For the next week I ignored Eric. Trust me it was harder than you can imagine. Every time he attempted to even speak to me, I was out of his presence, attempting to look occupied. My days played out simple. I went to work to train the initiates and went home at the end of the day. I spoke to mainly Four when it came to training subjects and busied myself with training. It was the middle of week three and the initiates were moving through training well. When I had breaks, I stuck my nose in my journal. I had written down every fact thus far that I had found out about my parents. I was trying to come to the best conclusion that I could before asking more questions of my step-parents. I had the urge to go to Amity but I knew I was being looked at harder every day. The fact that Max stated that I had a set purpose while I was here bothered me. I couldn't do anything out of the ordinary. I scribbled away at some pages after we let the initiates leave for lunch. I wasn't hungry. I had lost my appetite for everything.
"Avery?" I looked up from my seat on the bench next to the score board. Tris. She gave a small smile and took a seat next to me. "Are you ok?" She asked bluntly and I turned to her. My hands closed the journal and set it to the side.
"Yes." I said simply and looked around the training area. Four and Eric were sharing a conversation in the corner of the room. I wanted to know about what but I pushed my thought from it. I had to try a new tactic to gain my full leadership potential. Maybe not being nosey would be a good start.
"You don't really seem like it." Tris stated and at that moment Jessica appeared. She had been around more and more the last week. I told myself to push the jealous feeling aside. I had done this to myself. Eric gave up after day two on my cold shoulder tactics and Jessica took advantage of that. I turned to Tris.
"Trust me, I am fine." Something was in the works, I knew it. I had detached myself from everything. The leadership, the Erudite program, and Eric. Tris stared at me for a moment before glancing over at Four, Eric, and Jessica. I looked to the ground trying to ignore Tris's presence. I wasn't fine. She was a smart girl and could read that. Eric kept secrets from me, my thoughts of being used in some way flooded back.
"I'll see you after the break." She said and left me sitting alone on the bench. I needed a break from life at this point. Looking up I watch Four and Jessica leave the training area. They were locked in conversation. My eyes landed on Eric who was looking back at me. My hand found my journal and gripped it tightly. I wanted so badly to run to him. Hug him and kiss him. Apologize for everything. There were two sides of him. Why couldn't he be consistent? Was the Eric I was falling for the real, true Eric, or just a figment of him? I stood from the bench and left the training area out the back entrance. I had an hour to kill. I needed to find some more answers but had no outlets. I couldn't go the Erudite, Jeanine would find me and make it more awkward than it needed to be. Amity was beyond out of the question. I sighed and began to wonder around the compound. My fingers flipped through pages and my mind continued to process the information. I found myself in the archive. My feet had led me there against my will.
Erudite had cleaned it out completely. It was comical that a desk still lay in the center of the room and the old woman who kept the archive sat behind it. She was typing away at her computer. I walked up to her desk and waited for her too look up at me. She had quickly closed some screens on her computer before looking up at me.
"How can I help you dear?" She asked and smiled up at me. Her face was scarred badly. She hid it well underneath her blonde hair. I smiled the best happy smile I could. "You are bothered by something." She stated, not asked. How could everyone tell? Maybe it was a woman thing. I sat down in the chair that sat in front of her desk. My journal folded in my lap.
"You are the second person to see that today." I said and brushed my hair out of my face. I had been wearing it down. I wanted it to cover the piercings on my eyebrow. My blonde roots were coming back in. I had to see Tori later to fix that. "I'm sorry I never got your name." I blurted out realizing I only knew her as the archive keeper.
"Victoria." She said simply with a smile and I inclined my head.
"That's funny, my mother's name is Victoria to, well, my half mother." I said and waved it off. The woman's expression changed suddenly but then adopted a smile. I felt like I was wasting her time. "I'm sorry I don't know why I am here, I guess I was just wondering around, I'll leave you alone." I made a move to stand but she held up her hand.
"Please stay." I sat back down in the chair. My hands played with the journal in my lap. "Did you find the answers you were looking for?"
"No, just more questions." She frowned and leaned back in her chair.
"I'm sorry to hear that, you above all deserve to know the truth." I smiled and nodded in agreement. Wait. I started at her intently. She smirked and looked away. "Avery, the answers are always right in front of you."
"Funny you say that because the answers only bring me questions." I said and leaned forward in my chair. She was trying to give me answers but what were they.
"Look at the facts." What. Look at the facts? I was getting angry.
"Have you been watching me?" How did she know that the facts were not getting me anywhere? She knew something about me.
"Ever since you came to Dauntless." My expression became stern as I tried to steady my breaths. "Have you figured out your purpose yet?" I stood abruptly from the chair and slammed my fists on her desk.
"How do you know about that?!" I shouted to her and she stood as well. "Do you know my purpose?" I ground out. Again everyone else knew something that I didn't. This was maddening.
"Look at the facts Avery, then come see me again." She turned and made her way out of the archive. I groaned and turned to follow her. I rushed along the hallways out into the pit. I searched the crowd for her and she was gone. I sighed. Looking at my watch I saw that lunch was over and made my way back to the training area. By the time I had got there Four had begun instruction on knife throwing. Eric was nowhere in sight. Good. I tucked my journal into jacket before taking it off. I tossed it on a nearby bench.
"Avery take a group please." Four said and I nodded. I began to instruct, Edward, Will, Christina, and Tris. It was simple. Center yourself on the target and put enough force behind the throw. After a few demonstrations I let them practice. I stepped back and observed, stepping in to fix errors here and there.
"How are they doing?" A chill ran up my spine. I looked over my shoulder at Eric. He had finally arrived. I looked to Four, he was engaged with Al, trying to get his throw better. I sighed.
"Fine." I said and turned back to the four I was training. Eric moved to stand beside me. With both stood in silence and watched the initiates throw the knives.
"You kind of good at this." Christina said to Tris. She was doing well today. Al, not so much. They were both still below the line and the prime target in Eric's sights. Four took a lean against the table that he had laid all the knives out on and watched them as well. Al kept missing his target. Eric moved past me to observe him further. Al tossed a knife and missed horribly. The knife toppled to the ground.
"Well that was pathetic." Eric said to Al. Al looked back at him and stated that it slipped. Al was quickly order to go get the knife and refused. He was too afraid of getting stabbed by a knife. I rolled my eyes when Eric ordered him to stand in front of the target. Al hesitated but did as he was told. Eric called Four over.
"One thing you will learn here is that orders are not optional." I sighed and watched Four pick up a set of knives. Another tactic to kick someone out of training. I looked to Eric as he moved out of the way. Four was hesitating but I knew he wouldn't hit Al on purpose, as long as he doesn't flinch. I leaned forward on the table and held my breath. This wasn't going to end well.
"Stop!" Tris? I looked at her questionably. She never truly spoke out, especially against Eric. I wanted to tell her to watch herself but she continued. "Anyone can stand in front of a target, this doesn't prove anything."
"Then it should be easy for you to take his place." Damn, he was quick. He always had been. Eric moved back toward the table. I glared at him. "Same rules apply." Four looked nervous. I knew that there was something between him and Tris. Some form of crush or something that drove him to her. I looked away as he threw the first knife. Then the second, third, and fourth followed. He didn't hit her. Thank god. Eric dismissed the group after that. I helped Four clean up the knives. Four and I were silent. I felt like we both knew what we wanted to say to one another but kept quite just because. When we were done, we said our goodbyes. I grabbed my jacket and made my way back up to my apartment. An envelope was waiting for me when I got there. I sighed and pulled it off. Tossing my jacket to the side as I entered my apartment and opened the envelope.
Avery,
Congratulations! Your leadership training has been completed. You have been moved to head overseer of initiate training. If you have any questions or comments regarding your new placement, please see me in my office.
Regards,
Max
I stared at the letter. What. I was in charge now. I couldn't believe this. After what had happened last week and my lack of communication with any of the leaders or Eric, I get a promotion. A knock came to my door and it creaked open. I had not closed it fully. I turned to it.
"Congratulations." Eric. I shook my head and walked away from him. I went to my bathroom sink and started the water. I felt him behind me as I splashed my face with water. "How long are you going to ignore me?" I glanced back at him. He was leaning against the door frame. I didn't say anything. Shutting the water off, I dried my face. Turning to him, I pondered my next move. He blocked my way out. I stepped up to him.
"As long as I want to." I said, he looked down at me. I couldn't help it. Leaning up I kissed him. All the missed passion over the week coming out at once. His arms quickly wrapped around me and he pulled me forward with a groan. He deepened the kiss. My arms wrapped around his neck. I didn't realize how much I had missed this. My hands came to frame his face as we broke the kiss. We both breathed heavy. I so badly wanted to pull him to my bed. I couldn't.
"I missed you." He whispered and claimed a small kiss. I broke away from him. I ran my hands through my hair. Walking to my living area I stared at my jacket. All the questions. I turned back to him.
"Eric, what's my purpose." He knew that I had heard that last week.
"So that's what this was all about?" He questioned as he walked up to me. I looked away. The ache in my heart was too much for me to continue to handle. His hand laced with mine and he pulled me to sit on my couch with him. "Did you know that there is an equation that predicts the probability of what faction an individual is most likely to choose?"
"That's probably the smartest thing I have ever heard you say." I laughed a bit and he smirked. His Erudite was showing.
"The equation is simple. Take two people." He began to explain. "Say if both were Amity, the equation would slot their offspring to choose Amity, because the values of the faction are not tainted by another's teachings." I listened intently. "If you take the same two individuals but one was from Dauntless and one from Erudite, then the probably of their offspring staying in their current faction goes down by 50%." I did not want to interrupt him. I was curious however, what this had to do with my previous question. "It has been proven that people deflect because of their parent's original origin." So people deflect because it was chemical in nature. Genetics. "Most of the time it is the mother's original origin that an offspring will chose." I stopped him.
"I'm sorry, as fascinated with this as I am what does this have to do with my purpose?" I asked and he sighed.
"Jeanine gave me all your records Avery." I paused. "Your parents are both Amity born, yet you choose Dauntless." I glanced around my apartment. My step-parents records were public record, I couldn't be shocked at this development or the fact that he knew everything already. "You test result was for Erudite though." My eyes shot to him and he smirked. "By that simple fact alone, without knowing the rest it could be inferred that your mother and father were both in either Erudite or Dauntless."
"So, what's your point with all this?" I asked.
"You parents both were Amity born according to the records." I nodded in agreement. "However, they're not your real parents are they?" I froze slightly, I had seen the records just as he did. They would show that my step-parents as I called them were recorded as my real parents.
"No Victoria and Alfred Wayne are my real parents." I stated with as much confidence as I could. It made me cringe to say that they were.
"You introduced me to your mother as step-mother." My mind flashed back to when the factions met in Amity.
"An insult, nothing more. My parents and I never truly got along, I felt like they were more step-parents than actual parents, so I call them such." I hoped he would see through the lie.
"If that's the truth then, how did you come to choose Dauntless, despite what your result said?" I sighed and shook my head. "The equation doesn't fit Avery."
"So your telling me that because of what an equation is telling you I have a separate purpose one that you have yet to outline to me. We are allowed to choose whatever faction we want, dose the equation factor in that variable."
"Your step parents as you call them harbor Divergent's." I rolled my eyes.
"Then question them." I said abruptly.
"We will." My glare returned. I wanted to take back that kiss I gave him moments ago. He wasn't answering my questions. He sighed and sat forward. "Twenty years ago there was a large revolt against the system. One that almost broke society in two. Jeanine has been looking for those responsible ever since."
"What revolt?" I asked, my glare leaving my face.
"People from different factions were joining together, having children." He looked to me and my face turned to one of shock. My mind flew to the facts. Both my parents were labeled to have never left their factions on record. "It is a crime Avery, it goes against what the faction system is designed to do." I sat back into the couch. "Look, whether your know something about your real parents or not, you and a handful of others have been selected for this purpose." I stared at him hoping the next words out of his mouth were about my purpose. "The purpose of finding those committed these crimes." My mind flew through everything and came upon the option to act on or deny the facts.
"So you're saying that my parents are not my real parents?" I asked, attempting to look hurt and the news. I knew that I couldn't pull it off.
"You and I both know that is the truth." I looked away from him. I was supposed to lead Jeanine to my real parents. They already knew that Victoria and Alfred were not my real parents but just people who raised me. "A lot has been kept from you, your entire life. The fact remains that you know who your real parents are."
"You want me to lead them to you?" I asked, suddenly out of breath. He nodded. "Eric, I." I paused. A tear rolled down my cheek and he moved forward. My face in his hands as I took a deep breath. "If I knew where they were, I wouldn't be here with you." I leaned forward and fell into his chest. "Why must I suffer because they gave me up and left me?" I whispered into his chest.
"You are not at fault for any of this Avery." He wrapped his arms around me. The truth was out in the open. I was to lead Jeanine to my parents so that they would be seen as criminals and god knows what else. I had to play to sides to this.
"I don't even know their names." I lied. My step parents had told me their names long ago and I stuck to them. Eric pulled me away from him.
"We will find them eventually Avery." He wiped the tears from my face.
"Then what." He shoulders sagged. The thought of what could happen to them made me sick to my stomach.
"I don't know." He whispered. I looked away. He came closer and nudged me into a kiss. I groaned as he pulled me in. My hand came up to his lips stopping him.
"What are we?" I asked. Finally. His eyes searched mine. He brushed my hair away from my face, his hands coming to frame my face.
"I am yours, as long as you'll have me." He whispered. "I promise to not keep anything from you anymore." His forehead came to lean against mine. "This last week was hell on me Avery." I smiled. Leaning forward I kissed him. I would tell him what I knew about my parents soon enough. With everything he had just told me though, it could wait. Tomorrow was another day.
A/N: Any thoughts or considerations regarding the work is always appreciated! Thanks for reading.