Fourtris: After

**WARNING: ALLEGIANT SPOILERS**

I wake in a strange place. Looking up, I see buildings towering over me. As I roll over and attempt to stand, I realize that I am in a net. The same net the initiates fell into after jumping the ledge into the Dauntless compound. I also notice that my clothes are different; it's as if I'm eighteen again. I feel my skin; smooth and... young. All of the memories come rushing back to me. The roar of fists on tables in the dining area, filling me with pride and satisfaction. The laughter and moments I shared with my friends I made here. Escaping my father, finally feeling free. A smile makes it's way across my face. I roll out of the net and uncerimoniously stumble out onto the pavement. I haven't made that drop in... in... I suddenly can't remember. It's as if time doesn't exist in this place. Am I in a dream? A memory?
I remember the Abnegation's belief about life after death, something to do with religion, the little I had heard about it. I don't know if I believed it or not, but I certainly do now.
Eternal life. Happiness.
I am dead.
I let the words sink in for a moment.
I am not that fragment of a person I was before. I am free.
A weight lifts off of my shoulders that I didn't even realize was there.
I walk through the tunnel that leads to the Pit. As I enter, a sense of pure happiness swells within me. I am home.
Then I see her.
Her small, birdlike figure in the middle of the enormous cavern, almost swallowed by it.
The three ink crows flying along her collarbone that I loved so much.
Tris.
She bounds towards me and I remain where I am, too filled with shock and joy and an overwhelming longing to do anything . We collide and her thin arms wrap around my neck. After a few seconds, I come out of my daze. I lift her up with both arms and hold her tight against me, never wanting to let her go again. No, I won't. Ever.
I love her, I have always loved her.
She sobs into my shoulder tears of joy. She feels light, lighter now without all of the burdens she carried. She pulls away after what feels like hours to me, just enough to look into my eyes. Her striking blue ones are overflowing with tears. I have not seen her, felt her warm body against mine, looked into these eyes of hers and hers alone in what feels like 1000 years. I would sob, want to sob, want to let out all the emotion that has been stalled inside for my entire life, but all I can manage is a single tear. Any more than that, and I will never be able to stop.
I don't care.
I cry tears and tears of joy, finally able to without fear of judgement.
A grin spreads it's way across my lips and I press my forehead to hers.
"I love you, you know," she whispers, choking on the words.
"I know," I reply with a laugh, my voice breaking. Those are the same words she said to me the day before she died. Now I'm here, wherever this is. I don't care. I'm here with her, and that will always be enough.
Her arms move behind my neck, pulling me to her and her lips meet mine for the first time in years. I run a shaking hand through her hair, across her tattoos, drawing her closer to me. That's all I want; for her to be as close to me as possible.
I am hers and she is mine, and it has been that way all along.