It was the third time in as many mornings that Jord awoke with a jump, startled awake by the nightmares that seemed to constantly plague her. This time, the sound of her terrified scream awoke everyone else in the base, and Rory, who'd been on lookout duty, hurried back inside to see what was happening, alarm written over her sun tanned features.
"Jord! Are you okay?" She asked quickly, watching as Virg pulled her into his embrace, trying to calm her down.
"I'm okay," she mumbled, after a second or two. "I keep having nightmares. Sorry I woke you guys."
"Don't worry about it," Hannah told her, blinking at her blonde friend sleepily. "You lowkey saved me from my own, so..."
"Aw, Hannah," Jord sighed, turning to look at her.
"You have nightmares?" Trent asked his girlfriend, looking at her with sad eyes.
"Not always," she said, allowing him to thread their fingers together. "Just... whenever I do, it's the same one. I don't really wanna talk about it."
"It's okay, you don't have to," said Trent, smiling at her.
"Let's talk about something happy then," said Gini, sitting up, and smiling at everyone. He moved to cross his legs, accidentally pulling holes in the mat he was lying on.
"Gini, we spent ages on those!" Ems scolded him. "It's your fault if you have to sleep on the dirt again."
"Sorry," he grinned at her sheepishly.
"Okay, lets all say one fact about ourselves that nobody else knows," suggested Rory, suddenly looking interested. She picked up her mat, and her jacket she'd been using as a blanket, and moved it to where she could still keep an eye on the valley out the door.
"Really?" Ox groaned. "It's too early for games that require a functioning brain."
"Feel free to go back to sleep," Hannah told him, and Ox rolled his eyes.
"As if I'm missing this."
"You go first then Rory," said Jord. "One fact."
"Okay," she nodded, pausing to think for a moment. "I think I've got something. This is kinda weird, but anyway..."
"Go on," Ems nodded, encouraging her to continue.
"So basically, I didn't really know which faction I belonged in," she said. "I'm now aware that I'm a cross of three factions, but at the time, the lady doing my aptitude test just entered it automatically as Amity, and I had no idea why I got that result."
"So you are part Amity?" Asked Virg.
"I am, but also Abnegation, and Dauntless. I mostly favour my Abnegation side, however, and if I was going to be honest with myself, I should have picked Abnegation. But I ended up choosing Dauntless because I missed my brother."
"Wow," said Trent, his eyes widening. "That's heavy. I knew you guys were close, but damn."
"That must have been hard on you," said Hannah. "Did you tell your brother?"
"No," said Rory. "The only person who knew before now was Joe, and he helped me a lot." She smiled at this, glancing at the man in question, and Joe returned her smile, before patting her arm affectionately.
"I don't believe our society had the right idea introducing the faction before blood law," said Gini. "It's destroying one of the closest bonds humankind can have, and it's the sort of self sacrificing love that empires are built on. I don't think you did the wrong thing, Rory."
"You don't?" She asked, looking at him curiously.
"No, of course not," said Gini. "It means that you value your relationship with your brother so much that you'll make sacrifices just to be with him. That's honourable, and one of the most selfless things you could have done. It's more Abnegation than if you'd picked Abnegation itself."
"I never thought of it that way," said Rory, a little quieter. "Wow. Thanks Gini."
"Welcome," Gini smiled at her.
"I think you better go next, Gini, after that psychology lesson," Trent teased him.
"Okay," Gini laughed. "Well, my fact isn't that deep. But I don't think any of you, apart from Virg, know my full name."
"Wow, you sure you're ready to reveal that?" Virg chuckled.
"Well, we're being truthful today," Gini shrugged.
"Go on then, what is it?" Asked Jord.
"Georginio."
"Georginio!" Ox repeated in delight, and the others giggled at him. "That's amazing! I'm always calling you that now!"
Gini groaned, and covered his eyes with his hands.
"I warned you," Virg laughed. "Could have seen that coming a mile off."
"Why did I do that," Gini sighed, as the rest of them continued to laugh at him.
"Guys, this is bullying!" Ems protested, although even she was smiling. "I like your name, Gini."
"You would," Ox retorted, which only caused another bout of giggles.
"Okay, stop it, stop it," Jord shook her head, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. "I can't breathe! Why is this so funny, it's literally just his name!"
"You tell me," Gini retorted.
"Even you think it's funny Gini, so don't you try it," said Joe. "Who's going next?"
"I'll go," said Ox, finally sobering up. "I think our parents were Divergent."
"Were?" Clarified Ems.
"They died when we were little," said Hannah, glancing at her brother. She obviously knew where he was going with this.
"Aw, I didn't know that," said Jord. "Sorry guys."
"It was a long time ago," Ox shrugged. "We don't remember them much, so it's okay. But one thing I do remember was seeing mum use her telekinesis when she thought we were asleep. It was so long ago, that I didn't realise it had actually happened until I realised I was a telekinetic myself."
"That's interesting," said Gini. "But it makes perfect sense. I'm convinced Divergence is genetic. What cross are you two, if you don't mind me asking?"
"We're both Dauntless-Abnegation-Candor," said Hannah.
"So yeah, that's my fun fact," said Ox. "Someone else's turn now."
The group continued talking until the sun had risen high in the sky, and their stomachs began to cry out for food. Jord couldn't help thinking that she felt much better than she would have otherwise, having woken up from a nightmare, and that she felt so much closer to the rest of them now.
"I think I'm gonna have another shot at reaching the chasm," she told Virg, over their breakfast of fire cooked fish. (Or maybe it was brunch, by this time?)
The iconic cow had well and truly run out by now, the inedible portions being used as bait by the fishermen among them, and they'd decided it was easier to live on fish for the time being, rather than trekking all the way out to Amity to burgle another farm animal.
"Okay," Virg nodded, glancing at her briefly. "Want me to come with you?"
Jord nodded. She felt much better than she had the previous evening, full of energy, but she now knew from experience how taxing it was to push your power over such a great distance, and she needed him there, if only for moral support.
About thirty minutes later, as she crouched beside the mouth of the river, her gaze happened to return to the lake behind her, and she paused for a second, an idea suddenly occurring to her.
"What are you thinking?" Asked Virg, noticing the look on her face.
"I'm wondering if I try and use the power of the lake to help me get through it," she hummed, glancing around. "I'm not sure if it will work. Let me try something."
She dipped her right hand into the cool water, her power immediately leaping from her hand, and circling through the water. This time, she directed it back into the lake, and circled it around in the depths, her senses picking up the fish swimming in the depths, and the place where Trent and Hannah had gone to continue their fishing expedition. Then she brought it back towards herself, and dipped her left hand in the water, transferring the power back upstream.
"Woah," she gasped, as she felt it rushing through her, almost like an electric current. "That's much faster."
"I guess it's working then?" Virg smiled, sitting down beside her. He dipped his own hand in the lake, and Jord gasped, turning to look at him.
"I can sense you there!" She said, her eyes wide with surprise. Tentatively, she tapped into the power that was there, and fed it along the river, now flowing faster than ever.
"I've already reached the bottom," she told him.
"I know," he responded. "I can feel it too now. This is incredible, Jord."
Both of them fell silent, concentrating on their task, until they finally felt the edge of their powers reaching the cascade of water that Jord had assumed was the chasm.
"That's definitely the chasm," Virg nodded, in confirmation. "Can you go up?"
"It's still so hard," said Jord, her brow furrowing in concentration. "It's infinitely harder than passing through the rest of the river."
"Hold on, I have an idea," said Virg. "Let's get the others to help."
Jord's eyes widened, and she nodded.
"That will work!" She exclaimed. "Can you call them? I need to focus, but you can let go if you need."
"Are you sure?" He asked.
"I'm sure," She nodded. "I've held it here before."
Virg slowly withdrew his hand, and with it, the energy of his power, before standing up, and glancing around the valley.
"Gini, Ems! Can you get everyone to come over here? As quick as you can!"
A few minutes later, the other seven occupants of the valley were eagerly joining Jord and Virg at the edge of the river once again.
"Virg was able to connect his power to mine by sticking his hands in the water," said Jord. "It made it a whole lot easier for my own powers to travel down the river, but it's still not enough to make it up the chasm."
"Oh, you want us to help?" Said Trent, understanding.
He jumped across the river, and sat down on the other side, watching as Virg returned his hand to the water, before copying his actions. Rory followed him, and the rest of them stayed on their own side, slowly feeding their own powers into the water to join up with the others.
"Woah, that's crazy," said Hannah with a gasp, looking around at everyone else with wide eyes.
"I can sense all the way to the chasm," Ox spoke with wonder in his voice. "Do you have enough energy to go up the chasm, Jord?"
"I'm about to find out," she said, steadying her focus again.
She once again pushed against the tide, and this time, it was just enough. The excitement of the others was clear through the bond they were currently sharing, and it took Jord a minute or two before she realised she was experiencing Virg's power working second hand. She glanced at him, wondering if he realised, but he merely smiled at her encouragingly. She figured she'd have to tell him later.
"We're getting closer," she told them.
"I can hear voices," said Trent, suddenly frowning. "Almost like it's coming through the power link."
"Me too," said Rory. "It's... no..."
"I can't hear anything," said Hannah.
"Enhancer powers, babe," Trent smiled at her. "Give it a sec, you guys will hear it soon. You okay Jord?"
"Fine," she said, glancing at him. "It's a little tiring, but nothing like before. We must be close to the top now."
"I can hear something now too," said Joe. "Rory it is! It's your brother!"
Rory had tears in her eyes, and now there was pure happiness and relief flowing through the bond.
The voices at the other end could be heard more clearly now, and not just Hendo, but Lia and Corinne could be heard, having a conversation. Then Lola's voice joined them, and Rory called out to them, without thinking, just missing her friends and her brother more than she'd even realised. The voices halted, suddenly, before Mo's voice could be heard, loud and clear.
"Guys, look at the waterfall!"
"Mo, we can hear you!" Called Jord. "Can you guys hear us?"
"Yeah, we can hear you!" He replied. "Where are you?"
"We're in the valley," said Virg. "We made it out here the day of the attack, and Jord worked out a way to thread her power along the river and up the chasm so we could contact you. Are you guys all okay?"
"We're fine," came Hendo's voice. "Nobody knows we're down here, you were right about this cavern being secret, Virg. Is Rory there?"
"I'm here!" She responded, smiling. "I'm so happy you're okay. I miss you guys so much!"
"We miss you too Rory," said Lia. "You don't know how relieving it is to hear your voice."
"I can't hold this much longer," Jord warned them.
"Okay, well is there a way we can help you guys break out of there?" Asked Gini.
"I don't think we'd be wise to try and break out any of the entrances," said Mo. "They're all barred, I've been out to check a few times and it's impossible for us to even get close."
"We've tried with my shield as well," said Lola. "I'm getting better but it's hard because there's only one of me."
"I think there's a secret entrance," Virg told them. "I've got no idea where it is, but I remember hearing about it once. The Dauntless leaders were planning on closing it up, but if you guys can find it, you could open it up again and make it out that way."
"Okay," said Hendo. "That's something we haven't thought of, we can try that."
"I overheard something today as well," said Corinne. "I've been practicing with my power too. The leaders are planning on a large scale attack on your base, probably this evening. I wish we could be there to help you but I think a heads up is the best we can do at this stage."
"Thanks Corinne, we'll be ready for them," said Virg, nodding grimly. "Jord, you okay?"
"You've got maybe ten seconds before I'll have to pull back," she said, gritting her teeth a little. "Stay safe, you guys!"
"Okay, you too," said Lia. "We love you guys!"
"We love you too!" Said Rory. "Stay strong, we got this."
A/N: next chapter up in a sec :) you're welcome.
Also fair warning, it's about to get pretty emotional.