Tobias - after Allegiant ✔

Epilogue

Sixteen and a Half Years Later

Choosing Day may not officially exist anymore, but the day will mean something to all of us forever. Especially to me and Tris, since every Choosing Day will mark another year of knowing each other. Every year, on this day, we make an important decision. Not because we miss the factions and the rituals around it, but to keep its value. One of our first decisions was to get another child, the second Choosing Day after Tessa's birth.

Tessa is a beautiful girl. Her eyes are dark blue, like mine, but have the same size as Tris's. Her brown hair falls in waves over her shoulders. She always says she's happy she doesn't have stick out ears like me and Tyler, our son.

Tyler looks much more like Tris, though he has my ears and hooked nose. He's so handsome. I caught a few girls staring at him once. I couldn't help but smile.

"Eawth to Tobias." Tris's voice draws me back to reality. "What wewe you thinking about?"

"Nothing in particular," I say. "Ready to go?"

Tris takes a deep breath and exhales slowly. "Yes."

The big decision we made today was to tell our children about our role in the abandonment of the factions. We have kept it from them for years, afraid of the memories telling would bring back, but Choosing Day is always the day to take a step forward, whether it's a big or a small one.

We drive to the south side of the river, to Millenium, where their uncle Caleb still lives and works. We stayed north, because we liked the silence there. Caleb said he had the Prior video somewhere in case we wanted to watch it. He said he would have it ready for us and all we needed to do was visit.

"Where are we going?" Tessa asks. "I wanted to hang out with Ashley."

Ashley is Christina and Matthew's daughter. It's their only child. Zeke and Shauna didn't get any children, due to Shauna's paralysis. Caleb and Cara have two daughters, Andrea and Grace.

"Remember your History class when your teacher said this city was once divided into five factions?" I ask her.

She nods.

"Well, your mother and I have fought hard to get a live without them. Today would've been the day you had chosen your faction, Tessa. Sixteen isn't just an age. It's the year you become more independent."

"But I'm still not allowed to go to clubs," says Tessa.

"Youw fathew said mowe independent, not fully," Tris interjects.

"Are we also getting the story of Mum's speaking problem?" Tyler asks.

"I'm sitting wight in fwont of you," Tris says, her hands clenching the seat so hard that her knuckles turn white. I place my hand on top of hers.

"If you rephrase, we might tell you," I say as calm as I can.

When Tessa was born, I decided not to get angry ever again. I didn't want to turn out like Marcus. I wanted to hold my children tightly and run down the streets to make them feel like they were flying, like they were free. I didn't want to give them the feeling of being trapped in their own house.

Tris was always the one to get angry at our kids, sending them early to bed or taking a toy. But screams were never heard inside our apartment and the sobs of kids, locked in the closet, was a foreign sound to us.

Tyler sighs. "Mom, are we also getting the story of why you speak differently."

I nod. "Better. And yes, if we have enough time for that."

We arrive at Caleb's laboratory. When he sees Tris, his eyes light up and he embraces her. I think he never fully forgave himself for what he did in the war and he's always surprised when he sees that Tris has. I made my peace with Caleb, too, but that was a long time ago. But I never forgot what he did.

"You still have the video?" she asks him.

"Of course," he answers and he immediately goes to get it, his fingers moving gracefully over the keyboard of his computer.

"We'll start a few generations back, in the Prior family," I say to my children. "Family of your mother lived outside the city, in the Bureau of Genetic Welfare."

Both my children inherited their mother's curiosity. The moment I start talking about things they don't know, something switches in their mind and in their eyes and they listen when Edith Prior starts talking.

Once the video is over, I tell them how the experiment of Chicago was made. Then I let Tris tell her story, her life story, one that will always be remembered. And if not by the next generations, it will be remembered in our family.

And Tris starts, "Thewe was one miwwor in my house. It was behind a sliding panel in the hallway upstaiws..."

+ + +

Eaton will always be a powerful name, and not because of the influence me and my father had and have in the city, but because of the choices Tris and I made and I'm not ashamed of my name anymore. I have scars. I will carry them wherever I go. But every living being has them.

And every scar has a story, and every story is worth telling. There's always something to learn, always something that's important to understand. The story of my life is kind of depressing, but it has, like every story and every life, an important lesson: Life damages us. Every one. We can't escape that damage.

But sometimes you find someone who picks up the pieces of your existence and decides to be the glue to hold them together. I found that person. I hope you will, too.

A/N - yeahyeahyeah 4K reads just before the end thank you so much guys I love you ❤!!

Okay, so about the dairy fanfiction I talked about: I'm working on it. It won't be completely a dairy, because that'd be boring to write, so I'm going to write a story around it. I'll let you know when the first part is published, but I believe you'll get a notification if you're following me😉. I won't be updating that story as frequently as this one, since I don't even have 5 chapters yet, and when I published this story, I was writing chapter 32.

But anyway, this was an amazing journey and it helped me gain confidence about my writing skills and 4K in 6 months was more than I could've dreamed of. You guys owe me the world.

Thanks to all my voters, commenters and readers 😘!!

Never stop imagining and reading and fangirling guys!

Be brave <4
Stay alive |-/

Elisa