A/N: Soooo... I lied about it not taking as long. I really should stop making predictions about when I'll update - it always takes me far longer than I expect. But it's here now! Thanksgiving break is a welcome reprieve - although it's not really much of a reprieve for me, between my extracurriculars and our upcoming All-Region auditions. Ugh.
Anyhow, enjoy the chapter!
"Welcome, Dauntless members and initiates." Eric's voice booms across the unusually quiet Pit through the microphone he's holding, which hooks up to a speaker laying at his feet. He stands on one of the tables, towering above everyone else. "I'm sure we all want to get to the good part, so I'll keep this short. This year, we welcomed twenty-one new initiates. But, for the first time, most of them didn't make it." Eric's voice begins rising in volume. "We weeded out the strong from the weak. Determined who really has the guts to be one of us!"
The crowd erupts into sound, of pounding fists and stomping feet. It's incredibly different from the polite clapping of the Abnegation.
I love it.
Despite the small grin that settles on my face, something at the back of my mind nags me. Do any of the Dauntless care about the children, their children, that are now starving on the streets thanks to this new initiative?
It takes a minute for the crowd to quiet down again. Once it does, Eric continues. "We believe in bravery, in action. We believe in facing our fears and freeing ourselves from them. We believe in training ourselves so we can ensure justice is served. And now, we are offering our congratulations and opening our arms for those who have proven that they believe in these things, too."
Eric probably doesn't believe in any of those things. In fact, if Jeanine is in secret meetings with the Dauntless leaders, then I doubt that any of the leaders believe in those things.
But I do. And Tobias does. And, maybe, we can slowly get others to believe in them, too. It's a hopeful thought.
The Dauntless pound the table and floor again, this time accenting the sound with their whoops and cheers.
"Tomorrow, our top ten initiates will take the first step as full members of Dauntless, and choose their professions, in the order of how they are ranked. The rankings were determined using a combination of the scores from each of the stages of initiation. The first being the combat stage, the second being the simulation stage, and the third being the final examination, the fear landscape. Now, I know that the rankings are what everyone is really here for, right?"
His question is answered by another round of noise, far louder than the two preceding it.
"Well, then, I won't keep you waiting. Here are the rankings!"
Right as the last word leaves his mouth, the screen, which takes up the whole wall, lights up with the names.
I scan the list from the bottom up, searching for the names of my friends and myself. I don't recognize numbers 16 through 13 - they're all Dauntless-borns.
12. Catalina
Catalina's is the first name I recognize. There's a part of me that rejoices at this; she won't be able to torment me any longer.
But there's another part of me that, hearing a loud wail, wonders what will happen to her. If she'll be able to survive outside of the faction she's known all of her life.
10. Ethan
9. Aiden
8. Lavender
I smile as my gaze lifts, finding the first of my friends. Lavender and Ethan are staying. All of my friends are staying, since I didn't spot any of them below the top ten; number 11 was another Dauntless-born, the girl who reminded me of a crow during Capture the Flag.
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The Fourth Eaton
Fanfiction*Book 1 of the Eaton Tetralogy* Camilla Eaton made a promise. And she has no intention of breaking it. A year after the transfer of her older brother, Tobias Eaton, Camilla follows him out of Abnegation and into Dauntless, leaving everything she's...
