To Save a City (Divergent/Eric) 2 of 3 COH Series

Chapter 135 (Eric's POV)

The other leaders and I discuss what we'll speak on to the press and our citizens.  Our responses will be extremely limited—just enough information to appease them while keeping most details classified.  We've also decided to withhold Jeanine's trial from the public as well since she's aware of the outside.  We don't want her to release confidential information to the public in distress or an act of defiance for her arrest.  She has a habit of warping situations and we all agree that she might cause mass hysteria. 
We decide on a spokesman for each faction, to represent all of us.  It'll be easier this way.  Of course Max didn't want to be before the entire city.  I don't mind so I was urged to represent us all.  Andrew Prior was asked, as well as Jack, Johanna, and Riley. 
We break briefly so that everyone can stretch their legs before the Erudite reporters are allowed into the hall.  Hosanna and I pull Al's father aside.  He frowns.  "It really is a shame about your father.  I never even believed any of those articles, even though I thought there was always something off about him," Mr. Daniels says. 
"Thank you," Hosanna responds softly.  She looks to me frowning.  I know she's struggled with this death, especially having to watch someone she cared for and mentored fall apart easily and do something so awful. 
"My wife and I," I start looking to her.  I sigh.  "We were in charge of initiation this year.  Your son was under our tutelage," I try to explain. 
"Oh yes, Albert.  He's my oldest.  I was so proud that he chose Dauntless," he grins. 
That's not making this any easier. "We have some news for you that will be difficult to hear," Hosanna says as gently as she can.
He nods. "I expected as much. Albert has always been a troubled child," he informs us.
"How so?" I question. My interest is piqued by his father mentioning he was troubled.
"I assume he stopped taking his medication. When we visited, he was all over the board with his emotions: depressed, excited, fearful..." he explains.
"What kind of medication did he take?" I inquire.
"Mmm, I can't recall the name of it. Something for bipolar disorder. It runs in my wife's family," he tells us. I frown. Hosanna grabs my hand.
"From now on, we'll have to send for medical records with transfers' school records," Hosanna says. "Had we known..." she starts, her voice cracking.
"Oh my, what happened?" he asks, fear in his demeanor.
"Your son," I start. "Albert had done something terrible to another initiate," I say taking another breath. I'm normally not so emotional about such things but it's really getting harder for me and I feel as if I'm becoming more involved, caring even. "Our last two stages of initiation are hard on the mind and the emotions. They are meant to challenge, to bring forth bravery and pride in overcoming fears. He didn't handle that portion too well. He joined another initiate in attacking a girl and well... clearly he had some problems that would have been addressed sooner had we known. Afterward, he felt such regret and sorrow that..." I pause and struggle just to voice this to his father.
"He's gone, isn't he?" he says sadly.
I nod my head slowly.
The poor man's face crumples at this. Hosanna hugs this huge man and cries with him. I've never seen a man cry like this, but then again, I've never lost a child. She can sympathize.
She holds him for a bit longer until he calms. "I'm so sorry for your loss. I tried to stop him and... I couldn't. I'm so sorry," she says woefully. There's so much hurt and regret in her voice, as if he was completely her responsibility. He was an adult—according to our faction laws—but had we known, we could have done more.
When they calm enough to separate, I speak again. "We've already had our funeral for the faction. After we come back from the meetings, we'll be having a private ceremony for Al and several others that were lost yesterday. You see, we cremate after passing. We have a ceremony for close friends and family after some time has elapsed. It's like saying a final goodbye when we scatter the ashes. We'll be meeting by the marsh to say our last farewells. Perhaps you and your family would like to join us?" I explain.
"It would be nice to have some closure," he says quietly. "I will speak to my family."
Hosanna and I both nod to him. He excuses himself briefly.
"That was harder than I thought," my wife says softly.
"For me, too," I agree.
We both take our seats again. The Erudite reporters are let in.  We explain that there will be five leaders speaking, representing each faction, well... with the exception of Riley Thompson since he's just sitting in to help explain the circumstances. 
The Erudite set up a table and background with lighting. I sigh irritably at all the fuss about something that should just be informative. The staff has all five of us sit down and insists putting makeup on us. That's where I draw the line.
"Perhaps you haven't noticed, that I am not female," I say grabbing the person's hand before they attempt to apply some sort of powder to my face.
"I... I'm sorry, sir. It's just that..." the girl stumbles over her words, looking back to who I would assume is her supervisor.
"Your face is a little shiny," the supervisor says plainly.
I raise my eyebrows in question. The woman crosses her arms over her chest, uncomfortable with my stare but not wanting to back down.
Hosanna comes up quickly between us. She bends down in front of me.
She sighs harshly. "Erudites," she says rolling her eyes.
"Perhaps you should be doing this," I comment.
"Yeah, my bloodshot eyes from crying would make Dauntless look really strong to the rest of the city," she jokes. Even I can't help but crack a smile at her. "Just go splash some water on your face. That'll have to do to placate them."
I sigh through my nose and stand, crossing the room to the bathroom. I push the door open to see Jeff in here. "What are you doing here?" I question.
"Um... funny story. I'm the attendant for the men's room," he responds.
"You were in here during our meeting?" I question.
He shrugs and nods. "Is there someone in the ladies room?" I ask.
He shakes his head. "I'm sorry. I didn't realize the subject matter was so... confidential," he says.
I nod. "So, I assume you heard everything that was going on," I reply.
"Yes, sir," he replies solemnly.
"Can I trust you to keep this to yourself?" I ask.
"Of course, sir. I wouldn't tell anyone about Hosanna. I owe her my life," he responds quickly. I nod. Now there's another person who knows about her.
"What about the outside?" I ask.
"It's funny that you ask. I actually thought I was like some kind of leper or something, like after my test, I didn't belong anywhere. I guess I just didn't understand my purpose until now," he responds.
"So you will keep this confidential?" I question.
"Yes, of course, sir," he says. He seems truthful. He's always been a good friend and a hard worker—even now, he's sitting in the bathroom attending to our guests without even being asked to.
I nod and splash my face with water. I laugh as Jeff hands me a towel.
"Not feeling so well?" he inquires.
"The reporters think my face was a little shiny. They tried to put makeup on me," I explain.
He laughs, "Well they are Erudite. They've always been more superficial than most other factions."
"Superficial?" I question, raising an eyebrow.
"It means..." he starts.
"I know what it means," I chuckle. "I was Erudite."
"Oh, yeah.  What can I say? I was apparently wired for more than one place," he explains with a shrug. I nod in understanding. I think about how the Erudite truly are, their nature, what they thought about Divergent even before Jeanine. I decide not to say a word to the public about that until all of the real traitors are weeded out. Candor and Erudite agreed earlier that there must be more people involved. We'll be questioning Jeanine in the future before her trial, taking her cooperation into consideration for her verdict.
"Thanks," I say handing Jeff back the towel.
"Anytime," he smiles.
I walk out to the waiting set. The ladies are just finishing up putting some makeup on Andrew and Riley. I smirk at how ridiculous they look.
"They insisted," Andrew comments.
I laugh. "I told them no," I say.
"Sometimes I miss my Erudite days," he mumbles.
"Much better," the head of the reporter's staff comments while looking me over. I roll my eyes at her as she leaves.
I crouch down in front of the others. "I was thinking that with some Erudite loyal to Jeanine still out there and opinions being what they are currently..." I start. Everyone gives me their attention. "... that we shouldn't mention the difference in certain people as a matter of security, to keep others safe."  They all nod in agreement.
I stand and take my seat in the center. We are all given a bit of instruction first. When we're all ready, I'm the first to speak, "Attention all city residents.  I am Eric Franklin, leader of Dauntless.  Several faction leaders and I are here tonight to inform you of what had occurred yesterday. Two faction leaders were arrested, both for unrelated reasons," I begin. 
I explain how we had monitored Jeanine after she came to Dauntless and wanted us to join her in overthrowing Abnegation.  We then spoke with Candor about her treasonous plans.  We agreed to wait for her to actually break the law.  She had executed an Erudite member for what all factions deemed to be no reason at all.  She planned on having Dauntless inject a serum to control our members and force them to execute all Abnegation citizens.  We refused in participating in this treasonous act of genocide.  I explain about her vendetta against Abnegation and how there was no real reason behind it other than personal prejudices.  When we confronted her, she had already injected some of her own people with the control serum to do as she ordered.  There was a skirmish between Dauntless and Erudite, resulting in the loss of four Erudite citizens and five Dauntless.  There are countless injured still being treated. 
Andrew Prior speaks about Marcus Eaton.  He informs the city that Erudite had hacked our system, an issue now remedied.  Jeanine had viewed some personal files and published private information in the paper without permission from Dauntless or the individual.  He explains that Marcus is, in fact, being held for domestic violence charges.  He explains that his faction was not aware of the issues until yesterday.  They do not condone that type of behavior and it contradicts Abnegation teachings in every way.
Jack Kang takes over next, speaking about the trials.  He explains that both will remain private but all pertinent information will be released to the press after the conclusion of the trials. 
Johanna speaks about how this all was quite a shock to the city, how betrayal can hurt.  She comforts everyone saying that the current leadership is doing everything they can to remedy this situation and make sure that we are all kept safe within this city.  She commends Dauntless for our honorable behavior during the arrest and how we moved to save lives, taking shots to only injure those under control and not to kill.  She explains that she puts her faith in us to lead the way to our future and do everything in our power to better the city. 
There is silence when Johanna stops speaking.  I begin again.  "Next week, the city leaders will meet to discuss what we can do in the future for our city and how to handle the issues that have arisen from these arrests," I explain.  "We will now take some questions from the press."
"Are you the next leader of Erudite?" a reporter asks. 
"No," Riley answers.  "I'm just here to gather information for our faction and to assist in the transition.  Several of our board members are present today.  Erudite will choose leaders as they have always done.  The board will choose for us from a pool of the top contenders.  They will select the next leader based on the qualities the person possesses that align with what our leader should be.  They will now take into consideration the qualities our previous leader had that do not align with our values."
"And what was it that Ms. Matthews lacked?" the same person asks. 
"Compassion, honesty, working with others, listening to all of the facts before making a decision, not letting personal bias get in the way of decision making—just to name a few," Riley answers smoothly. 
"Has she behaved in this manner?" another reporter inquires. 
"She's my aunt.  She spent my whole childhood threatening to kill my little sister if I didn't do as she said.  Yesterday, as I went to arrest her for murder, she tried to have my sister executed by Erudite under her control.  That is why there was fighting at both the council room and Erudite headquarters," I explain. 
"She also admitted yesterday of her own volition that she arranged the deaths of Janice and Christopher Franklin—her twin sister and brother-in-law.  If you will recall, Janice Franklin was to be the next leader of Erudite and Jeanine was the second choice," Andrew adds.  "I've also personally witnessed her using Factionless as human guinea pigs before my Choosing.  She had harmed them physically with her inhumane tests.  I refused to stay in a faction that allowed this to go on like her predecessor, so I transferred to try to make a difference in the city."
The reporters mouths are gaping open.  Clearly this is the first they've heard of any of this.  They compose themselves quickly enough and begin asking us more details on Jeanine's arrest and the control serum.  Some we answer, some we cannot.  They begin to ask about details of Marcus Eaton's arrest.  We explain as much as we can and decline to answer any dealing with details about the charges. 
"What about the accusations against you, Mr. Prior?" a man questions. 
"You're referring to the allegations saying that I abused my children?" Andrew asks calmly. 
"Yes, sir," the same man responds. 
"Well, my entire family just happens to be in the room.  Feel free to ask them yourself," he says. 
Tris immediately approaches the reporters, Natalie follows, and Caleb comes over hesitantly.  "You're Andrew's daughter?" the same man asks with a microphone in her face. 
"Yes, I'm Tris Prior.  There was a quote in the article from a girl in my initiation class.  She said I talk in my sleep which isn't true.  She said I was abused which also wasn't true.  The worst punishment I ever received as a child was a scolding or being sent to bed without dinner.  My parents never laid a hand on me, not once," Tris explains. 
"So why would that person lie?" the reporter questions. 
"Molly?" Tris laughs.  "Um, well she and two others received a punishment for sexually harassing me.  She was probably upset that I reported them.  I also beat her in a fight during initiation.  I'm sure she was mad about that.  When reporters showed up in Dauntless, she probably thought it was a good way to get revenge on me."
The reporter nods.  "How about you?" he asks Caleb. 
"It's a lie.  My parents were, are good people.  Just because we both chose to switch factions doesn't mean that they were bad parents or abused us.  It just means we chose where we wanted to be.  We are entitled by the rules of our society to decide where we fit in best.  Just because we both left doesn't mean my parents abused us, it means they raised us in a manner that we were both comfortable in who we are, who they allowed us to become, that we could be who we choose to be," Caleb elaborates staring at his father.  Andrew looks so proud of his son right now. 
"Does that answer your questions?" Natalie grins smugly. 
I smirk, too.  "Perhaps when putting your articles out there, you should either use reputable sources or site where you received information from.  As of late, your paper has become a gossip and opinion column, with nothing truly newsworthy in there.  Perhaps if you improve on your reporting, your readers may trust you again," I say. 
Everyone else on the panel nods in agreement.  "I'll admit, I stopped reading it a long time ago," Jack Kang adds.  "Too much speculation and hearsay with no real news.  I read the weekly weather though."  Everyone laughs at that. 
"Alright, that concludes our report tonight," the supervisor from earlier says. 
We all stand and are congratulated by the other leaders on the fine job we did.  My wife approaches me grinning like mad.  "So... how'd I do?  I wasn't too shiny was I?" I ask. 
She chuckles, sliding her arms over my shoulders and running her fingers through my hair.  "No," she shakes her head.  "You were spot on."

*****Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this chapter.*****

Words of Wisdom:

"Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear—not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple "Yes" or "No." Otherwise you will be condemned."
James 5:12 NIV

"All you need to say is simply 'Yes' or 'No'; anything beyond this comes from the evil one."
Matthew 5:37 NIV