D E V I A T I O N // A Divergent / Eric Fanfiction (SLOW UPDATES)

CHAPTER ONE

"Iris Freestone"

This was it. It was finally time to make the decision that had been approaching the past 16 years. The decision that had been haunting my dreams for the past few months. The decision that was going to change my life. And was I ready? Finally, after months of mulling this over, finally I could say I was ready. I had done everything I could to prepare myself; I had started running after school every day, I had been training as much as I could in my bedroom without arousing suspicion from the rest of my family, I had read books from the library about different fighting techniques, I had gone against everything that my faction stood for - I had lied to everyone. But despite all that I finally felt like I could do it; I could survive in Dauntless.

I stood up and walked through the sea of black and white. I looked back at my dad and my younger sister - they both looked calm. They had no idea what I was about to do. I finally got to the steps and walked up to the five metal bowls. I grabbed the knife and sliced the palm of my hand open, letting my blood drip over the lit coals, hearing it hiss against the heat.

"Iris Freestone - Dauntless!" I turned back and looked at my family to see their reaction. My sister was crying into my dad's shoulder, whilst he just had a look of complete shock on his face. He had no idea that I wanted to leave Candor. Taking both of their reactions into consideration I still didn't feel guilty, I had gradually distanced myself from them and I had learned to care less about their feelings. With a smile smeared across my face I walked over to where all the Dauntless sat and I finally felt at home. This was where I belong. They all cheered for me and some came up and gave me a high five or a clap on the back. I quickly sat down and waited for the rest of the names to be called.

People started running and I got up and followed after them with their whooping ringing in my ears, adrenaline buzzing through my whole body. The ceremony must have ended without me even realising. All of a sudden we heard the train horn and the Dauntless were whooping and cheering again. I turned around to look at the other transfers reactions - I wasn't too worried as I had spent the last few months studying how they jumped onto the train, but I spotted the look of worry on the Amity boy's face that stood next to me.

"Don't worry about it; it's going to be fine. Don't think, just jump," I said to him with a smile.

"How do you know?" He replied, still looking just as scared.

"I don't," I answered and we both laughed, more out of sheer nerves than humour.

The train was approaching us fast, and we all started running to catch up with it. I grabbed onto the handle of an open cart and swung myself in. I looked down and saw the Amity boy struggling to get in, so I grabbed his hand and pulled him in and we both fell into the cart laughing.

"I'm Iris," I said, still giggling slightly.

"I'm Jasper. Thanks by the way, I was scared I wasn't going to make it."

"Don't worry; I'm still in shock that I even managed to do it myself," I said and we both laughed quietly as we sat down next to a sweet looking blonde girl.

"Hi, I'm Sage," She said, turning to us and smiling.

"I'm Jasper and this is Iris."

"Erudite transfer?" I asked, looking at the blue dress she was wearing.

"Yep, Candor and Amity?" She asked, looking at me and Jasper.

"You got that right," Jasper said, winking.

We all sat in silence for a while, looking out at the city through the open cart door when someone interrupted our silence.

"They're jumping!" An Erudite boy called out.

"They're what?" I exclaimed. I should have expected something like this, I should have been prepared. But how could anyone prepare for jumping from a moving train to the top of what had to be at least a 20 story building?

"Well crap... Together?" Sage asked. Me and Jasper looked at each other and nodded. We all took each other's hands and looked at each other, a nervous smile plastered across our faces.

"On three?" I suggested.

"On three." Sage agreed.

"One... two..." I said.

"Three!" We all exclaimed simultaneously as we jumped onto the building in front of us. As I fell, my white blazer jacket sleeves slid up and the stones scratched my arms. Great. I stood up and brushed off all the dirt that had covered my trousers and checked that I was still wearing my ring, I would have no idea what I would do if I lost it.

"Alright listen up. My name is Max and I am one of the leaders of Dauntless. This here is Eric, another one of the Dauntless leaders." He said, gesturing to the guy stood next to him. I looked up to see an older looking man with creases in his dark skin and hair slowly turning grey by his temples. Alongside him stood a younger looking guy, who barely looked older than me. His eyes were scanning the crowd and I could see in his face that he was taking all the details of everyone in. When his eyes landed on me I raised an eyebrow at him and instantly new this was a mistake. His eyes narrowed but I still stared at him. Dauntless were supposed to be brave, but then again this was probably just being stupid. Max had finished speaking and I overheard Sage talking to Jasper.

"We actually have to jump off that ledge? We've just jumped off the train!" She cried.

"Wait, what? We have to jump off the ledge?" I butt in.

"Well maybe you would know that if you had been listening, Candor." I heard a deep voice say. I turned to look at who the voice belonged to and my eyes fell upon Eric. Oops.

"Since you seem to think that all of this talk isn't of any interest to you then maybe you should jump first?" He was glaring at me and when he saw the hesitant look on my face he continued, "No? Are you too scared, Candor? You're going to have to admit it, after all, you're Candor, you can't lie."

"Actually I was going to volunteer to go first," I said just to spite him. The truth? I was so scared and my heart was beating so fast and hard that I was surprised no one could see it or hear it. The crowd had parted, making the perfect catwalk for me to walk down. I tried to get rid of the nervous look on my face as I walked between the crowd and I tried my hardest to make myself look as composed and collected as possible. Max and Eric stepped down from the ledge as I stepped onto it, looking down into the black pit of nothing. I didn't want to be standing there so long that they might have to push me off, so I took a deep breath, bent my legs and jumped.