Role Reversal #8

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"He's one of the last friends I have. I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at you the same way again."

Tris frowned at she adjusted the zip-tie the guards put around her wrists. The guard had wrapped the band tightly around her wrists and as Tris moved her arms to test her chin for blood, she winced. The mark that the guard had put on the spot hurt bad.

"All right?" Reggie, one of the people who helped with the task, asked.

Tris nodded. She didn't mention how she has had worse injuries. She glances to Rafi and Mary across the room, and felt sick to her stomach as Rafi nodded at her. She knew he meant, Well done.

Reggie shifted closer to her. "Listen, Nita and the fringe people are taking the fall. It'll be all right."

Tris bit her lip, nodding. She hasn't seen Matthew since they were all arrested. She wondered how long it would take for the guards to figure out what to do with them. Bile rose into her mouth. There would be so many lost lives; how many of them was she responsible for?

"Matthew told me they were going to steal memory serum," Tris told Reggie. She didn't meet his gaze, "Was that true?"

Reggie glanced to the guards surrounding them. They had already been yelled for talking before. Nodding, Tris looked away for a moment, then looking back to him. "It wasn't," she said, "was it."

Tobias had been right. Matthew had been lying to her.

Tris almost jumped as the guard marched to them. "Hey! Move aside," she nudged the end of her gun in between them, "No conversation allowed."

Reggie shifted to the side while Tris looked at the guard. "What's going on?" Tris asked, "What happened?"

The guard rolled her eyes. "Oh, like you don't know." She said, "Now keep your mouth shut."

The guard walked away and Tris sighed, leaning her head against the wall. She lifted her head as soon as she saw a familiar brown head of hair walk closer. His eyes shone bright with that dark blue as he walked to the closest guard. Tobias. There was a bandage covering his forehead and blood smearing clothes. He was clenching a piece of paper in his hand.

"Hey!" The same woman guard said. "What are you doing here?"

"Calm down, Shelly," the other guard, a man, jogged over. "That's the boy who saved Zoe."

Tris furrowed her eyebrows. The boy who saved Zoe . . . from what, exactly?

Shelly put her gun down. "Oh. Well, it's still a valid question."

"They asked me to bring you this." Tobias's voice was deep with a feeling Tris couldn't decipher as he offered the piece of paper to Shelly. "Zoe is in recovery. She'll live, but they're not sure when she'll walk again. Most of the other injured have been cared for."

Tris looked away, the bad taste in her mouth growing stronger. Zoe couldn't walk. What other injuries had the GDs caused--what other injuries had Tris caused?

"Do they have a casualty count?" Shelly asked.

Tobias shook his head, "Not yet."

"Thank you for letting us know."

Shelly went to turn away, but Tobias spoke fast. "Listen," Shelly's gaze turned back to him, "I need to talk to her." Tobias's head jerks to Tris.

"We can't really--" Shelly started.

"Just for a second, I promise," Tobias said. He looked at the skeptical look on Shelly's face and sighed. "Please?"

"Let him," the other guard said. "What could it hurt?"

Shelly glanced from the guard back to Tobias. "Fine," she said harshly. "I'll give you two minutes."

Shelly nodded back to Tris and Tris stood up, pushing on the wall to help herself. Tobias walked closer and Tris stared up at him, their height difference of three inches making her feel small. Though, Tobias didn't move close. The space between them acted as a barrier. Tobias stared at the wall behind her for a moment.

"Tobias, I--"

"Want to know what your friends did?" Tobias asked, interupting Tris. His voice shook a little, or maybe Tris just imagined it. But, it wouldn't be from tears. It was from anger. "They weren't after the memory serum. They were after poison--death serum. So that they could kill a bunch of important government people and start a war."

Tris looked down at her hands, fumbling with them. A war. She attempted to help people who wanted to start a war. "I didn't know--"

"I was right. I was right, and you didn't listen. Again." Tobias scoffed quietly. He finally looked at her and the Tris found that she didn't want the contact. She felt as if she was a little child, and he was scolding her. Tris looked away. It tore her apart, piece by piece. "Zeke was standing in front of one of the explosives they set off as diversions. He's unconscious and they're not sure he'll wake up."

Tris snapped her eyes back to Tobias. "What?" She said, almost breathless. She saw Zeke's face as he fell down the hole in the building, the glee in his face as he landed on the net. Tris had promised Uriah she would take care of him, that she would look after him. She promised.

"He's one of the last friends I have," Tobias said, his voice wavering. "I don't know if I'll ever be able to look at you the same way again."

As Tobias turned and walked away, Tris slid down the wall after hearing Shelly's voice telling her too. The guard's voice sounded clogged, but Tris could still hear it through the sound of her beating heart.

She remembered promising Uriah that she would look after Zeke. She had broken that promise, just like she had broken many others. How would Uriah act, when he found out it was Tris's fault his brother was in a coma?

Tris let her head drop into her hands. She tried not to think of anything at all.

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