Daring to be Dauntless (A Divergent Fanfiction)

Chapter 14- Own Will

“Where are we going Ash?” I say in a whisper since every time I talk out loud Ash’s hand flies back and slaps me on the mouth. My lips are already getting puffy from all the abuse. I decide to stick to a two feet distance, in an on-my-toes-ready-to-duck position and speak in a barely audible voice.
He seems to except this more and after a while he stops hitting me. I hold his hand for extra protection. We take a right and I finally realize where we are. Ash peaks through the door into the gym, feeling safe, he ushers me in and drags me into a supply closet. I don't exactly know what he's trying to accomplish but I know better than to ask. 
He lays on his stomach and smooths his fingers along the trim of the floor and wall. He stop suddenly and with a grunting noise pushes and a small box shaped plate away from the wall, where a hole is hidden.
 I gasp and Ash smacks my lips and that’s where his small abuse starts up again. 
We crawl through on hands and knees only for a few seconds before having to drop onto our stomachs and pull ourselves by our elbows. It smells strongly of mildew and fresh dirt. I feel sick and squashed. 

Ash keels looking over his shoulder. He's either making sure he isn't leaving me behind since he's much stronger and faster in dragging himself across the floor than I am, or he is checking that we aren't being followed. Once a small slight comes into view I put everything I have left into pulling myself out faster.
Ash stands up, helping me out. I don't know how long we have been crawling but all I know is that we are underground in a red dirt dome. At circle tables cluttered with papers and files and computers, a few women and men sit, their eyes glued to me. My eyes widen to their full extent, I know this because they aren't getting any bigger when they probably should.
I look around at all the people staring at me, all in colors different from the factions. Some are in purple and green, and other colors are mixed so strangely that I can't even contemplate the faction-mixing. I notice one girl wearing 3 of the factions’ colors- a blue shirt, red jeans, black sneakers and a bright lavender colored scarf. She has black stud earrings popping out from her ears but the glasses she has on make her resemble an Erudite. The mix of these were just queer to the eye.
“Ash,” someone calls out. At the same time Ash and I both turn to look at a woman in all grey clothes running up to us. The thing I did notice though was instead of a long grey Abnegation robe she wore a white jacket.
Her hair is pulled back into a knot and for a second I have to blink the shock out of my eyes. Her beautiful irises lock onto me and she gasps. “Oh, Magdalena!”
In fact I must be wrong about my eyes being able to get any larger because I’m sure they just went from a quarter to a golf ball. All I can do is stare at her. It is some time before I can get her name out.
“Natalie…”
She smiles gently and puts her hands on my shoulders. “I’m so glad you’re here, I suppose Tobias told you.”
She looks at me with big eyes, sweet and hopeful, but I shake my head. “Was he supposed to tell me something?”
Her face is a mix of shock, confusion and dismay. “I told him to tell you about this.”
“Well,” I say looking around, “he didn’t.”
She crosses her arms and looks at Ash. He just stands there, shoulders slumped and his cheeks sucked in. “I had to Natalie, Tobias wasn’t getting anywhere near her, Eric was making sure of it.”
She looks from me to him and sighs.
“Well I might as well fill you in then.”

We follow her through the room where the smell of mildew continues. A few men in black bullet proof vests sit in front of a door, eating doughnuts.
“Hey Natalie,” one of them says looking up. I recognize him as one of the boys that was sitting at the table across from Eric and me at lunch.
He gives me a short nod before standing up and moving his chair aside, followed by the other three.
“Hello Thomas,” she smiles and goes to a small silver box on the wall. She flips it open and presses a series of numbers. It sounds like suction cups releasing as the big impossible-to-invade door slides open.
Ash steps in first, while Natalie ushers me in second and brings up the end. At first the light is so bright I have to cover my eyes. The room doesn't have the hard packed red dirt anymore for a ceiling or walls; instead the floors fade from dirty concrete to glassy tiles and the walls to a purified white. It looks like Erudite, just underground.
I hear the door shut but I don't look back, I am too entranced on the big computer screens that cover the whole wall. I watch as the person in the rolling chair behind the wall length desk pushes from one side to the other, gliding like on ice. He picks up paper and hits a few buttons on the keyboard, bringing at least fifty live camera shots onto screen. Some I recognize.
I can see the quiet streets of Abnegation where all the grey houses are dark and gloomy looking. Then the next thing my eyes lock on is a clip of the big silver bean shaped monument in Erudite. Beside it I  see a group of students in blue. My eyes immediately pick out Caleb. His hair has gotten much longer in the days I’ve been gone. It's now blowing into his eyes with the wind. 

I also catch a glimpse of Eric, alone with the initiates. I breathe in, maybe too loud, because the person in the seat hears and turnes around.
His infectious blue eyes catch mine and he looks positively ill.

“Tobias, why didn’t you tell Magdalena the first day you knew she was here?” Natalie asks sharply. He sits still, looking at me.
We hadn’t talked besides that first day, not out of anger but just for the fact that we hadn’t had any time to ourselves, and he and I both knew that we would need at least a few hours to discuss everything.
He then stands up, still silent . I know what he is trying to tell me, somehow I just know that he is telling me to trust him.
“I hadn’t had time,” Tobias says still looking at me. “Eric wasn’t making it easy.”
“Well that’s not surprising, but you try harder,” Natalie says stepping forward.
He looks at her, his face stony and then he turns back to me. He walks forward a couple steps and that is all I need. The past two years we'd been seperated come rushing back. I suppose that’s why when he stretches out his arms I take the line and let him pull me in to him. He wraps his arms around me and my face snuggles against his chest.
“I missed you,” I mumble through his shirt. I can feel his heart speed up just a little before he lets go and looks me in the eyes.
“I missed you too Lena.”
Ash looks from me to him and then tells Natalie that he was going to find Princess. I cock my head and raise a brow. His expression stays flat as he shake his head and walks out of the room.
“Who’s Princess?”

Tobias shakes his head with the same flat expression and presses his lips to my forehead. “A girl.”
“Just a girl.” I smile and he does too.

“She’s a special girl.”
I look at him with my eyebrows knitted together. “A special girl to you or to Ash?”

“She’s an assassin,” he says dead pan and all I can do is stare openmouthed.
“Are you serious?” I say with a small smile. He nods and I let my hands fall from around his waist. “Well then in that case you better explain what the heck is going on.”

                                                                                        ***

“Alright,” he says and walks back over to the computer.
By now Ash has come back in with a girl in a black skin tight jumpsuit that squeaks together when she walks. She is wearing shiny black boots that are laced up into knots. Her hair though is let down in long platinum blond curls that frames her almost porcelain heart-shaped face.
She pushes past Natalie and over to Tobias.
“Please tell me you got someone on those cameras getting a little too close to the border, I’ve been in this room all day and need to get out.”

Tobias smiles up at her from his chair as he mumbles “let’s see” and clicks a few buttons, bringing up more cameras, this time of the woods.
“There is a small breech in section five- it might just be an animal though.”
He clicks a couple more buttons but she is already walking away. I only then notice, strapped to her back is a short black baton that almost melts into her spine. On her hips are two black revolvers.
“Hey, this is Lena,” Tobias says turning around quickly again.
The girl turns around and shoots me a short bored look.
“Princess,” she says shortly before turning and this time actually leaving.
“What’s her problem?” I ask watching her exit .
“Nothing,” Tobias says shrugging. “She’s just Princess.”
For some reason, watching her and seeing the way she looks, the way things are set up with Tobias sitting in front of me and Ash at my side, I have a feeling that I will be staying for a while. This time, on my own will.