The morning sun casted a glow over the city of Chicago the next morning, when Lilith finished climbing the girders under the bridge where the meeting would be taking place. Thankfully, it wasn't in a position where it would blind her or stop her from being able to see what happened above them; if anything, it would make it so that the Dauntless traitors and Jeanine's representatives would have a harder time spotting them.

Beside her, Lynn, Shauna, Tris and Four settled into place as well. As they all sat there, crammed against eachother, Lilith realized that it hadn't been a good idea for everyone to come along, as they were all squeezed in a tight spot. Pressing her lips together, she shuffled until one of her legs was dangling from the edge. Maybe it was dangerous, but at least it didn't feel as suffocating. Her eyes moved to the building where Uriah was supposed to be in, ready to cover for them, if need be. A quick reflexion told her that the boy was in place.

All that was left to do was wait.

They'd gotten there half an hour before seven, to assure that they would have enough time to hide themselves before either Candor or Erudite arrived. The thought that there could be patrols making sure that the area was secure had crossed Lilith's mind as they walked to the bridge but, thankfully, there hadn't been a single soul in sight when they'd gotten there. Maybe it was because the bridge was in neutral ground, not belonging to any faction. Or maybe they just hadn't thought that people would show up. For all intents and purposes, Jack had kept the meeting a secret.

Footsteps echoed over their heads, and Lilith pulled her leg up, gesturing at the others to keep quiet. Her eyebrows furrowed as she tried to recognize anyone through the holes in the steel above her head, but it was useless; all she saw was the bottom of their shoes. Her hand hovered over the pistol at her hips as the footsteps faded, and they all collectively flinched as the ear pieces they were wearing released a loud static noise. 

She really should have told Bud how to turn those things on.

"Hello, Jack," a voice said.

They looked at eachother in confusion, the voice familiar to all of them. It was Max, the leader of Dauntless who seemed to be the most entangled in this whole situation with the Erudite. Of course he'd be Jeanine's representative. Lilith half wanted to smack herself for not realizing it sooner.

There was a pause, before Jack replied, "Max. Where's Jeanine? I thought she would at least have the courtesy to show up herself."

"Jeanine, Enzo and I divide our resposibilities according to our strenghts. That means Enzo and I make all the military decisions," he said. Lilith had almost forgotten about goddamned Enzo and his psychotic grin. She shivered as Max continued, "I believe that includes what we are doing today."

Lilith couldn't hold back her curiosity. Slowly and carefully, she planted both feet on the girder, before wrapping her hands around the edge of the bridge. Using all the strenght she possessed in her arms, she pulled herself up until she had a view of where the two groups where meeting, several feet in front of where they were. Though she couldn't see everyone on Erudite's side, Max seemed to be the only one at the very front. Enzo wasn't present.

She dragged herself back to the girder as Jack replied, "Fine. I came to-"

"I should inform you that this will not be a negotiation," Max cut him off, and Lilith and Lynn exchanged a glance, "In order to negotiate, you have to be on even footing, and you, Jack, are not."

"What do you mean?" Jack sounded confused.

"I mean that you are the only disposable faction," the other man replied, "Candor does not provide us with protection, sustenance or technological innovation. Therefore, you are expendable to us. And you have not done much to win the favor of your Dauntless guests, so you are completely vulnerable and completely useless. I recommend, therefore, that you do exactly as I say."

Jack sounded infuriated, "You piece of scum. How dare-"

"Now let's not get testy," Max said, in a calmer manner than Lilith would have expected from a Dauntless.

"Testy?" she furrowed her eyebrows, "Does that come from where I think it does?"

Lynn struggled not to laugh, and though things weren't looking good, Lilith couldn't help but smile. Before she could avert her eyes from the rest of the group, however, she saw Tris gesturing for her to look at her. Once she did, the blonde gestured at her earpiece, before pointing towards where the two factions were meeting. When Lilith mouthed a what?, Tris rolled her eyes, before repeating the same gesture. Her mouth then formed the movements of a name.

Max.

Max, much like them, was wearing an earpiece. His excessive use of the word therefore and the way he said testy should have been enough indication that it wasn't him talking, and it didn't take a genius to figure out that Jeanine was feeding him lines. Which, according to the very rudimentary knowledge that Lilith had about earpieces, meant that she wasn't far. As the pieces clicked together in her mind, she nodded at Tris, who immediately looked more at ease.

"I have three requirements. First, that you return the Dauntless leaders you currently hold in captivity unharmed," Max said.

Lilith raised her eyebrows, her hands returning to the edge of the bridge once more. Lynn tugged on her leg to get her to get back down, but the brunette ignored her as she balanced herself on the girder, now with full view to what was happening. The Dauntless soldiers accompanying Jack hid her from their enemies pretty well; if she wanted to, she could climb up to the bridge unnoticed. One of her hands wrapped around one of the cables that secured the bridge, while the other brushed her pistol lightly.

Only then did the reality settle in: they didn't know that Rhiannon was dead, and they didn't know that Eric had left them for good.

"Second," Max continued, "That you allow your compound to be searched by our soldiers so that we can extract the Divergent; and third, that you provide us with the names of those who were not injected with the simulation serum."

Jack's stance was tense, "Why? What are you searching for? And why do you need those names? What do you intend to do with them?"

So, this was why Jack wasn't in Erudite.

Knowing that she couldn't balance herself on the girder for much longer, Lilith took advantage of the cover provided by Jack's Dauntless escort to fully pull herself up to the bridge, and quickly hide behind one of the metal collumns that connected it to the metal structure above her head. A hiss sounded from where her friends were, and she glanced downwards to see Tris gesturing at her to come back. Lilith ignored her as she peered at Jack and Max from behind her cover.

"The purpose of our search would be to locate and remove any of the Divergent from the premises," Max replied. From the way Jack flinched, Lilith could see he knew what the Dauntless leader meant by remove. He continued, "And as for the names, that is none of your concern."

"None of my concern!" Jack spat out, and the brunette's eyes widened as she saw him step forwards and grab Max by the collar of his jacket.

Out of instinct, her fingers wrapped around the handle of her pistol, and she pulled it out of its holster, aiming at the two men. Max was the perfect picture of calm, which was odd; Lilith didn't think a Dauntless such as himself would just stand there and let Jack get away with that kind of move. His back up started getting their guns out as well, but none of them took aim as Max's lips formed a challenging smirk.

"Release me," he simply said, "Or I will order my guards to fire."

Jack didn't move a muscle, and that was when Lilith realized that his movement forward had given her an opening to shoot Max in the chest. Her breaths faltered as her finger approached the trigger, memories of everything that he'd done and everything he'd caused flashing before her. As if the misery he had brought upon the city wasn't enough, Jeanine and him wanted to cause even more of it. They would enslave everyone, they would take Eric again, they would ruin Scott's life, and all of her friends and all of her faction who had so openly resisted them would most likely be dead.

She pulled the trigger.

For a moment, everything stopped. Then, Max coughed, and a spray of blood flew in Jack's direction, most likely spreading across his face. The Candor leader released the other man's jacket in shock, and everyone watched him tumble to the ground, lifeless. Lilith hadn't yet come to terms with what she'd done when the Dauntless traitors spotted her, and immediately more bullets were fired in her direction. Her heart rate was higher than ever before as she ducked back into cover, her eyes wide, as Jack's escort fired back.

She'd most likely just changed the course of everything and ruined all possible negotiations. On the bright side, Jeanine had one less ally, and only one more Dauntless leader on her side. In a few days, she'd gone from having all of them to only having Enzo Sparrow, and though Lilith fully thought of him as a cruel and sadistic prick with absolutely no brains, she realized that Jeanine and him most likely made a good combination.

Max was gone. She'd killed him, and there was no going back.

Pursing her lips, she peered out of cover as Bud and Jack ran past her, the first one covering for the Candor leader as they retreated. The Dauntless traitors were now occupied against the escort, and Lilith took one of them out with a headshot, before retreating to reload her pistol. As she did so, her eyes landed on Tris as she came running onto the bridge, her features twisted into a determined frown. A few feet behind her came the rest of the group, and Lilith's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.

"What's going on?" she yelled out.

"Come on!" Tris simply replied, as she darted past her.

Lilith took a deep breath before joining her friends once more, running alongside Four as they followed behind the blonde, with Shauna and Lynn lagging behind them. The Dauntless were nothing more than blurs as they sped past them, and it was a miracle that none of the bullets being fired had hit any of them. Lilith followed Tris' example and started moving forwards in zig zags. Still, she lost her balance when she had to dodge a bullet that had landed on the metal near her feet and ricocheted back, nearly lodging itself in her face. 

A hand wrapped itself around her forearm, stopping her from falling, and she briefly glanced to the side to see Shauna, who simply nodded at her. She returned the gesture, before looking for Four and Tris, who had made it off of the bridge and were currently bolting towards a building to the right. Gritting her teeth, she sped up once again, running faster than she ever had in her life as she tried to catch up to them. She almost felt like she was flying, her feet barely touching the asphalt as she moved, slightly out of breath thanks to her lack of practice. Still, she was light, and she was fast, and she was back in the safety of the city buildings when a scream pierced the air.

Looking over her shoulder, her eyes widened as she saw Shauna collapse forwards, a dark stain already appearing on her shirt. 

The world seemed to stop.

Lilith saw Lynn's mouth open, but she didn't hear her scream come out. She couldn't hear anything, not even the bullets still being fired on the bridge. Her throat dried up and her grip around her pistol slackened, the weapon falling to the ground as she stared at the girl on the ground. Tris and Four ran past her after a few instants, both kneeling down next to Shauna, and only then did Lilith start to trudge in their direction.

It was even worse up close.

"You!" a voice exclaimed, and Lilith's eyes moved to Lynn as she stood from her crouch. Her jaw was clenched in anger, a vein popping out against the skin of her forehead as she closed the distance to the brunette, "It's all your fucking fault!" she yelled, grabbing the collar of her shirt. 

Lilith didn't have the will to push her off. 

However, her lack of response only made Lynn angrier, and her knuckles connected with Lilith cheekbone in a punch that nearly made her stumble backwards, "You killed her! You killed Shauna!" she fired out, her second hit smashing against Lilith's jaw, "You're a murderer!"

"Hey!" she was interrupted by Four, who had meanwhile gotten up from his position and approached the two girls. He put a hand on each of their collarbones, trying to gently pull them apart, but Lynn's grip on her shirt was strong. He sighed, "Lynn, look at me," with a scowl, she stopped glaring at Lilith to meet his eyes, "Shauna's alive. We've got to get her out of here, okay?

It took a few seconds, but Lynn nodded, her fingers falling from the collar of Lilith's collar as she tried to hide the trembling of her chin.

"Now, I'm going to carry Shauna," Four slowly said, "It's going to hurt her a lot, but it's our only option."

"Okay," Lynn mumbled.

He picked up his friend from the ground, and Lilith's eyes focused on the puddle of blood she'd left behind. Her own mouth was filled with the taste of copper, and she briefly turned to spit out some of the crimson liquid inside. Lynn's punches had hurt, but the weight on her chest felt so much more painful.

Minutes before, she'd been so sure that killing Max had been a good thing.

But as she followed behind Four as he carried Shauna, Lilith couldn't help but feel like a monster.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

She'd been sitting in the same chair in the Gathering Place ever since they'd made it back from the bridge.

Not a single person had come to ask her how she was doing, and she preferred it that way. Despite the dark bruises on her face, she hadn't been the one getting hurt that day. Shauna had, and there were absolutely no guarantees that she'd get away unscathed. Lilith hated the simple thought that her barely contemplained actions had impacted someone like that. Even if Shauna made it, she would most likely never walk again. To a Dauntless, that meant life wasn't worth living anymore.

"Lilith?" a voice called out, and the girl shook herself out of her thoughts as she looked up at Reyna. Instead of giving her a response, she simply raised her eyebrows in a questioning manner. The blonde licked her lips, "Huh, there's going to be a Dauntless meeting tomorrow morning in the dorm. I know I'm not Dauntless," she added quickly, "But since I've been with you this whole time, Tori said I could come."

"Okay," she nodded, her eyes drifting back to the table in front of her, "Thanks for telling me."

She expected Reyna to leave, but she should have known that the blonde would never leave her suffering by herself, "Do... do you want to talk about what happened?" the girl's voice was soft. After a few seconds, when it became obvious that Lilith wouldn't answer, she spoke again, "I can also... just sit here with you. Keep you company, you know."

"Okay."

Though it hadn't really been an invitation, Reyna still took the chance to sit down in front of her. Lilith could feel her eyes scanning her in worry, wondering if there was anything she should say to make her feel better. Truthfully, Lilith didn't think that anything anyone said could help. She'd fucked up. She'd been so concerned about other people's expectations that she'd even pushed Eric away, and then she'd gone and ruined the way Dauntless looked at her by herself. 

She almost wanted to laugh.

Maybe cry.

Possibly both.

Wiping her nose with her hand, she glanced up at Reyna, who had busied herself by chewing on her cuticles, meanwhile. When she spoke, her voice sounded raspy, "So," she started, and the blonde quickly pulled her finger away from her mouth, "When did you know you were Divergent?"

Though it was an obvious attempt at distracting herself from the events of that day, Reyna didn't call her out on it as she answered, "After the Aptitude Test. Most people find out then."

"How?"

Reyna shrugged, "The results are inconclusive? You'd have to ask Cara or another Erudite for the technical details. But that's what the lady overseeing my test told me. She entered my results as Amity because of my first choice. So, that's where I went. That's where I felt like I would be the safest, after she told me why I couldn't tell anyone," she grimaced, "But apparently nowhere is safe. Maybe I should have gone to Dauntless as well, and actually learned how to defend myself."

"You're fine, Reyna," Lilith shook her head, folding her arms on top of the table, "Being Dauntless means having way too much blood on your hands."

"Well, looking at you," Reyna paused, "I'd say that the people whose blood is on your hands had it coming."

"Even Shauna?"

"Shauna isn't your fault," the blonde said, and Lilith couldn't help but roll her eyes. Despite the way she clearly didn't share the same opinion, Reyna continued, "You did what you thought was right for Dauntless, right? You took out Max before he could hurt anyone else. Sure, things could have gone differently. Things can always go differently, but you weren't the one who shot Shauna. You didn't make her come with you."

"But if I hadn't shot Max-"

"If you hadn't shot Max, he would find a way to get to all of us and hand us over to Jeanine. From what I've been hearing around this building, everyone is glad you shot his ass," Lilith's eyes widened at Reyna's vocabulary, but she didn't seem to notice, "What happened to Shauna was unfortunate. Max's death is a win. Sometimes, you can't have a win without losing something else. I'm sure Shauna will see it like that, too," she paused, her gaze softening, "You're not a monster, Lilith."

Reyna seemed to fully believe the words coming out of her mouth, and her optimism made Lilith's face relax the slightest bit.

Too bad she couldn't believe her.

───── ⋆⋅☆⋅⋆ ─────

AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hi, guys!
First of all, thank you so much for 50k reads! I hope you're all enjoying the book and this new achievement means a lot to me! So, thank you to all of you for reading!
I also want to mention that I am going to have some busy weeks coming up, and that I will be doing my best to update, but if I can't manage, that's why! I have part of the next update written, so hopefully I can update again next week.
Now heading into the chapter, the first part has been planned since forever ago. I always wanted Lilith to pull the trigger and shoot Max, and then deal with the immediate consequences that her actions bring. In this case, Shauna getting injured and Lynn turning on her because of it. She's definitely going through a tough time, and I hope it shows.
Also we stan Reyna and how much she cares for her friends!
Thank you for reading, and don't forget to leave me your feedback!