Pretty Little Divergent

Chapter 38 - Reflection

^^Part of Millennium Park ^^
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TRIS POV

The train is about to dip to the ground, and I am ready for the momentum it will give me. I jump, and there is no momentum, so I don't even need a few steps to diffuse it.

Despite the darkness, I can make out my team flying onto the still ground like raindrops, one initiate at a time.

"Does everyone still have their gun?" I ask. I get a chorus of 'yeah's but I can't see the people that speak them.

"Shit," says a voice. It's deep and familiar.

"You lost your gun, Four?" I ask.

"Yeah, I must've dropped it when I jumped. You have a spare?"

"Yeah, but it's smaller."

"Doesn't matter." I make out the outline of his hand, and hand the gun to him. Tobias tucks the gun under the waistband of his pants and thanks me.

"So where are we going to hide this flag?" I ask.

"Where did you hide it last time?" Daniel rests his arm on my shoulder. "Assuming you won, of course."

"We did win," I say coolly and brush his arm off. "And I'm not telling you."

"Wasn't Finn's brother an initiate last year?" Freya asks Vicky.

"Yeah." For a moment, her expression is full of longing. Then it's gone. "But he was on the losing team, so he never knew where they kept the flag."

If his brother is on the losing team from last year, I would know him. Drew, maybe? Just as I'm about to ask, a Dauntless-born suggests Millennium Park. No one objects, so we walk east, towards the marsh where there was once a lake.

I think of how close Millennium Park is to Erudite. I am less than a mile away from my brother. It has been just over a week since I spoke to him about A. Anything can happen in a week. No, A can do anything in a week.

I shake my head a little to get the thought out of my mind. He is fine. I am fine. And I can't be thinking about him today, when I have to focus on where I stand with Tobias and with this blackmailer.

We walk across the bridge, and I gaze at the wet mud that runs through the marsh, trying to imagine so much water in one place.

Once we cross the bridge, the city changes. In front of us is a sea of crumbling concrete and broken glass. The silence of this part of the city is eerie, and it's hard to see where I'm going because it's past midnight and all of the city lights have been turned off.

I have realised that part of being Dauntless is willing to make things more difficult for yourself in order to be self-sufficient. There's nothing especially brave about wandering dark streets without a flashlight, but we are not supposed to need help, even from light.

We are supposed to be capable of anything. I like that. Because there might come a day where there is no flashlight, or there is no gun. And I want to be ready for it.

That is the reason nobody turn on a flashlight, and nobody dares to.

A strip of land juts out just before the marsh. We take a turn from Navy Pier and head south from it, to Millennium Park.

We walk until we see a stretch of bare land and several rusted metal sculptures. I see the spot where Caleb and I spoke a year ago. Back then we had nothing and everything to worry about, except we didn't speak as much of our troubles as we should've. Initiation shaped the both of us, and I guess I just didn't know how to explain my black clothes the same way he didn't know how to explain his blue ones.

We stop on the concrete around the metal bean, which, in the day time, would be crawling with Erudite sitting in small groups with books or newspapers.

Tobias pulls a flag out of his
pocket— probably one of the only things he didn't drop.

"In ten minutes, the other team will have picked their location," he says. "I suggest you take this time to formulate a strategy."

"We may not be Erudite," I say, taking the flag from him. "But mental preparedness is one aspect of your Dauntless training."

That's one thing I strongly believe in. What good is a prepared body if you have a scattered mind?

"Arguably, it is the most important aspect."

Freya plucks the flag from my fingers. "I think that if we just hide the flag really well, we can all go out to find the other team's flag together."

"And leave our flag unguarded?" Vicky asks. "What good would that do us?"

"A lot of good. We'd be stronger if we were together."

"But it's not about that," a Dauntless-born chips in. "Being strong, I mean. They want our flag as much as we want theirs. Just because ours is hidden well doesn't mean they're not going to find it."

"Yeah, and if they do, they'd be able to get it easily if no one is there to guard it," Daniel says. I close my eyes and yawn.

"What if we just think of a more defensive strategy. We could wait for them to come to us, then just take them out," another Dauntless-born says.

Everyone bursts into conversation all at once, their voices louder with each passing second. The Dauntless-borns back up Daniel's plan, except one of them, who votes for defence. Freya stands by her attacking strategy and I couldn't disagree with her more.

My eyes travel along the metal bean. I see my reflection on it, warped by the curve of the surface, broken by patches of rust and grime.

Tobias is sat down at the edge of the metal bean. His eyes lift to the sky, where there are no stars, only a round moon peeking through a thin layer of clouds. The muscles in his arm are relaxed; his hand resting on the back of his neck. He looks more comfortable than he has in a while, holding that gun to his shoulder. I close my eyes briefly. Why does he distract me so easily? I need to focus.

"Come on," I say. He stands, and I grab his arm and pull him under the arch of the metal bean. We walk under its hollow underbelly. In his reflection, his big build is pressed in on one side, and his arm looks like it's bending backwards. My reflection has changed since I was last under this sculpture. It used to be small and squat, but I'm slightly taller and my muscles are more defined.

"Are you coming?" I ask him, a smile tugging at my lips.

Tobias frowns. "Coming where?"

I look up, and in the flat circle of mirror  right above us, I see our tiny figures, the size of fingernails. That, I think, is our true reflection. It is as small as we actually are.

I look back at him, noticing how much tenser he is now than before.

"To get a better vantage point."

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A/N

Here is another update at, like, 5am.🌚

I don't know why but I just find it easier writing at this time lol.
Does that make me weird?

-Tayah 💗