Reawakening

Chapter One

Uriah

I wake with a start.  I'm... in my bedroom?  At Mom's?  I haven't slept here in so long.  Not since before we went to the Bureau...

Everything comes back to me in a flash, and my breathing quickens.  Was that real?  Was it a dream?  If it was real, will Tris remember me?  Will she help me fix everything that is bound to go wrong?  What day is today?

In a panic, I throw on clothes as fast as I can before quickly using the bathroom, splashing water on my face, and brushing my teeth way too quickly to truly get them clean.  The living room looks as I always remember it, and my school backpack sits by the door.  Mom seems to be gone, maybe to work, I guess?

On a typical day, I would go to the dining hall for breakfast, so I do that next.  I hope I can find out when I came back to without anyone thinking I'm crazy.  Luckily, when I slide in next to Zeke with a muffin in my hand, he asks me a question that relieves my curiosity instantly.  "Hey, little bro!  Nervous about your test?"  Across the table from me, Marlene looks sick with anxiety.  The aptitude test.

Speaking of Marlene, I can't take my eyes off of her.  She takes my breath away.  Marlene is average height, slender, but strong and curvy.  Her light brown hair frames her face in ringlets, and her hazel eyes are bright and full of a love and excitement for life.  There's a small scar on her forehead from falling out of a tree once when we were kids, and freckles pepper her nose.  I just want to hold her, kiss her, God, I've missed her.  But I realize, we aren't together yet.  We're still just friends.  This will be even worse for Tris-- Four won't even know her.

"Nah, not at all," I answer, and it's true.  I've done this before.  I know what will happen.  There's nothing to be nervous about.  Everything after it?  Sure.  But not about my test.  "I'm staying here either way, no reason to worry."  Four is sat across the table, next to Marlene.  "Excited for the new transfers tomorrow, Four?" I ask with a smirk.  He gives me a confused look, as I'd expect.  Because I know, assuming that this wasn't just a very vivid, bizarre dream, that tomorrow, he will meet the love of his life.  His world will never be the same.

"Uh, I guess," Four responds, still looking at me like I'm crazy.

"You'd better take the rest of that muffin to go, Uriah," Marlene interrupts as she gets up and slings her backpack onto her back.  "We're going to miss the train if we don't hurry up."

I don't hesitate.  I want to get to school and find Tris, as fast as I can.

__________________________________

Tris

I wake in my bed in my Abnegation home.  That couldn't have been real.  It was just a dream.  An extremely detailed and strange dream.  A very detailed, very real dream.  How can a dream leave me with my heart hurting like this?  I'm so heavy with guilt for leaving Tobias.  How can I fall so deeply in love in a dream?

"Beatrice," my mother calls, "hurry and get dressed. We need to cut your hair before you leave for school."

The last time my mother cut my hair was the day of my aptitude test.  Or maybe that was the dream?

Once I'm dressed and my teeth are brushed, I hop onto the stool that is sitting in the hallway.  My mother slides the panel back, revealing the mirror.  I stare at myself in it as she snips at my hair.  In my dream, I was strong, my hair was short, my eyes were... older looking.  But today, I see the little girl I always had been before I chose Dauntless, or before I chose it in the dream.  Weak and scrawny, a thin pale face with wide eyes and a nose that is too long, and my hair hangs more than halfway down my back.