The Man Behind the Fire || Divergent Fanfic

Ch. 4 | First Encounter

Free falling. I'm weightless. I pass through the hole screaming. Darkness. I finally land on what seems to be a giant net. I flail up in the air again and bounce back down. I laugh, I can't believe they'd have us do this. The net droops down and I begin to roll towards the edge. That's when I first see him.
His eyes lock with mine. He grabs me by the waist and helps me down. He raises his eyebrow at me.
"What did you get pushed?" he asked. I smile at him.
"No," I reply, I jumped." He smiles.
"What's your name?" he asks. I go blank. He looks and me and waits. "Is it a hard one?" still waiting. "Well, you can pick a new one if you want. But make it good, you can't choose again," he tells me. I ponder for a moment. What in the hell should I call myself. I don't want to be Adeline anymore.
"Angel," I say quickly. I have no idea where that came from. He smirks at me and turns to the crowd of dauntless in front of me.
"First jumper, Angel," he announces. "Welcome to Dauntless." I walk over to the group as they pat me on the back and congratulate me. The next jumper comes, screaming ridiculously.
Riley was number 26. I guess she couldn't bring herself to go any sooner. After everyone finally jumped, or didn't, they instruct the transfers to stay with him.
"Welcome to Dauntless. My name is Four," he announces. The boy to the left of my chuckles. He stares. "Think something's funny?" he asked.
"What happened, one, two, three were taken?" he chuckles. No one laughed. Four strolls over with a glare in his eye.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Carter," the boy replies. "Candor." Four smirks.
"Well, Carter, first lesson you learn from me, is to keep your mouth shut. Good luck," he says sternly. He glances at me. Carter nods. He backs away. "You will be trained separate from the Dauntless born but you will be ranked together. Follow me," he announces.
We follow him to see the pit, he calls it the center of life for Dauntless. He brings us to our rooms. The entire complex is made of stone. Everything is so cold.
"This is where you'll be living for the next 10 weeks," he tells us.
"Girls or boys?" a boy from the crowd asks. Four shakes his head.
"Both," he smiles. "If you like this you're gonna love the bathroom," Four smirks. The bathrooms are all open, not once space of privacy lurks. He tells us to get changed so we can join the other Dauntless in the dining hall.
          The dining hall is warmer, smells of food fill the air. I take a seat with Riley and stare at the food in front of me. I can't say I'm surprised to see burgers, though I haven't eaten many in my lifetime this will be different. We talk amongst ourselves and about our old factions. I'm obviously from Erudite, Riley from Candor, Carter from Candor (which explains the 0 filter), and then there's Jonah, an Abnegation. The only Abnegation I might add. Most Dauntless transfers come from Candor or Erudite. Abnegation tends to be raised to selflessly to ever dream of fighting or protecting others. Their life is simply, too simple. God forbid an Amity would transfer, they wouldn't last a day. The thing I didn't notice, he was at the end of our table, alone, quiet. I can see him catch a glance at me out've the corner of my eye. Mysterious, but yet it draws me in.
          "Give me one second," I look to Riley. She doesn't question me. I slide down with my food right next to him. No response. "So, were you a Dauntless born or did you transfer too?" I ask. He sets his cup down and looks at me with harsh eyes.
          "What makes you think you can talk to me?" He says. He's stern. My eyes go wide. He picks his cup back up.
          "I guess your body language just makes you seem approachable," I say sarcastically. No response. He sips his cup and glares at me. I take a bite of my food and don't acknowledge it.
          "Careful," he grunts under his breath. I move back by Riley, that surely was enough of a signal for me. She's laughing and Jonah stares at me mouth hanging open.
          "Keep up that attitude and he'll fail you," Carter says.
          "You my friend, have a death wish," Riley can barely make out from laughing so hard. I shrug my shoulders and continue eating.
          "You know he was top of his class? I heard another Erudite talking, they tried to recruit him for leadership twice but he said no," Carter whispers. I had never heard of him. Erudite doesn't talk about Dauntless that much. All I ever hear from my uncle is how Abnegation is ruining the peace of the system, how they're unfaithful and we should be the governing faction.
          "Carter, do you know who said that?" I asked. I'm curious, who was looking into Dauntless, and why? He swallows.
          "Some short brunette girl, olive skin, short hair. She does this thing where she always talk with her hands folded." I knew exactly who he was talking about. She was the daughter of a council member. Why ever they looked into Dauntless is beyond me. He has no connection to Abnegation, unless he does. But that would have caused an uproar..wouldn't it?
          The volume raised in the room. The Dauntless leader stood at the balcony above us and everyone began to bang their cups on the tables.
          "Welcome initiates," he announces. "We are excited to welcome you to Dauntless. We know you will make us proud." Everyone cheers. They all stand and crowd around. One by one, the transfers are lifted into the air. First Carter, then Jonah, Riley, and lastly me. We're crowd surfed around the room and all is good. I spot him standing on the balcony at the edge. However he got up there so fast.
          Mysterious.