Divergent (Fanfic)

Chapter 8

After the final person chose their faction - Amity - everyone left the room. Dauntless went first, followed by Erudite, and then the Candor.

The Amity were behind us - Abnegation were always last to leave. It was selfless to let everyone else go first. I looked back at the Amity. There were quite a few Candor, Abnegation and Erudite transfers, but no Dauntless. I can understand why.

That faction could have been mine. And it would have been mine, if I hadn't turned to look to Chelsea.

The Candor initiation consisted of lie detector tests, all day, every day, and on the final day, interrogation under a truth serum in front of everyone. They would ask us a lot of extremely personal questions, as they believed that once the worst was out in the open, we wouldn't have to lie again, because there will always be something worse out there.

If I had to be completely honest from now onwards, I thought, I should start by being honest with myself.

And honestly, I blamed Chelsea for this.

If she hadn't said my name, I wouldn't have turned around. If she hadn't been so convinced that I belonged in Candor, she wouldn't have said my name.

If I hadn't done something to convince her I belonged in Candor, she wouldn't have believed that I belonged in Candor.

So honestly, I knew it was my own fault.

I didn't have to turn around and move my hand.

But I did.

I couldn't change that now.

We took the bus to the Candor headquarters - the Merciless Mart. The Merciless Mart was originally called 'Merchandise Mart,' but because only the letters MERC IS MART were left on the sign in front, most people started calling it 'Merciless Mart,' because the Candors are honest, which leads them to being merciless.

We arrived at the headquarters, and followed two eighteen-year-old males lead us inside. One held the door open for us to walk in.

'Thank you,' I muttered as I passed.

'What was that?' He said.

'I just said thank you.'

'Why?'

'To be polite.'

'Politeness is deception in pretty packaging.'

I smiled slightly. 'Then forget I said anything.'

I turned and stood next to Chelsea. The new Initiates - including us - were standing on black marble, inside a circle with the uneven scales on in white marble - the Candor symbol. The symbol represented the weight of honesty compared to the weight of lies. The walls and floors in the Merciless Mart were all made from white marble with a black symbol in the middle, or vice versa, like this room was, from what I had heard.

'Welcome,' said the man who held the door open, after joining his fellow Leader in front of the group of initiates. 'To your Candor initiation.'