Four/Tobias Eaton Imagines

Wordless, Loveless

based on a request for a soulmates au :)

You are sitting on the ground of a moving train car, feeling it roll and rattle with every passing second. The sound of it is inescapable, a dense clanging of metal and gears that you can't see, the moving of a dozen parts all conspiring to keep you from certain death above the only city you've ever called home.

In front of you is a girl who has been your friend for the past forty five seconds and perhaps will be your friend for the rest of your life. She's risen unsteadily to her feet, and looks around the car as if she expects someone to push her through the still open doors. Judging by her gray apparel, she's not wrong to worry; someone might do it for fun, to see if she'll allow herself the narcissism of a shout as she falls.

She regards you curiously, and after a few more moments' quiet contemplation, dares to ask the question that's been on her mind ever since she met you.

"Why did you choose Dauntless?"

It's a fair question, certainly the one everyone's asking themselves as they look around the train car at the scores of other new initiates. You know perfectly well why you chose this dark suited faction, but in the end, you lie.

"Same as the rest of us, I guess. I wanted to feel powerful. I wanted to be brave."

Tris nods. Whether or not she actually believes you is a different story, but at least she's accepted it. "Nothing about soulmates? I should think that at least some of us changed factions for that."

Soulmates. Even without knowing it, Tris had already seen through your white lie. You are here to be brave, that was true, but it's not the main reason. In the end, you are still a resident of this city, and that means you're governed by your own wants just as much as they are. Right now, that involves finding your soulmate.

It's not supposed to be easy. That's what everyone says, and they're far too right. Hypothetically, you know when you find your soulmate because the second the two of you have physical contact- anything from shaking hands to accidentally touching as you brush by each other in a crowded hallway- you can access each other's minds. For those brief seconds in which you're together, you know everything racing through your soulmate's mind, and vice versa.

That's what they say, at least. It sounds absurd. You hadn't entirely bought into it for most of your life, and then there was that incident at a Choosing Ceremony a year or two back. Suddenly, you believed everything there was to believe about the soulmate myth because it suddenly became true.

Here is how it went down on that day of days. Your older sister had been going through her own Choosing Ceremony. Your mother had to work that day, so you had taken her place to watch the masses select their futures for that day. The ceremony itself had been nothing to fuss over; there had been a few upsets, as per tradition, and then it was over.

The actual event, the one that has stuck in your mind since that soul shattering day, happened afterwards. You were lost in a swarm of people all trying to either find their way towards transferring family members for one last goodbye or hurry towards their new homes and old retreats.

In the midst of the commotion, there had been one moment that stood out most of all. You were headed home, but your path was blocked by a flood of Dauntless all racing towards the doors. One young man, maybe a year or two older than you at maximum, was closest to you. His hand had brushed yours for just a moment as you ran, pure accident, but it was enough for you to catch a glimpse of his mind.

The entire experience was like nothing you had ever felt before. All of a sudden, you were no longer alone. You felt more connected to this mysterious young man than you had with anyone else. This soaring feeling overwhelmed you, leaving you giddy with the sensation of someone else's freedom.