Roles Reversed (Divergent No War)

Chapter 9 (Tris)

"You are all dismissed for the day," Zeke announces. "All except Four."

Most of the initates give Tobias amused looks as if they think he's about to get into trouble or something, but Christina gives him a sort of sad look as if she wanted him to follow her, I don't like that look.

Once the room is empty, Zeke motions Tobias closer to us.

"Show me your back," Zeke says unceremoniously.

I am completely shocked at what Zeke just said. I definitely wasn't expecting him to want to see the damage that Marcus had caused to the boy I love.

Tobias simply turns so that his back is facing us, but he doesn't remove his shirt.

"Take the shirt off," Zeke adds in a gentler tone.

Tobias sucks in a large breath before swiftly pulling the shirt off. What we see makes me want to go commit murder. His back is basically nothing but scar tissue.

The room is entirely silent until I hear the sound of a camera. When did Zeke pull one out? I didn't even notice it in my angry haze.

"Why?" Tobias asks as he turns to face us, putting his shirt back on.

I look to Zeke for an answer too. I have an idea as to what he's thinking, but I'm not entirely certain.

"I'm going to Candor tonight," my best friend practically growls. "Marcus is not going to get away with what he's done to you."

The look on Tobias's face is just utter shock.

As the silence continues, Zeke seems to decide that he needs to add to his prior statement.

"Even by Dauntless standards, his actions are inexcusable," Zeke adds gentler. "I hate to even admit that that thing is related to my Aunt Emma, let alone her twin."

A look of realization crosses Tobias's face at Zeke's words, but he doesn't say anything. I assume that he is remembering our conversation from last night about his family in Dauntless.

After another minute or so of uncomfortable silence, I suggest that Tobias head to dinner. As soon as the door closes behind him, I turn to Zeke.

"You're not convincing me to change my mind," he says before I can even open my mouth.

I shake my head. "I don't plan to. Get a clip of his fear of Marcus from his fear landscape to take with you." I sigh heavily. "I've wanted to do that for years, but I didn't know what I could do, and when I turned sixteen, I couldn't do it because Tobias would have become factionless if he was taken from Marcus. No one in Abnegation would have taken him in."

"I'll be back by midnight. Let Shauna know where I went so she doesn't worry."

I nod in affirmation, and Zeke takes it as a cue to leave.

After dinner, the Candor girl, Christina, asks to talk to me, so we walk over by the Chasm so I can find out what the girl wants.

"The person is Four, right?" she asks with a slightly dejected tone.

How had the girl figured it out so fast? "Why do you ask?" I reply to her question with a question of my own.

Christina sighs heavily. "I like him, but if he's the one in this initiate group who's special to you, I'll back off. I just need to know now before I make a fool of myself."

I can't deny the girl's reason. If I were in her position, I'd want to know too so that my heart wouldn't have the chance to get broken.

"Yeah," I reply after a moment of silence. "But please don't tell anyone. I don't want a target on his back because of me."

Christina gives me a small, sad smile. "I wouldn't dream of telling the others. Especially Peter and his gang. They're ruthless and will do anything to get what they want."

I take her words in and file them away. Those three have to be dealt with to protect Tobias, of that I could be certain.

"Thank you, Christina," I say kindly. "I appreciate your honesty."

"I just did what comes naturally." Christina laughs. "I am from Candor after all."

I laugh at her comment. "How did you figure it out anyway?"

"Candor or Dauntless," she replies. "In the first dare, you kissed him the longest and chose him as the winner, even though he's from Abnegation. Also, I was right next to Four, I heard your comment when he asked what a virgin was."

"I couldn't help myself," I say with humor in my voice. "My mouth opened before my brain could stop it."

She shakes her head at me. "Understandable. You also refused all sex related dares except Seven Minutes with Four."

"Seven Minutes is whatever you want, and for us, it was a conversation," I tell her with a shake of my head. "I needed to talk to him before Myra's question. I didn't want him to think that I had been with someone else."

Her eyes grow wide, but she seems to feel afraid to ask what's on her mind. I've been honest and kind to her, so why would she be afraid that the question would upset me.

"Yes, my child is Four's," I answer the unasked question.

"Were you Abnegation too?"

I'm taken aback by her question, but it does make sense that she would want to know if I came from the same faction as Tobias.

"Answer this, do I seem like I could be?" I don't want my Abnegation upbringing to be brought up further. It was hard enough to get the Dauntless members to accept me as their leader because of it, and I don't want to regress to those times.

"Not really," Christina responds honestly. "I was just curious."

After that, I dismiss the girl asking that she tell Tobias to meet me after everyone has gone to bed.

I'm sorry, I feel like a terrible author. I'm trying to write a couple original stories, along with my Divergent fics. I'll try to be better.