Dauntless Rising

Mistakes

Anastasia's POV

I sat down with Tris. I sighed.

"Can you control the simulations, too?"

"Control?" Tris looked at me, confused.

I explained to her what I meant, and what Four told me.

"That happens to me, but to a lesser extent. I am just aware that it is only a simulation and it is easier to face my fears. It probably happens more intensely for you because you are more divergent than I am."

"Yeah, that makes sense." I paused. "So Four said he was helping you out?" I raised an eyebrow and grinned.

"Shut up." She shoved me, blushing. I laughed.

"We haven't done much yet, but when he starts giving me useful tips, I'll let you know."

"Alright."

She stood up to leave, and turned around at the last second. "You haven't had any more dreams, have you?" I shook my head. "Good." She sighed, relieved. "Me neither."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I went to walk to the pit before dinner, when I heard someone crying. It sounded very familiar. I spun around and saw Ara sitting on her bed, her chin between her knees and her arms wrapped around her legs, sobbing. I rushed over to her.

"Bella, what's wrong," I said, calling her by her childhood nickname I used when she was upset.

"Dude, I really messed up with James." She told me what happened between sobs.

"Oh, Bella..." I wrapped my arms around her and she laid her head on my shoulder and just cried and cried until there were no tears left.

I sighed. "I think I might have messed up with Alex, too."

She looked at me, suspiciously. "Yeah, I saw you say goodbye to him and then go to talk to Tris. What was that all about?"

I sighed. "We just talked about the fear simulation."

"But you barely know her."

"I know, but we just had to talk about some things that I can't tell Alex."

She hesitated. "You're divergent, aren't you?"

I gasped. "How did you know?"

"You were completely unaffected by the fear simulation. Do you think I'm stupid? I'm divergent, too, and you acted the same way I did- different from everyone else." She stood up, facing away from me, and then she spun around, fire in her eyes. "Why didn't you tell me? I trusted you, and told you what I was. And you couldn't tell me? Why don't you trust me?"

"Ara- it's not that I don't trust you, it's just-"

"Just what?"

"I am more divergent than you! I wanted to protect you!"

"You don't need to protect me! I'm the one that needed to be protecting you! The wimp who joined Dauntless, relying on her twin sister to carry her through."

I just stared at her, more hurt than I ever had been. A shocked look appeared on her face. "Ana, I- I didn't mean that."

"No, you're right. I shouldn't have joined Dauntless. I just..." I paused, fighting back tears. "I couldn't bear the thought of losing you." Tears threatened to take over but I pushed them away.

"I know, Ana. I didn't want to lose you either. But you need to learn to rely on yourself and not me or other people. That's why I joined Dauntless and not Amity. So you could learn."

I put my hand on her knee. "I will learn. For you." She smiled.

"I just wish you would've told me you were divergent."

"I know, and I'm sorry. It seemed like the right thing at the time."

She sighed. "Yeah. I know. I guess we both made decisions we thought were better for the other person. Turns out, we were both wrong."

"Yeah." I smiled, and we hugged.

"So what about Alex?"

"I can't tell him I'm divergent. It would put him in too much danger. The less people who know, the better."

"You're gonna have to tell him at some point."

"But I can't. I won't do that to him."

"Ana, he's gonna ask you why you left him there today- and he's gonna be upset when you don't tell him."

"I'd rather him be upset with me then have him be killed for harboring a Divergent."