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Chapter 31

I stand there with the gun pointed to her head ready to shoot. But I don't. I can't explain it but there is no way I can shoot this girl.

Simulation…

My heart is pounding against my chest, I'm sure she can feel it. I glare down at her; I can't understand why I can't do what I'm supposed to do.

"Tobias," she says. "It's me."

She says this with so much love that I just stand there.

She steps forward and wraps her arms around me. Her head fits perfectly on my chest where my heart is. I stand stiff but I know I have felt this before. I know this girl has been close to me, to my heart before. The feeling confuses me even more, but I know I can't do anything to hurt her.

My heart races at her embrace. She holds on to me tighter, like her life… like my life depends on this embrace. Maybe it does.

I grab her shoulders tightly and pull her away from me. I stare into her eyes. They are eyes that I know, eyes that have shown me more love than I have ever known.

Tris. I know her, I love her!

"Tris," I say to her. I pull her to me and kiss her like I have never kissed her before.

I wrap my arms around her and lift her to me, holding her as tightly to me as I can. I tremble as I hold her. I hurt her, I almost killed her.

I put her down but I keep hold of her. I stare into her eyes again; I can see the love in her eyes. I touch her face, her forehead, her cheeks, and her mouth. I look at every inch of her face memorizing every feature, every line and crease.

I let a sob escape me and I lean in and kiss her again. Tears stream from my eyes uncontrollably. I almost kill her. The woman that I love and I hurt her, I almost killed her.

She buries her face in my chest and begins to cry again. All of the adrenaline has left her and she is weak. I hold her supporting her weight.

"How did you do it?" she asks me weakly.

"I don't know. I just heard your voice."

XXX

She pulls back from me and wipes her face. Then she turns to the computers and I realize what has been happening.

"Was I running the simulation?"

"I don't know if you were running it so much as monitoring it," she tells me. "It's already complete. I have no idea how, but Jeanine made it so it could work on its own."

"It's… incredible. Terrible, evil… but incredible."

On the screens I can see three people in the Pit being surrounded by Dauntless soldiers that are under the simulation.

"Tobias," she says. "Now!"

I run to the computer screen and begin typing in access codes to disarm the simulation. This is what I have been doing all day, trying to stop the simulation. But all I was doing was keeping it going.

Tris watches as the soldiers advance on the group of people sitting there. She is visibly upset. I work as fast as I can, typing in codes and pressing the screen to stop it from sending messages through the simulation, to stop what is happening.

"Tobias," she says again.

I type in a few more codes, press the screen and everyone on the floor goes still. The soldiers drop their arms to their sides.

The Dauntless are visibly confused but they are out of the simulation. That means that all of them are out of the simulation in Abnegation also.

I drop to the floor and slide the side of the case off. She looks at me like she doesn't know what I am doing.

"I have to get the data," I tell her, "or they'll just start the simulation again."

I work to pull the data disk out of the computer, "Got it."

I walk over to her. She is looking at the screen that shows the Abnegation sector. There are Dauntless fighting each other and shooting each other. It is mass chaos as black clothed people drop to the ground, people running in every direction.

"We have to leave," she says.

"Yes, we do." I wrap my arm around her and lead her out. "Come on."

We walk down the hall toward the elevator. Tris looks to the side and sees a man in grey lying on the floor surrounded by dead guards. She screams and turns away. She throws up against the wall. I know this man; it is her father, Andrew Prior.

She kneels down next to him and cries hysterically, her whole body convulses with her sobs.

XXX

She stands and I place my arm around her again. I lead her into the elevator. We move through the glass room and out the door to the outside. She is not processing what is happening around her. She is looking around but not really seeing the chaos and confusion.

When we step outside she stops, then runs toward a young man wearing grey. He runs to her and they embrace. She holds on to him tightly and I hear him say, "Dad?" This must be Caleb, Tris' brother.

She shakes her head as if telling him that their father is gone.

"Well, he would have wanted it that way."

I continue to walk toward Tris and her brother when I see him and I stop cold. My body goes rigid and I stare with every ounce of hatred in my body.

Marcus… Marcus is here coming toward me, closer and closer until he pulls me into a hug. I don't move, I just stand there frozen, looking toward the sky.

"Son," Marcus says to me.

I wince at the sound of his voice. I hate this man. I hate how he makes me feel powerless when I know how strong I am.

"Hey," I hear Tris' voice from a few feet away. She runs to me and puts herself between me and Marcus. "Hey. Get away from him."

She presses her back into my chest and her presence makes me stronger.

"Stay away," she growls.

"Beatrice, what are you doing?" Caleb asks her.

"Tris," I say.

Marcus looks at her with such loathing and resentment that I need to protect her from him.

"Not all of those Erudite articles were full of lies," she says narrowing her eyes at Marcus.

"What are you talking about?" Marcus asks her. "I don't know what you have been told Beatrice, but…"

"The only reason I haven't shot you yet is because he's the one who should get to do it," she says. "Stay away from him or I'll decide I no longer care."

I slip my hands around her arms and squeeze.

"We have to go," I say to her. "The train should be here any second."

I guide her toward the train tracks, holding on to her every moment. I know Marcus, Caleb, and Peter are following. Why is Peter here?

"Sorry," I hear Tris mutter to me.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," I take her hand in mine and lace my fingers into hers. My hands are still shaking, but her touch makes me feel better.

"If we take the train in the opposite direction, out of the city instead of in, we can get to Amity headquarters," she says. "That's where the others went."

"What about Candor?" her brother asks. "What do you think they'll do?"

Tris doesn't respond. The truth is, we have no idea what Candor will do.

We stand by the tracks waiting for the train. She is dead on her feet, so I pick her up in my arms and hold her. She lays her head on my shoulder and takes deep breaths. I know she is in a lot of pain, and needs to rest for a while.

All around the city, there are people fighting and dying, most of which are Dauntless and Abnegation people. The people we care about are either dead or waking realizing that they were a part of a mass murder of a group of people. I have no idea who of my friends has survived. And I can't help but wonder about Uriah and any other Divergent, was he able to stay hidden enough to not get caught? He is my best friend's brother, I've protected him like my own throughout this process. And what about Zeke, I shudder to think.

The train arrives and I have to put Tris down so we can get on. I can see her brother looking at me, trying to figure things out. He doesn't look happy, but that is a problem for another day.

I move next to the train and easily pull myself up and in. Tris jogs for a few steps and I reach out to bring her in n with me. Peter, Caleb, and Marcus follow behind and jump on following what Tris and I did. We move against the wall and I slide down the wall to sit, pulling Tris down with me. Caleb sits across from us and Marcus and Peter sit on the other side of the car away from us. As the train turns, I can see Dauntless get smaller in the distance.

I wrap my arm around Tris and pull her tight next to me. We both pull our legs up and duck our heads down into our own little space. We stay this way for a long time just breathing each other's air and being together.

"My parents," Tris says after some time. "They died today."

She is trembling and I try to steady her. This is her reality now. Her parents are gone and she can't bring them back. I will be her family now. I will take care of her and help her to get through this and anything else that comes along.

"They died for me," she says.

"They loved you," I tell her. "To them there was no better way to show you."

She looks up at me, tears in her eyes. She used to be afraid to show me that she was vulnerable, but she isn't afraid anymore. I love that she trusts me with that part of her.

"You nearly died today," I say to her. "I almost shot you. Why didn't you shoot me, Tris?"

Everything from when I was under the simulation is coming back to me. I can remember most of it now. Thinking about it makes me sick. How I almost choked the life out of her, how I almost shot her. The bruise on her jaw is my fault.

"I couldn't do that," she says. "It would have been like shooting myself."

I lean in to her and touch her lips with mine but I don't pull back. I say to her quietly, "I have something to tell you."

She looks me in the eyes while brushing my hand with hers.

"I might be in love with you." I smile still keeping my lips next to hers. "I'm waiting until I'm sure to tell you, though."

"That's sensible of you," she says beaming. "We should find some paper so you can make a list or a chart or something."

This make me laugh. I run my nose along her jaw and kiss the soft part of her neck behind her ear.

"Maybe I'm already sure," I whisper, "and I just don't want to frighten you."

She giggles, "Then you should know better."

"Fine," I say. "Then I love you."

She doesn't say anything more, just kisses me. We kiss for a long time as the train rocks us toward a place that we might find some safety. At least for a little while.

She reaches into her pocket and takes out the simulation data. It is hard to believe that something so small could cause so much trouble. She looks at it for a long time. She turns it in her hands and out of the corner of my eye I can see Marcus looking at us. Looking at her, and the disk. She clutches it to her chest and lays her head on my shoulder. I pull her tight to me to make her as comfortable as possible. She nods off, and I hold her, protecting her from her nightmares.

The End

**Please let me know if it is worth my time to do Insurgent. If you all liked this I'll do it.**