FEARLESS

BECOMING DAUNTLESS

"I didn't see you yesterday after your test". The voice from the corner of the room made Emery jump as she quietly came down to breakfast, hoping to go unnoticed.

Quickly, she splashed a fake smile across her face.

"Yeah well, I uh, went out to feed and help the factionless after I finished, when I got back you were out helping Marcus".

"You got let out early though, why?" Ella stated. Emery's eyes widened to herself, hiding her face as she pours herself a bowl of plain cereal.

"How do you know about that?"

"I saw you, going into the library"

"Oh, well; I got sick, from the serum. So they sent me home early" Emery told her. She recited the exact thing Tori had said, but she knew it sounded like an outright lie. You never hear of someone getting sick from the serum.

Ella nodded but Emery could tell she was only doing it for show, Ella knew she was hiding something. Thankfully, her Abnegation nature made her hesitant to ask any more questions about the incident. But there was one question still on her mind.

"And?" Emery frowned

"And what?"

"Your test, how did it go?" Ella asked. Even for any of the factions, that question was basically illegal, you were not supposed to share your test result with anyone, and for an Abnegation to ask, was even more shocking.

"You're not supposed to ask that" Emery defended.

Amity, Abnegation, Candor, Erudite and Dauntless. A voice in her head recited.

"I know that, I work with the council. I am just making sure everything is ok, and letting you know, you can tell me, if you want" She said, gently. Emery smiled at her, she still didn't know what faction she would pick today, and not knowing when her last conversation with Ella would be, ached at her heart.

"Yeah, everything is fine", she lied.

***

Emery had sat there and watched almost each and every other person in the Hub go up and chose their new, or old, faction.

In some ways, it was good for her, she had had time to think things over.

Where do I belong, where do I want to belong, where should I belong? Her mind whizzed with unanswerable questions.

She knew she should belong to Abnegation, it was where she grew up and it was her home. But did she want to belong there? No. Plain and simply, she didn't think she could do it, continue her life the way she had been taught. Eating plain shit that tasted of cardboard, holding her tongue, living life with no excitement. Even if that did mean leaving Ella, she had to do it. Or she'd go mad.

Erudite, she thought. Erudite valued knowledge. Emery had always done well in school, excelled actually, excelled quietly. Emery had a thirst for knowledge, she loved understanding history, understanding how the world became what it was today, she loved science and literature and old religions that were around before the war. But, could she belong there? Maybe, maybe not. Erudites were known for being snobby, ignorant arseholes. Especially from an Abnegations perspective, their pleas to snatch the government from Abnegation caused hostilities between the two.

Could I survive my whole life with my nose in a book? No. I don't think so, Emery thought.

Amity was basically the hippie faction. Absolutely not. Emery thought. Standing around a campfire singing yippee ki yay preaching peace and love to arseholes who probably won't return it back. Nah, I'm good, Emery thought.