Hey, sorry for taking so long to post this! I got sick and then my kid got sick and then I got sick again, blah... Anyway, I hope the wait was worth it! Like and review!

This is the sequel to Alone.

Four's POV

It was in the wee hours of the morning and Four was nursing his third cup of coffee when the image of Eric traipsing through the brush appeared on one of his monitors and Four found himself talking to his former leader through the screen, as he often did.

"Where are you going, Eric? The Divergent city is the other way." He said, pointing to the right with his thumb.

As if he actually heard Four speak, Eric looked directly into the camera and gave him the finger as he passed by. Four couldn't help the smile that broke out on his face.

A year ago Four's world had turned upside down. Jeanine had won the war and quickly injected everyone within the Faction system while the Bureau could do nothing but sit back and watch it happen, effectively cutting him off from his old life, and the girl he loved chose to take the Abnegation serum and leave for good when she found out about Eric's betrayal.

Except, Four didn't believe David's story about Eric trying to kill him when confronted about his involvement with Jeanine because Eric was the best shot he'd ever seen and there was no way he'd miss at point blank range. No, he knew there was another reason why Eric was in the fringe and Alexis left without saying good-bye, and he faked his unwavering belief in David so he could keep an eye out for the truth.

It took a month before Mark finally mentioned about the fact that Duncan gave Alexis a vaccination for her panic attacks before the assault and finding it odd, since he knew for a fact that it didn't work, Four had a talk with him.

His suspicions were quickly confirmed and over time he slowly found others who were growing doubtful themselves when David did nothing to stop Jeanine and helped to keep track of his plans while Four and Mark kept tabs on Eric and Alexis until they could finally make a move.

Alexis was doing well within the Divergent City, getting a job and apartment, but Four felt like she was sad. Even though she had friends, she often spent her leisure time reading old romance novels left over from before the Purity War that she borrowed from the library instead of going out and socializing. It was like her heart knew she was missing something and wouldn't be able to find it there so she looked for it in a fantasy world.

Eric on the other hand was proving to be an even bigger badass than when he was in Dauntless. He quickly learned to spot the cameras early on so it wasn't very often they saw him, but when they did it was always in a small settlement of GD's asking for directions.

Only Divergent had ever been to the Divergent city, so Four wasn't surprised at their lack of knowledge of its whereabouts, but it was clear Eric was beginning to get frustrated.

Before, whenever he managed to find hostile GD's, he'd quickly end the argument by knocking them out and moving on, but lately he'd engage in an all-out fight with them, allowing them to get in a hit or two before he'd pummel them into the ground and rumor of him was quickly spreading throughout the fringe so that eventually no one wanted to cross him.

It wasn't those rumors that were stopping the Divergent from going after him though. David refused to let them, citing that Eric would die out in the wilderness long before he'd ever reach Alexis, because it was obvious that's where he was going, but a year later he was still going and closer to her than ever.

The plan now was to wait him out and if he did make it they would stop him at the gates. Knowing Eric, Four doubted the plan was going to work, but he kept his mouth shut.

"Hey." Mark said as he sat down next to him.

Four leaned back in his chair and stretched with a yawn before replying, "Hey."

"Long night?" Mark asked, nodding to the screen.

"Yeah. This is the first glimpse of him in a week."

"What are we going to do when he does finally head the right way?" Mark asked, stifling his own yawn.

"We'll keep an eye on him and as soon as he gets near enough we'll send Amar to get them, but we'll need to discredit David before we can bring them back here."

"And just how do we plan to do that?" Mark wondered.

"I'm working on it," Four replied and drained the last of his drink, "but first I need another coffee.

Eric's POV

"About fucking time." Eric grumbled to himself as he spotted the tall fence of the Divergent City off in the distance.

He knew it was the right one this time by the large number of armed trucks waiting for him outside of it when all the others had nothing in the form of protection whenever he approached.

David was not kidding when he said Eric would never reach this place on foot, and he'd be right if he was talking about anyone else, but despite the fact this city was on the opposite side of the country from Chicago, Eric made it. Now all he had to do was get inside, unnoticed, and find Alexis.

Would she look familiar to him after all this time? Would she even be the same person with all her memories gone? So many questions ran through his mind his nerves were beginning to get the better of him. With a deep breath he double checked the ammo in his guns and came up with a plan.

It wasn't going to be easy getting in. He had no authority here to just order someone to let him in and the entire Bureau knew who he was so he'd be spotted in no time if he tried to blend in; his only choice was to climb the wall.

Eric was checking the fence for blind spots in the cameras at a safe distance from the gate and guards when he was surprised by someone walking up on him.

"I hope you're not planning to climb it, Eric." Amar said behind him.

Eric spun around at the sound of his voice and whipped his gun out of the waist of his pants, aiming it at his old colleague with amazing speed.

"Hey man, I'm unarmed and I've been looking for you." Amar said as he froze; his arms up in surrender.

"I bet you have." Eric growled back at him, clicking the safety off his gun.

"No, listen. I'm with Four, not David and we're trying to help you get Alexis out." Amar explained.

"Four?" Eric repeated, his resolve to shoot Amar wavering. He narrowed his eyes at the other man in distrust. "Does he want you to steal her away from me as soon as I've got her and then shoot me in the back?"

"Why would we do that?" Amar sounded perplexed by his question.

"Revenge. He was in love with Alexis too and I'm the reason she was taken away from both of us. Not to mention that it's apparently my fault you two almost died on that train so forgive me if I'm a little sceptical about you wanting to help me." Eric said, his gun still aimed at Amar's head.

Amar shook his head and took a brave step forward. "We know it wasn't you. Since the night you left, David has been acting weird. He wouldn't let us come after you and he wouldn't let us stop Jeanine either. Four's trying to get to the bottom of it so we can take him out of power."

"Why don't I just save you the trouble by telling you?" Eric arrogantly offered. "When David realized her serum could help him control the unruly GD population, he told her about our attack so she could get her hands on Alexis. He wants her to use that serum in the Factions as a testing group, see how it works, before he distributes it to the other cities."

Amar's eyes widened. "How did you find this out?"

"It came out of the horse's mouth before he shot himself to put the blame on me." Eric replied.

"Shit, Eric. Why didn't you tell us this earlier?! You don't know what she's done to the city with that serum!" Amar said, completely forgetting about the gun pointed at him and began pacing.

"She has almost everyone living like the Factionless. Taking the best of everything from food, clothes, and luxury items for herself and Erudite while the rest of them are so brain washed that they're okay starving. Dauntless has it a little easier though, in repayment for their loyalty to her and for their protection against the real Factionless. They still have free will and often try to attack Erudite, but they're unorganized and poorly equipped that they always fail." He explained.

"The Factions aren't my problem anymore." Eric ground out. He didn't care what happened to them. They turned their back on him, just like the Bureau did and he didn't plan on going back to either of them.

Amar stopped pacing and regarded Eric with disappointment. "They should be. You might have no one left, but Alexis does and her family is starving along with the rest of them."

A stab of guilt shot through Eric's chest at the mention of the Morgans and he lowered his gun. "Fine. How are you going to get me in?"

A smile slowly slid on Amar's face as he said, "That's what I wanted to hear." He rubbed his hands together in excitement and said, "We're going to pretend you're a new Divergent being added to the city so they let us through the gate. From there you can find Alexis and use your skills of persuasion to get her to come with you to meet me back at the gate at midnight. We'll steal away in the night and camp out until Four says it's all safe at the Bureau. With the info you gave me about David, it shouldn't take too long to arrest him."

The plan sounded like it would work and Eric nodded, eager to get inside and see Alexis' face again. He didn't intend to follow through with Amar's second half of the plan though, because he no longer trusted anyone besides himself and Alexis.

His plan was to use Amar to get inside, find Alexis and convince her to leave with him, slip past Amar and the Divergent and go somewhere where no one would ever find them. The hardest part about it was getting Alexis to believe him.

Eric tucked his gun away and followed Amar back to the gate, but mid-way there he realized the one hole in the plan and stopped.

"Wait."

Amar turned back and gave him a confused look. "What?"

"They're going to recognize me if we just walk up there." He replied.

Amar rolled his eyes and got close enough to tug on Eric's beard. "Have you seen yourself lately? I can barely recognize you with the caveman thing you've got going on."

Eric scowled and pulled away. "I'm sorry I haven't had access to a bathroom recently enough for you."

"No, it's good. It means we can just walk up to the gate and not worry. No one's seen your face, except Four, since you disappeared." Amar said and Eric supposed he was right. They kept walking and Amar kept talking.

"Some info about the city: this place isn't like the Factions, okay? Here everyone gets jobs based on skill and desirability. Like Alexis, she works as a secretary to a lawyer because she had experience working in an office while in Amity and it was the only job she was interested in applying for. No one is limited to a certain type of job based on their aptitude here.

"People don't live in compounds. They have separate houses and apartments that they each choose to live in based on what they can afford to pay for.

"Luxury items and essentials, like food, are not evenly distributed either. If you want it and have enough money to pay for it, then you can have it. Got it?" He asked Eric, who grunted in reply.

The gate wasn't as far away as he originally thought and they reached it in no time. Eric subconsciously fingered the knife hidden underneath his sleeve as they approached the countless Divergent who stood on guard and Amar joyfully greeted them as they passed by with minimal looks of inquiry.

The man at the gate grinned at Amar as they drew closer and said, "Hey, Amar, who's your friend?"

Amar clapped Eric on the shoulder and replied with a wink, "This is Clarence. He's coming home from a visit with his family back in Birmingham, Alabama."

"I see." The guard said with a smirk. "Had a long journey have you Clarence?" He asked, taking in Eric's filthy appearance.

"Yes, sir. My car broke down and this kind gentleman offered me a ride home. Really looking forward to getting back and having a nice long shower." Eric said, attempting to sound like he belonged.

"That's quite understandable, Clarence. Go on in and I hope you had a good trip." The man said and punched in a code on the door, which Eric committed to memory for later use.

Amar gave the guard a salute and followed Eric inside the city and down a few blocks to an area that Eric knew was camera free.

"Clarence?" Eric asked, wishing his partner had picked a better name.

"Sorry, it was the first name that came to mind, but it worked didn't it?" Amar apologized.

Eric rolled his eyes and said, "Now what?"

"Now you find Alexis and meet me later. She works late most nights so you should find her there easy enough and if not she only lives a few blocks away." Amar said and gave him the address to her workplace before turning back for the gate.

Eric didn't bother to watch him go and immediately searched for her building. The city as a whole looked similar to Chicago with all its' deteriorated buildings in the distance but the relatively small area around him was brand new with smoothly paved roads and sidewalks to accommodate the small population within.

The sun was going down by the time he found it and he could see movement in the windows as people walked by. It was hard to make out detail from his position in the bushes but he thought he saw her, a glimpse of a girl in a purple dress with her dark hair tied up in a high ponytail, and his heart sped up in anticipation. Not wanting to miss her as she left, Eric found a good spot to sit out of sight of the cameras and waited.

How was it? Let me know!