Three

Hey everyone, thanks for all the great feedback on "Four". Seriously, I love you all! You're probably wondering which fear our fine Four has gotten over now, seeing as this one is called "Three". I know I kind of dropped a bomb in "Four" with the last sentence as: I love you too.

ANYWAYS, this a rough summary: A few years later, and Four is FINALLY ready to propose to Tris… who, of course, is no-where to be found. Christina tells him that she's off zip lining with Uriah and everyone else, but he can't wait until she comes back. So… he goes after her. *squeal* I can't wait to see how this turns out!

…Unfortunately I'll have to because I seem to have gotten the disclaimer: Never owned, never will, all belongs to Veronica Roth, blah, blah, blah…

The small, innocent, plain band of silver was starting to freeze in the pocket of my jeans like it was coated in Liquid Nitrogen. I knew it. I could feel it. I was going to lose it: either it would bounce down into the Pit, or I would pull out loose change and someone would steal it, or, worst of all, Tris would say no.

Not only would I lose the wedding ring, but my sanity as well.

I traced its circumference over the rough denim, the back of my neck hot as I paced restlessly at the Net. I looked at my watch- 12:03 PM. She was late. I peered up, hoping that, with any luck, she would literally drop out of the sky. That's how she had gotten into my life in the first place, and had beaten down my walls and fought off my demons unwittingly.

So then where was she when I needed her most?

A hand touched my shoulder. I nearly jumped smack into one of the poles supporting the Net. I clenched my fingers awkwardly around the ring, hand half in and half out of the pocket of my jeans. Christina took one look at me- shaky and pale and defensive -and smirked.

"So when are you gonna propose to her?" She asked rather loudly, making the few people who were hanging out around the Net- mostly couples who were making out so violently, I was surprised they could hear anything over the swapping of saliva –glance over at us. I shushed her, jerking her so that we were hunched over the ring I had been able to buy with my meager salary. It was a simple thing really; nothing flashy that Tris would no doubt think was too much: Two tiny diamonds sat like bookends on either side of the slightly bigger gem in the center.

Christina made a tiny hiccupping sound, and her eyes shone like the black, deadly wet rocks near the river. She fanned herself, taking shaky breaths as I stared on in amazement at her…more than surprising reaction.

"She's going to love it," She squeaked, swiping under her eyes and smearing her make up.

I peered at her face worriedly. "Are- you okay?" I asked tentatively, almost afraid of her answer. I was in no way prepared to deal with an emotionally unstable girl right now when I wasn't even sure about my own emotional stability.

"What?" She asked, trying to clear the dark smudges under her eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm- I'm just so happy." She blubbered, making an odd choking sound, and ducking her head so her short swing of dark hair draped around her like a curtain. I awkwardly put a hand on her back, rubbing her shoulders and patting her shoulder blades.

I jerked away as she stood ramrod straight, looking me dead in the eye as she pointed an accusing finger at me. "Wait, why are you still here talking to me?" She demanded to know, her other hand propped sassily on her hip.

I blinked. "Um. What?"

Christina dropped her head into her hand, rolling her eyes as she sighed dramatically. "Well you can't just be standing around all day. Go ask her!"

"She's not back yet," I said blankly, still trying to shake off the whiplash from Christina's emotional transformation.

Her other hand slipped from her forehead and landed smack on her hip. She scowled at me in annoyance. "So then go find her."

I snapped. "Nobody knows where she is, Christina! What do you expect me to do?"

She cracked her knuckles menacingly as she muttered something about idiot initiates. I had the surprising urge to take a step back as a murderous look passed over her face like a storm cloud. "-no good, incompetent rug rats," she finished her rant with flair, throwing up a hand in exasperation. "I specifically told them that Tris had gone zip lining with Uriah because they had demanded," she drew out the word, long and slow like spilling molasses. "To know where their favorite two instructors were." She snorted. "I'm going to be their least favorite by the time I'm through with them." She grinned wolfishly at me, a slightly manic look in her eye. "I look forward to it."

I nodded slowly, afraid to say anything as she continued to mutter under her breath. I backed away slowly, already running my thumb over the cool lip of the ring. I kept one eye on Christina, and I was almost out of earshot when I heard her call to me:

"Good luck lover boy!"

Maybe I had to remind Christina that Eric wasn't her least favorite instructor after all.

I jumped off the train, and began to sprint to the Hancock building. I nearly got a face full of cracked asphalt when a scream swept by on the moaning, lonely wind whistling between the buildings.

For a moment, I forgot.

I forgot that my mother was alive, she wasn't dead; forgot that one of my best friends wasn't dying before my eyes; forgot that Tris wasn't being injected with countless, painful serums by Jeanine. I drew the handgun that I had tucked absently in the waistband of my jeans, the muscles in my arms locked tight. I looked around wildly, checking around corners of the abandoned buildings around me as I searched for the source. My heartbeat pounded out my mantra: Not her, not her, not her, not her. I squinted up in time to see a tiny figure, almost looking like a bird at that height, flail with joy or fear as they soared.

I closed my eyes, forcing a breath to thread between my teeth as I sucked oxygen into my lungs, clenching and unclenching my hand around the grip of the gun. I pushed past the broken and desolate lobby, stepping into the elevator and punching the button for the one hundredth floor.

Ten. A slow, burning ache crept in the muscles of my arms as they slowly relaxed from their tense position.

Forty. I was breathing normally again. I leaned back against the hand rail, tipping my head back to rest with a clunk against metal of the elevator. I closed my eyes to shut out the dim florescent lights.

Sixty. I would see Tris soon. On the roof of the Hancock building. Where I would propose. And not fall to my death. And pray to God that she didn't say no.

Seventy. My eyes fell open. I was going to propose to Tris on the roof of the Hancock building.

Eighty. My forehead gleamed with a thin sheen of sweat in the chrome doors across from me.

Ninety-five. My heart rate was back up. I scrubbed a hand across my face, dragging it up through my hair. I'd need to cut it again soon. Tris liked it Abnegation short, and I was beginning to grow fond of it again.

Ninety-eight. I would be fine. Christina knew Tris almost as well as I did if not better. She would say yes. And then we could get the hell off of the roof of the Hancock building where we could possibly fall to our deaths.

One hundred.

Oh who was I kidding? I was doomed.

I stepped out of the lift and raised my eyes from the floor to the shattered wall of windows across from me. I didn't dare look down at the city, a mesmerizing, chaotic puzzle of new, sleek buildings and old, patchwork skeletons of ones from the past. I focused on the hazy horizon, forcing myself to take a breath as I started to climb the ladder that was propped against the jagged lip of the hole leading up to the roof.

I gripped the tin rungs tightly, methodically working my way up, one hand after the other. There was another scream followed by a burst of laughter above me that almost made me miss a step on the ladder. I pressed myself up against it tightly as the wind blew again, stronger this time. It swept away the snickers and guffaws with the rest of my fear.

"Come on, Tris, move it you're next!" A voice called out in mock aggravation. I poked my head up above the broken mouth of the concrete to see someone playfully push Tris closer to the edge of the-

My stomach churned even as I clambered onto the roof, clutching the ring tightly in my hand. There was going to be an imprint of it etched into my palm when I finally gave it to her. Zeke was already strapping her in, movements casual but precise. I tottered my way to the front of the line, ignoring all the shocked and concerned looks I was getting.

I could hear Zeke chattering with her, chuckling at something she said. He began to count down: Three… Two… O-

"Tris," I croaked out just as Zeke let her go. I caught a snapshot of her face: Pale hair brushing against her rosy cheeks, stormy eyes widened in surprise, mouth parted to say something, anything.

She never got the chance. She was already on her way to who knows where, and I had to do this now-

"Strap me in," I demanded, ignoring Zeke's gob-smacked expression.

I marched up to him on shaky legs, grabbing hold of the cable so he wouldn't see how badly my hands were trembling. My eye started twitching.

"Four-" He started, but I cut him off, snatching a harness of the ground and shoving it into his hands.

"Do it!" I snarled quietly, digging into my pocket to get the ring. I looked farther down the wire. Tris was already about twenty five yards away, and looked as though she weren't going to be able to slow down any time soon. She glanced back at me desperately, throwing her hands out in an obvious show of confusion.

I didn't focus on what Zeke was muttering madly into my ear. I was too busy watching the pale streamers of Tris' hair get smaller and smaller and smaller as she got farther and farther and farther away from me. After what seemed like an eternity, Zeke tightened the final strip of fabric with a jerk. I didn't even wait for him to count down. I took a one step back before running forward until my shoe left the edge of the building.

Immediately I squeezed my eyes shut, hysteria threatening to make its way past my heart, which had jumped all the way up to my throat. Kaleidoscope patterns danced behind my eyelids; I couldn't remember the last time I breathed.

As soon as I parted my mouth, cool, stale wind curled around my tongue and teeth, making me hiss at the cold bite of it. The ground blurred beneath me, colors blending together until they became muddy and unrecognizable. So enthralled was I by this new kind of height, this new kind of thrill, I didn't see Tris start to slowly draw closer…

…Until I rammed into her.

It was like being hit by a train. I knew how it felt. I had clipped my ribs a few times on the sides of the doors when I was less practiced in the art of jumping onto a moving train.

"Tobias!" She choked out, one arm hugging herself to me, the other squished between us. I knew because her elbow was digging into my hip. She steadied herself before pushing us apart slightly, her very expressions at war like she couldn't decide if she wanted to be mad or shocked. "Wh-What do you think you're-"

Then I remembered the ring. The ring that was somehow still clenched in my fist. "I knew that you were going to be back soon, but I couldn't wait."

"Wait for what?" She demanded to know, pushing her wind tangled hair out of her face.

"To ask you something that's very, very important." I had been holding onto the ring so tightly, that now it my damn hand wouldn't let it go.

She took my fist in hers, slowly uncurling my fingers, one at a time; the ring slipped between them to the pavement below. Thirty feet below. My hand, which was trembling again from lack of nothing to ground myself to, slowly curled itself around Tris', nearly crushing her dainty fingers with my grip.

"Tobias," she looked me dead in the eye, her own serious and alert. "What's going on?"

I wasn't listening. I was frantically undoing the straps that held me in place, but my fingers kept fumbling with the stupid straps-

Tris gently pushed my hands away, and with a few pulls from her nimble fingers, we were falling down to the pavement. I clamped my eyes shut, bracing myself for the no doubt jarring landing. The shock threaded its way through the thin soles of my sneakers. My entire skeleton seemed to rattle from the impact.

I stumbled away from the group that had surrounded Tris, dropping from the tingling balls of my feet to my knees. My fingernails scratched fruitlessly at the asphalt. When the ring fell, so did my courage it seemed. I couldn't tell which one I was looking for anymore. With any luck- which was doubtful from the way things were going –I would be able to find both.

I heard Tris call my name softly. No, not my name. Four. I didn't turn get up, didn't turn around. I heard footsteps behind me. She said my name, my real name this time, barely a murmur: Tobias. I kept searching because I had to find the rin-

AH! I squeezed my eyes shut, rejoicing internally as I spotted it a few feet away. The tiny circle of silver glowed dimly underneath the cloud cover. I reached to pick it up.

My fingertips met gravel.

I froze in place as a familiar pair of faded black sneakers edged into my field of vision.

Tris didn't say anything, just offered me her hand to help me up. Her left hand. I took it, brushing off my jeans and the strange looks the rest of the group was sending me. I tugged on it, jerking my chin in the direction of the train tracks.

She made some kind of excuse to the rest of them. I didn't bother to listen what it was, focusing on the pressure of her palm rubbing against mine. We walked, waited, and jumped on the train in silence. I listened to the click clack of the cars bumping over the tracks.

And I watched her as I had when she had only been an initiate. She was so much more now.

She was holding onto the frame of the door, leaning out of the car as I had so long ago; her pale hair was whipping around her face, her eyes turned up to the sky. Underneath the collar of her blouse, the raven tattoos that were barely visible beneath it played peek-a-boo.

There were four of them now. One: her father. Two: her mother. Three: Caleb.

Four:

Me.

I stood, widening my stance a little to keep my balance in the gently rocking compartment. I made my way over to her, wrapping my arms securely around her waist. My nose brushed the crown of her head. She smelled faintly of the soap I used in the shower and clean sheets.

She shuffled backwards so we were farther in than out of the train. Her hands fell away from the door, coming to rest on top of mine. The coolness of metal on her finger was foreign and strange; but if the odds were as dependable as they usually were when it came to Tris, I would have a long time to get used to it.

We were back at our apartment when she finally spoke. I cradled her closer to my chest as her head so it lay where my shoulder met my neck. I felt her lips brush my skin as they formed the words. "So are you still afraid of heights?"

I shrugged, causing her head to loll into my neck. Her lips, which were parted in surprise, pressed firmly against my wind pipe. When her head returned to its original place, the spot where they had touched became chilled by the surrounding air.

I tightened my grip on her minutely as she blew out a teasing sigh, making me shiver. I cleared my throat, trying to clear the fog from my mind. "Well, I'm- more comfortable with them."

"Why?" Her voice- as small and quiet as it was –held both curiosity and hope.

I tipped her head up, pressing a gentle kiss to her flickering eyelids, her forehead, her nose, her cheeks. I teasing hovered over the corner of her mouth. Her eyes, which were usually clear and focused, were the same color as the ending of a night storm. She craned her neck to close the distance between us invitingly. I pulled back ever so slightly, watching as a pout fell unbidden onto her thin lips. A memory of a smile ghosted over my mouth. I finally pressed my lips against hers, murmuring the words around her desperation and hunger.

"I've found that I don't mind falling so much."

Hey guys, what do you think? I got this idea almost instantly after I finished "Four". I just don't think that I could end it like that. I know that this isn't exactly the same style I wrote "Four" in. The beginning was a little… I don't know. But then again, remember, this is Tobias panicking, which no one's ever really seen before, so I hope that I did okay. Let me know!

Reviews are loved, the people who write them even more so.

SNO.