Chasing Dauntless (A Divergent OC Fanfic in Dauntless)

Chapter Two

The guy turned to us, his arms crossed again. "I'm Chase," he told us. "I will be your instructor." He examined us all, pausing briefly on each intiaite. Some people slightly wilted under his gaze, but I stood straight and stared him back, dead in the eye. Chase stared at me for a beat longer than the other people. His eyes narrowed the tiniest bit on me, then moved on. "Let's go," Chase finally called in his no-nonsense, confident, sharp Dauntless voice. We followed him. I couldn't help but notice the way Chase's arms filled out his black short-sleeve shirt, a strand of a tattoo just showing below the sleeve. His black combat boots moved noislessly on the concrete floor, black jeans covering most of the boot, while our mixed-faction shoes made all sorts of sound.

"You guys need to be shown around before you can actually start training," Chase called over his shoulder at one point. We had to slowly move together as the concrete tunnel grew narrower. I ended up right behind Chase, sort of next to him. I tried to ignore the faint smell of his masculine colongne.

Chase finally stopped and pushed open a set of double doors at the same time. "This is the Pit," he said to all of us.

The Pit was a massive room, stretching far into the distance, jagged stone walls climbing to the vast, glass ceiling. Hundreds of Dauntless stood, sat, and ran around, talking, yelling, and laughing. I knew I was meant to be there.

"The chasm now," Chase called. He hopped down into the Pit, and we followed. He led us to the right side of the Pit, where there was a sudden sharp trench in the floor, stretching across to the other side of the Pit. I could hear the water harshly flowing several hundred feet below. A steel fence seperated it from the rest of the Pit, as well as a small metal footbridge leading across.

Chase led us to the massive dining hall across the Pit, where we were applauded by all the Dauntless. We all sank down onto long benches stretching far across the room. We came during the middle of a massive feast.

Hannah and I searched for seats together. We found two. Chase sat several seats away, across the slim table, sitting with other Dauntless. We dug in to the delicious food: hamburgers, hot dogs, grilled slabs of meat. Chase glanced towards us a few times during our conversation.

"Hey," he suddenly said, leaning over to us. We turned to him. Chase looked into my eyes, his eyebrows lowered. "No talk of old factions," he growled. "You are Dauntless now. Act like it." I stared at him to see if he was serious. When his expression didn't change, I raised an eyebrow. "Seriously?" I said.

Chase's eyebrows drew together, and he sat slightly straighter, taken aback by my comment.He wasn't expecting that.

He opened his mouth, but I spoke first.

"It's our first day. We know that we're Dauntless now. We're not saying we're not at all. Hanna and I are happy to be here, we don't want to go back to our old factions at all. By the way, nothing except our old lives and the ceremony has happened in our lives. What do you expect us to talk about?" Chase stayed quiet. His eyes widened slightly. I decided to keep going. "So you've never, ever talked about your old faction while being a Dauntless?"

Chase stared at me, quiet for a few seconds.

"You are Dauntless now," he repeated. He was quiet, but definitely mad.

I didn't dare break his gaze. I knew that what was happening would effect what happened for the rest of my Dauntless training. I knew if I looked away, I would appear weak.

"I am your instructor. You will obey me, and keep your damn mouth shut from now on." Glaring at me a moment more, Chase finally ripped his gaze away and resumed eating. He glared at his plate and took mechanical bites.

I turned to Hannah. She stared at me, half-smiling, her eyebrows raised. "Did you seriously just do that?" she asked, holding in a laugh. She looked at Chase, then back to me. "He's our instuctor, Jess. Now he clearly hates you." I shrugged. "Maybe, because he's Dauntless, he's not smart enough to realize that what I did was Dauntless." Hannah laughed. I thought I saw Chase glance at us. I turned to Chase. He was eating his food. His jaw was clenched, unfortunately showing his hell of a jawline. I thought I saw a whisper of a smile on his lips, but it was probably just his pursed lips.

After dinner, Chase led us to the dormitory. He stood in front of us in the large, concrete, windowless room. Pillars supported the ceiling. Twin beds lined the wall, simple black blankets on them. . "Is this boys or girls?" somebody asked. "Both," Chase replied, half-smiling. I rolled my eyes. Chase whipped his gaze to mine. "Something to say?" he spat. I smirked, and looked at him, amused. Again, I didn't away. Chase snorted and looked away. Well, I won this one, I thought.

"Change into your new Dauntless clothes," Chase said after a while, gesturing to a metal table with stacks of black clothing. We all walked over. I grabbed a tight black tank top, black spandex leggings, and black combat boots. I glanced around, then realized there was nowhere to change, excpet the awkwardly open bathroom. I pulled the leggings on under my blue skirt, the slid off the skirt. I put on and laced up the boots. They, luckily, fit. I sighed, then peeled off my modest white shirt. In just my bra, I quickly put on the black tank top. I picked up my clothes and turned around. Chase stood right in front of me. I looked up at him, suddenly inches away. He stared down at me for a moment, a hint of amusement on his face. "That way," he said, loosely pointing back out. He led us all out to a big incinerator where we tossed our old clothes into the inferno.

Erudite was dead to me now. Gone forever. I would never be forced in those retched blue clothes again. I would finally be free in the black clothes of the Dauntless.

After burning our old clothes, Chase led us back to the dormitory. "Get some rest," he told us. "Tomorrow will be a big day." As Hannah and I retired to the two beds we had picked, I felt a strong hand on my shoulder. "Jess, right?" Chase said, looking intently into my eyes, still holding my shoulder. I nodded. "A moment?" Chase took me to the hall just outside the dorm. Because the hall was small and narrow, we were awkwardly close. I distanced myself as much as I could from Chase.

"Jess," he murmured. "You cannot talk back." "I was-" "No. Shut up. You need to keep your mouth shut. You'll get your ass kicked. Other instructors won't have it. They will be unfair. They will cause you pain. They will make it their goal to cause you to hurt as much as possible without actually damaging you. If you try hard and stay quiet, you'll be fine."

Chase's gaze never left mine. He still looked earnestly at me. I stared at him, then opened my mouth. He swiftly brought up a finger, close to my lips, but didn't touch them. "No," he whispered. "Jess, don't." Our gazes locked. I knew Chase wouldn't look away. I finally decided to just close my mouth after it had hung open. I pursed my lips. Chase sighed. "Good. Just stay quiet, okay?" I didn't answer.

No way in hell I was staying quiet.

Chase finally let go of me. He looked into my eyes a moment more, then turned around and started back to the dormitory.

"Chase," I called. He stopped, but didn't turn around. He stood completely still. "Would a coward have talked back?" My voice barely echoed down the halls. Chase stood still for another second, then kept walking.