"So, she is just back?" Zeke ask me nodding his head at Tris. After two weeks and no word from Amar, Tris began trying to live her life again. It's almost as though she never left. I watch as her Uriah catch up and the energetic smile that she brings to him. Christina keeps her distance with a smug look. naturally, I don't think Tris minds.
"For now, I suppose." I half answer while chewing my food.
"How are you guys? Working things out?" He raises his eyebrows at me in curiosity. If he only knew that our time together is spent avoiding eye contact and in silence.
"I don't think so." I bark at him loud enough that the rest of the table looks our direction, including Tris who drops her eyes quickly when ours meet.
"C'mon man. You have been fucking miserable, and now you have a chance and you're going to fuck it up." He whispers, leaning over the table towards me.
I open my mouth to remind him that she faked her death, leaving me to grieve alone, but he shakes his head at me. "She didn't run off, she is here, right now, alive."
I carefully consider his advice, wondering that in the moments of the crushing weight of her loss, I would have forgiven her, no matter what. Zeke doesn't push any further after receiving a jab from Shauna. The topic kills my appetite, I drop my fork down with a flank and push myself back into my chair, exhaling sharply. Tris looks over nervously, quietly signaling she is done as well.
I watch as she says goodbye to her friends, other Dauntless members stare at her in confusion but quickly move on. Only here can someone come back from the dead and it be accepted with little question. When we near the Chasm Tris slows down enough to get my attention. "Do you think, if you don't mind."
Her eyes hint downwards to the spot where only we know exists. Even though she has outed her existence, she could still be in danger, and until told otherwise, she doesn't leave my side.
"Sure." I keep my tone light, pressing my hand between her shoulder blades as a gesture to go ahead. I feel her tense momentarily and then relax under my touch before winding down the narrow rock path.
She takes a seat on the same slab of rock, just out of the waters reach. The exact spot where I kissed her for the very first time. I instinctively take the spot next to her, resting my elbow on my knee, letting my head sag. "Where did you go?" I finally ask her. I had avoided the subject for far too long. Maybe in fear that her answer would make her supposed death noble.
"Outside of the fence, there is a community of Divergents. I stayed there, at first." She pauses to compose herself. "And then, I was implanted as a spy in a place called the Bureau. The man in my simulation, David. He runs it."
I remember Natalie Prior once telling me of the place, and how dangerous it would be for Tris. "What was there?" I ask further, trying to understand.
"At first, I thought everything the Allegiance had told me was a lie, it was good. But then - David asked for my blood, saying that Divergents were the cure, the savior to our humanity, and they had been waiting for someone just like me. Tobias, Chicago isn't a surviving city, it's an experiment. They've been watching us, our entire lives. To see how we would rebuild."
My eyes scrunch, forcibly trying to understand. "Watching us?" I say to myself out loud.
"I played along, gathering information, letting them run test on me. We're not the only ones, there are other cities, just like this. We are not alone." She says darkly. I can tell she is lost in her thoughts, a sad look on her face.
"Why did you come back, the night in the training room?" A glimpse of jealousy and heartbreak flickers to her eyes.
"For you." Her voice is raspy and broken while she struggles to hold her voice steady. "I came back to get you." It finally registers to me, that she hadn't moved on, that she was hurting from the distance between us the same as I was.
