Brooke: 

Lyra and I both sit in black swivel chairs in Amar's office nursing cups of hot fruit tea. Lyra's still trembling, her cup shaking slightly in her hands. It's odd that someone as tough as a Dauntless-born like Lyra can seem so vulnerable, but it's hardly surprising considering her near-brush with death. 

"I'm going to have to leave, aren't I?" Lyra asks, breaking the silence. Her voice is still wobbly but she's recovered from earlier.

Amar nods once, "The Dauntless leaders are expecting you to be dead . If you show up now, then-"

"They'll want to kill me twice over." Lyra finishes, "Great. "

There's silence for a minute, then Amar abruptly stands up from the chair he's sitting on. 

"Where are you going?" I ask. 

"To get someone," he replies, leaving before I can ask any further questions. 

Lyra and I sit in awkward silence and then we hear the pattering of footsteps down the corridor. Amar comes in. Followed by Amy. 

"What-" Lyra begins, putting her cup down. Amy looks equally puzzled. 

"I think it's time for you to tell her the truth," Amar says to Lyra as he directs Amy to a chair. 

Confusion and anger cross Amy's face and as her eyes flicker between me and Lyra, it's clear what she's thinking. 

"Oh no," I say, putting my tea down and holding up my hands, "Amy, this has nothing to do with me. Trust me." 

Amy gives me a look, unsure whether to believe me or not, but sits down on the chair Amar offers her. He sits opposite her. She shoots Lyra a questioning look, waiting for her to speak, but Lyra instead just gives her a pained smile. 

Amar coughs awkwardly, "Fine. I'll take this one." Amy focusses her attention on him, while I just continue to drink my tea. "Amy, have you heard about Divergents?"

Amar talks. He tells her everything. About what Divergents are and why they're in so much danger. What happened during the second stage of training. What happened to all of us after that simulation. 

Emotions flicker across Amy's face. First, there's disbelief as if she doesn't understand what she's hearing. Then there's hurt. And then anger-whether at Lyra, herself, or the system I can't tell. 

Then Amar gets to the crux of the matter. He asks her whether she wants to stay here and become a member of Dauntless-but live a life without Lyra. Or give up whatever life she wanted here in Dauntless and go to Factionless with her. 

"Amar!" Lyra protests, "You can't ask her to choose!" 

Amar glances at Lyra levelly, "You wouldn't have given her a choice. You would have left without saying goodbye."

"To protect her!" Lyra argues. 

Amar turns his attention back to Amy, "You've got about an hour to decide. Any longer and Lyra might not have the chance of leaving Dauntless undetected. It's your choice but you have to decide fast."

Amy nods, "I'll need time to think about it." And, without looking at either me or Lyra, she leaves the room. 

Lyra glares at Amar. "She could have had a happy life here in Dauntless! Now you're forcing her to choose, and she won't choose to stay because she's been raised in Abnegation!"

"She got Dauntless not Abnegation in that test," Amar explains patiently, "This isn't about selflessness. This is about love. If she truly loves you, then she will come with you. If she decides to stay, then she's not the right person for you." 

Lyra puts her head in her hands. "This is cruel," she says, her voice barely audible. 

Amar glances at her, "One of the first lessons taught to children in Dauntless: Life is cruel," He turns his attention away from Lyra and focusses on me, "Now it's your turn, Brooke. Let's talk about your love life."

I blink, "Me?"

"Yes, you," He rolls his eyes, "I'm not one for mooching around the subject-"

"Clearly."

"-so let's get straight to it. You like Dex." 

I stare at him and then laugh awkwardly, "Blunt as always, Amar." 

"It's my speciality," he grunts, "Come on. Out with it Brooke. You like her." 

I flush, thinking back to Dex and all the crazy things she does, "Yeah." I can't help smiling, "I admit it. I like her."

Lyra, meanwhile, has lowered her face from her hands and is staring at Amar, aghast, "That's not how you approach the subject, Amar!"

He shrugs, "She's admitted it." He turns to me, "So, Initiate. You've got a choice to make here too."

I blink, "I do?"

"Either follow the girl of your dreams and go to Factionless-"

"But if I go to Factionless, then-" I start to protest, but Amar holds up his hand, stopping me. 

"Or," he continues, "You can stay here and help me protect Divergents who come into Dauntless."

I stare at him, stunned. This is how Amy must have felt. I realise. This is not a choice I can make in a split second. 

There's a quiet knock on the door and Amar opens in to admit Amy. She stand there, her hands hanging by her side, and, ignoring me and Amar, stares only at Lyra. 

"I'm coming with you." She says, the determination plain in her voice. 

Lyra's mouth falls open slightly and then, without warning, she throws herself into Amy's arms. 

Amar grins, "Great," he says, "You two need to leave soon though if you want to catch that train." 

Lyra breaks away from Amy and I can see that she's crying. "Thank you," she says quietly. She gives Amar a hug and then then she turns to me, "And thanks for saving me, Brooke."

"No problem," I smile, and then I gasp as she pulls me into a hug too. 

Amy takes her hand and the pair of them stand awkwardly looking at us for a moment. 

"Well," Lyra says at last, "I guess this is goodbye." 

"Goodbye," Amar smiles, "I hope you'll be happy in Factionless."

"Yeah," Lyra says quietly, and then they gives us a nod and leave, the door shutting quietly behind them. 

Amar turns to me, "Will you be going with them?"

Emotions flicker through me. In my mind, I see Dex laughing, her brown eyes filled with excitement, the way they always are when she's doing something dangerous. But then I remember the hateful glares she would send my way. No. Whatever I feel for her she clearly doesn't reciprocate it. 

Love or duty? 

I turn to Amar. "Will you be coming too? Now might be the only chance you have."

Amar shakes his head, "I want to stay. To help other Divergents."

"Then I'm staying too." I say. 

Amar frowns, "Brooke-"

"Amar," I say, "You know me. I'm not a romantic. Dex will be happier in Factionless without me. And besides, I want to make sure that every Divergent that comes into Dauntless will survive. And to do that, I need to stay here. There's nothing I could do in Factionless."

Amar nods, unsurprised, "And you're ok with that?"

I sigh, "She's chosen her path. I've chosen mine. I probably won't see her again, but at least she'll be happy."

Amar smiles wryly, "Oh I wouldn't say that. With the way things are going, you'll probably see her at some point in the future." 

I frown at him, "What are you, a seer?"

Amar scrunches up his brow, "A what?" 

"Nothing," I wave my hand, "Just something from a book I read." 

"Oh, right," says Amar, and then he smiles, "Well, if you want to get into Dauntless, you better prepare for tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" I ask. 

Amar's smile grows wider, "It's the Final Stage of training tomorrow. Your last test." 

I stare at him, "You know, I'd completely forgotten about that..."

Dex: 

When I open my eyes, there's a blanket over me and I'm lying on a bed. The room I'm in is completely grey with small windows. My surroundings are so unfamiliar that I squeeze my eyes shut tight again. Maybe when my eyes have adjusted, the walls we look black rather than grey. 

I put my hands by my side and I try to get up. 

"Easy," says a voice. I freeze. 

"Plato?" I ask, my head still feeling fuzzy. It's such a Plato thing to say. But then everything that happened comes rushing back and I remember: Plato's dead. 

I open my eyes to see an Abnegation woman standing over me. She looks familiar and I realise it's the one that came into my Aptitude test-the one that told me I was Divergent. What was her name again? Something beginning with N? Natasha? 

"Hello Dex," she smiles, "I don't know if you remember, but my name is Natalie Prior. Your friend Callum told me everything that happened. I'm sorry."

I blink, and then I pull myself up, "Callum?" I ask and then I look around again. So I'm in Abnegation. For a sitting room, it's looking pretty bare. "What happened? I was knocked out when I hit the water."

She smiles again, "Callum dragged you to safety and carried you into Abnegation. My husband found him in the street and took you both in." She brushes a strand of hair out of her eyes, "It's quite impressive, really. Callum must be a very strong swimmer to have been able to swim with that bullet in his arm." 

"The bullet," I whisper, and I quickly glance down at my leg. My brow furrows in confusion; it isn't there. 

Natalie laughs quietly, "We had an Amity doctor come and take it out. We said you were a couple of Factionless and covered your clothes up with a blanket. You've been asleep for about a day."

"Factionless?" I repeat vaguely. 

Natalie holds up a pile of mis-matched clothes, "Factionless," she repeats, "We thought you'd want to get yourself changed. There's a bathroom down the hallway if you want some privacy."

I stare at the clothes in her hands, "I'm Factionless now," I say. She just nods. "I didn't realise until now." 

She gives me a sad smile, "Hardly anyone does." She passes me the clothes, and then smiles again, "Callum's in the kitchen. We gave him a herbal tea. Would you like one?"

I stare at the clothes in my hands-a Candor white shirt, an Amity green jumper and Erudite blue jeans. It looks so weird. 

I glance up at her and, as usual, say the first thing that comes to mind, "Why are you being so nice? That's an Amity thing."

She stares at me and then recovers, "You're unused to it because of the time you've spent in Dauntless. Abnegation is nice too. No faction is simply just one thing." 

"Hmm." I say. I walk into the bathroom and get changed into the Factionless clothes she's given me. When I'm done, I hand over my soaked black Dauntless ones. It's like I'm losing part of myself. 

"That's it," she says encouragingly, "It's ok. My husband and son are both out and you were covered up before so they won't notice that you were Dauntless. As for my daughter-" She freezes and stares at someone behind me. 

I turn and see, perched on one of the steps on the wooden staircase, is an Abnegation girl. Unlike her mother, her face is instantly recognisable. She's the one that would watch the Dauntless every morning with me and River. The one who's name I never knew. 

"Beatrice, " Natalie hisses and then she sighs, "Beatrice, I thought you were doing your homework upstairs?" 

"I'm thirsty," Beatrice replies and glances at me. From the look she gives me, it's hard to tell whether she recognises me or not. Even though we saw each other every school day, so much has happened since I last saw her. She would have remembered an Amity girl. Now the person in front of her is a Factionless with tattoos and, hopefully, more muscles. "Who is she?" She asks Natalie. 

"One of the Factionless," replies Natalie, steering me into the kitchen, and then turns to her daughter, "Actually, now you're down, I would like you to do something for me. Can you please go to where the Abnegation Initiates are and bring River over?" 

Beatrice nods and walks out the door. 

"River?" I smile. 

"Yes," Natalie smiles back, "Had you forgotten you had family in Abnegation?"

She leads me into the kitchen, which is just as boring as the living room, and see Callum sceptically drinking some herbal tea. He nods at us as we come in. 

"Hi Dex," he smiles, "Ready to begin our new life at Factionless?" 

I sigh, "How can you be so happy?"

"Someone has to be," he replies. He smiles at me-a full, beaming smile. It's weird-in the few hours I've known him, I've only ever seen him afraid. Now he seems brighter, happier, as if a massive weight has been lifted from his shoulders. 

I cough, "I...Thank you for saving me. You know, with the train and also getting me here."

He smiles again, his blue eyes shining, "No problem." 

I stand there awkwardly for a few moments and then sit down in a spare chair, not sure what to say. 

There's a knock on the door. Natalie smiles and heads into the hallway, saying, "Abnegation is a small neighbourhood. The Initiates weren't too far away." Callum and I get up from the kitchen and follow her to the front door. 

She opens the door to admit River, who's equally both familiar and unfamiliar. His face remains the same but his clothes are startling different-there's no colour and life in them anymore. And he looks just as, if not more, surprised to see me as I am to see him. 

"Dex?" He asks incredulously.