Hello everyone, this is a short Christmas story I decided to write spontaneously five days ago, inspired by the snowflakes I watched falling (peacefully though, without a storm) outside my window... It has turned out longer than I thought, and I decided to split it into three chapters and publish the first one today and the following on the 25th and 26th, so you won't have to wait long (but a little waiting is part of the Christmas excitement, isn't it?) ;-)

I hope you enjoy reading, and if you find the time between decorating the Christmas tree, family dinners and (un)wrapping gifts, please leave favorite, follows or a review, you would make me really happy.
Merry Christmas to all of you!

DISCLAIMER: I own neither the Divergent world nor the characters, they belong to Veronica Roth.

An unexpected Christmas Eve

"Initiates," Eric's voice echoes from the walls around us and the crowd instantly falls silent. I wonder what it is that we were ordered to gather in the training room for, since it's already after dinner, and we've already had training in the afternoon. It has to be something important, or Four and Lauren wouldn't be here, too. They're standing beside Eric, one of them on each side.

"We have decided that this year each initiate has to accompany one of their trainers on a mission to help with a real task outside the Dauntless compound. That gives you the chance to show your skills in another environment than the training room or fear landscapes. We want to be done with these assignments by Christmas, so there's little time left. That's why Lauren and Four each have chosen whom of you they want to take with them, and the rest of you is coming with me. You'll find a list with your names, your trainers and the dates of your missions on the black board next to the door of this training room. And before you ask, there'll be no changes allowed. We'll stick to the list, no exceptions. So, that's it for tonight."

Eric dismisses us with a wave of his hand, and an excited humming immediately raises around us.

"What do you think will be your task?" Christina asks me, clearly excited.

"I don't care so much about what it will be, more about who it'll be with. I hope I won't have to go with Eric," I say, and the thought of having to leave the shelter of the compound with Eric to go anywhere alone with him makes me shiver. No, that's really nothing I want to do. I wouldn't have a problem to go with Lauren, but I'd prefer to be assigned to Four, of course. Maybe I'd have a chance to learn a little more about him, something that might help me figure out who he is.

There's a bunch of initiates in front of the board, and Christina drags me towards them. She's curious to find our names, but I stay behind. I don't want to have to squeeze my way to the front to read the list when I can also wait another five minutes until everyone else has checked it, and then walk up to it without trouble.

But Christina is faster than that. "You're with Four, and I'm with Lauren. Peter has to go with Eric, and I'm actually happy about that, especially because he's obviously angry about it," she informs me with a wide grin. Thank heavens I'm with Four. The tension caused by the thought of having to spend a day alone with Eric vanishes, only to be replaced slowly by another kind of tension that's creeping up on me, settling itself down in my stomach. I'm going to spend a day alone with Four, outside the compound, away from all the cameras.

Due to Christmas only being a week away, initiates are going out of the compound each day with Lauren, Four and Eric. It's not allowed to tell anyone what we're doing out there, so rumors are flying around. I get more and more nervous each day, and it doesn't help that I'm the last one on the list, my mission scheduled for the 24th. Four told me not to worry about it being Christmas Eve, since we'd be leaving early and return in the early afternoon. Although that's not what I'm really nervous about, after all it's good to know that I'll be back in time to celebrate Christmas with my friends. It's my first holiday without my family, and that'll feel pretty strange, I'm sure.

There's plenty to do during this last week before the holidays. For the first time in my life, I go for a stroll through the shops in the pit to buy presents for my friends. I can't afford anything expensive, but everyone assures me that it's not about giving anything big or extraordinary. It's more important to pick something that fits the personality of the person you want to give it to. When Christina asks me if I have a wish for Christmas, I'm so surprised that I can't come up with anything. It's a question nobody has ever asked me before. She laughs and shakes her head at me, telling me Abnegation rules are unbelievable, and that she'll find something for me that I'll like.

Apart from spending time buying presents, we meet in the cafeteria's kitchen to bake Christmas cookies, which turns out to be great fun. Also, the initiates have to help decorating the compound for the festivities, so we put candles on the tables in the cafeteria, hang lanterns and colorful lights along the stone walls leading up from the pit and hang mistletoe above doors.

"What is that for? Someone will run right into it," I laugh. I've seen mistletoe growing in the treetops, but I didn't know you could use it as decoration. And why do we hang it in the door frames? I'm small, I can walk underneath it without hitting my head, but what about the taller men? Christina and Uriah just laugh about my question. Obviously it's something funny to ask.

"You'll find out someday soon, I guess," Christina chuckles and Uriah adds, "Yeah, let's just say it brings luck if you stand underneath the mistletoe. By the way, you're coming to my Christmas party after dinner on Christmas Eve, aren't you? We're going to celebrate in my brother's apartment, he's inviting some friends, too."

"I already told you that we're coming," I reply, speaking for both me and Christina.

And then, after my last simulation on the day before Christmas, Four sends me home with the advice to put on warm clothes for our mission the next day, since we'd spend most of the day outside. I'm supposed to meet him at the train tracks at eight in the morning. It's quite early for me, given that I don't get much sleep that night.

I should probably be worrying about whatever it is that I'll have to do, and that I'll be scored for my work, but I'm not. No, what I'm actually nervous about is passing time alone with Four. I've never spent so much time alone with a boy, ever, and although he's not that much older than I am, he's still my instructor. What am I going to talk about with him? What if he wants to talk about my divergence again? The thought makes me uneasy. I know he said I could trust him, but it's difficult for me to do so. I wish I could, but I know too little about him. He knows so much about me already, but he never shares anything personal with me, or the other initiates.

But then again, why should he? He's working with us. Our training is his work, not something he does for fun. There's absolutely no reason for him to open up to me about himself. On the other hand, we've had some moments that I'm sure were not exactly how you'd imagine a trainer talking to an initiate, when he touched my face in the hallway or when he brushed my hair out of my face and trailed his fingertips over my neck before injecting me with fear serum. I may not have experience with this kind of things, but the way he made me feel was so new and foreign to me that I think it was about more than him just caring for one of his initiates.

I don't know how late it is when I finally did fall asleep last night, but I know that everyone else in my dormitory was already sleeping while I was still awake. I force my body under the cool shower to wake it up, and then I put on several layers of clothing to keep me warm outside. Next, I head down to the cafeteria for breakfast, and, though I'm not hungry, I force myself to eat a good serving of scrambled eggs with bacon and some fruit salad. I'm surely going to need the energy.

When I reach the train tracks at ten to eight, Four is already there, repacking some items into two big backpacks.

"Good morning, Four," I say, and he turns towards me. A slight smile plays at the corners of his mouth.

"Morning," he replies before he focuses on the backpacks again. "I'm about to finish packing them. One of them is yours. You'll have to help carry the equipment. We also have food and hot drinks, so we can take a lunch break when we get hungry. Actually, we could maybe take three, since the guy in the kitchen gave me so much food because of Christmas."

I'm relieved Four is in a good mood. It doesn't seem to bother him that he has to work today.

"Let's try not to end up spending more time eating than actually working," I smile.

"That's impossible, I think. We're not supposed to get back to Dauntless until we've finished our mission."

"So what exactly is this mission today?" I want to know.

"We're heading out of the city in the direction of the fence, but we'll jump off the train before we get there. It's a rather deserted part of the city, where usually nobody goes because it's too far out. But there are security cameras out there that we'll have to check and maintain. Some work with batteries that have to be replaced before they run out of energy. Others have to be repaired. We'll see about that. I have a mobile device that shows a map of the area and the places where the cameras are. We'll use it to navigate. It'll be part of your job today. I hope you know how to read a map?"

"I learned that at school, yes, and we used maps of the city when we went out to help the Factionless when I was still in Abnegation," I answer confidently. Reading a map and the whole task in general doesn't sound too difficult. I don't know much about cameras, but it can't be that tricky to replace them or simply change their batteries.

"Good," Four nods as the train comes into view and speeds in our direction. We both put the backpacks on and get into position next to the tracks. It won't be as easy as it usually is with the extra weight on my back, I realize. Before I can really start to worry about that, Four starts running in front of me, so I take off behind him. The train's rattling sound grows louder each second until it passes us and Four jumps into the first wagon. I force my legs to run, run faster, run so fast that my muscles burn, and then I take a leap, grab the handle beside the door and pull myself up and into the wagon. Four nods in acknowledgement when I manage to stay up on my feet instead of stumbling to the ground.

"You can take off the backpack, it'll take a while until we have to get off the train."

I do what I'm told and sit down on the floor next to Four. He sits cross-legged in front of one of the wagon's open doors, watching the city speed by, and I join his silence. Luckily, the lack of conversation doesn't feel awkward. We would have to shout over the sounds of the train and the icy wind anyway. I love watching the Marsh coming into view and the city's buildings growing smaller in the distance.

We finally jump off on a meadow, and this time I fall from the sudden decrease of speed when my feet touch the ground. How good that the temperature is slightly below zero and the earth frozen, or I'd be covered in mud and would have to run around in dirty pants all day.

I'm surprised to see Four's hand outstretched towards me when I look up. I lay my small palm in his big one, and he pulls me up from the ground. For a moment we stand there in front of each other, his hand still closed around mine, and I'm very aware of how close we are. I look into his eyes, and he looks into mine.

"Thank you," I say, because that's the first thing which comes to my mind.

"You're welcome," he replies. It feels like he's going to say something more, but then he releases my hand and starts walking towards an old road some yards away and I follow in his wake.

We spend most of the morning working in comfortable silence. It's a nice change from spending time with my fellow initiates, who always have something to talk about, even if it's just random gossip that I don't care about.

Basically, we walk from camera to camera and check if they still function properly. It's easy to lead the way with the digital map Four has given me, once I've found the place we jumped off the train. Four shows me how to check the quality of the batteries with a special electricity tester, and how to replace them if needed. We've brought a selection of screwdrivers that we have to choose the right one from for each camera, according to the size of the screws with which their casings are bolt together, to open and close their energy supply units. The hardest thing about it is that my fingers are getting colder and colder as time goes by, but other than that, I can soon do it on my own. Four lets me work without interrupting me.

When we come across a broken camera and Four tries to repair it on the spot, he sends me ahead to check the next ones on my own, "You don't need my help to do that. Just tell me if one is broken, so I can fix it. I'll catch up with you, go ahead. I know where most of the cameras are anyway."

"If you know it, why do I have to look up the way on the map?"

"Cause it's part of the mission and your scoring," he explains, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

We have checked about forty cameras and walked quite some distance when we reach a small hut that Four opens with a key. "It belongs to Dauntless. We can use it while out on a mission to take a break, or even to sleep in here if necessary," he explains.

It really is very basically equipped inside, but my eyes light up when I see that Four fumbles with the hose of a gas canister, which he connects to a round mobile radiator. He manages to bring it to life and soon the surrounding air is getting warmer. We draw chairs next to it from the wall and sit down to warm up. I don't feel that cold, but my hands and feet are.

"Are you hungry?" Four asks me after a while.

"Not much. I had a huge breakfast."

"You can eat a huge breakfast?" he teases.

"Are you trying to be funny now?" I ask in mock shock. It's not exactly typical for him, always rather serious.

"Trying, yes."

"Well, unsuccessfully though," I state dryly with my eyebrows raised at him. He chuckles, and I join him and shake my head. Since when do we crack jokes with each other?

We decide to simply share a sandwich, so that we can continue our work and finish it in time. When we step outside again, the air feels significantly colder, and it has become darker although it's only around noon, with clouds hiding the sun almost completely now.

We set off along the crumbling road. The fifth camera we have to check is on top of a water tower. A rusty ladder leads upwards to the roof. I look up there and then glance at Four out of the corner of my eye, only to see him swallow while he stares at the camera high above the ground. He doesn't have to ask, and I won't make him. I put down my backpack, take three steps towards the ladder and start climbing it. The metal feels cold as I wrap my hands around the bars to go up. I don't take time to look down or to think or worry, I just keep going until I reach the roof. I carry the basic tools in the pockets of my work jacket, so I can do what is needed and then get back down quickly. It's nice to be on the ground again, not because I dislike heights, but because the wind doesn't blow as hard as on top of the tower.

I wordlessly put my backpack back on, quickly check the map for the next stop and get going.

"Thank you," Four says, and that's when I know he noticed that I climbed up there because I remembered his fear of heights.

"You're welcome," I mumble modestly. It's not a big deal, it's nothing I'm afraid of.

We keep working, the sky around us growing darker with more and bigger clouds gathering below the ones that are already there. The wind is becoming stronger, too, and we try to shelter our faces by turning our backs to it whenever possible.

But at some point, the wind's force increases, and suddenly it's coming from everywhere. At least, that is what it feels like. I pull my hood down further over my forehead, but the wind keeps blowing it back down if I don't hold it in place.

And then it starts to snow, and not just a bit. Thick snowflakes are swirling around us, flying where the wind blows them.

"So what are we going to do now?" I ask.

"This is your mission, so what would you suggest?"

Okay, if he'll leave it to me… "I think it's best if we go find some shelter from the storm first, and then we can think about our next step there."

"That sounds like a good plan. And where do we go from here?"

I look around, but I can't see far from where we are. Our surroundings blur into grey from all the snow in the air, apart from the contours of some bare trees. The road seems to lead into nothingness to both our left and right. I know where we came from and that we've walked a good distance since we left the hut, and I think there are some houses in the other direction. I quickly check the map to be sure we're heading the right way by following the road ahead of us. Hopefully, the map is correct and not overly outdated, since it shows a single house not too far from where we are.

"Let's continue in this direction. In about fifteen minutes we should find a path that leads to the left and ends at a house. If we're lucky, it's still intact and not just a ruin."

"Lead the way," Four says, again this small smile playing at the corners of his mouth. He almost seems… proud?

I must imagine it. It's hard to really see with all the snow blurring my vision, making me blink. I don't hesitate and start walking as fast as I can without actually running. It wouldn't make our situation easier if one of us slipped on the glistening snow that begins to cover the road now.

I spot the path marked on the map after having walked for a while and my agitation builds. What if there is no house anymore?

But my worries turn out to be unnecessary ten minutes later, when we can finally see the silhouette of a small one-story house. Getting closer, it looks as if it is still in a good enough condition for us to wait there for the storm to pass. Four stops me by blocking my way with his arm outstretched in front of me.

"Tris, think about what we should do next. Think like a soldier."

He's right. I was so relieved to reach this place that I didn't think about the possibility that we could not be the only ones around here. I take a deep breath of cold air and focus on what I see in front of me.

"The house looks still habitable, so there could be someone living here. It looks deserted, though. There are no lights and there's no smoke coming out of the chimney. That's a good sign for us, since it reduces the chance that someone lives here. There'd be no need to keep the lights turned off or to avoid a fire out here, because I think the chance for anyone passing by, especially in this weather, is minimal. The garden is overgrown, which means nobody cares to use the soil for growing crops. I'd suggest we circle the house once, and if we don't see anything suspicious, we should go inside and carefully check all the rooms for any signs of possible occupants."

"Well analyzed. So, to speed this whole process up a little, I'll go to the right and you to the left, and then we'll meet again at the back of the house. We can go in together then."

"Okay."

I don't think we'll find anyone here, but I get that we should be careful and stick to some kind of standard safety procedure.

Since neither of us spots anything unusual, we silently enter the hallway through the main door. There's only little light with the storm going on outside, but it's enough for me to see the layer of dust on the floor.

"Nobody has been here in a while," I whisper, relieved.

"How do you know?" Four frowns at me.

"There are no footprints on the floor. The dust is coating the wood evenly. And apart from the dust, it is clean. With the weather like it is now, there'd be dirt, too."

"Good point."

I'm proud of his praise, as he isn't usually generous with it, and now he has actually complimented me twice.

"Thanks."

"We should check anyway and then see if we find a place to sit down."

I nod and we take a look into each room. It doesn't take long, since it's so small. There's a living room with a fireplace and some basic furniture, a kitchen, a bathroom and two more rooms that look as if someone had stored his stuff in there to come and pick it up one day, but the dust and the spider's webs as well as the colors stolen by the sunlight of numerous summers show that this house has been like this for a long time. The previous owners seem to have left long ago.

We sit down on two shaky chairs in the living room and both look outside the window. I like that neither of us has the urge to fill the silence with chatter. Instead, we watch the snowflakes fall to the ground, where they gather and build a steadily growing layer. How are we going to get home in this weather?