Silence

Disclaimer: I do not own Divergent or any of its characters. All of them belong to Veronica Roth.

Enjoy! :)

All was quiet in Dauntless. Yet Tris found the silence deafening.

She brushed a hand over a dusty table, and looked around at the place she once knew as the Dauntless cafeteria. Tables and chairs were overturned, broken and in an utter mess – a sign of the aftermath of the war. Erudite troops had stormed in with state of the art artillery and technology, and it had taken the Dauntless great effort to take them down. Friends and allies had been lost, and now that it was all over, after striving for months to defeat Erudite and avenge her parents, Tris felt empty.

Tris closed her eyes, tears welling up, threatening to slip out of her eyelids. She couldn't seem to find the euphoria and happiness she thought she would feel after the war was over. She had become a different person, cold, hard and unfeeling after pushing everyone away, in order to get to her goal of killing Jeanine. Even Tobias, after trying so hard to tolerate the cruel nature that was becoming of Tris, had left her. She was all alone, with nothing to live for any longer. Tris had become the very person she strove to get rid of, a person who got rid of anything that stood in her way, in order to reach her ultimate goal. She thought of her friends that she had lost in the war: Will, Marlene, Zeke, and only a few hours ago, Christina. Were their sacrifices worth the goal she had reached?

No, her heart whispered to her. Tris let out a short laugh. She sounded hoarse and near hysteria. Do I even have a heart? She asked herself. She reached the table where she and her friends used to have meals at, and tried to remember the times they shared fun and laughter, the happy memories they all had created. It seemed decades ago. All that was left was silence, the laughter turned to dust and echoes, something she had not intended to lose. Tris slumped down onto a bench, shoulders hunched and head bent, her now shoulder length hair forming a curtain around her eyes. She had lost everything.

A soft scuff of a pair of boots was heard, and Tris whipped her head up, feeling her blue grey eyes harden, not wanting anyone to see her in this state. A pair of familiar dark blue eyes stared down at her small frame, lips curled in a slight frown, eyebrows knitted together, and expression portraying disappointment.

"What?" she spat at Tobias, and stood up to face him fully.

His eyes narrowed, and Tobias took in the dark rings around her eyes, blond hair in a disheveled mess, black clothes ripped and dirty. Her once soft eyes had a cold and haunted look, and her face was gaunt, as if she had not eaten in months.

"How are you?" he managed to say quietly.

Tris cackled, letting out a slightly forced laugh. Her eyes showed slight amusement and her lips curled into a sneer.

"How are you? Is that all you want to say to me? After leaving me for 6 months to create destruction and havoc, after causing your friends' deaths, that is all you want to say to me? Oh, I'm feeling excellent by the way. Just great," Tris' voice rose to a quiver, and she trembled slightly despite herself.

She exhaled a breath she didn't know she had been holding, and turned away from him.

Softly, she whispered, "Go away Tobias, and leave me to dwell in my overwhelming guilt and sufferance."

Her eyes widened when she felt his strong arms wrap around her thin frame, and she squirmed and struggled to break free. Secretly, she had missed this feeling, but that was ages ago, and she didn't need this kind of comfort.

"Come back to me," Tobias said into her ear, "Be the Tris I knew a year ago, the innocent, selfless, brave girl I loved. Don't be the reckless, cruel, and cold one you are now. This isn't you. Come back to me Tris, just as I came back to you when I was under the simulation. Please," his voice almost sounded like a plea, and Tris could feel Tobias shiver and shake. She felt wetness at her neck, and she realized with shock that he was crying.

Tobias Eaton never cried.

Tris turned in his arms and looked up at his tear – streaked face, his dark eyes begging her to return to him. She felt tears pool in her own eyes.

"How… can you still love me, after what I did to you and to everyone? After what I have become?" her voice broke, and a single teardrop slid down her porcelain cheek.

"Because the person that did all that wasn't you. Tris, you are better than that girl. You are selfless, brave, intelligent, and everything anyone could ever ask for. The Tris I loved back then was my only purpose of living, and if she is lost forever, I don't want to live any longer. So give me a reason to live, Tris. Tell me you're not the person I think you are now. Tell me you're just an ordinary girl who is capable or caring and loving, who was changed by war and revenge. You are worth loving Tris; you are worth more than anything else in the world. So please, come back to me."

Tris couldn't hold back her tears, and they automatically fell like a waterfall as she clutched Tobias, crying softly into his chest. She held him tightly as if she had never held him before, and he embraced her the same way. They stayed in that position for what seemed hours, before Tris broke apart and looked up into his eyes.

"Forgiveness is not a chore, Tris. It is a gift."

Tobias stroked her cheek slowly, wiping away the hot tears that kept coming. He slowly bent down, and brought his lips to hers. Their lips molded together, and they move in unison and as one. They tasted their salty tears mixed together, and Tobias felt Tris' eyelashes brush against his eyelids. They broke apart only for air, before locking their lips once again. They both had missed this feeling so much, they had missed each other. They were bound as one, fate unable to ever separate them. They were one.

"I love you." Tris whispered against his cheek. She closed her eyes, and concentrated on their breathing. "And I'm sorry."

Tobias did not question what she was sorry for, he knew what she was thinking. She was sorry for what she had become, and she was terribly afraid. She was afraid of the future, of what would become of her, if anyone would forgive her. But he would stay by her side, after what she had been through; she did not deserve to live in her guilt. He would love her like no other. He was all she had now.

This time, the silence that enveloped both of them was comforting.