Discoveries ✔ (Divergent Fourtris Fanfiction)

Chapter 60

Tobias

"I still can't believe that this is your connection to the factionless," Zeke repeats for the third time since I dropped the bomb about Evelyn being my mother. "That's unbelievable. How could you keep that to yourself for so long?"

"I'm not used to having someone to share personal stuff with," I shrug, unable to find a better answer. Now that Tris and Zeke know and neither of them looks at me any different than before, it's getting more difficult to remember why I never wanted to share this with anyone.

"But Tris knows, doesn't she?" Zeke asks while we sneak around a corner.

"Yes, she knows."

"That's good. It's not helpful to have secrets like that."

"I know, but it was still hard for me to tell her," I sigh as I remember the night she held my wordless self in her arms, and the night after that, when I finally told her about Evelyn. It was the same night she took me up onto the roof, where I was overwhelmed by my love for her.

"We're almost there," I whisper to change the topic. We need to concentrate. I gesture to the weapon in my belt, then place my hand over it. I've been here before, and it's not the safest area of the city.

We fall silent as we move quietly through the last few alleys lined by broken houses before we reach the old factory building that serves as the factionless headquarters. It's strange to come here during daylight hours, without the darkness' cover as protection against curious eyes. I'm sure we're being watched as we walk across the square towards the main entrance, over the crumbling pavement that's been cracked open by the forces of sun and ice and time.

I was right about being watched. Before we reach the rusty metal doors that close their compound off to the surrounding world, they are already being opened. Four men block the now open entrance, weapons in hands.

"Who are you and what do you want?" one of them addresses us in a harsh voice that doesn't falter. From the way he holds his gun, the whole position his body automatically takes, I can tell that he once must have been Dauntless.

"We're coming in peace, don't worry. We just want to talk, to Evelyn Eaton."

"That doesn't answer the first part of the question," he snorts.

Okay. There's no way around saying it, words that feel like a lie because they're not true anymore - at least not for me.

"I'm Evelyn's son, Tobias. And this is my friend Zeke. We have an important issue to discuss with her."

Those words I hate to say are like a key, one that allows me to open the door to factionless. The guards glance at each other, and then their leader motions them to step aside and let us in.

"Wait here, I'll go and tell Evelyn that you're visiting," he orders, and his tone is already less cold.

"Thanks," I nod and fold my arms in front of me. It's meant to make me look intimidating and maybe even bored by this whole place. Only I know that it's my protection, that I try to shut my emotions away inside me by building a wall between me and the world.

I stare at the waiting guards who stand in a group and chat quietly, occasionally shooting us a glance, while Zeke stares at the scenes playing out on the other side of us, where the factionless' daily life is taking place.

I, too, was stunned the first time I saw their indoor market where they exchange goods, and their workshops where they repair broken things and build new ones out of used items that they gather in the streets or elsewhere. Everything seems so normal, just like life in the other factions: Children play, people stop to have a chat or eat while on the way to work or the simple places they call home.