Seven Sins- Divergent/Eric fanfic Book1-2 (complete)

7~ The Fence

Four days passed of sparring, knife throwing and shooting, we didn't have anymore one on one fights for a few days, Adam and I guessed that they just wanted to see what we could do. Adam had also been wonderful in that he'd gone to one of the Dauntless shops and bought us some ear plugs, they didn't completely block out the noise but it was better than nothing all the same.

As usual Four woke us up one morning, banging his metal cup against the rails and giving us a deadline within which to get ready, when he told us what time it was Adam and I shared a confused look, he'd woken us up half an hour earlier "we're going on a field trip outside of the compound, so get yourselves fed and meet us at the tracks" he gave us a time and then left.

Once we were at breakfast everyone was talking about where we were going, everyone had a different theory "so, the fence huh?" I turned around to see Eli, smiling as always.

"The fence? Is that where we're going?"

"Yeah, it's pretty cool you know, to look out on the rest of the world, wondering what's out there" he hadn't been wrong, once I was stood on the fence, looking out at the rest of what the world had to offer, I was stunned into silence. It was amazing and beautiful, but also quite scary, it was like this unknown that stretched for miles and miles without end. I couldn't imagine guarding the fence, staring out into that abyss everyday would probably drive me mad, the thought of unruly creatures coming to get us one day, the thought of nothingness, it was enough to send shivers down my spine.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah" I didn't want to admit that although it was beautiful, it was also scary, I felt like it wasn't a very Dauntless thing to think.

Adam nudged me with an evil grin on his face "hey, do you think there are monsters out there? Watching us right now? Thinking, lunch!"

I shoved him playfully away and laughed "stop it! It's not funny" I looked out into the world again, past the Amity farms, past the stranded and rusted ship, out to where the sky seemed to touch the earth "what if there really is something out there? Living in the shadows... waiting"

"Shadow creatures? Okay now you're freaking me out" Adams eyes looked over the earth like mine had, but now it was like he was looking for something.

My head turned to Four, he had just finished talking to Alyssa, who seemed to be breaking down at the prospect of what could be out there "Four?"

"Yeah?" He said as he walked towards us.

"Has there ever been, I don't know, like a threat, from out there?"

He narrowed his eyebrows and looked out "threat? You mean something trying to get in?" I nodded and he shrugged "not that I know of, it's been quiet for years" what he said next was a message to us all "you shouldn't think about what's out there or be frightened by it, if you end up patrolling this fence then your only priority is keeping those people safe" he pointed to the city "if there is a threat, you shoot it, you keep it out. You protect those who cannot protect themselves" he was looking at Alyssa now, who looked somewhere between understanding and paralysing fear.

He walked away from us again and started talking to Thackeray, who also had some questions. After a few hours of talking to the regular guards, asking what life on the fence was like, and looking for anyone Adam knew, we were taken back to the compound for some light training and then dinner. The fence was still on my mind though, and I think Adam was getting sick of my questions "but has anyone really tried?"

"Tried what?"

"Leaving, running towards that horizon to see what's out there" he rolled his eyes and continued eating, but I wasn't finished "I mean Amity, right, their farms are outside the fence, it would be easy for them to make a run for it. Would you do it? Go out and explore?"

Adam shrugged, he really was getting sick of me "I don't know, okay? But in my lifetime no one has tried to 'explore', we enjoyed life where we were, Amity see no reason in going out into the world and anyway, I don't think any of them are brave enough to try it"

I let it go silent for a few seconds "but would you though? Would you go out?"

"Oh! I don't know! No, I guess, I'm happy here"

"Okay, sorry" I didn't mean to be a pain, but that view from the fence kept looming over me like a dark shadow.

And it loomed over me all night, I imagined all the different monsters that were out there, the other people cast into the dark ages, savages doing whatever they could to survive. Did they know we were there? A civilised city just sitting in isolation, with medicine, food, roofs over our heads, clothes, clean water. What would they do to get their hands on all that? Is there an invasion coming that we don't know about? "Stop worrying" I heard a grumble in the dark.

"What?"

"Stop worrying about what's over the fence, I can hear the cogs turning in your head and it's exhausting" I heard Adam whisper.

"Oh well I am sorry" Adam could tell I wasn't genuinely offended and laughed, I heard him toss onto his other side and assumed he was trying to get back to sleep. After a few moments I felt someone climb onto the end of my bed "what the- who's that?"

"It's me, Alyssa"

"Alyssa? What are you doing? You know this is my bed, right?"

I heard a timid laugh and sat up against the wall behind me "I know, but..." her voice trailed off into silence.

"What? Is something wrong?" I'd never even spoken to Alyssa, it was strange that she'd just climbed onto my bed like that in the middle of the night. I wasn't too worried about waking Darlene though, she'd had an exhausting day and as far as I could tell she'd fallen asleep immediately, when we got back from the fence Eric had her do extra training, I'm not sure it helped though.

I heard her shuffle a little, if I could see I would have guessed she was looking nervous "I heard you asking all those questions at dinner, about the fence... I'm just, well, I'm scared"

"Why?"

"What if I don't rank well? And I end up on the fence? I was paralysed from just standing on there for a few hours, I couldn't do it for weeks. And... well, Z doesn't understand, she's not really scared of anything. But, you were asking the same questions I had, and- and I'm just really scared"

My hand felt around the bed until I found her hand, I held it mine and tried to comfort her, I had tried not to concern myself with the other initiates' problems, but it was hard to ignore her when she was sitting on my bed "hey, I understand, it is really scary, but like Four said, if you do end up on the fence you just have to concentrate on the people inside it, the people you're protecting"

There was no answer, only a soft sigh and a few shaky breaths, I dreaded that she was going to cry, I didn't have an ounce of Abnegation compassion in me, I hated when people cried because I never knew what to say "tell you what" I said "you can train with me whenever you like, and we can do this together, sound good?" I heard a noise and laughed "did you just nod? I can't, you know, I can't really see"

"Yeah, sorry I did" she laughed "thank you, I really really appreciate it" she jumped off of the bed and pecked me on the cheek before running back to her own bed, I had to laugh as I laid back down, I wasn't expecting to make a friend in Alyssa, who was always tied to Z's hip.

"That was nice of you" Adam whispered, I smiled but didn't say anything, I didn't want anyone to say well done, because I was just being charitable, I couldn't let myself care too much about her ranking, because if she did badly then it'd be on my conscience.