Dauntless- A fanfic of Divergent

Chapter 1-Erudite

Knowledge. That is all that matters here. I love it, the thirst. It can only be sated by an input of new information. By the soothing blue clothes of my faction. By the clear lenses of the glasses everyone wears here. It doesn’t matter how selfless or honest you are here. It only matter if you have a thirst for Erudite. My faction. One of the five that make up our society. Erudite, the smart. Abnegation, the selfless. Candor, the honest. Amity, the kind. And Dauntless, the brave.

Today is different than most other days. Today I will decide my future, choose my path. Who will I be, what I will do, and what matters to be most. Family or faction? It is choosing day. Every 16 years old will choose to remain with their, or choose a new faction. This means leaving your family, if you choose to. But the main reason should be what you believe in. Was selfishness and corruption to blame for the downfall of society? Or ignorance? It is up to us to decide.

 If we choose wrong, and cannot handle our initiation, can’t make it through our test to join the faction, we become factionless. Some say it is worse than death. It means living on the streets, a poor job, like collecting garbage, and little food. We all see them. But on the Abnegation will help them. It would be selfish to not offer food. I admire that.

            This admiration, especially for Abnegation, causes tension in my family. My mother is Jeanine Mathews, the leader of Erudite, and she believes Abnegation has become corrupted, and releases derogatory reports about them. She isn’t kind, or personable. She became leader

 based on her IQ, the highest in the faction. She doesn’t love me. I was an experiment, to see if someone as smart as her could be created. I don’t have any siblings, or a father. She is never around. And I hate her for it.

It is when I remember these things that I hate Erudite. I don’t agree with my mother, I think Erudite is the corrupted one. Abnegation isn’t capable of the things she writes. I have seen them. I also know more than most people. Mostly about Dauntless. The simulations they put them under to test their bravery. How courageous they must be. I also admire them. More than any other faction. Including my own.

            “Catherine!” a cold voice yells from downstairs. “Hurry up!” My mother. Always on time. I quickly brush my layered brown hair behind my ear. The Erudite don’t wear much makeup, but I prefer a bolder look of blue eyeliner and black mascara. It goes with my ice blue eyes, just like my mothers, unfortunately. Pulling on a blue blouse and some black pants, I rush downstairs. “Catherine!” she says in an even shriller tone than before. “It is highly impractical to be late for school! It will inhibit your learning. We can’t have any of that.” She scolds. I look down. “Yes mother.” This has been my whole life. Oppressed, forced to learn. I only enjoy it when it is of my own free will. I hurry out the door, eager to be away from her looming presence.

“Ella!” I call to my best friend as I approach the school yard. She look up from her book and smiles. I grin when I see the title “Ender’s Game” “I loved that book. It was so technical and interesting.” I say, sitting down next to her. She nods eagerly. This is what we talk about most days, book, and other nerdy things like that. He dark blonde hair is secured in a tight braid. I like mine down, or in a ponytail, like the Dauntless. “Did you hear they changed the aptitude simulation? Since so many of us know about what it was.” She says with a smirk. I laugh, because it was her and I that released the information. My mother should take more care to close her computer. “Really?” I say is mock surprise. Our conversation is interrupted by the ringing of the first bell. “See ya!” she says and heads for Trig. Can’t be late. I wave to her. Ella has been one of my only friends since 6th grade. It is a nuisance to have more than a few close friends, my mother once told me. It distracts you from what you have to learn.

Later, after a grueling morning of Physics, I am smiling come time for lunch. And the aptitude test. I am almost sure of what Ella will get. She is so solidly Erudite I can hardly imagine her in any other faction. As she reads, my eyes fall on the Dauntless table. They shout and joke excitedly. They look so free. I am a prisoner to my studies, and my mother. My heart longs for something else, fun. A rush of adrenaline. For Dauntless.

            “Catherine Mathews” is called by a Candor woman in black and white, as all Candor are dressed. I stand slowly and walk to her. The abnegation’s eyes follow me. My mother is their worst enemy after all. But hatred and curiosity are selfish. So some of these people won’t be abnegation for long.

“I won’t lie, the first time under simulation is nerve-racking.” The women says. “I’m Jenna, by the way.” She says and extends her hand. I take it. “Catherine.” She smirks “I know.” With a glint in her eye she hands me a cup. “Drink it, it will start the simulation.” I reply in the same tone she used before “I know.” The liquid is cold in my throat, but tasteless.

            I blink and stand in a room, a table in front of me. A piece of cheese and a knife lay on it. “Choose” a cold voice says from behind me. I shiver, it’s my mothers. I turn back to the table. Cheese seems useless, so I pick up the knife. A growl echoes from behind me. I turn slowly. A huge, very angry dog stalks toward me. I lower my eyes. Eye contact is a sign of aggression. I begin to back away slowly. This is my mistake. The dog lunges at me, and I scream, thrusting the knife into its chest. I carefully extract it. Suddenly I am on a beach. My knife is gone, and I feel insecure without it. The water is stormy and choppy, and huge, jagged rocks riddle the surf. A can’t faintly make out a shark fin, swimming off shore, threatening. My mother says “Swim to it.” I shake my head. This is suicide. “Do it!” she shouts louder. I have no choice. I run into the water. The cold shocks me, and I gasp for air. The currents push me around, dangerously close to the rocks. So I swim. Outwards, toward the shark. I am plunged under and side to side.

I’m swallowing water, but I keep swimming. I think I’m crying, but it’s hard to tell through all the water. But I keep on, and finally, after what seem like an eternity, I touch the shark.

            I sit up in my chair, eyes wide and gasping. Jenna has maintained that same smirk. I want to smack it off her face after what I just went through. “Congratulations Catherine! You have completed the aptitude test.” I stare at her “And?” She grins “Welcome to Dauntless.”

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