Emergent: Four X Reader

Chapter 3: Divergent?

      The next day our task was to shift supplies from the Amity trucks. I was excited by this and the possibility of seeing friends again, but I realise I am not meant to talk to them, and Eric watching over us will be sure to make sure we do not converse.
The sun shines above us as I heave sacks from the trucks; I recognise the trucks, but not the people. I notice a light flicker across my field of vision every now and then, but choose to ignore it. There's lots of car mirrors, I put it down to them. But a few moments later I see Tris go towards the back of the crates, towards where a mirror shines for a second, before disappearing completely. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up, as I stand and watch what trap Tris may have just openly walked into.
"Y/N," Eric booms, "move it!" I nod and obediently get moving again, but I keep an eye on the way Tris went. Thankfully, she appears again, and has a confused expression on her face. I approach her with a sack and hand it to her, pretending to be working.
"What was that?" I ask, making sure to be soft.
"Nothing, nothing," Tris said quickly. Again, all I get from her is distance and fear. Fear.

* * *

Later that evening, I approached Tris just after she showered. I caught her slightly off guard as I spoke her name.
"Sorry," I chuckled slightly, "Didn't mean to frighten you."
"No worries," Tris replied, rubbing her long hair dry, "what's up?"
"Look," I started, "I know you won't talk to me about where you disappeared to earlier, so I'm not going to ask again. But I wanted to know what's going on with you, around the instructors? You clearly have some of the biggest balls here, you are challenging them a lot. For instance," I pointed to her ear, "the knife thing with Al?" Tris brushed the top of her ear carefully, where Four's knife had clipped her skin.
"I, uh," she looked sheepish, and cleared her throat, "I know it sounds crazy, and please don't tell anyone," she said looking around, "but I like Four. Like, really like him." Part of me stifled a laugh, and in another part of me there was that pang again. I looked into her face and searched for any sign of a joke; there was none.
"Well, uh," I suddenly felt clammy and awkward, "that's nice. Are you sure instructors and initiates are allowed to be together?" Tris looked puzzled for a moment. "I don't think there's anything against it no, there is only 2 years between us after all." I managed a small smile, but I wasn't sure what was stopping it. I guess that wasn't the answer I was expecting. Tris smiled back, seemingly happy to get this news off her chest. But it didn't seem like that was the whole picture.

* * *

The next stage in our initiation was the fear landscapes, the part I was least looking forward to. As far as I was aware, I only really had one fear. And I did not want those images in my mind.
"Y/N," Four walked into the lobby and called. I took a steadying breath before getting to my feet and walking in to the room. Four offered me a kind hand, which I took to lift myself into the chair, sort of like a dentist's. I lay back, and allowed Four's rough, but somehow also gentle, hands to apply little nodes to my body. I asked what they were curiously, and he explained their function in relaying what I see to the computer. Then, the needle. Okay, maybe I'm scared of two things!
"Ohhhh no," I said under my breath, and I felt my body shaking. Four laughed slightly.
"What's up?" He looked between my now pale face and the needle, "am I just going to see massive needles in your fear landscape?"
"Maybe." I muttered. I clamped my eyes shut so tight my vision was completely black and my eyebrows hurt. "I'm ready!" I shouted, "Do it!" I felt Four's hand rest on my shoulder lightly, pull my hair away from my neck, and then a tiny prick. And soon, I was under.

* * *

I woke up in the Amity orchards. I beamed, and got up from where I was lying. I started running towards the cafeteria. But as I turned around, I saw that decay was following me, no, chasing me. The trees were falling, apples were rotting and dropping to the ground before their season. The crops were on fire, black smoke rising like a tornado from the cornfields. I felt my heartbeat accelerating. I continued to run, I had to find my family.
First, I ran into my brother and sister. I called their names, but they did not move. They were sitting on the ground playing, but they did not turn to look at me. I walked to them, I felt my heart in my throat. Their eyes were glazed over, their hands on rotted pears. I choked back a sob, as their faces became gaunt and pale. They were starving right in front of me.
But. It was just a simulation. My brother had 2 green eyes, when really one is blue. I knew it was wrong. They were not actually hurt.
I stood up calmly, and walked away from my family. I next found my parents, they were coughing out fumes, their bodies rid of muscle and fat. Just skin and bone. I passed them by, back towards the tornado of smoke and oncoming decay. I stood still.
The world stops.
The sound of wailing stopped as I raised my hand out in front of me. I stopped the oncoming decay, death, and smoke with my hand. I slowly raised my other hand too, and the dark clouds seemed to shake. I brought my hands together while the clouds panicked. The blackness was shrieking now, a blood curdling screech. I balled it up. Between my two hands. And threw it as far as I could over the fence.