Faction Before Love

Faction Before LoveChapter 11

Leon paced back and forth in his room. He was sweating gallons and his hands were shaking badly. What was he going to do? How could he keep this kind of secret? Divergent! Why had he never heard of that before? How was it possible for him to be one? Jake had said it was because he could tell weather he was in a simulation or not.

So now what? He wondered. What do I do? How do I keep it hidden?

"Leon!" Mica, Leon's youngest brother, ran into the room.

"Hey, buddy." Leon smiled, hiding all the fear.

"I know something you don't know." Mica smiled.

Same here, Leon thought. "What do you know?"

"Trevor isn't the Faction leader anymore." Mica smiled proudly.

"Really?" Leon asked. "Why...I mean, who's in charge now?"

"Max."

"Max? Initiate instructor Max?"

Mica nods, "Uh huh. Mom thinks he's gonna be better than Trevor. Did you know that..."

"Wait, wait. What happened to Trevor? Do you know?" Leon interrupted.

Mica shrugged, "I don't know. Mommy saw me listening to her and her friend about it and she told me to check on you." Mica pounced on Leon's bad and they stared at each other for a minute.

Leon smiled, "Well, you checked on me and I'm good. So you can go tell mom I'm good."

Mica shook his head, "You have to tell me your test results."

Leon shook his head, "I can't do that. You know that."

"I'm eight. Who am I gonna tell?" Mica smiles innocently.

Leon laughed and ruffled his brother's hair before grabbing his coat, "Sorry, buddy." He left his apartment and began walking. He didn't know where he was going. He just had to be alone.

"Hey, Leon!" Thomas called to him.

"Hey, Thomas." Leon grinned tiredly.

"What are you up to?" Thomas asked.

"Just walking. Getting ready for the choosing ceremony."

"What's to get ready for? Are you not going to choose Dauntless anymore?" Something in Thomas' voice was different than it had been a few seconds ago.

"Of course I'm still choosing Dauntless." Leon nodded. "Aren't you?"

Thomas was about to answer but then closed his mouth and nodded, "Of course." He gave Leon a friendly nod and then left quickly.

Leon watched him go. He felt like he should tell Thomas about his....condition. He had to tell somebody.

Trinity.

Leon couldn't stop the smile that formed on his lips. But how could he get in touch with her?

Despite himself, Leon found himself walking up the steps of the fence a few minutes later. He smiled, "What are you doing here?"

Trinity turned to look at him in surprise, "What are you doing here?"

"Just trying to keep my head on." Leon stepped closer to her and chuckled, "It's so good to see your face." He tried to place his hand on her cheek but she stepped away. "What's going on?"

Trinity shook her head, "I've been thinking." Her voice shook as she spoke. "I don't think we should see each other anymore."

Leon felt like he had been punched, "What? But..."

"There's no excuse that our faction leaders would believe." Trinity said forcefully. "We just need to go back to our normal lives and pretend like the dance never happened. Go back to being normal people."

I can't be normal ever again! Leon wanted to yell. "How can you possibly say that?"

"What do you think will happen, Leon? We'll secretly meet here for the rest of our lives? I want to have a family someday. I want to grow old with my husband not run away from blaring sirens when he kisses me. If he kisses me."

Leon clenched his fists, "I just can't believe you can walk away from to so quickly."

"It's not easy for me either, but honestly, Leon. You're not leaving Dauntless and I'm not leaving Amity. I can't. My grandmother has no one else."

"Faction before blood." Leon quoted the oldest line in their culture.

Trinity walked up to him and stood directly in front of him so that he had to look at her, "For us, Leon, it needs to be faction before love."

That was it. He snapped. Leon glared at her, "Go pick a vegetable!"

Trinity scoffed and before he could act, she swung her hand up and smacked him.

Leon's jaw dropped and Trinity's eyes widened. Then tears formed in her eyes and she turned to flee. Leon grabbed her wrist.

"Let me go." It wasn't a forceful demand but more of a weak plea. Leon realized that had probably been the first time Trinity had ever harmed another human being.

"I'm sorry." Leon whispered.

"Please let me go." Trinity cried.

Leon released her and watched her run down the steps. She turned back only once to look at him and then resumed running.

He leaned against the railing as tears threatened to spill out. He looked at the Amity fields in silence. And then, "Trinity. You're not going to believe this. I, uh...I have this thing. It's really awesome actually. They call it Divergent. Have you ever heard of it? Yeah, me neither. I'm so scared they might find out about me. But...I'm even more afraid of them finding out about us. I...I can't lose you, Trinity. I..."

Leon put his head in his hands and cried by himself where he and the love of his life had once danced to music only they could here.