Emergent

Chapter 5

(Tobias's POV)

"Tob...."

"Shut up." I snap.

She stares at my hand intertwined with Tris's in shear loathing. "Who is this Four?"

I rub my hand against the back of my neck, I never expected this encounter.

"This is Tris, my ummmm, wife." I have shot and killed people, I have fought a war, I have nearly burned a city to the ground, yet, I can't face my ex-girlfriend and wife together.

"Well, I never expected you to meet anyone, especially when you were promised to me."

Tris lets go of my hand and elbows me. "What's going on?"

"Before I left Abnegation, my wonderful father placed me in an arranged marriage. This is Elizabeth." I feel like a total idiot. I love Tris, Elizabeth was nothing more than something else in my life that my father insisted on controlling. I want to escape, to find any means necessary to leave.

"It's very nice to meet you Elizabeth. I can't imagine why my amazing husband here never mentioned you." I pinch the bridge of my nose, the tension in the room is so thick that you can cut through it with a butter knife.

"I can't imagine why either. Especially considering that he ruined my life. I was all set to marry him and start a normal Abnegation life. But after he defected, I was forced to go through initiation in solitude, I received my own house, and lived alone until the factions broke apart." I can feel both Tris's and Elizabeth's eyes on me, boring into my skull. I feel exposed.

"Why are you here? More importantly, what is 'here' exactly?" I command, treating Elizabeth my a new initiate that must answer me.

"Well, this is Eden. A new, better faction system that the Bureau, nor you can take away." If this woman was once Abnegation, she definitely doesn't act like it now.

"Now," she lowers her voice into a soft, seductive whisper, "as for why I am here. You see, once Marcus regains control, and everyone is in factions again, you will be mine. A reward if you will, for my loyalty and service."

I flush red. With both embarrassment and anger, how dare she view me as a prize, how dare she event think that I will leave Tris and Natalia.

"You listen here, no one is taking my husband away from me. No one is taking my family away again, and I don't care who I have to kill to prevent that from happening." Tris snarls at Elizabeth, the look in her eyes is wild, and something that I have never seen before.

Tris pushes her way past Elizabeth, leaving her cold in her tracks. Taking my hand, and allowing the rest of our group to follow us in confusion, we push on.
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(Tris's POV)

I don't want to cry, but I do. I can't even imagine my family being ripped apart again, and with the baby on the way.......

I want to scream, I want to escape this awful world once and for all, and live the lives that Tobias and I deserve.

"Tris." Tobias whispers gently.

"I meant it Tobias, nobody is going to take my family away from me again, no one."
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(Keri's POV)

Now is my moment to swoop in. "That sure seemed intense." I smile at Noah.

He doesn't smile back, instead he just mutters, "yeah, I suppose."

"What if I told you that I could get you back together with Tessa?"

"Then," he responds, "I would call you crazy."

"It's simple really, just go out with me for a little bit. Make her jealous, when Four sees how broken Tessa is without you, he will give you two permission to date, and I will be more than happy to step aside."

"I don't think that would work."

"Ah, but Noah, what do you have to lose?"

He seems to ponder this, his warm brown eyes display his deep thoughts.

"Ok." He says, "But this better work, I need Tessa."

I smile and take his hand in mine. I can feel him resisting, but none the less, he remains holding it. This is actually working.
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(Natalia's POV)

This must be a dream. Noah and Keri are holding hands, the anger and jealousy bubbles inside me like soup in a pot. I would kill to slap that smug smile off of Keri's face.

This is all my fault. If I hadn't taken Noah into the woods, if I could have controlled myself......

I look around me at what is presumably the 'new Erudite'. The mesmerizing shades of blue on the walls calm me, and help put me in a slight daze that is distracting enough to stop thinking about Noah.

I think about disappearing, about how it would effect everyone. Would anyone notice if I were gone? Noah had moved on, and my parents don't seem to care enough about my happiness to let me stay in a relationship, none the less my well being.

Maybe I should run away, what do I have to lose? I see an upcoming room with a plaque that labels it a bathroom. Without noise, I gently open the door, and slip inside.

It is thankfully empty. I look in a mirror at my gruesome reflection. My messy hair, my dark blue eyes that lay just over two deep circles, marking my exhaustion. My fingernails are mere stubs that sit on top of puffy red fingers.

I look into my own eyes, all I can see is my father. All of the similarities to my parents that show on and inside of me. I can't leave them.

I slip out and walk quickly to catch up behind, no one noticed that I had left.

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