What if the War Never Happened (Divergent)

Chapter 15

Again, I don't pay attention to this speech either. I focus on the wind blowing my hair to the side.

"As every year, initiates first." Max says gesturing to the crowd of initiates in the back. He sees me and the Stiff in the front and he knows I dragged him here.

"No volunteers? Well, Ash looks like you get to show them how its done." Eric says smirking.

"Did you guys get soft on me while I was at the Choosing Ceremony?" I joke.

I begin walking up to the edge and look over. It looks the same from when I jumped down it the first time, its just that it was later in the day the first time. I start to bring myself up onto the edge when I hear someone starting to speak.

"I-I want to jump first"

I look back and, surprisingly, it was the Stiff. Max just eyes him carefully and then turns to me. "I guess your big day as first jumper is gone. A Stiff took your place." Max whispers to me as I get down and walk over to his other side.

"I'll get him back during initiation. Since I am training with them" I counter at him.

He just smirks and shouts "Okay Stiff. Show us what you've got."

The Abnegation walks up and gets onto the ledge. He looks down and looks kind of nervous. I guess someone asked about what's at the bottom. He turns his head toward me and then to Max. Fear is present in his face, but determination lives in his eyes. Max must have seen it too.

Max turns to me and says loud enough for everyone to hear "Well Ash, I guess you do get to say you jumped first. But remember, I helped your reputation."

I give him a confused look and he nods to the boy standing on the ledge. "Go jump with the Stiff. He looks like he could use some encouragement." he says like it wasn't obvious.

I shrug in response, but he knows that I am overjoyed. My dad told me that he talked to Max and that he asked him to make sure that I get to jump first. Max didn't argue, he just asked "That girl of yours will be a great Dauntless, why the hell do you want her to be the first jumper?"

My dad responded with "Well, my hard-headed daughter would nag at me if I didn't ask you. So now that I have, my job is done." Apparently Max laughed at that.

I get back up onto the ledge and look at the Abnegation. He has faded scars on his face, but you could only see them if you were looking for them or you were just that close. Was he beaten in Abnegation? Anything is possible. This Stiff is holding his head up high, trying to show his dominance, as he scans the sky looking for something that isn't there.

"Well any time now" Max says impatiently.

"Hold your horses Max. I'm letting the view sink into the Stiff. It may be the last thing he ever sees." I tease, but only the adult Dauntless laugh. The initiates look at me even more terrified. I don't know why some of the Dauntless born look so scared. They have seen the room they're jumping into before. They know there's a net there.

I look over at the Abnegation and say "On three?"

He nods at my suggestion and turns to face the hole once more.

"One. Two." I say and before I finish, we are both flying through the air towards the dark hole. I flip around in the air a few times, well somersault, then finally picking a position where my back is towards the ground.

He just stays in the same position but his body moves involuntary and makes his back go down first. Finally the impact comes. The tied ropes envelop me and him. I laugh at the fact I just did ten summersaults in the air and still had time till we hit the net.

I look over at the hands reaching over to us. They all recognize me and start saying stuff about my moves. I see my parents laughing at what I just did.

Reaching over to the boy and grabbing his hand, I yell at my parents "Hey! If I'm going to make an entrance, I might as well be outstanding."

I go to pull him out but then realize that he leg got tangled in the rope. He is still in shock so I crawl over to his leg and gently take his leg out of the knots it somehow got itself into. It took about half a second for him to notice I was helping him, then he joined. Once his leg was free, I rushed to the side of the net and grabbed my mom's arm. She pulled me out while my dad dragged the boy out.

"Well. Look at this Six. A Stiff. First to jump. With our daughter. Did Max let you guys go together?" my dad asks. He's looking at the boy but directing the question to me.

"No. I pushed Max off of the train and this boy just got in my way as I jumped." I say sarcastically rolling my eyes. "Yes, he let us jump together and I teased all of the initiated up there saying that whatever they see up there may be the last thing they see." I say with an evil grin on my face.

The boy finally joins the conversation. "Wait, you two are married and that is your daughter?" He pointes to my mom and dad then to me. Its weird that he could be so curious like this and you could even see the gears spinning in his head.

"Yes. Those are my parents, Six and Four, and I am Ashley but you can call me Ash." I answer.

"Yep. Our daughter. You know I have never heard of two people jumping first." My dad says.

"Me neither." my mom agrees.

"Well anyway, what's your name?" my dad asks the boy.

My name is..." he is trying to find the right name. I guess that he wants to start again.

"Choose wisely. You only get to pick once." I cautiously say. I don't want to scare him considering that he does look intimidating. Only a little thoug, well to me. I grew up with people with tattoos and piercings so anyone without those looks kind of soft to me.

He finally makes up his mind when he straightens his back and raises his head up to my dad, "Austin." he says firmly. I look to my mom who look at my dad. My dad shouts "First jumpers- Ash the Prodigy and Austin the Stiff"

A fraction of the people in Dauntless materializes in front of us as they pump their fists and scream in joy. I look over at Austin and he looks determined to stay here. Maybe he will make it through the training.

I, then, realize what my dad said and I turn to him. "Hey!" I scream at him as I slap him on the arm.

Austin must have seen because I can hear him laughing quietly. I turn to him and ask "Something funny Stiff?"

He shakes his head still laughing.