The room fills with people from every faction: people of all ages, factions, and genders. It turns out Rainbow's mother's name is actually Felicia Black, one of the most notorious executioners of all time. I step out of the room to go to the bathroom, but then, I find a sheet of paper. It's written in Marcus's handwriting. It's one of his speeches. Since this is a serious matter, I don't change around the words too much, but you know, I can't stand the man. It's not a crime to change speeches of government officials; I've asked a leader in Erudite and he found it quite amusing.

Hello, citizens of the faction of Candor, family and friends are awaiting the time when the force awakens. May all the shadows be eliminated, but not without fair trial. It is the Candor belief that open honesty— the definition of candor for you stupid people— is the best policy. Go to school, kids. Go to school. May the right decisions be made within the hands of the truth serum, as it tells all truth. The testimonies of every single person matter greatly, so please don't make comments before or after their interrogation, because every single one of these people deserve their proper respect. If you don't give them their respect, you will be at the mercy of trucks. Yes, I mean trucks— we'll put you in front of a running car! Please, for the love of god, respect everyone in this room today, regardless of if they're failing at being the monopoly of ruled by anarchy. Thank you. My name is Markus Featon, leader of Abnegation. My duty is to make sure that every one that is respected.

That's the changed speech. I didn't make too many changes, just changed the spelling of his name on the program. I made the speech more eloquently worded than it already was; I guess Markus Featon forgot about his speech writers in Abnegation. I walk back into the large room. Yes, I end up using the bathroom; I'm not a camel.

"Felicia Black, you may enter," Jack Weiss, one of the Candor judges announces.

She enters the room, showcasing her long, black hair that is shaved on one side of her head— the single nose piercing with jewels, captivating the audience into the manipulation of studying her nose ring instead of the actual case— her muscles broad, like she's been either taking steroids or wrestling way too many people— and her 10-inch high heels, capturing the essence of all her surrounding tattoos. Felicia is a tall, muscular woman, with an edgy sense of style; Rainbow definitely inherited her appearance from her mother. Jack injects the truth serum into her veins. I can see Felicia cringing as soon as it's injected, the pained look in her eyes. Rainbow winces. I know she hates to see her mom in pain like this. 

"What is your name?" Jack Weiss asks Felicia.

"Felicia Esther Manning-Black," Felicia replies.

It would suck to have her first name. I feel bad for her.

"When's your birthday?" Jack asks.

"January 15, 2024," Felicia replies.

"How old are you?" Jack asks.

"40," Felicia replies.

"How many kids do you have?" Jack asks.

I see. Leaning into it.

"Five," Felicia replies.

"Their names? Their birth names?"

"Hannah, Joel, Esther, Yukon, and Rain."

Rain. Rainbow. That makes perfect sense. I look over at Rainbow, who looks anxious. She looks into my eyes, her own filled to the brim with tears. I embrace her in my arms.

"It'll all be okay," I whisper, "I promise."

"But it's not," she croaks.

"It will be," I reply softly, studying Felicia at the trial.

"What about Nathan?" Jack Weiss asks.

"What about Nathan?" Felicia asks.

"That trial is for a different time, different place," Jack Weiss replies, confusing the life out of Felicia.

The rest of the trial goes on, Rainbow continuing to cry into my shoulder, even though she's much taller than me. Felicia is interrogated.

"Did you ever murder people for the sake of your kids?"

"Yes."

"How so?"

"I murdered David Pedrad when he was going to kill Esther," she replies.

I spot Nathan, sitting in the front row, across the room in his baggy sweatshirt. Nathan's head drops. Wait.. Nathan? What is he doing here? That initiate, I swear, pops up in the weirdest of places at the weirdest times.

"How so?" Jack Weiss asks.

"Strangled him, placed his body in the chasm," Felicia replies.

Nathan looks like he's about to throw up, Rainbow's crying starts again. Nathan knew David Pedrad. He knew him very well. But how? In what relation? These are the questions I keep asking. I walk into the bathroom, a couple jugs of coffee in my hand. These details are too gruesome to even be handled at this time. I chug on my coffee due to stress; my caffeine addiction is too real.

"Kat?" a familiar voice asks behind me.

I turn around, seeing Uriah, the initiate trainer. "What are you doing here?" I ask.

"This is the trial for the murder of David Pedrad. What are you doing here?" Uriah asks, raising his eyebrows.

"Supporting a friend," I reply.

Uriah nods. "You're too nice to be a Dauntless," he says. What does that mean? "More coffee, I presume?" he asks.

I nod. "It's Abel's influence."

He nods, laughing. I can see the tears in his eyes. Well David Pedrad, Uriah Pedrad, I can tell they're related. Pedrad is a pretty darn rare last name in Dauntless.

I nod in reply, walking back into the main room while chugging down more coffee, where the bloody details of the murder are being displayed.

"You're a professional executioner?" Jack Weiss asks, drilling Felicia down to the bone.

Felicia nods.

"How'd you get the money?" Jack asks.

"People would ask me to kill someone. If they had a good reason, I would do it," Felicia replies.

"How much did you charge?" Jack asks.

"Between 500 and 700 dollars," Felicia replies.

Rainbow gasps. This is what Rainbow's mom does for a living. I thought Rainbow was joking or over exaggerating when she said her mother was a professional executioner. I guess she was being completely serious? I still cannot digest the fact that this lady kills people for a living.

"This murder took place in the hotel nearest the Pedrad household, correct?" Jack asks.

Felicia nods.

"So, how did Rain get on the crime scene?" Jack asks.

"I forced her there," Felicia replies.

"Why did you force her there?"

"To create a good reason for killing David Pedrad,"

The entire room gasps unanimously. This trial has six different parts. Six different days, differing from each other in order of months, maybe even years.

"The audience is dismissed," Jack Weiss says, causing Rainbow and I to immediately walk out.

We walk in and out of the halls of the beautiful shiny, glass building with stride, making sure we don't make too much noise. We sprint onto the train, being followed by Nathan. Rainbow and I chug our coffees.

"I forgot we had these for a while," Rainbow says.

I laugh. "Abel's one of our best friends. Of course we have coffee."

"May I have one?" Nathan croaks.

I nod, handing him another jar of coffee. He chugs it down pretty quickly. "Thanks, Kat."

I nod. That's my way of saying, 'you're welcome'. The minute we arrive at Dauntless, Tobias waits our arrival.

"Why did half the initiates miss training today?!" Tobias screams.

"Half? It was just us three-" Rainbow adds, before getting interrupted by Tobias.

"Nope, more than half the initiates didn't go. To make matters even worse, neither of the Pedrads showed up to help me train them," Tobias rants, walking around in a circle.

"We were all in the same place," Nathan adds.

"Yes, I know that! I didn't know that woman was even that famous, like seriously, she kills people for a living; that's a Dauntless being too reckless, come on!" Tobias continues to rant, trying to guilt-shame us into making up our training hours.

"We'd be more than happy to make up our training hours, but we can't miss this trial," Rainbow says.

Tobias looks at her. "Why is that? Huh?"

"You knucklehead, these are the family members and the family friends of the Blacks and the Pedrads!" Nathan exclaims, "And if you give us any more s**t, you will regret it."

"Don't you dare talk to me like that!" Tobias exclaims.

My brother and my boyfriend have a brawling argument. Pleasant. Uriah runs in, holding Nathan back. Nathan continues to kick Uriah in the privates until Uriah falls over.

Nathan walks up to Tobias and says, "You know what? I'll let you win. You're too much of a knucklehead to know that people have lives."

Nathan storms off and runs to the boys' dormitory, Tobias looking stunned, like he didn't know what just happened.

"Uriah," Tobias says, "Handle Nathan later. He's always wandering around in the middle of the night."

Why does Uriah always have to handle Nathan? Does this mean Nathan is getting throw into the chasm? What the actual heck?

******

Thanks so much for reading! I'm so sorry I updated a few days late! I'll try to update by August 1st, but that's not a guarantee! Thanks so much for reading!