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The Dauntless meeting room was a complete mess.
Ever since Four had come into her apartment at sunrise days before and explained his plan to her, Lilith had barely left. Papers with half baked plans and schemes were strewn across the table, the whiteboard was covered with floorplans of the Erudite headquarters from one side to the other, and there were even two destroyed chairs from when she'd gotten frustrated and started throwing things around.
Out of character for her, perhaps, but it had felt nice to let out her frustrations like that.
The room was silent as she paced back and forth, Jill's journal in one hand and the cap of a marker inside her mouth. While the former leader's diary had been filled with everyday issues at the start, the entries from three years prior spoke of how the deal with Jeanine had come to be, and Jill had written most of it down. Not only did Lilith know how how Jeanine had persuaded them, she'd also gotten to know more about the other former leaders.
Max had apparently agreed to everything because he'd been as power hungry as Jeanine, and she'd given him a purpose as a soldier. Rhiannon had confessed to Jill, once upon a time, that everything she was doing, she was doing for her daughter. Enzo had gone with it just because, and Jill had described as a bloodthirsty and sadistic man, who wanted to watch the world burn. The Erudite had given him a chance to do just that, and he'd been the Dauntless leader who had pushed the most for the alliance. Jill herself claimed that she'd been opposed to it from the start but, when Jeanine personally threatened her family, most specifically her sister and her nephew, she'd been forced to agree.
There wasn't much about Eric, something that seemed to frustrate Jill. There was a paragraph dedicated to how hard he was to read, and how, even though he encouraged the alliance, he'd always seemed somewhat hesitant about it. Jill had never figured out whether he was trustworthy or not, and so she'd found herself forced to go forward with a plan she'd never agreed to. The way she wrote about how she wouldn't live to see any of it unfold made shivers go down Lilith's spine.
The door on the opposite side of the room to where Lilith was pacing opened, and she averted her eyes from the journal, spotting Tori as she walked into the room with the aid of crutches. Nate walked right behind her, a metal cylinder in his hand, looking somewhat scared that the older woman would lose her balance and collapse onto him. She gave them both a nod as they sat down at the table, carefully avoiding the papers covering the surface. Eric didn't lift his gaze from the map he'd been studying for the last few hours, trying to find routes for when they finally stormed the Erudite headquarters.
"Any news?" she questioned, closing Jill's journal and tossing it to the table, along with the marker.
"The team sent to retrieve food from the meeting spot with Amity made it back safely," Nate started, sliding what she now saw was a thermos in her direction. She gave him a thankful nod as she removed the lid, taking a few sips of warm coffee. Nate picked at his cuticles as he continued, "There were no other simulations last night. It seems that Tris turning herself in was enough to satisfy Jeanine, for now."
