Tris' POV

"Michael was very brave, and that is why today we celebrate his bravery, to do what few others have done. Let us remember him and his legacy!" Eric shouted with a smirk present on his face. I scowled. Eric didn't care at all, it was just another excuse for him to get drunk. I looked sadly at the battered body laying there, lifeless. Michael didn't have to take his own life. He thought that death was better than being factionless. He was not brave, he was a coward. I couldn't bare to look at him. Not out of disgust, or grief. Out of emptiness. He might have had a lot of potential. I turned away.

"Come on, let's go." Tobias murmured to me quietly while taking my hand. With one last look at his dead body, we walked away.

"Up! Everyone up. Meet us by the train tracks in fifteen minutes." I called into the dark room. It was only one in the morning, but we had to be awake. Paintball and capture the flag. A Dauntless tradition.

The transfers looked at me groggily, and some of them even fell back onto their beds while groaning. I rolled my eyes. "Get your butts out of bed or you'll be factionless before you can say 'paintball'." I hinted and slammed the door shut.

Likewise, Lynn was waking up the dauntless-born. I leaned against the wall beside her, amused at her furious yell. She turned back and glared at me.

"What?" She muttered angrily while rubbing an eye. I smiled.

"Nothing. Anyway, what's up with you and that Ethan guy?" I asked curiously. Her scowled deepened, but her cheeks flushed and her eyes widened.

"What do you mean? Nothing is up," She replied too quickly while playing with the blue strip of hair at the nape of her neck. I smiled.

"You guys are so obvious. I bet he's going to ask you out soon," I teased and swiftly left, ignoring Lynn's protests and cries of denial as I headed to the tracks.

All the initiates were there, thankfully. They all looked at me curiously, with an undertone of annoyance at being awoken so early.

"It's a Dauntless tradition to play capture the flag with all the initiates," I announced. Some of the transfers scoffed, thinking it was a childish game. But the dauntless-born were smirking.

"With a twist." Lynn butted in. She pulled out her paintball gun and gave it a little spin. The transfers' eyes grew wide.

"Four and I will be team-" Ethan started, but Lynn looked furious.

"Sexist much? I'll be team captain, thank you very much," she said while glaring at Ethan. He was taken aback, but put his hands up slowly in mock surrender. I smiled. They were meant for each other.

"Anyways, Four and Lynn will be team captains. They'll choose both transfers and dauntless-born. I'll be co-captain on Four's team, and Ethan vice versa on Lynn's team. The objective of the game, as you should know, is to find and get the hidden flag of the opposing team. But, since each of you will have paintball guns, once you've been shot, you're out. The team who wins gets bragging rights, and a whir on the zip-line." I finished explaining. I tossed a gun to the initiate closest to me, a dauntless-born who I was quite sure was called Adrian. He stumbled backwards slightly from the weight as I continued to pass out the paintball guns.

"You pick first," Four offered to Lynn. She smiled deviously.

"I'll take Adrian." A large, muscular dauntless-born went to stand beside her.

"Alaska." Four said. I nodded approvingly at his choice.

"Avery." This went on back and forth until we had completely divided the initiates. On our team, we had the following initiates:

Transfers: Luke, Skye (unfortunately), Alaska, Eli

Dauntless-born: James, Adam, Jack, Cassidy

"Alright, so what's the plan?" I asked everyone. James looked at me curiously.

"You're Tris, right? There were rumours that you climbed the broken ferris wheel last year." He said. I quirked a smile.

"That's not going to work again this year. Lynn knows about that, so she'll definitely hide it low on the ground." I pointed out. He gave a disappointed groan.

"What if, instead of climbing the ferris wheel, we hide our flag at the bottom! They wouldn't suspect it." Eli suggested. Four nodded.

"Good idea. How about we split up, half of us hide our flag and the othesr try to find theirs. When we're done, we'll meet up back here." I said. Everyone agreed. We split into two groups and set off.

"Any ideas on where the flag is?" Alaska asked me anxiously while peering around for the familiar florescent flag. I shook my head.

"The instructors aren't supposed to really get involved," I explained. Skye snorted, and I could distinctively hear her muttering "Then why are you here?", but I ignored it.

"There!" Luke yelled. Adam slapped a hand over his face as everyone crouched down in the fear we were found. There was some rustling. I didn't dare breathe. Then, a distant voice that I recognized as Lynn called.

"Nothing. Let's head back." Slowly, I peeled myself off the ground. Luke motioned for us to try and follow Lynn so she could hopefully lead us to the flag. Quietly, we followed her from a distance, always on the lookout for guards and defenders.

"Look!" Alaska whisper-yelled. There, in the distance, amidst the tall grasses, was the neon yellow flag tied around a tree. Everyone froze. I looked around for landmarks. Deep in the trees, about to the right of the Ferris Wheel. Adam made a move to go and grab it, but I caught his shoulder.

"We need to tell the others." Quickly, we headed back to our meeting place. The other half of our team was already waiting.

"Well?" Piped in Cassidy, a Dauntless-born.

"It's deep in the trees and tied around one. I remember it around the left of the Ferris Wheel." I reported. Tobias nodded.

"Why didn't you take it?" Alex asked me in a snide voice. I glared at him.

"It would be stupid. Bravery isn't recklessness." I shot back. I turned away from him.

"Let's switch it up. Defence, and offense, anyone?" Eli asked.

"Eli, James and Alaska, you guys try for the flag. Jack and I will cover for you. Go!" I whispered to them. They crept behind the guards, and shot them at once.

"There! I see them! They took out three of us!" Lynn's voice rang clear. I smiled. Time for the real fun to begin.

"You did it! Whooo!"

All of our team hoisted Eli onto their shoulders. I smiled. She looked very shocked, but very elated.

"Ziplining!" A dauntless-born cheered as the whole group ran to the ziplines. I smiled, and Tobias took my hand.

"Feeling nostalgic?" I looked up at him and smiled. His mouth quirked upwards, and his eyes seemed to glow in the morning streaks of early dawn. I planted a soft kiss on his lips. We parted, and his smile grew.

Tobias took my hand, and slowly, we returned to the compound.