper couldn't help but notice how pretty Wylan was, like the princes in the fairytales he grew up reading. 

Wylan tried head-butting him, but to Jesper it looked like he hurt himself more than he did Jesper. He glanced up at Tamar, who was watching expectantly. 

He turned back to Wylan with a grimace. "Sorry," he muttered quietly, before punching him in the head. He only needed to hit him twice to get him to stop moving, thank the saints.

Jesper stood up and tried to shake the pain from his hand as he walked back to where he had been sitting. Wylan's eyes fluttered open without much prompting when Tamar went to check on him. 

His eyes slid in Jesper's direction, but Jesper's quickly darted away, not wanting to meet eyes.

"Good job," Kaz said, his eyes still trained straight ahead.

"Huh?" Jesper turned to look at him.

"You won."

Jesper sighed. "Beating up someone smaller than you doesn't feel like winning."

Kaz rolled his eyes. "We're not in Amity anymore, if you want to get by you need to throw your grievances away."

"You don't think this is wrong?" Jesper asked.

Kaz was silent, and turned away, making the decision to ignore Jesper. 

"Great..."

Once the fights had ended, it was time to go to lunch. 

Jesper sat in a chair in the cafeteria with a sigh. "Glad that's over with," he admitted over his food.

"You do realise we have to do it again tomorrow," Kaz reminded him, not looking up from his own plate.

"Hopefully I'll be fighting someone my own size tomorrow," Jesper said, trying to stay positive. His lips quirked up. "Maybe I'll fight you."

Kaz scoffed. "You don't want that."

"Oh yeah? Believe it or not behind these dazzling good looks I do know how to throw a punch or two."

Kaz shook his head. "You'd punch like a noodle."

"Excuse me-" Jesper exclaimed in offense, which got an amused smile from Kaz. 

However, Jesper got distracted, as he saw Wylan looking at him over Kaz's shoulder. The Erudite- or, ex-Erudite Jesper corrected quickly looked away when Jesper noticed him. A wave of guilt washed over Jesper. 

He stood up. "I should say sorry," he announced to the table (which only contained Kaz) before making his way over to Wylan's table.

"Jesper! Don't apologise!-" Kaz whisper-yelled after him, but Jesper's mind was made up.

"Hey, Wylan was it?" Jesper asked, approaching the table. Wylan was sitting with two girls.

"Uh- yes?" He said, somewhat awkwardly.

"I just wanted to come over and apologise for earlier-" Jesper was suddenly aware of many eyes on him.

"Oh," was Wylan's response.

"So yeah, have a good lunch-"

Wylan's taller friend had gotten up from her seat, and quickly ushered Jesper out of the room. "I know I'm handsome, but at least take me to dinner first-"

"What do you think you're doing?" She demanded. 

"It was just a joke-"

"I mean apologising to Wylan! Are you trying to put a target on his back?!" She demanded.

"What?! No! I was just-"

"Implying that he's not strong enough to be here? What do you think the others will do to him if they see you think it was a one sided beat down rather than an equal fight?"

"That's not what this is!-"

"Well that's how it'll look to everyone else," the girl spat venomously, gripping his collar.

"This isn't what I wanted!" Jesper insisted.

She looked him up and down, before taking a deep breath and letting him go. "Do you want to fix this?"

"Yes!" Jesper was sure of that. He didn't want to get Wylan in trouble because of him.

"Then hold still-"

"-What why?-"

Wylan's friend suddenly punched Jesper in the jaw, and pain shot up through Jesper's face. "What the hell?!"

"If anyone asks, you were apologising to me for hitting on me, got it?"

Jesper barely managed to nod before the girl turned back around and stormed into the cafeteria. After a beat passed he followed her.

"And stay gone, creep!" The girl shouted at him as he did the walk of shame back to his table.

"Told you it was a bad idea," was the first thing Kaz said.

"Shut up," Jesper responded grumpily, trying not to look at all the eyes on him. Jesper was starting to realise that things were a lot different here than in Amity, and if he wanted to survive he'd have to get that into his head. It had only been day one and he'd already made a fool out of himself.

Ok, he figured, bring it.

Chapter Text

It was day three of the fights. Inej had been fairly lucky so far, having been put against low-level opponents. Today, fortune wasn't quite on her side, as the name written next to hers on the board was Kaz's.

In spite of his bad leg, he hadn't lost a fight yet, and Inej didn't think she was going to be the one to break that streak.

She glanced at Wylan, whose face was pretty banged up. He had been Kaz's latest opponent, and hadn't stood a chance.

He tried to give her an encouraging smile. "Nina suggested we get tattoos together, if you're interested?"

Inej smiled back at him. "Sure."

"Kaz and Inej, you're up."

Wylan raised his eyebrows. "Good luck."

Inej pushed herself up to her feet, and faced Kaz in the ring. Already he was looking her up and down, so she did the same. Bar the obvious, he didn't have any apparent weaknesses.

When the fight began, the two didn't immediately go for the first move, waiting to see what the other would try.

After almost a minute of inaction, Inej decided to make the first move. She lunged for Kaz's leg, and at the last second changed tactic and went for his upper body. This sudden change in movement caught Kaz off guard, and she managed to knock him off balance.

Kaz took a swing at her, and she barely managed to dodge out of the way. She yanked on his arm in an attempt to pull him to the ground. She didn't even notice his sleeve riding up his arm as she did so, and the boy flinched back.

She took the opportunity to use his momentum to push him over. She pinned his arms down with her knees and wrapped her hands around his neck. She wasn't a hard hitter like some of the others, so this was the best way to knock him out.

She had expected him to fight back, throw her off of him and hit her head against the ground mats. Instead, while he did thrash, he seemed less calculated like he was in earlier fights, trying to wrench his neck free from her grasp.

It didn't take long for him to pass out, and Inej stood up. Tamar announced her victory, and she went back to sit next to Wylan.

"Good job," he congratulated.

"Yeah..."

She watched as Kaz was resuscitated, and he went to go sit next to Jesper.

"You ok?" Wylan asked, noticing Inej's far-off stare.

She nodded, but she had an uncomfortable feeling. She knew she was a capable opponent thanks to her years of performing, but she'd seen Kaz win far harder fights with sturdier opponents. Despite this, she hadn't found incapacitating him... particularly hard?

Before she could stew on it for any longer, Tamar told them it was time to get to lunch, pulling her out of her own head. Whatever, she was probably overthinking it.

***

They were woken up in the middle of the night, and Inej found herself putting her clothes on at their mentors' request.

It wasn't long until they were out under the clear night sky and chasing the train that sped along without consideration for its soon to be passengers. The group was a mixture of both the Dauntless-born initiates and the transfers.

After Inej dragged herself up into the carriage, everyone gathered around the twin mentors to listen as they explained why they were brought out here.

"A city-wide game of capture the flag," Tamar told them, kicking a box of paintball guns towards the initiates.

"The teams will be chosen by Tolya and myself, and we'll get off the train at separate points. If you get shot even once, you'll be out."

The twins then took turns picking their initiates.

Inej found herself on Tolya's team, while her friends were on Tamar's. She silently took note of how Wylan was the last to be picked, but she couldn't afford to dwell on his problems, she had her own to worry about.

Her team got off the train first, and Tolya didn't wait to make sure they all got off after him. Inej's eyes flitted over to the marsh that was on the edge of the city, spanning almost as far as the eye could see. Stories whispered of it once being a glittering blue lake, something Inej liked to think about.

As the group searched for a place to protect their flag, they discussed a strategy to try and get the other team's flag with as little casualties as possible.

Once they set up base, Inej set off into presumably the other team's direction, though she was less than pleased when the group had sent Kaz with her.

She was completely fine to walk in silence when Kaz spoke up. "The allocation of jobs was terrible."

Inej glanced over to him. "Oh yeah?"

Kaz nodded. "You may be stealthy, but pairing me up with you limits what you can do-" Kaz motioned to his bad leg- "but I suppose the Dauntless-born initiates wouldn't care much about that." He said that last part with a grin, though what he said wasn't funny.

"I don't need your praise you know," Inej informed him.

"I'll make sure to steer away from compliments then."

"I'm serious-" Inej stopped in front of him- "is it some kind of Amity thing that you all try to give help where it isn't needed? Because out of the two of us only one scored Dauntless and it wasn't you."

Kaz raised his eyebrows. "Do I seem like the generous type to you?"

Inej looked him up and down. "You won every other fight."

"They couldn't find my weaknesses."

Inej paused at this. "Weaknesses? Like what?"

Kaz smiled. "One of us didn't get Dauntless, remember? I'm smart enough to keep my cards close."

Inej studied Kaz, the way he held himself, the way he spoke- he was right, he definitely wasn't the generous type. She continued walking.

"So how come you chose to come here rather than Erudite?"

Kaz let out a sigh, his eyes drifting off to the horizon. "I'm looking for someone."

"A friend?" Inej asked.

"Not exactly."

Inej wondered what he meant by that. She didn't say anything, leaving space for him to elaborate on his own.

He didn't, and instead just kept walking.

"...are we even walking in the right direction?" Inej asked.

"No idea."

Inej stopped. "Hold on a second."

She didn't wait to see if he had actually stopped before scaling the nearest tree. It felt good to be high up, it reminded her of home. Once she reached the top, she scanned the area for any sign of the other team.

She spotted a clearing among the trees, a perfect spot to keep a flag. Covered by the forest but also easier to spot intruders from than the rest of the forest.

She dropped back down to where Kaz was waiting. "This way," she told him, walking in the direction of the clearing.

Kaz didn't argue. "Where'd you learn to climb like that?"

Inej shrugged. "I'd put on shows with my parents."

"Is that common in Candour?"

"Not particularly, though we did have a few performer friends."

The pair soon reached the clearing. There were three initiates standing around the flag, paintball guns in hand.

"So how to get it..." Kaz pondered.

"I don't suppose we could run like hell for it?" Inej asked.

Kaz shook his head. "Believe it or not beneath Jesper's foolishness is a man that doesn't miss."

Right...

"Hey, remember when you said that you weren't one for stealth?" Inej asked.

"Where are you going with this...?"

Inej smiled devilishly. "I could use a distraction."

Kaz's mouth formed a thin line. "I'd be offended if I had a better plan in mind."

Inej climbed up into a nearby tree, hopping from branch to branch as silently as she could as Kaz made his way to the other side of the clearing.

The leaves rustled, and the three initiates raised their guns in Kaz's direction.

Inej carefully positioned her gun, pointing it at Jesper. She hit him square in the back, the black shirt turning blue from the paint.

The other two spun around, shooting in her general direction. Inej jumped out of the way, shuffling along the tree branches as quickly as she could without falling.

Luckily for her, the shots stopped as Kaz hit them both in the back of the heads.

She grinned and jumped down from the tree, then ran into the clearing and grabbed the flag. She waved it victoriously.

Kaz's smile mirrored her own as he joined her in the clearing.

"No need to look so smug," Jesper commented, and Kaz just smirked.

"You should've won then."

Jesper shook his head, though Inej could tell he was biting back a smile.

As the game was over, the group made their way back to the train tracks, where they found the rest of the initiates.

Once she had gotten on the train that would bring them back to the Dauntless compound, Nina and Wylan congratulated her.

"Thanks guys."

"So uh, who's tall dark and handsome over there?" Wylan asked, nodding in Kaz's direction. The pair of them had made their way to the train tracks together.

"Before you say anything, you can do far better than a man whose hair is cut like that," Nina interjected.

"Guys!" Inej scolded, "get your minds out of the gutter, it's nothing like that."

Nina smirked. "For the record I only believe you because you’re from Candour and are probably incapable of lying,” she said.

“I’m not incapable of lying,” Inej insisted.

“Don’t worry, we’ll teach you how to lie,” Nina assured her, giving her a pat on the shoulder, “we’re going to make you so evil.”

“Pfft-”

As her friends spoke, Inej’s eyes drifted towards the other side of the car and met Kaz’s, who was listening to Jesper.

Maybe it was the Candour in her striving for the truth, but he intrigued her. She wondered who could possibly make him choose a different faction, especially since he didn’t consider them ‘friends.’

Kaz went back to looking at Jesper.

She figured if she wanted to know she’d have to talk to him more. There was much more to Kaz than meets the eyes, that she was certain of.

And Inej was going to get to the bottom of it.

Chapter Text

It was the last day of fights, and Matthias was glad. He found the whole thing quite barbaric if he was being honest, but he supposed they had to test the initiates somehow. He looked at the board to see who he'd be fighting. Wylan.

Matthias sighed. It would be an easy fight, but that didn't mean he felt good about it.

Before long they were called up.

Matthias looked his opponent up and down.

He was small and scrawny, his face was badly bruised from the previous fights and his bottom lip was split. Despite all that, he still bounced on the balls of his feet, fists raised and eyes determined.

As Matthias was deciding how to go about the fight, Wylan lunged. He aimed for Matthias' middle in an attempt to take him down, though it was hindered by the sheer difference in size between the two of them.

Matthias grabbed under Wylan's shoulders and threw him to the floor without much effort. He then got on top of him to hold him down.

Matthias felt relieved that it only took one punch to knock Wylan out. He quickly went to get off of Wylan, glad for the fight to be done.

What he wasn't expecting was for Wylan's eyes to shoot open before he'd even gotten fully off of him.

He took advantage of the fact that Matthias was off balance and pushed him to the floor, knocking the wind out of him.

Matthias heard gasps from the onlookers as Wylan quickly scrambled to get on top of him, wrapping his hands around Matthias' neck and using his knees to keep his hands down.

Despite being fairly disoriented and having a lack of oxygen entering his lungs, throwing Wylan off of him should've been child's play.

He struggled to move his right arm, but Wylan just pressed his knee harder against his wrist, causing Matthias to let out a choking noise. His knees were pointy.

Matthias made contact with Wylan's eyes, which had a fiery desperation to them, as if internally he was screaming. Unlike Matthias, he hadn't won a single fight yet, meaning this was his last chance not to get kicked out of Dauntless.

Matthias felt bad for Wylan, it wasn't like he was on the verge of getting kicked out.

Faction before blood, he reminded himself before he could start thinking Abnegation thoughts.

Matthias tried to get up again, only for Wylan to press his full body weight onto his neck.

Instead of fighting it Matthias dropped back onto the floor. His vision was starting to get fuzzy by this point.

Faction before blood, his brain reminded him again, though this time he didn't find himself fighting back.

Old habits die hard he guessed.

It wasn't long after that that he passed out.

***

When the final scores for the week were announced later that day, Matthias' name was, unsurprisingly, at the top.

Cheers erupted to his right.

"You're not at the bottom!"

"I'm not at the bottom!"

Wylan and his friends were celebrating, and Matthias had never seen someone so happy for getting the bare minimum. Then again personal achievements were never much celebrated where he was from.

He also didn't miss the strange looks some of the others were giving him and Wylan. Now that he was more lucid, the decision not to try harder was looking questionable, to say the least.

That evening he found himself wandering around the compound and thinking about what the next stage of initiation would entail, when he was approached.

"Hey, Stiff!"

He spun around to see a group of the Dauntless-born initiates going somewhere, but the one who stood out to him was the girl who had stepped away from the group to talk to him. Nina, he thought.

She was tall, had soft-looking brown hair and striking green eyes.

"Don't call me that," was his gruff response.

"What're you gonna do about it, Stiff?"

Matthias frowned, clenching his fists. "Don't-"

"-easy there big guy! Or I'll set Wylan on you again," Nina said with an infuriating smirk.

Matthias turned his head away, his face turning red. "Don't remind me."

He heard Nina giggling and snapped back to glaring at her. That set her off again, her laughter appealing to him more than he'd like.

"Anyway," she said once she'd finally composed herself, "a few of us are going to do an initiation ritual- it's usually just for the Dauntless born and their siblings, but do you wanna come?"

Matthias furrowed his eyebrows. "Why?"

"Because it's fun!"

"No, I mean why me?"

Nina considered this for a moment, before shrugging. "You were standing there I guess."

Before Matthias could respond to this she ran off to join the other initiates.

Matthias rolled his eyes, but found himself chasing after them.

The group yelled and whooped as they ran after the train. Once they'd boarded, Nina turned to him with a wild smile. "You having fun yet?"

Matthias glanced around at the others in the car, some of them he recognised, many he didn't.

"You're a rowdy bunch," he said lamely.

"You mean we," Nina corrected, "you're one of us now, remember?"

"I suppose I'm still getting used to that fact."

Matthias found Dauntless strange. Everyone was loud, everyone looked out for themselves, nobody seemed to show a shred of modesty. In fact, he'd been startled when he'd learned they were expected to change in the communal dorm rooms, something he still hadn't wrapped his head around.

"What was it like back in Abnegation?" Nina asked him.

"People weren't as rude, and there was order to things," Matthias told her.

"Sounds boring."

Matthias bristled at that. "It's not boring, it's sensible! Nobody jumped onto moving trains in Abnegation."

"And yet you still chose to come here, why?"

Matthias opened his mouth to respond, but paused. Why did he choose Dauntless? "Because that's what I got on my aptitude test."

"Well, surely there's gotta be something about Dauntless that you like," Nina insisted.

Matthias' mind went blank. Luckily for him, before Nina could press him for a response the others started getting off of the train.

"We're here!" Nina declared excitedly.

Matthias followed the sea of teenagers, all in Dauntless black, as they made their way up the many stairs of the Hancock Building. He had to admit, his curiosity was staring to get the better of him the further they went, as when they got to the top of the stairs they moved onto a ladder.

Matthias' breath was taken away as he could see the entirety of the city from here as the wind loudly whistled past his ears. He looked down at the twinkling lights, wondering which of them were lit by the people he knew, the people he left behind.

Everything looked so small from way high up.

Once they made it to the top, Matthias saw some of the older members of the group strapping another to some kind of sling at the edge of the roof.

"Three, two, one, go!"

He watched as the kid was pushed over the edge, propelling along a wire towards the earth at breakneck speeds.

Nina must've taken note of the look on his face as she said "you sure you're up for it, Stiff?"

That damn name again-

Matthias narrowed his eyes at her. "Don't mock me."

Her face broke into a devilish grin, one he both loathed and wanted to remember every detail of. He stuck his tongue out at her, which only seemed to delight her more.

The pair waited patiently in line as people were pushed haphazardly over the edge.

Finally it was Nina's turn, and Matthias watched with concern as she climbed onto the thing backwards.

"See ya at the bottom, Stiff!" She called as she was pushed onto the zip line.

Matthias huffed and climbed into the next sling being set up the correct way- unlike Nina, he was a sane person.

He saw the distance between himself and the ground and his stomach did a flip, suddenly nervous.

Before he had the opportunity to question this decision, he was being counted down and pushed into empty air.

The wind was harsh against his skin, so much so that he had to struggle to keep his eyes open. The cityline whizzed past him faster than he could comprehend, and it wasn't too long until he could make out the group of Dauntless at the bottom of the line.

Once at ground level, he undid the straps keeping him in the sling, and rolled out, dropping into the knot of human hands that were ready to catch him.

His heart was racing, his face stung, but what was weirdest was the only thing he wanted to do was to go back up and do it again.

"Well? You glad I invited you along?" Nina asked. She was clearly smug.

Matthias tried to stifle the grin that insisted on forming on his face. "I guess."

Nina smiled. "I'm glad you liked it big guy. Now, let's get going before our mentors realise we're gone."

Matthias nodded, finally managing to school his features into neutrality- something more familiar.

As the group got onto the train, Matthias couldn't help the slight disappointment he felt that they were going back so soon.

Maybe Dauntless wasn't all bad.